EPILOGUE
“Beau! Beau!” Aurelie stood on the porch of the Old Pearson House she and Beau had purchased together in Bayou Mambaloa. They’d spent their free time over the past two months remodeling. They still had a lot to do, but just opening up the wall between the living room and kitchen had made it feel like a completely different home.
She’d been helping her father with his re-election campaign, with only six more weeks until the election.
When news broke that he had only withdrawn from the race to save his daughter, his polling numbers had skyrocketed, and people campaigned for him to re-enter the race.
Aurelie’s testimony to the state police and the EPA helped launch a full investigation into corporations suspected of having ties with the Cajun mafia.
Without Manny Marceaux’s leadership, his organization had fractured and weakened, unfortunately spawning gang violence in New Orleans between the warring splinters of what once had been a single organization.
Although it wasn’t in Aurelie’s nature to wish ill on anyone, she was glad Marceaux and his two hitmen had died in the boat wreck. She didn’t feel like she had to keep looking over her shoulder for the next attack.
Jason Gousman dropped out of the senatorial race. Though he was cleared of attempted murder charges, his connection with Marceaux blackballed him with any political organization or major corporations. The last Aurelie heard, he’d moved to Alaska and had gone to work as a night manager for a hotel in Fairbanks.
After dating for two weeks following all the drama, Beau had met with Aurelie’s father and asked his permission to marry his daughter.
Her father had told him he’d have to ask Aurelie. She had a mind of her own. They grilled steaks, drank beer and found common ground in their love of fishing.
Aurelie converted her house in Bayou Miste into a vacation rental, not wanting to sever ties with the community she’d just started to love. Beau would make sure that wouldn’t happen. They spent time with his cousins at the Raccoon Saloon and had dinner with his aunt and fifteen of her nineteen children.
Lady bounced back from her time as a stray by eating so much she’d turned into a roly-poly chunk. She’d been fine up until that morning.
Aurelie had woken up early, her stomach upset and queasy. She’d blamed it on the cupcake she’d eaten too late the night before. As the morning wore on, her stomach settled, and she worked on moving things out of the guest bedroom. It was the next room they’d paint in their quest to paint every wall in the house.
She’d been working for a couple of hours when she realized she hadn’t seen Lady in all that time. Usually, the little dog followed her around the house, sometimes insisting she sit so that she would have a lap to occupy.
Aurelie looked in all of Lady’s usual places. She started to worry when she couldn’t find her, and the dog didn’t come when she called out her name.
Beau emerged from the shed out back where he’d been building shelves and organizing tools.
He climbed the porch steps and pulled Aurelie into his arms, planting a kiss on her lips. “What’s up?”
“I can’t find Lady.”
“Did she unlock the doggy door again?”
Aurelie shook her head. “No. I checked. I looked everywhere I could think she might be and can’t find her. I’m worried she somehow slipped out while I wasn’t looking.”
“Let me look around. She might have found a new place to hide, though how she can hide when she’d such a chunk, I don’t know.”
“Right?” Aurelie leaned up and kissed her fiancé. “Thanks.”
“Anything for my badass woman.” He entered the house and went to all the usual places she’d already checked.
Aurelie followed him, her worry growing. “Where could she have gone? Should we look in the woods?”
Beau moved from room to room, looking under beds, in closets and behind chairs.
In the master bedroom, he checked beneath the bed and in his closet and walked into Aurelie’s closet. He was closing the door when he paused and went back inside. He parted the row of sweaters and blazers that hung on the lower rod and laughed.
“What?” Aurelie asked, trying to see what he was laughing at.
“I found her,” he said and backed out of the closet so Aurelie could enter.
“Is she all right?” she asked as she knelt to look where Beau had been.
Lady was there, lying on her favorite blanket. And she wasn’t alone. She had three little puppies, nursing on her teats. Two white ones and one black and white.
Aurelie grinned. “I guess you weren’t getting fat after all. Good job, sweet girl. Now we need to figure out who’s the father.”
As she straightened, Aurelie was struck by a wave of nausea.
She dove for the door, pushing past Beau, her hand over her mouth as she raced for the bathroom, barely making it in time to lose her breakfast over the toilet.
Beau entered the bathroom behind her, grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet, got it wet and handed it to Aurelie. “Hey, are you okay?”
She pressed the cloth to her mouth, already feeling better. “I think it’s that cupcake I ate before bed last night. Remind me not to do that again. I was just so hungry.”
“Uh, sweetheart,” Beau helped her to her feet, “when was your last period?”
She frowned. “Three weeks ago…? That night we had dinner with Ben and Lucy.”
“Babe, that was six weeks ago.”
She smiled. “I’ve been so busy, I hadn’t noticed.” Then his words sank in. “Six weeks? I’m never late.” Her eyes widened. “Do you think... Could I be...”
“Pregnant?” He pulled her into his arms. “Would that be a bad thing?”
“Bad?” She shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around this news. “A baby? Bad?” Her face split into a grin. “That’s the best news ever!” She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him until they both laughed.
“We might want to push up our wedding date,” Beau said.
“What are you doing next weekend?” she asked.
He scooped her up and spun her around. “Getting married next weekend, a baby on the way... Life doesn’t get better than this.” He set her on her feet. “I’m glad I got the chance.”
She smiled up at him. “So am I.”