A Match Made in Hell
Page 29
Huh?
"Let me tell you my story, and then you may judge," Bijou said. "When I came to Savannah in the late fifties, it was a different time—a less forgiving time. The South has never been known for its tolerance, you know. But I fell in love with this beautiful old city. The moment I saw this house, I knew I'd never be happy anywhere else. I wanted to live my life quietly, to raise my daughter in peace."
"What happened to Peaches's mother?" I had to ask.
Bijou shuddered delicately. "Horrible woman. Never wanted to be a mother." A black-gloved finger shook in my direction. "Don't look at me that way, young lady. I left her well-provided for, never fear. She was as glad to be rid of us as I was of her."
"Huh." Odessa's opinion of Peaches's mother was made quite clear, and reminded me that she, too, was a part of this story.
"My little Lila and I were so happy here, in the beginning. Just her and me, a simple man and his daughter. I hired Odessa to cook and clean for us, to help me with the baby during the day while I worked in the shop." Bijou smiled, remembering. "In the evening, when it was just Lila and me, I could dress as I pleased, and no one the wiser except Odessa and my little Peach."
Odessa stepped closer to Leonard, as though drawn by the memories.
"But it became harder and harder to keep my secret, you see." Bijou looked away. "The more I dressed this way, the stronger my urges became. When the time came when I was inevitably caught, dressed as a woman, I bluffed my way out of it by pretending to be Bijou Boudreaux, Leonard Ledbetter's lady friend." Bijou smiled a sad smile. "And then I realized that I could get away with it—I could actually live two lives, one as a man and one as a woman—and no one would ever know."
"Except Odessa," Kelly pointed out.
"Except Odessa." Bijou shook her head. "I don't know how she's put up with me all these years."
"It wasn't easy," Odessa said bluntly. "But it was better than being lynched. A black woman living with a white man who wore women's clothes was a stretch for most folk."
Still is, particularly when they're in their seventies. But to each his own.
"A black woman working for a white woman, living in her home, now they ain't nobody who cares about that."
"What about Peaches?" Kelly wasn't done with her questions. "Did she really make a bargain with the Devil? What about this room, this house, the spirits?"
Bijou's face fell. "It was all my fault. I failed to protect my darling girl. I was so caught up in living my own life, consumed by my new happiness, that I didn't teach her, didn't train her properly when she was young. The world of spirits overwhelmed her, because I didn't give her the tools she needed to stay strong."
"Train her?"
"Yes," Bijou said simply. "It was obvious from the time she was a little girl that Peaches had the knack, just as I did." Bijou shook her head, and the ostrich plume waved. "I thought I'd have more time."
"So you've been living a double life, all these years?" Joe sounded like he was having a hard time grasping things, and I didn't blame him. "Peaches knew, Odessa knew, and everybody was okay with it?"
Bijou gave a ladylike shrug, nodding.
"Why did you lie to us about being dead?" That really bugged me. "Couldn't you have just told us the truth from the beginning?"
Tears rose in Bijou's eyes. She dabbed at them with her ever-present black hankie. "I tried, dear. I tried to get you to come to Savannah from the beginning, remember? When you refused, I thought perhaps it was for the best. But when Kelly called I—" She waved her hankie. "—I panicked. I needed time… time to figure out what to do."
"You lied to me," Kelly said. She was ready to cry, too.
"I couldn't help myself," she said. "You both look so much like her, and I missed her so much. I wanted you to come to Savannah."
At that, Bijou broke down completely.
Surprisingly, Odessa reached out and enfolded him in her plumpness, pressing the old man's face against her neck.
"Go on, now," Odessa said gruffly over her shoulder to Joe, Kelly, and me. "That's enough for the time bein'. Go on upstairs to the kitchen, and we'll be up in a minute."
"One more thing," Kelly said, "and then I'll go."
I stood up, ready for a break in the drama.
"What about the children, Sarah and Johnny? If you have the knack, then why didn't you send them into the Light a long time ago?"
"Yeah." I hated being duped, and felt like a fool for not realizing that the woman who'd been sitting on my bed last night had been a real person, not a ghost. "Was that just some bullshit move to distract us, some trick to keep us here?"
Bijou lifted her head from Odessa's shoulder. Her lipstick was smeared beyond repair, the dark circles beneath her eyes made worse by melted mascara.
"If I weren't so upset, I'd be highly offended." She sniffed delicately, dabbing at her eyes. "Those poor children have been trapped in this house for nearly a hundred years, but I didn't have enough skill to bring them together—why do you think I've immersed myself in all this?" She waved a hand toward the bookshelves that covered two of the basement walls. "It took the two of you, together, to set them free."
Oh, man. Even Ripley's Believe It or Not would never believe this.
* * *
CHAPTER 24
"Please, Nicki." Kelly's eyes were red from crying. "Please. For me."
We were sitting on the bed in Kelly's room, decompressing after the shocking events of the morning. Joe was in an overstuffed green wing chair over in the corner. I glanced at him, silently asking his opinion, but he only shrugged.
"Okay," I sighed, "but you're going to be disappointed."
Her answer was a watery smile. She blew her nose noisily into a tissue and stood up.
Joe started to rise, too, but I stayed him with a hand.
"It'll be okay, baby. We'll be right down the hall."
He looked at me, clearly concerned. "You sure you're up to this, Nicki?"
What a sweetheart. I kissed him, savoring the warm feel of his lips on mine. His steadiness was the perfect counterpoint to the craziness that was my life.
"I'm sure." Turning to Kelly, I said, "Let's go."
Together, Kelly and I walked down the hall to the room Peaches had called her own. The house was quiet except for the faint clatter of dishes in the kitchen—Leonard and Odessa were lingering over breakfast.
I put my hand on the doorknob, hesitating, then opened the bedroom door.
As I'd thought, the room was empty. The floral peach bedspread was neatly smoothed, the matching curtains open to the sunlight streaming across the hardwood floor. I stepped inside, with Kelly close behind. Deliberately, I shut the door, hearing a faint snick as the latch caught, and then the silence was complete.
"Peaches?" There was a faint catch in Kelly's voice, but it didn't disguise the hope in her tone. "Are you here?"
Silence. Kelly took a few steps toward the bed, scanning the room. "Peaches?" After a moment she glanced at me over her shoulder. The look she gave me was… well… desperate.
I couldn't help it. What did I have to lose, after all? So, with a sigh, I gave in.
"Mama," I said. "We're home. Your girls are home."
And then, before my eyes, a mist started to form near the bed. Kelly saw where I was looking, and her eyes went there, too.
"Is she here?" Her voice quivered, and without thinking I stepped up and took my sister by the hand.
"She's here," I said, ready to cry myself.
And there, standing beside the bed, was Peaches.
Her form was wispy, semitransparent. Not nearly as solid as the other times I'd seen her. But I could see the vivid pink of the dress we'd buried her in, the dark halo of her hair, a bright flash of red fingernails as she lifted a hand in our direction.
"I'm so proud of you girls," she said. "You did it. You set things right."
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I squeezed Kelly's hand. "She says she's proud of us."
Kelly
bit back a sob. "I wish I could see her."
"You can talk to her. She can hear you." My fingers were turning numb, but I didn't care.
"I'm so sorry," Kelly burst out. "I'm so sorry about the accident. I should've kept my eye on the road. I was talking too much and not paying attention and it was all my fault… I'm so sorry."
Why hadn't I asked Kelly how she felt, gotten her to talk about it? Some sister I was.
"It wasn't your fault, darlin'," Peaches said. "It was my time, that's all. Sammy warned me, but I didn't listen. The Devil always get his due."
"She says it's not your fault" I murmured. "She says it was her time, that it was Sammy's fault."
"But why?" Good question. "Why did she have to die?"
Peaches smiled, a sad smile. Her form was more solid now, more real. "I didn't keep my end of the bargain, girls. He promised to leave you two alone if I gave him the souls of those two poor children in return, but I just couldn't do it. I tried to put it off by keeping Johnny and Sarah here, with me, as long as I could. It was selfish of me, I know, but I didn't know what else to do."
"You kept Johnny and Sarah here to protect us?" I wasn't sure that made a lot of sense.
"If I let them go into the Light, he'd go after you," she said simply. "But I couldn't let them go into the Dark either. As long as they stayed in this house, you were safe."
"They're gone now," I said, aware of Kelly's rapidly growing bewilderment. "Aren't they?"
Peaches nodded. "They're gone, thanks to you and Kelly. You released them, and the guilt and sorrow that's hovered over this house like a shroud is gone, too."
I had to ask. "Does that mean Sammy will be after us again?"
"Oh, I'm sure he will." Peaches gave a little shrug. "But I think he may have met his match in the two of you. You're not helpless little girls anymore, now, are you?"
She was right. I looked at Kelly, realizing that her hand was still in mine. "She made a bargain with the Devil to keep him away from us, but she couldn't bring herself to keep it. So he killed her."
"You drew his attention when you came into the knack, Nicki." Peaches was still talking. "He told me he'd waited long enough for me to hold up my end of the deal. That you and your sister were too valuable to waste. He said he was going after you."
"So you went looking for us." She nodded. "You were going to warn us about him."
"Yes." Peaches took a step forward, hand outstretched, but didn't try to touch us. "I was hoping you'd let me teach you, let me show you what not to do, that maybe by knowing what happened to me, you'd be strong enough to resist him." She shook her head, look-ing rueful. "I didn't need to fret, though, did I? You girls are strong enough without me."
"What now?" Kelly looked worried. "How can we help her? What does she need to be at peace?"
Peaches took another step closer, this time focused on Kelly. "Tell her I'll be just fine, Nicki." She kissed the tip of her fingers and blew Kelly a kiss—I watched as Kelly smiled, faintly, as though she felt it. "I know where the Light is; he can't keep me from it. Now that I know you girls are going to be all right, I'm bound for glory."
"She's already at peace, Kelly," I whispered, barely able speak past the lump in my throat. "She's going into the Light."
At least now I knew for sure who'd be waiting for me when my time finally came… my wonderful parents, Dan and Emily Styx, and my mama, Lila "Peaches" Boudreaux. She was already fading, while the sunlight, framed in the window behind her, grew brighter and brighter.
"One more question." I had to know. "Sammy… is he… is he our father?"
Peaches's laugh tinkled in the air like tiny bells, fading in the distance. "Oh, please, Nicki," I heard her murmur. "I may have had poor taste in men, but I never dated demons from Hell. He's the Father of Lies, not the father of twins."
"Then who—"
But Peaches was gone, the scent of her perfume the only trace that lingered.
* * *
EPILOGUE
"So your grandmother, Bijou Boudreaux, is really a man. And your mother, Lila Boudreaux, who went by the name Peaches, was a psychic who was possibly—occasionally—influenced by the Devil." Butch took a sip of his freshly shaken martini. "Is that right?"
"Bingo!" Joe was more than slightly intoxicated, and he deserved to be. "Give the man a cigar!"
"Good Lord, Nicki." Evan handed me another glass of red wine. "When will you ever even try to be a normal person?" He took a sip of his own martini and grimaced. "For heaven's sake, you're almost thirty."
"Listen to you," I said. "Where were you this weekend, Boy Toy A-Go-Go, maybe?"
Evan shot me a resentful look. "Butch was working the door. I had to go."
"Right." I took a sip of my wine. "Being supportive of your man and all that."
"That's right," Evan said, giving me a look.
"Of course," I said, returning it.
"How's Kelly?" Butch brought us back on point—he was smarter than his muscles gave him credit for. "Have you talked to her since you got home?" He was mixing drinks at the buffet I used for a bar—he and Evan had been waiting for us when we got home.
"Yeah. She's okay. Odessa is giving her a hard time, but she can handle it. Leonard is a bit much, but he's a sweetheart. Kelly's enjoying herself." I smiled, picturing the scene—Odessa giving them both orders, Kelly refusing to take them. "Savannah's not that far away."
"What about Spider?" Butch put a brawny arm around Evan's waist and gave him a squeeze. "Is he a good guy or a bad guy?"
I shrugged. "Time will tell, I suppose. Bijou and Odessa have promised to keep an eye on him, but Kelly wants to find out for herself."
"More power to her," Joe said, and promptly fell over. Thankfully, the couch was right there, under his cheek. His light snores began almost immediately.
"He's really tired," I said, giving Evan and Butch a rueful grin. "Poor baby." I bent over, smoothing a dark lock of hair from Joe's unconscious forehead. "He's been very busy taking care of me."
"Thank God," Evan said. He drained his martini in one gulp, plunking the glass down on the coffee table. "Somebody sure needs to."
Butch was thoughtful. "So Peaches's death was no accident."
I sighed, taking a sip of wine. "My near death experience drew the Devil's attention. Once the 'knack' kicked in, my ability to see spirits—to steer them away from the Light—became a tool he wanted to use. He wanted Peaches to corrupt us, help sway us in his direction, but she wouldn't. She tried to get to us first."
"So he killed her."
"That's what she said."
"Wow. The Devil plays dirty."
The only way to win against evil is not to play the game.
I couldn't help but wish Peaches had never played.
"Gives a whole new meaning to your nickname, Devil Doll." Evan looked at me strangely.
Just hearing those two familiar words sent a chill down my spine.
"Yeah. Don't call me that anymore, okay?"
"Okay. I'm sure I can think of plenty other names to call you."
"Skank."
"'Ho."
Feeling better already, I raised my glass in a salute. "To the freaks of the world—may our flags ever wave."
"Here, here," said Butch, with a sip of dry martini.
"Amen, sister," Evan finished, with a hand to his heart.
I looked around my living room, at the familiar walls, the worn velvet sofa I'd bought at a garage sale, the battered old chest I used as a coffee table. The Blue Dahlia was a cool old house, and Savannah was a charming old city, but there was no place like home.
Little Five Points, Georgia, was stuck with me.
Table of Contents
10
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11<
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CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
EPILOGUE
Unnamed