False Pretenses (37 page)

“So did someone give
you
grace?”

Adele smiled, a faraway look in her eyes, her fingers touching the gold cross. “Yes … someone did. A King. But that’s a story for another day.”

CHAPTER 41

On a Monday afternoon in mid-November, Zoe sat with Pierce, Vanessa, and Ethan on an old quilt on the grounds at Langley Manor, enjoying a picnic lunch and watching the work crew busily going about the renovations at the manor house. The air was nearly rung dry of humidity, the temperature balmy, the breeze scented with pine.

“The new roof looks great.” Ethan slipped his arm around Vanessa. “My dad and uncles were pretty fired up over the pictures I emailed. None of them wanted to move here and tackle this, but they were very willing to help fund it. They spent a lot of time here when they were kids. They want to see it come back to life.”

“The place is going to be fantastic.” Pierce popped a chicken nugget. “And now that everybody in town knows that Josiah Langley wasn’t a British elitist who snubbed the Cajuns, but a selfless man who gave himself to the task of freeing the slaves, the attitude has changed.”

“It’s obvious in the way people have opened up to us.” Vanessa looked at Ethan and smiled. “At first I thought we were always going to be outsiders. But now I almost feel Cajun,
cher
.” She laughed. “It’s probably all that Cajun food we’re feasting on at Zoe B’s.”

A big red plastic ball bounced on the blanket and into Zoe’s lap. A few seconds later Carter dropped down on the blanket between Zoe and Pierce, sounding out of breath.

“I like this big, big,
big
yard!” Carter said. “I can kick the ball weally far.”

“That’s because
you
are the soccer star.” Pierce tickled Carter’s ribs, evoking boyish shrieks and husky giggles. “The champion kicker of all four-year-olds in the whole world.”

Pierce tickled Carter mercilessly until they were both belly laughing so hard they ran out of wind.

“Will you boys settle down?” Vanessa’s playful tone betrayed her. “Or I’ll have to give you a time out.”

“Well,
someone’s
a party pooper.” Pierce put his index finger to his lips, the corners of his mouth twitching with restraint.

Carter pressed his lips tightly together, his eyes animated, his arms folded across his chest.

No one said anything for a minute, the sound of the buzz saws in the house filling the quiet.

Zoe ran her fingers through Carter’s mound of strawberry-blond hair. “I think you’re going to like living here when it’s all finished. I have a feeling you’ll be entertaining the guests. You’re such a little character.”

Carter cocked his head and flashed a wry smile. “What’s that?”

“Character is a grown-up word that can mean a lot of things. But in your case, it’s an adorable little boy who makes people smile.”

“Oh.”

“Pierce and I will miss having you living next door. What will I do when I need a little-boy hug?”

Carter shrugged. “Maybe you hafta get a little boy of your own.”

Zoe glanced over at Pierce and smiled, and then smiled broader.

“Why are you laughing?” Vanessa said. “That’s a
great
idea. We won’t be moving out for a while. You should plan ahead.”

“Gee, I wish we had thought of that,” Pierce said.

Ethan looked over at them, his eyebrow arched. “What’s going on with you two? You’ve been sending nonverbal messages all day.”

“Spoken like a true shrink,” Pierce said. “What do you think, babe? Shall we tell them? It’s your call.”

Zoe felt radiant and wondered if she looked that way. “I think we should.” She moved her gaze from Carter to Ethan to Vanessa. “Pierce and I are going to have a
baby
.”

Vanessa sucked in a breath, both hands over her mouth.

“That’s terrific!” Ethan said.

Carter leaned his head back and looked up at Zoe. “A boy baby?”

“We don’t know yet, sweetie. It might be a girl baby.”

“When’s your due date?” Vanessa said.

“May twenty-first.” Zoe reached over and took Pierce’s hand. “We’re ecstatic—and surprised. We’re still trying to catch our breath from the summer. We had postponed this idea for another year.”

“But I love being surprised,” Pierce said.

Vanessa picked up the red ball. “When did you find out you were expecting?”

“Friday.” Zoe glanced over at Pierce. “We snuck off to Houma to tell his parents. That’s where we were over the weekend. Needless to say, there was a lot of hooting and hollering going on at the Broussards’.”

“Do you think you’ll stay in the apartment?” Vanessa said. “It may seem smaller to you after the baby starts walking.”

“We’ve already talked about it.” Pierce squeezed Zoe’s hand. “After you move into Langley Manor, we can knock out walls and have the two apartments connected. We’ll double our space and have three-bedroom apartment with two full baths, two half baths, and a study. The full gallery will make a nice big play area outside, and Cypress Park is just down the block. I think we’ll just stay where we are and raise our family. We really like having our business downstairs.”

Ethan nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“When you get a baby,” Carter said, “you won’t need me to give you little-boy hugs anymore.”

Zoe cupped Carter’s face in her hands and looked into his clear blue eyes. “That’s absolutely not true. There will never be another little boy just like you, and I will
always
need hugs from you—even when you’re a big boy.”

Carter raised his arms high. “Even when I’m
this
big.”

Zoe smiled. “Even then. You will always be special to me. And I’m going to need your help taking care of the baby.”

“I’m the goodest helper.”

“Yes, you are.” Zoe pulled Carter closer and gave him a gentle squeeze.

“So have you told Adele yet?” Ethan said.

Pierce shook his head. “We’re driving up there this weekend. We didn’t want to tell her over the phone.”

“Your friendship with her is a miracle,” Vanessa said. “It’s so exciting what God has done in your lives through her.”

“It really is.”

Zoe looked up at the cloud puffs that dotted the crisp blue autumn sky, quietly fingering the gold cross around her neck, at peace with the King of Kings who had given Adele grace and who now lived in her own heart—and Pierce’s.

Would she ever cease to marvel at how grace had transformed her life on every level? Could she ever have imagined that the broken and abused young woman from Devon Springs who covered her shame with lies would discover that Jesus had sacrificed Himself so that she could be born again, adopted into His royal family—cleansed, forgiven, restored? A new creation. A child of the King.

“Miss Zoe?”

Carter’s voice brought her back to the present.

“How come you’re cwying?”

Zoe smiled and tapped his nose with her finger. “These aren’t sad tears, sweetie. I’m just so full of joy it doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”

CHAPTER 42

On a clear cool morning in mid-February, Zoe stood at the table by the window at Zoe B’s, talking with Hebert, Father Sam, and Tex.

“Mardi Gras is next Tuesday already,” Hebert said. “Les Barbes will start filling up wid tourists for da parade dis weekend.”

Father Sam nodded. “I’m glad our parade is family oriented. That’s good for businesses.”

“
We’re
ready,” Zoe said. “We’ve got two crates of beads to give out to customers. And we’re going to put up our decorations this afternoon. We’ve got some beautiful masks we bought at the gift mart.”

Hebert took a sip of coffee, his mousey gray hair sticking up where he’d slept on it. “Can you believe dat in ninety-four years, I’ve never missed da Mardi Gras parade in Les Barbes?”

“That’s really amazing,” Father Sam said. “I think you’re the only one in town who can say that.”

Hebert gave a nod. “Probably so. Emile’s coming wid me dis year, now dat Remy’s gone. It’s good he’s finally getting out some.”

“That
is
good,” Zoe said. “Though I doubt it’s much consolation that Jag Jones isn’t getting out of prison until he’s an old man.”

Hebert looked at her bulging middle. “How you feeling, young lady?”

“Great. I’ve been walking every day like my doctor told me to. I’m getting more and more energy.”

“Dat’s real good, Zoe.”

“Tex, you’re awfully quiet,” Father Sam said.

“Yep. I guess I am.”

Hebert flashed an impish grin. “Why do you
make a bahbin?”

“I’m not poutin’,” Tex said. “I’m mentally gearin’ up for a rematch.”

“Ha! Bring it on.”

Father Sam looked up at Zoe, the amusement in his eyes magnified by his thick lenses. “Hebert has won the last twelve checker matches.”

“Ah, so that’s it.”

“Tex don’ like being beat by a man old enough to be his pop. Isn’t dat right?”

Tex sat back in his chair, his thumbs hooked on his suspenders. “I don’t like bein’ beat—period.” A smile spread across his face, his bald head flushed. “I’m not the first fella to lose to Hebert, and I suspect I won’t be the last.”

“When you want anudder match?”

Tex laughed. “You kiddin’? Let’s go.”

Hebert reached in his bag and pulled out the checkerboard and the box of checkers and started setting it up.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Zoe said. “I’m rooting for both of you.”

She walked into the kitchen and spotted Savannah. “I’m going to take my morning walk. I’ll see you in an hour.” She waved to Pierce, who was up to his elbows in flour. “I’m going down to the park,
cher
.”

He smiled and blew her a kiss.

Zoe walked through the dining room and out the front door and was instantly hit with the crisp February air and warm sunshine—a combination she loved. She walked on the sidewalk under the galleries, shoulder to shoulder with tourists, peering into shop windows and enjoying the delicious smells of warm pastries, ground coffee, and something spicy wafting under her nose.

The postman, his leather pouch strapped to his shoulder, waited for the horse and carriage to pass by, then zipped across
rue Madeline.

Zoe strolled to the end of the block and crossed the street into Cypress Park, savoring the sunlight that filtered through the trees thick with Spanish moss.

She ambled around the duck pond, her hands tucked in her sweater pockets, and walked up on the wooden bridge. Below her, six black-necked stilts waded in water a few inches deep, their red legs catching the sun. On the far side of the pond, a lone great egret high-stepped through the shallow water, stalking its prey.

The bells of Saint Catherine’s began to toll as she looked up in the bluebird sky and watched a flock of white ibis flying in a V formation, southward toward the rookery. How close she had come to losing this amazing place that she had fallen in love with a decade ago.

She glanced at her watch. Where had the time gone? She felt a tiny thud as if a finger had flicked her tummy. And then another.

She fumbled to pull her phone out of her sweater pocket and punched in Pierce’s speed-dial number.

“Hey, babe. What’s up?” he said.

“Grace finally kicked! There was no doubt this time. It was more than a flutter. It was a thud. Two thuds actually. It was so amazing!”

Pierce laughed. “I love it. Where are you?”

“At Cypress Park. I’m on my way back.”

“Hurry. Maybe it’ll happen again.”

“I’m coming.”

Zoe started walking briskly. She crossed the street and headed up the sidewalk on the south side of
rue Madeline
, this time zigzagging around the people and hoping she didn’t run into anyone she knew.

She was vaguely aware of the clip-clop of a horse’s hoofs, the street vendor’s mantra, and Japanese tourists posing for pictures in front of the Peltier Hotel. Finally she spotted the hanging sign above the front door of Zoe B’s.

She broke free of the crowd, laughing out loud when she saw Pierce standing out front, still wearing his chef’s hat and dusted in white flour. She ran to his arms, and he picked her up off the ground, then set her back down.

Zoe grabbed his hand and pressed it tightly to her abdomen. “My heart’s beating so fast.” She was almost out of breath and giggling like a schoolgirl. “I’m not sure you can feel her kicking.”

“That’s okay. Relax. We’ll have plenty of chances.” Pierce brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “To tell you the truth, babe, I’m getting a bigger kick out of seeing the wonder on your face.”

… a little more …

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