“There, you see? Your father and I are in agreement.”
“My first responsibility is to help Jack Charbonnet keep Dreams going while the dust settles. For that to happen, we’ve got to hope and pray they find out who killed Errol. When those things are straightened out, I’ll be able to try to think of a way to help you.”
“The house is a terrific expense,” Cyrus said. “You don’t need anything that large anymore, why not—”
Bitsy sent up a wail. “My house. My beautiful house. My daddy left that house to me, and it’s not goin’ out of the family as long as I have breath in my body. You have to do as you’re told, Celina. And so do you, Cyrus. You ask for a sabbatical and look after your parents. They’ll give it to you. You call yourself a Christian, prove it. I told Wilson you’d be speakin’ to him tonight, Celina. He’s such a good man. He said he’d come over here to see you himself. Now, think of that. A man destined for the White House comin’ to see you when he could insist you go to him, but no, he’s too considerate.”
Wilson wanted to come back alone to try to force her hand. The weakness Celina had hoped never to feel again started to creep into her limbs. “That won’t be convenient this evening. I already have plans.”
“Cancel them.” Her mother’s powder-blue designer dress and jacket were too pale and made her features appear harsh. “What could possibly be more important? Haven’t I told you how much we’re relyin’ on you?”
“Yes,” Celina said softly. “And haven’t I told you what my priorities have to be at the moment? You are standing in a house where an unsolved murder has taken place.”
“Don’t remind me, please.” Bitsy pressed her hands together.
Celina continued. “And Jack and I have to continue the work of the victim. For the sake of his memory, and for the sake of the children he served.”
“That’s the other thing we have to make clear to you.” Bitsy said. “Neville, tell her.”
Neville squinted at his wife. “What’s that?”
“Tell
her. About that man.”
Neville looked into his glass, found it empty, and started another wobbly journey toward the decanter.
“See how you’ve upset your father?” Bitsy said. “He’s beside himself. Jack Charbonnet. I’ve told you he’s dangerous, and
low
class. He comes from the dregs, Celina. The fact that he’s got a lot of money that doesn’t belong to him only makes it worse. Dirty money. It’s money his father took for illegal activities. And he runs a gamblin’ boat, for goodness sake. I shouldn’t think Errol Petrie’s death would be much of a puzzle with connections to a man like that.”
“Hush, Celina,” Cyrus warned as he must have sensed her rising fury. “A lack of understanding is a sad thing.”
“Don’t you sermonize around me, son,” Bitsy informed him. “I know what I’m talkin’ about. That man’s father was found dead at a big house he and his wife had no right to own. I went to the library and read it all up. He offended the hand that fed him. You ought to understand that, Cyrus. They nailed him to the wall and mutilated him, but they didn’t let him die until they’d finished with his wife. They found her in the pool.
Naked.
Can you imagine that. Naked and on one of those air pillows. She was no better than she ought to be. She was related to those awful people somehow. And she was pregnant at the time when they killed her.”
Celina felt her legs sag.
“Those people don’t do things like that to their own unless they’re
really
awful. And that Jack is their son. There, now do you see why you are not to have another thing to do with him?”
“Poor Jack,” Celina murmured. “Oh, poor, poor Jack.” “Speak up,” Bitsy ordered.
“Afternoon all,” Jack said, entering the room and planting himself at Celina’s other side. He looked at Cyrus over her head. “Thanks for being here for Celina.”
Bitsy stared, open-mouthed, as if she were afraid Jack would produce a submachine gun from some invisible violin case.
“How are you, Mrs. Payne?” Jack said. “At least we meet again under slightly less tense circumstances. Did I hear you expressing regret over my having lost both of my parents when I was ten years old? My parents and my unborn brother.”
Something seemed to break inside Celina. A sob rose in her throat. She turned to Jack and he studied her upturned face. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said that, not now. Self-indulgent.” He put his arms around her and held her against him.
“You unhand her,” Neville said, rising unsteadily to his feet and pointing with a finger that couldn’t locate its target. He closed one eye again, then the other, and sat back down. “Take your hands off my daughter.”
“I know how you feel, Mr. Payne,” Jack said in an unbelievably reasonable voice. “I’ve got a daughter myself, and I’m very protective of her. But you don’t have to worry. I’m going to take very good care of Celina.”
She held her breath, knowing what he intended to say, and why. Marshaling her courage and strength, she rose to tiptoe, put her mouth to his ear, and whispered, “God help both of us,” before turning to her parents and saying, “Jack and I are getting married.”
Eighteen
An irreverent thought brought a grin to Jack’s face. He doubted either Celina or Cyrus would appreciate his sharing the notion that they couldn’t be related to Bitsy and Neville, that they must both have been mixed up in the hospital nursery after birth, and that somewhere there were two families with an impossibly shallow offspring they frequently wished they could drown.
Bitsy and Neville Payne had left minutes earlier, but still no one had said a word. Bitsy Payne had expressed horror at the prospect of having a “gangster’s” son as a relative. Neville Payne had issued bombastic orders that Celina not dare to proceed with such an outrageous idea, and that she return to the bosom of her loving family at once.
“I apologize for my parents,” Cyrus said, and Jack saw Celina jump. Seated on the couch, she had been deep in thought. Cyrus continued. “They are ill equipped to deal with life. They both came from wealthy families, and they still think like spoiled people whom the world will always accommodate. Not having the money to keep up the lifestyle they expect has made them childish in their efforts to make others—primarily Celina and myself—responsible for supplying their needs. I should mention that Neville married our mother when she was a young widow with two children. He was good to us. He isn’t all bad.”
The formal apology made Jack uncomfortable. He gave a short laugh. “Show me a so-called functional family, fully functional, and I’ll show you people who are afraid to confront the truth. We’re all just trying to survive and find some peace.”
“You sound like a cynical man,” Cyrus said.
“Not at all. I’m a realistic man.”
Cyrus raised one dark brow and nodded. He spoke to Celina. “They didn’t get to it today, although Ι think you headed them off with your news, but accordin’ to our parents, word has it that you and Errol were more than workin’ acquaintances. That was one of the
terrible
suggestions the lady reporter made at the Lamars’.”
Jack gave Celina enough time to answer. When she didn’t, he said, “They were. They were friends. Α man and a woman can be friends, can’t they, Father?”
Cyrus’s stare wasn’t as open as usual. “Just Cyrus, Jack. Ι believe some men and some women can be friends. Others can’t. Ι didn’t know Errol well.”
“And since you’ve heard about the problems he used to have, you doubt he’d make a great platonic buddy?” He kept returning his attention to Celina. Even though more than an hour had passed since she made it, her announcement to her family—and to him—continued to amaze him. “Celina was goin’ to talk to you about what happened at St. Peter’s when we went to ask Garth Fletcher to endorse Errol. Ι might as well do the honors. He refused. Said people were already starting to wonder if their children had been molested by Errol.”
“Sick.” Cyrus looked tired. In an open-necked white shirt and jeans, he also looked very unpriestlike. “It’s as if we’re suspended in the middle of something horrifying. Like bein’ in the eye of a storm. D’ you feel that?”
“I do,” Celina said. In her scarlet suit she was an exotic creature on the yellow couch. “And nothing is real. Since the original pieces in the paper right after the murder, there’s been almost no mention, except for the horrible thing Charmain wrote. Ι don’t understand her. You’d think that in a city like this there would be enough stories to make her move on from this one by now.”
One small woman—one small, pregnant woman—would change his life, Jack thought. Nothing would ever be the same, and that would primarily be because of Celina Payne.
And the idea held some appeal.
The idea held a lot of appeal.
“I think that’s what Fm sensing,” Cyrus said. “It’s all unreal. Murder is unreal anyway, of course, but this happened—right here—and apart from a gossip columnist who seems interested in anything but who killed Errol, nothing’s being done about it. That’s surely the way it seems to me.”
“And to me,” Jack said. “There’s plenty of talk. That was obvious when Celina and I spoke with Fletcher at the hospital. But officially? Nothing. I called O’Leary this morning. 1 call him every morning, and I drop by. He gives me the blank-wall treatment. They’re looking for leads and don’t have any. But Dwayne says he’d know if questions were being asked in the Quarter. He hasn’t heard a thing.”
Celina had curled herself up at one end of the couch. With a burst of motion she swung her feet to the floor and stood up. “It’s all wrong and it’s all frightening,” she said. “The silence is as if there are people waiting everywhere. Watching us. But we can’t see them.” She looked at the windows and took a step backward. “Some of the time we’re even behaving as if nothing happened. It isn’t as if the motive could have been theft. Something really sick went on in this house.”
“I’m sure the police are at work on the problem,” Cyrus said. “We have only the TV interpretation of the way they go about these things. They’ve got a lot of cases they’re working on at the same time.”
“Errol was loved by so many people,” Celina told him. “Could someone with a lot of influence
stop
a real investigation?”
Jack met her eyes and said, “They could.”
The possibility had already occurred to her, but she’d tried not to believe it possible. “It’s all wrong that the city isn’t demanding more action.”
“I know.” Cyrus appeared oblivious to the depth of his sister’s tension. “We’ll have to be patient though. Our parents aren’t going to make life any easier either. I think they truly expected us to jump instantly and do what the Lamars want. Not that I have any idea why those people are so anxious—well, I can see why Wilson would see you as an asset, Celina, but for Sally to decide I’m the only candidate to become her spiritual adviser doesn’t make sense.”
Celina chafed her upper arms. “You were always an innocent,” she said. “Sally Lamar hasn’t stopped wanting you. End of story.”
Cyrus appeared more amused than shocked. “She’s a married woman. I think you’re seeing plots everywhere. Why didn’t you tell me you were carryin’ Jack’s child?”
The man might be naive about what would or would not stop a woman like Sally Lamar from going after a man she wanted, but he didn’t pull any punches. Jack studied Celina’s face, and she lowered her eyes.
“And why hadn’t you told him about the baby by the time I got here?” Cyrus continued. “You were beside yourself when you called me. You said you were pregnant, and when I asked who the father was, you said you couldn’t tell me and the most important thing was that he never find out. What happened between then and now? What changed your mind?”
What changed your mind, Celina?
Jack knew he would give a great deal to know why she’d suddenly made her declaration. And he could hardly wait to hear what excuse she intended to give Cyrus.
She had kicked off her shoes. Barefoot, she appeared even smaller, and if you knew what you were looking for, there was evidence that she was going to have a child. He swallowed. Even though he feared it, he wanted to know the truth about the father’s identity. He also wanted Celina. That probably made him a reckless fool, especially at a time when it was too late to step back from what he’d already set in motion elsewhere. Those responsible for his parents’ death were going to be punished. They were going to suffer almost as much as his innocent mother had. Would he step back from that now if he could? He didn’t think so.
“If I’m causing you too much pain, say so,” Cyrus told his sister. “But it isn’t good to live with lies, and I think you are. Jack isn’t the baby’s father, is he?”
Celina looked at Jack, question in her eyes.
“This is your card to play,” he told her.
“Okay. I didn’t say my baby was Jack’s. I said we were going to be married.”
“To give the baby a father? If there’s no love between you, the child will suffer more than ever.”
So said the priest. There were times when finesse was essential. “Celina and I are both real fond of children, Cyrus.”
“Jack’s right,” Celina said. Her blue eyes were too bright, the patches of color in her cheeks too bright.
“Oh, Celina,” Cyrus murmured. “You don’t have to tell me who really is the father, but I shall pray for all of you. And I’ll pray that whatever makes you want to deny your child’s real father will heal.”
“It will
never
heal!”
In the shocked stillness that followed, Jack dropped his hands to his sides and flexed his fingers. The desire to go to Celina and hold her was overwhelming, but she wouldn’t be grateful.
“You’re angry,” Cyrus said gently. “Not the kind of anger that comes from sadness. I know that anger too well. Were you violated?”
Jack stared at the other man.
Cyrus pressed his palms together and tapped his fingertips against his mouth. He watched his sister with deeply troubled eyes.
And Celina bowed her head. She didn’t speak, didn’t move, except to slowly bow her head.
“I see.” Cyrus closed his eyes, and Jack saw his lips move as he appeared to pray silently.
When Celina raised her face, tears glinted on her cheeks. She cried with wide-open eyes and without making a sound.
And Jack felt yet again the urge to take another man—this one faceless—by the throat. His rage made its presence known too often, and could not be allowed to surface. Even if he choked on his fury, he must not show its depth. “Celina and her baby will be safe with me,” he said, hardly recognizing his own voice. “I know Ι don’t need to say it, but I have to. Please don’t disclose anything we’ve discussed among us.”
“Νο,” Cyrus said simply. “Perhaps I should leave.”
“You don’t mean leave New Orleans?” Something near panic surfaced in Celina’s expression. “I need you. We need you.’
“To perform a marriage, if nothing else,” Jack said, trying to grasp for something light.
“I didn’t mean I intend to leave New Orleans,” Cyrus said as if Jack hadn’t said anything. “I meant leave this house. Just to go and visit our parents. And to give the two of you a chance to talk through the decisions you’re making. I’ve never been a husband or a father—I never will be—but I’ve listened to so many who are and I’ve learned from them. That’s what I’m charged to do. To learn from those I am to counsel. Then we help each other. I hope that’s what happens. When you’re ready to talk to me about what you decide to do—if you decide—I’ll be there for you. I wouldn’t, of course, ask you to lie for me, but I’d prefer it if only the three of us knew that I have, in fact, already taken an indefinite leave of absence from my parish.”
“Cyrus—”
“Hush,” he told Celina. “You are my sister and you mean a very great deal to me.” He dropped a kiss on her brow, nodded at Jack, and walked out.
Jack waited only long enough for the outer door to click before scrubbing his face and asking, “Who, Celina? Why didn’t you turn the bastard in?”
She shook her head.
A chill raised the hair at the back of his neck. “Not Errol?”
“How could you say that? How could you?” She flew at him, stopping with her fists raised. She let them fall impotently against his chest. “You have defended him every bit as strongly as I have. Now you ask me if he raped me?”
“You told me he was your baby’s father.”
“Ι—” Narrowing her eyes, she gripped his forearms. “You and I are going to be locked together in whatever comes, Jack. And I’m not talking about marriage. You don’t have to marry me. I would never hold you to a thing like that, and I’m sorry I blurted it out in front of my parents, but I thought you were going to ask me again. Right then, while they were here.”
“I was.”
“Cyrus is very wise. Maybe we shouldn’t—”
“Cyrus is a good man. He’s doing what he has to do—trying to make us change our minds if they can be changed. I’m not changing mine.”
“Because my pregnancy shows? And you know the questions will begin soon, and even if I don’t say anything, there are those who will decide Errol and I were lovers?”
“That used to be the reason.”
Her gaze flickered away and back again. “Errol was gentle. You know that. He would never have forced himself on me.” She frowned. “Is that what you’re worrying about, that I’ll accuse Errol of rape?”
“No. Even asking if he did it was reflex on my part. He never forced himself on women—he wouldn’t know how to be physically violent. There was never anything like that.”
“I think he came close to rushing out and getting violent when I told him,” she said, sounding distracted. “He was so angry.”
His mind grew still. “You told Errol who assaulted you?” Celina hesitated an instant too long before saying, “No. I only meant he was really angry.”
Jack decided he wouldn’t delve any deeper now.
“I don’t know if you understand this, but I have never felt more safe than I did with Errol,” Celina told him.
She was right, he didn’t understand. “I’m glad. If you felt so safe, why did you refuse to marry him as soon as he asked you?”
“I wasn’t—” She turned her back on him.
Jack waited, then said, “You weren’t what?”
“Errol was a father figure to me.”
In other words
…”Are you payin’ me a compliment, ma’am? Accidentally, of course?” He should know better than to press the issue of what she did or didn’t feel for him, especially now. “Forget I asked that. It isn’t important.”
“It is. Very. But we’ve got too much to work our way through. Once Cyrus has spent some time with my parents, I’ll talk to him and decide how to deal with them.”
“You’ll tell them you will have nothing to do with Wilson Lamar.
Nothing.”
The slow way she blinked suggested his comment surprised her.
“I’d like to take you back to my place. We can be on our own there and no one will interrupt. I don’t want to wait, Celina. There’s no reason to wait. We can be married in a couple of days.”
The slow blinking continued.
“I didn’t put that well. We should make some plans and we don’t have a lot of time. The sooner we get the marriage out of the way, the better.”
She smiled.
“You know what I mean,” Jack told her. “We won’t pretend the baby was still a twinkle in your eye on our wedding day, but if we move quickly, some people will forget that it wasn’t.”