by Kimball Lee
“Mr. Warren I’d like to ask you something,” William said when he and Walden walked with him out to his car in the settling twilight. “You’ve known my father since his college days, isn’t that right? It’s common knowledge that my mother was pregnant with me when he married her and that it all happened when he and Liza and my mother were friends at Tulane. But if he was so in love with Liza how did he let that happen? I’d really like to know what caused that lapse in his judgment, why did he sleep with my mother and risk losing the love of his life?”
“Well now, William, that’s a question a lot of folks would like to know the answer to. As for me, I’m his attorney and there exists between us a bond of client privilege that cannot be breached. Of course you could always put that question to him, couldn’t you? Now I’ll be on my way, good night,” Mr. Warren said, settling into his car and sighing deeply as the memories of those long ago carefree college days flooded over him. Liza, she had been such a wonder and it was a certainty that every male on campus had been in love with her. Her love for William Warfield the third had burned white-hot as surely as his desire flamed for her. But they had both been distracted for a day or a night or who knew how long and she had left him bereft and miserable and the rest was history.
“Are we going to be civil about this Wills? Are you and I and Alaina going to sit down together and discuss Father’s wishes? If not then I’ll speak to her on my own and you can do the same, but I hope you’ll be upfront about what’s going on. Realistically, this whole scenario could send her running for sunny California, so we should probably be smart about the way we break the news to her. I don’t know if this angel of a girl is a just passing fling for you, I doubt that you’re even sure at this point. But I am certain about my feelings for her and I’d say from her eyes and her lips and her body’s reaction when we were together at the club that she is attracted to me on more than one level,” Walden said as he slid behind the wheel of the black Maserati he had claimed as his own.
“Do you live to piss me off these days Walden? Because you are sure as fuck doing a good job of it. I’m happy as hell that you’re getting your life together but you’re not taking something— someone who’s already mine in order for you to stop the voices from screaming inside your head. You seem to be doing great but I think you need to give it some time and make sure the old demons have been put to rest. I swear to God I hope you’re done with the past, I’ll throw a party and invite all of New Orleans to celebrate your return to the real world. Until then, there’s no reason for you to talk to or see Allie and no matter what, Walden, she and I are a couple now. We’re in love, it’s real and it’s serious, end of story,” William said and he slammed the door of his former car. “You know I really liked this car and you’ve obviously claimed it as your own, I’ll concede that point but Alaina Darling isn’t a car. She’s the woman I love and she and will decide when and if we want to get married. Not to mention that she’s twenty-one years old, it’s not like she’s remotely interested in having a baby in the near future!”
“Answer my question Wills, because I’m in good shape mentally, no more ghosts or angels and I’m not going back to that dark world ever again. Seeing Alaina and then meeting her was my reason to turn my back on all the morbid shit I’ve been carrying around for years, but the way I feel about her, it’s not imaginary. I’m not fixing myself just so I can win the girl, she’s made me want to be the best man I can be, can you understand that? Now, should I contact her on my own or is this going to be a family discussion?” Walden asked, he had rolled down the car window and pulled a cigarette from a pack but then crushed it between his fingers and tossed onto the driveway. He revved the engine and glanced up at William with a crooked grin and all the trust and hope in the world in his eyes.
“I don’t want you to I’ll talk to her and call you tomorrow or Sunday at the latest. Keep your fucking shirt on little brother and slow down, this is not the time for you to fuck both of our lives up. Do you hear what I’m saying?” William said and the joyful light in his brother’s eyes caused his heart to fill with both happiness and dread.
“Got it, let’s meet for drinks at the Old Absinthe House on Sunday afternoon, I’ll see you and my future wife there at six. Later, bro,” Walden said, and he roared off down the gravel driveway leaving William in the dust.
*
Allie had spent the rest of the day with the intriguingly peculiar Emmeline “Remy” Lesairre in the little bookshop that time seemed to have forgotten. Remy could easily have been a character out of one of the many historic romance and adventure novels that lined the musty shelves that were scattered maze-like throughout the many rooms of the ancient but sturdy Creole townhouse.
“Tourists come here all the time wanting to see the rest of the building,” Remy told Allie as she led her on a meandering tour through the stacks of books that were arranged in no decipherable order. She was a thin girl with a lack-luster quality about her. No one would ever bother to look twice at Remy Lesairre. She was practically invisible with her nondescript pale eyes lost behind horn-rimmed glasses and lifeless brown hair pulled into a haphazard bun. She wore a dress that might have belonged to a housewife from the fifties, with a full skirt, Peter Pan collar and rick-rack edged pockets. “It’s the architecture, don’t you know? This is what they call an Entresol house and sadly, due to the fires way back when, there are barely a dozen of them left in the Quarter. You see there is a low ceilinged storage area between the first floor retail space and the upstairs living quarters. The fanlight windows you see on the outside, they actually open into the storage area giving it ventilation and light and so forth. That area is off limits just so you know… if you’re to take the job and want to work here with me in the bookshop, I don’t allow anyone in there.”
“Oh, no problem,” Allie said as she ran her hand over the books nestled tightly together on the shelves and heaped on every tabletop and chair. They were all leather-bound and in excellent condition, she could only guess that there was a fortune in inventory in the You Wish bookshop. “So you live upstairs? I mean, above the shop and the… storage area?”
“Yes, I live alone, not even a cat to keep me company any longer. I did have a cat, a fraidy-cat you might say, he ran off. You see I travel a lot, well, every now and then. Whenever I can and on the spur of the moment mostly. That’s why I could use someone to help out here in the shop. Hold on a minute Allie, let me find my extra key to the front door for you and then we’ll lock up and run down for coffee and beignets, what do you think?” Remy asked, as she searched through a cluttered basket near the antiquated cash register, found they key and slipped it in the front pocket of her vintage dress. She smiled and pushed her glasses up although they slid right back down her nose immediately. The smile changed her face, without it she was mousy and nondescript although Allie hated to think such a thing about this nice woman or anyone, for that matter. But when Remy smiled her true self was unveiled and Allie saw a girl about her own age who, without a doubt, was very happy in some deeply secret part of herself.
“It was nice of William Warfield to think of me and send you over here, I can’t even imagine that he remembers who I am. I guess our families must have crossed paths somewhere in the past, practically everyone who’s from New Orleans knows everyone else. I was in the same class as his brother Walden every single year through the eighth grade over at St. George’s Episcopal. That’s how he remembers me most likely, although we didn’t run in the same crowd of friends. They were the popular boys, extremely over the top handsome and nice too, nice to everyone. You would never have guessed they had more money than God other than the fact that a fancy car and driver picked them up from school every day,” Remy chattered on as they settled at a table on the covered patio at Café Du Monde and a server sat two mugs of steaming coffee and plates of hot beignets in front of them.
“Whoa, these look wonderful! What are they exactly?” Allie asked and Remy laughed when Allie bit into one and powde
red sugar from the hot doughnut cascaded down the front of her dress.
“They’re sort of a French doughnut and I suppose it’s too late to warn you about the abundance of powdered sugar! Mmm, I just crave them. I have to admit that primarily my diet consists of Lucky Dogs from the cart on the corner and these beignets from right here at Café Du Monde. Except when I travel… So, Allie, how did you and William come to be acquainted?”
“My mother and his father went to Tulane University together, is that how most people meet I wonder, going to school together? I was so busy studying most of my life I barely had time for friends and my mother didn’t allow me to date until I was in college. Which means other than a semi-hippie granola-child roommate I can’t say that I’ve ever had a close friend. I did have a halfhearted relationship with a guy at Berkley but William is my first real love affair. Can I tell you something Remy?” Allie asked, sipping her fragrant coffee and trying in vain to dust some of the powdered sugar from her hands and her clothes.
“Sure, I’m a good listener and I’m very good at keeping secrets. Besides, I don’t talk to anyone, not anyone you will ever meet, believe me.” Remy said and she tucked a wayward lock of thin hair behind her ear before she readjusted her glasses leaving a powdery fingerprint on the lens.
“I’m in love with William, I mean I think I am, but how do I know for sure? It’s just that this whole relationship with him is overwhelming and it practically came out of nowhere and has knocked me on my ass. I can’t think of anything but him anymore and before we met nothing mattered to me other than excelling academically, like if you Googled ‘perfect student’ there would be a picture of me! I was valedictorian of my graduating class in high school and in the top two percent at UC Berkley. I don’t get along with my dad at all but he’s a college professor so I probably got the whole in-depth learning gene from him. Anyway, as far as my relationship with William goes I’m thrilled and deliriously happy and scared shitless all at the same time. On one hand I hardly know him and I’m living in his house and we’re doing IT every way and everywhere and he just gave me a car that is mind-bogglingly expensive. The thing is, he told me from day one that he isn’t the boyfriend type and that I shouldn’t waste my heart on him. Right now he’s totally into me and us, but I could get hurt, like really badly hurt if he has a change of heart so when I think about it, it’s scary. I’m telling you, I am so out of my league here, but what choice do I have? I’m like ridiculously head-over-heels crazy in love with him! Oh my God, it’s exhausting just thinking about it,” she said and finished the last beignet while she waited to see what affect her words had on Remy.
Remy sat her coffee cup on the table and added an enormous amount of sugar to it, then she looked up and tilted her head as if Allie’s words didn’t surprise her in the least. “Honestly, I find Walden the more attractive of the two brothers, but that’s just me. It’s my weakness, I have a terrible habit of falling for the absolute baddest of the bad boys. So, can you start work on Monday? I’m thinking it’s time for me to get away from all this oppressive summer heat, if you can handle the bookshop I might just take a little trip somewhere with white sand and nice cool breezes. Listen, if things get too overwhelming between you and William you’re welcome to stay in my guestroom. Just go up the stairs against the side wall toward the back of the shop and then take the spiral staircase on up to my apartment. That storage area I mentioned earlier, the ‘in between’ floor? I keep some pretty rare books and original manuscripts in there, so don’t bother them, alright? I make sure that area is locked all the time but I’m just saying,” Remy smiled her beautiful face-altering smile, fished the extra key out of her pocket and slid it across the table to Allie. Her eyes took on a faraway look as if she had a glimpse into worlds unseen and she whispered in a low and dreamy voice, “Pirates, I am so into pirates right now.”
Chapter Five
“I’m just gonna assume that you know where we’re going. I’ve counted more than a dozen men dressed in camo shorts and filthy wife-beaters and at least a hundred mangy dogs of no particular breed that I’ve ever seen before. Are you sure we’re still in America? I packed an overnight bag but I haven’t spotted a Holiday inn or even a Motel 6, are we gonna sleep with the fishes?” Allie asked, but she felt happy and content as she and William drove along dirt and grass covered roads that were hardly wider than footpaths as they skirted the marsh lands surrounding the Atchafalaya Swamp Basin.
They had taken her new convertible and put the top down and the air rushing past them was pungent with the smell of green water and greener vines and vegetation. Cypress trees, some more than six hundred years old, reached skyward from their watery home. Their roots, known as “Cypress knees”, broke the murky surface of the brackish water and as the evening mists swirled amongst them they took on the appearance of a legion of hunch-backed sentinels standing watch.
“I thought we would get out of the city for a couple of days and have a romantic weekend in the middle of the largest swamp in the good ol’ U.S. of A.,” William said, smiling as he reached over to tug on Allie’s silky ponytail causing her to blush and roll her eyes. “Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, I’ll bet none of your other boyfriends have ever taken you to such an exotic destination. Maybe you’ll see there’s more to me than fine automobiles and a bottomless bank account… actually there is something I want to tell you and then a minor issue we should discuss. Hey, it’s nothing to worry about, I don’t have an STD or a wife hidden away… I come from a dysfunctional family, Alaina but you already know that. So… let’s eat boiled crawfish and etouffee and French fried ‘gator tail and dance to zydeco music. How’s that sound? Tanya’s father has a place in Breaux Bridge, a Cajun resort you could call it, cabins, café, dance hall, the works. So, we’ll hang out in a log cabin with a big feather bed and lie around in a couple of hammocks under the oak trees keeping a lookout for alligators and water moccasins. Maybe we’ll join some of the locals for a fais do-do when all the children have gone to bed.”
“Mmm, I especially like the part about the feather bed, and the hammocks don’t sound half bad. As for the ‘fye dough dough’ and other stuff, I’ll just have to follow your lead as usual, but it seems like a safe bet. You make me happy, William, and I can’t imagine that I could ever be disappointed with anything you decide to surprise me with.” Allie said, unbuckling her seatbelt so she could scoot onto the center console and wrap her arms around William’s warm, wide shoulders.
She nudged his chin up with her own and her lips skimmed down his neck trailing feathery kisses to the top of his shirt collar. She loved the smell and feel and taste of this man, she loved the way he took over without taking control. It was as if he knew what made her happy, simple things like the roses he brought to her office or a weekend in a ramshackle cabin when he could have flown her around the world on his jet. Yes, he had given her a Maserati when she would have been happy with a Ford Fiesta. But it was just so cool that this man who only weeks ago was notorious for “fucking” and had zero interest in “making love” had certainly done a complete one-eighty in the romance department.
“Darling girl, I’m gonna have to pull over right here if you keep that up,” William said, pulling her soft, full lips up to his while trying hard not to let the car slip off the narrow road and into the swamp. “You should be wearing your seatbelt in a moving vehicle, Alaina. Come on, I’m serious, you are definitely distracting me and we’re nearly to the cabins.”
The watery world of cypress trees with their knees poking up out of the muck, the incessant click of insects in the thick air and the splash of swamp creatures gave way at last and William steered the car through an open gate. A freshly painted sign was nailed to an enormous oak tree proclaiming “Baptiste’s Bayou Haven” and a wiry little man with a bald head and an enormous smile rushed down the steps of a log cabin to meet them.
“Hey William, where y’at, welcome back to da bayou! I got your cabin all ready for you, chere, and who dis pretty gal you br
ung along? Dis Miss California I been hearin’ ‘bout?” As soon as William was out of the car Alphonse Baptiste clapped him on the shoulder with gusto and then held the door open for Allie kissing her hand and nodding his approval with enthusiasm.
“I’m good, Alphonse, how about you? Are the gators biting, have you got the boudin on the grill and the mudbugs on the boil?” William asked the craggy old gentleman, “This is Allie Darling, my girlfriend. Allie this is Tanya’s father, Alphonse Baptiste and this wonderful patch of Cajun history belongs to him. His grandfather owned this land and built the first cabin here.”
“Oh ya, chere, even my old daddy he grew up right here on da water. He never set foot en ville, you know, he never been to town, to Nawlins. Dat’s right he stayed all his days and nights on da bayou and in da swamps huntin’ gators and such. Why, he was borned and deaded right here in this petite maison what his own grandpapa built. Ya chere, he was a Cajun through and through but mon filles, my girls Tanya and Abigail, they don’t want nothin’ to do with their Cajun daddy. Ain’t that right, bebe?” He said as Tanya trotted down the cabin steps and gave him a kiss on his whiskered cheek and rolled her eyes. “Ya, most times she think her daddy too country for her, she da city gal now, ain’t dat right chere?” He said to Abigail with a twinkle of pure affection in his eyes. “Nah, my girls are good girls, every time we get together down here in dese woods for the fais do-do, here dey come to join in and make merry. Just wait ‘til da music start up, you’ll see, man dis gal, she can cut a rug!”
