Chapter 7 #2
Madam Gautier nodded. “She is family. But she thinks she has something to prove to the rest of us.” Her head shook side to side. “That’s where she’s wrong. She has only to prove to herself what she just claimed.”
Holly stared after her cousin. “That she’s a strong, independent woman who can make it on her own?”
“Yes.” Her grandmother waved a hand toward Lissette as she slipped into the pirogue without tipping the boat or splashing water on her dress. “All of her broken hearts. All the trouble she has stirred up.”
“She’s always had to have a man in her life,” Holly said softly, “and constantly demands attention.”
“She needs to learn she can survive on her own, and that she doesn’t need anyone but herself to make her happy.
We will always be here for her. She has to be there for herself.
She has to shine because she wants to shine for Lissette, and be happy because she chooses to be happy, not because she has to have someone to make her happy. ”
Holly pressed a hand to her chest. “But she looks so alone.”
Simon watched the woman press the paddle against the shore and push the pirogue out into the water. Soon, she was cleaving the water, channeling her anger into the paddling away.
Like Holly, he wanted to go after the woman. To ease her pain and sense of rejection.
“What if she doesn’t figure out that she is the only one who can make her life better?” Holly asked.
Her grandmother lifted her chin. “I predict she will figure it out sooner rather than later. She will risk all when the time comes, and gain everything for her sacrifice.”
Holly stared at her grandmother, eyes narrowed. “I thought you said you couldn’t predict the future.”
“I said I couldn’t predict your future. Go. See Lady LaChance. I have work to do.” The older woman started gathering glasses.
Holly hurried to add glasses to the tray. “Let me help.”
“I’m old, not helpless.” Madam Gautier lifted the tray with the pitcher and glasses, paused and met her granddaughter’s gaze.
“I will do what I can to help. But don’t rely solely on me.
Seek the help of others. Voodoo isn’t the only magic you should trust. There are a lot of smart people out there. Let them help.”
“I will, Mémère,” Holly promised. “I love you and our family. I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
“Then explore all possibilities.” She turned with her loaded tray.
Simon got ahead of her to open the screen door.
“And you,” the woman said, her brow creasing fiercely.
“The only way to move on is to learn from the past but leave it in the past. Life is short. The thing is, you never know how short. It’s best to live every day like it’s your last. Grab for the joy now.
Live. Now.” She disappeared into the house, her words leaving him feeling as if she’d punched him in the gut.
He let the door close and stared at it without really seeing it. The past he relived every night in his dreams rushed through his mind like a movie on continuous replay. Only, this time, he mentally hit the stop button, not pause, where it froze on the image of Johnny dying in his arms.
Full stop, where the movie screen turned black, forcing him to look up and focus on the world around him.
Holly stood at his side, her brow creased, her eyes worried. “Are you all right?”
“How did she know?” he asked.
Holly touched his arm. “Mémère has a way of reading people. She can sense their pain when they aren’t even aware they’re harboring it.
She can be brutally spot-on.” Holly hooked her arm through his.
“Come on. It’s getting late. We need to get the skiff back to the marina before nightfall, and I have to go to work. ”
“Right.” He squared his shoulders and shoved the Voodoo queen’s words of wisdom to the back of his mind. For now.
Focusing on the world right there in front of him, he knew what he had to do.
Protect Holly.
The past wasn’t going to do it for him. Johnny was gone. No amount of regret and wishing otherwise was going to bring him back.
He took her hand and started down the steps.
Holly shook free of his hand. “Go to the skiff without me,” she said.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said.
She smiled. “I know. But I have to release Napoleon.”
Simon shook his head. “He’ll attack.”
“He’ll attack you,” Holly said. “He doesn’t like men or males of any species. He sees them as a threat to his hens.” She waved Simon away. “Go on. I’ll be okay.”
Simon reluctantly walked to the dock and climbed into the boat.
As soon as he was seated, Holly lowered the fishnet from the hook on the post and flipped it over.
The rooster dropped to the ground, shook out his feathers and then ran toward his hens.
Holly hung the net back on the post and grinned as she strode down to the dock without being attacked by Napoleon, the killer rooster.
She dropped onto the back bench and fired up the outboard while Simon untied the line from the cleat.
Simon sat in silence, scanning the reeds, trees and brush flanking the channels as they wove through the bayou and emerged into the open, close to the marina.
Holly expertly guided the skiff up to the dock, cutting the engine in time to drift up to the boardwalk.
Simon tied the line to the piling just the way he’d found it and climbed onto the wooden decking. He reached back to help Holly up, but didn’t let go until she was in his arms. He held her there for a moment, loving the feel of her body pressed to his, her grandmother’s words echoing in his mind.
Live every day like it’s your last...
Grab for the joy...
Holly looked up into his eyes. “Simon?”
He sighed, brushed his lips across her forehead and stepped back. “I like your grandmother.”
Then he turned and led the way back to the marina building.
The marina owner and the high school principal stood at the edge of the dock.
Joyce held a fishing pole in her hands. Mitchell was behind her, his arm around her, his hands over hers on the pole.
Together, they leaned the pole back and then flicked it forward, unleashing the line with a hook and a bobber on the end.
The bobber plopped into the water several yards out.
Joyce laughed and smiled.
“See? You’re a natural,” Mitchell said. He caught sight of Simon and Holly and lowered his arms to his sides. “Look who’s back,” he said.
Joyce turned, her face radiant with a smile. “Did you see that, Holly? I’m learning how to cast.”
“I saw.” Holly grinned at her friend’s excitement. “You did great.”
“We just wanted you to know we’re back and the skiff is also back where it belongs,” Simon said.
“All is well with Madam Gautier?” Mitchell asked.
Holly nodded. “She’s doing well. Feisty as ever.”
Mitchell chuckled. “The woman tells it like it is.”
“Tell me about it,” Simon said, running a hand through his hair.
Mitchell laughed. “I swear she’s a mind-reader. But she gives good advice and cures for what ails you.” His gaze went to Joyce as she reeled in the bobber a little at a time.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where we can find a Lady LaChance, would you?” Simon asked. “Madam Gautier said she’s over in Bayou Miste.”
Mitchell shook his head. “Can’t say as I’ve run into her. If you want to know anything about Bayou Miste, talk to your teammate, Beau Boyette. Half the people in that parish are Boyettes.”
Simon nodded. “That’s right. He might know where to find Lady LaChance.”
“If he doesn’t,” Mitchell said, “I guarantee he has a family member over there that does.”
“Thanks for the loan of your skiff,” Holly said. “We might need it again soon.”
“You’re welcome to it anytime.” Mitchell returned his attention to his student, the school principal, and threaded another worm on her hook.
Simon took Holly’s hand and walked with her to the truck.
“No one’s watching,” she said. “You don’t need to pretend we’re together.”
“I’m practicing,” he lied. He didn’t need practice to feel natural holding Holly’s hand. It felt right, and he liked it.
Once in the truck, he turned to her. “Where to?”
She drew in a breath and let it out. “I don’t have to be at work for another hour, and I just realized we completely missed lunch. How about the diner for a bite to eat?”
“I could eat a couple of burgers.” He drove out of the parking lot onto the road into town.
“Principal Ashcraft and Mitchell appear to have hit it off,” Holly said. “Joyce looked like a giddy teenager.”
“They seemed to be having fun.”
“Gives me hope.”
“Hope for what?”
“Oh, I don’t know...” She waved her hand, “Life, happiness...love. They aren’t as young as they used to be.
I know it’s not Joyce’s first time in a relationship.
Given that her last one ended in divorce, I’m happy she’s opening her heart for a second chance at finding happiness.
She’s proving that it’s never too late for love. ”
Simon shot her a glance. “Do you still miss Paul?” he asked.
“I miss our friendship. I missed having someone to talk to in the evening. My time in Atlanta taught me to live alone. For the first few months, I was desperately lonely and depressed. After a while, I got tired of wallowing and found ways to battle my depression. I exercised, took up painting—though I’m not that good at it—and read a lot of books. Both fiction and nonfiction.”
“Did it help?”
She nodded. “It did. Once I was past the depression and the grief of losing Paul and my parents had mellowed, I was able to look back at my relationship with Paul. We’d been friends since high school, but we never committed to marriage.
I loved him. As a friend. I think we were both afraid of getting married and ruining our good friendship. ”
“Do you feel like you wasted all those years being friends when you could’ve been looking for a different kind of love?” Simon asked.
“No. I think we were each other’s safety net. Love can be messy and hard. It was easy being friends. We weren’t ready to find that someone special we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with.”
Simon remembered Johnny telling him about Lacy shortly after they’d met. He’d said it was love at first sight and that he was going to marry her.
Looking back, knowing what he knew and how things had worked out, Simon was glad Johnny had grabbed at happiness when he had. Like Madam Gautier had said, Life is short. You don’t know how short.
Johnny had been happy with Lacy and over the moon when they’d had a son. Though his life had been cut short, he’d lived it to the fullest and loved with all his heart. Not just his small family, but also his teammates, his brothers in arms. Men he'd given his life for.
“What about you?” Holly asked. “Have you ever been in love?”
Simon snorted softly. “I thought I was once,” he said. “But she chose bucktooth Bobby.” His lips quirked. “We were nine years old.”
Holly shook her head. “That doesn’t count.”
“It did back then.”
“You really haven’t ever found someone you wanted to spend your life with?”
“Really,” he said. “I dated but never committed. Being Delta Force wasn’t easy on relationships. I felt like it would be setting up for failure.”
“I have to admit I felt guilty that I didn’t grieve overly long for Paul. Yes, I missed him, but I also felt like it freed me to be open to other possibilities.”
“Like Cody West?” Simon poked.
She backhanded his arm, grinning. “Absolutely not.” Her grin faded.
“I also felt guilty that I didn’t push hard enough for answers about his death.
I don’t think the sheriff’s department dug deep enough.
They said it was an accident. Granted, there were no indications otherwise.
No one witnessed him having an argument earlier that day.
No skid marks were found on the highway.
He had no reason to commit suicide when he had a good job and a steady relationship. ”
Simon pulled up in front of the diner and shifted into park.
“Simon?” Holly sat staring at the diner in front of them.
“I don’t think law enforcement looked hard enough into Paul’s death.
And though they had multiple search parties looking for over a week for my parents’ bodies, they never found them.
Mémère made a good point. I need to ask for all the help I can get.
” She turned to face him. “If the offer is still open to enlist your computer guy’s help, I accept.
I’ve run from this long enough. I’ll try everything in my power to end this curse, whether by magic or powered by people. ”
Simon let out a sigh. “I’m glad you said that.
Because, after you went to sleep last night, I lay awake for a while, worried that we weren’t attacking your problem from all angles.
I stepped out on the deck and made a call to Swede in Montana.
I told him about the messages, about your parents and Paul.
If I know Swede, he’s been on it all day.
Hopefully, he’ll have some useful information for us soon.
” He held up his hand. “And we’ll follow up with your grandmother’s request to see the animal seer tomorrow.
We should try anything that helps us get to the bottom of this. ”