Threads of Steel (Bayou Cove) (35 page)

“Anna, do I hear a little bit of remorse that you got Ronnie involved? Did you want Caitlyn to come live with you?

It took a moment before Anna Marie could answer. The question took her by surprise. “I thought about it a lot. I’ve seen what you and Harry have with your children. I guess any woman would want the same. It would’ve been wonderful to have her with me, but I can’t do that to Caitlyn or Ronnie. I promised
Doti
I’d take her if things didn’t work out with her dad.”

“You’re a good person, Anna.”

She chuckled. “No, Nancy. I’m not a good person. In fact, I’m rather selfish. I wanted that little girl because I needed her, not because she needed me.”

“Well, I think you have it all wrong, but I know what you really are. So, can you make the funeral?”

“Of course, I’ll be there, but it will be a quick trip. Stephen will have fits when I tell him I have to go to another funeral.”

“Yeah, we have had our share of them lately.”

“You can say that again.” Anna Marie sighed,
then
changed the subject. “Has the agent called you lately? He called me the other day and said he had a couple who might be interested in the house.”

“Yes, he called, and I guess this is good news, huh?”

Anna Marie wasn’t sure how good it was. The only good was that she could quit obsessing over the idea of buying it for herself. She’d hinted at that fact to the agent, and she was sure that was why he’d called her first. “Yes, I guess finding a buyer is good news.”

When she hung up with Nancy, Anna Marie went back to working on the books for her company. She’d convinced Stephen to hire an accountant so she’d have more time in the sewing room, but he was dragging his feet. She’d have to find someone herself if the position would be added to their business. They should’ve had one a long time ago, but Anna Marie liked to keep
books and they’d saved a great deal of money so far.

Today working with the numbers kept her from thinking about
Doti’s
death, mortality in general, having children, and finding happiness in this short life.

Numbers were real. She could handle them.

* * *

They buried
Doti
on a beautiful day in May. Doug stayed by Anna Marie’s side throughout the funeral. His dark suit and white shirt made him even more handsome than she’d remembered ever seeing him. Their visits hadn’t been frequent, but their phone calls had. Just about every night, he called to see how her day had gone and to tell her goodnight.

She wondered where their relationship would take them. She’d made a good life for herself in New Orleans. Doug’s life was in Bayou Cove. Was there a middle ground for them, or would the question ever come up?

Caitlyn stayed with her grandparents after the funeral as planned. Ronnie started coming to the coast to visit with Caitlyn as often as possible. He and June seemed to be doing great, he was doing well with his job, and June had hinted to Anna Marie that they were talking about getting married soon. June had been married once before and had one child a little older than Caitlyn. Anna Marie watched her around Caitlyn, and she seemed to be a natural mother. Caitlyn took to her as well and even showed enthusiasm about going up to live with her dad after the school semester was over.

Even though her mother was no longer with her, everything seemed to be going well for the little girl,

“Aunt Anna,” she said as Anna Marie was leaving the Smiths’ home after the funeral, “will I get to see your house in the big city?”

Anna Marie knelt down by her and put her hands on Caitlyn’s shoulders. “I’d love for you to come to my house anytime you’d like. I live just a couple hours away so I could come get you on any weekend you’d like, a weekend when your dad isn’t here visiting.”

With eyes wide with excitement, she looked up at her grandmother. “Granny, can I go spend the weekend with Aunt Anna sometimes?”

“Sure, sweetie.
We’ll plan something soon.”

“I’ll call you, Mrs. Smith, after things settle down some, and if you and Mr. Smith ever have a problem and need someone to help with her, call me. I’m closer than Ronnie.”

Ronnie stepped up next to Caitlyn and put his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you, Anna Marie. I appreciate your offer, especially until school is out. We’re planning for Caitlyn to come up to Birmingham at the beginning of the summer.”

Knowing that things would probably work out well for
Doti’s
girl, Anna Marie felt good about leaving. She spoke with Doug on the phone as she headed toward the interstate. Her heart was lighter than it had been on previous visits.

Once home, she again buried herself in her job. The
McEntire
wedding dresses were in the final stages, and she was pleased with the result. Doing a wedding as elaborate as this one had been her dream since she’d picked up her first needles. Weddings were special. They gave a sense of hope for everyone in attendance. With each wedding she attended, she wanted to believe that this couple would have the happy-ever-after ending that she so wanted to believe existed.

Even Nancy and
Harry’s
marriage, the one she saw as hope for the institution, wasn’t as idealist as she thought
.

Would Elizabeth
McEntire’s
wedding restart the flame of hope for her? Would all the work she put into the planning and execution of the wedding party have a positive effect on Fleur de
Lis
—and on her?

“An attitude adjustment, that’s what you need,” she said out loud just as Stephen walked into her office.

“I agree. You need a big adjustment, girl. What’s your problem lately?”

“No problem,” she said as she used the steamer on a prom gown one of the seamstresses just finished. “No problem at all.”

Stephen stopped and crossed his arms in front of his body. “I don’t agree. You’ve been moping around here for the last few months. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but maybe you need a vacation.
A real vacation, not just going away for a funeral.
You’ve buried too many people in the last six months.”

She put the steamer hose back on the hook. “Maybe I do. Maybe after this wedding is over, I’ll go off to some exotic beach and drink a bunch of rum drinks with little umbrellas in them.”

“
Oooh
, that sounds romantic. Do you have a guy to take with you? What about that golfer fellow I’ve heard you mention?”

The reference to Doug brought a smile to her face. “Yeah, that would be nice, but I don’t think he’d want to do anything as serious as spending vacation time with me. We’re not really that serious. He’s just been there when I’m on the coast.”

But as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she knew they weren’t true. Their time together hadn’t been spent only on the golf course. Their time in the bedroom had been wonderful and meaningful to her, whether it was to him or not, and if she were honest with herself, she knew she’d like it to continue.

Stephen took off his glasses, wiped them with a tissue before looking directly at her. “I don’t think that’s all. He’s the first man I’ve heard you talk about since that awful affair you had with that Allen guy.” He waved his hand. “And if I’m not mistaken, he’s the first one you’ve actually been out with since then.”

She was about to deny his accusations, but she knew he was right.

“Yep, you need some fun time off. We’ll schedule some time for each of us after this season’s over. I have to make you happy or I might lose you to that old house in Bayou Cove.”

“What did you say?”

“You heard me. That house isn’t just a house on the market, is it?” Stephen walked up to her and put his arms around her. “You want it, don’t you?”

She pulled away gently. “Yes, I’d like it, but what would I do with it?” She pulled up both hands in front of her. “No, don’t answer that. Everyone has an answer for me, but there really isn’t a good solution.”

“Sure there is. You just don’t want to acknowledge it, and I know I don’t want to think about the results of that solution,” he said as he walked out of the room, leaving her alone with her wall full of hanging gowns.

* * *

Anna Marie thought about her mother’s description of the New Orleans wealthy as she walked through Jackson Square to get to the
McEntire
wedding in St. Louis Cathedral. Her mother once called these families Old Southern Money. “They live a life that you and I will never be part of, Anna. You can watch them, work for them, copy them, but you can never be
like them.”

Her mother was a simple woman, but Anna Marie knew her insight into life sometimes hit the target. Anna Marie lived and worked amongst the group of people her mother talked about and found them endearing and generous, but her mother’s words were true. She probably would never completely understand them and certainly would never be part of them outside of the workplace.

That was fine with her, but at times like this she wished her mother would be here to see how her daughter had used the talents she’d given her. She knew she’d be proud of her.

As she walked past the bronzed statue of General Andrew Jackson in the square, she looked up and smiled. The quiet, green space of Jackson Square contrasted with the noise and almost circus atmosphere of the surrounding streets and alleys of the French Quarter. It was here in the square that her mother loved to sit and stare at the graceful triple steeples of the cathedral.

She came home one day from her trolley ride and her walk around the French Quarter. “It’s a shame you can’t buy me a small plot in Jackson Square. I’d be the happiest corpse around if you could bury me next to General Jackson.”

Anna Marie remembered laughing and thinking her mother was silly, but now every time she walked past the statue she understood what her mother said. The city was alive with activity, but here in the square, a soul could find a little bit of peace.

The steps of the cathedral were filled with finely dressed couples waiting their turn to enter into the church. Anna Marie took her place and waited her turn. Her mother certainly would’ve commented about all the old-Southern-money families that lined the streets today. The
McEntires
had connections that could be traced back generations to most of the important families in New Orleans. Now Mr.
McEntire’s
business connections took care of the new-money families now in the area. It seemed they’d all shown up today for Elizabeth’s wedding.

Finally Anna Marie took her place in the dimly lit vestibule of the church where she could see when the procession of limousines pulled up. She’d spent the last couple hours at the bride’s home making sure none of the bridesmaids or the bride had problems with their dresses. She helped dress them, listened to the usual complaints made by the girls in attendance, then moved to help Elizabeth and her mother. They had been ready to enter the limos when she left their house.

Now with her small purse filled with pins, needles and thread, and tiny scissors pressed close to her side, she stood off to the side of the church’s massive doors and waited for the bridal party to come in. She lifted her hand slightly to one of her past clients as she spotted her coming into the church. When the lady spotted her, she pulled her husband in her direction.

“Why, Miss
LaFaire
, I heard you did the dresses for this entire wedding party. I’m told they are to die for. I can’t wait to see your creations.”

“Thank you for saying so. It was a pleasure working with Elizabeth and her mother.” Little white lies seemed to go with the business.

Mrs. Tillie Mae Boudreaux touched Anna Marie’s hand and smiled at the man standing next to her. “You remember my husband.”

Anna Marie nodded toward the distinguished man, commented appropriately, then the two of them walked into the church.

Tillie Boudreaux had been the queen of the one of the carnival balls last year. Anna Marie shook her head. What an experience that was! Tillie didn’t approve of anything Anna Marie picked out and changed her mind with every decision that had to be made.
The fabric.
The trim.
The feathers.
It was a nightmare job from the moment the lady had walked into Fleur de
Lis’s
lobby.

But Anna Marie worked with her and she and Stephen did the entire ball to perfection just as she’d done all the other projects she’d taken on, and in the end Tillie sent a huge bouquet of roses to thank her for her work. They stood in a huge vase in Fleur de
Lis’s
lobby as a reminder of the ordeal to make that ball spectacular.

For a moment, an unexpected wave of sadness swept through her. She was confused. What was wrong with her? This life of rich fabrics, expensive trims, sequins, stones, and feathers had given her the financial stability to have a good life. It was a life that gave her a glimpse into and a part of the New Orleans society.

That knowledge and her nice bank account should’ve made her feel good.