Chapter 16
Tonya pulled alongside the curb in front of Hannah’s house and parked. She had kept her promise to leave the party at the beginning of the halftime entertainment, and she drove back to the Garden District. She had accepted compliments from the McNairs’ guests, while graciously rejecting their offers to cater parties for them. With the exception of Eustace and Gage, LeAnn, and Paige, the other attendees were St. John’s colleagues and his and Hannah’s former high school classmates.
She had filled the bathtub with her favorite scented bath salt and lost track of time soaking in the water until it cooled too much for her to remain. Fortified with a glass of wine, she crawled into bed and went to sleep.
* * *
Tonya woke early Monday morning refreshed and ready to begin her day mixing dough for bread. Eustace was unusually quiet, and when she asked if he was okay, he grunted that he had wrecked his diet and now had to work out twice as hard to shed the extra pounds he gained from overindulging at the party. She had decided not to remind him that he could have chosen from the vegetarian platters instead of wings, meatballs, and sweetened chicken dishes. Nicole and Melinda, sensing their father’s dark mood, kept their distance, and the day ended with little or no conversation. She stayed an extra hour after closing to put up several batches of dough to get a jump on the next day’s baked goods before returning home to shower and change.
Hannah was waiting on the McNairs’ porch when she shut off the engine and alighted from the Pilot. She climbed the steps and hugged her friend. “You don’t look any worse for wear after last night,” she said, smiling.
Hannah rolled her eyes upward. “I may look okay, but I’m still recovering from eating too much.”
“Now you sound like Eustace.”
“That’s because the man’s on a mission to lose weight before his high school reunion.” She looped arms with Tonya. “Come inside and rest yourself. St. John won’t be home until six. Thankfully, there’re still a few leftovers so I don’t have to cook tonight.”
“Do you cook every night?”
Hannah shook her head as pale, layered strands grazing her chin swayed with the motion. “No. St. John and I take turns, depending on what we want to eat. Most times LeAnn and Paige don’t join us. I still believe they’re not comfortable living here, even though I told them this is as much their home as mine.”
Tonya walked with Hannah into the sunroom and sat on facing cushioned chaises. “Maybe if you and St. John weren’t newlyweds, they wouldn’t feel like interlopers.”
“Their bedrooms are at the opposite end of the hallway from ours, so we rarely run into one another. Just the other day they hinted about taking another cruise, this time to the French and Italian Riviera.”
“It’s nice when you have the time to globetrot.”
“My cousins never married or had children, which meant they always lived their lives by their leave. They were the sole heirs to my uncle’s estate, so they don’t have to subsist on a fixed income.”
“Good for them.”
Turning fifty had been a reawakening for Tonya; she sat down to prioritize her future. The first item was learning to live healthier, which meant losing weight and eating clean. She had also directed her financial planner to unload her shares in several Wall Street–traded companies and purchase tax-free municipal bonds. The seven years she worked for Wakefield Hamilton allowed her financial stability with a salary commensurate with her education and experience, and she had anticipated working for the investment bank until she retired.
“Where are my manners? Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” Hannah asked, breaking into her musings.
“No, thank you.” Tonya sucked in a lungful of air, and then slowly exhaled. “I need your advice about how I should proceed with Gage.”
“You’re not sleeping with him.” It was a statement.
“No, but it’s not as if I don’t want to.”
“Has he hinted that he wants more than friendship?” Tonya nodded. “Then what’s stopping you? You’re both consenting adults.”
“My attraction to your husband’s cousin is similar to what I experienced when I first met my ex.”
“Weren’t you in high school when you got involved with your ex-husband?”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts, Tonya. Fast-forward thirty years and you are not the same wide-eyed young girl you were then.”
“I know that, Hannah! It’s not about age, but my initial reaction to him.” Tonya saw pinpoints of red dotting her friend’s fair complexion. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.” She covered her face with her hands. “I may as well tell you the whole story about my marriage.”
She watched Hannah’s expression change from curiosity to shock when she told her about having to defer her dreams in order to save her marriage. “After my divorce I swore I’d never get so involved with a man that I’d have to give up or sacrifice my own happiness for him.”
“Do you think you have a monopoly on loving and losing?” Hannah questioned. “I was still in high school when I fell in love with Robert. And he wasn’t that different from your Samuel, because he tried to talk me out of going to law school, and if he hadn’t been away so much, I probably would’ve given in to him. There are some men who resent independent women because they want them to need them. Are you in love with Gage?”
“Not yet.”
A smile flitted over Hannah’s lips. “Does ‘not yet’ translate into you are falling in love with him? And has he asked you to give up anything?”
“Yes to your first question and no to the second.”
“Then what’s your problem, Tonya?”
“When I fall in love, I don’t go halfway but all in, because I don’t know how to separate what’s good to me from what’s good for me. I’ve have a couple of relationships since my divorce, and each time I put up a wall to keep the men at a distance because I’m not emotionally equipped to love and lose. I lost my younger brother to a drug overdose, and it still haunts me to this day.”
“I’m sorry, Tonya. Again, we’re not that different because I, too, lost a brother. He was nine years old when he died from meningococcal meningitis. Has Gage said anything negative about you having your restaurant?”
“No.”
Hannah shook her head. “You keep telling me that Gage hasn’t tried to change you, so I don’t know why we’re having this conversation. I’m an attorney, not a therapist, but you have to learn to accept that people we love we will also lose. I loved and lost Robert even before he passed away. Once he confessed to sleeping with other women, I was devastated, and I actually thought about killing him but I knew he wasn’t worth me spending the rest of my life in prison. I moved out of our bedroom and never slept with him again. In my naïveté I’d believed I had a faithful husband, yet in twenty-nine years of marriage he’d slept with so many women that he couldn’t remember their names. And even before becoming a widow I’d lost both my parents.”
Tonya closed her eyes. “I must really sound selfish and gauche.”
Reaching over, she held Tonya’s hand. “No, you don’t. You’re only human. You have a fear of loving and losing, while I feared sleeping with a man because I was married to a philanderer. If Gage is anything like St. John, then you should have a wonderful relationship with him. I don’t know whether he’s told you, but his first marriage wasn’t something to write home about.”
“You know about that?”
Hannah smiled. “Yes. Don’t forget that even though I was a DuPont, I’m also a Baptiste and a Toussaint because I’m married to St. John, which means I’m privy to family secrets. Should I assume Gage told you about his ex?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Then he’s also familiar with loving and losing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe some of your anxiety is coming from how quickly you’re falling for him.”
Tonya forced a tight smile. Again she wondered if she was that transparent. “You’re right.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Hannah crooned as if she had discovered a map leading to buried treasure. “I hadn’t realized I’d fallen in love with St. John when we were in school because we were dating other people. But when I returned for the reunion last year and found out he was single, I invited him to DuPont House with the excuse that we had to catch up on what had been going on in our lives.”
“Did he come?”
“Not at first. He took me out to dinner, and after that it was all she wrote. I wasn’t back two weeks when I realized I wanted to sleep with him, and by the time you guys came down we’d been screwing like rabbits.” Hannah counted on her fingers. “And five months later we were married. I never could’ve imagined being this happy, and it was all because I was willing to risk falling in love again. My grandmamma used to say, ‘opportunity is like a baldheaded man; you have to catch it when it’s coming towards you or your hand will slip off and it’s gone forever.’ In other words, Tonya, you’re being given the opportunity to start over in a new place with a business you’ve always wanted, and with a new man who respects you for you. Gage has a reputation of being into himself, and if he’s willing to open up and share himself, then you’d be a fool not to accept him. Remember, we all have an expiration date, and none of us know when that is, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to enjoy what time I have left on this earth.”
Tonya digested everything Hannah said and knew she was right. She had spent the past sixteen, almost seventeen, years living in the past because the man she had married and vowed to love in the good times and bad times had turned into a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
She nodded. “I’m glad we had this talk. And as my grandmamma used to say, ‘tomorrow isn’t promised,’ so I’m going to make the best of what life is offering me. None of us knew that day when we went to Wakefield Hamilton that it would be our last day. And their offering us a severance package could not soften the shock of suddenly finding ourselves unemployed.”
“Remember I needed a pep talk when I went back to clean out my apartment and told you guys that I wasn’t marrying St. John.”
Tonya grimaced. “Please don’t remind me of what we said to you, because I don’t know where that came from.”
“You said what needed to be said, other than knocking my hard head up against a wall. I’d been so hung up on Robert cheating on me that I didn’t want to hear what St. John had to say about why he’d cheated on his wife. Once he told me, I couldn’t stop crying, because he’d stayed in a marriage where his wife wouldn’t let him touch her because her uncle had sexually abused her when she was a child.”
“Oh, no!” Tonya gasped.
Hannah nodded. “So we’re not alone when it comes to screwed-up marriages.”
“How right you are, because if Jasmine’s ex had done to me what he did to her, I know I would be serving time right now. I would’ve cut that SOB so low he would have to walk on his knees to get around.”
Pressing a hand to her chest, Hannah laughed until tears rolled down her face. “Same here, but I would’ve waited for him to go to sleep and give him a Lorena Bobbitt and then tossed his junk down the garbage disposal.”
It was Tonya’s turn to laugh hysterically, although what Jasmine’s husband did to her was no laughing matter. “How dare he get another woman pregnant and then cheat his wife out of becoming a mother when he underwent a vasectomy.”
“That’s why I gave her the advice she needed to get what she deserved when going through her divorce,” Hannah said. “I couldn’t believe it when she told me everything he’d done to her. At first I wasn’t going to help her, but when she said she suspected her attorney was being paid by her ex to screw her out of everything she’d worked for, I knew I had to help her.”
“Was he working for the other side?”
“Damn straight he was. I called and told him I was going to report him to the bar for violating his ethics if he didn’t refund her retainer. It took exactly twenty-four hours for him to messenger a bank check to her. I referred her to another attorney, and she got what she wanted.”
“The last time I spoke to Jasmine she was just getting over the flu.”
Hannah laced her fingers together as she stared at the bright pink polish on her toes in a pair of sandals. “I’m not one to spread gossip, but the last time I spoke to my investment banker, he asked me about Jasmine.”
Tonya grunted softly under her breath. It was apparent Cameron had taken her advice to ask Hannah about Jasmine. “That’s what I told him. He’d asked about her at your wedding, and I told him if he wanted to know anything about Jasmine or Nydia, then he should ask you.”
Hannah grimaced. “I like Cameron, but not for Jasmine.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Tonya asked.
“He’s not what I’d call a dog—it’s just that he’s a serial dater. Cameron will take a woman out for a few months, drop her, and then it’s on to the next one.”
“I really don’t know Jasmine as well as Nydia, so I can’t give you my opinion one way or the other. What I did glean from sitting next to him at the reception is that he doesn’t need her money, and he’s willing to go after whatever he wants.”
“That’s because Cameron comes from a moneyed family. And I can testify that he is resolute when he decides he wants a woman. Even though I’m ten years his senior, he’s asked me out a few times.”
Tonya’s dimples creased her cheeks when she smiled. “I never took you for a cougar.”
Hannah waved her hand. “Even if I was younger I’d never trade St. John in for all the money in the world.”
“You really love him, don’t you?”
Closing her eyes and shaking her head, Hannah said, “More than you could ever imagine.” She opened her eyes, and they were shimmering with unshed tears. “St. John is good to me and for me. There had been a time when I agonized over wanting to open the inn in time for Mardi Gras, and he would tell me, everything in its own time. He was the one who suggested converting the guesthouses into eating establishments.”
“What was your original plan for them?”
“I didn’t have one,” Hannah admitted. “I couldn’t convert them for guests because that would increase the number of rooms from nine to thirteen and make the inn a hotel. And I wasn’t willing to repeat the process of filing new applications and licenses and wait months for them to be approved. The approvals for the restaurants are pending, and with the installation of the elevator I can project a fall completion. St. John and I have talked about opening on the same day as our wedding anniversary.”
“You’d really have a reason to celebrate twice.”
Hannah nodded. “That, and St. John can’t come up with the excuse that he forgot our anniversary.”
Tonya pushed to her feet, Hannah rising with her. “I’ve taken up enough of your time with my bitchin’ and moaning. I suppose I knew why I was being ambivalent, but I needed to hear it from someone else.” She extended her arms and wasn’t disappointed when Hannah hugged her. “Thank you. You’ve become the sister I wish I’d had.”
“That goes double for me, Tonya.” Hannah eased back. “The next time you talk to Jasmine, try and feel her out about going in with us. I don’t want to call her and have her think I’m trying to pressure her. Now that the workmen are beginning to renovate the second-story suites, I know as soon as the summer ends we’ll have to begin interviewing and hiring staff. And I can’t think of someone more qualified to do that than Jasmine.”
Tonya had to agree with Hannah. She and many other employees couldn’t believe that Jasmine hadn’t been promoted to director of personnel when her supervisor had been fired for leaking personal information on one of the vice presidents. It was a slap in the face when the board hired someone from the outside to run that department.
“Thanks again for lending me your ear.”
“Any time. I’ll walk you out.”
Hannah stood on the porch, waiting for her to get into the SUV. Tonya executed a U-turn and waved out the open driver’s-side window as she reversed direction and drove home. She marveled at how easy it was for her to think of the guesthouse as home when for most of her life, New York City had been home. It was where she was born, raised, and with the exception of spending some time in Rhode Island and abroad, the majority of her life she had lived in three of the five boroughs.
Now home was New Orleans, the Crescent City, NOLA, or Nawlins. Unconsciously she had settled into the predictable rhythm of getting up at dawn to bake bread, roast and grill meat and fish, and cut, chop, and sauté ingredients for gumbos, bisques, and other soups, while refining her expertise when it came to sauces, dry rubs, and seasonings.
Strolling through the Quarter reminded of Tonya of Greenwich Village with its historic buildings, distinctive architecture, funky bars, antique shops, art galleries, and sidewalk cafés crowded with tourists and native bohemians. She had become accustomed to the differing dialects, which, like the food and music, she found hypnotic.
She was four blocks from the house when Gage’s number appeared on the navigation screen. Smiling, she tapped a button on the steering wheel. “What’s up, darling?” The endearment had slipped out unconsciously.
“That’s what I should be asking you, babe.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Eustace.”
Tonya’s heart rate quickened. “Has something happened to him?” When she left him at the restaurant, he appeared to be all right.
“No. I just spoke to him, and he claims you were out of sorts today. He figured you may have been exhausted from yesterday.”
She wanted to tell Gage it was his brother who was out of sorts, that, other than complaining to her about his early Monday morning weigh-in, he was practically monosyllabic. “I suppose I’m still a little tired,” she said instead.
“You can’t spend more than twelve hours catering a party and then get up early the next morning to begin cooking again.”
“I didn’t have a choice, Gage.”
“Yes, you did. I could’ve asked one of the assistants at Jazzes if they wanted to earn some extra money, and I’m certain they wouldn’t have turned it down.”
She smiled. “Maybe next year.”
“Next year you’ll be open for business.”
“Never on a Sunday.” Signaling, she turned off onto the street leading to DuPont House.
“I remember you mentioning that you plan to close Sundays and Mondays.”
Tonya slowed as she approached the centuries-old mansion and suddenly hit the brake when she saw the gates open. When she’d left, the contractors were still working in the main house. They always left promptly at five, and it was now minutes before six.
“Gage.”
“What is it?”
“Someone left the gate open.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The gate to the house is wide open and—”
“Are the workmen still there?”
“I don’t think so. They usually park their trucks where I can see them from the road.”
“Don’t go in! Stay where you are, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Where are you, Gage?”
“Home. Hang up. I’m on my way.”
Tonya disconnected the call and turned off the engine. The foreman of the construction company had been given a remote device to open and close the gate, yet it was apparent he had forgotten to activate it. The Garden District, having set up its own neighborhood watch, was relatively safe, but since Paige and LeAnn had moved to Marigny, Tonya had become very vigilant when leaving or returning to the property.
* * *
Gage knew he was speeding and prayed he wouldn’t be stopped by the police before arriving at DuPont House. As soon as he hung up, he called St. John to tell him to alert Hannah that the workmen had left her property unprotected. St. John said he would handle it and that by the time Gage got to the house someone from a private security company would meet him.
He managed to make it to the Garden District without being pulled over; he spotted Tonya’s Honda parked in front of the house. There was another dark vehicle idling in back of hers, and as soon as he turned off the engine and got out, the driver in the other car also emerged. Gage smiled when he recognized the man who’d been a guest at his cousin’s Super Bowl party.
Mark Fitzsimmons, still sporting a military haircut, had attended the same high school as Hannah and St. John. He came from a military family, having serving thirty years in the Marine Corps as a drill instructor, and now operated his own security company.
Gage exchanged a handshake with Mark. The former marine was still in incredible shape for a man approaching sixty. “I didn’t think I’d see you again this soon.”
“Same here,” Mark replied. “St. John wants me to check out the house and property before anyone goes in.”
Gage nodded. “The gates are usually left open during the day when the work crew is here, but it appears as if they’re gone now.”
“I called a couple of my men, and as soon as they get here we’ll make certain the place is secure. Do you have keys to the house?”
“No. But I’ll get them from Tonya.” He approached her vehicle and tapped on the driver’s-side window. She opened the door and he extended his hand to help her out. His arms circled her waist, pulling her close to his body. “How are you?”
Tilting her chin, Tonya smiled up at him. “I’m okay. I didn’t expect you to get here so quickly.”
He flashed a sheepish grin. “I must admit that I did a little speeding.”
“Only a little?” she asked.
“Okay. I did a lot of speeding, because all I could think of was some sick idiot lurking around the property.” He glanced over her at the imposing two-story structure at the end of the curving path. “Is the house always left dark at night now that Paige and LeAnn are staying with St. John?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Anyone passing by would assume it’s unoccupied, and that will only invite trouble.”
“The porch lights are solar-powered, so they come on at dusk and go off at sunrise.”
“That’s still not enough. Hannah should install timers so lamps can come on and go off at different intervals.” The sound of approaching cars caught Gage’s attention. “That must be Mark’s men. I need the key to the main house so they can go through all of the rooms.”
Reaching into her tote, Tonya handed Gage a set of keys to the main house. “I’ll also give you the key to the guesthouses.”
Gage kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right back.” He returned to where Mark stood with two men holding military-style flashlights. Overhead light from a streetlamp revealed both men had automatic handguns tucked in holsters at the small of their backs.
The three men made their way up the path leading to DuPont House. At the same time another vehicle arrived, and Gage recognized the car as Hannah’s vintage Mercedes-Benz. St. John was driving, and within seconds of the sedan coming to a stop, Hannah was out and running toward him.
“Is she all right?”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Tonya.”
He smiled. “Of course she’s all right.”
Hannah looked over her shoulder at her husband. “St. John said something like Tonya was afraid to go inside the house because she thought someone was there.”
St. John strolled over and angled his head at Hannah. “Stop it, sweetheart. You’re just being melodramatic.”
She rounded on him. “But didn’t you say she didn’t want to go into the house?”
He met Gage’s eyes. “I said Gage didn’t want her to go into the house until it was checked out. That’s why I called Mark.”
His explanation appeared to satisfy Hannah, as she blew out her breath. “I’m going over to talk to Tonya.”
Waiting until Hannah was out of earshot, Gage rested a hand on St. John’s shoulder. “I need to talk to you.”
“What do you want to say that you don’t want Hannah to hear?”
“Damn, kezen, I didn’t know you could read minds.”
St. John laughed. “I can’t. It’s just that I believe I know you better than you know yourself. After all, I did watch you grow up.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it, kezen. You’re thirteen years older than me, and that only makes you an older brother.”
“Okay, but as your older brother, cousin, I can see that Tonya has your nose so wide open that you can drive a tractor trailer up it.”
Gage froze. “You know?” he asked after a pregnant silence.
“Come on, Gage. Only someone who’s visually impaired wouldn’t see how you look at the woman. Before I married Hannah you got on me about not going out with women after I broke up with Lorna. I could say the same about you, because you haven’t brought a woman around to any of the family functions since you and Winnie split up.”
“Do me a favor, St. John.”
“What?”
“Please don’t ever mention her name to me again.”
“She can’t be the reason you’re turned off on women.”
Gage paused. “She’s part of it. What’s the expression about the wife or the husband being the last to know? It was a hard pill to swallow when I found out my wife had been turning tricks to save enough money to live in a big house.”
St. John patted his cousin’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “That’s water under the bridge now. How serious is this thing between you and Tonya?”
“We’re very good friends. I don’t know what it is about her, but whenever we’re together I can be myself. I can say whatever comes to mind without her catching an attitude or looking at me sideways.”
“That’s called respect, Gage. She respects your opinions, and hopefully you can respect hers.”
“Oh, I do,” he said quickly. “And she’s not shy about speaking her mind.”
St. John smiled. “There you go. It looks as if you’ve found your soulmate. Don’t turn around. The ladies are heading our way.”
Gage thought about what St. John said as to his staring at Tonya. He had no idea he had been that obvious. He smiled down at Tonya when she slipped her hand in his. “It will be over soon.”
Hannah curved her arm around St. John’s waist. “I used my remote to the close the gate and it wouldn’t move, so it must have malfunctioned. Even if it hadn’t, I don’t feel comfortable with Tonya living here alone now that my cousins are staying with us.”
Tonya shook her head. “I’m okay as long as the gates are closed at night.”
“Hannah’s right,” St. John said. “We have an extra bedroom if you’re willing to move in with us until the inn’s ready.”
Tonya shook her head again. “I can’t. You already have a full house.”
“I have two extra bedrooms if you don’t mind staying with me,” Gage suggested.
Tonya pulled her lower lip between her teeth as she seemingly pondered his offer. “I’ll stay, but only until the gates are functioning. After that I’m coming back.”
Gage looked at Hannah and then St. John. Even if Tonya lived with him until the gates were repaired, it would lessen some of his angst as to her safety. “Okay,” he conceded. He felt as if he had won a small victory. “As soon as Mark and his men give us the all-clear signal, I’ll go with you to pack a bag for a few days.”
“Do you want St. John and me to wait with you?” Hannah asked Gage.
“No. You guys can go on back home.”
“Tell Mark to call me when he’s finished,” St. John said as he led Hannah back to their car.
Gage stood with Tonya, watching as the taillights of the sedan disappeared from view, and then led her to his vehicle. They sat together, held hands, and stared out the windshield. No words were necessary. They were about to become temporary roommates.