Enigma of the Heart
Page 14
“You have lost your damn mind, Taffy,” she said aloud. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed her coffee mug, filling it up and dedicated the rest of her day to work and not yelling to herself like a mad woman.
* * * *
Jean-Michel sat across from Austin and Nina feeling like the fifth wheel that he was. He didn’t want to come out with them, but Austin had almost pulled him along. But sitting across from them now, he was tiring of seeing the two lovers whisper and kiss one another.
“I think I’m going to head out, you two,” Jean-Michel said.
“No. No, man,” Austin said to him. “Stay. Have another drink.”
“No offense, but I’m not enjoying being a fifth wheel, Austin.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Jean-Michel,” Nina said. “But I haven’t seen Austin in days. You need to go over to Taffy’s and throw her over your shoulder. Make her yours, Jean-Michel.”
He sat back, shaking his head. “No. She has to come to me on her own. I just don’t know why she is so afraid of love.”
Nina sighed aloud. “Seth.”
“Seth?” Jean-Michel said staring across the table at her. “Who is Seth?”
“Seth was the man she was engaged to before he killed himself.”
“Shit.”
“She met him right after her parents had died. I told her it was too soon to get into any relationship, but she ignored me. It was like she was trying to find someone to love. You know what I mean?” Jean-Michel nodded. “Seth was in the military and was discharged. He’d served over in Afghanistan for a while. He’d only been back for a few months when they met. Two weeks after she met him, she told me she was in love with him. I didn’t think that it was too soon, it was just not… It didn’t seem genuine.”
“Genuine?”
“She told me that she loved him, but it seemed like they were only words, Jean-Michel. I would ask her and she would just say the words. There was no passion, no life in her words. Seth had issues from being over there. PTSD? I told Taffy she needed to make sure he got help before they went any further in their relationship. I don’t think he did. He asked her to marry him, and she said she would. Then a couple of weeks after that she goes to his place and finds him in his bathtub. He’d slit his wrists.”
“Shit,” Jean-Michel whispered.
“She just kept telling me that if she’d taken things slower and made sure he got the help he needed, he wouldn’t have killed himself. It was bullshit. Seth had problems from fighting over in Afghanistan. She didn’t fail him, the military failed him. But she was adamant about not falling in love again. For the longest time, she wouldn’t believe in love. She wouldn’t have relationships. She finally got out of that shit, but she’s still afraid of love I think. She believes in it, but she’s afraid that if she loves again something bad might happen. It’s why she’s pushing you away.”
“I need you to know something, Nina.” Jean-Michel smiled. “She might try to push me away, but I’m not going anywhere.”
“Uh-oh,” Austin said finally. “Preach.”
“I told Taffy that I love her, and I mean that. It doesn’t mean that I love her for now. It doesn’t mean that I will stop loving her if she doesn’t return my feelings. It means that I’ll love her until I die and beyond that. Taffy has had a hard time with her heart. I once told her that she thinks her heart is an enigma. That she is the one person that can’t fall in love. She can feel love and accept love. And I am willing to wait until she realizes that.”
Nina raised an arched eyebrow at Jean-Michel. “Damn.”
* * * *
She had to get out of the house. Not out in like she had to roam the streets, but out in like she went to Walmart. It was therapeutic. What she really wanted to do was run to Jean-Michel and tell him that he was right. She was in love with him. She was tired of fighting what she felt. But instead of that, she went shopping.
An hour later, she’d piled several things into her cart as she stood in housewares deciding on the right kind of Dutch oven. It was when she turned around that she noticed the figure dart behind the end of the aisle. She dismissed it. Since the incident with her brake lines, she’d been seeing bad in everyone. She thought someone was stalking her house several times. But when she went outside, she saw no one.
She started to push her cart once again, and definitely saw someone disappear again at the end of the aisle. Leaving her cart where it was, she walked in the opposite direction and silently came up behind DePaul.
“You son of a bitch! You’re following me!”
DePaul turned around to face her from where he had taken cover behind the vacuums. “No, I ain’t!”
“You’ve been following me everywhere haven’t you? You were watching me at the salon the other day weren’t you?”
“I ain’t done nothing to you.” DePaul glanced around as if he were looking for some form of help.
“You sick asshole,” Taffy said walking closer to him. “I bet you’re the one that cut my fuckin’ brake line. You did, didn’t you?”
“Mama!” DePaul yelled out in the store, garnering strange looks from several people around him.
“Of course. You have to call for your mommy.” Taffy glared at him. “You’re grown ass man, DePaul. When are you going to stop calling out for mommy?”
Lou Pearl appeared as if on cue. “You leave my boy alone!”
Taffy ignored Lou Pearl, keeping her attention riveted on DePaul. “I swear, if I find out you had anything to do with my brake line, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your fucked up life in prison.”
“Don’t you threaten my boy,” said Lou Pearl. “You don’t know nothing, cuz he ain’t done nothing. Once more, ain’t no judge in this whole county that’ll do anything to my son. You forget who the hell I am, girl.”
“No, I remember. You’re just some trashy, backwoods, has-been that thinks her shit don’t stink.” Taffy took a look at all of the toilet paper in Lou Pearl’s cart. “Good thing you’re getting prepared, Lou Pearl, because if I find out DePaul had anything to do with it, the shit is definitely going to hit the fuckin’ fan.”
She walked back to her cart, happy to get away from DePaul and his owner. The man always smelled of urine and cigarettes. She doubted he’d seen the inside of a bathtub or shower in a very long time.
She paid for her things and then sat in her car thinking about what had happened. She was sure that she hadn’t imagined someone lurking around her house at night. It hadn’t been her imagination. And she was almost positive that he was the one that had cut her brake line. She only hoped that Lester was keeping a close eye on him. The man gave her the heebie-jeebies.
Chapter 14
“No, I didn’t see him outside my house,” Taffy said disappointedly to Lester. She had called him over to her house to tell him what she suspected. Apparently her suspicions weren’t new to many of the townsfolk.
“I can’t go out and arrest DePaul without something concrete. I wish like hell I could.”
“So we’ve got nothing? Lester, I’m almost positive—”
“Taffy, almost positive doesn’t mean much. I’ve got no fingerprints, no witnesses, nothing.” He sat looking dejected on her sofa. “I wish I had something. I’ve been trying to get that dumbass for years. Every time I think I got him on something, Lou Pearl swoops in with her checkbook to buy off a judge, or a witness, or whoever. He’s been implicated in molesting women, breaking and entering some of the homes around here, and general creepiness. I want him gone, but I want him gone legally.”
“So, I just wait for him to do something to me?”
“DePaul is stupid, but he’s not dumb.” They both laughed at that. “But I’ll keep a watch on him anyway.”
“Thank you, Lester.” She let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding.
Lester stood and walked to her door, as she followed him. “Taffy, I don’t mean to be nosey, but…”
She stared at his questioning expression. “You don’
t?”
“Okay, I do want to be nosey. What’s going on with you and Jean-Michel?”
“Well, Lester,” she said smiling. “You should ask Jean-Michel that question.” She opened the door and said good-bye. She only hoped that if he did ask Jean-Michel he would tell him that he was still in love with her. She didn’t want to pin her hopes on her stupidity, but that was all she had.
* * * *
Lester walked into the house to the sound of French being spoken loudly and rapidly. Thalia only spoke French to Jean-Michel when he wasn’t in the room. She didn’t want to say anything that he wouldn’t be able to understand. But it was evident that she was upset about something.
Jean-Michel smiled at Lester as he walked into the kitchen, as Thalia continued to rattle off French while she pointed at him intermittingly.
“Lester, tell your wife to keep her well-meaning but nosey nose out of my love life,” said Jean-Michel.
“No! No, I will not,” Thalia said, as Lester walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “He is not thinking, Lester. He says he is going to ask Taffy to marry him. She hasn’t said she loves him. I think she is afraid of love. I don’t think she is the right one for him. Tell him.”
“She isn’t afraid of love, Thalia,” Jean-Michel said calmly. “She only thinks it can’t exist like it does between us because it happened so quickly and so passionately. She will marry me. And I am willing to wait for her.”
“Stupid! You should not have to wait for love. Either she loves you or she doesn’t. I told her to leave you alone if she doesn’t feel the same. There. I said it,” Thalia said confidently with her arms crossed in front of her.
“Why did you say that to her?” Jean-Michel asked. “I know you are my sister, Thalia, but stay out of things that don’t concern you. I love her, and she loves me. She may not know that yet, but she does.”
Thalia stared defiantly at her brother. “I am going to speak with her,” Thalia said as she started to walk to the door.
Lester took hold of her arm. “Honey, leave it alone.”
Thalia stared at Lester and then over at Jean-Michel. “I am only going to talk to her. I like Taffy. I only want to see what her intentions are with Jean-Michel.”
“I am not some teenage boy that is being spurned by his girlfriend, Thalia.”
“Leave it alone,” Lester repeated.
“She is going to hurt him,” she whispered into Lester’s chest, as he held her.
“My heart is not glass. If I end up hurt, I will mend. But Thalia,” he said staring at his sister. “Please don’t hate Taffy. She is battling a different kind of pain.”
Thalia gave Jean-Michel a look of concern, but nodded her head. Lester whispered to her, and she left the two men alone.
“I need to speak with you about something,” Lester said taking two beers from the fridge and handing one to Jean-Michel.
They walked out the sliding doors to the back patio. Lester opened the can of his beer and took a long swallow, leaning against the patio table. “Taffy caught DePaul following her in Walmart today.”
Jean-Michel looked up with concern. “Is she sure?”
“Oh, she’s positive. She confronted the bastard. Did she tell you about anyone skulking around the house?”
“Skulking? What is skulking?”
“You know? Has she said anything about anyone showing up at the house? At night?”
“He went to her house at night?” Jean-Michel looked as though he were about to go and search out DePaul for some serious damage.
“She isn’t sure it was him, but she heard someone, she says.”
“You don’t believe her?”
“No, that’s just the thing. I do believe her. I also believe that if anyone is the type to stalk someone, it’s DePaul Thibodeaux.”
“Could he be the one that cut her brake line, Lester?”
“Could be. I’m still looking into that. There’s no fingerprints, no witnesses, no anything. I can’t arrest the man on a hunch, Jean-Michel.”
“I have to go,” Jean-Michel said suddenly.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Jean-Michel. DePaul is an asshole, but he’s not dangerous.”
“How can you say that? If he is the one that cut her brake line, he is dangerous. If he is the one that has been stalking her, he is dangerous, Lester.”
Lester knew he was right, but the last thing he needed was for Jean-Michel to go off half-cocked looking for a reason to beat the shit out of DePaul. “I need to do this legally, Jean-Michel. Like I said, I’m looking into things. What’s going on with you and Taffy anyway?”
“The same thing that happened between you and Thalia before you wed.”
Lester burst into laughter, nodding his head in understanding. He knew what Jean-Michel was talking about. Thalia tried to push him away several times, stating that she didn’t want to live with some small town policeman in some backwoods town. It took some time, but he finally wore her down. When she finally told him that she was in love with him, he’d known it for some time. He only wanted to hear her say it to him. Jean-Michel only wanted to hear Taffy say the words to him. When it came down to it, men were just as much romantics as women. He nodded to Jean-Michel, as he left the house.
Chapter 15
Jean-Michel sat out in his truck in the darkness. It was late, well past eleven. He would stay until daylight and make sure no one came around her house. If they did, they would have him to deal with. He would call Lester. Eventually.
He stayed silent. No radio. No lights of any kind. He had parked along the side street just before her house to get the best advantage while still remaining under the cover of a large willow tree. He watched her house silently, seeing the lights come on and off, as she made her way upstairs. He wanted to be with her. He should have been with her. He didn’t need to hear her say anything to him. He knew she was in love with him from the way she looked at him. He had caught her gaze several times, as he had been working at the house. Sitrine had never looked at him like she had. He knew then how she felt. He was willing to wait forever to hear her tell him she loved him. It had been only his pride that had wanted her to admit it now.
He smiled to himself remembering the last time they had been together. The game he had played with her. Reaching for the glove compartment, he took out the small black box and opened it. A large, flawless three carat diamond sat in the center surrounded by smaller diamonds in an antique setting. Austin had helped him pick out the ring. He didn’t want to let Nina in on his plans because as Austin said, she would run immediately to Taffy. She was already skittish. He didn’t want to give her any more reason to run from him.
He smiled and put the ring back into its box and returned it to the glove compartment. There was no rush, he told himself. He looked up to see something by the house. He wasn’t sure if it were a person, or his eyes playing tricks on him. He was tired, but he was determined to stay outside of her house and keep watch. He narrowed his eyes against the darkness, squinting into the night to try and get a better look at what he thought he had seen.
He got out of his truck, quietly walking to the side of the house to come around from the back. It was when he was creeping along the back that he thought it was probably not the best idea to go alone. If it were someone dangerous and not stupid ass DePaul, they could have a weapon, a gun, a knife, and he had nothing.
“Stupid, Jean-Michel. Stupid.”
* * * *
Taffy sat straight up in the bed. She heard something. She knew she heard something. The house didn’t have much furniture in it yet and echoed. Her heart was thumping a thousand beats a minute. She took her cell from her nightstand and dialed Lester.
“Yeah,” he answered on the first ring. “Milieu, here.”
“Lester, it’s Taffy. I definitely hear someone outside the house,” she whispered.
“You’re positive, Taffy?”
“Yes. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up, Lester.”
“If you can.”
“I’ll try my best. Like I said, there’s been a pretty bad accident out here. Don’t do anything stupid. Lock yourself in the bathroom, Taffy. And call Jean-Michel.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I will. Hurry.”
She quickly dialed Jean-Michel’s cell but it went directly to voicemail. “Shit. Shit,” she said getting up and quietly walking into her bathroom. She got into the bathtub and covered herself with the blanket she’d grabbed from the end of her bed. “Please hurry, Lester.”
* * * *
Jean-Michel stood with his back to the side of the house. Whoever he’d seen was now in the back. He heard the footsteps. They were heavy, as if they were carrying something. Then he heard the soft grunts, and peeked around the side of the house. It was at that same time that he caught scent of gasoline. When he looked again, he saw a figure pouring something from a gas can around the edge of the house. It was definitely gasoline.
Jean-Michel took out his cell phone intent on calling Lester, but his cell was dead. He cursed silently. He was pretty sure that the unknown person was DePaul. He needed to get to him before he decided to strike a match or something. He took a deep breath and threw caution to the wind.
“Put the match down, DePaul,” Jean-Michel ordered.
DePaul looked up, but threw the match and ran in the other direction. Flames erupted instantly around the edge of the house and then on the back porch. Jean-Michel cursed and ran after DePaul. It was no race. DePaul ran like a fat, fifty-two year old man. Jean-Michel jumped him before he’d gotten too far. His fist then caught up to DePaul’s face several times.