CHAPTER 12
HAMMER
The sound of drums close by filters into my dreamscape, but it makes no fucking sense. The crew is off today which means there shouldn’t be any work being done. There shouldn’t be any drumming happening.
I sit up suddenly, the grip I have on Laiken bringing her with me. She groans and tries to burrow in my chest, which is adorable, but a distraction I can’t afford at the moment.
“Wake up, Laiken,” I murmur forcefully.
She blinks up at me a few times and then her eyebrows pull together in confusion. I can only nod because, yeah, she’s starting to understand why we need to be awake right now.
I don’t know what is going on, but drums are basically the last sound we should be hearing. Then, when I listen a little closer, there’s the cadence and softness of a woman’s voice chanting underneath the sound of the drums.
She must hear it too because we both scramble from the bed at the same time, reaching for clothes and pulling them on quickly, not really caring what it is we slip on.
Laiken hisses, “You undressed me last night outside at your bike and didn’t bring in those clothes.”
“We’ll grab them once we figure out what the fuck that noise is and why it sounds like it’s getting louder,” I promise.
She shoots me a look but doesn’t argue. I’m taking it as a win. For now.
When I hold my hand out for her, she slips her hand into mine and we move toward the door together. Side by side. It’s how we’ll face life from now on.
Remembering last night, I almost can’t believe that she told me she loves me.
I knew she was feeling it; it was obvious.
I just wasn’t sure how long it was going to take for her to admit it, but I’m glad she finally did.
It was getting increasingly difficult not to shout my love for my woman out for all of New Orleans to witness.
Now, it’s out there and I couldn’t be happier. She loves me.
Fuck. It’s almost too good to be true.
I give her hand a squeeze and she squeezes right back as we open the door and step out into the house.
As we make our way toward the front of the house, I can feel the vibrations of the drums and something like footsteps or a dance through my feet.
The woman’s voice grows in volume and intensity as well.
When we step into the room the sound is coming from, Laiken and I freeze in place.
There, in the main part of the house, is Rene.
She’s surrounded by white drawings on the floor, has a drum in her hand and is wearing a flowing white dress splattered in blood.
There are bowls surrounded by candles where the nexus of the symbols on the ground seem to be.
If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the bowls are filled with blood.
“What the fuck?” Laiken’s high pitched question grabs Rene’s attention.
Rene pauses her movements for a moment but then continues, slower and more languid. The rhythm of the drum she’s playing smooths out from frantic into something almost sensual. The woman approaches on feet which don’t seem to touch the ground even though I can feel every one of her footsteps.
“I came to bless you, kin of the last Landry woman touched by the curse,” Rene’s voice has an ominous quality to it, one that reaches past the here and now and into an understanding beyond my comprehension.
“I’m not giving you my man,” Laiken curls her lip, the threat clear in her tone.
“I know,” Rene bows slightly with her words.
“That is part of why I am here. This land is now protected by pure love, love brought together by the fates. It is a love which is to be protected. I cannot stand by and allow such a love to bloom on cursed land. It will not do. It would not allow the balance which I seek to always restore.”
All I can do is shake my head because I have no fucking idea what this woman is talking about.
“Not only will I break this curse and bless this house,” Rene looks between us, “but I will bless the two of you and your family. You will see great prosperity and,” she giggles, “many babies.”
Her hand shoots out and hovers over Laiken’s lower abdomen before we even realize it’s happening. She chants something under her breath and then smiles brightly like she’s proud of what she just did.
After she waves her hand toward the front door, I pull Laiken away from the scene and outside. I might have lived in New Orleans for a long time, but that doesn’t mean I understand a damn thing about Voodoo.
If she wants to cleanse the house or whatever, I’m not going to stop her.
The moment we’re outside, Laiken breathes out, “How did she even know where we live?”
It’s a damn good question and one I intend to ask once she’s done. I lead my woman over to a bench not far off the front porch and amongst the gardens I hope to eventually get back to their former glory.
My eyes trace over the house. It’s coming along and it will be really fucking amazing when everything is done. Laiken snuggles into my side and rests her head against my shoulder.
“You’ll move in here with me, right? When everything is all done?”
There’s a vulnerability in her voice that I hate. She should never question a damn thing when it comes to me. But I also understand it takes time.
“I’m already moved in,” I point out.
She smacks me with the back of her hand without lifting her head. “You know what I mean,” she grumbles.
“There isn’t anywhere I’d rather be,” I promise and kiss the top of her head. “This house is amazing. I can picture our family here making memories and throwing parties. I can hear the laughter of our kids filling the rooms. Our future is here, Laiken.”
“I feel it too,” she whispers. “I can picture it so clearly that it scares the hell out of me.”
Movement in one of the upper windows catches both of our attention and we look up. It’s the same woman I’ve seen in the window before, the one who looks out of touch with time and out of place with reality.
“Blanche,” Laiken breathes out.
I sit up a little straighter, my mind trying to process what I’m seeing and struggling with it. The woman looks away from us for a moment and seems to take in the land around us and it feels like she’s saying goodbye. Then she meets our gazes again and smiles before fading away.
Laiken gasps and starts to stand but I hold her in place. When I look over at her, tears are falling down her cheeks.
“She’s finally at peace,” she sobs.
I wrap my arms around my woman and pull her into my lap, letting her cry against my shoulder. This woman. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her.
She’s all heart, that’s for damn sure.
“I love you, my little Mischief-maker.”
I whisper soothing words against her hair as she cries for the heartbreak of a woman she never knew, a woman she wasn’t even related to, but a woman whose story became woven with her own. I don’t tell her it’ll be okay; I just allow her to feel it all.
“I love you,” she sobs against my chest.
After her tears stopped and we’ve sat in silence together for a while, just breathing with the world around us, the front door swings open and Rene steps out. When she sees us, the smile on her face softens with understanding.
Her footsteps are light as she approaches before sitting on the bench with us, Laiken still curled up in my lap right where she is meant to be. Rene’s black eyes look between us, assessing, before she takes a deep, cleansing breath and lets it out slowly.
“It is done,” she promises. “There is no longer a curse entangled with the roots of this land. Not that it would have touched either of you. It was only intended to hurt the Landry line because a woman felt scorned in her love and never properly seen. It could have all been prevented, but the cowardice of man prevailed as it often does. Desiree was not an evil woman,” she sighs.
Laiken gasps and sits up straighter in my lap. “You know about Desiree?”
Rene nods sadly and glances away before bringing her dark eyes back to meet he grey orbs of my woman. “I am of her blood. The daughter she had, she is my kin.”
Laiken presses a hand against her chest, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry for the pain caused by Phillip. Desiree didn’t deserve it any more than Blanche did. Both were betrayed and both had to keep on living. I wish their story ended with them forging a friendship.”
“Yes,” Rene agrees with a nod, “it would have been a happier ending, but pride is often a stumbling block when it comes to friendship and love, especially when someone feels it has been stolen.”
My woman sighs and nods as she relaxes back against me. “Thank you for your help. I hope the spirits attached to this place can find their rest now.”
“They already have,” she promises. “I’m sorry for last night,” she adds with a whisper.
“That was quite a show,” my woman’s voice hardens slightly, but it remains warm.
“I sensed your love, but I had to test it to make sure.” Rene looks away again, her eyes moving over the land which should be partially hers. “Marilyn came looking for me many times and I chose not to show myself. Even though I believe her intentions were pure, her ties were not.”
Laiken bites her lip and nods. When she glances at me, I know what she’s thinking. My woman is all heart.
“This place should be yours. You have more of a claim on it than I do,” my woman’s voice doesn’t waiver with her words, they are strong with conviction.
“No,” Rene insists, “this land craves true love after being twisted in darkness for so long and that is what the two of you will give it. The two of you and,” she pauses and reaches over to touch my woman’s flat belly, “and the family you will grow here. Treat the land well, bring the house back to glory, and love. That is all that is required and all that is expected.”
Laiken blinks a few times before covering Rene’s hand with her own. When Rene slips her hand from underneath it and stands, the smile she gives us is as bright as the sun shining down on us.
Before either of us knows what is happening, she leans over and kisses both of our foreheads and chants some words I don’t understand. Then she glides away as if she were never there to begin with.
What remains is the sense of new beginnings wrapping around us along with a peace so profound it almost makes me tear up, though I’ll never admit it to anyone. When I look down at Laiken, she’s already looking up at me.
I take her mouth in a kiss which is brutal in its sweetness and devastating in its promises. It speaks of our love and our commitment, not just to each other but to this house and land.
“We will give the land what it wants,” Laiken whispers against my lips.
All I can do is nod.
If pressed I would say that I don’t believe in hauntings or Voodoo or spirits. But I do believe in the love I have for this woman and the power that brought her to me, whatever it may be.
I’ll never let her go.
My little Mischief-maker gets a contemplative look on her face before blurting, “Do you think she was trying to tell me I’m already pregnant? Even though I’m on the shot?”
The grin that overtakes my face is wide and when she glances up at me, she freezes. I wink at her and admit, “I think it’s exactly what she was saying.”
“Well, fuck,” my woman groans and all I can do is throw my head back and laugh.
Even if she’s not pregnant now, it’s just a matter of time. Our family will grow and breathe life into this house. Our future will be bright, and I’ll bend over backwards to ensure my woman is happy.
And that’s more than enough for me.