“I thought you wanted to help me with this problem. I seem to remember you saying that me keeping you out of my family issues was one of the reasons you couldn’t trust me,” he argued. “Now that I brought you into it, you’re fighting me again.”
“No, I am explaining to you that I won’t let your family keep me from doing my job. And this isn’t making me part of the solution. This is you trying to control the situation again, and that’s not going to work. If you truly believe Charles could physically harm me, we could talk about that, but I’m not going to let you control who I see in a day, no matter how that makes you feel. That’s how this is going to work.”
He got out on the other side. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m pushing you because I know he’s going to try something.”
“You’ll have to trust me to handle it. This won’t be the only time I have to deal with your family.”
He moved in, staring down at her. “I wish we were still out there. Just the two of us.”
“No, honey, you don’t, because I needed the caffeine,” she replied with a smile. “I’m so much happier caffeinated.”
Before he could answer, the door opened and her mother was rushing outside, Delphine hard on her heels.
“My baby!” Her mother wrapped her up in strong arms, the equally strong smell of sage surrounding her.
Well, she should have known there would be sage involved. “We’re fine. It was a long night, but we made it through.”
Her mom leaned back. “What happened? Oh, baby, I’m going to have to fix that hair.”
Naturally her momma went there. “I couldn’t put it up last night. I’ll drop by the salon later, but Armie’s coming to pick me up in an hour. He’s worried about a couple of the outlying families, and I want to see if the improvements we’ve made to the public areas held up.”
“Momma Marcelle, I’m sorry if you were worried. It’s entirely my fault,” Rene said in his smoothest tones.
“It was my idea to go to the butterfly island,” Sylvie pointed out. “We should have checked the weather, but that system came up fast. Rene found us shelter and took care of me all night.”
“Yes, I heard you had to sleep on one of the uninhabited islands.” Her mother looked her over as though checking to make sure she was truly all right.
“You couldn’t make it to a better place?” Delphine shook her head. “I hope you felt the spirits of your ancestors guiding you, because we worked some serious spells last night.”
“We could absolutely feel the love,” Rene replied, offering Delphine his arm. “Is my mother all right? I’m grateful you came out here. I’m sure she was comforted by your presence.”
Delphine explained that they’d come over the night before to make sure Cricket was doing well. They walked toward the house. Sylvie started to follow, but her mother held her hand.
Her mother was shaking her head. “That is not ‘I stayed out in the open wilderness’ hair.”
“I took a shower at Guidry’s.”
Her mother continued like she hadn’t said a thing. “That is ‘I rolled around on a bed for a long time’ hair.”
Sylvie touched her head. “It is not. My hair is perfectly respectable.”
Her mother’s arms crossed over her chest in that way that let Sylvie know she was in for a hearty lecture. “I thought you were going to wait. I know you did not sleep with Rene on the ground. I raised you far better than that. You would not look so relaxed if you spent the night huddled under a tree. You got some sleep. Good sleep. Sleep-on-a-man sleep. And Rene wouldn’t have that possessive look in his eyes if he’d huddled under a tree all night.”
She should have known her mother would realize something was going on. She quickly outlined the situation, telling her mother about how they made it to the cabin and the visitor they’d had this morning. “So we need to keep the truth quiet. If Charles finds out we were there, he’ll check the bid and find out we switched it.”
“I can hex that boy,” her mother promised.
“I’ll handle it, though if you want to try to send some bad luck his way, I wouldn’t mind. Is Cricket all right?”
Her mother looked like she wanted to get back to her original point, but she sighed and started walking toward the house with Sylvie. “She was very worried. She’s lost a lot. Louis calmed her down considerably. Is he in on this secret? Because he said he went out early this morning and didn’t find you. He was going to the old fishing cabin to see if you made it there.”
That was news to her. “When did he go?”
“He left early this morning but he said he didn’t find anything. It was after the storm settled down, but before dawn,” her mother explained. “Cricket begged him to go. She was worried the two of you had drowned. Lucky for us by the time he got back, Armie had called.”
Sylvie didn’t like the sound of that and thought Rene wouldn’t like it, either. “What do you know about Louis?”
Her mother stopped short of the stairs to the front porch. “I know he’s been in love with Cricket for most of his life, if that’s what you’re asking. They were childhood friends, but they never connected that way. She married Rene’s father after Louis introduced them. If what I saw last night is any indication, they’re getting closer. He hugged her for far longer than was friendly, and he’s been holding her hand. I suppose it could be for comfort, but that wasn’t what it felt like to me.”
“Rene isn’t going to like that.”
A brow arched over her momma’s eyes. “Why? They’ve been close for years. He can’t expect his mother to be alone for the rest of her life. I know she’s been fragile since the cancer diagnosis, but she came through.”
“Rene has been through a lot of change in the last three years, and it’s been hard on him,” Sylvie admitted. “Rene views Louis as family and can’t think of him as a romantic partner for his mom. He used to call the man his uncle.”
Her mother snorted at that thought, a sound she always seemed to make elegant. “And he used to call your brother his brother, so maybe I need to explain the word hypocrisy to my son-in-law.”
“Don’t. Something’s going on with Rene, and starting an argument won’t help me figure it all out. I think he’s confused about a lot of things. Like I said, it’s been a hard couple of years for him. He’s still getting used to the idea of his dad not being around, and then he almost lost his mom, too. He’s faced a lot of death lately.” She’d thought about it on the boat ride back. Her husband was trying to find a way out of his dark places. If she could get him to trust her fully, she might be able to help.