The meeting went on for another hour, but I had no interest in listening to it now and Bernadette went off to find Henri, so I settled down in a chair in the office room and started on a book I had been meaning to read for ages.

I had not been at it long when I realized someone else was standing in the room with me. I looked up to see Henri before me, twisting his hands nervously behind his back,

"Can I help you?" I asked, and I tried not to sound too intimidating,

"W-well, Monsieur, I have been meaning to ask you something…" he trailed off and I wondered what he could possibly have to ask me,

"Y-you see," he stuttered uncertainly, and his face grew red and his eyes darted all around the room as if searing for help from the surrounding furniture,

For a moment he reminded me of his mother, the way she used to look so shy and helpless around me when I was teaching her, so young and eager to please. I could not stand to see that look repeated on the face of her son,

"What is it?" I demanded, hoping my force of voice would drag what ever it was out of him,

"Well, Monsieur," he began again, and then he stopped and made to leave the room; at the door he turned around again, "This is what I have to ask Monsieur," he came back determined, "I…I am…I think…I love your daughter,"

I almost fell out of my seat; then I almost had a heart attack, and then I almost hit the boy in the face for even thinking about my daughter, "What?" was about all I could manage to gasp out,

"I know we have only known each other for a short time, and that we are both very young,"

"Damn right you are both too young," I interjected angrily, "You are far too young to be thinking about love,"

"I know Monsieur," he said desperately, "but ever since the moment I saw her I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world; and she is so sweet to me, and she is wild and confidents and smart," he turned to look at me with love struck eyes, "I just want your permission to court her; I will wait years to marry her if I have to,"

I was still fuming; deep down I had always known that one day some boy would want to take my daughter away from me, but I had hoped that would not happen until she was older; around forty or so. She was only sixteen and this boy said he loved her. I cursed myself for bringing her here; what had I been thinking? That they would just be friends and nothing more? I would not allow it; they were too young and this was too soon,

"No," I said firmly, rising out of my chair to stand; I was quite a bit taller than Henri, "I will not allow it,"

For what might have been the first time in his life Henri did not slink back to his room in defeat when challenged, "I cannot take no for an answer," I said, and his voice was shaky but he held his ground,

Damn him, why did he have to grow a backbone when it came to my daughter? "I said no," if he thought he could be more stubborn than me he was sourly mistaken,

"Please Monsieur," he begged, "I promise you no one else cares for her like I do, except you and your wife of course; all I ask is that you allow me to take her out to Paris, supervised of course,"

"Of course," I muttered, and I shook my head; I had known this day would come but I was not ready to embrace it quite yet, "Give me some time to think about it," I said finally, and he nodded and waited a moment, "I am not going to answer you now," I said,

"Yes, alright…yes, than when will you answer?" he asked,

"I do not know," I said vaguely,

"Soon?' he pressed,

"Listen," I said firmly, "You have just asked me for permission to let you take my only daughter, my baby girl, off to Paris where you are going to try to put your arm around her and take her hand," a sudden thought shot painfully through my mind and I reached out and shook him by the shoulders, "If you ever touch her lips I will slit your throat,"

Henri looked fearfully at me and I did not blame him; I was dead serious and I let my eyes show it, "I swear I will not," he stuttered,

I let go of him, "I will tell you what I have decided when I have decided,"

Henri nodded and left me alone in my new found turmoil…

"He said what?" CJ laughed,

"He said he loved her," I sighed; I was explaining the situation with Henri to CJ as we prepared to go down to dinner,

"That is so sweet," CJ said, and I stared at her,

"Sweet?" I said angrily, "It is sick; they hardly know each other, and they are still children,"

"Erik," she looked sweetly at me as I sat on the side of the bed and she came over to me, settling down in my lap she wrapped her arms around my neck and stroked the back of my head, "She is young yes, but she is not a child," she kissed me lightly, "If she wants to go we should let her,"

I grumbled, "I still remember holding her for the first time; she was so little,"

CJ held me tighter, "I know; I remember the night she was born," she sighed, "That was a long time ago,"

We sat in silence for some time, thinking over the past sixteen years and all we had done, "We did a good job bringing her up Erik," CJ said softly, "Now we have to start to let go,"

"I suppose…" I sighed, but I still did not want to send my baby girl off with any boy,

"Come on, we have to go down eventually," CJ said, getting up out of my lap, but I was not willing to let her go just yet; I pulled her down and trapped her underneath me on the bed,

"Erik," she laughed as I kissed her neck,

"You are wonderful," I said as I stroked her hair and pressed my lips to hers, "listening to you today at the meeting; you were magnificent," I buried my face in her neck,

"Thank you darling, I was rather magnificent, wasn't I?" she smiled and I let my hands trace the curves of her figure,

"I have never heard anything like it," I took her lips with mine again

She laughed, "Even Christine joined in, I think is was good for her; that woman really was God awful,"

"Well I don't think she will be a problem for some time," I murmured into her ear as I placed my hand on her thigh,

"Erik, we can't; we have to go," CJ stopped me and I looked disappointedly into her bright green eyes,

"After dinner?" I begged,

"Yes," she laughed, "after dinner,"

We went out into the hall where Bernadette was waiting for us,

"Mother," she said seriously, holding her stomach, "Does this dress make me look pregnant?"

CJ dissolved into a fit of laughter, "Not at all, Dette, not at all,"

"What a relief," Bernadette laughed with her mother and slid her arm into hers. This was what I liked to see; the two women who meant the most to me laughing together.

The mood in the dinning room was considerably less cheery. We all took our usual seats; and I glanced across the table at Raoul. He had been gone all day again and had missed the excitement of the book club. Something must have been bothering the fop however, because he was looking even more cross than usual.

"How was everything here today?" He asked Christine,

"Just fine," she said, and her eyes quickly darted to CJ, and both women smiled,

"The book club went well?" He spoke in a very irritated voice which made him sound as though he were trying to contain his anger,

"Very well, I thought," Christine responded,

"Well, Monsieur DuPont did not think so when his wife came crying to him because of what you said," There was a moment of silence all around the table, "I thought you knew better than to anger her; you know we need her, thankfully I was able to secure the deal anyway,"

Christine looked up with a shocked expression, "You…you promised you would not go any further with things until we talked about it more,"

I was completely lost and by the looks of things so was everyone except Raoul and Christine,

"There was nothing more to talk about; this is best," Raoul said firmly,

"But…" Christine began,

"We will not discuss this further here, and that is final," he said harshly,

Looking at her, I could tell that whatever confidence Christine had gained in herself that day was now gone. She looked glumly down at her food and did not say another word.

After this awkward meal Bernadette followed CJ and I back to our room,

"Mother, Father, there is something I need to ask you," she said, and I tensed; hoping this would not be about Henri,

"It is about Henri," Damn, "I think he asked you for permission to take me out to Paris," She began uncertainly,

"He did, but I have not yet answered him," I said firmly, "And I don't plan to for some time yet so you can just wait until your Mother and I have decided,"

"Yes, that I what I thought you would say; but here is what I wanted to talk to you about…I…I don't want to sound mean, but I want you to say no to him," she said,

I felt like all my dreams had come true at once; but CJ said,

"Why do you want us to deny his request? Don't you like him?"

"Well, yes, but I rather think he likes me much more," Bernadette explained, and CJ and I exchanged glanced, knowing full well this was quite true, "And I don't want him to get the wrong idea about our relationship; and I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I just don't feel the same way about him; I don't have those kinds of feelings for him,"

"Of course we will say no to him, we were only contemplating it because we thought you might want to go," I said quickly, before she could change her mind, "I will tell him tomorrow afternoon,"

"Wait," CJ said, "Why are you denying him so quickly? Why don't you give him a chance?"

"CJ," I said sternly, "The girl said she is not interested in him, let it be,"

"No," CJ stared at me, "Bernadette, why don't you just give him a chance? You might like him once you get to know him better,"

Bernadette considered for a moment, "Perhaps, but I doubt it; he is very sweet but he is so…I don't know, shy, and unadventurous; he barley leaves his room,"

"If you two went to Paris he would be leaving his room," CJ pointed out, and all I wanted was for her to be quiet; did she want us to lose our daughter?

"Mother; I just…" Bernadette pleaded,

"She said that she does not want to go, so she does not have to go," I said firmly,

"Thank you Father," Bernadette embraced me, and then her mother, and then she walked off to her room.