He hadn’t ever let himself believe, not for one minute, in spite of Nonny warning him a time or two, that Joy Chassion was playing him, using him until someone came along who could get her out of the bayou. He hadn’t wanted to know – to believe – to even consider for one moment that his judgment could be that bad.
He’d never had that kind of hurt before and he sure as hell never wanted to experience it again. He’d sworn off women. They were unreliable and untrustworthy. He’d be damned if he ever went down that road again. And worse, he couldn’t trust his own judgment. Joy hadn’t been worth it, and the sad truth was, he’d never really been in love with her, only with his own fantasy. He’d made a damn fool of himself and he’d have to live with the consequences for the rest of his life – and so would his family. Nonny was going to have to look elsewhere for babies.
The funny thing was, he must have known all along that Joy couldn’t be trusted. She wanted money and a different life. He had the ability to give her both, but he never told her. Never wanted her to know. She had to love him for who he was, not what he could do for her.
Wyatt shook his head. “Grand-mere, I’ve been braggin’ to Malichai and Ezekiel that there’s nothin’ quite like our café and beignets. They’ve never had them before.”
Nonny looked both shocked and horrified. “Never?”
She got up immediately and went to the warmer, where she removed a large platter of beignets. She placed it squarely between the two men and marched back to get the hot black coffee for them.
Wyatt waited until she was seated again and his two friends were covered in powdered sugar. He leaned toward his grandmother, holding out his hand to her. “Your phone, Nonny. I want to see what these men look like.”
She pulled the small cell phone from the pocket of her sweater. “I took several. Those are the men who trampled my plants. The one with the dog tried to scare me, but I whispered to it and it stopped showin’ me its teeth. He wasn’ too happy and I was afraid I mighta gotten the dog in trouble.”
Malichai and Ezekiel both put down their beignets to study the series of photographs on her phone. Most were quite clear in spite of the fact that she was taking them on the sly.
“Which one put his hands on you?” Ezekiel asked.
“You sound jist like my boys. No sense in gettin’ everyone riled up. My dress and jeans came out clean and I woulda had to wash them anyway.”
Wyatt stiffened. “What does that mean? You fell?” he demanded. “Did you fall down? Did they push you?”
“I said they put their hands on me and I kicked one where it counts,” she reiterated. “He didn’t like it much, ’specially when his friends all laughed at him.”
This time the table actually shook. It was no slight tremor. Wyatt got up and paced across the floor trying to rid himself of restless energy – energy that could easily get out of hand with his kind of temper.
“He shoved you into the swamp?” He managed to get each word out between his teeth. He glared at Malichai, who had begun eating the beignets again. “He shoved her and you’re eating?”
Malichai’s eyebrow shot up. “Fuel, my man. One of us has to be efficient when the two of you are hotheads. Nonny, out of curiosity, were you aware you raised a hothead?”
She nodded thoughtfully. “I did, Malichai. I did. I thought he might grow out of it, but like his brothers, he’s got that Cajun temper and it just grew up right along with all of them.”
“You should have told me immediately that these men pushed you down, Nonny,” Wyatt said. “It’s no laughin’ matter. I thought maybe they got a little overzealous tryin’ to guard their plant when somethin’ went wrong, and that was bad enough but…”
He raked both hands through his hair and his eyes glittered like a hungry cat hunting prey. “Shovin’ you? Pattin’ you down? Threatnin’ you? No, that’s intolerable. I think I need to have a little friendly chat with these men.”
Ezekiel rose and pushed back his chair, reaching for the plates. “Thank you for such a fine meal. I’ll just do up the dishes, Grand-mere, and then we’ll go see about reading from the good book along with Wyatt.”
Malichai shoved both chairs back into the table and helped gather the bowls. “Magnificent meal, Nonny. I’m actually full… for the time being.”
“Leave the dishes, boys,” Nonny said. “I’ll get them done. You boys don’ be out too late, and Malichai, there’ll be somethin’ hot on the stove when you come back in.”
Chapter 2
“We’re goin’ to take the pirogue so we can go in quiet,” Wyatt announced as he stepped off the porch. “Neither of you has to come with me. I’m goin’ in soft, just a recon to see what I’m up against.”
“Like hell we’re going to let you go alone,” Malichai said. “I ate a lot. I need a little exercise before going to sleep.” And I don’t believe for one minute you’re going in soft. I’ll just tag along and make certain you behave yourself.
Wyatt sent him an innocent look.
Ezekiel nudged his brother. “You just want to walk off the dinner so you can eat more. I swear, Malichai, you should weigh five hundred pounds.”
“I got all the good genes,” Malichai said, and stepped onto the pirogue. “What the hell is this contraption? Are you certain it’s safe?”
He peered into the black water. Hanging like great ropes, vines of moss dangled from the cypress trees, sweeping the water with thin, feathery arms, creating a macabre effect. The humidity was extremely high, so that everything in the night seemed to move slow and easy, and even the air seemed to enter lungs slow and lazy.
Ezekiel studied the small, flat-bottomed wooden craft that appeared to be made from a tree trunk. The last thing he wanted to do was to find himself in the dark water with snapping turtles, snakes and alligators.