Her Chance Encounters (7 page)

Recognizing the woman's name, Adrienne started to step out into view. Chance reached one long arm over to shove her back. "Give us a minute, please." Slamming the door, he turned to face the angry principal.

"How dare you stop me from saying hello!" She was spitting mad at his overbearing manner. She tried to edge around him, but he pulled her back behind the door again. Hands on her hips, she looked up at him prepared to do battle. He reached across to grab the two ends of her open shirt and pulled them together. Flush with embarrassment, she started buttoning the blouse. He reached to caress one breast, playfully nipping at the tip, before she accomplished her task.

"Still want to say hello?" he teased.

"Nobody likes a smart ass, Chance Breaux." Opening the door, Adrienne forged calm. A short, busty woman stood before her, a cluster of curious tourists behind her. "Welcome to River Oaks," Adrienne smiled, but a worried crease etched across her brow.

Did she have enough homeowner’s insurance on this place in case someone got hurt? Maybe she better get everyone off of the rotten porch. "Won't you all come inside?" Chance appeared even more surprised by her invitation than Madame Lenore and her friends. He started to object, but Adrienne shot him a warning glare.

Closing the door behind them, Adrienne sighed. None of them managed to fall through the rotten spots on the porch. She would have to have someone come out and fix any dangerous spots. Facing the leader of the small group, Adrienne shook her hand. "So you are Madame Lenore. I got your letters. It's a pleasure to meet you." Chance grunted at that comment but the polite women ignored his rude behavior.

How she managed to stand upright, Adrienne did not know. Her chest, which seemed to be unenhanced, was quite large, while black clothes tapered down to a narrow waste, slim hips and slender legs. "Can I ask you something?"

"What's a nice girl like me doing taking part in a séance?" Madame Lenore guessed.

"Well, no." Adrienne smiled and ushered her guests to the living room. "I was more interested in finding out where you got those marvelous boots."

Chance mumbled ungraciously as the intruders enjoyed their tour of River Oaks. Adrienne took them from room to room on the first floor and pointed out all the antique treasures she discovered while fixing the place up. The large man only put his foot down when Madame Lenore asked about visiting the top floor.

"It's off limits to anyone until one of my contractors gives the all clear." The set in his jaw stopped Adrienne from challenging his orders. The frustrating man did not even let her go up there after he saw a few cracks in the hallway.

Madame Lenore's mindless followers, as Chance labeled them, took their leave almost an hour later. Unfortunately, the two remaining women were all chatty, and they left him to make coffee in the kitchen. He found them sitting at the table, laughing like old friends. "Did you hear what Lenore said, Chance? There is a boot store about thirty minutes from here. Tomorrow evening we're going to go shopping while you're at work."

"I took tomorrow off to spend the day with you." Chance was just as shocked by this statement as Adrienne. While he needed to work on a few things, he'd be damn if he let Madame Lenore spirit his woman away. There was little doubt the quack would undo all the hard work he put into convincing Adrienne to sell him River Oaks.

"You've been asking me to take you around the property so you could get a better feel for the area. I thought we'd take advantage of tomorrow's forecast of sunshine." Chance had not actually caught tomorrow's weather report, but he was optimistic. "It's getting late, Lenore. Why don't you hop on your broom and fly away?"

Ignoring the threatening look Adrienne sent him, he crossed his large arms over his chest. His public relations department head would have given him a similar face, but Chance did not bother putting on fronts. He never had. It was best people knew exactly how he felt. He had not gotten where he was today by pussy footing around with social niceties. Lenore knew he did not like or trust her. Why pretend otherwise?

"You are welcome to join our shopping spree," the other woman smiled back. Reaching up to touch her talisman stone tucked under her shirt, Madame Lenore let its energy calm her. "Adrienne tells me she's encountered a small child here. She's anxious to figure out what's going on."

"Dammit, Adrienne," Chance fumed, his handsome face getting darker. "Why, in the name of all that is sane, would you tell her about Cherice?"

"Cherice?" Lenore asked, noticing Chance just realized he had provided her with new information. "I had no idea you actually communicated with the child." She sipped her coffee to stop herself from smirking. "Have you seen the child, too, Chance? I thought you did not put stock in my line of work. If I did not know better, I might assume you are pretending to see this Cherice as a means of talking Adrienne into selling you River Oaks."

"No, I haven't seen the child. Adrienne hasn't either. She had a few dreams, that's all."

Glaring openly now, Adrienne added, " Stop talking for me. I wasn't dreaming when I almost ran..."

He interrupted her before she could provide too many details for Madame Lenore to latch on to. Any tiny hint of information could be woven into some false reading. "Adrienne knows full well about me wanting River Oaks. We are in negotiations."

"We most certainly are not." How dare Chance even imply otherwise?

"Negotiations break down," Lenore smiled at him.

"You just want to get your hands on River Oaks so you can run your psychic bullshit con in a spooky setting."

"Excuse me, but would you both refrain from speaking about me as if I weren't in the room." Adrienne demanded. Neither of them paid any attention. They kept tossing insults and accusations back and forth, ignoring her completely. Maybe she should dump her hot coffee on their heads to get their attention. The urge to do just that disappeared when the strange smell seeped into the room, followed by the cool breeze.

A gay giggle drew her eyes towards the hallway. Cherice's white face greeted her, and a waving hand beckoned Adrienne to follow. Since the other two were ignoring her anyway, she went without a word. Cherice's childish giggles led her through the house toward the second floor. Remembering Chance's decree about staying away from this area, Adrienne hesitated at the foot of the stairs.

"Come see what I found," the child called out.

With one last look toward where she left the other two, Adrienne mounted the stairs and searched for a light switch. She found the child in a room on the right. It seemed to be some sort of storage area. The little girl was rummaging through an old, dusty chest in a corner of the room. "Cherice, where have you been? We've been searching for you."

"Please do not be cross with me. You are my only friend."

"I'm not mad, honey. I was just worried."

"Come and see," Cherice motioned. "This is my mommy's hope chest. After she left, Daddy packed all of her things in it and brought it up here. Sometimes at night, when he is not around, I look inside."

Adrienne moved closer to the cedar chest and helped Cherice look through the items. They found dozens of dresses, books, jewelry and other personal items. Adrienne felt as if they were trespassing. The little girl sent a chill through Adrienne's body when she touched her arm. "Mommy's pretty blue necklace is missing. She wore it all the time, but then she must have misplaced it. I am not supposed to mention it to Daddy, because he might get mad. Maybe Mommy is with the necklace someplace."

Adrienne's heart swelled with pity as she knelt beside the child. "Tell me about your mother, honey."

"She is the most beautiful woman in the whole world. We used to walk all around the parish, looking at all the other ladies and their pretty houses. No one was as pretty as my mommy. Mommy said our house was the finest of them all, except for that big plantation down river."

When the child picked up a silky dress, neither of them noticed the leather bound book that silently slipped from the chest to the floor. "This was Mommy's favorite dress. Holding it to her nose, the child giggled with joy.

"Would you put it on Adrienne?"

"I couldn't do that, Cherice."

Clapping her hands with delight, the little girl started jumping up and down. "Mommy would not mind if you wear it. Please, Adrienne? It would be as if my mommy was home again. I miss her so much."

Adrienne wondered what harm there was in putting on an old dress. Making Cherice happy outweighed any concerns. Pulling off her clothes, she let the silky dress flutter around her. The material clung provocatively to her slender figure. Her great aunt Wynona must have been close to her own size.

Cherice stared at Adrienne as the woman looked at herself in an antique mirror near the wall. The little girl stopped seeing Adrienne all together. In her mind, this was someone entirely different. "Mommy? I have finally found you!" The child vanished into the breeze blowing out of the room as loud footsteps echoed up the stairs.

Chance's eyes locked on Adrienne's perfect figure, as did Madame Lenore's. Both were fascinated by how closely she appeared to resemble the woman in the portrait downstairs. Unaware of their presence, Adrienne addressed the child, "This dress is beautiful, Cherice. No wonder your mother loved it." Looking around, she noticed the new arrivals. Startled by the child's disappearance and their appearance, Adrienne gasped.

"What the hell are you doing up here, Adrienne? I warned you it was too dangerous." No doubt about it, Chance thought, she was due another trip over his knee. She was smart, though, he told himself. Eventually she would learn to listen when he gave her orders for her own safety.

Looking from Chance to Lenore, Adrienne gave them both disappointed glares. "There does not seem to be any noticeable bruising. You two managed to avoid coming to blows over River Oaks?"

Catching a whiff of a strong odor, Madame Lenore turned around in a complete circle, looking for its cause. The echoes of childish giggles greeted her. "You weren't alone up here, were you?"

"Don't even try that crap with us, Lenore."

"No, I wasn't." Adrienne was relieved someone finally believed her about the child.

"This is a bunch of bullshit," Chance insisted, wanting to get Adrienne out of this part of the house before she got hurt.

"Chance, please," Adrienne groaned at his rudeness.

"Don't bother." The other woman offered. "People like Chance don't put much faith in my talent. They want solid facts. Members of my family have lived with this distrust for centuries. My own grandmother faced the same distrust from Stanislaus Hymel when she came to visit him more than seventy years ago. She tried to warn him, but he would not listen. Within a month of her visit, both his wife and his child died mysteriously."

Having had enough, Chance picked up Adrienne's discarded clothes from the floor and pulled her out of the room by the elbow. Adrienne argued with him, but stopped short of pulling away from his grip. She did not want to make a scene in front of Madame Lenore. But the moment the other woman left, Chance would catch hell for his bossiness.

Madame Lenore started to follow them when her boot accidently caught on a leather book on the floor. The hardback opened as it slid across the room. Bending down, she picked up the book and read the handwriting. Vibrations of the past rippled from within, making her talisman stone warm against her chest.

Immediately she knew this book belonged to Wynona Hymel. It was the woman's personal diary. Considering what to do with it, Lenora fought an inner battle. She wanted to hand the book over to Adrienne, but Chance made that impossible. He was still suspicious of her, and there was no mistaking the relationship developing between him and Adrienne. No, she could not hand over the diary yet. She needed to keep it and use the contents to help further her own cause.

One thing was certain, Madame Lenore thought, as she hid the diary under her oversized shirt, Adrienne Claireborne was in grave danger, and she did not even know it yet. The younger woman's best hope was to escape River Oaks before forces from the past reached out to swallow her back in time.

"And if I manage to get River Oaks in the process of saving Adrienne, so be it," she whispered.

Chance had not been far off the mark when he accused her of wanting River Oaks to enhance confidence in her talent. Lenore did need it, badly. There was an energy in this house, which stemmed from its tragic history. Being here sharpened her skills to connect events between things in the past which repeated in the present. Even her talisman stone was not as strong. With River Oaks as her backdrop, she realized she could open the largest psychic business in the area.

As soon as Madame Lenore exited River Oaks, Adrienne rounded on Chance. "I think an apology is appropriate."

Grabbing her hand, he yanked her toward the living room. "I agree," he told her, gazing around for the perfect place. The coffee table where his laptop sat was too flimsy. The couch was too saggy. Looking at the frame, he decided it might be strong enough for his purpose. "You can apologize after I give you a reminder to stay downstairs."

Raising one leg to rest on the frame of the couch, he guided her over his now raised knee. The silky dress was quickly lifted up and over her waist. Her thin panties wound up trapping her ankles together as Chance began to communicate his frustration. River Oaks was quite drafty, she discovered as a breeze cascaded across her neither regions. But the area was not cool for long, Adrienne yelped as his hard hand connected. How could she find herself in this situation again? She would never survive another epic spanking like the last one. Yet, Chance seemed raring to repeat the performance. "Damn you, Chance Breaux. You are the one who needs to be sorry."