Paradise for a Sinner (30 page)

BOOK: Paradise for a Sinner

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In a bedroom of the house, Nell and Mintay helped Winnie out the wedding gown chosen from three offered by Ela. All of her mother-in-law’s selections resembled huge piles of whipped cream and made Winnie feel like one of those Barbie dolls trapped inside a wide skirt of cake as she tried them on. She’d started to choose the least elaborate, but seeing the disappointment on Ela’s face settled on the second with its three-tiered veil and short train. Her friends assured her that with her slim figure, she could carry it off, and perhaps she had.

Now, gratefully, she shimmed into the dress she’d chosen with her mother, sister, and Nana—a simple silk sheath of the palest yellow that showed off her narrow hips and upturned breasts, but was covered in swirling patterns of tiny pearls, crystals, and sequins that caught the light as she moved. Winnie took her hair down, brushed it out, and crowned it with a simple headpiece made of the plumeria blossoms Adam always said she resembled. With that last step taken she was as ready as she ever would be to dance in front of hundreds of guests.

Mintay patted her shoulder. “You go, girl. Show them what you can do.”

With her usual hard work ethic, Winnie had perfected her one dance. She swayed in time to the music provided by the hired band from Pago Pago and displayed her graceful arm movements and subtle footwork. No, she would never be as good at this as Pala who sat looking a little green beside her three-hundred pound, middle-aged husband. Pala’s
matai
hinted during the congratulations at the church that he believed his wife already carried a child. Perhaps she did and that accounted for her ill expression, but Winnie believed envy had something to do with it, too. No matter, tonight she danced only for Adam, and by the look on his face, she did her dance well.

The feasting began with overflowing plates delivered by rank first to the ministers and
matai,
the elders, the school principle, the owner and coach of the Sinners, the rest of the team, and so on down the line. Ela had chosen Brinsley in his immaculate white linen suit to serve the most important guests. He, Nana, Corazon, and Shammy filled in as elders for Winnie’s family and did their job impeccably. Winnie’s nephews and niece and all the older Billodeaux children were pressed into service to serve the other guests as was traditional. Even Teddy, a towel on his lap, managed to wheel out one plate at a time. Only Stacy balked. Brinsley reminded her that sophisticated people learned the customs of others when in their country and that settled the matter. Easily half the food slid into containers to be taken home before anyone chowed down.

Well up to the task, the Rev gave a long congratulatory speech and blessed the couple. The incredible five-tiered cake covered in Samoan designs and connected to islands of smaller cakes by little bridges disappeared into mouths and baskets. The parade of gifts began with the women of Ela’s family shaking out the fine mats to be admired. The wives of the Sinners, Nell, Stevie, Cassie, Precious, Sharlette and more, unrolled the bolts of cloth and paraded them around. Their hefty husbands, Joe and Connor, Howdy, Calvin, Asa and the rest of the Sinners team, persuaded to wear red shirts with black lava-lavas, carried the uneaten pigs adorned with spikes of red ginger on planks. Bottles of fragrant oil were exchanged for some very nice perfumes selected by Nana. Winnie felt part of a new, larger family and grateful to all of them for their help.

The dancing began and would continue well into the night. Precious Armitage, in a brilliant orange and gold floral dress boogied by with her cumbersome husband, Calvin, and said, “I tell you, these are my peoples. They know how to eat and how to par-tay.”

Winnie glanced around for her new husband and found him gone. Leaving the shade of the last canopy, she scanned the beach for him and experienced a small frisson of worry as memories of the night Sammy Tau died flooded her mind. It receded like the tide on the village shore when she noticed him crouched by Teddy’s wheelchair watching a game of
kirikiti
, a Samoan form of cricket the bored children started as the heat of the day waned a little. Getting their wedding finery dirty, Dean, Tommy, Jude, and Xochi participated. Teddy and Stacy sat on the sidelines. Having abandoned their shoes in a little pyramid on the shore, quiet Annie supervised the triplets and Knox, Jr. wading at the edge of the water. Dean used the three-sided club to wallop the rubber ball into the waves. Stacy jumped up and did an impromptu cheer as Winnie joined the group.

“I wish I could do that,” Teddy said wistfully. “But it’s okay. Daddy Joe and the ice hockey team in Lafayette are going to sponsor a sled hockey league for kids like me at the arena next winter. It’s so cool even Dean and Tommy want to do it, but they won’t be allowed. You’ll come see me play when you can, won’t you, Adam?”

“I will. Winnie, too. I figure without you and Stacy I might never have gotten to know my bride so well, never brought her here at all, but we had to get away from you brats.” He tousled Teddy’s hair to show he teased.

“We’re completely forgiven, then?” Stacy asked. She jumped suddenly to her feet and shouted, “Way to go, Tommy!” as her cousin caught a piece of the ball with the club and sent it sizzling like a hard line drive. Primly, she sat again and rearranged her skirt. “I’m trying to be more of a team player, but I really don’t care for sports very much.”

“You’re trying. That counts for a lot,” Winnie told her. Despite Samoan customs, she slipped her hand into Adam’s and his strong arm came up around her waist pressing her close.

****

Joe Dean Billodeaux moved behind his wife who watched the little scene on the beach a short distance away. Never one to obey rules, he nuzzled her neck and rubbed against her
puletasi-
clad backside.

Nell poked him with her elbow, but not hard enough to hurt. “We’re not supposed to do that here.”

“Do I look like a Samoan, me?”

“Maybe in that lava-lava, but our kids certainly do all barefooted and playing in the sand in their wedding clothes.”

“Let them have fun. Wait until they see the fire dancing later. This is a once in a lifetime experience and worth shutting down Camp Love Letter for a week.”

“It is,” she agreed. “Romantic, too, with the palm trees and the beach and the blue water. If only we didn’t have those helicopters buzzing around.”

“The sun is going down. They’ll leave soon. Hey, Knox did a great job securing the road and patrolling the perimeter with his off-duty policemen for any paparazzi who tried to sneak through the jungle.” Joe pointed to his ranch manager, clad in khakis and a bush hat, who still ranged along the expanse where the mountain met the beach with his troops. “He said it reminds him of ’Nam, not romance.”

“That’s sad, but I think Brinsley and Shammy are making the most of the trip.”

Far down the beach, the older couple walked side by side. Observing proprieties, the butler had his arms tucked behind his back.

“You think those two are bed-hopping?”

“Joe! No, Shammy is a former nun and Brinsley is far too proper.”

“Still, I think we have another wedding in the works and probably a permanent butler and nurse at the ranch now.”

“With the size of our family, we need all the help we can get.”

“At least this Samoan romance was easy to bring off before it screwed up the football season. We just had to let our kids send them running to the islands to get away together.”

“Oh, you’re taking credit for this happy ending, are you? I don’t call it easy transporting ten children, one of them with special needs, to Samoa for the celebration. The Rileys, the McCoys, and nearly everyone else had the sense to leave theirs at home. They are having second honeymoons, but us, no!” Still, Nell relaxed against him and wiggled her backside in just the right place.

“Tink, it’s not a wedding without a whole lot of kids running around.”

“Correction, it’s not a Cajun wedding without a lot of kids.”

“True, and right now all those kids are occupied and I’ll bet you me, the bedrooms in the house are not.”

“What, no lovemaking under the palms?”

“Not after what happened to Sammy Tau. Come along with me, and I’ll show you what paradise really is. Sugar, you know I always keep my word.”

A word about the author…

Once a librarian, now a writer of romance, Lynn Shurr grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country. She attended a state college and earned a very impractical B.A. in English Literature. Her first job out of school really was working as a cashier in a burger joint. Moving from one humble job to another, she traveled to North Carolina, then Germany, then California where she buckled down for an M.A. in Librarianship.

She found her first reference job in the Heart of Cajun Country, Lafayette, Louisiana. For her, the old saying, “Once you’ve tasted bayou water, you will always stay here” came true. She raised three children not far from the Bayou Teche and lives there still with her astronomer husband.

When not writing, Lynn likes to paint, cheer for the New Orleans Saints and LSU Tigers, and take long road trips nearly anywhere. Her love of the bayou country, its history and customs often shows in her books.

You may contact Lynn at www.lynnshurr.com or visit her blog, lynnshurr.blogspot.com.

Other Books by Lynn Shurr

A Trashy Affair

THE SINNERS SERIES

Goals for a Sinner

Wish for a Sinner

Kicks for a Sinner

THE MARDI GRAS SERIES

Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball

Mardi Gras Madness

Courir de Mardi Gras

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