"Uh..."

'Answer the woman, Bootsie! You know what the woman wants to hear. Do you' love 'her boy?'

"...I like Scott very much."

'Coward. Don't lie to the woman. Why can't you admit what you really feel?'

Because then I would lose Paul.

'You already lost Paul, girl, in case you hadn't noticed.'

Shut up.

Turning to Scott's mother, she tried to explain her hesitancy.

"When I started to see Paul, it was always the three of us -- Paul, Scott and me. When Paul asked me to marry him, I asked him if Scott came with the package? Paul laughed and told me that Scott was 'our' friend and that if anything ever happened, Scott would be there to help me. And he has."

She sniffed. Mama Chloe handed her a tissue.

"When all this started, I never even thought twice about accepting Scott's help. It was a given that he would. But believe me, I never wanted him to risk his life for me. I couldn't live with myself if he died. That's going way beyond what Paul expected of him."

"No, child." Mama Chloe placed the bread in the oven, then walked over to stand in front of Jeanette. "That is exactly what Paul would have expected Scott to do. It's what he would have done if the situation had been reversed."

Jeanette shook her head and started to speak, but was stopped by Mama's finger against her lips.

"Hush, now. Listen. There's something you should know. Something Paul told me a long time ago."

The older woman led her to the wooden porch swing on the veranda off the kitchen.

"I didn't approach you at the funeral, 'cause I didn't trust myself not to say something right then and there. It wasn't the right time with you being a new widow and grievin' and all. I figured my boy would help you through your grief, then proceed with his wooing a lot faster than he did. But he didn't. And now he's gone off and left the whole situation in the air."

With a heavy sigh, Mama set the swing in motion. "It probably isn't my place to tell you this, but I'm a nosey old woman and I'm gonna do it anyway."

"No, please..." Jeanette didn't know what to say, wasn't sure she wanted to hear what caused the normally cheerful woman to look and sound so serious.

"You know, I was like a momma to Paul after his own sweet mother died. His daddy had to work, so Paul practically lived at our house. It didn't surprise me none that he called me after you accepted his proposal."

Mama reached out and took one of Jeanette's limp hands in hers. "'Cher', he was over the moon with happiness. You'd picked him over Scott, the man he loved like a brother. He'd always thought if Scott had popped the question first, you would've chosen my boy over him -- 'cause Paul realized what you don't: you loved them both equally. I think you still do, and I'm sure that has caused you even more grief. What you have to decide is have you grieved your first love enough to go on to your second?"

Jeanette tried to speak but couldn't around the tears clogging her throat. And even if she could speak, she wasn't sure what she would say.

Mama shook her head. "Now, now, 'cher', I'm sorry to make you cry. My boy would skin me alive if he knew what I'd just told you."

The older woman hugged her. "You don't have to tell this old busy-body a dang thing. But promise me, you'll think on what I just told you. Because if you could find it in your heart to love my son as a woman loves a man -- or if you could possibly grow to love my son in that way -- please tell him. I swear he loves you as much as he loved Paul. Maybe more."

Mama gave Jeanette one more hug, then pushed herself up off the settee. "And, if you can't return that love, well, he ain't gonna stop loving you, ain't gonna regret helping. So, don't you worry about that. Now, I need to go check on that bread. Why don't you get Little Bits in here and we'll have us some 'cafe au lait'."

Jeanette didn't move. She couldn't. She was caught in a swampy maze. Every time she thought she'd found a way out of her emotional quandary over Scott, she bumped into another dead end.

She knew Scott loved her, because he'd said so. All those years, and she never had a clue and wasn't sure yet exactly how she felt about it. Before all this mess started, she would have sworn that the feelings she had for Scott were ones of deep friendship. Except a man who goes off to risk his life for a woman wants more than just being buddies. Yet, he'd gone -- even without the words he needed from her so desperately.

And, she'd let him go.

Mama Chloe had just told her that Paul knew Scott loved her. Even more, her husband realized she loved them both. How could he not tell her? And how could he love her knowing what he knew? Even so, he had continued to include Scott in their lives. Had made Scott promise to look out for her and their child.

Had she always been this clueless?

'Bootsie, stop beating yourself up, girl. Let the past go. Think about the future. That is what's important.'

The future. Yeah, she would have to think about it. But not now.

'New Orleans'

"Have you found her yet?"

Rutherford glared at Bennie "The Finger" St. James, an old boyhood friend from Desire. After Bennie had gotten rid of Matthews, he'd assigned him the task of handling Jeanette. So far, Bennie had been a big disappointment.

"It's not my fault, Bry. I've checked her apartment which has been sublet. I checked her kid's school, and the nuns slammed the door in my face. I even went over to the Medical Center and nosed around, listening to gossip. Nothing. It's like she vanished off the face of the earth."

"She can't just disappear without a trace. How about that dead boyfriend of hers, the lawyer?"

"Carter? I went through his place. It was clean as a whistle. He's got a twin brother who came and cleaned it all out. I even picked up one of the secretaries at his law firm and took her drinking. She knew nothing. Said the brother had cleaned out the desk."

"Where's the brother? Maybe Jeanette is with him?"

"Nah. He's in Atlanta at the CDC. I had a buddy of mine break into the guy's apartment. No woman and kid living there. The guy barely lives there. One of those types who's married to his job. I'm at a dead end."

Bennie picked his teeth with an ever-present ivory toothpick, the motion calling attention to the lack of a right index finger. Rutherford had been present the night, many years ago, when Bennie lost the finger defending their turf in the old neighborhood.

So when it had become obvious that Eric Matthews had outlived his usefulness, Rutherford looked up his old boyhood friend and offered him the job of garbage duty.

"I don't want to hear that. I want the bitch found."

Rutherford gulped his Scotch. He really needed to stop drinking so much, but until Jeanette and the information she possessed were found and eliminated -permanently -- he didn't think he could. She was just the kind of witness a zealous attorney needed to pin things on him. A jury would love her wide-eyed honesty and absolute sense of morality. What had possessed him to hire her? Had a chance at dirtying up that look of innocence been worth what was happening now?

In hind-sight, it hadn't. But he couldn't waste time regretting one small lapse due to raging hormones. He needed to deal with the mess and go on.

Bennie said, "No action on the legal front, I take it?"

Rutherford shook off the mental hair coat. Something was going on here. Bennie's darting eyes, tapping foot, and incessant sucking and picking of his teeth indicated stress.

"No. My sources are telling me all's clear. You heard something different?"

"Well ... uh, I'm not sure."

Bennie still refused to look him in the eye.

Rutherford slammed his drink on the desk, spilling some on the gleaming mahogany surface. "Cough it up, Bennie. How can I deal with it, if I don't have a clue what you've heard."

Heads would be rolling if Bennie had something his local police and federal sources should have told him. What in the hell was he paying those idiots for if they weren't keeping their ears to the ground?

"I heard from one of my snitches that a lady is gonna be suing you for making her blind, and that the bitch you've got me looking for is going to be one of her primary witnesses."

Bennie's nervous actions stilled. His watchful attitude reminded Rutherford of a dog waiting to be kicked again.

Rutherford didn't explode -- that would be what Bennie expected him to do, what he used to do back in the old days when he'd had the reputation of being a loose cannon, unable to control his violent temper. He'd come a long way since then, or at least he liked to think so.

After he was sure he wouldn't yell, Rutherford took a calming sip of his drink and wiped up the spillage on his desk with his finger. "Where did you hear this exactly?"

"Like I told you, one of my snitches. He works part-time as a bus boy in one of the bars off Royal favored by the legal types. He heard your name -- knew you from the old days -- so managed to clean up in the area where the two lawyers were talking. One of them was saying something about some client who was blind and that he'd found this Jeanette LaFleur who could pin some serious shit on you."

"Did your snitch catch the lawyer's name?"

"He got it offa the credit card slip after they left."

Bennie reached into his pant's pocket and pulled out a small notebook. Opening it, he flipped through some pages until he found the one he wanted. "Guy's name is Evan Devereaux."

Rutherford smiled. "This could be the break we need."

"Huh? You think getting sued is a break? You okay, Bry? Maybe you shouldn't be hitting the booze so hard." Bennie's forehead creased with concern.

"If there is no primary witness, then I'm sure I can get the case settled."

"But we don't know where the broad is."

"But you can find this Devereaux. And when you do, I want you to become

his shadow. I want to know where he lives, who he sees, who he calls. You are going to know him and his life better than his own mama. He'll lead us to little Jeanette, sooner or later."

Bennie's forehead relaxed. "Gotcha. I'll need some more guys to help cover

him this closely."

"Get whomever you need. Just give them enough info for the job at hand."

Rutherford caught Bennie's eye. "And Bennie -- they don't need to know who you're working for. Got it?"

"Yeah. No worries." Bennie made a couple of notes in his little book. "When I

find the LaFleur broad, you want me to do her?"

"I want you to make her gone. After you get all the evidence she has in her possession."

"What if she's turned it over to this lawyer already?"

"Kill him and everyone who's come into contact with the information."

"That could mean torching the law firm, Bry."

"I know."

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE.

'October 15th, San Jacinto fazenda'

"Please calm down, Jeannie."

Scott mentally cursed the distance between him and the woman he loved. She

needed him, and he was thousands of miles away. Thank God for Tony and his security firm's resources. The damn DEA had never gotten him the satellite set-up they'd promised. But Tony had.

"What did the police tell you and Tony about this Matthews' death?"

"The police said it looked to be a professional hit."

The tension in Jeannie's voice came over the digital connection loud and clear.

Scott closed his eyes to avoid Rosalie's questioning ones. It was hard to talk

to Jeannie with Rosalie in the room, but he couldn't take the chance without

her. Although they thought the camp had bought their lover's act, neither one of them wanted to risk their lives on that belief. So, Rosalie was watching -and listening -- for any extra-inquisitive passers-by.