The Secret Brokers (32 page)

There were still moments when her memory tugged at his heart. The smell of her, the feel of her soft skin in his hands, but those moments had been fading in the past few months. And until he saw her coming toward him, holding her baby in her arms, he thought he had conquered his past with her, but now he was not so sure.

“Dallas,” Nicci said as she came up to him.

He gazed into her alluring gray eyes and smiled. “Hello, Nicci,” he whispered. “How are you?”

“Happy, very happy.” Nicci looked over his gray suit and pale yellow tie. “You look good, Dallas. Taking over Simon’s empire seems to agree with you.” She paused and glanced down at the fidgeting baby in her arms. “Thank you for doing this. I know we didn’t…I mean I just wanted to say that I’m sorry—”

He raised his hand to her. “It’s fine, Nicci. I don’t regret what we shared for a moment. And I am happy for you and David. I really am.”

The tiny infant, dressed in her white christening robes, raised a small pink hand to Dallas.

Nicci looked down to the baby. “Meet your goddaughter, Ellen Beauvoir Goldvarg.”

Dallas studied the tiny face nestled in Nicci’s arms. She had her mother’s creamy skin and beautiful face, but her father’s brown, wavy hair and sharp gray eyes.

“She’s beautiful,” he said as he looked back up at Nicci. “Just like her mother.”

“I’ll get David and tell him you’re here. I think he’s back in the rectory with the minister.” She hugged Ellen close to her chest as she headed to the side of the church and through an open doorway.

“Dallas!” a woman cried out behind him.

Dallas turned to see Nicci’s Aunt Hattie rushing toward him. She was wearing a snug yellow dress and dragging her husband, Ned Vasterling, behind her. Aunt Hattie was a short, round woman with brown hair and big brown eyes, and had a propensity for being late for every occasion. Her tall, slender husband was dressed
in
a dark pin stripe
d
suit
and
gray tie, and already looked quite bored.

Aunt Hattie kissed his cheek. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she began. “Nicci and David alive and together—then we get our little Ellen too.” She patted his arm reassuringly. “Not that you and Nicci weren’t great together, but you know how people are when it is a destined love.”

“Destined love?” Uncle Ned frowned at his wife. “Hattie, you’ve been reading too many romance novels.” Uncle Ned held out his hand to Dallas. “Glad you came, Dallas. Nicci was so pleased you agreed to be Ellen’s godfather.”

“I’m happy she thought of me.”

“Oh, it’s such a shame the whole family could not be there when Colleen’s little boy and my grandson, Andrew Cole, was christened two months ago in this very same church. But we didn’t know they were alive then. And when we found out that first Nicci, and then David were not only alive, but also married, we were so happy. I only wish I could have seen them marry. My sister’s only child, and I never got to see her wed.”

“Her name is Jenny now, Hattie,” Uncle Ned reminded his wife. “Jenny Goldvarg. Nicci Beauvoir is technically buried up at that cemetery in Hammond.”

Aunt Hattie looked indignantly at her husband. “I remember, Neddie. I went to the funeral, remember? I even helped pick out her mahogany casket.” She turned to Dallas. “I’m still getting used to this new identity thing.”

A young woman came running up to Dallas. She was wearing a very tight violet dress with swirls of lace and taffeta that came together in a large bow over her right shoulder. She had Hattie’s brown eyes, brown hair, and sallow coloring, but her slender hips and ample bosom contrasted sharply against her mother’s round figure.

“Dallas!” Colleen squealed as she kissed his cheek, leaving a pink lipstick stain. She quickly began wiping his cheek.

Dallas eyed
the
hodgepodge of fabric in her dress. “Is that one of yours?”

Colleen twirled for him. “One of my most recent creations.”

Dallas noted how Aunt Hattie rolled her eyes at her daughter’s dress.

A lanky, redheaded man in a blue suit came up to Dallas extending his hand. “Dallas, good to see you again,” Ray Phillips said.

Colleen wrapped her arm about her husband’s waist. “We had our son christened in this same church. I think it’s just so great that Nicci and David get to christen little Ellen here, too.”

“Jenny and Dan,” Ray corrected his wife. “You need to call them Jenny and Dan from now on, Colleen.”

Colleen shrugged. “Why? There’s no one here but family. It’s not like they were secret agents or somethin’.”

“But it’s for their protection,” Uncle Ned chimed in as he glanced over at his wife. “You two agreed to go along with this ruse, and you can’t jeopardize their safety, remember.”

“I’m not good with secrets,” Colleen whined.

“You definitely got that from your mother,” Uncle Ned quipped.

Aunt Hattie and Colleen stared at each other as they began sucking in gasps of air through their teeth. Their odd laughter reverberated throughout the church, making the sacred building sound like a large vacuum cleaner.

“Maybe we should find our seats,” Ray suggested. He took his wife’s arm and dragged her away, still laughing, from Dallas’s side.

Uncle Ned nodded to Dallas as he and Aunt Hattie followed behind Ray and Colleen.

“Hoovers at it again, eh?” a man’s voice whispered behind Dallas’s right ear.

Dallas turned to see Bill Beauvoir, Nicci’s father, and his wife, Betty, standing in the middle of the aisle behind him.

“Bill,” Dallas said with a warm smile as he reached out his hand. “Good to see you again.”

Bill Beauvoir had Lance’s green eyes but lacked the youthful looks and vigor of his brother. Bill had a receding hairline, pale skin, and always appeared haggard, unlike Lance who never seemed to age. The president of the family business, Beauvoir Scrap Metal, Bill had spent a lifetime worrying over deadlines and budgets, while his older brother had opted to embrace a more carefree lifestyle far away from the confines of any office.

Bill shook Dallas’s hand. “So glad you’re here, Dallas. I know Nicci is thrilled you agreed to be Ellen’s godfather.” He paused and his face grew somber. “After everything that happened last summer, I never got a chance to thank you for all that you did for David and Nicci.”

“There’s no need to thank me, Bill. They both mean the world to me.” Dallas turned to the petite, blue-eyed woman next to Bill. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make your wedding, Betty.”

Betty Webster Beauvoir kissed his cheek. “Never mind about the wedding—David told us of everything that you had going on in New York. Bill and I understand why you couldn’t come.”

Bill’s deep green eyes clouded over with concern. “Must have been quite a mess to clean up after all of that Simon La Roy business.”

Dallas sighed. “At first, but things are settling down now.”

“Glad to hear it,” Bill admitted. He patted Dallas on the shoulder. “We’ll talk after the ceremony.”

Bill took Betty’s arm and escorted her to one of the nearby pews.

“There he is!” a man cried out beside Dallas as he slapped him on the shoulder.

Dallas turned to see David standing next to him. He was dressed in a tailored blue suit and yellow tie. His dark, wavy hair was neatly combed and he had a proud smile on his slender face.

“Can’t get the festivities started without the godfather,” David remarked.

Dallas reached held out his hand to David. “You look like a proud father.”

“Proud?” He shook his head as he gripped Dallas’s hand. “I’m scared to death. It’s one thing when they’re pregnant and you have the thought of a baby, but when you are standing in the delivery room, watching your wife scream in pain, it’s another thing entirely. And then they hand you this alien life form, call you ‘Daddy’, and tell you to cut the cord, well…
.
” David wiped his brow. “I thought I was going to die
…
again.”

“Nicci seems happy,” Dallas commented. He nodded to her as she crossed the front of the church with Ellen in her arms.

“She’s absolutely besotted with Ellen. We both are. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world, Dallas. You should try it.”

Dallas frowned at his old friend. “You were the one meant for this life, David, not me.”
David scrutinized his face with his warm gray eyes. “You’re meant for it too, my friend. You’ll see. Life has a funny way of grabbing you by the ankles and tripping you up when you least expect it.” He gazed over at Nicci and his face warmed over with affection. “Who would have thought when I came to New Orleans a few years ago to run a routine assignment and pass off false information that I would meet someone and fall in love
?”
He paused as he turned back to Dallas. “Did you get the final papers I signed and sent back?” he asked.

“They have already been filed at the courthouse. I now own all of Simon La Roy’s assets. Dan Goldvarg’s name has been removed from the estate.”

“Good. It’s best this way. I want no more ties to Simon. I want him out of my
life forever.”

“And you’re sure about this godfather thing?” Dallas gave him a slight grimace.

David laughed as he observed the look on Dallas’s face. “You’re the only person I would trust with my little Ellen. And it’s too late to back out now, Dallas.” David turned to the church entrance and smiled. He waved his hand to someone. “Ah, here comes Val,” he said to Dallas.

A round woman dressed in a tailored light blue suit and white, low-heeled shoes came down the aisle toward them. She had silver hair, bright blue eyes, and a lively smile on her face. When she reached Dallas’s side, she flung her arms lovingly about his shoulders.

“Dallas, it’s so good to see you!” Val proclaimed as she hugged him.

Dallas kissed the older woman’s cheek and then stood back from her, taking in her outfit. “Val you look positively sophisticated.”

An old family friend of the Beauvoirs, Val Easterling was a wealthy widow who sat on some of the most influential committees in town. She was considered by many to be one of the most powerful women in the city of New Orleans.

“I think she looks like a nun,” Lance Beauvoir spoke up beside her as he reached for Dallas’s hand. “Dallas, good to see you here.” He gave Dallas’s hand a firm shake. “Valie’s probably gonna scare the crap out of the kid when she holds her during the ceremony.”

“Well, it’s a church, Lance,” Val declared as she elbowed Lance in the side. “One needs to dress accordingly, even if these places do make you break out in hives,
”
she teased.

“I’m very fond of churches,” Lance told her. “I got married twice in a church a lot like this one.”

“When did you get married in a church?” Val questioned.

“They have churches in Las Vegas.”

Val rolled her blue eyes. “Just make sure you stay down wind of the minister. You still smell like the bar you slept in.”

“I was celebrating the christening with a friend of Dallas’s last night,” Lance explained.

“And how is Carl doing these days?” Val inquired.

Dallas turned to Val. “How do you know Carl?”

Val let out a raucous laugh. “Carl and I go way back, Dallas. New Orleans is a small town. You live here long enough, you end up knowing everybody.” She paused and then nodded at Dallas. “He called me a few weeks ago to inquire about you. He said he wanted a character reference. I told him whatever he needed done, you could handle.”

“I shall never underestimate the scope of your influence, Val,” Dallas avowed, grinning at her.

Lance nodded to Dallas. “Carl wanted to be here today, but he didn’t think he should risk it.”

“I’m thankful he didn’t come,” David asserted. “I don’t need the added worry of having a possible swarm of feds descending on my baby’s christening.”

Lance eyed Nicci holding the baby by the sanctuary. “I think I will go on over and say hello to my great niece, before the festivities begin,” Lance said and went across the aisle toward Nicci.

David kissed Val’s cheek. “Thank you for doing this, Val. Nicci and I are very pleased you agreed to be part of Ellen’s christening ceremony.”

“I was happy you asked. At least I got to avoid going to the Hoover’s shindig two months ago. I heard they had over
200
people at their reception.”

“Won’t be near that many at ours,” David assured her. “I don’t want too much attention around Nicci or the baby right now. The less people know about us the better.”

“Then you’d better super glue Hattie’s mouth shut for your own protection. Why on earth you wanted to tell her about the two of you being alive is beyond me!” Val exclaimed.

David laughed as he put a loving arm about Val’s shoulders. “It wasn’t my choice, either, but Nicci wanted her entire family to share in Ellen’s arrival. I think it was my fault anyway. When I broke the news to my Aunt Flo about us, she insisted the rest of her family be told as well.”

“Where is Flo? Is she coming?” Val eagerly asked.

“Her flight got delayed. She’ll be here for the reception at Bill and Betty’s home.” David eyed Nicci across the church, frowning at him. “I’d better go and see what I’ve done wrong.”