In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)(30)

"I'm on the side of the road all right, but I'm fine. I had this panic attack and pulled off to make the decision whether to go on or turn around," Kate said.

"I'd like to say, turn around and be back in time for a late supper. But I'm not going to. You need to get some perspective, Kate, and you can't do it here with that good-looking Hart Ducaine showing up at any time of night or day. Kiss him or kill him, but make a decision."

Kate attempted a laugh; it came out a high-pitched giggle.

"Go on south. Where are you now?" Mary said.



"Just passed the exit to Grand Bayou"

"You are driving too fast. Slow down. Talk to you later," Mary said, and she was gone.

Kate pulled back out on the road and drove south. Two hours and four CDs later, she stopped in Alexandria for gas and a bathroom break. She picked up a burrito at the convenience store mini-deli and a Dr Pepper from the cold box.

Midafternoon found her in Opelousas. She'd be at Maw Maw's on the bayou by suppertime. It was supposed to be a ten-hour trip, but she'd made it in less than nine. Everything was familiar after she went through New Iberia, and when she turned off the main road onto a back street to her grandmother's place, for the first time she felt as if she really was going home.

Maw Maw Miller was a tiny, wizened woman who would have been the last in a million candidates to be the poster lady for a wrinkle-preventing night cream. Her face had weathered like soft leather into dozens of creases, but at the age of ninety her smile was still genuine and she was proud to have a mouth full of her own teeth. She might have weighed a hundred pounds if someone filled her pockets with rocks. Her short gray hair frizzed all over her head in natural curls. When she wore shoes they were size five, but that was only on Sunday morning. Any other time she favored rubber flip-flops from Wal-Mart.

She was standing on the porch with one hand shading her eyes when Kate drove up into the driveway. The phone rang in the seat beside her at the same time she turned off the engine. She picked it up, saw that it was Hart, and let it go to voice mail. He'd call back later, and Maw Maw would pitch a fit if she sat in the truck and tried to explain to him what she was doing in Louisiana. That, according to Maw Maw, would be rude.

"I knowed you'd be here tonight. Etouffe on the stove, and the milk warming for cafe au lait. Did you have a good trip? Mais, come on in and tell me about that man problems," Maw Maw said.

Kate bent to hug her. "How did you know?"

"Little whisper on the wind told me."

"What if I said there were no problems and I'd just come to see you for a few days?" The aromas of Cajun stew and strong coffee blended, and Kate's stomach growled.

"I'd say you are lyin', chere. Only thing that puts that look on your face is a man. I'm old; I'm not crazy. And if you only came for a few days, then get in the truck and go on back to that foreign country they call Texas. Two women can't catch up on nothing in a couple of days. We need longer than that."

"You're right."

"Of course I am. Didn't live to be ninety to start making mistakes now. Come on in and draw up a chair. I didn't eat until you got here"

"Did Momma call?"

"No." Maw Maw shook her head.

What she didn't tell Kate was that she'd gotten up that morning missing her daughter-in-law and she'd called Mary. It was a little whisper in the wind-a soft voice on the telephone was the same thing, wasn't it?-that had told her to expect Kate for supper.

"Shrimp fresh?" Kate asked, as she lifted the pot from the pan and sniffed the steam.

"Any fresher, they'd still be wiggling. Old man Louviere just took them out of the trap this afternoon and brought them by. Make a cup of coffee and sit down. Got to heat up the bread."

"Hot French from LeJeune's?"

"Ain't nothing else to go with etouffe. Now tell me what about the man trouble?"

Kate started at the beginning, blushing only slightly when she had to tell Maw Maw that she'd spent a night in a motel with a man, and ended the story at the same time she took the last bite of good Cajun food.

"You love that man?" Maw Maw asked.

"I don't know. I'm attracted to him. Have been most of my life. But love is more than lust. It's something that has to go on forever, Maw Maw."

"Did he tell you he loves you?"

"If he did, it wasn't at a time I would believe him."

"Well, then you got a powerful lot of thinking to be doing. Starting right now. Go on with you. There's a fishing pole by the back door. Take a lawn chair and get on to the bayou. It's not in this house you'll find the answers. It's out there. I'll wash up these dishes. Don't come in until you've got a fish for dinner tomorrow."

"I should make a couple of calls first," Kate said.

"Then get it done; but you can't take the phone with you. Can't figure out life with a phone stuck in your ear."

Folks didn't argue with Maw Maw, never had; and Kate wasn't about to start right then, not after eating her fill of etouffe and good French bread. She went out to the truck to bring in her things and made a quick call to Mary to let her know she had landed safely and already had supper. She asked her mother to phone Sophie.

Hart Ducaine would just have to wait. Maw Maw had said she should fish and think, and that's exactly what she would do. Maybe by tomorrow she could at least discuss her decision rationally with Hart.