friend made the very best mother Kate had ever known. Shell loved her child enough to do anything, go through anything, to keep her daughter safe and to keep the two of them together.
“Would you please hand Madeleine a cracker to get her by for a few minutes until supper is ready?” Shelby asked as she dipped up the shrimp étouffée from the ancient pot on an even older stove.
Kate reached over and put a cracker into the baby’s hand. The little girl stared up with a big, mostly toothless grin on her face.
The toddler’s cheeks glowed a rosy, healthy pink. Her curious blue eyes were wide and spoke volumes about how smart she was. Sweet Maddie looked just like her mother. But she made Kate think of another baby from long ago. A baby whose smile Kate would never know.
As much as Kate loved Maddie, it hurt a little bit to be near her. But for today, just like most days, Kate buried the pain.
“How’s your catering business coming along?”
Shelby served the étouffée and sat down. “It’s been good recently. After I booked that party over in New Iberia, I’ve had several calls about future engagements.” Shelby poured ice tea from the frosty pitcher. “I don’t know how great things will be if the mill goes out of business, though.”
Instead of picking up her spoon to eat, Shelby laid a hand over Kate’s. “I’m most worried about you, chère. What will you do if Chase shuts down the mill?”
Good question. But not one Kate was prepared to consider just yet.
She shrugged in answer and tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. “I’m a survivor, Shell. I can do lots of things. I’m only worried about the town. There isn’t much else for people to do around here. But maybe Chase will find a way to keep it open.”
Hesitating for a second, Kate decided to let her friend in on just a small slice of her fears and questions. “I can’t understand why Chase bought out the mill at all. The debt load is tremendous. If he decides to put any money into it, it’ll be like throwing the cash down a gator hole.”
Shelby smiled at her. “Maybe he bought the mill and came back here because of you. I bet he’s still in love with you.”
Kate shook her head so hard the curls jumped out of their clip and flew wildly about her face. “Not a chance in hell of that. You didn’t see his eyes when he first came into my office this afternoon. There was such…hatred. Such bitterness in them when he looked at me.”
“Well, there has to be some reason that he would come back to this poor town,” Shelby said as she spooned mashed stew into the baby’s mouth. “The rumor mill has it that he’s really rich now. Drives a Jaguar. Owns houses in St. Thomas and Vail. Made it all by gambling, they say.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear.”
“Do you know something different? Like how he really made his money?”
“No,” Kate mumbled. “But I know the rumors of why he left town in the first place have been a bunch of lies. So why should all the rumors about his return be the truth?”
Shelby wiped her baby’s chin and blew on a steaming spoonful of étouffée for herself. “You never did tell me the truth of what happened that night. I’ve always wondered about it.”
“It was a dreadful night. I would’ve given anything if you’d been here that summer to help me through it instead of off visiting with your grandmère in New England.” Kate had lost her appetite and gave up the pretense of eating.
Shelby chuckled and then frowned. “I guess I must’ve missed my chance forever. After ten years you still don’t want to talk about it, do you?”
“Not really. But I will tell you that all those stories about Chase being drunk and going nuts are all lies. Every one of them. He was stone sober, and he was forced into that fight with Justin-Roy and those boys.”
“I didn’t know Chase as well as you did back then,” Shelby began quietly. “But I never believed he would drink too much. Not when you’d told me how much he hated the fact that his father was always so drunk.”
Tears stinging the back of Kate’s eyes threatened to put an early end to the conversation and to supper. “Shelby, you are my best friend. You know I love you and Madeleine, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, honey. I know you love us, this old run-down plantation, the town…and Chase Severin.” Shelby dropped her spoon and hugged her when Kate began to protest that last part. “We love you, too. And Maddie and I appreciate you taking us in and letting me trade house cleaning and cooking for a chance to stay in one of the guest houses. You’ve been a lifesaver.”
Oh, Lord. Kate could not make her mouth say the words. She just could not tell her best friend that their days at Live Oak Hall were numbered.
Maybe if she went to Chase. If she begged him to let Shelby and the baby stay on, he would consider it. It wouldn’t be the first time that Kate had gotten down on her knees to plead for something important.
She could only hope that this time would turn out a whole lot better than the last one.
Chase picked up his coffee mug and walked alone out onto the B&B’s terrace to watch as the lightning dashed silver streaks across the night sky. He loved the smell of the fresh earth right after a rain.
It had been a long time since he’d been able to breathe in the clean night air and listen to the sounds that the swamp critters made after sundown.
He’d had one hell of a day, coming back to Bayou City and seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of its citizens as he deliberately drove his new XK8 in that flashy topaz color right down Lafayette Street.
He knew the word had spread all over town within minutes. The boy who would never amount to anything was back—and rich. His hand automatically went to the pocket of his navy blazer for a triumphant cigar.
But instead of cigars, Chase’s hand landed on the antique jeweled egg that he’d begun to carry with him everywhere. He smiled at the very idea that he owned something so valuable and old. It was unlikely the whole damn town collectively would be able to afford just the insurance on anything this expensive.
Feeling the shimmer of electricity beneath his fingers that reminded him that the gypsy had claimed this egg held magic, he withdrew his hand and shook his head. He didn’t need any kind of crutch in order to face his old ghosts, not nicotine nor magic. This time he had control of the deck. His cards had turned up in a royal flush.
And he couldn’t be happier to have Kate’s fate thrown into the pot. It upped the stakes.
When he’d first had that private investigator research the town to find out what had happened here since he’d been gone, he was disheartened to learn that her father had died of cancer six months earlier. Too late. Chase had made the decision to come back and get even with the old crotte Beltrane and the rest of the town too late.
But then he’d learned about the mill’s bankruptcy and figured his timing was impeccable. He had been given the perfect opportunity to destroy them all.
“Chase?”
He turned around at the sound
