The Devil's Orchard (33 page)

“You don’t pull any punches.”

“Not when it comes to the safety and happiness of my family. Now get out.” Emma buzzed for Katlin or Lou.

“What about Fiona?” Judice asked from the door.

“I don’t know,” Cain said. “She’s no more welcome here than you are, but knowing what I do now won’t save her if she tries to harm my family.” Cain turned her chair around. “Go back to wherever you came from and stay out of my sight, and be careful not to talk about my parents the way you did tonight to anyone else. You do, and Fiona will know my true nature after she finds herself alone in this world.” As much as she prided herself on the load she could carry, she couldn’t listen to another word out of this woman’s mouth.

When the door closed she rested her head in her hands and felt like she was underwater with no way up.

“Oh, Da, what now?”

*

Judice pulled the hair on the sides of her head as one of Cain’s men drove her back to her hotel. The pain at the base of her skull and at the center of her gut built to the point she knew she’d be sick. The fear that had tickled her spine when she packed for this visit bloomed until she was frantic as to what to do next.

She’d gladly given up her past and her family for the opportunity to raise Fiona, and after so many years, she’d stupidly thought it safe to return to New Orleans since the city held nothing but ghosts of her past. The reality that Therese had given Dalton something she hadn’t had never occurred to her, but Cain was his twin not only in appearance but intelligence. One short introduction and Cain had peeled away every one of the lies she’d hidden behind for more than half her life.

“You want to get out here?” the man asked. “Your kid’s waiting out front for you.”

She bumbled with the door, not ready to face Fiona, but she couldn’t avoid it when Fiona quickly walked toward her and put her fingers on her cheek.

“What happened to you? Where’d you go?” Fiona asked, her fingers on the spot where Emma had hit her.

“I was walking and I tripped.”

“And you fell on someone’s hand? Come on.” Fiona led her inside and didn’t say anything until she’d placed a towel with ice against her face.

“Did this have anything to do with Casey?” Fiona asked after the silence between them had become deafening.

“You don’t want to tell me every aspect of your life, so don’t ask me about mine.” Pulling away even as drastically as she’d moved away from her parents and family might be the only way to save Fiona.

“I’ve allowed you your secrets all my life, so if you want to keep quiet now, go ahead. But have you ever asked yourself why I became a cop? One of the main reasons, anyway.”

She stared at Fiona’s face, trying to find a trace of Dalton aside from the blue eyes. When she was this serious, Fiona’s intense expression was Dalton’s down to the scowl. “It gave you the power and opportunity to search for the answers I denied you.” She sighed and felt like a spool of yarn that Cain had cut enough to unravel. “What did you find?”

“Not you.” Fiona’s delivery was soft.

“What else?”

“Casey was right about Colin Mead, but I couldn’t verify the rumors about Sal Maggio.”

“You didn’t go through my stuff to make sure? I locked my office, but curiosity is a great motivator if you really wanted to know.” Maybe if she’d been honest she would’ve seen that this ending was inevitable.

“I know who you work for, what they do, but not why you did it.”

“If you decide to pursue it, you’ll sign my death warrant. I’m not saying that to stop you. I knew who I was dealing with, and the consequences, but know the reality before you do anything.”

“I would’ve already, if that was my plan. All I’ve ever wanted is the truth, not to hurt you,” Fiona said, and walked out.

*

The drive to Cain’s didn’t take long, and Fiona stood at the gate, not wanting to be there. To ask permission to enter was begging for Cain to laugh at how in the dark she was about her own mother. Cain knew more than she did, judging from their exchange at dinner.

The wrought iron felt cool despite the heat, but she let go as if it’d burned her when Cain stepped out of the darkness.

“Are you lost?” Cain asked.

“What’d you do to my mother?”

“I asked you a question.”

“Fuck you and your questions.”

Cain laughed and she forced herself not to curl her hands into fists. “My partner is right about you,” Cain said, as if she’d known what she meant. “If you’re smart, Fiona, you’ll turn around and forget about me and my family. You have no place here.”

“Just spit it out.”

“I’ll leave you and your mother alone if you return the favor. Don’t make me repeat that. You and Judice deserve each other, and I want you both gone from my sight.”

“Wait,” she screamed when Cain turned to leave.

“You won’t find any answers here, so run back to Judice. Me and mine are off-limits to you.”

Fiona wanted to fling a curse at her but thought it important not to alienate Cain. From the moment Shelby had mentioned Cain’s name, she’d felt their futures would intertwine until one of them was dead. That, she still predicted, was true, but she didn’t wish that on either of them as Cain disappeared from view.

Emma gave Cain the time she needed to process the news and didn’t press her to talk about it. Not that she could. Judice and Fiona had arrived in town and put a crack in the truth of who Cain thought she was, and who her Da had been. She’d taken a break from the business and everything else until she could regain the confidence she needed to do what she did.

The only meeting she’d accepted in the three and a half weeks she’d taken to sort things out was with Carlos, and he’d come through for her and gotten the information she asked of him. He was going back home and appeared so much lighter now that he’d avenged his father. With his personality he’d be successful in a short time. After what they’d been through together and how their problems had overlapped, she was sure that unless he changed dramatically, they wouldn’t be enemies. Never business partners or great friends, but not enemies either.

“We need to think about whether we want to evacuate for this thing,” Emma said as she opened her eyes. There’d been a few small storms that had come to nothing, but Katrina appeared to be gathering strength as it rolled off the Florida coast.

“I’ve already talked to the airport and they have a plane available for charter. The guys are packing and we’ll be ready by tomorrow morning. I called, and Maddie and Jerry are ready for us. We’ll pack everything and wait it out up north.” Cain scrubbed her face with her hands, tired of the disconnect she felt from the life she’d had before her conversation with Judice.

“You think it’ll pass before the wedding?”

“I hope it blows itself out before it gets here, but I don’t want to take any chances. Don’t worry. No matter what, I’m planning to meet you at the end of an aisle somewhere and smile as you put a ring on my finger.”

“Is there something I can do to make you feel better?” Emma sounded sad. “I hate to see you suffer.”

“It’s time to move on, but I’m not sure how. This thing, it’s not like finding an old letter that spills a family secret. Fiona shares half my blood, and I can’t accept it. As much as I love my family, I consider only Billy and Marie my siblings. I really don’t see myself opening my arms and welcoming this woman into my life.” She meant it and smiled when Emma moved slowly and sat across her hips. The baby was much more active now, and she wondered what this one would be like. Would he be shy or rambunctious like Hayden and Hannah?

“I love you, and I’ll stand by your side no matter what you decide. What I need right now, though, is for you to touch me. I want to remind you of a few things.” Emma pulled her nightgown over her head. She was gorgeous.

“What do I need to remember?” The sight of Emma’s swollen belly made her smile. She put her hands on Emma’s hips and loved that her nipples hardened, telegraphing her need.

“No matter what life throws at you, you are Derby Cain Casey.” Emma leaned back, reached between her legs, and touched herself to get her fingers wet. “You’re the true heir of Dalton Hayden Casey.” Emma painted her lips and the taste made her wet in return. Cain groaned when Emma did it again and carefully rolled her onto her back. But when she began to move down to put her mouth on her, Emma held her in place and shook her head.

“Tell me, love,” she said as she put her hand between Emma’s legs and kissed her. “What do you want?”

“Put your fingers inside and make me come, but I want you to hold me while you do. I miss you.” Emma ran her finger along the outside of her ear and gasped when she put her fingers in. As she stroked, Emma hung on to her and planted her feet into the mattress so she could move her hips. She raked her nails up her back with one hand and pinched her own nipple with the other. “Faster and harder. You aren’t going to hurt me and I need you,” Emma said breathlessly.

“I’ll give you whatever you need.” Her hand was so wet and Emma’s clit was so hard she craved putting her mouth on her, but she stayed and watched Emma shut her eyes as she came. Right then Cain forgot everything that had been bothering her. What Emma had said made sense.

There was only one Casey heir, and even if Judice could prove Fiona was his child, nothing in their life would change. Clans were built and had survived for generations through a strict code of honor and trust. Fiona had no clue what that was about.

“Thank you,” Emma said, and the words made her feel shame. Her partner shouldn’t have to be thanking her for this.

“I’m sorry, lass, for not handling all this better.”

“Don’t do that. I was thanking you because you make me feel good and wanted. Not because I think you took pity on me and made love to me.”

“You can’t believe that. Even when I’m in a gloomy mood I still find you beautiful, and I love you.”

“Then come love me in the shower and help me pack, if we have to get out of here. I’m sure it’s only going to be a few days up at the lake house, but the kids are looking forward to it. Do you need to get anything done before we go?”

“I’ve got a few stops, so take as many guys as you need to get things done.”

“Do you think we can reschedule our ceremony if this goes on longer than necessary?” She’d lost count as to how many times Emma had asked the question.

“You put a lot of work into that, so it’s done, lass. If any of the places gives you a hassle when we get home I’ll take care of it.” She walked the line of not trying to sound too casual about a storm coming ashore during their commitment ceremony and not giving away the other plans she’d made on the chance that happened and their return was delayed.

“I don’t want to miss the chance to put a ring on your finger,” Emma said as a joke, and she winked over her shoulder. She put up a good front, but Cain could see the slight slump of her shoulders.

They showered and tried to get the kids to calm down from the hysteria that’d taken over the city about the possible evacuation. Cain had been through this before and knew there was no reason to panic, but she had to put aside everything she had no control over and concentrate on getting her people ready for whatever the weather might throw at them.

She took Katlin and Lou with her as they went by every store that did business with them and made sure they had the money and resources to survive the storm. As they headed through the French Quarter she told Lou to stop at the side of Jackson Square, and she got out to head in to the cathedral. The ten o’clock mass was ending so she sat in the back and watched her old friend Father Andrew Goodman go through the religious rituals.

“Lost your way?” he asked when he came back in after he’d spent time with the parishioners outside.

“You were at my house last month drinking my whiskey so keep your guilt to yourself, you old fraud.” She stopped at the donation box and dropped in a few hundred dollars. “I came to ask you something, and if you don’t have the answer I’ll settle for some advice.”

“Call in your flock from outside.” He made a shooing motion and waited in the main aisle. “Put in a good word for yourselves while I deal with your boss,” he told Lou and Katlin.

She told him about her conversation with Judice and her possible relation to Fiona. Andrew listened and tapped his fingers together as he did. “Your Da came to see me before he was killed, you know we’ve talked about this before, and he mentioned Bridget Cleary.”

“I thought confessions were something you’d never share with me.”

“There are confessions and talks between friends, Derby, so don’t make me take a ruler to your butt. You know better than that.” He poured her a little bit of whiskey from the bottle she gifted him on a regular basis. “He talked about Bridget and the relationship he’d had with her. Whatever this woman told you, your Da didn’t throw her out like a bag of trash. He didn’t feel the same about her as he did about your mum, but he did break it off before he met Therese formally.”

“You don’t have to protect him. I’ve heard about Da and his women, actually from Da. It was a lesson for me when I was enjoying my youth and the barrel of oats I’d been given.” She laughed. “He told me that once I committed, the rest would have to go because the woman who gifted your life with children didn’t deserve the disrespect. Once he married Mum, I believed him when he said he’d never strayed. Judice had his ring, though, and even made a copy for her daughter.”

“I’m not saying her story’s not true as far as her daughter, but I believe in my heart that what your father described to me was the end of the relationship.” As his priest he knew the consequences to his soul if he lied, and as his friend he had no reason to. Andrew put his hands over hers. “What this woman told you I can tell has shaken your belief in your Da, but he’s still the man you remembered the minute before she told you, so don’t do that to yourself. He can’t defend himself, and if you start doubting what kind of man he was, it will only rob you of something special.”

“I’d never betray his memory, but I don’t know how to accept this.”

“Even God took more than a day to create the world, Derby. Give yourself some time and let that decide for you. If you want to pursue it, fine, and if you don’t, then that’s going to be fine too.” He moved his hand to her shoulder. “Judice did all this for a reason, and until she tells you what that reason is, I suggest you withhold any judgment against Fiona.”

“Even if Fiona’s made it her life’s mission to arrest me or, better yet, shoot me with cause?”

“I keep telling you that the Lord loves even his wayward sheep. Your mum isn’t going to just sit playing a harp while someone tries to do you harm. Go home to your family and know she won’t be the only one praying for you.”

“So wait and see what God has planned for me?”

“You’d be surprised, and don’t play the tough guy with me. You’re like your father in that way.”

“Don’t forget about everything else I asked for.”

“That’s the last thing I’m going to do.”

“Take care and thanks for listening.”

“That’s my job,” he said, and put his hand over her hand and whispered a prayer, “but I’m also your friend. Right now worry about what’s right in front you, not what’s coming up from the sides. Emma, Hayden, Hannah, and a new baby are what should be on your mind.”

“For always.”

*

The airport was busier than usual when they landed, and a few of the townspeople were in the lot with their vehicles. Emma got off the plane and held Hannah’s hand as if she’d fly off if she let go. “What’s going on?” she asked as Cain came down behind her.

By the time they’d boarded, Katrina was in the Gulf, strengthening by the hour, and had started drifting west. The spaghetti models resembled a child’s scribbles, but the state governments had started their warnings and told people to get out of the low-lying coastal areas. Nothing lay in Katrina’s way that’d bring down the intensity, and they estimated that wherever she hit would be devastated for months.

Emma had worried about all those less fortunate, but Cain also knew she wasn’t thrilled that the one casualty so far had been their ceremony. “They’re making money by running a taxi service this weekend.”

“Is there a convention in town or something?” Emma asked, and laughed.

“Since we’re evacuating up here, I guess they thought there might be an influx of people running from bad weather.”

Jerry had come with some of his hands and brought the vehicles, as well as some of the farm trucks, to handle the luggage and crowd with them. As they left the tarmac Cain saw another private jet landing and didn’t recognize it, so she figured it was Shelby and company, ready to set up for the duration of their stay. This time she hoped they’d booked ahead, because they were going to have to sleep in the plane unless some nice farmer took them in.

The road to the lake house came into view. The crew that’d arrived a day before them had done a good job with the decorations. Emma started to cry when she spotted the yards of white ribbon and lamps that now lined the way along with the pines.

Maddie was in the yard, along with Vincent and his catering staff, as they both directed people where to put tables, chairs, and a dance floor. The Jatibons, Dallas, and Kristen were enjoying the pool and deck to the back.

Cain opened Emma’s door and walked to their tree before she dropped to a knee. “You worked hard getting all this together, and I don’t want to wait until whatever’s going to happen to stand before all these people and declare to the world how I feel about you. If you want we’ll wait, but tomorrow is a great day for a wedding, and since we can’t have it at home right now, I had it flown up here.”

“You’re too good to be true.”

“There are a lot of people in the world who wish I weren’t,” she said, and smiled as she held Emma’s hand. “Say yes.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t forget that’s supposed to be your answer tomorrow.”

*

Cain left the party their friends had put together as a night-before event to walk the field where they’d shot skeet earlier that summer and waited. The land was beautiful here with the fields of green and the cows lazily ripping it out in clumps. She stared at the woods and lifted her hand and motioned whoever was out there forward.

Shelby, she knew, was back on the job, but it was Ronald she was interested in seeing now. “Ronald, a moment of your time, please.”

He stepped out after she didn’t add anything to that and stood at the edge of the woods. He’d obviously packed smarter this time around and seemed more comfortable in his jeans and golf shirt. “What do you want? Or is this another attempt to go around our procedures?”

“Meet me halfway and I’ll tell you.”

She started walking with Lou the same distance behind her as Brent was behind Ronald. Emma hadn’t liked the idea of her going out in an open field with so many people hidden right in front of her, but in life you had to at times take chances.

“What do you want?” Ronald said, that smug expression he’d mastered firmly planted on his face.

Lou stepped forward with a large, thick, yellow envelope, and Brent drew his weapon. She wasn’t worried about him at the moment, but she had Katlin with a rifle behind her on the off chance she was wrong. She was a gambler but she wasn’t crazy.