Loving Laura (The Cantrelle Family Trilogy) (21 page)

“But if Jimmy were still alive, you wouldn’t have to go to work. I can’t help feeling guilty about that,” Neil admitted.

Alice reached over and laid her hand on his arm. “Neil, quit beating up on yourself. If Jimmy were alive I’d probably still want to go to work. But Jimmy’s gone. And life goes on. I need to look toward the future.”

“It’s going to be hard on the kids,” Neil said. “Maybe I could help more.”

“I don’t want more money from you. In fact, I don’t even want you to continue sending what you’ve been sending. I don’t need it.” She squeezed his arm and smiled at him. “Neil, I appreciate everything you’ve done. And I understand how you feel. But I want you to understand how I feel, too.”

He looked into her solemn gray eyes. Saw the determination and the strength. Jimmy would have been proud of her. She was one special person. The thought crossed his mind that his life would certainly be less complicated if he could have fallen in love with Alice instead of Laura.

“I
have
to start standing on my own two feet,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to feel responsible for me, least of all, you. Besides, you need to concentrate on getting your own life straightened out.”

Neil knew she was right. He’d been thinking about what she’d said to Norman the night before and knew the advice applied to him as well.

“Okay. You’ve made your point.” He smiled. “And speaking of straightening out my life, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” She searched his face. “This sounds serious.”

“It is serious. In fact, I’m in a helluva fix, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

Alice’s face wore a quizzical, half amused, half confused expression as she waited quietly.

“I’m in love with Laura Sebastian.” Once the words were out, Neil felt about a hundred pounds lighter.

Alice stared at him, gray eyes thoughtful. Finally she spoke. “Does she know you’re in love with her? And what about Norman? I somehow got the idea that she was
his
girl.”

“That’s the problem. Norman’s in love with her, too.”

“And how does Laura feel about all this?”

Neil shrugged. “She’s not in love with Norman. She said she loves me, but maybe she’s changed her mind.” He looked down into his coffee cup. “We haven’t talked about it lately.”

“Why don’t you tell me everything?” Alice said softly. So he did. From the beginning. From the first time he’d heard her name. He told her how he’d felt when he first saw Laura. What he’d thought. He told her about Laura confessing she wasn’t in love with Norman. He told her everything, including the growing awareness of his feelings. He told her something had happened between him and Laura, but he didn’t elaborate. The episode in the elevator was too personal and nobody’s business except his and Laura’s.

“I’ve tried to put her out of my mind, but I can’t seem to do it. Every time I see her, my feelings for her are stronger.”

“How does she feel?”

He looked away. “I’m not sure. I know I’ve hurt her. I hope she’s dealing with this better than I am.”

“Gosh, Neil, I don’t know what to tell you. I have no magic answers.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. “I’m flattered that you told me, but you’re right, you’re in a helluva fix.”

Then they both laughed, because Alice never swore, and because they needed to laugh. They needed something to break the tension and lighten the atmosphere.

But then Alice’s face sobered, and she bit her bottom Up. “You know, I can’t tell you what to do. It’s your life, and you have to live with your decisions, but I
will
tell you something I believe in very strongly.”

“What’s that?”

She gave him one of her clear, honest gazes. “The truth.”

“The truth? You mean you think I should tell Norman how I feel, what I’ve done?” Neil shook his head. “I can’t do that. He couldn’t handle it. Hell,
I
couldn’t handle it.” He could just see the shocked look Norman would give him—the disappointment and the betrayal Norman would feel. “No. It’s impossible.”

Alice shrugged. “Well. You asked me. But you have to do what you have to do. And if you feel you can’t talk to Norman about this, well, then I guess you’re right. You’d probably better leave Patinville and go back to Florida just as fast as you possibly can.” She hesitated, then added, “Before something else happens and you hurt Laura any more than you’ve hurt her already.”

* * *

At five minutes after nine two days after she’d promised to help him, Laura heard Neil coming down the steps. When he opened the door to the office a few seconds later, she smiled, happiness curling itself around her at the sight of him, even as her insides fluttered with nervousness.

“Ready to call the bank?” he asked, taking off his jacket. He walked over to the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup.

“Sure.” Why did this love she felt for him seem to be an impossible mix of euphoria, desire, and misery?

He leaned against Norman’s desk while she picked up the phone and called First National Bank and asked for Bobbi Cameron. Laura could feel his eyes studying her. Her hand tightened on the receiver.

“Yes? This is Bobbi Cameron.” Bobbi’s words were clipped, and she sounded irritated.

“Hi, Bobbi. This is Laura Sebastian. Isn’t it too early in the morning for you to be having a bad day?” Laura said lightly, proud of herself for her casual tone. She didn’t look at Neil. She needed all her wits about her.

“Oh, hi, Laura. I’m sorry, but I just spilled a cup of coffee on a brand new wool suit, and I could scream. Now I look like a slob, and I’ve got a meeting in twenty-five minutes so I don’t have time to go home and change.” Disgust dripped from her voice.

Laura made a sympathetic sound. “I can’t imagine you ever looking like a slob, spilled coffee or not.”

“Thanks.” Then, in a more businesslike tone, she said, “What can I do for you today?”

“I was hoping I could get some information from you.”

“I’ll try. What kind of information?”

Laura explained about the check. “What I’d like to know is who purchased it. Can you find out?”

“I’m sure I can, but I don’t have time to do it this morning. It’ll have to wait until after the bank closes at three. Is that all right?”

“Perfect.”

“Are you sure the name of the donor isn’t on the check stub?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“That’s odd, you know. There must be a reason, unless it was simply an oversight on the bank’s part.”

Laura heard the thread of uncertainty, and she said quickly, before Bobbi could have second thoughts, “Oh, I’m sure that’s what happened. Will you call me when you have the information?”

“Will you be at the office?”

“Yes. All day.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I can find out and call you back around four.”

“I appreciate it, Bobbi.” Laura kept her voice casual. The last thing she wanted was for Bobbi to get the idea there was anything wrong with her request.

“By the way, I heard what happened with Norman. How’s he doing?” Bobbi asked.

“Much better. He’s now in rehab, and next week he’s supposed to be fitted for a prosthesis. We’re all very hopeful.” She was very aware of Neil listening to her end of the conversation.

“I’m glad to hear it. I saw Réne in the bank last week but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. Give the family my love.”

“I will,” Laura said.

After saying goodbye, Laura thoughtfully hung up the phone. Then she relayed what Bobbi had said to Neil.

He finished his coffee. “Okay, good. I’ll be back about four, then. Thanks, Laura.”

His smile made her heart ache with longing. Oh, she was a mess. Why did he make her feel this way? For the remainder of the day Laura tried not to think about Neil. But about three-thirty her skin tingled with a feeling of expectancy. And twenty minutes later, when his truck pulled into the yard, her heart quickened. For the second time that day she felt almost weak with pleasure when he walked in the door.

He’d barely said more than “hi” when the phone rang, and Laura nodded “yes” to his quizzical look.

Bobbi’s words were blunt. “Laura, why do you want this information?”

Laura hedged. “I promised Alice Kendella I’d try to find out who gave her the money.”

Bobbi was silent for a long time. Just as Laura was about to say something else, she said, her voice oddly distant, as if she were thinking out loud. “There’s a notation on this transaction that the name of the donor is to remain anonymous. So you can see that I really can’t release the information that Willis Fontenot is the person who purchased the cashier’s check. If I were to tell you that, and the fact that I did so were to get out, I could lose my job. So I’m really sorry. But you
do
understand, don’t you?”

“I understand perfectly, Bobbi.” Willis Fontenot, the mayor of Patinville. She tried to keep the elation out of her voice as she thanked her friend, but she knew her eyes were shining with triumph as they met Neil’s. He immediately walked over to her desk.

“Who?” he mouthed.

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t help you, Laura,” Bobbi was saying.

Laura picked up her pen and wrote WILLIS FONTENOT on the legal pad in front of her. “I know you are. Just put the whole thing out of your mind.” She watched Neil’s face as he read the name. His body became very still.

“I already have. Now, when are we going to have lunch together? Every time I see you, you say you’ll call me, and you never do,” Bobbi said briskly.

Although everything in Laura was in tune with Neil right now, she forced herself to respond to Bobbi. It was Laura’s own fault that Denise had been her only friend in Patinville, and here was an opportunity to change that. The second opportunity she’d had in days, she realized, as she thought about Alice Kendella’s overture. “How does next Wednesday sound?” she said smiling.

* * *

“Good old cousin Willis. I don’t know why, but I never expected it to be him.” Of all the people Neil had imagined might have been responsible for the ten thousand dollars sent to Alice, Willis Fontenot had not been one of them. Not that Willis couldn’t have afforded the money— he had inherited a considerable amount from the Fontenot side of his family—but he had always been selfish.

“Neil, please be careful not to let anyone know how you came to have this information. I don’t want to get Bobbi in trouble,” Laura said, her blue eyes concerned.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “I won’t.” Willis. He still couldn’t believe it.

“What’re you going to do now?”

Distracted by the surprising piece of information, Neil looked at her, only half hearing her question. She looked beautiful today, much too beautiful for his own peace of mind. She was wearing a matching skirt and sweater in some kind of peach or pink color, and its glow was matched by a corresponding glow on her cheeks and in her eyes.

Remembering his conversation with Alice the night before, he deliberately thrust his thoughts away from the dangerous turn they’d taken. “Sorry, what did you say? I guess I was thinking about something else.”

“What are you going to do now?” she repeated patiently.

“I don’t know yet. I’ve got to think about this for a while before I do anything.”

“I guess I knew Willis was related to your family, but I didn’t know he was a cousin.”

Neil sat on the edge of Norman’s desk. “He’s my second cousin, or maybe he’s my half cousin, twice removed. Hell, I don’t know. I’ve never understood how it works.” At the look of confusion on Laura’s face, he tried to explain. “See, my grandfather on my father’s side was married twice. He had two sons from his first marriage, Andre, who is now eighty-two, and Claude, who’s eighty. My own father and all the other children came from my grandfather’s second marriage.”

Laura rose from her desk and began to fix herself a cup of tea. Neil’s eyes were drawn to the way the soft sweater hugged her rounded breasts and slender torso. “So how does Willis Fontenot fit into this picture?” she asked.

“He’s the oldest son born to my Uncle Andre’s oldest daughter.” Neil absently tore a piece of tape from the dispenser on Norman’s desk, rolling it between his fingers.

“But why is your cousin involved in this?” Laura was once more settled into her desk chair. She took a sip of her tea, and now Neil watched how her slender hands curved around the cup. Her wrists seemed so delicate and fragile, yet Neil knew she wasn’t a delicate or fragile woman, even though he’d once thought so. Over the past couple of days she’d exhibited a strength that surprised him. In fact, she seemed to be dealing with their awkward situation with more aplomb and dignity than he was.

“That’s what I’m not sure about,” he said thoughtfully. “Willis and I spent a lot of time together as kids. Although his mother grew up in Lafayette, she and her husband eventually settled in Patinville, so the families have always been close.” He grinned. “You know how Cajun families are.” He lapsed into the Cajun patois. “We’re real tight,
chére,
you know?”

She laughed. “Do you know, that’s the first time I’ve heard you talk with an accent?”

Knowing he shouldn’t, but unable to stop himself, he said, “I like to hear you laugh.”

A faint flush crept over her cheeks. “Do you?”

Her voice had taken on a husky edge, sending a quicksilver reaction through his veins. He nodded slowly, mesmerized by the expression in her eyes. “When you laugh,” he said slowly, unable to look away, “the sound reminds me of wind chimes or bells. You have a beautiful laugh.” He wanted to walk over to her and take her in his arms. He wanted to kiss her slowly. He wanted to touch her. He wanted a miracle to happen.

Her eyes were dreamy as she said, “It’s odd you should mention bells because the sound of bells always reminds me of one of the happiest memories of my life.”

He knew he had no right to feel what he was feeling, but he wanted to hold on to the closeness they were sharing, at least for a little longer, so he said, “Tell me about it.”

The faraway look still in her eyes, she said, “I went up to the convent to see Celeste take her final vows, and I’ll never forget how I felt. The convent itself was like something out of a Bronte novel, a huge walled fortress that sat high on a bluff overlooking the Pacific just south of Anchor Bay. I drove up the coast, it’s the first and last time I ever had the opportunity to do it, and the scenery was incredible. The day I arrived, it was overcast, and the convent was shrouded in fog. It was nearly noon, and I was driving up the twisting driveway that led to the convent, and suddenly the sun broke through. At almost the same moment, the convent bells began to ring.”