While she waited for the water to boil, Ava's thoughts wandered back to Magnus and the way he had turned her on just the night before. Sure she'd gone out dancing before with Gavin but every time they danced, it was nothing compared to the way Magnus made her feel. It was as if she was living in a dream, a fantasy was more like it. The way he touched her made her feel enchanted and her body now ached at the mere remembrance of it. She wanted him to do it again, she needed him to.
The whistling of the kettle brought her back as did the sound of footsteps walking outside. The sound frightened her as it was coming from just outside the kitchen window. Her heart racing, she tiptoed towards the back door of the kitchen and stood behind it. Better to take whoever it is by surprise, she thought to herself. There was nothing about this sound that felt supernatural, the only people that came inside the house were the living. But at this hour, she knew whoever it was, wasn't invited and it certainly wasn’t Magnus. He did have a key to the front door and he wouldn’t dream of scaring me, she told herself.
The door handle jiggled and finally gave way, she cursed when she realized that it was unlocked. She readied herself to pounce on whoever it was, and if they had a weapon? Well she would put up one hell of a fight. Hands raised, ready to strike she snatched open the door.
"Whoa chère! It jus' me," cried Sinta. "You told me to keep an eye on the big house so when I sees the light on in da kitchen I come."
Ava rested a hand on her chest. "Sinta, you startled me," she said.
"I'm sorry; I forgot that Magnus asked you to look in on the place. Here, come in and have a cup of tea with me."
"Where Mister Magnus?"
"He's still in New Orleans I guess." Ava busied herself with making the tea. She was on the verge of crying but didn’t want Sinta to see.
"Miss Ava? You alright?" Sinta asked and led her over to a chair. "Lets me fix da tea Miss Ava, you don’t look so good."
With two cups of hot tea in front of them, Ava proceeded to tell Sinta everything that had happened between Magnus and she.
"Miss Ava that otha woman ain't nuttin' to Mister Magnus no more. You got to fix this, he in love wit you and you in love wit him. Now trust me, I don' seen a lot of bad things happen to folks in mines lifetime and I am telling you now, you was meant to be wit 'dat man."
Ava was confused. "Sinta how is it that you seem to know so much about us? I mean this entire situation feels like a façade. It can't all be real, can it?"
"Oh Miss Ava it all real, ain't no façade as you say. I knows 'dis to be true becuz I done seen it before. Same thing happen 'tween Will and Celeste, you see one time 'da massa try set his son up wit a rich man's daughter. You jus' sit back and relax Miss Ava, Sinta 'gon tell you all about it.
You see, Massa Montieu done make plans for Massa Will to marry Cecelia Burke, now 'da Burkes owned a sugar' plantation 'oer yonder some miles and miles away. Now when 'da Burkes come a callin' fo dinner one evenin' old Massa Montieu make sure 'dat his son Will was extra nice to Cecelia. Now 'dis particular night Mistress Amelia make sure 'dat Celeste is serving. Why ever' time she come out da kitchen, Miss Amelia make sure she say a smart remark about Will and Miss Cecelia makin a beautiful couple and how they family can't wait to be join as one."
Ava snickered, she knew from reading both diaries that Amelia had it out for Celeste.
"Now, Celeste can't take much mo' and her hands start shakin' and she getting' mighty angry. So's Miss Amelia sees 'dis and right in front of they company, slaps Celeste hard, right cross 'da face. Tears start rollin' down Celeste face and Massa Montieu take pity on her and send her back to 'da kitchen. But later on Celeste and Will got into an argument cuz Celeste don’t know why Will Jr. ain't stick up fo' her but Will Jr. tell Celeste, he say, If I wuld have defend you Celeste, my momma wuld have thrown you out 'da house. And what he was sayin' wasn’t no lie.
He knew that Miss Amelia was up to no good and after he 'xplain to Celeste she forgive him. Now I knows 'dat 'dis ain't the same but it almost 'da same. You mad at Mister Magnus cuz he don' talk to another woman but in 'da end he come back to you. You sees Miss Ava, marks my words, he come back to where his heart lie, and his heart lie wit you, whether you wants to believe it or not."
Magnus was almost home, he'd left the ceremony as soon as he could. He would have been able to leave sooner had his agent not shown up keeping him until the very last minute. Between signing books and taking photographs he was lucky to have gotten out of there when he did. The further he drove away from New Orleans the better he began to feel. He wanted to get back home to Ava. He needed to stop her from leaving. Besides the fact that a storm was coming, he didn’t want her to leave without knowing the truth.
He was going to tell her all about he and Jeanette's rocky relationship and how right before she broke it off, he had sensed that she was seeing someone else. He also wanted to tell her that he made sure Jeanette knew that he wanted nothing more to do with her and that their relationship had been over long before she decided to break it off. "Don’t ever interfere in my life again," he'd told her after the ceremony. "I've moved on with my life Jeanette and you need to do the same." When Jeanette tried hard to convince him otherwise, he'd simply hailed her a taxi and sent her on her way. I've got to get home and tell Ava everything, he thought to himself. I just hope that I'm not too late.
After Sinta left, Ava felt a little better. She at least had decided to talk to Magnus before leaving. I owe him at least that much, she told herself. But he better damn well have a good explanation about everything that happened tonight because if he doesn’t, curse or no curse, I'm leaving.
The headlights of Magnus's car burst through the darkness of the kitchen. Ava had just finished cleaning up and was headed off to bed when he returned home. He came back just for me, she told herself and hurriedly made her way to the sitting room. She wanted to appear as casual as possible. Don’t want him thinking that I've been up waiting for him to arrive home, she thought to herself. She wished that she had brought the diaries downstairs with her now as she reached for a random book.
When he saw the lights on inside the house, he got nervous. He'd hoped that she would be asleep, because if she was it meant that she wasn’t going to leave until the morning, at least he'd have a chance to try and talk her out of it. But if she was leaving tonight, there'd be no convincing her to stay; her mind must be made up.
He was surprised to find her sitting quietly in the sitting room. She was thumbing through a book, it was one of his books.
"Ava, please tell me that you've decided to stay," he said.
She closed the book and turned to face him. He was still in his tuxedo and he looked absolutely delicious. "Magnus I was prepared to leave this place first thing in the morning before the storm but before I do I need to know, was it just me who felt a strong connection? Or did you feel it too? I mean was I being silly in thinking that the reason you asked me to be your date was because you were actually interested in me?"
The expression on his face was one of seriousness when he responded. "Ava of course I feel the connection, I felt it your first night here. And I'm sorry about Jeanette, I had no idea that she was going to barge in like that and looking back now I should not have waited until the end of the night to tell her to stay the hell out of my life. I need to apologize to you Ava, I never meant to hurt you and I handled the whole situation like a coward. I'm sorry and believe me, it won't happen again, Jeanette is out of my life; she's out of our life," he said.
"Magnus, although I do believe that you could have handled things better I don’t believe that you were cowardly about it. I want you to know that I will not be a rebound girl, if we are going to even think about starting something, then I need to know that I have you, mind, body, and soul. I won't allow myself to be hurt again, is that understood?"
She surprised herself by saying that just then, but she meant every word. No matter how strong her feelings were for him, she wasn’t about to be set up for another f
all. Especially by an ex fiancé.
Magnus nodded his head in agreement, he understood what she was saying and the words were like music to his ears. She'd said she wanted to start something. "Well I think we started something the first night you arrived Ava," he said with a sultry look in his eyes.
"You know what I mean Magnus," she said and rolled her eyes.
"Ava, I want you to do something for me," he said and looked at her pleadingly.
"What Magnus?"
"Will you put on your gown for me?"
At first she thought that he was joking but she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was not, he was serious.
"What for Magnus?"
"Just please go upstairs and put it on. Then I need you to come back down and meet me back here."
Ava felt the need to comply with his request; she didn’t need to know why. At that moment she simply wanted to please him.
"And don’t forget to wear the heels," he said in a sensual, but demanding tone.
Ava did as he requested and as she descended the stairway, Magnus stood at the bottom with two glasses of champagne in his hands. He was smiling at her and handed her a glass when she reached the bottom.
She could hear music playing softly in the back ground and he led her into the sitting room where he had rearranged the furniture so that they could dance. The wall sconces were dimmed and the soft light that was coming from them provided a romantic back drop to the elegantly decorated room.
"Ava it's my fault that you weren’t able to have a good time tonight so I thought I'd bring a little of the ambiance back. I know it's not the same as being in the ballroom but…"
Ava quieted his words with her mouth. She had never been romanced like this and she didn’t want to waste time talking about it. "Shut up and dance with me," she said and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"My pleasure," he said and slowly, twirled her around the room.
Very few words were spoken during the night and as the sun began to rise they found themselves still holding one another and swaying to the music. "Magnus thank you," she said and kissed him passionately.
"Thank you for this special night."
"Your very welcome," he returned her kiss. "And thank you for changing your mind about leaving, I think you know that I could not live here without you."
A warm smile was all that she could manage, for at that moment, words escaped her.
"I'm going to make us some breakfast," he said cheerfully and padded off to the kitchen. During the course of the night both he and Ava had taken off their shoes and had spent most of the night dancing barefoot. "How about we change out of these clothes first," Ava shouted after him as he made his way into the kitchen.
"You go ahead, I'll get the coffee started and I'll be up in a minute."
The evening wasn’t a complete disaster after all, she told herself as she wiggled out of her gown and went in search of something comfortable to put on. After settling on a pair of shorts and tank she tousled her hair and smiled at herself in the mirror. "This is going to be the perfect day considering," she said out loud and headed back down the stairs. Neither one had gotten any sleep, but she got the distinct feeling that like herself, Magnus was not tired.
Rain had started to fall and the heavy drops pelted upon the roof. As she came down the stairs, she thought she heard voices. Thinking that it was Sinta looking for shelter from the storm Ava smiled and rushed into the kitchen.
She stopped short and dropped the smile when she saw that it was not Sinta. "What the hell are you two doing here?" She asked. Standing by the kitchen door brushing the rain off their clothes, was Gavin and Melanie.
"Well it's nice to see you too Ava," Gavin said. He was as smug as ever and she couldn’t believe that the betrayers were standing right in front of her.
"I'll say it again, what the hell are you two doing here?"
"Come on Ava, I'm still your boss and when you wouldn’t return my phone calls, this was all I could think to do."
"Actually it was my idea," Melanie interrupted. "Isn't that right?" She gently rubbed his back.
"You two make me sick," she said and quickly turned her head.
Magnus wasn’t sure what to do, he'd been making coffee when Gavin knocked on the door. Had they not introduced themselves, Magnus would have taken the two for desperate salespeople looking to make a quick buck but as it were, it was Ava's boss/ex-boyfriend and her ex best friend standing in his doorway dripping wet from the rain.
"I came to check on you Ava, you should be flattered," Gavin spoke with such falseness that she wondered what it was about him that made her fall for him in the first place.
"And there's no need for introductions, we've already been introduced to Mister DuPonte. Looks like the place is coming along nicely Ava. I see you've got your work cut out for you though, there's still a lot more to be done," he said in such a way that it made her feel as if she were slacking.
"Gavin, I know exactly what I need to do; you didn’t have to come all the way out here to tell me that. There is this feature on cell phones; maybe you've heard of it, it's called voicemail. Now if I were you, I'd leave now, can't you see that a storm has just started? The road here floods very quickly so you better be on your way," she said and tried to rush them out the door.
"Hold on now, wait a minute. Melanie and I just got here for Christ's sake and besides, I need to see the rest of this old place. It'll be time for an appraisal once you get it staged and I need to survey the property, well the inside at least. The outside can wait until the storm passes."
The pair pushed by Ava and headed straight towards the sitting room leaving Ava alone with Magnus.
"Ava, I'm sorry, I had no idea of what they looked like so when I saw them I just assumed that they were salespeople or more ghost hunters. I would have never let them in had I known," he assured her.
"I know that Magnus, I just can't believe that they showed up here and today of all days. Now the storm has probably already flooded the only road into this place and they'll be stuck here."
"Don’t worry I'll go check on the road, see if it's passable. Just let me get changed."
Ava didn’t want him to have to go outside; it was her company, unwanted company but her company none the less. She told Magnus that she would go outside to check, she needed to get away from them for a moment anyway. "And besides I need to find Sinta, I don’t want her outside during this storm and I need an ally if god forbid they get stuck here," she said while slipping into an old pair of wellington boots
The wind had picked up along with the rain and it was pounding against her face. Her hair had become drenched and she wrapped her arms around herself. Just a few feet further and she would be able to see whether or not the road was flooded. She began calling for Sinta, even though she doubted that the old woman would be able to hear her shouts through the intense shrilling of the wind and rain. The sounds of the storm was growing louder and louder, so loud that she had to cover her ears.
The howling had now turned into a shrieking sound which caused her to become disoriented. The house was no longer behind her and she found herself closer to the bayou, her shouts for Sinta came out like whispers. Before long she was standing in front of the big oak and a dark, menacing figure of a man dressed in a black waist coat and ashen colored slacks, was bounding towards her, but she couldn’t make out his face.
Ava knew that it was John DuPonte and as she turned to run, her feet turned into cement, and her screams were locked in her throat. As the figure approached her she shut her eyes and prayed for help.
"Ava!" Gavin shouted as Magnus carried her over to the couch. Her legs were covered in mud and she was soaking wet. To make matters worse, she didn’t remember a thing. Sinta was making her way to the big house to seek shelter from the storm when she saw Ava being thrown about by some invisible force.
"Miss Ava look like a rag doll being thrown all round," Sinta shouted to Magnus as they ran back out into the raging
storm. When she had failed to come back and he could no longer see her from the kitchen window, Magnus had changed into his boots and was prepared to go out in search of her. The moment that he saw Sinta running towards the house, he knew that Ava was in trouble. By the time they had gotten to her, she was unconscious and had almost been buried by the mud. When Magnus picked her up he noticed several cuts, and bruises that looked like hand prints along her arms and legs, her knees were bleeding from where she fell.
Melanie restrained Gavin from going to Ava. "They have it under control Gavin," she said trying not to sound envious. "Let them take care of her," she said and dragged him with her to the other side of the room. The last thing Melanie wanted was for Gavin to offer any assistance. They weren’t there for that, they were there to get the massive property listed so that they could collect a large commission. And since Ava was dragging her feet on getting the place staged, it had been her idea to make the trip to Louisiana and try to get the ball rolling. "She's just doing this so that she can waste more time," she whispered into Gavin's ear. "And who the hell is that lady and why is she dressed like that?" She questioned.
"Ava can you hear me?" Magnus leaned down close and wiped the spatter of mud from her face. "Please Ava, say something."
A painful moan escaped her lips as she opened her eyes, it took her a moment to register where she was and what had happened. The last thing she remembered she told them, was that she was out in the storm calling Sinta's name. Then a man appeared and as he made his way towards her she panicked and must have blacked out.
"John DuPonte working on you Miss Ava, he's getting' strong, his spirit leave 'da house now," she whispered so only Magnus and Ava could hear.
"Jesus Christ," Magnus ran his fingers through his hair and stared intently at Ava.
"What are we going to do?" He asked Sinta.
"Mister Magnus, Miss Ava, now I's knows you aint gon' want to hear 'dis but we gots to conjure up 'dem spirits and we's gots to do it tonight," she urged.
Echoes in the Bayou Page 11
