Mischief in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #2)(57)

“So I take it their looks were where the similarities ended?”

“Heavens, yes. William was a true gentleman, as far back as I can remember. Even in grade school he was always protecting the smaller children from bullies or helping young ladies up the steps.” She smiled. “Our skirts were much longer in those days, and sometimes a steady hand on your elbow helped when you were balancing books in one hand and clutching a large portion of your skirt in the other.”

Sabine smiled at the image of her grandfather helping a young, and likely beautiful, Mrs. Boudreaux into the schoolhouse. “But Lloyd wasn’t a gentleman?”

“Absolutely not. Lloyd was one of the bullies, always stealing lunch money from the younger children when William wasn’t looking. He’d sooner push girls down the steps than help them up, and he was always playing pranks on the teachers, many of them cruel.”

“I imagine once you were older, all the girls chased William.”

Mrs. Boudreaux blushed. “Well, of course, we weren’t so forward back then as children are now. Why sometimes I just cringe at the way they dress and behave in church, and it’s even worse at the market. I have to wonder what kind of future this country has with them as adults. But yes, William had his share of admirers.”

“Anyone special?”

“Not that I ever knew, but I always wondered. Sometimes there would be parties or other events in the school gymnasium. We were mostly chaperoned, but I’d see William sneak out sometimes and not see him again for hours.”

“So where did you think he was going?”

Mrs. Boudreaux shrugged. “I always assumed he was seeing someone the family wouldn’t have approved of. Once at church, I was certain I saw him slip a piece of paper to one of the girls in the back pews. The poorer families sat toward the back of the church then.”

“Do you remember the girl’s name?”

“Heavens, no. I’m not even certain I knew it then, but she was a good Catholic, always at Mass. Not that it would have mattered to his parents. William’s inheritance depended on his making a good marital match. The Fortescues would have insisted. And besides, they’d already picked Catherine for William. The Fortescues had political aspirations for William, and Catherine’s family had the right connections.”

“And that’s who he married, so I guess the family was happy.”

“I suppose they were.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

Mrs. Boudreaux waved a hand in dismissal. “Oh, it’s probably nothing. We were all children at the time, and I guess if one is going to be foolish, that’s the time to do it.”

“You did something foolish?”

“Not me, dear. Catherine. I had a silly fight with my best friend at a dance one night and decided to walk down the hall and regain my composure. At the end of the hall, I saw Catherine kissing someone in the stairwell. I thought it was William, but when he looked up and saw me, he winked, and I realized it wasn’t William at all, but Lloyd.”

Sabine considered this. “So Catherine fancied Lloyd, and William fancied someone unsuitable, but they still married.”

“Well, yes, dear. Wealth comes with duty, and a marriage between Catherine and William merged two of the most powerful families in southern Louisiana. The elder Fortescues died in a car crash soon after William and Lloyd left to begin their military service. William was firstborn and the estate, its staff, and the largest portion of the family’s assets became his responsibility upon his parents’ death.”

“So he did his duty and married Catherine.”

“You make it sound like such a sacrifice. William and Catherine began seeing each other before he left for the war. All that other nonsense happened in high school, and besides, there were the children to consider.”

“What children?”

“No one really spoke of such things back then, it wasn’t proper, but everyone close to her knew Catherine was pregnant when she and William married. The brothers had been home on leave just a couple of months before, which made the timing possible.”

She wrinkled her brow. “And then there was the wedding itself. A rushed affair. Just the minister in the Fortescues living room and hardly the event that a family of that status would normally have hosted. But then, William was given only a brief leave to make arrangements for his inheritance and attend his parents’ funeral, and Lloyd was already missing in Vietnam and wanted by the military police and the FBI. With his parents’ death, Catherine’s pregnancy, and all the investigation surrounding Lloyd’s disappearance, it’s no wonder the family kept the wedding so private.”

Sabine glanced over at Beau, who nodded. She pressed forward. “Then after his military service, William came home and he and Catherine raised the children. Did everything go well then?”

Mrs. Boudreaux smiled at Sabine. “You were such a beautiful little girl, Frances. Always so full of life and energy. And the questions you would ask. You wanted to know the answers to everything. Precocious is the word, I think. But then I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.”

Thoughts raced through Sabine’s mind. The elderly woman was obviously confused, but would it do any harm to pretend to be Frances? It took only a moment for her to make up her mind. “Actually, Mrs. Boudreaux, I don’t remember much from my childhood. I wasn’t…well for some time.”