These Sheltering Walls: A Cane River Romance (19 page)

             “I’m
not blind, Henry. I saw the way you looked at him.”

            Their
hands were still linked. She searched for words and came up empty, an awkward
silence falling into the space between them. It wasn’t that Gideon was a historian
or incredibly handsome or anything else that could be ticked off a list. He was
simply Gideon. And Blue was simply not.

            “I
do care about you, and if you ever need anything, I’m here.” He squeezed her
hands and let go. “And supper at the Thai place is still on offer, if you’d
like that, as friends. I think we’ll make really good friends.”

            Relief
flooded through her at the sound of the sincerity in his voice. “I don’t have
many friends and I don’t want to lose you, Blue.”

            “So,
seven?”

            “Seven,”
she said. They stood up and instead of kissing her cheek, he simply smiled and
walked toward his office.

            Henry
picked up her bag, turned and made her way toward By the Book. It was a relief,
really.  She should be happy they avoided what could have been a really ugly
situation. It was a good thing.

           
I
saw the way you looked at him.
Her stomach knotted. Maybe everyone knew.
Maybe Gideon knew.

            As
if in answer to her fears, she looked up to see Gideon exiting By the Book,
with Father Tom following. She hesitated, wishing she could slip away
unnoticed.

            “Henry,”
Father Tom called out, catching sight of her. Gideon turned and his expression
was difficult to read.

            She
walked toward them, conscious of her rumpled work clothes and the heavy bag on
her shoulder. She nudged up her glasses and smiled brightly.

            “You
two must read a lot of books,” she said and wanted to cringe at the silly
comment.

            “I
was looking for Bix but he’s not here. I’m cooking up some of my world-famous low
country boil on Friday. Crawfish, corn, potatoes, shrimp and a secret
ingredient. You should come,” Father Tom said.

            “Oh,
no. You don’t have to do that,” Henry said. “If you invite everyone you run into,
you’ll run out of chairs.”

            “And
crawfish,” Gideon said, one corner of his mouth turned up.

            Father
Tom threw him a look. “You could tell us what you’re up to over there. I know
Bix and Ruby want to hear more about your projects.”

            “I
could give them a special tour,” Henry said. “Send them over and I’ll tell them
more than they ever wanted to know. Maybe even put them to work on the
excavation site.” She felt her face go warm. If only she had a rewind button.

            “True,
I could bring them over some day,” Gideon said. “Or Tom could.” He spoke more
softly. “See, Bix doesn’t drive anymore. The DMV finally revoked his license. To
the relief of the entire city of Natchitoches, I might add. He’s as blind as a
bat and although most people knew that green Caddy was bad news and got out of
the way, he still took out quite a few sidewalk flower pots whenever he drove
down here.”  

            “Oh,
I see,” she said, hating the slight breathlessness in her voice. She waited for
him to step back. Gideon didn’t seem uncomfortable at all. A little chattier,
maybe, but otherwise as if their last meeting had never happened.

             “It’s
my mama’s secret recipe. You can’t just walk into a restaurant and find this
dish. And if that doesn’t convince you, I promise to only invite the nicest people,”
Father Tom said.

            “Are
you going?” she asked Gideon.

            “If
I say I am, are you more or less likely to go?” he asked.

            “I
see Bix. He must have come in the other door,” Father Tom said, looking back
through the glass door into the bookstore. “I’ll be right back.”

            They
were left in silence. Henry didn’t know where to look. She’d always thought
Gideon was a handsome man but today she simply wanted to stand and stare. Maybe
it was the little bit of scruff he had, or the way the afternoon light made his
eyes almost gray, or perhaps it was the way he was watching her. She remembered
how it had felt to be held tight by him, how he’d reached out for her. And also
how she’d jumped back as if he’d waved a gun.

            “Are
you regrowing your beard?” she asked, grasping at a topic.

             “No,
ma’am. Just lazy. I took the day off. I’ll shave tomorrow.”

            There
was a beat of silence.

            “I
saw you’d been working at the Finnemore place. Did the door give you any
trouble?” he asked.

            “Oh!”
She reached forward and grabbed his forearm. “Gideon!” She couldn’t believe
that she’d forgotten so quickly, as if seeing him had driven every other
thought from her head.

            He
looked down at her hand, surprise on his face.

            “I
just saw Blue. He said Barney Sandoz tried to hire him to get possession of the
papers.” She explained as thoroughly as she could, repeating the conversation
word for word.

            He
looked over her head, his gaze on something in the distance. All the playful
laughter was gone from his eyes, the lines of his face had hardened. For the
first time, Henry saw a flash of the man Gideon had once been.

            “Interesting,”
he said.

            “That’s
all I know. I’ll ask for more details tonight.”

            “Tonight?”

            “I’m
meeting Blue for supper in a few hours.” There was the tiniest change in Gideon’s
posture and Henry realized she was still holding his arm. She let go.

            “Thank
you for telling me.”

            “Of
course.” She looked back through the glass door. “Should we go inside and
rescue Father Tom?”

            “I’m
sure he’s fine. We won’t keep you,” he said. Although he was smiling, his voice
was distant.

            “Lorelei,”
a voice called and Henry froze. She considered darting into the bookstore and
pretending she hadn’t heard, but in the end, she turned. Kimberly was coming
toward her, a strappy sundress displaying her incredible figure. Her sky-high
heels and long, shining hair reminded Henry of the Barbies she played with when
she was little, if Barbie had been scowling and huffing in anger.

            “There
you are,” Kimberly said.

            “Yes,
ma’am. Here I am,” Henry answered, trying for lighthearted but coming off as
flippant.

            “Hello,
Gideon.” She turned her attention to the man between them. It seemed as if all
the anger melted away and she sidled closer. She rested one hand on her hip and
touched the other to the first button of her dress, shifting her weight to one
foot. Everything was fluid, like watching a fish in water. Or maybe an octopus.

            “Hello,
Kimberly,” he said. Henry had thought he’d sounded distant before, but
everything about him said ‘back off’ now.

            Henry
clamped her lips together to keep from grinning. It was satisfying to know
Kimberly didn’t wield power over every male in the entire city.

            And
she got the message loud and clear. She turned to Henry.

            “Oh,
honey.” She reached out and touched Henry’s ponytail. “You’ve got to do a deep
conditioning on your hair if you’re going to keep dying it. I’m flying in my
hair stylist tomorrow. I’ll have him work on you.” She made a sharp sound in
her throat. “And you’d be so much prettier with contacts. Think about Blue.
You’ve got some stiff competition in this town and you need to think about how
you’re going to keep him now that you’ve got him interested.”

             “Is
there something you needed?” Henry asked, sighing a little. “You seemed like
you had another reason for coming down here.”

            “Well,
yes. If you ever answered your phone, I wouldn’t have to come find you. You
didn’t come to Joella’s baby shower and you didn’t come to Lovey Ann’s
engagement party and you didn’t even show up for Rayleen’s daughter’s house-leaving
brunch on Sunday. She was giving everybody a chance to say goodbye to their old
place before they move.”

            “House-leaving?
I don’t think I’ve even met Rayleen’s daughter, let alone been in her house.”

            “Why
must you be so―” She stopped, closed her eyes and inhaled for a long
moment. When she opened them, her enormous green eyes were filled with tears.
Henry watched, fascinated, as fat drops trembled on her lashes, and fell, one
by one, onto her cheeks. “Difficult,” Kimberly whispered.

            “I’m
not trying to be difficult. I just don’t know any of these people.” Her throat
went tight. She’d seen these types of tears before. Every single one of them
was a lie.

            “I
never had any children, Henry. You’re the closet thing I’ve ever had to a
daughter.” Kimberly said.

             For
a moment, it was all too much. She was trapped in a never-ending cycle of
manipulation, guilt and lies, a cycle so powerful that she couldn’t find a way
to escape. It had been a relief to tell someone, but it didn’t change a thing.
It only brought another angle of pain to the situation.

            Gideon
cleared his throat, as if to remind them both that he was watching their ugly
family drama.

            Henry
pushed up her glasses, put on a smile, and did what she’d been trained to do
her whole life. “I’m sorry, Aunt Kimberly. I’ll try to make more time for these
things.”

            As
if flipping a switch, the tears stopped and although her eyes still shone like
wet sea glass, she flashed a bright smile. “Wonderful. Ada Pickler invited us
over for supper on Friday. She was in my high school class and always said I’d
end up living in a shack on a dirt road, so dress in something nice.  And Tina
Clarice’s niece is getting married on Saturday at the basilica and I said we’d
go with Leigh Belle to see the new Rex Parkman movie on Sunday―”

            Henry
held up a hand. “I’ve got plans for Friday but text me the time for the wedding
and whatever else you have scheduled.”

            “I’m
sure Blue will understand.”

            Henry
shook her head, a dull throb starting near her right eye. “Sorry, Friday is
taken. Just text me the others and I’ll be there. And no movies.”

            Kimberly
looked like she was going to argue and then decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
“Okay. Now, I’d best be off or LaRhonda won’t have time to give me the full spa
pedicure. They have tiny heated stones they put between your toes and it
releases toxins from your blood into the water. Then all your energies align
and your skin clears up. You should really try it. It’ll make you positively
glow.”

            “Sounds
nice,” Henry said but Kimberly was already kissing her cheek and trotting back
down the sidewalk.

            When
she was gone, Henry stood there, waiting to feel the crushing weight of the
secret she’d held since she was little, but all she felt was the usual bitter
taste of the lies she’d told and the added layer of shame that now there was a
witness to it.

             “Sorry
about that,” she said.

            “No,
it’s my turn,” he said. “I said being related to her wasn’t the worst thing in
the world.”

             “You’ve
seen the error of your ways?”

            He
smiled, his dimples appearing. “Not quite.” He glanced back down the river
walk. “I made a snap judgement. You’re so different.  It’s hard to believe
you’re kin.”

            She
was thankful he’d used such a vague term. “Because I’m a messy crier?”

            “No,”
he said. “But now that you mention it…”

            A
vision of the front of his shirt, complete with wet spots, popped into her head
and she was glad they could joke about it.

            “I
have a question, and you can tell me if I’m being nosy,” he said.

            “Okay.”

            “Why
no movies?”

            “Oh.
Actors,” she said.

            He
cocked his head.

            “Actors
acting.” She searched for a way to explain. “They’re never quite good enough.
It’s uncomfortable, watching them lie their way through everything.” She
shuddered. “Especially the love scenes. Some of them downright hate each
other.”

            “You’re
fascinating, Henry.”

            She
didn’t know what to say to that so she said nothing.

            “Is
she gone?” Bix peered out the door.

            “Don’t
be silly, Bix. She won’t eat you alive,” Father Tom said, stepping past him.
“So, Henry, are you coming for crawfish on Friday?”

            “Yes,
sir. And thank you for the invitation.”