In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)(41)

He stuttered and stammered.

"I don't mean dollars but change. You are about to lose every dime of it."

"I don't think so"

She gathered up the gear and shared the load with him. "Don't forget the worms. She'll burn your breakfast if you lose the worms."

He picked up the coffee can and walked beside Kate back to the house. She warmed the gumbo and sliced the bread. He ate until he couldn't hold another bite, and then he helped with the cleanup.

Maw Maw brought out the dominoes. At midnight, when she declared it was bedtime, he didn't have a single penny in his pocket and was very grateful that they hadn't played for folding money.

He took a quick shower and went to bed. Kate rustled against the curtains that made his walls on her way to her end of the room. He laced his fingers under his head and watched the moon sitting high in the sky outside the window. Kate was just a few feet away. He could hear her soft breath and the squeak of the bedsprings when she turned over in bed. He wanted to go to her, gather her into his arms, and just hold her until she slept. He shut his eyes and slept more peacefully than he had in weeks.

Kate would have been willing to strangle him with a length of twine leftover from hanging the sheets if she'd known how good he felt. Every raw nerve in her body kept her from sleeping. She wanted to cuddle up in his arms and listen to his heartbeat on her cheek. But she didn't succumb to her desires, even if it did take all the willpower she had left.

Maw Maw put her winnings in a quart jar on her dresser. That Hart Ducaine would make a fine grandson-in-law. If it took meddling, she was just the one to do it.





Not a single white puffy cloud floated in the clear blue sky that spring morning. Kate sat on the back porch in her cut-off sweat bottoms and an oversize T-shirt with a picture of Betty Boop on the front. She held a mug of cafe au lait in her hand and still had a bit of powdered sugar around her mouth. Maw Maw had been up long enough to make fresh beignets for breakfast. That meant she was quite taken with Hart Ducaine.

It took a lot to charm Maw Maw Miller. She could see right through deception. But Kate still didn't know where she stood with Hart. She was drawn to him physically. That she loved him wasn't a big revelation, but did she like him enough to live with him forever, if he should ask? Therein lay one big, black question mark. Was Kate just a passing fancy like before? Could she trust him?

Maw Maw pulled her rocker out of the sun and sat down with a cup of coffee.

"I like the man," she said.

"I love him. I don't know if I like him and I don't know if I can hold on to him even if things did work out. I couldn't before, and I was a lot younger," Kate said.

"Don't be so serious. He's here and it's a pretty day. Go show him around the parish. Have a good time. You're thinking too hard with your head and not enough with your heart. Got a party tonight. Vincent has a hog and he's on his way over to put it in the pit. Either you lighten up, or Corrine is going to sashay in here and Hart Ducaine is going to slip right through your fingers."

"Did I hear my name?" Hart came out onto the porch. He was already dressed in jeans and a three-button polo shirt the same color as his eyes. He carried a cup of coffee in one hand and a saucer piled high with beignets in the other. "A man could get used to finding these on the table."

"You did hear your name, and a man ought to find beignets on the table at least once a week," Maw Maw said. "Kate knows how to make them. She's been holding out on you, cher."

"I can be a cher? I thought that was only for girls." Hart sat down and braced his back against the porch post.

"Is darlin' only for boys?" Kate asked.

"No, ma'am. You can call me that anytime you want," he said.

"Okay then, darlin"'-she smiled-"finish your breakfast, put on your best walkin' shoes, and get ready for the grand tour."

Maw Maw winked at her.

"Of what?" Hart asked.

"Why, the whole parish, that's what. We'll take in the whole thing and be back in time to clean up for the cochon de lait tonight. Vincent is on his way with the hog," Kate said.

Hart raised an eyebrow.

"There's a pit about halfway from here to the bayou. He's the best at cooking a whole pig for a party. Who's playing, Maw Maw?"

Hart raised the other eyebrow.

"Cochon de lait ain't worth nothin' without a band," Maw Maw said. "Zac and the Gators is comin' round tonight. That boy can make a fiddle tell a story, can't he? I told Minnette to tell him they could eat all they wanted, so they're playin' for free. Said they needed to practice anyway. Whole family is coming. Minnette got the beans started last night. They'll be good and thick by suppertime

loves a party," Katesaid. "Minnette makesthe best beans in the parish. Everyone is always after her to bring .""She hope she's got two pots going. I can eat one all by myself."

"Maw Maw baked them. I

knows to make two pots when you are home," Maw Maw said. "Want to know her secret?" she whispered toward Hart.

He nodded.

"She starts out with pork-n-beans right out of the can, adds some kidney beans, a pound of bacon, and a pint of chopped-up ham, peppers, onions, and spicy barbecue sauce, but that's not her secret. It's a double shot of Jack Daniels and a tablespoon of red pepper flakes. That's her secret-and it makes the beans right tasty with barbecued pork," Maw Maw said, as if she were sharing secrets from the top chef at the White House.