In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)(33)

"Don't get old, chere, and regret that you didn't do what you could while you were still young enough to do it."

He was talking in riddles, but she didn't care if he'd been spitting out the gospel according to Zac Verret in plain Cajun. He'd held her too tightly. His sexy warm breath had brushed her ear. And she'd felt absolutely nothing. Hart brushing her hand made the air around her crackle. Zac was handsome and talked such sweet Cajun, but his touch did nothing.

She sat down beside Maw Maw while Zac danced with another woman. His moves were the same. He drew her up to his body in a fluid movement. He looked into her eyes. He whispered in her ear. Not one surge of jealousy turned Kate a faint shade of mint green.

Then a woman tapped the lady on the shoulder and took her place with Zac. He held the new lady differently. A few inches separated him from her, and he wasn't nearly as flirty. He smiled at something she said and leaned forward to brush a kiss across her lips when the dance ended. When he picked up a beer and went back to the drums, she sat at a table close to the bandstand.

"That would be Zac Verret's fiancee," Maw Maw said.

Kate jerked her head around to stare at her grandmother. Surely the lady was teasing or joking. "But.." she stammered.

"Holds her like a lady, and you he holds too tight and whispers in your ear. I don't like it, chere," Maw Maw whispered behind her hand.

"I didn't know he was engaged," Kate said.

"Now you do "

"Who is she? She looks older than him."

"Mais, so do you. That's because you are older than him. He's Minnette's age. Barely twenty-five"

"He told me he was thirty-two last year," Kate said.

"And you believed a drummer. You need to go home to Texas if you are that gullible. She is Charlene Broussard from down in New Orleans. She's going to take his band to the big time with her money."

"Rich, is she?" Kate asked.

"Got more gold than Midas."

"Hmmm," Kate said.

"Find someone else, Kate. Find a good Cajun man who will love you and not hold another woman in his arms like Zac Verret just did you. Charlene will get a ring on her finger, but she'll never get his heart. It's too fickle to give to one woman:"

Before Kate could make another comment, her cousin, Minnette, pulled up a chair and sat down beside her.

"So tell me, what man is it in Texas that sent you skittering back to Louisiana?" Minnette asked.

"Hello to you too. I hear you got married and are already expecting a baby," Kate said.

"Don't change the subject. I have the sight, like Maw Maw. I can see it in your face"

"And besides, you have a cell phone and the gossip is already producing a vine," Kate said.

Minnette giggled. "Just answer the question. What's his name and why are you here?"

"His name is Hart Ducaine, and I need time to think."

"I remember that name. I was only ten years old when you moved here, but I thought you were the most beautiful cousin I had. Hart Ducaine. He's the one who broke your heart when you were a kid, right?"

"How did you know that, and how did you remember it?" Kate frowned.

"Because I heard you telling my older sister Charlotte about him, and I remembered it because I couldn't imagine why a mother would name a kid such a thing"

"So what are you naming your baby?" Kate changed the subject again.

"It's a girl, so her name will be Janette"

"Sounds Cajun."

"Good. I want it to sound that way. That's my husband over there with my brother, Vincent. What do you think?" Minnette asked.

Kate expected someone who looked like a movie star. What she saw was a dark-haired man with brown eyes, who was already overweight and was barely an inch taller than Minnette. He glanced over toward them and blew his wife a kiss.

"After all the hunks, he's not what you thought I'd wind up with, is he?" Minnette whispered.

Kate put up the palms of her hands. "I'm not saying a word."

"That's a good move, chere. I'd hate to have to mop up the dance floor with you. His name is Claud Thibodeaux. He's twenty-eight years old, and he's a teacher at the middle school in New Iberia. I fell in love with him when I realized that he thinks I'm beautiful just the way I am, and he's lucky to have me, and that I don't need to lose weight "

"You are beautiful, and he is very lucky, and you are the only one who ever worried about your weight," Kate said.

"I know it, and every day I give thanks for him. He married me and doesn't want to change a thing about me. He likes my cooking, doesn't care if I want to go visiting and not clean the house some days, wants a house full of kids with me, and never looks at another woman the way he looks at me"

"Then you are the lucky one," Kate said.

"So does Hart Ducaine look at another woman the way he looks at you?"

"I wouldn't know. I haven't been in a place to test that out"

"Bring him down here, chere. I'll test him and then I'll call Mary Margaret, Alvera, and then Vanessa. If he can't see any of them because his eyes are only on you, then we might give him a good grade on the test"

"Did you bring in the troops with Claud?" Kate smiled.