by Zoe Dawson
“That’s where my son Booker and his fiancé, Aubree, live.”
“Booker. He’s the writer, correct?”
“Yes. He’s done very well with that. Bought me my house and insisted I take it easy. It’s been a year, but I’m getting restless. I need to find something to keep me busy.”
“What do you enjoy doing?”
“Besides the scrounging you caught me doin’ the other day? Antiquing. I salvaged and refinished all my own furniture by necessity.”
“All that stuff in your house you repurposed?”
“Yes, all of it. Booker wanted me to buy everything new, but I had the best time scrounging and fixin’ things up. I’ve actually got quite a bit of stuff in that shed behind my house. I even found the wood that Brax used to redo his floors. That boy is just like his momma. He didn’t want a new home, wanted something he could make his own.”
“Sounds as independent as you are.”
“He is. Brax started helping me when he was young. By the time he was sixteen, he was cooking just about all the meals. He’s a natural, like my sister.”
“Thank you for telling Boone that my sister-in-law wanted those lanterns. You do have a handsome son there.”
“I feared for Boone when he was in high school, but he turned his life around. You probably heard about the scandal with him and Verity Fairchild.”
“Sugar, we live in a small town.”
She nodded “And people love to talk about us. I have a grandson named Duel.”
“Duel? Ha! That’s priceless.”
Evie chuckled. “Verity is a feisty little thing, and she’s come into her own. She’s a wonderful mother, and Boone has made me so darned proud.”
“They are all accomplished.”
“I guess it’s because they had to grow up so fast. My boys may be young, but none of them is afraid of hard work. Booker wrote in high school. His talent was evident to me and Mrs. Dalton—the sheriff’s wife and Aubree’s momma. She helped him along, and he is now a bestselling author.”
“Sounds to me,” I said, covering her hand, “like they had a very good role model.”
She entwined her fingers with mine and my heart skipped a beat. I had a feeling it was often going to be irregular when I was around this woman.
I’d forgotten just how beautiful the bayou was. I’d been away much too long, and it felt good to be back where I was raised, back to family. As I’d hoped, it grounded me. No matter what the hardship, people here thrived. It was evident in the way I saw them interacting in the businesses scattered along the banks. We passed Imogene’s, and the church, even her son’s bar as I searched out a good place to set our nets.
We passed Majestueux, my family estate, the impressive house looking as majestic as its name implied, standing amid moss-draped live oak and magnolia trees.
Evie watched it pass. She bit her lip, looking pensive. “Win?”
Her eyes never left the house as we floated by. “What happened between Chase and his immediate family?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me, but I suspect it has to do with the way James pushed him. It was just too hard, and that boy has always had a mind of his own. He’s also sensitive and takes much too much to heart.” As we glided deeper into the swamp, civilization faded and our surroundings grew lusher and wilder. Trees were partially submerged in black water, their crowns entangling into a dense canopy of emerald, the ground below shadowed and mysterious. I piloted to the bank and cut the engine. After setting the anchor, I sat across from her.
“James cares too much about our family name. He drove Chase away. I don’t doubt that. He needs to rectify it, and if he doesn’t ease up on River and Jake, he’ll lose them, too.”
She nodded. “A family name is a heavy burden to carry,” she murmured. “The town might give us some trouble.”
“I don’t give a damn about them, Evie. I’m not James. I never will be, and I know all about that pressure. My father instilled the same drives in him. It’s why I left, and I completely understand Chase’s perspective. It kills me that he didn’t have the support of his family during his young years, but he’s a strong man now. I can see that. I’m just sorry I stayed away when I could have helped him.” My voice broke as memories of what I had endured when I was Chase’s age swamped me.
She reached out. “We all run from something at some point in our lives. It just took you a little longer to get here. Chase can still benefit from your support now. I already saw how he reacted to you when you entered his shop. You are obviously a well-loved uncle.”
“Aww, it’s only because I always brought them presents.”
“Sure it is.”
“And you, what were you running from, Evie?” I wanted to know how she stood with her absent husband. I held my tongue where he was concerned, because it was obvious she had loved him deeply. Winning the heart of this woman was something I never intended to take lightly. I wanted something more…something missing from my life for a very long time, and after getting close to her, touching her, I wanted our connection to be as real to her as it was to me.
She rose and sat down next to me on the bench seat. I turned to face her. “I’m still working on it, Win. You have to give me some time to understand and work out how I feel about everything. Will you do that?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Evie. You take your time. Now, put these on and let’s get to wadin’ and fishin’. Chase said this is a prime spot.”
#
Evie
It was a beautiful spot, that was for sure. I donned my waders and gathered up a load of cotton mesh dip nets, remembering how it was to make our own when I was little and an empty cooler. I followed Win, who had his nets tucked under one arm while he carried the cooler of bait in the other. We laid out the nets and baited them with the chicken and fish gizzards.
Some nets we set with bait, and then we each took up a small hand-held net and started fishing. After about an hour of netting and transferring the little lobster crustaceans to my bucket, mine was half full. Wading through water that came about halfway up my shins, I dumped my bucket into the second cooler and went back for more.
I tried to leave my doubts behind for just this day, but as I watched Win from the tangles of alligator weed and lavender water hyacinth, I couldn’t. I felt the need to bring this next thing up because I had hidden for too long behind my own denial. I certainly didn’t want to ignore complications. I knew there were going to be obstacles.
“You’re going to hurt yourself thinking that hard over there,” Win muttered dryly, suddenly beside me, reaching around me, enveloping me with his warm male scent. “Talk to me.”
“How do you think James will react to us seeing each other? Your family members? This town?” He tucked his face against the back of my neck, sending shivers cascading down my spine. His wry chuckle made me ask. “You do want us to see each other, right?”
His hands slipped around my waist and tightened. “I intend to do more than see you,” he said and my face went hot. My body got bothered.
I turned. The silence stretched out. Crickets trilled in the reeds, the bass chug-a-rum of bullfrogs and the twang of green frogs made a chorus with the bird calls and the low hum of mosquitoes. He drew me closer amid the delicate lavender scent of the hyacinth. I pressed my hands to his strong chest.
His expression became serious, intense as he stared down at me, and a tremor went through me. Win looked like a dominant male, tough, capable of anything. “I don’t care what James thinks. This isn’t about him, or about my family, or this biased town.”
“You don’t understand the pressure. He carries a lot of weight here.”
“I don’t care, Evie. This is about us. About what we want. I’m not giving an inch on this. Reach out and take what you want.” Then he lowered his head and kissed me, softly, gently. His lips were firm and smooth, and his oh-so-clever mouth moved against mine, rubbed over mine, seduced me into softening and responding. Win groaned at my su
rrender and intensified the kiss. With a slow, sensuous stroke, he eased his tongue into my mouth. I answered him, my tongue tracing his full lower lip, dipping inside his mouth, sucking on him, making him groan all over again.
My hands curled into fists, bunching the fabric of his shirt. Then he slid his arms around me, anchoring me against him, holding me safe and secure as I opened to him.
Win growled low in his throat as he took the kiss still further. The flames that always ignited between us licked at my sanity as he traced his hands down my back, caressing, exploring, interpreting every curve, every plane and hollow. Lifting me into him, he pressed my hips to his, pressed me into his arousal, let me know how badly, how urgently he wanted me.
I cupped the back of his head and rubbed my face in his fragrant hair.
I brushed my fingers against his rough chin and separated from him reluctantly. Now I had felt his body, tasted him, I wanted more, wanted to get closer to him in a fundamental way, but I couldn’t stop the guilt and the way my stomach twinged.
I decided that, for the moment, distance might be a good thing. I didn’t want to do anything rash or crazy. I had only just learned I was still a desirable woman, free to make my own choices. All I had needed was this man to make me think in a different vein and let go of something that was holding me down, isolating me. I wanted to open up, felt the need to give to him what I saw he wanted, and it sent a thrill through me.
“Evie, would you be interested in attending a function with me tonight? I know it’s last minute, but I just decided to go.”
“What kind of function?” I asked warily.
Slipping one arm under my thighs and his other one under my shoulder, he picked me up, cradled me against him and walked to the shore leaving our wiggling live catch still in the reeds. Letting me slide down his body, he said, “A charity function for an art school for kids. It’s being sponsored by an old family friend, Maizy White, in Lafayette.” He waded back out and grabbed up his bucket and mine and brought them back to shore.
Smoothing his hands over my temples, he gathered up my hair that had come loose from my bun and let it slide through his fingers. “Is it a fancy to-do?”
“It’s black tie, sugar. You can say no. It’s just that she’s quite an amazing lady, and I thought you might enjoy it.”
“I haven’t been out in a coon’s age,” I said, and really nowhere, ever, where I had to get dolled up.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s get these nets in. How about lunch at Imogene’s? We can boil our catch tomorrow night for dinner.”
I nodded, now ready to relax and enjoy every minute of being with him.
We moored Chase’s boat, Win dropping the key in a slot set up for when Chase was absent, which he appeared to be. His truck was gone. “He’s probably fishing,” he said, muttering that he should hire himself some help.
We made a quick trip to my house, dropping off the crawfish and getting cleaned up a bit, then drove to town and wheeled into Imogene’s crushed-shell parking lot, admiring the blue, weather-beaten building standing on the corner of Georgia Lane and Easy Street. Imogene’s faced the street and backed into the bayou, with its screened-in back porch situated over the water. The restaurant didn’t look like much with its funky corroded tin roof and beat-up, old-fashioned screen door.
It was rumored that Imogene had been a voodoo priestess who practiced her art under the full moon. She was hanged for supposedly causing a hurricane and wiping out a small fishing village farther down the road because some of the men there had raped and murdered her daughter, AnnClaire. It was said the daughter’s ghost haunted the restaurant.
“Welcome,” the current owner of Imogene’s, Samantha Wharton greeted them. She was a young, pretty yank from New York City who baked the most delicious pies. Several mouth-watering choices were in the glass-enclosed pie display sitting near the landmark vintage register. I was definitely going to have a slice.
“I found a pie safe for you, Samantha.”
Her face lit up. “Sweet! I can’t wait to see it.”
“It’ll be just a bit. I have to refurbish it. I brought a couple of patterns for the tin. See what you like and let me know.”
“Thanks, Evie.” She squeezed my shoulder, accepting the patterns from me. “It’ll be so cool to have something you have redone. Will really add ambience to my place.”
I slipped my arm around Win’s waist. “This is Winchester Sutton. He’s back to town after being away for some time.”
“Any relation to that sassy River Pearl?”
“She’s my niece.”
Samantha took his hand and smiled. “She’s one of my most favorite customers. She sure livens up a place.”
“She does at that,” Win said with a twinkle in his eye.
When Samantha took over Imogene’s, it had fallen into disrepair, but she’d managed to revitalize this treasure. For that, she’d won the hearts of everyone in Suttontowne. The delicious aroma of hot spices and Cajun dishes saturated the air, evoking more memories of this place and my ties to it over the years. Fans twirled above us, hanging from a stamped tin ceiling, as they had for nearly eighty years. The same beat-up red diner stools that had been here forever were lined up in front of the counter.
We settled for a table in the back, on the screened porch overlooking the bayou.
We got our menus, ordered our drinks from a cute girl with a pixie face and hair to match. It’s when I saw Win’s nephew, Chase Sutton come in from the back, carrying a white Styrofoam container.
He didn’t see us, but I saw him stop and search, then he honed in on Samantha. His hand flexed on the handle. My heart jumped when I saw the way he looked at her. There was an open, aching vulnerability on his face as he stared. Finally she looked over and saw him, and that look disappeared in a flash. A wide smile split her face, but Chase didn’t return it. It didn’t seem to faze her. She walked up to him and they exchanged words. She gestured toward the kitchen, and Chase followed her, both of them disappearing behind the swinging doors.
I felt that I had witnessed something private and intimate.
He was strung out on Samantha Wharton.
A chill chased across my arms. Chase Sutton was struggling with a heavy burden, and I couldn’t imagine what would have made him forsake his family that way. The secret he carried must be devastating and huge.
I returned my attention to Win and my promise to myself to enjoy this time with him to the fullest.
Chapter Six
Evie
“Thank you, Lottie for coming to help me,” I said, giving her a smile. She was Aubree’s aunt, a retired English teacher who had taught my boys in high school, and had recently married Mike Dalton, the current sheriff. She’d had some hardship in her life, just like me, had lost her husband and infant to a tsunami, but then discovered her child was still alive. The baby girl who had survived turned out to be Aubree.
“Well, I was thrilled to hear you’re actually going on a date. You promised to tell me who it is.”
“Winchester Sutton.”
We were in a small, exclusive boutique in Suttontowne hunting for something suitable for the function tonight. Lottie stopped pushing, in her opinion, rejected dresses on the rack. She turned towards me in surprise. “Winchester? I heard he was back. Well, look at you. Like son, like mother.”
“Oh,” I said, my stomach jumping, since her tone clearly said she’d heard gossip.
“There’s a rumor that Brax and River Pearl have been seen together.”
I wondered when Braxton was going to give in. I believed it was just a matter of time, but I also believed that he, we were in for hardship. Regardless of what Win said, James wouldn’t sit still for his daughter tangling with my son. It would get ugly. “That doesn’t surprise me. I just wondered when it would happen. I think he’s been in love with that girl for a while.”
Lottie pushed at her red hair while taking out a beautiful lace black dress and holding it out to me. “That’s what
Aubree keeps telling me. I can’t say how happy I am to have Booker as a son-in-law. He’s the best thing that ever happened to her.”
I took the dress. “Thank you for saying that.”
She turned her lovely green eyes on me. This woman had been a supporter from the first. She’d taken Booker under her wing and helped him become a success. Somewhere along the way, she had also become my good friend. “I mean it, Evie. I’m so proud of him.”
“I know you do, and you are. I’m worried, though. Brax and River Pearl. James isn’t going to like it. He also won’t like that Win is seeing me. I think it might get too complicated.”
“What?” Lottie took my shoulders and said, “Don’t let James Hot Air Sutton affect what you have going with his brother. From what I remember, Win is devastatingly handsome. That family does have some pretty genes. And Amy has always been a good sort, even though she pushed River Pearl into pageants and modeling.”
“I don’t know them that well. My boys used to play with Jake and Chase when they were young. They thought they were keeping it a secret.”
She shook her head and pulled another dress off the rack. “James has run roughshod over that family. Ran Chase off into the bayou.”
I nodded remembering how Chase had looked at Samantha. He’d looked so broken and lonely. My heart ached for him.
“I heard that Brax has a new hottie bartender. Mike says he’s a former Marine,” Lottie said, changing the subject…but my thoughts remained on Win and Braxton.
#
Win
When I walked into the family home I was hit by tension, like electricity, tightening skin, raising short hairs, freezing breath. I heard Amy say, “But she’s been gone for a day, James, and I’m very worried.”
“I’ll find her, sugar.” He soothed.
I walked into the parlor to see James and Amy standing close together, near the sideboard, where half a dozen decanters stood on a silver tray. Earl was there as well, seated on the Queen Anne settee. Jake was standing behind him, his hands clamped around the scrolled wooden back. When he saw me, his chest heaved with a heavy sigh. That boy was in a pressure cooker, and something would break soon if some of that force didn’t get released.
