“Best pancakes ever,” he replied and kissed her while Lady offered frantic licks. “And if my mother is here, she’s not here to hand me my things. She’s here so we can work this out. I texted her last night that I wanted to talk and she’s here.”

Cricket knew sometimes Rene picked her up and carried her away. Her mother had never seen that and probably shouldn’t. “But why is my mother here?”

“Because your mother is on the nosy side, and I am okay with that,” he promised. “Also, I would bet Dre’s down there somewhere. And possibly Louis. Come on, love. Let’s greet the horde with smiles on our faces. We have to get used to this. Our freedom will come at the cost of very likely doing Sunday suppers after church at either your mother’s or mine. Probably both. If we can get them to agree to one big dinner, we won’t have to do two.”

Sunday was the only real day she had off. The idea of church then lunch at one place and dinner at the other made her frown. She wanted to sit in the backyard with Rene and watch Lady play. She wanted to curl up on the couch with him and watch movies.

“Rene, I really do want to live here with you. I know it’s not as lovely . . .”

He shook his head. “It’s ours. Or rather it’s the parish’s, but we’ll make it ours and figure out where we want to go from here. We need our own place. Even if some miracle happens and I get to keep my job, I would want to stay here with you. I love Darois House. I thought I would raise my kids there, but it’s okay. The only thing a house needs to be a home for me is you in it.”

She brushed her lips against his. He should probably know that this house came with some distractions. “You should know that sometimes there are protests in our front yard. They’re usually very respectful, and sometimes there’s food.”

“What?” Rene frowned. “We should stop that.”

“Nope. That’s democracy at work right there.” She took his hand and opened the door, the smell of bacon making her stomach rumble. Maybe family meals weren’t so bad. “You’ll get used to it. Also, you’ll need to learn how to bake because the mayor’s spouse always runs a bake sale before school starts back up. Mom has been taking care of it so far, but it’s in your hands now. And we’ll need to perfect your wave. If you don’t properly wave to crowds, my career could be over.”

Teasing him was going to be a perk of her marriage.

“I will run the best bake sale this parish has ever seen, and my wave is kingly,” he promised.