Paradise for a Sinner Read online

  “Hardly neglect. We have bigger issues such as lying, spying, and leaving Teddy to take the rap. I thought Stacy showed some adjustment when she shared Titi and befriended Teddy. Much to her disgust, Xochi tells me all the boys at the day school are in love with the girl just because of her blue eyes and blonde hair. Her teachers say she is very bright, yet still we have this situation. Joe, we need to make both children feel more a part of the family, especially since we got the DNA results back this morning. Teddy is not Joe’s son, but we knew that all along, didn’t we?”

  “C’est vrai! It pays to keep your DNA on file. The tests get done faster. But, you’re letting your sister’s spawn off the hook?” Joe shook his head vigorously.

  “No, we will administer the usual punishment to Stacy and think of something Teddy can do to make amends. Adam, can you help Joe move a heavy box from storage after lunch?”

  “Sure. Pass the beans, please.”

  “Team meeting after school?” Joe asked his wife.

  “You betcha. Winnie, any idea what is next for you? We wish you only the best.”

  “I believe I’m going to Samoa. I need to get away for a while.” If Nell told Mintay what happened and her sister squealed to the Rev, she truly wanted to be on the other side of the world by the time he knew the story of the interlude in the palm grove.

  “Our kids driving you to a foreign country?” Nell asked.

  “There are just so many of them. You never know when one will interrupt—something.”

  “Gotta be fast,” Joe said.

  Adam’s hand covered hers. “Good, we go to Samoa. Eat. My mother will say I don’t feed you after I just roasted two pigs.”

  ****

  “Finish your snacks. Your papi says team meeting today as soon as you are done,” Corazon announced.

  Dean groaned. “What now? Last time we got these two.” He pointed a cheese-stuffed celery stick at Teddy and Stacy seated at the far end of the table. “Tom, you think Mom is having more babies?” His eyes flicked toward the triplets.

  Trinity answered. “Nope, she’s all out of the people eggs Aunt Emily gave her.”

  “That’s why the three of us, Jude and Emily are half-related to Stacy. We are all from Aunt Emily’s eggs,” Lorena schooled Dean.

  “Don’t you think I know that? This family is so embarrassing.”

  Tommy thumped his oldest brother on the back. “And complicated, very complicated.”

  “Finish, I tell you.” Corazon removed the fruit and vegetable plate in case any of them thought to delay by having seconds. “Teddy, you don’t eat nothing?”

  The boy shifted in his chair. “No, ma’am. I’m feeling kinda sick.”

  Stacy, eyes down, continued to nibble on an apple wedge as the rest of the Billodeaux children began to file from the kitchen to the den where their parents waited. Teddy sighed deeply and moved his wheelchair away from the table.

  “Come on, Stace. You have nothing to worry about. You’re half-related.” Still, she let him go first as if his chair were an armored vehicle she could hide behind in case of emergency.

  Adam, Winnie, and Nell already occupied the sofa. The triplets, free of any guilt, snuggled in alongside them. Xochi and the twins claimed the loveseat while the oldest boys folded their gangling legs and sank to places on the floor. That left Stacy and Teddy exposed in the center of the room. Before they could move, Joe placed his hands on their shoulders.

  “Don’t go anywhere. We understand the two of you violated the privacy of Winnie and Adam last night. Team, what is our rule about that?”

  Xochi helpfully repeated, “No interruptions unless there is blood or fire.”

  “Right! And no spying, which is worse. Maybe you two didn’t know these rules because you are new here. Now you do. This won’t happen again. Apologize to Adam and Winnie.”

  Beneath Joe’s hand, Teddy began to tremble, but Stacy offered a rather defiant reply. “Okay, I’m sorry—but I only wanted to know what Dean knows.”

  “Then, you come to me,” Nell said sternly.

  “Yes, go to the expert at explaining these kinds of things, not me. You also went off without telling anyone where you were going,” Joe continued enumerating their transgressions.

  “Well, if we did that you would have stopped us,” Stacy replied with irrefutable logic.

  “Tommy, tell Stacy what happened the time you went off on your own,” Joe demanded of his second son.

  Turning a shade only a redhead could produce, Tommy answered, “I got kidnapped and taken to Mexico. I had to be rescued and put a lot of people in danger.”

  “So, we don’t do that ever,” Joe continued. “One more problem—the one that galls me the most. Stacy, you deserted your teammate when he needed you. You ran away, and let him take the hit for both of you. For all this, you will muck out the stalls every day on your own for a month.”

  “Shit patrol!” Dean said with glee.

  Nell leaned forward and popped him lightly on the head. “What did you say, son?”

  “I meant manure duty. It’s your favorite punishment. I knew it was coming.”

  “Dirty work for dirty deeds. I’ve always found it appropriate.” Nell sat back again.

  “Merde,” said Stacy, but her elders let it pass.

  “Teddy, you will help Corazon in the kitchen. You are perfectly capable of taking out the trash, cleaning and setting the table, and whatever else she wants you to do. We haven’t heard your apology yet,” Joe prompted.

  “I’m really, really, really sorry, Miss Winnie and Mr. Adam. I swear I didn’t peek.”

  “Apology accepted,” Winnie said with her face as agonized as his.

  The twins started to rise from the loveseat, but Joe waved them back. “We have another matter to discuss. The DNA test results came back. Teddy is not my biological son.”

  Dean let out a breath like he’d been holding it since Teddy arrived, but the boy in the wheelchair went into a panic. “Please, please don’t put me out. My mama might have lied, but she told me I needed to go to a safe place. Newt said I was too much trouble to take care of and if she didn’t get shut of me, he’d chop off my head and leave my body in the road like that other man who had a handicapped child.”

  Winnie rushed to his side and took his wrist. “Listen to me, Teddy. Don’t let your blood pressure shoot up. You are safe here.”

  Dean’s pre-adolescent shell cracked open and exposed the nice boy inside. “Who would say that to a little kid? Don’t you worry, Tommy and me will be around to protect you.”

  “We have locks and alarms and cameras and Mr. Polk to protect us from bad men,” Xochi, who still suffered from occasional nightmares about her parents’ deaths, offered.

  “Macho will bite his leg off!” Trinity said.

  “And Titi will pee on his feet,” Dean added, breaking the tension whether he intended to or not. Teddy gave them a wan smile, and the others laughed in the way of people trying to deflect terrible thoughts.

  “Look, son.” Joe ruffled Teddy’s fine blond hair. “Today, we are making you an official member of the family. You, too, Stacy. See that big chest in front of the fireplace?”

  The girl trio on the loveseat let loose with an “Ooooh!” full of the reverent superstition their mother tried so hard to quell.

  “It’s just a big wooden box with some blankets in it. Nothing to be afraid of,” Nell hastened to say.

  But, Joe’s voice lowered the way it did when he told ghost stories around the fire at Camp Love Letter. “The blankets were made by an old traiteur, a woman who not only healed but had the sight. She could foretell the future. When Mama Nell and me married in the Church, she sent us this box with a blanket she made for each one of our children. Madame Leleux said we’d have twelve, this way, that way, all ways. We think you and Stacy are the next two members of our family. Go pick out your blanket.”

  Before Teddy could turn his chair, Stacy shouted, “Me, first!” She bolted across the room and th
rew open the lid of the scarred old chest with the reddish finish. Fishing inside, she raised a fluffy, white bundle and shook it out. “It’s beautiful!”

  She held up an afghan large enough to envelop her, done in a popcorn stitch with a lacy edging. Each square of the blanket centered around a crocheted pink rose.

  “Ours were all pink,” Jude said, talking for Annie as usual.

  “Mine had the colors of Mexico,” Xochi shared.

  “Want me to bring one to you?” Stacy asked Teddy.

  “No, I want to pick it by myself.” He wheeled close to the chest, delved as far as his arm could reach, and drew out a green blanket with a brown border decoration somewhat abstract, but on very close inspection, resembling a ring of teddy bears subtle enough not to embarrass a boy of his age. “That old lady knew I was coming.”

  Nell shivered as she always did when the chest came out of storage. “Joe, Adam, you can take it away now.”

  “Still two more in there,” Joe said as he closed the lid.

  “At least these two came potty-trained,” his wife answered.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The following morning, Nell sat quietly savoring a second cup of coffee when Winnie returned from the bus stop. Winnie glanced around but no sign of the big, handsome Samoan remained in the room, not even his breakfast platter. Too bad. With the Teddy situation resolved, she thought she might take him up on yesterday’s offer now that she could keep her mind on what they wanted to do.

  “If you are looking for Adam, he went out with Joe and Knox to survey that big heap of trash trees they removed to make the beach. Joe wants to see if any of the wood might be useful, then they will burn the rest. He thinks snakes could get established in there if he leaves it too long. I’m all for the big burn in that case.”

  Winnie poured a deep mug of coffee for herself as well. “A wood pile like that would be attractive to children, especially your children. No sense in inviting broken legs either.”

  Nell did not disagree. “They will be at their manly stuff with chainsaws all morning. I have no appointments. Want to go to the mall?”

  “Why?”

  “Because you are going to Samoa, girl. This is Louisiana and the new swimwear will be on the racks by now. Wait until the end of March and you won’t find a thing. Believe me, by the time I start thinking of supervising the pool at Camp Love Letter, all the good stuff is gone. You have the perfect shape for a bikini.”

  “Skinny, you mean.”

  “Lithe and sexy.”

  “I’d need to get a wax.”

  “You’re on! Maybe I’ll do something special to surprise Joe.”

  “The two of you are still so bad!”

  “I hope so. You’ll need sandals and backless sundresses in wild colors, too.”

  Winnie shook her head. “Actually, Adam told me to bring a modest white dress and a hat for church. Never expected that.”

  “Me neither, but we can put a modest white dress on the list. Drink up and let’s go.”

  Within the hour, they left Lorena Ranch and the sound of chainsaws behind and headed for the city. First stop, the bikini waxing place, not all that busy on a Tuesday morning well before spring break. They hobbled out, genitals stinging, an hour later.

  “Haven’t done this since college. I forgot how much it hurts.” Winnie slid cautiously into Nell’s small car.

  “Like childbirth but over much faster. Next time I skip the landing strip idea and leave more fur. Is it noon yet because I could certainly use a mojito to ease the pain.”

  “Not for two more hours.”

  “Then on to bikini shopping—for you, not me. I might have gotten my nip and tuck but nothing quite erases the signs of multiple pregnancies.”

  For a moment, Winnie lost the joy of the day. “I thought I’d have a baby by now.”

  “You have plenty of time for that. Right now, you have a piece of Samoan beefcake to enjoy. Live for today!” Taking some of her pubic discomfort out on the other drivers by laying on the horn, Nell wove in and out of traffic hastening their arrival at the mall.

  Putting aside the always terrifying prospect of searching for a bathing suit, they hit the big department stores in search of the modest white dress and found one at Macy’s. The sleeves were sheer but the neckline high, and the slim skirt fell below the knees. Its fit complemented Winnie’s figure without clinging. Nell brought her a wide-brimmed straw hat with a jaunty sunflower in the brim to top it off.

  Winnie regarded herself in the three-way mirror. “I look like my nana heading for all day services at the Baptist church.”

  “Then I would say your nana is an attractive and well-turned out woman. Shoes, you need white shoes.”

  “Adam says they have a rainy season and a not-so-rainy season, but it is hot pretty much year round that close to the equator.” Nell led the charge to the shoe department where they decided on strappy sandals considering the climate in Samoa.

  Coming out of Macy’s they both decided it prudent to try on bathing suits before getting any lunch. “I always have the best luck with the specialty shop that carries swimwear and ballet gear. Yeah, I know. Odd combination, but they are still in business.”

  Nell led Winnie to the small store where very reluctantly the divorced nurse tried on the extremely skimpy garments Nell kept thrusting into the dressing room. “You have to get the strapless one in the wild, tropical print and maybe the aqua with the tie around the neck in case you do intend to go swimming. Here’s a cover-up that matches both.”

  Still stunned by the whirlwind that was Nell when she wanted to get something done, Winnie checked out her purchases while her volunteer shopping advisor tried on a retro red and white polka-dotted one-piece perfect for family fun that suited her small, perky figure. Nell joined her shortly with the new suit draped over her arm.

  “Really didn’t need a wax for this one, but I will think of you and Adam together on a tropical beach every time my crotch itches as it grows out.”

  “Please don’t!”

  Nell simply laughed and gathered their many bags. “Food court! I am starved.”

  Gabbing and giggling about their day, they careened around the corner where the maternity shop sat. “That’s where I got some of my tent-sized clothes when I carried the triplets,” Nell pointed out. She slowed just enough to misjudge the exit of a shopper from the store and plowed right into the pregnant woman.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you? Maydell?”

  Teddy’s mother clutched a large, stuffed bag over her stomach. She wore one of the shapeless flowered dresses that always reminded Nell of Depression-era flour sack garb, but Maydell did have her running shoes on and run she did.

  “Winnie, can you stop her?”

  Winnie tossed her packages to the ground. Longer-legged than either of the other women she did manage to grab the woman’s arm and bring Maydell to a stop before she managed to flee into the crowded maze of the food court. “I think we both want to talk to you about abandoning Teddy.”

  “Please let me go. I did what was best for my son, I swear. Newt’s coming back for me in the truck in half an hour. I gotta be outside waiting.” Maydell’s stringy blonde hair lashed around her thin face as she tried to escape again.

  Nell, awash in the morning’s shopping finds, loosened a finger and pointed to an empty table with three chairs. “Then we have half an hour to talk. Sit.”

  Winnie escorted her to the chair, knowing Maydell would bolt if she let go. They hemmed her in on either side. As she sat, Teddy’s mom continued to hold her maternity wear sack over her belly as if it were a life preserver.

  Nell eyed her suspiciously. “Are you expecting, Maydell? Is that why you deserted Teddy?”

  Maydell hung her head and like Teddy, her long bangs fell across her blue eyes. “Yes’m. Only this one is Newt’s, and it ain’t got nothing wrong with it. I had the tests done at the University Medical Center to be sure. Newt has a job offer in North Dakota. He says he wi
ll take care of his own kid, but not Teddy. He said if I didn’t dump my son, he’d kill him. We been staying in Lafayette ever since I left my boy with you, Miss Nell. I knew you and your husband would be good to him because of that camp you run.”

  “You lied about Joe being his dad.”

  “I couldn’t think of no other way to get you to take him. A child like Teddy is a fearsome responsibility. I thought it would give you some time to get to know my boy, what a sweet child he is, while you checked. I can’t take him back.”

  “He is sweet,” Winnie felt compelled to say. “How could you? Leave that jerk and take your son back.”

  “With another ’un on the way and no means to support either kid?” Maydell shook her head. “No, Newt is being real good to me now, careful how he treats me. He give me a debit card to get nice clothes for when I really start showing.”

  Nell took Maydell’s very cold hand. “We want to keep Teddy, but the process would be easier if you relinquish him for a formal adoption. I can give you the name of our lawyer here in Lafayette. If you go to him and have him draw up papers giving up your rights to the child, we can proceed from there. As soon as you leave here, I’ll call him and say to expect you.”

  “I won’t have to see Teddy, will I? ’Cause I can’t look into his pretty blue eyes and leave him again.” Maydell sniveled into a paper napkin left on the table.

  “No.” Nell took another napkin and wrote out the name and address of the lawyer. “Ask Newt to take you over there this afternoon. He should agree since he wants to be rid of Teddy. And if he doesn’t, tell him we’ll hunt him down and have him arrested for child abuse.”

  “Newt didn’t mean to hurt him. All that about killing my boy is just talk—most likely.”

  “I saw the bruises. We know what he said about harming Teddy. You believed it enough to want your son in a safe place.” Winnie twisted a third napkin in her hands. “I will testify against this man if I must.”

  “All right. I’ll get him to take me to the lawyer. Let me go now, please, before he comes.”

  At Nell’s nod, Winnie removed her hand from Maydell’s arm and pushed aside some of the shopping bags to make an escape route. The woman took off like a squirrel with Macho on its tail. She went out the door of the food court and frantically waved the paper napkin holding the lawyer’s address. An old, dark blue pickup truck with deep scratches on its side stopped and enveloped her like a dumpster accepting trash.