A Cajun Dream (The Cajun Series Book 5)

by Claire, Cherie

  René didn’t answer; he simply turned, mounted the buggy and rode toward the stables. Still suffering the aftereffects of his previous rage, René unbridled the horse and sent him into his stall, throwing the harness angrily against the opposite wall. Dropping defeated on to a bale of hay, René ran his fingers through his hair, then rubbed the back of his neck. The Judge had said it all too clearly the day René had asked for Amanda’s hand. Americans don’t marry Acadians. They may make mistakes with other Americans, but peasant Frenchmen were out of the question.

  “René?” T-Emile peered inside the stall, gazing curiously at his cousin. “Are you all right?”

  René was in no mood for company. “What do you want?”

  T-Emile paused for a moment, then decided to enter the stall, sitting on an opposite bale. “Is this about Amanda meeting Tanner this morning?”

  What was merely a headache turned into an excruciating pounding between René’s temples.

  “I tried to keep up with them, I swear,” the boy continued. “I was following them just fine but Widow Pitre made me stop. A branch fell during the last thunderstorm and she needed someone to get it off her front porch. I couldn’t say no. It was hard for her to get out her front door.”

  T-Emile gazed expectantly up at René as if waiting for a reprimand, but René had no idea what he was talking about. “What meeting?” René asked brusquely.

  Small beads of sweat broke out on T-Emile’s forehead. “Promise me you won’t be mad.”

  “What meeting?” René repeated louder.

  T-Emile quickly recounted the morning’s events, apologizing profusely for not following Amanda better, the way Alcée instructed him to do after the two women left the house. He described Amanda’s meeting with Tanner at length, and how scared she appeared when T-Emile finally caught up with her at the church.

  “Did she tell you what happened,” René asked, trying hard not to imagine the worst.

  “No,” T-Emile asked. “She wouldn’t talk about it.”

  The weight of his wife’s unfaithfulness fell heavily on René’s heart and his head dropped forward against his chest. T-Emile stood staring, while René ran his fingers through his unruly hair. The throbbing in his head continued.

  “There’s more,” T-Emile added.

  His leaden heart began to ache and René imagined his head splitting at any moment.

  “After you left the Judge’s house, Amanda and that Baldwin girl went to the bank. She came back to the buggy with something wrapped in one of her handkerchiefs. Then they asked me to take them to that old deserted place where ... what was that man’s name?”

  “Wiley,” René said in a hollow voice.

  T-Emile paused for a moment, studying René’s grim countenance. “Are you mad at me?”

  “No,” René answered a bit too harshly.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Just tell the damn story,” René practically shouted.

  T-Emile moved back a few inches on the bale and René instantly regretted barking at his cousin. “Just continue,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm.

  “Well, the Baldwin girl tells me that she and Amanda want to pick some herbs at the Wiley homestead.”

  René sent T-Emile a puzzled expression. T-Emile tilted his chin up slightly. “I understand more English than you know.”

  “Go on.”

  “So the two women disappear behind the house and return to the buggy a few minutes later. Only they come back without the herbs and the handkerchief is missing. Odd, don’t you think? That was the exact same spot that Tanner confronted Amanda.”

  René said nothing, only stared at the ground.

  “I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?” T-Emile asked, clearly anxious.

  “Thanks,” was all René could muster. His throat was dry and constricted, as if his swollen heart was blocking the air from his lungs. He rose and retreated to the stable office, closing the door behind him.

  Sometime in the afternoon T-Emile left, but René had lost all track of time. When he finally noticed the sun approaching the horizon, he knew what he had to do. Before darkness settled in, he would make a trip to the old Wiley homestead.

  A Cajun Dream

  Chapter Thirteen

  Amanda watched the oncoming thunderstorms from the back gallery, counting the seconds between the violent flashes of lightning and the echoing claps of thunder. Within minutes the storm would be upon them. She had secured the items on the galleries, closed all the windows and brought in the children’s playthings that were lying on the ground by the backyard well. With toys in tow, Colette had ushered Alex and Pierre to bed. T-Emile had retired early after an evening of shy glances and little conversation. Amanda thought they had developed a friendship, but T-Emile’s actions tonight made her wonder if he wasn’t just being nice on the buggy rides to town.

  Or maybe something was wrong. She had asked T-Emile and he refused to answer.

  Then René didn’t come home for dinner.

  Something was wrong, Amanda surmised as she stared out toward the stables. A serious storm was approaching and René was nowhere to be found.

  “You better come in before it starts raining,” Alcée said as he brought in the last tools from the fields.

  “Where is he?” Amanda asked, trying to keep the anxiety from her voice.

  Alcée pulled his hat from his head and wiped the sweat from his brow. “You know René. Always working.”

  “In weather like this? It’s past sunset. What could he possibly do in the dark?”

  Alcée placed the tools at the side of the house, and Amanda could tell by the look on his face that he, too, was concerned. “I’ll go look for him.”

  “Look for whom?” René emerged from the darkness, rounding the side of the house from the opposite direction of the stables. Both Amanda and Alcée had to turn to find him in the darkness.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Alcée asked, confirming Amanda’s fears that he was very concerned about his nephew. Alcée never would have used profanity in front of her under normal circumstances.

  “Went for a walk.”

  As René neared, and his eyes met hers, Amanda shivered. Something was definitely wrong. His clothes were dirty and ruffled, not like him at all, and his expression was haunting, his gaze icy. He looked at her so intensely, she felt as if his stare could turn her to stone.

  “What has happened?” Alcée asked, apparently feeling the same chill.

  “Why don’t you ask Madame Comeaux?” René answered unemotionally, never taking his eyes off his wife.

  Alcée glanced briefly at Amanda, but she could not look away from René. Her heart lodged itself in her throat. It wasn’t possible that René could have known about their trip to the Wiley homestead.

  “I don’t understand,” Alcée said, when neither René or Amanda answered.

  Finally, René’s eyes left Amanda’s and he reached inside the breast pocket of his vest. He pulled out something soft and white and thrust it into Amanda’s hands.

  Startled by his sudden reaction, Amanda didn’t comprehend at first what she held. It wasn’t until Alcée spoke that she realized why René was angry.

  “A handkerchief?” Alcée asked.

  In the midst of several bouts of thunder, Amanda gasped. The sound fell about the group with more intensity than the impending storm. She closed her eyes, wondering how she would explain this one. Instead, René began to speak.

  “You see, Alcée, my wife has been secretly meeting with Henry Tanner.”

  Amanda swallowed hard at the accusation and instantly came to life. “That’s not true.”

  René moved so close to her she could make out the bloodshot streaks in his eyes. “You must have thought me such a fool, my dear, to think you would have forgotten a man you eloped with. Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find out?”

  Amanda stepped back a pace, horrified. “I never eloped with Henry Tanner.”

  “You said it yourself a
t Port Cocodrie.”

  “I never said I eloped,” Amanda explained. “I asked him to escort me that night to a ball my father had forbidden me to go to. It was a secret arrangement only because of my father; it was never to be an elopement.” As hard as she tried, Amanda couldn’t keep the emotion out of her voice. She was close to tears.

  “Maybe we should all calm down and talk about this sensibly,” Alcée interjected, as the thunder became louder.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” René said, his voice rising over the noise. “If you didn’t elope, what the hell were you doing at Port Cocodrie with him?”

  “My best friend Sally arranged for Tanner to take me to the ball at the Franklin Exchange,” Amanda said, the tears beginning to fall as she recounted that horrific night. “She told Tanner I was in need of a little romance. He took it the wrong way. He needed money to pay off a gambling debt and he thought I’d be happy to have him as a husband and that my father would pay for the marriage to take place.”

  “If that’s true, then why have you been secretly meeting him?” René demanded.

  “I haven’t been secretly meeting anyone,” Amanda continued through sobs. “He threatened me this afternoon. He told me if I didn’t pay him three thousand dollars he would tell my father lies about you. And if I told you about our meeting today, he would kill you. So I took out what little money I had in the bank and placed it at that old house down the road. Sally and I hoped he would take the money and go to Texas.”

  Amanda hung her head in defeat. “I never meant for anything like this to happen,” she said quietly, almost to herself. “I only wanted a kiss. And Katherine said Henry Tanner always kissed the girls on the buggy rides home.”

  Amanda raised her handkerchief to her face and cried freely. Alcée placed a loving arm about her shoulders and pulled her close.

  “A kiss?” René repeated as the lightning overhead illuminated his face, now filled with hurt and regret. “You expected a kiss from Tanner?”

  It all seemed so logical at the time. Now, the idea of kissing Henry Tanner was ludicrous. Her father was right. She was a naive girl who knew nothing about life. Amanda couldn’t bear to meet René’s eyes, so she simply nodded.

  René raised his eyes to the heavens in exasperation. “Why didn’t you ask me?” he asked incredulously, his voice filled with emotion.

  Amanda looked at him then, knowing well the answer. Sometimes the most obvious solution to a problem is the hardest to achieve. “Because you’re an Acadian,” she said softly.

  René stared at her hard, closed his eyes tightly as if to erase the words she had spoken, then smiled grimly and looked away. He shook his head slightly, then walked off into the darkness amidst the howling wind of the storm.

  Alcée gave Amanda one last squeeze on her shoulders, then left to follow René.

  Amanda stood frozen, watching the men walk out of sight. Out of the corner of her eye she recognized movement and saw Colette and the children huddled on the stairs, obviously wakened by the shouting. Suddenly, she felt extremely tired and wondered if she would collapse on the spot. Colette must have read her mind, for her hands were about her waist, leading her up the stairs to the sanctuary of her room.

  While Colette helped her undress, the sobbing rose unbridled from Amanda’s chest. Colette whispered something soothing in French as she pulled on Amanda’s nightgown and tucked her into bed. Amanda’s sobs continued unabated, so Colette sang her a ballad while softly stroking her hair. Amanda recognized the song as one her mother used to sing to her as a child. Closing her eyes, she prayed for sleep to end the relentless pain pressing at her heart.

  Five hundred lousy dollars, Tanner thought with disgust, fingering the marks left on his throat by René. He told the bitch three thousand. Did Amanda really think she could dismiss him so easily, waving him off with change when the Richardsons were loaded with sugar cane money?

  Maybe the Cajun put her up to it, Tanner thought. Maybe the stupid girl told René what happened, and he suggested leaving those few dollar bills at the Wiley place for spite. The two of them were probably laughing right now at his expense.

  They won’t be laughing much longer, Tanner decided, pulling out a pair of pistols from his traveling sack.

  “What are you planning on doing with those?”

  What once had been a welcomed affair was now becoming severely annoying. Tanner didn’t know how Katherine managed to find him at his friend’s hunting cabin several miles out of town, but she sure as hell wasn’t welcome.

  “I don’t remember asking you here.”

  “You’re leaving,” Katherine said, pointing down to his belongings that had been quickly thrust into a sack and a saddlebag.

  “My, aren’t we observant,” Tanner said sarcastically.

  “Take me with you.”

  Tanner was in no mood for an emotional female. He grabbed Katherine by the arm and forcefully led her to the door. She grasped his meaning and began to protest.

  “You must take me with you,” she pleaded. “I’m with child.”

  The news caused Tanner to stop, but only briefly. Then he smiled. “Now how are you going to explain this to Bernard?”

  Katherine’s eyes widened in shock. “You can’t leave me. I’ll be ruined.”

  Tanner urged her forward toward the door. “How awful for you. Now, if you don’t mind, I really want you gone.”

  Katherine yanked her arm free and placed both hands flat against the door, staring back at Tanner as if daring him to throw her out. “I know you don’t have a sister,” Katherine said emotionally, fighting back tears.

  Tanner had to laugh. Where did he find these women?

  Before he could reach for her arm, Katherine picked up a pistol and pointed it in his direction. She really was an idiot, Tanner thought to himself, believing she could kill him with an unloaded weapon. He knew he would have to get physical.

  “I know what you did to Amanda,” Katherine said. “I know you kidnapped her and took her to Côte Blanche Bay in the middle of the night, that you wanted to blackmail her father. I know about the gambling.”

  The smile creasing Tanner’s lips disappeared. He was growing tired of the conversation.

  “I’m going to tell the Judge everything,” Katherine continued, her emotions breaking through her forced tough exterior. “Including how you took advantage of me.”

  Tanner had had enough. The worst week of his life wouldn’t end. But he was going to make it end — now. He would have his three thousand by Monday. And these people causing problems were going to be eliminated. Starting with Katy Blanchard.

  Holding the bucket tightly with both hands, Alcée planted his feet firmly on the ground before emptying the water on top of his nephew’s head. The water did its job. René bolted upright, staring wide-eyed at his uncle.

  “Awake?”

  “What the hell do you think...?” René began shouting.

  Alcée brought up another bucket threatening. René immediately stopped talking, but the angry expression never left his face. Alcée leaned down on one knee to get a close-up look at his nephew. “The question, my dear boy, is what the hell are you doing sleeping out here?”

  René ignored him, stood up and began picking the wet hay from his clothes. His actions were futile; the hay clung to him tenaciously. “Leave me alone,” René grumbled.

  “So she asked another man for a kiss. Have you looked into her eyes lately? Your wife loves you, you fool.”

  “Leave me alone,” René repeated, louder.

  “Don’t do this, René. Don’t hurt that sweet girl. She made a mistake. It’s over now.”

  “Is it?” René asked with a sarcastic smile. “She’s still an American and I’m still an Acadian. That’s never going to change.”

  “Her father wouldn’t let her associate with the French, you know that. I hardly think any of this is her fault.”

  “Her father made it clear she would not accept the affections of an Acadian
.”

  “Then why did she wait for you at the fence every morning?” Alcée wanted to knock René’s head against the wall. “She told me herself...”

  “I was a novelty in a strange-looking hat.”

  “René, you know better than that.”

  René closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead between two fingers. Alcée recognized the gesture; René performed the same movements every time Alcée lectured him on working too hard. Alcée imagined his nephew was trying to build a wall inside his head to block out his words. Sighing, Alcée placed his hands on his hips and examined the stable rafters. “I don’t know how to get through to you anymore.”

  René opened his eyes and shot him an icy stare. “Then don’t.”

  Alcée shook his head and dropped the bucket. “Fine. It’s your life.” As he exited the stables, he left René with one last thought. “I’ll let you explain this to your mother. She’s waiting for you at the house.”

  As hard as she tried, Amanda could not seem to leave her bed. She rose several times that morning, but repeatedly returned. She managed to dress and fix her hair, but couldn’t muster enough strength to venture downstairs. She couldn’t face the painful, accusing stares of the household, especially René. Every time her eyes dared a glimpse of her smiling husband gazing down from the wall, her heart froze. Why, when she was so close to happiness, had it been snatched from her grasp?

  Amanda heard a buggy arrive and Colette speaking excitedly with another Acadian. The buggy left, but she thought she heard a strange woman’s voice on the downstairs gallery.

  She didn’t even try to listen in on their conversation, which, she suspected, probably concerned her. Her mind felt dead, oblivious to everything.

  After a few minutes, Colette knocked on the door. “Amanda, may I come in?”

  When Amanda didn’t answer, Colette entered, placing a motherly hand upon her forehead. “Are you ill, child?” Colette asked, sitting next to her on the bed.