The laughter did it. Or maybe just plain old envy that Tally’s love life was going along so smoothly when her time with Lucas was almost up.
“Jude’s back.” Bree blasted those words like a clean shot from a double-barrel rifle and got to enjoy the satisfaction of watching Tally sink back in her chair looking stunned.
“You are kidding me,” she finally said.
“Teach you to ask.”
“Omigosh. When? Why? Oh, Bree, why didn’t you tell me?”
“And rain on your parade when you’re floating around on cloud nine?”
Tally scowled. “You know I’m here for you no matter what. Even if I am all wrapped up in my own little world.”
“Don’t defend yourself. You have every right to be happy and wrapped up in your life. You’ve worked hard to accomplish what you have. You don’t need to apologize to me or anyone.”
“Yes, I do. If Jude’s back in town and you didn’t tell me, then I haven’t been there.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “What does he want?”
“Me.”
Her eyes widened.
“That’s all he’s said so far, anyway.”
“You believe him, Bree? Are you sure he isn’t angry because of what happened with the police?”
“I’m not sure of anything except that he’s screwing up my whole life just as I’m about to get two steps ahead.” Bree gave a laugh that sounded tired and desperate. “Other than that, my best guess is he wants to use me to get close to your treasure. I’m sure he’s come up with some way to exploit your good fortune and thinks I’m still an easy mark.”
Tally’s expression dissolved. “I am so sorry. I never realized how any of this would affect you or Mark. I thought the reward money would be a good thing. If one of us got on solid financial footing, all of us would benefit.”
“It’s not your fault Jude came back. I was the one stupid enough to get involved with him in the first place. This is just my past mistake coming back to haunt me. Period. The end.”
“Have you called the police? You can get a restraining order. That’s if Jude isn’t still wanted—”
“He is.”
“You’ve talked to the police already?”
“No, no. Not yet. Not until after they announce the promotion and Lucas leaves. We don’t have much time left together. I’ll tough it out until then.”
“You know, Bree, not reporting Jude might be like aiding and abetting.”
With the way her luck had been running lately, she’d wind up in jail. “Then I’ll play stupid and pretend I didn’t know there was still a warrant. I refuse to waste the little time I have with Lucas dealing with Jude.”
Tally looked shocked for a second, then her expression collapsed. “Oh, my poor sister.”
The heartache on Tally’s face was enough to pitch Bree over the edge. It was always that way between them. A twin thing. An emotional connection. They always knew, no matter what.
Tears prickled at the back of her lids. “I don’t want Lucas to know about Jude.”
Tally reached across the table and grabbed Bree’s hand, gave a reassuring squeeze. “When did it happen?”
“What?”
“When did you fall in love with him?”
A stupid tear squeezed its way out despite her best attempts to hold it back.
Love? How could Tally be so sure when Bree wasn’t?
“I just don’t want him to know, Tally. He’s my Mardi Gras date. There’s no point.”
“Of course there isn’t.”
That soft-around-the-edges tone made Bree bristle. “Really, Tally, I only met the man a week ago.”
“If he’s the one, then it doesn’t matter how long you’ve known each other. He’ll still be the one.”
“The one. Oh, please. I honestly can’t handle any more tonight. I can’t.”
“Honey, that costume is the least of your problems. Don’t think another thing about it. I’ll pin it between sets and we’ll work on it together until we get it done.”
“Really?”
“Of course. What are big sisters for?”
Tally was “big” by five minutes. Bree laughed and swiped at her eyes.
“I’m worried about Jude,” Tally said quietly. “He sent you the flowers. When did you talk to him?”
Bree debated how much she should say, but just sharing her worries made her feel better. It had always been Bree and Tally against the world. At least that much hadn’t changed.
“He showed up at the den this morning when I swung by to pick up some trim for my costume.”
“How’d he know you were—” She broke off and narrowed her gaze. “He isn’t following you, is he?”
Bree took a deep breath that didn’t make it any easier to spill her guts. “By GPS.”
Tally gasped, a look of such genuine worry on her face that Bree felt so ashamed for ever bringing this man into their lives. “Are you sure?”
Bree couldn’t bring herself to explain about the mystery message. Not even to Tally, who didn’t suffer from the same reluctance to have perfectly normal people think she was crazy with talk about ghosts.
So she whipped open her day planner.
Tally’s eyes widened as she scanned the message scrawled across the pages. Then she began to laugh so loudly that she drew the attention of the nearby couples.
“Bree, do you realize what’s happening here? The captain needs you to break the curse.”
Bree couldn’t reply. She had absolutely no clue what to say, and Tally knew it.
“I know you think I’ve lost it,” Tally said. “But I love you, so I’m not taking it personally. I know it sounds crazy. If I hadn’t seen the captain for myself, I’m sure it would be hard to buy even though I’m not nearly as pragmatic as you are. But I swear on every hair on Mark’s head I’m not crazy. Everything I told you about the curse is exactly what the captain told me.
“He fell in love with the beautiful Madeleine, then disgraced her by getting her pregnant. When she gave birth to twins, her grandmother cursed the babies and every descendent thereafter to know the joys of ambition and never the heartache of love. Only, from what the captain said, she thought she was blessing us. I’m a little sketchy on the details there, but I do know he needed me to fall in love to satisfy some condition of the curse.” She clasped her hands over her breast dramatically. “He’s been trapped in the ever after, Bree. He’s trying to break the curse so he can find peace. Doesn’t that break your heart?”
It broke something—the laws of probability, for starters. “Okay, let’s say for curiosity’s sake I’m willing to entertain that you haven’t completely lost your mind. Why do you think he’s writing me?”
Tally grinned a fast grin and smacked her hand down on the open day planner. “Why don’t you write back and ask?”
LUCAS DROVE THROUGH the arrival gate at the airport. He’d driven Josie’s hatchback, which, unlike Max’s Porsche, held enough space for several people and a few suitcases.
After circling through the gate twice, he thought about parking, but as he was about to steer onto the ramp leading to the short-term lot, his cell phone jangled an incoming call. Glancing at the display, he found a text message from Max.
On our way.
Lucas made his way around one more time and slid into the idling traffic in front of the airline doors. He wasn’t there long enough to draw the attention of the security guard when he spotted them.
The hydraulic doors whooshed open and the newlyweds strolled through, Max managing a garment bag and a huge rolling suitcase while still keeping a possessive arm around Josie. His baby sister snuggled against her new husband, her face alight with laughter, looking as though she was living her dream.
Lucas knew she was. And maybe that was what made the moment so memorable. That, and how glad he was to see two people he cared about so happy. Lucas and Max might have let their friendship go ten years ago, but after making amends, those years were forgotten. They’d grown up together, m
ore brothers than friends, and that bond surged to the forefront now.
In the short time since his sister and Max had become engaged, Lucas had realized that he’d never filled the empty place Max had left in his life. There were lots of empty places he was discovering. And too much discontent. He’d been trying to outrun boredom rather than filling his life with things that mattered, things that would challenge and content him.
Life was about people to care for, about being cared for. He hadn’t remembered that until returning home, until seeing Josie and Max start their future, until thinking about how they’d all grown up in the court together and how life had spread them apart.
But no more. He’d found his best friend again and now he wanted to know what life would be like with Bree in it.
Slipping the car into park, he got out. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. and Mrs. LeClerc.”
“I like the sound of that.” Josie blew him a kiss.
As they approached, Max extended his hand.
“Hey, bro-in-law,” Lucas said. “Glad to see the blushing bride didn’t kill you.”
“Not for lack of trying.”
Josie flung her arms around Lucas’s neck and hugged him tight. “I plan to enjoy my husband for a good long time.”
He kissed her, feeling more nostalgic than he remembered ever feeling. “Glad you two had a good time.”
“We can say the same to you since you’re still in town.” Max gave him a knowing smile. “Ever going home?”
“Wouldn’t dream of missing Mardi Gras.”
“Since when?” Josie said. “We want the scoop, Lucas. All of it. You can fill us in on the way home.”
As the airport was in Metairie, he’d have a captive audience on the drive back into the city. Lucas popped open the hatch and helped Max load the luggage inside. Sure enough, Josie began the drill before he even pulled into traffic.
“So what’s going on with the float?” she asked. “I don’t have to tell you I’ve been freaking out.”
Lucas laughed. “You called daily for reports. What were you freaking out about?”
“She didn’t believe anything you told her,” Max explained. “She figured you were telling her what she wanted to hear so she wouldn’t hop an early flight.”
“I hear about your trip first,” he said, “or I don’t tell you a thing about the float and I’ll lie about everything I’ve been doing.”
“You would, too,” Josie retorted, but he didn’t have to ask again before being regaled with honeymoon stories.
For two people who were obviously crazy about each other, Josie and Max had gotten out to see the sights more than Lucas would have expected. He and Bree hadn’t made it to the plantation once while they’d been at Félicie Allée.
Maybe because they knew they only had a few nights together, while Josie and Max would get a lifetime.
Before, when Lucas had thought about his whole life, the years had stretched before him like an eternity. But sitting in this car, facing a return trip to Pescadero, those years didn’t sound like forever. They sounded like a finite number to be handled judiciously.
How many months might pass before he returned? His family was due for Christmas at his place this year, so he probably wouldn’t make it back before Mardi Gras next year.
Suddenly he could imagine all the things that might happen in a year. Josie could get pregnant and actually give birth to his new little niece or nephew. Not that the new LeClercs had shared any plans to have kids in the near future, but if they wanted to they could.
Suddenly California seemed a lot farther away than he’d ever thought it before.
“There’s really not much left to tell,” Max finally said.
“I’m sure there’s more, but it’s not anything I’d want to hear.” Lucas shifted his gaze off the road and eyed them meaningfully.
“You’re a laugh a minute,” Josie said. “Don’t think you’ll get off that easily. We filled up three memory sticks with pictures. Just wait until I get to my computer.”
“Wishing you made that flight about now?” Max asked.
“You know, I don’t think five hundred pictures of ‘Oh, and here we are standing underneath a banana tree’ is such a raw deal for letting me camp out in your place while you were off honeymooning.”
Max leveled a razor-blue stare his way. “Your turn.”
“Have you been spending any time with Bree?” Josie asked.
There was no deliberation about how much to tell them. There was no question. He wanted their opinions and their help. “We’ve been spending all our time together.”
Josie hiked her knee up on the seat. Max leaned into the front, and they both waited for him to start talking.
He gave them a rundown about how he’d met Bree, his invitation to the ball and their subsequent trip out of town.
“What was she doing climbing my wall to get into the court?” Josie wanted to know. “She lives right on the entrance.”
“That’s the million-dollar question. She told me someone spooked her while she was walking home from work.”
“You don’t believe her?” Max asked.
He shook his head. “I believe her. She told me that she had it under control.”
Lucas explained what he’d walked in on at the den just that morning and how he’d followed up his suspicions. He explained about Jude Robicheaux.
“She won’t talk to me, and trust me, I’ve been giving her every opportunity. She just keeps telling me to trust her.”
“You think this guy is the one who sent her into your yard?” Max asked.
Lucas nodded. “I’d bet money on it. But I don’t know what to do to get her to talk to me. I could confront her with what I found out online.”
“Why are you so surprised she won’t talk, Lucas?” Josie asked, her voice soft-edged and concerned above the steady hum of the engine. “You’ve barely known her a week. Don’t you think you’re asking her to move a little fast here?”
“We’re not…casual.” He didn’t know how else to put that without getting into all the details. “I can’t really explain it, but we’re operating on an abbreviated time frame. I think we’re soul mates.”
“Soul mates?” Josie exchanged a glance with Max. “Does Bree share this assessment?”
He shook his head, irritated with her whole cautious demeanor. “We haven’t discussed it.”
Josie sighed. “Listen to me, Lucas. I see a couple of problems here. You have no clue what sort of relationship Bree had with this man and you can’t bully her into telling you. I’m qualified to make that assessment.”
As a licensed therapist who worked for social services, Josie did indeed offer a professional opinion.
“Then what do you suggest?”
“Be supportive. Be open to listen if she wants to talk, but back off with the rest of this. Going behind her back and digging into her past isn’t going to help. Bree knows this guy. If she wants your help, she’ll ask. You’ve got to respect that she knows what’s best and trust her.”
“What if she’s in over her head?”
Josie reached out and touched his arm reassuringly. “If Bree is in over her head, then you can’t force her to admit it. You can only support her, Lucas. You can’t make her stand up to him. She’s the only one who can decide to stand up for herself.”
“You’re telling me to stand by when she might get hurt?”
“I’m telling you not to bully her. Sounds to me like she’s had enough of that already.” Josie forced a smile. “For what it’s worth, I’m acquainted with Bree. She has never once struck me as an abuse victim. You don’t know what’s happening between her and this guy.”
Lucas didn’t reply as he maneuvered through late-night traffic and merged southbound, considering what Josie had said. The situation kept turning over and over in his head. He couldn’t see clearly, and whenever this happened with work, he usually packed up his laptop and gave his head a rest. But Bree wasn’t some technical problem he
had to think his way out of.
“I understand what you’re saying, Josie,” he finally said. “And I respect your opinion. But I’m not going to let Bree be harassed by this guy because I haven’t known her long enough for her to trust me.”
He caught Max’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “I need your help. I can’t tail her 24/7 or she’ll know something’s up. Will you give me a hand keeping an eye on her?”
Those deep blue eyes met his and a lifetime of understanding passed between them in a glance. “You know it.”
Lucas inclined his head.
“You two aren’t hearing a word I’m saying,” Josie said angrily. “You can’t play Bree’s around-the-clock bodyguards.”
“Yes, we can.”
When Josie folded her arms over her chest and shot disapproving glances between them, Lucas found himself feeling a little better. At least the dynamics of this relationship didn’t change no matter how old they got.
14
WHAT DO YOU WANT from me?
Gabriel read the words Breanne had written in her journal, considered her sudden reversal when all along she hadn’t believed her twin’s claims of his existence.
Yet there was no question why she’d taken this leap of faith. The reason sat on a boudoir chair before the window looking serenely smug with her hands overflowing with a beautiful gown and sewing pins.
“Of course I won’t leave you,” Tallis said. “But I don’t think it’ll be long until you get your answer. The captain’s here. I can feel him.”
Breanne gave a nervous laugh. “Not only can you see him but you can feel him, too. What, did you inherit this little talent from Uncle Guidry when he left us the town house?”
“Ha, ha. No talent needed. Can’t you feel the cold?”
Bree frowned. Tallis stretched her leg out and made a sweeping motion, passing her foot right through his knees. “He’s right here. I only know that because I’ve actually felt the temperature drop when he showed up.”
“Just be forewarned…if a ghost materializes in my bedroom, I’ll probably bolt.”
Tallis laughed. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“Why not?”
Going All Out Page 18