"Oh great, you've turned my girl toward the dark side," Jacob growls, making us all laugh.
As we reach Bon Dieu's, Luke puts his arm around my waist protectively, pulling me close. We head straight to the back through the beaded curtain.
"I'm pretty sure I saw a movie once that had this same scene in it," Jimmy jokes right behind us. "I believe the cops were investigating a murder."
"We might be," Emma adds very seriously.
"That's not funny." Suddenly Jacob is stone cold serious.
"Relax, Jacob." I turn to give him a reassuring smile, but I can see he's not going to be relaxing until we are out of here. Walking down the dark corridor to the back of the store, I smell the familiar scent of the woman's clove cigarettes.
Walking into the poorly lit room, the same large Haitian woman is behind her little counter perched on a stool studying an old looking book. This is the same woman that told me the woman in the article we found was not my mother. She looks up noticing us and her face grows sullen. She looks sad this time. Last time when she saw me she was instantly on guard, and for lack of better words, pissed.
"Child, why do you enter my store again?" She spurts in her heavy Haitian accent. "Pwoblem," she says in Haitian, which I now know through all my studies that it means trouble.
I walk right up to the counter slipping from Luke's grip. He grabs the back of my shirt trying to pull me to him again, but I keep going. He steps up behind me as I put my purse on the counter. "Trouble." I repeat her word in English. "Why do you say that?" I ask looking into her eyes. The whites of her eyes are yellow and deep wrinkles crinkle on her forehead as I confront her.
"Tragedy and trouble have plagued many since you first stepped in my store." She squirms on her seat trying to intimidate me with her size. It works for Luke because he takes a step closer putting a hand on my shoulder. The woman seems amused by this. "Your beau is frightened for you, he is a smart one." She chuckles, her laugh low and harsh. She pulls out one of her long, brown clove cigarettes lighting it.
"I'm not scared." I reach into my purse pulling out the bank envelope. I withdraw one of the cashier's checks. "This is a check for $10,000. It is yours if you tell me what this sentence says. Reaching back into my purse I retrieve a piece of paper that has one of the sayings on it that I couldn't translate. I hear gasps from behind me. None of them knew what I had planned. I ignore them, never leaving the woman's eyes.
The woman stares at the cashier's check then to me then to the piece of paper again. She grabs the check from my hand studying it closer.
"Why you can't let this go child?" She says stuffing the check in between her very large breasts. "It says, 'An innocent, before it ' s time. To be replaced with another innocent.'" She translates the words now not looking at me. "Now leave." She acts as though she just sold her soul to the devil.
"Not so fast." I pull out another $10,000 cashier's check.
"Jesus, Lilly." I hear Jacob behind me. Luke is not saying anything. He seems to be completely focused on keeping a safe distance between me and the woman.
"How did Jeanette Thibeau know my mother?" I ask her holding the check in front of her face.
"YOU" the woman shouts, "we do not speak of troubled souls!" She starts talking in tongues frantically. I am not sure if it is my imagination, but I think the lights flicker. Lighting a big bundle of what looks like straw and tiny sticks, she waves it in the air speaking words so fast I can't make out any of them. Luke grabs my waist pulling me backward to press against his hard chest as he backs us away from the counter. He's trying to pull me to the door. Jacob and Jimmy are already escorting the girls out. Emma is fighting Jimmy, but he wins as I see her disappear down the hallway.
"Come on, Lilly, please, baby, let's go." Luke is pleading with me as I fight with him.
"No, I need one more answer. I am not leaving until I get it," I say firmly. My purse is still on the counter. Fighting against Luke's grip, I think he is about to throw me over his shoulder when the woman speaks.
"Come child." She has her eyes closed as she speaks. Suddenly, the intensity that was in the room is now calmer. This must shock Luke enough that he lets loose on his grip for me to reach the counter again. "Papa?" She says into the air. It's as though she is actually speaking to an invisible person. "No, Papa, this girl, you can't have this one." She tells the air again. She visibly shudders, as though she is freezing.
"One more answer, then you must go. The spirits are not happy you are here," she says in a much softer tone. It's as if she has had an epiphany or something. She is soft and gentle. Opening her eyes, they almost seem kind now.
"Who is the woman in the article?" She closes her eyes at my question, putting her head down I can barely make out the words.
"Practice," is all she says for a few seconds, "Mantha girl was practice, they covered it up. They covered it all up." I see a tear squeeze from her shut eye. It's almost as if she is in a trance as she speaks. As fast as she changed into a kind woman, she changes back. She looks up at me, her demeanor changes again to the angry woman we saw the first day we came here. She rips the check from my hand. "Now go!" She yells, pointing for the door. "Don't come back, child, I saved you once I don't know if I can do it again!" She shouts at us, making me stop for a second to stare in her eyes. What I see is dead seriousness. This woman is not kidding. She never wants to see me again.
Now I'm ready to go. The transformation in this woman is rather terrifying. If I was ready or not it didn't matter, because Luke has his arm around my waist and is lifting my feet just enough off the floor that I can't fight him as he carries me out of the store.
Putting me down when we are outside, he must think I am going to run back in, because he motions for Jacob to stand in front of the door.
"I'm not going back in," I assure Luke so he will relax.
"Flower, I don't care what you say. You are never setting foot in that room again." Luke orders. I nod in agreement. Whatever just happened in there is something I don't want to experience again.
"What did she say after we left?" Emma says shooting Jimmy some daggers, she's pissed she was taken out.
"Lilly asked about the girl in the article, she said—" I stop Luke abruptly finishing his sentence.
"A bunch of words we couldn't understand." I glance up at Luke who is giving me a look of confusion. What he doesn't know is that the woman said the Mantha girl. I don't know what it means quite yet, but I do know that Emma's housekeeper Maria's last name is Mantha. This might explain why she is so defensive about the article. I'm not sure, but right now is not the time I want to bring it up.
"Yea, more stuff we couldn't understand," Luke stutters.
"It was as if she was possessed or something," Lucy adds, "That has to be one of the weirdest things I've ever encountered."
"You didn't see her after. She was calm, like she was someone else. I don't know if it was all an act to scare us off or not. If it was, that woman deserves an Oscar. She was talking to someone she called Papa. Something about he could not have me," I tell them. We start moving down the street as we talk.
"Papa Legba?" Emma says with a shudder. Who is this guy and why do people keep shuddering when they hear his name.
"Who is he?"
"Folklore, but a lot who practice believe he is real. He is said to be the intermediary between the invisibles and humanity," Emma says this like it is common knowledge.
"Ummm. . . what?"
"He is like the wall between worlds, like a veil of sorts. Some believe for a sacrifice he will grant them wishes or whatever." Emma is walking beside me while Jimmy is trying to put his arm around her. She keeps pushing him away. She's still mad at him for dragging her out of the store.
"She also said she saved me once, but doesn't think she could do it again," I tell Emma, who I can already see the cogs in her brain going a mile a minute.
"Maybe she thinks she saved you from Papa?"
"What?"
"Hell I don't kno
w, I'm just telling you what I have heard." Emma starts walking faster in front of us trying to avoid Jimmy's grip.
"I can't believe you just paid $20,000 for that information," Jimmy says glancing at Luke.
"What? Don't look at me. I think it is pretty obvious that Lilly does what she wants," Luke says at Jimmy with a low chuckle.
"I wouldn't be scoffing about how I spend my money!" I yell at Jimmy who is ahead of us now with his arm around the waist of a still pissed Emma. She moves away from him, but he doesn't give in.
"Oh I'm not, just a comment. Thanks for the house by the way!" He says over his shoulder trying to get Emma to look at him as we walk toward Bourbon Street.
Chapter 23
"So do you want to explain why you didn't want me telling them about what she said in there?" Luke asks me later that night as we are lying in bed. My head is resting on his chest, his hands rubbing my back as I tell him about Maria.
"Do you think they are related?" He kisses the top of my head.
"I don't know, but I didn't want Emma storming in there demanding an explanation." I lift my head resting my chin on Luke's hard pec.
"Oh, you mean like something you would do?" He chuckles.
"Don't even pretend you don't love my feisty side." I laugh , slapping him on the chest with my left hand. He picks up my hand, lacing his fingers in mine and starts playing with my engagement ring.
"I like it most in bed." He laughs.
"Oh yeah, you like your little screamer." I move on top of him so my naked body is flush with his.
"That's an understatement, flower." He gives me his half smile lifting his head to take my lips. He sucks in my bottom lip, running his tongue along it. It seems as if there is something on his mind though. He is trying to hide it, but I can tell there is something.
Lifting my head, I take my arm and lay it over his chest propping my head on it. "What's wrong?"
"You know me so well." His head drops on the pillow. Using his right arm he puts it behind his head so he is propped up and can look me in the eyes.
"What's up, baby?"
"It's Sarah, she's mad at me. She won't take my calls." He mutters, he still hasn't told me what she wanted to talk to him about.
"Why?"
"Lilly, she wants the ring back," he says. My first thought is because she doesn't like me. Does she not want me to marry her brother?
"Oh," I whisper, looking down at the beautiful family heirloom. I remember what Carley had said about Sarah giving it to Luke to give to me one day.
"It's a prestige thing or something, I don't know," he explains when he sees the disappointed look on my face. "I told her no, and now she won't talk to me."
"Prestige, it's not because she doesn't like me?" I sigh in relief, I can't imagine what I would do if Sarah didn't approve of our getting married. Not with the way they are so close.
"No, God no, baby," Luke says leaning up kissing my forehead. "Lee can't afford anything nice and Sarah has so many school loans she can't either. She has been hanging around a bunch of rich ladies trying to fit into the scene there. Trying to make a name for herself with the board at the hospital. I guess her puny ring Lee got her is an embarrassment.
"So you still want to marry me?" That's all I really care about.
"More than life itself, I want you to be my wife for the rest of my life." He stares into my eyes, they are dark and serious.
"You know I don't care about the ring. All I want is this." I kiss his chest where his heart is.
"You have that, baby, you always will. I love you. I just hate Sarah being mad at me. She's under a lot of stress, at least that is what Mom thinks."
"I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner, did you think I would be mad?"
"No, I was hoping Sarah would change her mind. Actually, I am mad at her. She's never been into material things. She's my sister and I want her happy, so if it means making her happy I guess. . . ." He trails off as if he doesn't know what else to say. I scoot up so I am level with his face.
"Why don't you make me scream?" I give him a sexy smile.
"That I can do," he growls, rolling me over so he is on top of me. "That, my flower, I can always do." He moans taking my mouth.
That is what he did, more than once.
The next morning, Emma comes as promised to search the cemetery for clues. We don't know what we are looking for, but we assume we will know when we find it.
Wading through the overgrown grass, we walk through the iron gate. Jeffrey still hasn't mown around the graves. Emma is going to write down what the stones say after I clear them out. I have a pair of shears and drop to my knees at the first stone. Ripping and cutting at the overgrown weeds and grass, I slowly reveal the first stone. The first few rows are flat stones then there are a few rows of monument stones that are sticking up out of the ground. The back of the cemetery is lined with mausoleum style crypts.
Many years ago, most Louisianan ' s started using crypts because of flooding. All the in ground graves seem untouched so I assume there has never been a flood on this land. I move to the second stone clearing the growth as Emma starts writing down the information from the first one. I start telling her about Sarah and wanting the ring back.
"So are you going to give it back?" She asks, swatting at a bug that keeps buzzing by her face.
"I had Jacob take it to the jeweler's this morning. I'm having it reset and having matching wedding bands made," I tell her while yanking at a large weed. I finally free it from the ground sending dirt flying in the air.
"That is awfully nice of you. I probably wouldn't be that nice about it."
"Yeah, well, she's going to be my sister-in-law. I'm also having Lucy find her student loans and pay those off." I stop, resting my hands on my knees.
"Really, after the way she's been acting?" Emma stands moving to the second stone as I move on. The last few times I have talked to Sarah on the phone, mostly when I answer Luke's phone when he's not around, she's been very short with me. I just assumed it was because she had called to talk to Luke not me. Apparently, it was because I had her ring.
"It's more of making a point."
"Sounds like you are trying to earn her approval." Emma starts swatting at the gnats floating around her head. "This is ridiculous. Do you not have enough money to hire a gardener?" Emma stands to run away from a bee, squealing as she goes.
I start laughing at her, but stop instantly when I start hearing the buzz. "Run for the house!" I shout to Emma. I get up fast running after her. Luckily we get out of there before we disturbed the whole hive. The dogs who have been wandering the grounds come running behind us after hearing me shout.
"Shit, that could have been bad," I say once we reach the house and realize we aren't being followed by a swarm of angry bees. "Okay, so we will have to wait on that project." I laugh when I see the terror in Emma's eyes. It fades and she starts laughing herself. The dogs are pacing, not sure of what is going on. I command for them to sit and settle. They do, but Gus lies down with a sigh resting his head on his paws.
"Maybe we should invite Adeline over to have a look in the cemetery after all." Emma cackles evilly.
Just then Luke and Jacob walk around the house both shirtless and sweaty back from their run. They are still breathing heavy and are on their cool down.
"Why do you have dirt in your hair, flower?" Luke asks coming up to me picking a clump of dirt out of my hair. "You look flush, are you okay?"
We tell them about the beehive. "I thought since your dad had his construction crew he would be here more often."
"Well, he would if he wasn't up their asses," Luke says, sitting in one of the patio chairs and pulling me down on his lap.
"You're all sweaty." I wrinkle my nose as he pulls me to him. I love it actually, he is amazingly gorgeous all glistening with sweat. The smell of him like this does things to me also.
"Well you're all dirty. You know you love it." He grabs my face with one hand squeezing my cheeks bringin
g my lips to his. "You know you love it, don't you?" He whispers so only I can hear.
"Yes, I do," I moan back in his ear. I feel him go hard under me. No one can see because my ass is hiding his erection.
"All right, I didn't come over here to watch this," Emma says putting her hand up walking into the house.
"I'll be in the basement if you want to finish our work out," Jacob chuckles walking in after Emma.
"You're so fucking beautiful. I had you three times last night and here I am ready to have you again." He groans wrapping his hand around the nape of my neck pulling my lips hard onto his. I moan into his kiss, my belly burning at his touch.
"Emma's here," I reluctantly pull away from him as he growls.
"Fine," he lifts me off his lap swatting my ass, "I'll just go pump some iron. Later you are all mine." He winks at me pulling me with him into the house. Leaving me in the kitchen with one more passionate kiss, he stops when he hears Emma groan. He heads toward the basement flipping Emma off as he goes.
"Real mature!" She yells after him, but laughs as she does.
Chapter 24
"I need to ask you what you know about Maria's family." Emma and I are sitting at the table with a bunch of books in front of us. Both of us had cleaned up and started going through a fresh pile of books from the library.
"Why do you ask?" She draws out the question, very intrigued suddenly.
"The woman at Bon Dieu's said something." I flip through a few pages before looking up to see Emma staring at me. "She said that the girl in the article was 'practice.'"
"So what does that have to do with Maria's family?" Emma had her fist under her chin, her elbow propped on the table with a very stern look. She knows I'm not telling her something.
"Just tell me about Maria's family first." I insist, maybe she will think clearer if she is not jumping to conclusions.
"I know she never married, has no kids. Her dad died when she was a teenager and her mom died a few years back."
"Sisters?"
"I don't know, she's never mentioned any siblings. Now, what do you know damn it?" Emma has been more patient than I expected.
Unbreakable 2, The Mystery of Lilly (Cypress Grove Series) Page 10
