Threads of Steel (Bayou Cove) (21 page)

“Oh, this looks great,” Anna Marie said as she savored the smell of fresh seafood.

“Enjoy,” Carla said as she left them alone again.

They ate a few bites in silence. Finally, after a sip of his drink, Doug brought the subject up again. “Okay, you said you didn’t want to move back here. That doesn’t mean you have to sell the house.”

She started to tell him that it certainly did mean she had to sell, but in her heart she knew he was right.

Maybe she needed a little time to decide how to handle Miss Ellie’s inheritance.

“I’ll think about it.”

Doug ate some of his gumbo and slathered butter on his French bread before commenting. “Good. Maybe selling is the right thing to do, but if you want advice from someone who’s honed the art of patience on the golf course, I’ve found that problems tend to work themselves out if you don’t rush into them. Give yourself time to see the solutions.”

She raised the almost empty glass up to him. “Spoken like a pro. Thank you. I’ll consider this windfall from all the angles. Anyway, I’m not someone who jumps into things without a lot of thought. Stephen, my partner, says I could make sixteen costumes with the time I spend on planning the first one. This won’t be any different. There’s just a lot more at stake here.
”

After they’d finished their meal, she followed him to the bar register to pay the bill. An older man wearing a faded red baseball cap got up from his barstool where he’d been talking with several other older men. Mumbling under his breath, he took the check then looked up.

“Hey, Doug.
Was everything okay?” he asked as he hit some keys into an old manual register.

“It was great. Captain Jack, I’d like you to meet Anna Marie
LaFaire
. She’s back on the coast for a while and might become a frequent visitor here again.” Doug looked at her and winked.

“Glad to meet you, young lady.” He took Doug’s money.

“I’ve always loved your place,” she said after recovering from Doug’s wink,” and the food is just as great as it used to be.”

Doug spoke briefly to the group of men at the counter,
then
escorted her out to the car. At the hotel she pulled out the key card, but he took it from her, opened the door,
then
stepped back.

“Would you like to come in?” As soon as the words passed her lips, she knew they sounded wrong. “Uh, I don’t mean for that to sound like . . .”

“Anna Marie,” he said and cut her off. “I appreciate the offer, but I can’t stay.”

“Hey, Doug!”
A couple of the men from the course drove by in the carts.

Doug turned and waved to them. They gave him a thumbs-up, laughed and drove on.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “They don’t have anything better to do than harass me. It’s not what you think.”

“I’m not sure what I think. I invited you in, but it was supposed to be only a courteous gesture, not an invitation to, uh, you know.”

He laughed and leaned against the railing. “Yes, I know. And what those men insinuated isn’t supposed to mean anything either.”

Now they both laughed, but she did wonder about Doug and his being at this hotel all the time. She wanted to believe that he didn’t frequent the rooms of female guests, but how would she know
.

“Well, aren’t we the model of propriety?” she said and for a brief second wished they weren’t. What would it be like to have him hold her in his arms because he wanted to, not because she was a sobbing, distraught female like the time he held her in the
hospital.

“No, I’m not a model of propriety,” he said, “but I’m not a player, especially with hotel guests.”

A warm feeling washed over her. She looked up into his eyes and believed him. His words opened another window into the mystery of this man
.

“That means a lot to me. Thank you for telling me.”

“Well,
good
.” He pushed himself away from the railing. “So? You say you’re heading home tomorrow?”

She nodded, but then added, “Maybe tonight. Not sure.”

“I’m heading out too. I have a tournament on the West Coast. I like to get there a day early to rest up. Can I call you sometimes?”

“Yes, I’d like that. How long will you be gone?”

“About a week.”

He took one step closer to her, took her hand, then leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the lip. It was a sweet kiss that could’ve been a kiss between good friends, nothing more, nothing less, but it took Anna Marie off guard. His lips were warm, and she wished they would’ve lingered on hers a little longer.

“I’m glad you didn’t go back right away,” he said, not showing any signs that the kiss affected him at all. “I’ve enjoyed our little time together. And,” he hesitated for a second, “I like New Orleans in the fall. Would I be pushing my luck if I visited you on your stomping grounds, maybe on my way back from the tournament?”

“You wouldn’t be pushing your luck at all. I’d love to show you around. Since you’ll have your golf clubs with you, we could . . .”

“No,” – he cut her off. “After this tournament, I’ll be ready to do something else.”

“Well, then we’ll just have to find something else to do, won’t we?”

He stepped away, and Anna Marie knew their day was over. Even though she had to get on the road back to New Orleans, she wished she could spend a little more time with him.

She rested her elbows on the railing and watched him walk down the stairs. When he got to his car, he raised his hand
.
“I’ll call.”

Anna Marie smiled and waved back.

And I’ll be waiting.

* * *

Doug drove away from the hotel shaking his head. The more he was with Anna
Marie,
the more he wanted to see her again.

This isn’t how he wanted to feel. He’d already gone through all the reasons why he shouldn’t try to get to know her better or to let their feelings develop to see where their relationship might go. The reasons all made sense to him, but every time he was with her, he left wanting more time with her.

He didn’t want to have a relationship with anyone. Relationships produced nothing but heartaches, and his life was much too easy right now to get involved with anyone.

But, he shook his head. He wasn’t listening to himself.

He wanted to see her again, and if he had his way, he’d stop in New Orleans on his way home to see where it would lead.

He smiled and turned down his street feeling good.

CHAPTER
13

Before leaving Bayou Cove, Anna Marie talked with one of the attorneys, making sure he knew about the visit from Miss Ellie’s grandson. Xavier Lowery reported so far no one had protested the will and nothing unexpected had been found in the paper trail of the house. He didn’t think she had anything to worry about.

After hanging up with him, she called the hospital and talked with one of the nurses who had helped with her dad’s case. She knew she wouldn’t be told who received the organs, but she wanted to hear that the donor surgeries had been successful.

The reports from each of the recipient surgeries made her feel good. Again, she reminded the nurse that she had signed papers, giving permission for the recipient’s families to know who had donated the organs. She didn’t expect anything to come of it, but she hoped one day she would hear something. It would be good to know if a child or a husband or a young mother had benefited from her father’s senseless death.

By nine o’clock the next morning, Anna Marie turned off Interstate 10 in New Orleans and headed for Fleur de
Lis
Creations. She’d been away from the business too long.

For the next week she hardly took time to eat during the day and stayed for hours after everyone else went home. Fabric for the
McEntire
wedding had been delivered from near-by wholesalers, and she couldn’t have been more pleased with it. She and her assistants took the measurements for Elizabeth and all of her attendants so without delay she worked with adjusting her existing patterns to fit each girl or redrawing where necessary. Her assistants were good, but when it came to drawing and adjusting patterns, she wanted to do the work herself.

Between overseeing the construction of costumes by her assistants, Anna Marie worked for two days with the preliminary work for the wedding. By the end of the second day, she itched to cut the first piece for Elizabeth’s gown.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help?” Stephen asked as he took his baby blue cashmere sweater down from the coat rack. “I can cancel my dinner engagement.”

“Thanks, but no. You’ve kept the place running for me while I’ve been gone, so it’s my turn to burn the midnight oil. You go have a good dinner and drink an extra glass of Merlot for me.”

Stephen smiled and leaned over the cutting table and kissed her on the cheek.
“Now that I can do.
See you in the morning.”

With Stephen and the assistants gone, Anna Marie turned out the office lights and headed to the sewing room. Here, alone with her fabrics, patterns, trims, and machines, she felt whole. She loved working in this area much more than tending to the books and appointments in plush offices. In this room she could be herself and immerse herself in the art of creating garments. This was her calling, and she said a prayer of thanks everyday that she was able to make a living doing what she so loved.

She thought about her mother’s simple
zig-zag
sewing machine she used for everything she created. She’d been good at what she did as well, and Anna Marie couldn’t help but think what she could’ve done with these industrial sewing machines and
sergers
. When she finally convinced her mother to live with her in New Orleans, she toured Fleur de
Lis’s
workrooms during the height of the Mardi
Gras
costume season. She stood at the door with her mouth open. “Child, there’s so much going on at the same time, how do they know what they’re doing?”

“They know, Mother. They know exactly what they’re doing and what their partners are
doing.” Anna Marie had smiled and asked if she wanted to try her hand at any of the machines. “No, dear, my sewing days are over. It’s your turn now, and I can see you have it under control.”

At that her mother left the building and never returned.

“I wish I had everything under control like you said I did,” Anna Marie danced over to the refrigerator, “like what to do with a vacant Victorian in Bayou Cove and a really handsome guy with dreamy brown eyes.
”

Retrieving a diet cola, she took a few swallows,
then
carefully placed it on a table far away from the expensive wedding fabric for Elizabeth’s dress. She’d learned the hard way about leaving drinks too close to the work tables. She shuddered remembering the ruined fabrics the first time a glass spilled.

She examined the fabric, getting a feel of how it would flow, but instead of spreading it out to cut, she hung it back on the rack and pulled out fabric for the lining. This would be the first pieces cut and fit before other pieces would be touched. In fact, for this wedding gown there would be three
layers,
all cut and fit separately before being sewn together.

Carefully, she pinned the pattern pieces on the back side of the lining, meticulously testing the straight of the fabric. That was one of the things her mother had taught her. She passed her hand over the silky fabric and smiled, thinking about the dress she and her mother made for her own wedding. The simple gown with a small amount of beading around the bodice was everything Anna Marie had hoped it would be.

She remembered how special she felt the day her mother buttoned the row of tiny buttons on the back of the gown.

“Things always do better with a little planning, Anna. We took a lot of time laying out your pattern before we made the first cut. That’s why it fits so well.” Her mother took her hand. “You remember that as you and Ronnie make your life together. Plans help to make things special.”

Anna Marie had made some wonderful plans for her life with Ronnie. Too bad all the planning went to waste.

But she never forgot her mother’s words every time she started a garment
.

For two hours she arranged and cut the pieces, then started marking the lines that would guide her through the actual sewing. Nothing would be left to chance with this garment.

At ten o’clock, she flipped off the light and headed home, content that the
McEntires
would be pleased with this creation.

For the rest of the week after everyone left the building, Anna Marie worked on Elizabeth’s gown in the quiet of the sewing room. The fitting for the first lining went well, with only a few nips and tucks to make it perfect. By Saturday morning she had the basic pieces put together for both linings. Pleased with her work, she stepped away from the garment and examined the first pieces of one of the bridesmaid dresses that Stephen and an assistant had worked on. The chocolate colored raw silk would match the style of the bride’s gown. In her mind she could see the entire wedding party and knew it would be perfect.