Bayou Baby - Lexi Blake Page 0,2
will get you to keep an open mind. Though I think maybe you should wait a bit.”
Her mother pointed the priest’s way. “Only because your nephew is coming into town next month.”
“Archie is a wonderful boy. He’s going to be looking to settle down.” Father Franklin backed away. “We should get together, Delphine. You know there’s nothing wrong with arranged marriages. They get a bad rap.”
“You are not dating that Archie boy.” Her mother sat back and fanned herself with the schedule. “I heard he ran through an entire sorority at that university he went to.”
“I’m not dating anyone,” Sera insisted. She certainly wasn’t about to get set up at her great-aunt’s funeral. She didn’t want to get set up at all. The last few months had been hard enough. She’d watched as her great-aunt had gotten more and more frail. And bitter. It had all fallen to her because for some reason she was the only one in the family who got along with Aunt Irene.
She’d been the one who’d dealt with the funeral home, selected the coffin, and picked out Aunt Irene’s best muumuu for the funeral. She was also the one who’d found homes for sixteen cats.
Was she going to end up with sixteen cats, a closet full of housedresses, and video tapes of every episode of Murder, She Wrote? She glanced down at the bio she’d written. It was nothing more than a list of dates. When her aunt was born. When she died. Where she graduated from high school and how long she’d worked at the DMV. A single paragraph to sum up a whole life.
Would she even need a paragraph?
“It’s probably for the best,” Hallie whispered because the church choir was starting to hum. “I heard that Kellie Boyce bet Jenny Halstrom that she would have Harrison Jefferys eating out of the palm of her hand within a week. You know she’s been on the prowl ever since she got back into town. I also heard he won’t be staying long. The rumor is he’s kind of a drifter.”
Her mother shook her head. “Men like that only drift until they find a reason to settle down.”
“Or until the police catch up to them because they use their good looks to facilitate their murder sprees.” Sera might have been watching too much Dateline, but she wasn’t about to become a cautionary tale. Not again. She was the example every mother in town used to steer their daughters away from premarital sex. Don’t let your boyfriend go too far or you’ll end up like that poor Seraphina Guidry. She wasn’t about to add being murdered to her résumé of bad choices.
“Delphine, Remy.” A cool voice had Sera’s head turning. Celeste Beaumont stood at the end of the pew. She was roughly her mother’s age but looked younger due to regularly scheduled trips to a plastic surgeon in New Orleans. The woman was still gorgeous and still as cold as ice. “Please accept my condolences on the loss of Irene.”
Her mother held her head high. “Thank you. She will be missed.”
“By who?” Zep asked, earning him a hearty smack to the back of his head from Remy. “Well, she used to turn the sprinklers on kids who tried to trick or treat her house. Sorry.”
“A little respect goes a long way,” Celeste said, settling her Chanel bag on her arm. “That’s a lesson your mother should have taught you. You’ll excuse me but I should go and join my family. Again, our condolences.”
Her mother shook her head as Celeste walked away. “I will show that woman respect. I will shove it right up that tight—”
“Momma,” Remy interrupted. “Church.”
Her mother settled back. “That woman.”
Yes, that woman. Celeste Beaumont had never liked her friendship with Wes. She’d tried to keep them apart, wanting more suitable friends for her baby boy.
What would she do if she knew Luc was Wes’s child? Angela was the only Beaumont who knew, and Wes’s sister had been adamant about keeping the secret. Angela had been the one to save her from making the worst decision of her life. Angela was probably the reason she still had custody of her son.
Sera turned toward the pulpit as Father Franklin stepped up.
“Still, you should look at him,” Hallie whispered. “Because he really is gorgeous. Is it wrong that I think it’s kind of sexy that he has a fake leg? Like he’s a bionic man.”
“Yes. It’s wrong.” It was wrong to think of anything but her son