Some Things to Talk About
Lucien stood off from the main path in the shade of a tree, watching the small military residence for nearly an hour. More than once, he removed his hat to wipe his forehead with his handkerchief, thanks to the Adelaide heat beating down. But finally, his patience was rewarded. The front door of the little house opened, and Ruby and Christopher Beazley stepped out. Christopher took his wife's arm, and they happily walked off to town together.
When they were safely gone, Lucien took a deep breath and walked to the house. He rang the bell and waited nervously.
Jean had just started to put Amelia down for her nap when she heard the doorbell. She put the baby down in her bassinet, hoping she'd fall asleep on her own, and went to answer the door.
"Lucien!" she exclaimed in surprise upon seeing him on the porch.
He smiled softly. "Hello, Jean," he greeted. "I hope this isn't a bad time."
"No, not at all. Come inside." She ushered him in and took his hat. "I was just about to put Amelia down for her nap. Would you like to come meet her?"
It was an unexpected suggestion, but not an entirely unwelcome one. "Why yes, I would. I'd like to see this infant namesake of yours. See if she's worthy of the name and all that," he answered.
Jean smiled brightly. She led him back to the nursery, where she'd been sleeping the last two days. "I didn't expect you, but I have been wondering where you've been since we arrived here."
"I got a room above Servicemen's Pub in town. I wanted to be sure to give you a little time with your family before I came along complicating things. I didn't think you'd really want to explain my presence to Christopher or his wife, so I waited until they'd gone," he explained.
"Yes, you're right, they don't need to know our business just yet. And you did promise you'd come see me," Jean pointed out.
Lucien's mouth spread into a smile. "I've had a devil of a time staying away."
Jean looked into his eyes and knew he was being completely sincere. She was glad he'd missed her. She'd missed him as well. But she blinked and turned to pick up the baby, who was still wide awake. "Here she is, little miss Amelia Jean Beazley," Jean presented. "Would you like to hold her?"
"Yes, please." Lucien received the infant in his arms. "Oh Jean, she's beautiful."
"Worthy of the name?"
"Oh yes, very." Lucien noticed that, small as she was, baby Amelia had Jean's lovely lips. He told her as much.
"Has she? It's hard to tell on a baby."
Lucien nodded. "Yes, see? That wide, full lower lip and the thinner top lip. She'll have a beautiful smile and a very expressive mouth, if the genetic model is any indication."
Jean felt herself blush. Lucien Blake was always very observant when he needed to be, but to think that he'd noticed her lips with that level of detail was very flattering, almost romantic. She quickly changed the subject. "I don't think she's ever not cried when someone new holds her. I think she's quite taken with you."
"Well I'm quite taken with her as well." As Lucien stared at Jean's granddaughter in his arms, he was struck with a realization. "I think this is the first baby girl I've held like this since my own daughter."
She couldn't believe that was true. If it was, it would make her rather sad. "Not even any of your patients?"
"It's different when they're being examined. I wouldn't hold a baby like this if I was giving her a checkup. No, I do think this is the first baby I've held since Li. Amelia is obviously very different, but the feeling is strangely similar," he contemplated aloud.
Jean's heart ached for him. He had missed out on so much of his own child's life. He'd been a military officer during her childhood, and Li had been barely older than five when Singapore fell and Lucien was taken prisoner. Jean watched this brave, damaged, sad man hold her granddaughter and felt a surge of empathy for him. She placed her arm around him and rested her cheek on his shoulder.
They stood like that for a long moment, gazing at the baby together. Amelia's blue eyes began to droop, and she was asleep before they knew it. Lucien shifted her, breaking the spell. He handed her back to Jean, who put her in the bassinet for her nap.
"Let's go into the sitting room, shall we?" Jean suggested. "Would you like some tea?"
"No, I'm fine, thank you. I'd like to talk to you about some things, if I may."
Jean nodded and led him back through the house so they could sit on the sofa together.
Lucien sat down beside her and took her hands in his. "Jean," he began with a smile. He paused, allowing himself to take in the feeling of her warm, soft hands in his. Well, they weren't too soft, as she worked with her hands every day in the garden and washing dishes and doing the cooking and so forth. But they were soft compared to his big, rough hands. He had reveled in holding her hand during their bus trip to Adelaide a few days earlier. Lucien was pleased to find that the thrill wasn't lost with the passage of time. He still marveled at the feeling this incited within him. His heart beat faster with eager anticipation, but he felt strangely calm and secure with Jean like this.
Jean waited for him to continue speaking, but as he stared at their hands, she prompted him to continue. "Yes, Lucien?"
He remembered what he was going to say. He took a shaky deep breath and began again. "Jean, I know this might not be the right thing to say, but I think you know that I rarely know the right thing to say. So regardless of the propriety of it, I wanted to tell you that I've fallen completely in love with you." Jean's eyes went wide but Lucien didn't leave her space to reply. "I don't entirely know when or how it happened. I seem to have missed that part. By the time I realized my feelings for you, it was already done. Your brilliant mind, your unending strength and compassion, that sneaky sense of humor of yours, and every expression on your beautiful face have taken my cold, broken heart and brought me back to life. And it's a life I can't imagine living without you in it. Now, I know you're here in Adelaide now and I'll have to return to Ballarat, but I'll find a way. Because I want to romance you, Jean. I want to…court you, I suppose is the right term. More than anything, I want to win your affections as you've won mine, if you'll allow me."
He waited on bated breath for her reply, but he didn't need to wait long. Jean didn't waste time processing his lovely words. She gave his hands a small squeeze and told him, "You won my affections long ago, Lucien. But I suppose I would like to be romanced."
"You're quite sure?" he asked, not daring to believe his blessed luck.
"Yes, I'm quite sure."
But before either of them could say anything else, the sound of Ruby's shrill voice sounded through the open window from the path outside.
"Ruby and Christopher are back. They shouldn't find you here," Jean hissed.
"No, they shouldn't," Lucien agreed.
"Come on, you can go out the back and through the gate that way." She tugged on his hand and led him back to the kitchen. "I'll come by your hotel tomorrow and we can discuss this further."
"I'll be waiting," he promised.
Jean's head instinctively turned when she heard the sound of the front door opening. In a panic, she commanded, "Kiss me, quick!"
"What?" Lucien wasn't sure she'd actually said what he'd heard her say.
But Jean didn't repeat herself. She grabbed Lucien's face in her hands, only barely registering the feel of his beard on her palms, and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was far too short, but it served its purpose. It sealed the bond between Jean and Lucien, their newfound romantic relationship, and a promise that there was only more to come.
She reluctantly pulled herself away from him and practically pushed him out the door, just as Ruby and Christopher announced that they were home. Jean stood in the kitchen, dazed, letting the electricity of his mouth spark on her lips before it faded away. She eventually greeted her son and daughter-in-law, but she couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.
Lucien stood in the garden, stunned. He had kissed Jean. Rather, she had kissed him. Her boldness was unexpected but extremely enticing. If he didn't love her already, he would have fallen for her from that act alone. When the coast was clear, he snuck through the back gate and walked back to his hotel. He couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.