Suddenly, his focus shifted when he flew into a white mist that intensified into thick rolling smoke above wind whipped flames. Below, Eva was running toward Colette, cell phone to ear, no doubt calling the local volunteer fire department. It was too late, and Gabe saw the need for more immediate help. Vision partially obscured, he flew on instinct and broke through the thick veil of smoke to open the full spray of water, dousing the fire and the women as well.
By the time he landed and drove his pickup onto the back drive, the fire truck rolled in, and he went to check on the women.
Colette was sprawled in the grass rocking back and forth and crying. Eva was dripping wet and looked so vulnerable that Gabe could not resist brushing a lock of wet hair from her face. Wide-eyed, she moved toward him and rested her head against his chest. “This is one time I won’t complain about your aerobatics,” she murmured. “You just may have saved our lives and what’s left of the crop.”
The intimacy was lost when the fire marshal finally emerged from the field. “Anybody smoke out there?”he asked.
Seeing Colette had opened her mouth to speak, Gabe rushed ahead of her. “We don’t know. Could it have been purposely set?”
“We’ll have to call in an arson investigator to figure that out. We don’t have one here, but I expect he can come out early tomorrow from Lafayette.”
They three watched the fire marshal leave, and when he was out of earshot, Gabe pulled Eva away from Colette.
“I need to handle this for you,” he whispered. “Let me talk to her and see what she was doing out there.”
“No, it’s okay. This is my problem.”
“Then why did you hire me to take care of business ?”
“My housekeeper is my business.”
“And the welfare of the sugar cane farm is my business.”
Eva thought for a moment and gave him that smile that turned his insides to jello. “You win. Come up to the house for now, and we’ll handle the situation together. Rambo’s missed you.”
“Did anyone else miss me?”
“Maybe.” Eva closed the subject with a sly smile. “Come Colette, let’s get your ankle on ice and get some dry clothes. Coming in, Gabe?”
“Soon. I need to look things over, rake through the charred area and make sure there are no hidden embers.”
“I’d say you’re very good at that,” said she, without so much as a look back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he shouted after her.
***
By twilight, Gabe was finished and had arrived on the top deck where Eva, in fresh shirt and shorts, was talking to Jasper Landry. “Yes...she smokes out there,” Jasper was saying. “Everybody's got something they think they can’t live without. You take me. I hunt to the point of distraction. Done it all my life. I hunt deer, in and out of season. I left Colette and the kids at home so many week-ends and holidays to hunt down through the years. Some things can get in your blood. Do you know what that's like, Eva Marie? Your mama had a craving for alcohol and the nightlife, and Alex was eaten up with jealousy. Everybody's got something they can't let go of. Even old Lucien—as straight-laced and self righteous a man as ever walked the earth—even he had a craving.”
Eva looked up to see Gabe standing there. “Say no more, Jasper.”
“You don’t have to be secretive around me,” Gabe said. “And no one has to speak for Colette. She can speak for herself.”
“I think we need a change of subject for now,” Eva said. “While I have you both here, there’s something you need to know. I’ll be bringing Mama home to Winderlee soon. There will be extra expenses, so we have to get an above average price for the cane come harvestime.”
Jasper shook his head. “It can never be as good as it was, Eva. Lucien’s gone.”
Gabe was quick to respond. “I am here, and I will find a way to make things work. I can raise the size and sugar content with natural additives.”
Jasper ignored him and turned to Eva. “You can never bring Adele home, just as Colette is never going to stop slipping off to smoke, and just as I won’t give up hunting. You’ve been trying to save Adele since you were a little girl, and that is your addiction.”
“And I will continue whether you think it’s wise or not. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going in to check on your wife...something I hoped you would have already done.”
Colette was propped up in the sofa with an ice bag on her ankle and looking pitiful. She knew what was coming and figured she would beat them to the punch and confess: “I oughtn't to be hiding in the cane to smoke. But I thought I put out the cigarette before I fell asleep. I swear to never smoke in that field again.”
Eva looked at the woman who had helped Grandmama Esther raise her, and for the first time, she realized how much Colette had aged. For all of her bulk, she was as fragile as a fledgling bird, and the sight of her touched Eva's heart. “It occurs to me that someone else could have set the fire, but what you did was irresponsible. I’m a bit shaken up over it. I could do with a swig of your plum brandy, if you can remember where you hid it.”
Colette's eyes went wide. “Do you not remember? Ten years ago Lucien had me throw all the liquor out. He said it was the Devil's nectar. He said that alcohol had stolen your mother’s soul, and he'd be damned if he'd let it take yours.”
Eva laughed in surprise. “Was he really that dramatic?”
“My father was a hard man,” came the reply from a new voice in the room. Aunt Nadine had come through the sliding door and plopped down in the nearest easy chair. “Papa would’ve been enraged to see the charred fields out there. I heard about the fire and decided to make sure everyone was alright. I swear I’m a wreck after all this drama. What next? ”
“Sleep,” Eva replied.
Gabe came in looking weary in clothes both smoky and smudged. “Well, I for one, need to be here tomorrow morning early to meet with an arson investigator. So if it's okay with y’all, I'll bunk down here, so as not to disturb anyone when I get up.”
Jasper’s raised eyebrows punctuated his surprise. “Arson investigator? There’s no need for that.”
“Just standard procedure, Jasper. Just ruling some things out.”
Eva took Gabe’s side. “I think it’s a necessity. I should think you’d want to rule out your wife's carelessness as the cause.”
Colette had left the sofa and returned with a pair of Jasper’s pajamas and handed them to Gabe. “Go take off those smoky clothes in the washroom, and put these on. These will be too short and too big around the middle, but you’ll be comfy. You can bunk down on the sofa here, since your ol' tahyo is already asleep on the rug.”
Nadine waited until Colette and Jasper went to bed before pulling Eva into the kitchen. “You have every right to fire that woman. I wouldn't stand for it for one minute As the head of Winderlee, you have an obligation. You can do whatever you please.”
“That's just it. Because I can doesn't mean I should. I have to get to the truth about the fire.”
“She just admitted she was in the field smoking! No one else was seen in the field. What else do you need?”
“More evidence. Just because she borrows blame doesn’t mean she owns it. You never liked Colette any way. Now you can take your old room if you’re spending the night, but there will be no more talk until tomorrow.”
***
That night, Eva slept deeply until just before dawn when a thick haze rolled in from the bayou across the bay. She arose, in a dreamlike state and walked to the window to see the spectral of Lucien standing in the cane field. She knew he would be there, and she was no longer afraid. She could clearly make out the clipped white mustache and stern mouth, but his eyes were lifeless, transparent orbs. He placed one finger against bloodless lips as if to say “Do not tell,” yet he said nothing.
She opened the window, leaned out and looked down. This is a fantasy of the subconscious... nothing more. I'm dreaming with eyes wide open. Behind Lucien appeared the long departed
Grandmama Esther who stood apart from her husband. As in life, the marriage had obviously fared no better in the afterlife. Theirs had been a marriage encouraged by the dictates of their shared beliefs and held prisoners by the same. Eva remembered what she, as a little girl, had overheard Lucien once say to Esther: “Since you forbid me entry to your bedroom and refuse to give me no more children, I'll not acknowledge you in the afterlife.”
God bless you Grandmama...you of the gentle hands and kind heart!You stayed without the love. You stayed because of your convictions and maybe because of me.
Esther turned her sad, soft face and toward Eva and gave the slightest of nods as if to confirm those unspoken thoughts. Then the images of both grandparents dissipated into soft glowing spheres that ascended the fields and disappeared.
Eva was left with a sense of impending doom. She wondered if her pursuit of the truth should go any further. She had come to know about Mai Quan, but the discovery only led to other secrets that were perhaps better left hidden and other questions better left unasked. The idea of being able to lean on anyone was foreign to her, but she needed someone now. The first person who came to mind was Gabriel Martin who was sleeping on the sofa downstairs. She let down her guard long enough to call out to him.
His reply was swift and certain: “I'll be right there.” He reached for his khaki shorts and shirt and then remembered they were in the wash room and bounded up the stairs in Jasper’s ill fitting plaid pajama bottoms. He pulled her away from the window to hold her in his arms. “Tell me all about it”, he murmured against her cheek. He was close, much too close for comfort. At any other time, with anyone else, the situation would be harmless. With Gabriel Martin she was capable of losing any resolve she had spent her lifetime cultivating.
“Grandpapa is trying to warn me from the grave, Gabe. I’m not sure what he’s trying to tell me. I’m not crazy. I swear I am not!”
His voice went suddenly soft. “I know. It's been a rough day, that's all. Hold onto me. Don't talk.”
She clung to him, breathing in the woodsy fragrance of his skin and feeling the slight tremble that ran through him— or was it within her own body? She no longer knew where she began and he left off, so close were they.
“Gabe?”
“Yes?”
“Don't take advantage of me.”
He took a step back. “You can relax. If there's ever to be anything between us, I want you in true fighting form—not all undone like this. What kind of rat do you think I am?”
She would go girlish on him at such a moment. “Oh, maybe a big sneaky nutria in the cane, tasting one sweet stalk, then another and another and running off to hide, all full and self-satisfied.”
Gabe stared wide-eyed. “What?”
“You already have someone in Texas. That’s why you fly there every week.”
“Yes, there is someone in Texas, but that someone is not a woman... ”
She raised her hand into a stop sign. “No need to explain. I get the picture. I like to think I'm open-minded, even if I don't understand.”
“No, I'll be doggoned if I'll explain, since you've gone self-righteous. Figure it out for yourself.”
She dropped onto the bed and pulled the covers over her head. “Please go away. Your duty's done. You rescued a damsel in distress—no matter how distasteful it must have been.”
He rushed to the door, holding onto pajama bottoms that threatened to cause him great embarrassment. “From this day forward, I'm nothing more than your hired help. I promise not to forget my place.”
Eva popped up and hurled a pillow which hit the door just as he slammed it shut behind him. The last thing she saw was that insipid grin. What a shame that such a man does not like women. What a waste.
9
Father Renaud was on a mission after seeing Alex Lejeune in town. There was one person he figured had already been visited by Alex, and his own impromptu visit with Malcolm Bertrand left him troubled. So did the Morning Courier headlines the next day:
Sugar Cane Crop Damaged by Fire
Agricultural Manager for Winderlee Farms, Gabriel Martin, reported a sugarcane field fire believed to have been caused by a cigarette. The blaze, which consumed an estimated forty percent of the immature crop, is still under investigation. Martin asks that anyone with information contact either himself or owner Eva Lejeune.
The elderly clergyman paced the floor with hands clenched behind his back. He was feeling every bit of his eighty-seven years, and added to that, his health was not the best. In fact, his doctor had recently warned him that parish problems were placing stress on his ailing heart. Yet he felt the good shepherd’s sense of duty. Lucien Lejeune had, during his last days, entrusted Father Renaud with the welfare of granddaughter Eva. What if she were in danger? What if Alex had started the fire as a form of revenge?
Renaud’s worry had begun the day before, when an older Alex Lejeune walked into the Bayside Inn with the flower shop owner Mai Quan right behind him. He knew who the woman was after hearing Lucien's confession, and he also knew she had been a well kept secret. Renaud had pleaded with Lucien to make things right before he died: “The trouble with a hidden transgression is that it keeps bubbling up from the deep, testing any break in the surface, until finally, it erupts like a volcano consuming everyone in its path.”
In the end, Renaud did what he did best. He kept secrets.
Marcela Mouton, the rectory cook and housekeeper, brought in breakfast left untouched as he contemplated his next move. At last, he picked up the phone, asked for the number to the Bayside Inn and told the desk clerk to ring the room of Alex Lejeune:
“Alex, this is Father Renaud. We need to talk. When can I meet with you?”
“I had no idea anyone knew I was in town. What have you to say to me, of all people? Everything can be said right here on the phone. Terribly sorry, but I have no time to meet with you.”
“Alright, I'll get to my point. Did you have anything to do with the burning of the cane fields at Winderlee?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Malcolm Bertrand told me you were enraged about the will. It's a strange coincidence that the day after you learn you've been disinherited, the fields went up in flame.”
“Bertrand always was a gossip-monger, and a highly imaginative one. Obviously, that old busybody forgets client and attorney confidentiality. Sorry, but I need to get off the phone. I have business in town.”
“Does that business have something to do with Mai Quan...again?”
“You missed your calling, Father. You should’ve been an investigator.”
“Any time such a divergent pair of strangers like you and Miss Quan meet in secret, something's up. You can't tell me you were ever friends with her or that you even knew her.”
“I wanted to understand the hold she had on my father and his business, our family business. I wanted to make sure she would expect nothing more from the estate.”
“How did you know about her? What made you think there was anything between your father and her?”
“Papa was in Vietnam during the war, and that's just for starters. Once, when I was a teenager, I opened his office door to ask for spending money. The door was usually locked, but this one time I suppose he forgot. I overheard a snippet of his phone conversation. He was asking if he needed to send more money ‘to keep the flower shop going’. When he saw me, he hung up, but what I heard stayed in the back of my mind. Now I’ve put it together. Not only did she get our money, I suspect there is one more recipient of the family fortune.”
“Who?”
“The illegitimate child of Lucien and Mai, that's who.”
“That person doesn’t exist! Lucien would have told me. That old romance was before Esther, and it was a pure one, I believe. His sin was one of lustful thoughts rather than deeds.”
“You believe it, because he told you so? That's the one thing he would not admit in his confessions to you. You see, you are naive to the ways of men. You have
no idea the power a woman can have, and the easiest way to hold onto a man is the oldest trick in the book—by having his child.”
“Nevertheless, no one has ever stepped forward as his offspring.”
“Of course not. First of all, if it came out in the open, the Lejeune family would find out that a family fortune was given to this illegitimate second family. It could be considered more hush money than loving gift. Maybe Lucien threatened to cut off the money if she exposed the secret.”
“Did she admit to you she had borne Lucien’s child?”
“No. I suspect even at this late date, even with Lucien in the ground and the money well gone dry, she has reasons for hiding the truth. Maybe, out of some misplaced loyalty, she protects Papa’s reputation, even after his death. Women can be that way, you know.”Alex paused for a moment. “No, I guess you wouldn't know.”
Father Renaud ignored the comment. “Miss Quan kept herself shut away from society all these years. Her shop serves the Vietnamese village, and I know of very few from our side of town who know she's even there. Why would she meet with you?”
“Because I called the shop and told her it was in her best interest. If she refused, I would expose her to the world, and her private life would never be the same. My father was a well-known man in Louisiana, and any outsider connected to him comes under public scrutiny―especially a foreigner. I'll bet even you didn't accept her at one time. Had you done so, Lucien would have married her instead of my mother! Are we finished with this conversation?”
“For now. I have one thing to say. If you have ill will toward the rest of the family...especially one as innocent as Eva, stay away from Winderlee. Stay out of the family business. Eva is struggling enough to keep it afloat.”
“How unkind. What happened to your sacred mission to save sinners like me? I remember sitting in your church as a kid, and you pontificated on redemption of even the most sinful! You said we’re all God's creatures and entitled to salvation. Are you now telling me it was a lie meant to soothe our consciences?”
Sweet Surrender Page 5