Charming Grace (26 page)

“Two of the boys who attacked Leo were black,” Dew told us grimly, dabbing a cotton swab to her face. My no-nonsense cousin had a long scrape on her forehead from diving into the melee to save the teenagers. “They called Mika some names I won’t repeat. One of the politer ones was ‘Oreo.’”

Now Mika cuddled Leo’s hand to her pink blood-dabbed pullover. A jeweled hairclip dangled from the curly tangles of her black hair. Smears of his blood made brown splotches on the thighs of her pink pedal pushers. Huddling over him, she smiled and cried. “My name means ‘Raccoon’ in some Native American language. I’ve been told my mother chose it because her and her brother Harp’s great-grandmother was Cherokee Indian. My grandmother in Detroit considered ‘Mika’ a trendy and trashy name, not fitting for a DuLane. She had my first name legally changed to Susan.
Susan
. But I’m not a Susan, I’m a Mika. I’m a smart little raccoon.”

Leo blinked owlishly, wincing in slow motion as the doctor tugged at the last stitch in his face. “I saw you smack a guy in the head. I name you
Rabid
Raccoon.”

“I had to help you with those Neanderthals. It was four against one. And they were so
big
.”

“I heard what the black dudes called you. I’m sorry.”

“I’ve never fit in anywhere. I’m used to it.” Her voice trembled. “The only person in the world who makes me feel totally, completely accepted for exactly who I am, is
you
.”

He moaned. “All my life I’ve just been Stone Senterra’s scrawny, nerdy, screw-up son. But with you I’m not just Leo Senterra. I’m Gal-leo. I love you, Rabid Raccoon.”

“I love you too, Gal-leo. If my uncle Harp were here, I’m sure he’d say he never wanted you to be hurt for his sake.” She bowed her head to his, and cried. So did Leo.

“They need privacy,” Boone said under his breath. He looked terrible. “At least we can give ‘em that.”

I nodded. My eyes burning, I followed him into the hospital lobby. We stood at a window, side by side but not touching, staring into the empty night.

“I didn’t do my job today,” he said.

“I did mine all too well,” I answered.

All hell broke loose when I called Stone at dawn and told him I’d let his kid get beaten up. He and Diamond were in the middle of their a.m. weight-training session when my call came in, so she grabbed a phone to listen. She went deadly quiet. Stone started yelling.

“I thought you taught my kid to
fight
, Noleene! I told you to teach him every Cajun street trick you know! What the hell happened?”

“Leo’s not the eye-gouging and ball-kicking type. He’s a thinker. So I taught him a few wrestling and nerve-pinch techniques. It’s called Brazilian ju-jitsu.” I didn’t mention I’d picked up the skill from a South American arms dealer at Angolo. “Leo’s pretty good at it. He was just outnumbered tonight, that’s all.”

“What the hell is Brazilian ju-jitsu—kung fu for sissies wearing gaucho pants? You sent my kid into a street fight pretending to be Mr. Spock doing the Vulcan neck grab?”

“I’m not proud of what happened to him.”

“Well, neither am I. This isn’t like you, Noleene! Where the hell were you?”

“In bed.” I let it go at that.

“In bed!
In bed?
You let my kid hit the bars with Grace’s crazy women relatives while you turned in early for some beauty rest?” He did a lot more yelling but Diamond continued to lurk like a piranha in the deep end of the river, just waiting for the blood to reach ‘appetizer’ level.

When Stone stopped for breath she swam in, mouth open, teeth bared. “I’ll be down there in two hours, max, in Stone’s jet, to pick Leo up and bring him back to Atlanta. Noleene, you keep Grace Vance out of my way or she’ll need an ER visit, too. And so will you.”

I gritted my teeth. “You can chew me up and spit me out, but don’t come down here and kidnap Leo. He’s sleeping. He’s fine. Mika’s holding his hand and won’t budge. Grace and her cousin are guardin’ his door. I swear I won’t let anyone else near him. I’ll drive him back to Dahlonega later today when he can sit up without drooling. I’ll bring Mika and Grace and Grace’s cousin Dew with us. He likes them. He wants it this way.”

“You’ll take care of him like you took care of him tonight?” she said sarcastically. “And you think I’ll just accept your ‘word’ on that? You think I’ll let you keep my nephew surrounded by Grace and her coven?”

“He’s
nineteen
. Don’t treat him like a kid.”

“Don’t you tell me how to treat my nephew, you loser—”

“Enough!” Stone yelled. “Noleene, get out of the way. Diamond’s coming down there and get him. I want to see
you
here in Dahlonega this afternoon, and I want some explanations that make sense! For now you just take care of Grace and her girls. Try not to screw that up, too, huh?”

He hung up on me.

Leo was a kind of kid brother I had wanted to protect the way Armand always tried to protect me. Now I knew how Armand felt every time I got whacked, shot, or cut in a fight.
Why didn’t you hurt me, not him? I said to God. Give me the cracked cheekbone. Give me the bruises
. But since God didn’t work that way, the best I could do was swear I’d never let it happen, again. And that no one else would be blamed for my mistake. Especially not Grace.

I walked back to Leo’s hospital room. He was sleeping. Mika slept beside him in a chair, one hand curled over his arm on the bed. Grace had gone to find us all some coffee. Cousin Dew stood at the door like a red-headed Doberman. Speaking in a cocktail-hour voice that rich Southern women use to slice finger sandwiches without a knife, she hissed, “All you are is six inches of temporary satisfaction with a big sign on your back that says ‘Trouble.’ If your plan was to embarrass, manipulate, and confuse Grace for the sake of your stupid employer, you’ve done a good job.”

“For the record,
chere
, if I’d known I was going to do any kind of harm to Grace, I’d never have set foot within a mile of her.” I paused. “And it’s eight inches, not six.”

Grace’s footsteps coming our way brought that little conversation to an end. Dew watched me shrewdly, surprised, maybe. At any rate, she pulled a small white Bible from a tiny purse she carried and waved it at me. “I’m going to the hospital chapel. To pray that you get struck by lightning.” She stalked away.

Grace handed me a cup of coffee. We stood outside the hospital room’s door, trying to pretend we hadn’t been naked together. “Problem with Dew?” she asked.

“She doesn’t wish me real well. I understand.”

“I’ll talk to her. What did Stone say when you called?”

“The kind of things a man says when you tell him you let his son get used for boxing practice.”

“He doesn’t wish me well, either. My speech got his son hurt. He’s right.”

“It was my job to protect Leo. Not yours. He’s not upset with you.”

“This is the same father who nearly let Leo drown in a whitewater river as an exercise in manhood? This time he wants to say all the right things he didn’t say or do for Leo before? I’m an expert on fathers who try to make up for their mistakes after it’s too late to undo the damage.”

“Don’t worry about Stone. Worry about his sister. Diamond’s coming to get Leo in the Senterra jet.”

She nearly dropped her coffee. “She can’t do that! Why would Stone send her?”

“Because I’m not considered trustworthy enough to take care of him, anymore.”

“It’s not fair to you and not fair to Leo. He’s trying so hard to step out of his father’s shadow. He’ll be humiliated.”

“I know, but he’s not my son and I don’t make the rules. Look, I’ll drive you and the gals back to Dahlonega after Diamond flies off with him in her claws. Let me play chauffeur, at least.”

“We can’t do that to Mika. She won’t leave his side. I won’t even
try
to talk her into leaving his side. I know how it feels to be that young and in love . . . ” she halted, looking up at me with troubled eyes, guilty eyes. “If she can’t stay beside Leo, she’ll feel as if she betrayed him.”

A painful silence settled over us. Finally I said, “None of this is your fault. It’s mine. Including what happened at the inn.”

“You didn’t seduce me.”

“You don’t have to pretend, for my sake, that you’re happy about what happened.”

“Boone—”

“I shouldn’t have been with you. I didn’t do right by you, I didn’t do right by Leo, I didn’t do right by my job.”

“So everything’s always your fault? I thought you served your time in prison and now you’re supposed to be free.”

“I’m not a free man, and I never will be. I have debts to pay, and I honor them. I owe a big one to Stone.”

“I was the one who gave the speech about protecting and honoring Harp’s legacy. I was the one who encouraged those high school kids to fight for what they believe in. I never intended for them to interpret that as a license to attack Leo. He doesn’t deserve to be punished for my feud with his father. And as for Mika. . .the last thing I ever wanted was to see Harp’s niece get hurt because of something I said or did. But she did get hurt, and so did Leo. Harp would be so disappointed in me. I let Harp down.”

“Harp would never be disappointed in you. Not for what a bunch of no-brain punks did, and not for . . . ” I let the thought trail off, but we both knew.
Not for sleeping for me.
I hoped I was right about that.

“Harp would tell you not to be so hard on yourself.”

“Oh, no, he wouldn’t. Your husband never forgave himself for anything, did he,
chere
? Not for being born poor and trashy, not for what happened to his sister, not for being rejected by Mika’s highbrow Detroit family, not for never living up to what he thought your family wanted him to be. You were the only soul who ever made him feel good enough, and he never wanted to let you down. I know the feeling.”

“Boone, please—”

I jerked my head toward Leo’s room. “Let’s go tell Mika she’ll have to pry herself away from Leo when Diamond gets here on her broomstick. I know it won’t be easy, but I swear to God I’ll make this up to Mika, and to Leo, and to you.”

Grace sagged. “All right. I don’t want her and Leo caught in the middle of any more fights. Not tonight.”

We eased into the dark room. Mika jerked awake. “Leo?” She groggily bent over him, then realized he hadn’t made the sounds that woke her. “Oh. Ssssh. It’s just Grace and Boone.” Leo stirred, moaned, and opened his eyes. At least, he opened his good one. “Not sleepin’ . . . ” he mumbled. He mouthed every word as if he had glue in his tongue. “Just restin’ between rounds. Bring the dudes back. I’ll hit ‘em with my face some more.”

“Oh, Galileo. I love your irony.”

Grace turned on the small light above Leo’s bed. She looked like hell. “Sorry, guys, but we need to talk.”

Mika cuddled Leo’s hand in hers. “Is anything wrong?” Mika asked. “Grace, I’m sorry if I looked angry with you earlier. Or if you overheard what I said to Leo. Uncle Harp wouldn’t blame you for what happened.”

Leo nodded weakly and gazed at Boone with squinty, one-eyed sincerity. “Boone, iz okay. Chill out. Dad’s prob’ly glad I got pounded, izn’t he? My first ass-whippin’ street fight. Now I’ve prove I got good Senterra
cajones
, right? Maybe we can juz not let him know it was mainly
my
ass that got the whippin’, huh?”

“Your papa loves you, kid. He’s proud, no matter what. You did a good job. You took on four big drunks and you put some hurt on two of ‘em and you kept the other two from wipin’ the street with you. And you protected your lady when she got in the fight. I call that a win-win ass whuppin’, Leo.”

Leo made a painful try at sitting up straighter and thrusting his chin out. He winced. “When we get back ta Dahlon. . .Dahla. . .
town
, I gonna tell Dad I have no intention of join the army thiz fall. Thaz wha he wans me ta do, ya know.”

Mika gasped. “No!”

“Yah. Become a Ranger, like he did. But when we get back I’m goin’ ta walk—well, stagger—inta his office an’ tell him I’m gonna study engineerin’ with a double major in art. Mika and I are goin’ start our own software design company and create the most bitchin’ video games since Dungeons met Dragons.”

Grace made a soft, miserable sound. “Leo, Mika—I think that’s a great plan, but, Boone and I have to tell you something. This situation tonight is a minefield of diplomacy. Your father is worried, and your Aunt Diamond is . . . well . . . ” she hesitated, looking at me for help. So now we’d tell Leo his brawny auntie was coming to get him in his papa’s private jet and he’d just better get a grip on his diapers and put up with it. I took a long hard look into her eyes, then faced Leo.

“Look, Rambo, here’s the plan: Diamond’s coming to get you. She’s your aunt and she loves ya. Do you want her to take you back to the mountains in your papa’s jet?”

Leo’s lopsided face contorted. “Without Mika? Without you n’ Grace?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Mika yelped. Leo shook his head. “No wa!”

I took a long breath. Some day Stone would fire me permanently. Might as well be today. “You were man enough to kick some ass tonight and I think you’re man enough to get out of this bed. If you want to go back on your own terms and you can handle seven hours in the backseat of a car, I’ll drive you.”