Jailbird (16 page)

“I can do that,” I knew instantly where I’d
take her. I could picture it in my mind. I hadn’t been there in
years, but knew I could find it. And knew I was one of two people
in this world who could.

“God help me, I know I shouldn’t be
encouraging you to keep running but I can’t stand the thought of
you going back there,” Charlie closed his eyes and pinched the
bridge of his nose. “Every time I visit Mary, I just can’t get the
image of you in that place out of my head. Some of those women are
so… so… brutal.”

“Yeah, I know,” I gave a mirthless laugh.

“I won’t let you go back there,” his jaw had
a firm set to it I hadn’t seen before. Maybe it was the jaw, maybe
it was the circles under his eyes, but he seemed somehow harder
now. He had always carried about him a refreshing air of innocence,
and I’d managed to kill that.

We should have been planning. We should have
been spending time with our girls or even trying to figure out how
we would pay the bills with so much of his attention turned to the
tyranny of the urgent. We should have been doing a lot of things.
All I could bring myself to do was wrap him in my arms, lay his
head upon my chest, and stroke his hair until we both dozed
off.

Chapter Fifteen

I wasn’t sure what time we woke up. The sun
was gone, but given the time of year that didn’t mean much. It was
the smell of gumbo that got me out of bed. Charlie barely groaned
as I shimmied out from underneath him. I left him where he was; he
needed his sleep.

I remembered why I didn’t like napping; it
always left me a little disoriented. I padded through the house,
wondering what to do first. Gabrielle and Cara were playing with
the puppy in the living room. I stopped to say hi to them and rub
his roly-poly belly before moving on to the kitchen.

“Did you have a nice afternoon?” Conrad had a
mischievous glint in his eye when he greeted me.

“Oh stop it,” I made a face at him. “We
talked, we slept… I’m worried about him.”

“Yeah, I think Atlas had a lighter load
sometimes.”

“I feel bad for doing this to him,” I poured
myself a glass of sweet tea and curled up in a chair facing
Conrad.

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“He was sleepwalking before you came along.
And he’s been hooked on you since he first saw you swinging your
legs from the back of Manny’s truck.”

“He told you that?” There was hesitancy in my
voice.

“Yes. He never misses a chance to tell me how
crazy he is about you,” Conrad snorted and stirred the gumbo.
“Could be he’s just plain crazy.”

“Could be,” I smiled a little. “How much do
you think that reporter knows?”

“More than we want her to,” Conrad scowled.
“She’s a real pain in the backside.”

“Charlie wants me to take Gabrielle and
disappear if this gets out of hand.”

“He’s right.”

“I think I’ll take her to the cabin.”

“You don’t think anyone would look for you
there?”

“It’s been years since anyone’s been down
that road. I don’t think anyone besides you and me could find
it.”

“Do you think you’ll be okay there?” he
dished up a bowl of gumbo and set it before me.

“I told you…”

“No, I mean, okay with the memories and
all.…”

“I don’t know, but I know that area like the
back of my hand. I can keep us safe there.”

“Because our parents did such a good job of
it,” Conrad frowned and handed me a spoon.

“They were caught unaware. Totally different
situation. Wow this is good,” I stuck my tongue to a steaming
spoonful of my brother’s specialty. “It’s hot.”

“It generally is when it’s fresh off the
stove,” Conrad poured me a glass of water.

“Since when do you wait on me?” I teased.

“Since you’re having my nephew.”

“Oh, so it’s a boy?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Interesting,” I thought about that for a
moment before changing the subject. “When do you think Mary’s trial
will be over?”

“They should wrap up arguments by mid-week. I
bet we get a verdict by Friday.”

“Is it really going as well as the papers
say? Oh, thank you for those, by the way.”

“You know, it really is. For a small-town
lawyer, Charlie’s really good.”

“His paying work is piling up while he’s off
doing this. He won’t come out and say it, but I know it is.”

“I thought about that,” Conrad sat down next
to me with his own heaping bowl of gumbo. “Not much I can do to
help, though. I’m just about out of leave at work myself.”

“If you need to go back, Gabrielle can stay
with me as long as you need.”

“She told me she wants to live with you.”

“And I told her it’s not that simple.”

“Do you want her?” he lowered his voice. “I
mean, when this all settles down, you and Charlie could give her a
good home.”

“Of course I want her. But you’re the only
parent she’s ever known. It’s not right to just whisk her away from
you after all these years… I don’t suppose you’d be interested in
moving to Arkansas?”

“What exactly would I do for a living, my
dear sister? I don’t see many casinos in these parts.”

“Good point,” I frowned, wondering if it
would be fair to ask Charlie and Cara to leave their hometown.

“Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to
do,” Conrad stopped eating long enough to take my hands in his.
“And I would miss her like crazy. But the fact is—I’m not cutting
it anymore. I’m not sure I ever did. She needs you.”

“She needs both of us,” I corrected. “I’ll
figure out a way to make it work. In the meantime, she can stay
with me so you can go back to work.”

“I don’t like leaving you guys.”

“I don’t want to have to support you because
I got you fired.”

“Uncle Lou wouldn’t fire me; he’d just kick
my ass.”

“Don’t let Charlie hear you talking like
that,” I stifled a giggle.

“That boy missed a good chance at being a
preacher,” Conrad shook his head.

“You’re not far off,” I informed him around a
mouthful of okra. “His parents are missionaries.”

“Really? That explains so much.”

“I know. That’s what I thought when I found
out.”

“When did you find out?”

“This morning.”

“What?” he choked on his drink. “You’ve been
married for almost two months and you just now found out what his
parents do?”

“You know, I think there were a few details
about each other we didn’t bother to get first…,” I mused.

“Do you regret getting married?”

“Never. I think maybe after not living for so
long, I just want to grab life by both hands now… does that make
sense?”

“It does,” he considered as he turned his
attention back to his gumbo. We fell silent now that the food was
cool enough to really shovel it in. I’d been given a lot to think
about. I’d have to put together travel packs that could be grabbed
in an instant. It was one thing to live on roots when it was just
me. I had the baby and Gabrielle to think about now. If we had to
run, I didn’t want to do it hungry. I also planned to start
exercising the horses more regularly. They were fat pasture ponies
and the long journey would be hard on them. Hopefully we had time
to prepare. Better yet, maybe we’d never need them.

A knock at the door made me tense up. The
girls jumped up to answer it, but Conrad was faster.

“I got it,” he called in case they beat him
to the door. I slipped into the back stairwell to keep from being
seen. Before he even said the name, his tone of voice told me he
was not happy to see the visitor.

“Oh…Conrad. I wasn’t expecting to see you
here.”

“I can’t say I’m happy to see you,
Rachel.”

“I just want to ask Charlie a few
questions.”

“He’s resting.”

“Are those his girls?” her voice strained. It
sounded like she was trying to see around Conrad’s massive
frame.

“Let’s finish the conversation outside,” his
tone left little room for argument.

“I’d rather come in out of the cold if you
don’t mind,” Rachel was nonplussed. I had to give her credit for
courage.

“I actually do mind.”

I guess he used brute force to back her away
from the door because I heard it shut behind them and their voices
grew muffled. I wanted to hear what they were saying, so I darted
up the stairs to my room and slid the window open just a bit so I
could lean out.

“What are you doing?” Charlie asked groggily.
“It’s cold.”

I made a wild waving gesture that was meant
to silence him. Instead it got him off the bed and hanging out the
window with me. The unhappy look on his face told me he recognized
Rachel’s voice.

“My sources say he recently married a young
woman who looks Native American. They say she appeared out of
nowhere and no one knows anything about her. Now he’s defending a
woman whose cell mate was a young woman of Native American descent
and I find you here at his house. There are a lot of coincidences
there, Conrad.”

“Did it ever occur to you that his bride is
my cousin?”

“Is she?”

“I’m not saying.”

“Why don’t you cooperate with me?” her
exasperation was evident.

“Because I don’t like reporters.”

“That’s not fair,” Rachel pouted.

“You’re not that cute,” Conrad retorted. I
suppressed a giggle. “You chase after the story… what about the
lives you affect? You do know it’s people who make up your stories,
right?”

“Really? They must have left that out of
journalism school.”

“Don’t you need to get back to Louisiana for
the trial tomorrow?”

“Don’t you?”

“Sorry, sweetheart. It’s back to work for me
tomorrow. Try not to miss me too much.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” sarcasm dripped
from her voice. “Tell Charlie I’d like to speak with him. Can you
do that much for me at least?”

“Good night, Rachel.”

“Good night, Conrad,” the tone of her voice
said “go to hell” more than anything. I found myself very curious
about this spitfire reporter who easily stood up to my brother. I
mentioned that fact as soon as Charlie and I pulled our heads back
in the window and closed it.

“Oh, she’s cute. It wouldn’t surprise me at
all if Conrad had a thing for her,” Charlie was quick to inform me.
I wasn’t sure I liked his description of her and the expression on
my face told him as much. Even in the moonlight, he recognized it
for what it was. “She’s cute, but you’re cuter.”

“Nice recovery, dear.”

“Don’t be that way… come here,” he wrapped
his arms around me and peppered my face with kisses.

“Get off me, you goofball… my gumbo’s getting
cold.”

“You’re eating without me?”

“You looked like you needed sleep. Come on.
There might be a bite or two left… you’re in for a treat. Conrad’s
a good cook.”

“Did I marry the wrong sibling?”

“You must need more sleep.”

He gave me a bemused smile and went to find
Cara. I wondered how long she’d be this good natured about giving
up so much of her Daddy. She’d had his undivided attention her
whole life, now he was pulled in a thousand different directions. I
also wondered how she’d do if I had to disappear suddenly. I’d
never forgive myself if something bad happened because of my
presence in their lives.

I’d started my second bowl of gumbo by the
time Charlie sat down with his first. I’d been on autopilot for a
lot of years—reacting on instinct instead of planning ahead. Now my
brain finally felt like it was firing on all pistons again and I
had an idea.

“Give me your work keys and your computer
login before you leave in the morning,” I announced out of the
blue.

Charlie answered with a quizzical look.

“I do have a college education. I can catch
you up on some basic office work while you’re gone.”

“But I’ve never really even shown you around
the office.”

“I can figure it out, babe. I promise not to
file any motions or rearrange your files in reverse alpha order
while you’re gone. Seriously, I can go in while Cara’s in school.
Gabrielle can go with me. And then you have someone to call if you
need anything during the week.”

“It might help… if you’re sure you don’t
mind,” he thought about it.

“I’d be happy to do something besides sit
around here and wait. Will you be home at all this week?”

“Probably Wednesday night.”

“I’ll miss you,” my heart clenched at the
thought of not seeing him for the next two days. I didn’t even want
to consider if we were separated for any real length of time.

“You two are making me ill,” Conrad groaned.
“I don’t think I can take much more of the love-fest.”

“Oh… speaking of love-fest… what do you think
of Rachel Cooper?” I grinned wickedly. Conrad wadded up a napkin
and threw it at my head.

Having already eaten hot dogs for dinner, the
girls didn’t join us until dessert. When they did, they were happy
to jump right into the playful banter. Between the joking, the
smell of fresh brownies, and the puppy that kept tripping over his
own feet, it was hard to remember there were dark clouds
threatening our happy little world.

Chapter Sixteen

With Charlie gone and so much hanging on the
events of the week, I was happy to have a project to keep my mind
busy. Gabrielle was a big help, taking it upon herself to clean the
office while I attacked the mountain of papers that needed to be
filed. The first few callers were surprised to hear my voice. After
that, I got the impression that people were calling just to confirm
for themselves that the rumor was true. Either that, or Charlie had
what was surely a record number of people suddenly interested in
estate planning.

Either way, other than a brief sandwich
break, we worked right up until time to pick Cara up from school.
The two girls seemed to have taken right to the idea of having a
sister. Other than a break to eat dinner, they spent the rest of
the evening with their heads bent in conversation. That left me
largely to my own devices. I tended the horses then spent some time
putting together travel gear for Gabrielle and me.