Voodoo on Bayou Lafonte

by Susan C. Muller

  She was still staring at the phone when her own cell began to ring.

  Chapter 28

  Remy wasn’t sure what penetrated his exhausted mind first, the smell of coffee, Cajun spices, or the warm touch of Gabby’s hand with the words, “It’s time to get up, cher.”

  He cracked one eye open to see Gabby sitting on the edge of the bed, holding out a mug of coffee.

  “Did Ruben call?” He pushed himself into a sitting position and reached for the steaming mug. Just the aroma was enough to force his other eye open.

  One sip and his mind began to focus. “Or Jean-Paul? Did he call?”

  “Only Sherri Lynn’s mother.” Gabby sighed. “She wants to drop Sherri Lynn and Willow over here on her way to work this afternoon.”

  “Why?” His mind might be working, but he couldn’t make the connection.

  “That depression in the Gulf is turning into a tropical storm. It’s headed for the Texas border, but we’re still in the Cone of Uncertainty, and she doesn’t want to take any chances in case it turns in the night. During Ike, their trailer flooded and even washed partway off its blocks. The fire department took a couple of days to evacuate them.”

  A picture of that trailer, only feet from the edge of the bayou, flashed through Remy’s mind and he almost shivered.

  “Anyway, Willow is terrified of storms now. No one knows for sure, but that’s about when she stopped talking.”

  The poor kid had every right to be terrified. He’d only spent one night in the swamp, yet he was still scared shitless at the thought of being near one. And he’d been a lot older.

  He took another long swallow of coffee in hopes of washing the image away. “What about the boys? Shouldn’t they come too?”

  “The school is staying open for anyone who wants to come so that’s where the boys plan to stay. But the family spent over three weeks there after Ike and Willow refuses to go.”

  “Well, they’re certainly welcome to stay here.” Did he have any right to say that? This was Gabby’s house. Still, she’d already invited them. He was just being supportive.

  Gabby smiled. “I’m glad you feel that way because if things get bad, Helen Perkins is joining us. She usually goes to her son’s, but he’s out of town, so she’ll be bringing his dog with her, a black lab the size of my sofa.”

  “Is the storm why you already have a pot of jambalaya cooking?” A wild guess, but what else could all those spices floating in the air mean?

  “I like to be prepared in case the electricity goes out later.”

  Remy set his cup down and reached for her hand. “I’d like us to be prepared, also. If the house is going to be that full, maybe we should make a little hay while we can.”

  He watched as her eyes widened in surprise. Sex in the middle of the day? Was that allowed? They’d always had to be so careful with Grand-mère only a few feet away.

  Gabby’s face relaxed and the corners of her mouth turned up before she leaned over and kissed him.

  It might have been their best time yet. No gymnastics, no experimental positions—a good thing considering the way his back ached—no clinging to each other for comfort or to mask the fear. Yet, somehow, this time felt so much more intimate.

  He moved slowly and watched Gabby’s face fill with pleasure. Each time her body responded to him, a small crack formed in the wall he’d build around his heart. How many years had he wasted pretending he didn’t love her?

  Instead of trying to win her back, he’d filled his life with a succession of different women, never staying with one for very long. He’d convinced himself that being alone was better than being hurt again, and that women weren’t to be trusted.

  A fine sheen of sweat covered her body and she smelled like a woman. He ran his tongue up her neck. She tasted like one, too.

  A sigh slipped from him, unintended. “I’ve missed so much, of your life, and Adrienne’s.”

  “I didn’t always make it easy for you. I regret that.”

  “No, I should have tried harder. Especially these last two years. I felt Adrienne slipping away from me, and I let her go. I thought she was just trying to grow up. Last summer she was too old for the things we used to do and I didn’t know what to suggest in their place. Then she was sick over Christmas and wanted to go skiing with her church group during Spring Break.”

  He raked a hand over his face. “When I put her on that plane last June, I never dreamed I wouldn’t see her for a year. She squirmed away when I gave her a peck on the cheek. It’s only the last month or two we’ve even started to talk like we used to.”

  “It wasn’t all your fault, Remy. She told me what was going on a while back. She resented your new baby. When you took her over to meet him, she saw how your eyes lit up and she got jealous. When we filled out her college application and sent in a deposit for her dorm room, she realized how alone you and I would be. She felt bad about the way she acted.”

  “Crap. I should have told her, but I was too embarrassed.” Remy let his arm drop.

  “Told her what?”

  “Karlin and I only dated a couple of times. We didn’t hit it off. She spent the whole time talking about her ex-boyfriend. When she knocked on my apartment door, eight months pregnant, I did the only thing I could. I paid for her doctor, hospital, and furnished the nursery. She kept promising to get a DNA test, but swore she hadn’t been with anyone but me.”

  This was worse than telling his mother he’d gotten Gabby pregnant. How much more trouble could his dick get him into?

  “God, if you could have seen that kid, Gabby. He was so sweet. All he wanted was a little attention and she never gave it to him. That’s why I tried so hard.”

  How could a memory still hurt so much? “She didn’t invite me to his first birthday party, but I stopped by to drop off his presents. Ex-boyfriend opened the door, holding Tim. There they both were. Sandy red hair, bright blue eyes, and a cleft in the chin the size of the Grand Canyon. If that wasn’t enough, Ex-boyfriend had on a work shirt with the name Tim over the pocket.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I dropped the presents on the floor and left. I haven’t talked to her since. I wanted to go by and see Tim a couple of times, but I figured that wasn’t fair. Tim didn’t need me to confuse him.”

  Gabby’s voice caught. “I can’t imagine how much that hurt. You must have felt like he died or something to have him ripped out of your life that way.”

  “Exactly.” Finally, someone who understood. “Only I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. Adam and Ruben weren’t married yet so they didn’t understand. They thought I should be relieved. What about you? Did you ever wish you’d had more kids?”

  Gabby turned her head so that she wasn’t looking at him. “I tried not to think about that. It wasn’t really an option for me.”

  A knot formed in his gut. What didn’t he know? Had something happened to her? Had she been sick? How many other things had he missed? “Why? What happened?”

  “We were married in the church, Remy. It doesn’t matter what a piece of paper says, I wasn’t free to look elsewhere. In the eyes of the church, I’m still married to you.”

  All the air rushed from his lungs, like someone had swung a two-by-four and hit him in the gut. “You haven’t dated for all these years?”

  “No. A couple of guys asked, but they weren’t anyone I was interested in.”

  He glanced at her, curled up next to him. What a waste. He’d bet his eyeteeth one of those guys was Dan Cryer. “Then why did you file for divorce?”

  “I was stupid and childish. Grand-mère warned me I was playing with fire. You had to marry me because I was pregnant. Then you left. I know you had to look for a job, but it felt like desertion. I needed you to beg me to take you back. I had to know you really wanted me. I guess I
wanted proof you loved me.”

  Her warm tears pooled against his bare chest.

  “But I did come. The minute I received the papers. I had worked all night and when I came in and picked up my mail, there were the documents. I changed clothes and drove straight here, hoping to change your mind. You answered the door wearing a robe.”

  He remembered. How could he forget? She’d been all sleepy-eyed and her hair was tousled in an after-sex sort of way, kind of like now. “You spoke in a whisper and asked me to keep my voice down. You keep looking back at the bedroom door.” The closed bedroom door. “Obviously someone was with you. I signed the papers, threw them on the floor, and left.”

  “Oh, Remy, you did wake me, and someone was with me. Adrienne. She’d been sick all night. Grand-mère and I had walked her and rocked her and even given her a warm bath. We hadn’t been asleep more than an hour or two. I was so surprised to see you, I didn’t know what to say. I cried for a week after you left.”

  For a moment, Remy thought he might throw up. Their lives and Adrienne’s had been screwed up because he hadn’t told Gabby he loved her often enough?

  “I’ve had a good life, Remy.” Gabby’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “I volunteer at Adrienne’s school and the church. I have friends. I go to movies, belong to a book club.” She put her hand on his arm. “None of what happened changes the fact that you needed to leave, and I needed to stay. Two facts that are still true today.”

  Half an hour later, Gabby stood at the kitchen sink and stared out the window. The afternoon continued to be an unrelenting gray. The rain had stopped after the morning shower, but could start again at any moment. The breeze had picked up and she was glad she’d moved the hanging baskets, but that left her nothing to do now.

  Maybe she should bake some cookies.

  Remy had found an old backpack of Adrienne’s and was stuffing it with his Wal-Mart purchases. The fact that it was pink and decorated with Hello Kitty emblems didn’t seem to faze him.

  Gabby fought the wave of fear and gripped the cold stainless steel sink and rocked on the balls of her feet. Would whatever he was planning bring Adrienne home to her, or cost him his life?

  “You’re sure you know how to use the walkie-talkie?”

  Gabby swung around at the sound of his voice. “Yes, but I don’t understand why we don’t just use our cell phones.”

  “I’ll have mine on me, but if I have to go into the swamp, there won’t be a cell tower nearby and I might not be able to get a signal. I want us to be in contact no matter what happens.”

  They’d been over this, but she talked on the phone all the time. She couldn’t mess that up. With the talkies, she might get flustered and forget to push the correct button or something, just when Remy needed her.

  Frustrated, Gabby swept a hand through her hair. “I’m concerned that we haven’t heard from Ruben. Didn’t you say the raid was set for a couple of hours ago?”

  “I shouldn’t have told you a time frame. Those things never go off on schedule. And when they’re over, you spend hours debriefing and doing paperwork. He’ll call when he has something to say. Till then, we wait.”

  But she couldn’t sit around doing nothing. She reached under the cabinet and smacked her large mixing bowl on the counter. “I think I’ll bake some cookies. Do you want chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin?”

  Remy faced her and grinned. “What do you think?”

  “Chocolate chip it is.” She slammed the refrigerator door and slapped the ingredients on the counter next to the bowl.

  The difference between them in a nutshell. When Remy was nervous, he cleaned his gun. When she was nervous, she cooked. At least her way smelled better and gave them something to eat.

  Of course, the gun might be more useful where he was going than a cookie. Throwing a cookie at an alligator wouldn’t be much help.

  In no time, the smell of chocolate chewy goodness competed with jambalaya and gun oil.

  The first batch was cooling when the back door opened and a black dog tore through the kitchen, his toenails scrabbling on the linoleum. The animal tried to stop, but slid sideways into Remy’s leg.

  Remy grimaced, then laughed and patted the dog. “Whoa there, fella. This isn’t a skating rink.”

  Helen Perkins rushed in with a dish of brownies. “I’m sorry. That dog will be the death of me. Once he starts yanking on his leash, I can’t hold him back.”

  “As long as you didn’t drop the brownies, no harm done.” Remy patted the dog again, but Gabby noticed him massage his leg.

  She took the brownies from Helen and set them next to the tray of cooling cookies. “Does this mean the weather’s getting worse?”

  “Who knows? Not that fool of a weatherman, that’s for sure. He has to look out his window for the weather rock, tied on a string. If it’s wet, it’s raining. If it’s swinging, the wind is blowing. Other than that, we’re on our own. I’m just using this as an excuse to spend the evening with my favorite neighbor.”

  “I’m glad you’re here, Helen,” Remy said. “You can keep Gabby company if I have to go out later.”

  Gabby sighed with relief when the front doorbell rang before Helen had time to ask where he might be going. If she didn’t admit out loud that Remy planned to head into the swamp in search of Adrienne, it wasn’t real.

  Sherri Lynn and Willow rushed inside, carrying bedrolls and duffel bags. The dog needed several tries before he got enough traction to plow into them.

  Willow plopped onto the floor and threw her arms around the big dog. “We used to have a dog, but Alfred got him. Now Mama says it’s too dangerous to get another one.”

  “Who’s Alfred?” Gabby didn’t think the town had a dogcatcher, but she wasn’t sure.

  “The alligator that has a hole in the bank of the bayou near our trailer. Everything’s fine in the winter when he’s hiber . . . hiber . . . sleeping. The rest of the year we have to be careful and watch where we’re walking.”

  This was May. The gators were out and hungry. Hadn’t she just seen Willow and the rest of Sherri Lynn’s clan head to the bayou to play? She wanted to grab Willow and hug her. How could they live like that?

  Sherri Lynn knelt beside her sister as the dog rolled onto his back and begged for a tummy rub.

  Remy glanced at Gabby above the squealing, laughing girls. “I’m going to run over to Jean-Paul’s for just a minute and make sure his mother hasn’t come home and he neglected to call me.”

  Willow looked up from her spot on the floor where the dog was trying to lick her face. “Oh, she’s not at home. Just before we left, Mama sent me out back to put my bicycle away. I saw her headed down the bayou in a skiff with Papa Legba and that big guy.”

  Chapter 29

  Sebastian Guidry shifted in an attempt to find a more comfortable position, but the thin plastic boat cushion did little to ease his brittle bones. The skiff bounced on another wave and came down with a thump that he felt all the way up his spine. Damn storm. The bayou was usually as smooth as a freshly cleared skating rink.

  He debated yelling at the boy to slow down but that would only prolong his agony.

  Best to get this over with as soon as possible. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about the aches and pains of old age any longer.

  The skiff bounced again, and Sebastian moaned. His arthritic hands scrambled to grip the rough wooden plank. If that fool didn’t watch out, they might hit a log or stump, then none of them would have to worry about what came next. But the gators would dine well that night.

  But then they would anyway, if his plans went right.

  Spray coated him in a fine mist and what little hair he had whipped around in the wind. Sebastian shivered despite the heat. The nasty stench of swamp water assaulted him and he looked down to find his feet resting in an inch of
the foul stuff.

  He snatched up his bag and held it on his lap. If his ingredients were contaminated, would that weaken the spell? The moon was in its proper position but a raging storm might cause interference with its power.

  If the girl had taken her pills as instructed, there wouldn’t be time to go back for fresh potions. Even if she hadn’t taken the pills, it wouldn’t be safe to enter that house again.

  What he had with him would have to last, wet or dry, pills or no pills.

  That was what he got for depending on relatives. Inbreeding was taking its toll. Good thing he’d spread his seed far and wide whenever he was a young man. Still, finding the Hough girl had been a blessing. Between that Jewish father and part Native American mother, she should bring fresh blood to his line.

  If only her father hadn’t turned out to be a policeman. He should have punished Yvonne for not telling him herself. If the girl hadn’t mentioned that significant tidbit, he might not have known to be extra careful.

  But he did know now, and Yvonne would outlive her usefulness before the evening was over.

  As would the girl.

  Not that he minded, but it was messier this way. He liked it best when money smoothed all issues. Some girl in trouble was happy to be rid of her unwanted burden and depart with enough cash to take it easy for a year or so.

  And back-alley midwives were only too glad to take his coin and look the other way. But times had changed and girls now flaunted their indiscretions. Besides, those solutions were invariably weak and lasted only a few years. Leaving him scrambling all too soon.

  How many girls had there been over the last hundred and eighty years? He’d lost count. They all ran together anyway, with their crying and moaning, their swollen bellies. Then the disgusting mess of the birth itself. But necessary for him to live on.