“I’ll make a note of that,” I said as Iris laughed.
We all watched as Adrienne gently tapped Baba bed sheet on the shoulder. She whispered something into his ear, and he followed her away from the bar. They stood talking just outside the entrance, then he made a hasty retreat.
“What did you say to him?” Tarsha asked as Adrienne rejoined us.
“I thanked him for the cleansing, then mentioned that we knew the Obeah man who has lived on this island for years. I told him we’d be delivering gifts since he was so kind to send one of his pupils to help us.”
Toni and Tarsha exchanged glances as Iris laughed heartily.
“A real Obeah man would deal harshly with a fraud,” Adrienne said. “He was probably worried that he’d end up with boils—or worse.”
The last few nights of their stay were surprisingly peaceful, though I wasn’t giving the fake Obeah man credit for that.
The night before they departed, everyone exchanged e-mail addresses with promises to write and share pictures. They all drank and danced like there was no tomorrow, but breakfast the next morning was a somber occasion. Most were hung-over and unhappy with going back to their everyday lives.
Hugs were exchanged all around as each of the guests loaded into the vans. The only one who was not hugging was Tara. She was covered head to toe in a rash, and her nose ran like a faucet. I could still hear her cursing the Obeah man when the van doors closed.
Chapter Ten
Adrienne and I hugged Iris as though we’d never see her again. She and Colie stood with us on the airstrip as our pilot friend Bill tossed our bags into the plane.
“Take good care of her, Colie,” I said before looking away, afraid that they’d see the tears in my eyes.
He patted me on the shoulder and assured me that Iris and the inn would be his top priority. “Hopefully, I’ll catch whoever is responsible before you get back. It’ll be my Christmas present to you.”
I nodded and started for the plane. I turned and looked back at Iris and Adrienne. Iris stroked her face and said something that I couldn’t hear. Her dark eyes were filled with tears. Adrienne had never left the island since the day they’d met, and I assumed for Iris it was extremely painful to let her go.
When Adrienne joined me, I wiped the tears streaming down her lovely face. “There’s still time to change our minds, love,” I said, clinging to hope that somehow we could cancel the trip.
“No, we have to go. I think there’s a reason why we should.”
I’d learned to go with whatever Adrienne’s instinct suggested.
We took the stump jumper into Nassau and boarded a larger plane that would take us to the States. I liked to think of myself as a frugal traveler. I’d spent hours researching flights and chose the cheapest I could find. In my defense, I was trying to save a buck or forty, but I soon learned the error of my ways.
The plane was packed with holiday travelers and I was blessed with the spawn of Satan in the seat behind me. The heinous creature was named Trevor, and I knew this because his mother chanted his name from the minute they boarded the plane. If the child wasn’t kicking my seat, he was wailing at the top of his lungs because his mother wasn’t opening his cookies fast enough or not supplying the appropriate toy. And to top it off, Trevor had gas and had no qualms with belching loudly.
I watched as people boarded the plane with suitcases that could not be described as carry-on in any sense of the word. This was a huge pet peeve of mine because it took forever to get off the plane while people wrestled the giant bags down from the overhead compartments. And when the plane landed, I wanted off and quick. I detested having to be crammed in such a tiny space with strangers.
“Why don’t the airlines make people comply with the carry-on size limit?” I asked as Adrienne’s eyelids grew heavy.
“You better be glad they don’t, sweetie.” She glanced at my backpack that was so fat it barely managed to fit under the seat in front of us.
“Hey, it would have fit in that little measurement box at the check-in desk.”
Adrienne yawned and burrowed deeper into her seat. “No, it wouldn’t, you’d have to take out those two big bags of muffins you think I don’t know about.”
I loved Adrienne with all my heart, and I’d have given her a kidney or even an arm. But I drew the line at Iris’s chocolate chip muffins.
Adrienne shot me a sleepy smile. “And you’re gonna share those when I wake up from my nap.”
Adrienne was asleep before the plane left the tarmac, and that’s when the trouble started. Trevor began doing a Mexican hat dance on the back of my seat. I cast a few disapproving looks over my shoulder, hoping his mother would take the hint, then counted to ten to keep my steadily rising temper at bay. Adrienne slept peacefully, totally oblivious to the hellion who had launched a one-child assault on the back of my chair. When refreshments were served, he kicked my seat so violently, it sent my soda flying. I pivoted in the chair and glared first at the tiny terror, then his mother. She looked at me as though I was the one with the problem.
“Do you have other children?” I asked sweetly.
“No, he’s my only one,” the mother of the beast replied with an almost cocky tone. She knew her son was disturbing everyone around her, but the look she gave me said, Deal with it.
I narrowed my eyes at her offspring and glared back at his mother as another volley of kicks landed on the back of my seat. “That’s really a good thing because the way I see it, little Trevor will be robbing liquor stores before he makes it to his teens. If you start saving now, you might have enough to cover some of his legal fees.”
“You’re just rude,” the mother huffed.
“I really don’t blame him, just you,” I continued. “Apparently, you’ve never taken the time to teach your son manners, and I assume that’s because you have none yourself.”
The brat’s mother mumbled something under her breath and stuck her nose back into a magazine.
The relentless pounding continued on the back of my seat. I squeezed the bridge of my nose, figuring there were no other seats that Adrienne and I could retreat to. Once again, I turned and looked at Trevor’s mother. “I hope you realize that your son has kicked my chair for the last hour, so I think it’s only fair that I kick your ass for at least that long when we get off this plane.”
I watched as Trevor’s mother pressed the flight attendant button. Seconds later, a dapper-looking young man appeared at her side.
“This woman is threatening me.” she said. All the while Trevor’s feet were working their magic.
I opened my mouth to defend myself when an elderly woman across the aisle spoke up. “Her child has made this flight miserable for everyone around him, especially that woman.” She pointed in my direction.
There were murmurs of agreement all around, and I let out a sigh of relief.
The quick-thinking flight attendant called for backup and was soon joined by a woman dressed like him. There was whispering, pointing, and finally nodding. The male attendant addressed Trevor’s mother. “If you would just gather your things—”
“Why do I have to move?” Trevor’s mother asked rather loudly. “She’s the one causing the problem.”
“Very well then,” the female flight attendant spoke up. She looked down at me with a smile. “Ma’am, if you’ll gather your things, I believe we can make your flight more comfortable.”
“I’m not traveling alone.” I pointed to Adrienne, who snored softly.
“We can accommodate your friend, as well.”
I nudged Adrienne, amazed that she’d slept through the whole ordeal. “Wake up, honey, we’re gonna change seats.”
Adrienne awoke and was startled by the two flight attendants standing over her. She looked at me then and rolled her eyes. “What have you done?”
I shrugged and gathered our things. Adrienne gave me one last look and followed the attendant to first class where to my delight there were two empty seats.
The plane felt like it dropped a hundred feet. Adrienne dug her fingers into my arms and her face took on a shade of green that I didn’t know was humanly possible.
“It’s nothing to worry about, honey,” I assured. “Just a little storm.”
The plane bounced and lurched, overhead compartments popped open, and suitcases threatened to fall on the people seated beneath them. A child cried; I hoped it was Trevor. Several people yelped when again the plane felt like it dropped a hundred feet. Drinks toppled and flowed down the center aisle toward the cockpit. It occurred to me then that we were pointed down, and I prayed that we were just going to a lower altitude and not about to take a nosedive.
“Hayden, I have a confession to make,” Adrienne said between nervous gasps. “I ate two of your muffins while you slept on the flight from CatIsland to Nassau.”
I patted her hand reassuringly, causing her to release a little of the pressure so the blood would return to my hand. “Well, honey, I guess I should purge my soul, as well. The top bag of muffins, the one you ate out of, were for my dad because…I dropped them on the floor.”
Adrienne rested her head on the back of her seat and sighed. “Well, I’m sure the ten-second rule applies here.” She cocked an eyebrow at me. “You did pick them up right away, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, after I kicked them around the kitchen.”
The lurch of the plane and my confession made Adrienne gag. Dutifully, I handed her a barf bag, which she kept clutched to her chest. Our plane felt like it fishtailed, then began to shake violently. Adrienne looked at me in horror.
“We’re gonna be okay, honey,” I reassured again and prayed that my last words to her weren’t a lie. The muscles in my ass cheeks were clamped down so hard on my seat that I was certain if we survived, it would be permanently attached. I hoped that Delta would be willing to part with it.
“Hayden, I want us to have a child.”
“We’re gonna be fine, sweetie, it’s just…what did you say?”
Adrienne looked up at me, her bottom lip trembled. “I want a baby.”
“Adrienne, they grow up to be those things.” I jerked a thumb in Trevor’s direction.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the speaker box above us squawked. The pilot was saying something, but above the jarring of the plane and the worried chattering of the passengers, I was barely able to make it out. The only part I caught was emergency landing. And then everything went black.
I fainted, not from fear of a crash, but something far worse—the prospect of motherhood.
Chapter Eleven
“I should have worn boots, that is if I still owned boots,” I mumbled to myself as my flimsy shoes threatened to send me tumbling back into the snow. My feet felt numb and foreign to me as I tried to wiggle my toes. “I hate cold weather,” I chanted over and over as my journey to safety seemed to go on forever.
Bits of snow and ice slapped me in the face and obscured my vision. My path was no longer clear, and I began to wander off the trail into deeper snow. With each breath I took, my throat and chest burned from the invasion of the frigid air. Sleepiness crept over me, and I remembered hearing once that when a person is about to freeze to death, they become lethargic. I shook my head in an attempt to chase away the sluggishness, the ice that stuck to my hair stung as it whipped across my cheeks.
How long had I been wandering? Would I ever see Adrienne again? Tears warmed my eyes at the thought. Was she worried? Was she starving like me? These questions tormented me with each step. I began to feel self-pity and considered just falling into the snow and crying myself into oblivion. But no, I would find Adrienne, and that little bit of resolve gave me the strength to persevere.
It was then I saw it. Through the blinding maelstrom, a sliver of warm light appeared and grew in size. Hope flooded my being.
“Hayden Tate, get your ass in here before you freeze to death!” Adrienne yelled from the doorway of our hotel room. “Are Twinkies from the vending machine worth a case of pneumonia?”
“Oh, Adrienne. I think I’m frost bit,” I whined as I stumbled into our room.
“You were only out there five minutes, honey. I think you’ll be fine.” Adrienne tugged at my wet clothes. “You need to get these off, though.”
“I don’t want to change. I must get to Taco Bell.” I’d been fantasizing about those tacos since we started the first leg of our trip; I would not be denied. “Muffins and those Biscoff cookies that I stole from the flight attendant’s cart can only hold me for so long.”
“Hayden, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s an ice storm out there.” Adrienne began tugging on my clothes again. “Half of Atlanta is without power.”
“This just frickin’ sucks! I need junk food, Adrienne. I need to feel grease pumping through my veins. I need to feel my arteries hardening and the bloated feeling that only fast food can bring.”
Adrienne looked at me with compassion, and I knew what she was thinking—You simple fool, why do I love you? “In the morning, we’ll rent a car and head for New Orleans, and you can have all the junk food your heart desires,” Adrienne said with a placating smile. “But for now, you’re going to take a shower and climb into bed with me.”
Cold and beaten down, I took my shower and crawled into bed. Adrienne was nearly asleep when I curled up next to her, so I slipped the remote from her hand. Every news channel was squawking about canceled flights caused by the ice storm. I began to scan through all the channels and quickly realized that God did indeed have a sense of humor because every commercial that flashed before my eyes had tacos, burgers, and heaven help me, doughnuts.
The next morning we rented a car, since the last leg of our flight was canceled. The drive from Atlanta to New Orleans wasn’t particularly appealing. All flights had been grounded and we weren’t willing to get back on a plane until we absolutely had to. Neither of us had ever driven in snow and ice, but compared to the hellish plane ride we endured the night before, we were more than willing to give it a try.
We wanted a vehicle that was big and sturdy, but the only rental we could find was something akin to a roller skate with an engine. A car that we had to put on rather than get into. Our luggage alone threatened to make the car roll over and die.
“Burger King or McDonald’s?” Adrienne asked as soon as we pulled out of the rental lot.
“Neither. I’m thinking IHOP,” I said as I inched along, getting a feel for the car.
“I thought you wanted junk food. You said last night you wanted something that would make your ass look like it had hail damage.”
“I want that for lunch. I think I can achieve hail damage at IHOP,” I said with a grin. “I’m cold, so I want comfort food. Something hot, served on a plate with a big pot of coffee.”
“I’ll keep a look out for IHOP, but there’s a Krispy Kreme up there on the ri— ”
Before she could finish the sentence, I had the car in a power slide. We plowed into the parking lot, and I almost forgot to kill the engine before jumping out of the car.
“I guess you changed your mind about IHOP,” Adrienne called out as I ran as fast as the wet pavement would allow.
I swooned when I walked in the door. The smell of coffee and doughnuts filled my senses. Plastered against the glass partition, I resisted the urge to drool as the circles of fat rode the conveyor belt into the icing shower. “Oh, Adrienne, look, they’re making fresh ones!” I made a beeline to the counter where a cheerful woman greeted me. “I’d like a half-dozen glazed, a chocolate milk, and a coffee.” I looked over at Adrienne. “What are you having?”
“You’re going to eat six doughnuts by yourself?” she asked incredulously.
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“Yep, and I may come back for seconds.” The woman behind the counter chuckled but waited patiently for us.
“I’ll have two chocolate glazed and a coffee, please.”
“That’s all?” I asked, looking between the server and Adrienne.
“That’s it. If I eat all that sugar, I’ll go crazy cooped up in the car.”
We took our breakfast to the nearest table, and I was eating my first doughnut before my ass touched the chair. Adrienne ate slowly and savored each bite as she watched me devour one doughnut after the other. When I finished my milk, I knew it was time to stop, but I couldn’t. Adrienne pulled the box away before I could reach in for another.
“Why don’t we save the last two for the road? They’ll make a nice snack.”
I looked longingly at the box as she closed the lid.
“I’m going to the restroom,” Adrienne said as she stood. “Would you get me a refill on the coffee?”
“Sure,” I replied with a smile. I jumped up and refilled her coffee, then went back to the table where I stuffed the two remaining doughnuts into my mouth. I washed them down with her coffee and nearly burst into tears as it burned my tongue and set my esophagus ablaze. I was refilling her cup when she rejoined me.
“Do you want me to hold the food while you go to the restroom?”
“No,” I rasped as my throat recovered. “Might want to watch that coffee, it’s hot.”
“You ate those last two doughnuts, didn’t you?”
“I got rid of them.”
Adrienne took a napkin and wiped at my mouth. “You’re going to be so sick later.”
After three bathroom stops, we were back on the interstate. I let my mind wander while Adrienne counted cars that had slid off the icy road. I worried about how my parents would receive Adrienne; I’d never brought a woman home before, at least not one I planned to spend the rest of my life with.
“I’ll be just fine, honey, don’t worry about me,” she said, breaking me from my thoughts.
Gloria’s Secret Page 9
