Cajun Magic 02 - Voodoo for Two (23 page)

…

“What are we doing out in Alligator Alley in the middle of the night?” Alex asked. “What’s the big secret?”

Lucie reached beneath the pirogue’s seat and pulled out the antique glass perfume atomizer her grandmother had given her earlier that day. “Gran said the potion would only work when exposed to moonlight.”

“The moon shines in my backyard just as well as it does out here,” Calliope grumbled.

“I know, but the reporters have been swarming all over the parish.” She held up the bottle and prepared to spray. “I didn’t want them to see what I’m about to do.”

“And just what are you about to do?” Alex pulled the paddle out of the water and rested it across her lap.

“I’ll bet you five dollars, she’s frog-giggin’ for a man.” Calliope giggled at her own joke.

Lucie glared at her in the light from the half moon. “Look, I appreciate both of you coming out to help me.” She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I’m going to catch the love bug.”

Both women gasped.

“So you’re finally going to do it?” Alex clapped her hands together. “You’re going to undo the spell?”

“Oh, Lucie. Are you sure?” Calliope clutched her arm. “But DeeDee and Maurice are sooo in love!”

“I know, I know.” She hated hurting the new lovebirds. “But it can’t be helped. The magic was wrong.” She raised her palm to Alex. “I know. You told me so. Maurice and DeeDee will have to take their chances. I can’t leave the spell in place.”

“But DeeDee will be devastated. And we just had her hair straightened.” Calliope’s pale face shone sad in the moonlight. “She’s never been happier.”

The lead weight of her heart slowed to a morbid beat. She was going to remove a spell that had quite a few people in Bayou Miste living a lie. “And what if the bug contaminated Elaine and Larry? Elaine’s supposed to marry Craig in just two days. Has anyone seen Elaine?”

“No.” Calliope’s shoulders slumped.

“Your sister would have been happy to bust them up a couple months ago,” Alex said.

“She was wrong and had no business interfering in their lives. They love each other and deserve to be together. And I don’t deserve to marry a man who can only love me because of a spell.”

“Omigod!” Alex threw her hands in the air. “Lucie’s growing up!” She plunked her fists on her hips and frowned. “Frankly, sweetie, it’s about time!”

“Alex, you’re getting on my last nerve.” Lucie glared at her. “I’m not
that
heartless.”

Alex snorted. “You’ve sure been acting like it lately.”

“Well, I mean to change that.” She handed Calliope and Alex each a butterfly net, then raised the bottle and wrapped her fingers around the bulb. “I’m not exactly sure what’ll happen when I spray this stuff. But Gran LeBieu said it would help me catch the bug.”

“Do you have to say anything, a spell or incantation?” Alex asked.

“Oh please, don’t!” Calliope held her net in front of her. “I don’t relish the idea of being a bug.”

“I’m not chanting any spells or changing either of you into bugs, so get a grip.” Lucie raised the atomizer higher, into the air above her head. “Ready?”

Both Alex and Calliope squinted and hunkered low in their seats.

With a determined pinch, Lucie squeezed the bulb of the atomizer, sending a spray of what smelled like sleazy French perfume into the night air.

Calliope covered her nose. “Ewww! I smelled it.” She glanced at her arms. “I’m not turning into a bug, am I?”

“No, silly,” Alex said, but she glanced at her arms in the light from the moon. “Actually, it smells like the cheap perfume my great-aunt Rachel used to wear.”

Lucie ignored them and squinted into the night. Where was that darn bug?

“I wonder how long it takes to work?” Calliope held her net up and scanned the sky.

A mosquito landed on Lucie’s arm and sank its greedy little pointy thing into her. She smacked it and another that landed not two inches away.

“Hey, I’m being attacked here.” Calliope swatted at her arms and neck.

“Me too,” Alex said. “And it ain’t by a love bug.”

Lucie scrambled for the can of bug spray that was kept beneath the seat of the boat and sprayed herself then tossed the can to Alex. What was taking the love bug so long?

A bright light bumped into her forehead and dropped into her lap. Her heart jumped. Was this it? She stared at the bug in her lap.

“Did you find it?” Alex leaned close.

“No. It’s just a firefly.” Lucie lifted the bug and tossed it high. It circled and bumped into her again. “What’s wrong with you?” She
shooshed
it away only for it to return again, followed by another and another.

“Oh! Oh! I have a ladybug on me!” Calliope bounced up and down on her seat. “Is it the one? Is it?”

Lucie and Alex peered at the bug.

“No.” Lucie shook her head, disappointment filling her belly. “The love bug had a kinda greenish glow.”

“Suppose it faded?” Calliope swung at half a dozen bugs flying around her face.

What did Lucie know about magical bugs? “I don’t think so.”

“Hey, I’ve got one.” Alex’s voice shouted into the night. But when she stared down at the ladybug on her arm, she sagged. “No glow.”

Within seconds, ladybugs, mosquitoes, june bugs, fireflies, and every bug known to southern Louisiana swarmed them.

“Holy bug bath!” Lucie swatted the creatures away. “This stuff must have called the entire population of bugs in the swamp!” A bug flew into her mouth.
Bluh
! She spit it out, coughed, and sputtered. With her eyes squinted as closed as she could get them and still see, Lucie cried out, “See it yet?”

“Not a damn thing,” Alex muttered through clenched lips.

“There it is.
Bluck
! I swallowed a firefly!” Calliope gagged. “
Ewww
!”

“Don’t just sit there, catch it!” Lucie dove for the ladybug with the greenish glow. Without a net, she couldn’t quite reach it and almost tipped the boat.

“Let me.” Alex leaned out and batted at the air with her net. “I caught something!”

“Let me see.” Lucie grabbed Alex’s hand and pulled the net close. Inside were two-dozen bugs of varying species, including a handful of ladybugs. But no greenish glow.

Alex shook the net free of her catch and all three women squinted at the sky again.

Bugs coated their clothing, bare arms, and hair.

“
Ewww
! I have bugs everywhere. I can feel them crawling around.” Calliope tossed her net to the floor and flipped her red hair from side to side, combing her fingers through to shake the bugs loose. “
Ewww
!”

“There it is.” Alex pointed above Lucie.

She dove for Calliope’s abandoned net and spun to look at where Alex still pointed. About five feet above her head, the hexed ladybug circled in an erratic pattern.

Lucie stood straight up and swung her net through the myriad bugs whizzing around her and buzzing her ears.

Unfortunately, Alex stood and swung at the same time. The little pirogue tilted one way. When Lucie leaned the other to compensate, so did Alex. Their combined weight flipped the boat, Calliope, and all.

Lucie plunged into the swamp and sank beneath the surface. At first, she panicked. The last time she’d been in the swamp, she was trapped inside a car. When her feet touched the bottom, she scrambled to stand. Within seconds, she was standing in water a little over four feet deep. And she still had her net in her hand.

A quick scan of the contents sent her heart racing. “I caught it!”

“At least we know where your priorities are.” Alex waded over to where she stood.

Calliope joined them. “Thanks, you two. If I’d known we were going for a swim, I’d have worn my swimsuit instead of my favorite pair of Gap khakis.” She grabbed Lucie’s hand. “Let me see.”

Jumbled among twenty or so other wet bugs lay a ladybug, glowing a faint greenish color, its hard red shell closed tight.

A small amount of weight lifted from Lucie’s shoulders. At least she had the bug now. It couldn’t do any more damage.

“Quick, do the spell before you lose it again,” Calliope said.

Despite being up to her neck—well, maybe her chest—in swamp water, Lucie thought back over the words her grandmother had her memorize.

“Come little creature, ‘tis time to be free

Let go of your past and then you will see

Life can go on as fate did intend

Love given freely finds you in the end

Reverse the bad magic that led you to be

With a green shiny heinie for all who can see

All will be well by the mystic Voodoo

When those who know not, bow to those who do.”

“That’s one funky spell.” Alex inhaled and blew it out. “Well, let’s hope it works.”

All three women leaned over the wet net full of creepy-crawlies and stared down at the one brightly glowing ladybug.

“Look!” Calliope hopped up and down, splashing water in their faces. “The green glow is going away.”

Just as she said, the ladybug’s aura dimmed until they could no longer distinguish it from the other ladybugs caught in the net.

The rest of the worry hanging over Lucie lifted.
The spell was reversed!
Eric could get on with his life, and Craig and Elaine would get married. The little bit of elation was quickly followed by a deep sense of sadness. DeeDee and Maurice would be devastated. Not to mention her own little problem—she was totally, head-over-heels, hook-line-and-sinker in love with Ben.

And ending the spell would have erased any chances of Ben loving her back.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The more Ben thought about it, the more he wasn’t okay with standing by and watching Lucie marry a man she probably didn’t love. How could she love Eric when she’d slept with him? Not once but
twice
in the past week. He could still feel her moving beneath him, crying out his name in the heat of passion.

The images haunted him. Haunted him so much he’d do anything to win her back.

Thus, the trip to Madame LeBieu.

He’d caught Joe Thibodeaux as he was closing up shop at Thibodeaux Marina, and rented a boat. With darkness quickly cloaking the bayou, he’d taken the twisting channels to the old woman’s house in the swamps. He could have found it in the dark, as many times as he’d visited it when he and Lucie were dating. Now as he stood on the porch, his hand raised to knock, he didn’t know if he could go through with his plan.

The door swung open before he could change his mind.

“Benjamin Franklin Boyette! What you be doin’ on my porch at dis time of de night?” Madame LeBieu’s deep Cajun accent fascinated him and gave him the chills at the same time.

He’d heard a rumor that she’d changed his old buddy Craig Thibodeaux into a frog a few months back. How much truth there was to the rumor, he didn’t know. Craig had been at the bar several nights ago getting close to a nice-looking lady. He hadn’t noticed anything green or froggish about him. Still… The woman knew things about Voodoo that kept most sane people away.

But times were desperate, calling for desperate measures. If he wanted to win Lucie back, he had to do it before she up and married Eric.

“Madame LeBieu, I need your help.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You have no called me Madame LeBieu since you and Lucie dated. Are you here for de Voodoo?”

He took a deep breath and sighed. “Yes, ma’am.”

She stepped back into the house and opened the door wide. “Come in, boy.”

Once inside, he stopped short. A woman, the spitting image of Lucie, rose from the couch. For a moment his heart leaped into high gear. Upon closer review, fine lines around her eyes and mouth gave her away.

“Nice to see you again, Lynette.” He stuck out his hand.

“Ah, Ben.” She smiled, Lucie’s smile. “Good to see you, too. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Ben’s heart warmed to this woman before he remembered her history of having left Lucie to be raised by her grandmother. He dropped her hand abruptly. “I’m sorry, I haven’t heard much about you.” He didn’t disguise the contempt in his voice. This woman had hurt his Lucie. A deep scarring wound she might never overcome.

“You’ve heard enough to condemn me, I see.”

“You left your children. What do you expect?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t expect anything. But I’d hoped I could at least tell my daughter why. Look, you’ve obviously got business with my mother. I’ll go to my room.” Lynette LeBieu disappeared into a small bedroom and softly closed the door behind her.

Alone with the formidable Madame LeBieu, he didn’t know how to begin. He’d been so determined when he’d marched up her steps. But having met Lynette reminded him of Lucie’s reasons for wanting to leave Bayou Miste, and why she deserved a better life than the one she’d been given growing up. Suddenly, his own desires and needs seemed selfish. Unwarranted. He turned to Madame LeBieu. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“Let me be de judge of dat.” She pointed to the couch. “Sit.”

Like an obedient dog, he did as he was told and perched on the edge of the worn floral cushion, elbows propped on his knees, fingers threaded together in front of him.

The Voodoo queen, in her bright-red muumuu, sat beside him, her broad bottom taking up half the seating area. “Now, what be de problem?”

“Lucie.”

“Dat pretty much narrows it down. Could you be more to de point?”

He ran his hand through his hair, standing it on end. “I love her.”

The old woman’s head tipped back and she stared down her nose at him. “Ahh. My lovely granddaughter.”

“Lovely, and frustrating, and completely insane.” He leaned back and waved his hand in the air. “Yeah, Lucie.”

“Why did it take you so long to come back to my Lucie?”

Ben pushed to his feet and strode across the floor. “I didn’t think she wanted me. Hell, she told me I wasn’t good enough for her!”

“Up until dat moment, did she give you any reason to doubt her love?”

He paused in midstride and thought back through seven years of hurt pride and pain. He’d thought Lucie loved him as much as he loved her. “I’d have given up everything to make her happy. I thought she would have done the same.”

Madame LeBieu raised her eyebrow. “And didn’t she?”

Ben stared at her, trying to comprehend that look and knowing he wasn’t getting it. “I don’t understand. You’ll have to spell it out for me.”

The old Voodoo queen rolled her eyes. “Men can be so foolish and blind.” She took his hands in hers. “Lucie gave up everything because she loved you more dan you deserved. She gave up her happiness for you to follow your dreams.”

Ben reeled. Madame LeBieu’s words echoed Lucie’s, only he hadn’t listened when Lucie had said them. Hell, he’d thrown them back in her face.

Could they be true? Could she really have done that…for him?

And for all this time, because of his stupid pride, he hadn’t seen what was painfully clear now. She’d sent him away to allow him the chance to follow his dreams.

And he hadn’t come back for her.

No wonder she was so pissed. She’d sacrificed her happiness for him to have the life she couldn’t give him. And he hadn’t even given her the opportunity to explain. He’d let pride get in the way a second time, and he could well have lost her for good.

No
.

That’s why he’d come out to the old witch’s house tonight. “I’ve made too many mistakes to deserve her, but I love Lucie more than my own life.” His grip tightened in Madame LeBieu’s hands. “I can’t lose her again. I need a love potion to help her change her mind about marrying Eric. I want her to marry me.”

The old woman tipped her head to one side. “Have you bothered to ask her?”

“She’d laugh in my face. She wouldn’t believe me. Why should she? I’ve been too stupid to believe her.” He never thought he’d do it, but Ben dropped to one knee in front of Lucie’s grandmother. “Madame LeBieu, I want to marry your granddaughter. Will you help me win her back? Will you give me a love potion or something to make her love me as much as I love her? Please?”

Okay, so he was begging. Sometimes a man had to do what a man had to do.

“After such a very pretty speech, how can dis ol’ woman not help?” Madame LeBieu dropped his hand and disappeared into the other bedroom. Within seconds, she returned and handed him a fancy perfume bottle with a bulb at the end of a tube. “Be careful with dis potion. Spray a little on you before you see Lucie. Don’t talk to any other female first. It must be Lucie.”

Hope filled his chest. “Will it make her love me?”

“If she doesn’t love you after dis,” Madame LeBieu raised her right hand, “I’ll give up making de Voodoo.”

Whew! That was an endorsement, if he wasn’t mistaken. “Thank you, Gran LeBieu.” He leaned over and kissed the old woman’s cheek. “You’re the best Voodoo queen in the bayou.”

“Damn right! I be de only Voodoo queen.”

Ben didn’t wait. He was out the door and into the johnboat before the screen door could slap closed behind him.

He couldn’t wait to try the potion on Lucie. The sooner she realized she loved him, the sooner he could return to sanity.

…

After a fitful night’s sleep, Lucie climbed into her car and drove the short distance to the agreed-upon location. Though she was already twenty minutes late, her thoughts were so centered on what impact the reversal spell would have, she almost missed her turn.

Alex and Calliope stood outside the Cussin’ Cajun, waving like fans at a celebrity. She was past them before her brain engaged and she realized they were waving at her. Without thinking, she slammed on her brakes and the rear end of her car skidded sideways and stopped two inches from Granny Saulnier’s prized poodle, FeFe.

The little dog yelped and all three pounds of bright-orange fluff leaped straight up in the air.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Maurice and DeeDee rushed to grab the dog. DeeDee got there first and snatched FeFe into her arms, shooting a glare at her. “You should drive more carefully, Lucie LeBieu.” She cooed at the little dog. “It’s okay, FeFe. I won’t let that meano Lucie hurt you.”

Maurice stepped up behind DeeDee and slid his arm around her waist, nuzzling her neck.

“Sorry!” she called out the window. She completed her U-turn and crept to a parking place next to Alex and Calliope.

“Lucie, you’re late.” Alex rushed to the driver’s door and yanked it open. “We’re so glad you got here, though. I tried calling your cell phone, but you didn’t answer.”

Lucie dragged her body out of the car and stood rolling the kinks out of her tense shoulders. “It’s at the bottom of the swamp in my purse.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot.” Alex nodded toward the happy couple and the orange poodle. “You saw Maurice and DeeDee?”

“Yeah.” She sighed, staring at them, their happiness making her queasy. “I guess the spell didn’t work on them. Have you heard anything from the Elaine-Larry-Craig front?” Lucie hoped at least one of the problems would be cleared up.

“Yeah,” Alex said. “I talked with Joe Thibodeaux. He said Craig and Elaine had some big argument and decided not to get married.”

“Oh, no!” Lucie’s queasy stomach dipped and roiled. “Did he say what it was about?”

“No, he just said they decided not to get married.” Alex said. “Read into it what you will. The man was too busy with customers.”

Lucie sank to sit on the curb, and buried her head in her hands. “This is all such a mess. Do you think there’s any chance it could have worked for some and not others?”

Calliope grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet. “Only one way to find out.”

“I know, I know.” A dull throbbing beat against her temples. Too much swamp water and worry. “I better get it over with.”

“Don’t you want breakfast first?” Calliope asked.

Her dipping, roiling, burbling belly rebelled. “No way! I’d rather face the music on an empty stomach. Girls, wish me luck.”

…

“I’m sorry to say that since the night you were bumped in the swamp, the police haven’t seen hide nor hair of one Mr. Robert Davis,” Ben said.

“I don’t like it,” Eric strode across the room to the liquor and water decanters. “The man tried to kill me once, maybe twice, if you count the shot-out lightbulb. Both times, Lucie was with me. She could have been killed.”

“I know.” Ben’s gut had been in a permanent knot since the swamp-swim incident. “No one wants to nail this guy more than I do. Unfortunately, he’s disappeared for the moment. I’ve got the local sheriff’s department, state police, and a few of my buddies in the FBI looking for him.”

“Damn it!” Eric slammed his fist against the counter, rattling the crystal glasses. “What do you think I should do? I can’t put Lucie at risk.” He turned to face Ben. “Maybe I should withdraw from the congressional race.”

“No. You can’t. That’s exactly what this guy wants.”

“I can’t let my running for Congress endanger those I love. And who’s to say he won’t target Lucie to get to me?” Eric jammed his hands in his pocket. “I have too many speeches and dinners to attend to keep an adequate eye on Lucie.”

“So what are you suggesting we do to protect her?” Ben asked.

Eric swung toward the window and stared down, silent for a moment. Then his shoulders stiffened. “Ben, I want you to be Lucie’s bodyguard.”

Eric might as well have punched him in the gut.

The congressional candidate faced him. “You’re the only one I trust to protect her.”

“I think you should hire a professional bodyguard for that one. I’ve been tasked to protect you.”

“I can take care of myself.” Eric strode toward him. “I’m more concerned about Lucie.”

“I am, too, but—”

“You’re the perfect choice. You already know her and no one would think you were a bodyguard.”

“But—” He couldn’t be around Eric’s fiancée and not touch her. Torture like that would either unman him or make him insane.

“Do it, Ben—for our friendship.” Eric held out his hand. “For Lucie.”

As if reaching for a snake, he placed his hand in Eric’s. “Okay. But only until I can get someone we both can trust in place. In the meantime, I’ll have Billy Ray tag along with you.”

“Deal.”

They shook hands.

“Now I have work to do. I’d really like you to check out Dad’s office again. I’m worried that someone might have it bugged.”

“Sure.” Ben spun toward the door connecting Eric’s office and Jason Littington’s. Before he stepped through, he turned back. “Eric, I’ll take care of her.”

“I know.” Eric nodded, his mouth twisted in an ironic grin. “I know.”