was gettin’ better this past year. I thought—”
“She’s gonna be fine, Mrs. Gaudet,” Justin told her. “Look, she’s already starting to wake up.”
Anna Belle’s eyelids were fluttering. But she was wheezing, her chest moving visibly with each breath. Which even Louise knew was not normal and not a good sign. It didn’t help that she was starting to sob, understandably frightened.
“Do you have a family doctor?”
“Well, Doctor Clovis, I s’pose.”
Doctor Clovis LeDeux was eighty if he was a day, and a closet alcoholic, but still doing house calls when needed to his patients along the bayou. His office was located in the front library of his Greek Revival mansion on the outskirts of Houma.
Justin exchanged a look with Louise, which pretty much said what he thought of medical care in his home region.
“But we haven’t seen Doc Clovis fer a long time,” Marie continued. “Like I said, Anna Belle’s been so much better, and my family doctors ourselves, mostly.”
Again, another meaningful look from Justin to Louise.
What? Is he blaming me for medical care in these remote regions? And there’s nothin’ wrong with home doctoring, for the most part. It’s worked for a couple hundred years here on the bayou.
Louise set Adèle on her feet and asked Justin, “Is there anything I can do?”
He indicated with a movement of his eyes that she should get Marie out of the way so that he could pick up the child. “Can you go find my brother and tell him to bring his car up closer? Someone can call ahead to Dr. Clovis.”
“We can use Lillian, my car. She’s a jalopy, a 1940 Chevy Cabriolet, but the old girl runs,” Louise said.
He nodded and she took Adèle’s hand in hers. The two of them, along with Marie, ran toward the parking lot. Lots of people were standing around, watching, and some of them called out questions to her, but she just waved at them and said, “Later.”
Adèle was asking lots of questions, too, but Louise assured her that this wasn’t her fault and Anna Belle was going to be all right, but that, at the moment, the two of them had to be heroes to the rescue.
“Like my daddy?”
Louise had told Adèle that her father was a soldier who died to rescue a lot of people. She hadn’t mentioned which soldier she meant, her fiancé or her brother, and thus far, Adèle hadn’t wanted any more details. “Yes, sweetie.”
“Good.” Adèle beamed up at her.
Louise’s heart clutched and tears misted her eyes. If only Phillipe had known his daughter, or had ever been aware of her existence, if only in the womb. He would have been so proud!
Somehow they managed to fit everyone in her car, Louise driving with Adèle in the passenger seat, and Justin and Marie in the back seat with a gasping Anna Belle lying across their laps. Justin had to give her artificial respiration again, two more times.
Dr. Clovis met them at the open front door of his house. The gin blossoms on his bulbous nose and his flushed cheeks were a testament to his decades-long love affair with booze. His breath smelled of the peppermint Lifesavers he must purchase by the bushel. Everyone on the bayou knew that the old man had a drinking problem, including his three ex-wives, but it never interfered with his work, as far as Louise knew.
Justin, who had to know the old man’s history, looked at him with skepticism, probably through the lens of his almost-doctor glasses.
She elbowed him to keep his thoughts to himself.
With an oxygen mask and then a large inhaler in place, Anna Belle’s breathing soon came back to normal. And she was not only conscious, but babbling in a steady stream of chatter to Adèle and anyone else who was in the vicinity about her adventure.
Two hours later, Louise was driving Justin back to the church grounds where he hoped that his brother would still be waiting for him. Otherwise, she would have to take him back to his father’s store. He needed to make the evening bus to New Orleans in order to be on duty later that night. Adèle was asleep on the back seat, the chaotic day having caught up with her.
“I’m impressed,” she told him.
“With Dr. Clovis?” he scoffed.
“No, you fool. Although he did a fine job, you must admit. No, I meant you.”
“Why?”
“You acted in such a professional manner back at the festival.”
“You mean, like a doctor?”
She slapped him on the arm at the sarcasm.
“Really, this