Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy (14 page)

Lyla didn’t
remember anything the next day. She said she had a nightmare about a spider and
being in the water, but she couldn’t remember details. Noah was gone by
sunrise. He hugged me tightly in his arms before he left and made me promise to
call him if there was trouble. He said he’d be back again tonight if I wanted
him to. I told him I did.

***

I had a talk
with Lyla in the waiting room while Clothilde was in surgery. It was a little
after 8:00 AM, and I was exhausted, despite all the coffee I drank from the
cafeteria. We were the only two in the waiting room. Lucas had come by earlier
with donuts for us after he dropped Jon off at the sitter’s. He stayed long
enough to make sure we were okay, but then he had to leave for work at the
police station. He was polite to me, but I could tell that yesterday still
bothered him. I didn’t tell him about last night.

Lyla lounged on
the little couch, immersed in her book, not a thing wrong with her. It looked
like she only had a few chapters left. I said prayers for Clothilde and her
doctor and the team operating on her. The old prayers I grew up saying were so
automatic that they didn’t feel genuine anymore. I talked to God instead. It
was something I hadn’t done since Mom died.

If you’re there,
please see her through this. I can’t bear to lose another mother. Neither can
Lyla.

“Lyla,” I said.

She put her
finger up for me to wait a second. She reminded me so much of Clothilde. When
she finished reading a paragraph, she put her bookmark in place and closed the
book.

“What?”

“Would it upset
you if I went somewhere?”

“You mean to
Paris?”

“Oh, so you were
awake yesterday when Maw Maw and I were talking.”

“Yeah. It’s fine
with me.” She opened her book again.

“Wait a sec.”

She let out an
aggravated sigh and closed the book again.

“I’m not so sure
I should go.”

“But you
promised her.”

“I know, but I’m
worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Well, Maw Maw
will take a while to heal and—
someone has to stop you from being taken by
monsters
—someone has to see about picking up your school work, and—”

“They email that
now.”

“Oh. Well not
just that stuff. You start therapy tomorrow.”

Another
aggravated sigh.

“C’mon, you
promised me. Remember? I think it’ll really help you.”

“Okay, but if I
have to keep my promise to you then you have to keep your promise to Maw Maw
Clo.”

I was silent for
a moment.

“You
have
to,” she insisted. “And don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I can help Maw Maw
at home, and Uncle Lucas or Miss Carrie can take me to the counselor every
week.”

“It looks like
you’ve thought this through.”

“Mmm hmm.
Everything will be fine.”

“You seriously
seem more put-together than I am.”

“Maybe
you’re
the one who needs counseling.”

I chuckled.
“You’re probably right.”

She went back to
her book, and I texted Carrie to ask her if she’d be available to bring Lyla to
her therapy sessions if I went to Paris. I didn’t want to ask Lucas. He would
have said yes without a doubt, but I knew he’d be hovering over Clothilde for
the next couple of weeks and I didn’t want to wear him out. Also, I still
hadn’t told him about Paris.

About ten
minutes later my phone vibrated with Carrie’s answer to my question:
DUH!

Thanks
, I texted back.

***

The surgery
lasted just under three hours. Dr. Kelly greeted us in the waiting room. She
was smiling.

“Everything went
very well,” she said. “She’s in recovery. You can go in and see her in a few
minutes, but not for long. Visiting hours are almost over. Just to warn you,
she’ll be a little out of it. She needs a lot of rest.”

I thanked her,
and Lyla and I went to see Clothilde. As soon as I saw her, my heart skipped.
She looked the way she did in my dream, pale and lifeless, but with a breathing
tube taped to her mouth. Her chest rose with a deep breath. Her white hair was
crushed flat against the pillow. Lyla went straight to her and held her hand. I
went around to the other side of the bed and took her other hand. Her green
eyes blinked open.

“Maw Maw,” I
said softly. “It’s me and Lyla. The doctor said you did great.”

Her eyes
fluttered, and she tried to move her head.

“Don’t move too
much,” I said. “You need to rest.”

She slipped her
hand out of mine and tried to pull out the tube.

I pulled her
hand back. “You can’t do that. It has to stay put. It’s going to help you.”

Her eyes looked
angry and hard.

“It’s okay, Maw
Maw Clo,” said Lyla. “You’ll be out of here in no time.”

Clothilde’s eyes
fluttered closed, and she went back to sleep. Lyla and I stayed there nearly
fifteen minutes, just holding her hands and watching her chest rise and fall,
before a nurse came in to tell us it was time to go.

***

Noah stayed with
us at the house that night, under the radar. I hated keeping secrets from
Lucas, but I felt it would have made things so much worse if he knew. I wasn’t
worried about him being jealous, though I was sure he would be. I didn’t want
him to panic about our encounter the night before.

The next day,
Cee Cee came to see Clothilde and volunteered to stay with Lyla and me. Having
her at the house made me feel so much better. I felt safe with Noah, but I felt
just as safe with Cee Cee, and she was comfortable. In a way, it was like
having Clothilde there, but a more cheerful Clothilde.

It was raining
the day of Lyla’s first therapy session, which was the third day after the
surgery. Cee Cee woke us up that morning with the house smelling of breakfast.
She had laid out a feast of bacon, scrambled eggs, and French toast with
freshly-made cream to go on top. Lyla and I ate better at that meal than we did
the last two days.

Cee Cee left
shortly after to go see Clothilde at the hospital for the morning visiting
hours. I had planned to go for the noon hour, after I dropped Lyla off at her
appointment, and then I’d take her with me for the evening visiting hour.

I drove to the
therapist’s, popped open an umbrella and walked Lyla to the front door.

“You sure you
don’t want me to go in with you?”

She rolled her
eyes. “Do I have to answer again?”

“Okay,” I
sighed. “I love you.”

I thought she’d
roll her eyes again, but she hugged me instead, taking me by surprise. It was a
short hug, and when she let go, she went inside the office and closed the door.
But it was a hug.

I hopped over
the rising water near the curb and headed for the hospital. Visiting time
started in fifteen minutes, but I almost missed it altogether.

As I was
crossing the intersection of Congress and Bertrand, a big rig cab ran a red
light at full speed, clipping the rear end of my car. I spun on the wet road
and crashed into a utility pole. My air bag went off. I started shaking,
adrenaline coursing through my body. But it wasn’t because of the accident. I
caught a glimpse of the driver right before he ran the light. His face was not
human. The eyes were solid black, and its face was twisted up into a snarl.

A police officer
who was getting gas at the station on the corner ran up to me. I recognized
her. Yolanda Freeman—she was in the academy with Lucas, David and Michelle.

“Ma’am, are you
okay?!”

“Yeah. I’m
fine,” I said, trying to get my hands to stop shaking.

“Leigh?”

“Hey, Yolanda.
I’m okay. I am. I don’t need an ambulance. You should chase that truck so he
doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

“I just radioed
for a cruiser to go after that guy. I really think you should get checked out.”

“Thanks, but I’m
about to go to the hospital anyway to see my grandmother.”

“You’re not
going anywhere in this car. I’ll call a tow for you. You should call your
insurance company ASAP. And I need to get a statement from you.”

I made sure to
leave out the part about the inhuman truck driver when I gave my statement.
When we were done, I asked Yolanda to drop me off at the Hilton up the street.
I was doing a good job of holding back the shakes, but still felt weird and
didn’t want to upset Clothilde in her condition.

Carrie worked
the front desk of the hotel. When I went into the lobby, she was wrapping up
with a guest. Despite my every attempt to look normal, as soon as she saw me
her eyes widened and her jaw fell open. “What’s wrong?”

I was about to
say that nothing was wrong, that I just wanted to stop and tell her hi before I
went to see Clothilde, but I just started crying. She came around the counter
and put her arms around me. We sat on the overstuffed sofa in the lobby, and I
told her about Lyla being attacked, about something monster trying to run me
over, and then I started crying for the first time about facing the possibility
of losing my grandmother and my niece.

“It’ll be okay,
Leigh-Leigh. Care Bear is here!”

I sniffled and smiled.

“Really, Leigh.
It’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know
that.”

“No. But I
believe
it.”

Lucas walked in
just then. His eyes desperately searched the lobby. He probably heard about the
accident on his police radio, or Yolanda called him personally. He spotted me
and Carrie, saw me crying and hurried to me. I stood. He wrapped his strong
arms around me, and I tucked my head into his neck. I started shaking again,
but out of relief. I was safe.

***

The tender
moment with Lucas didn’t last long. A few minutes later, he pulled it out of me
and Carrie what had happened, that it wasn’t a regular accident. And I told him
about Lyla’s attack. He scowled and was too quiet. Carrie took that opportunity
to excuse herself to get back to work because her boss was scowling from his
office.

“I know you’re
not happy with me right now, but can we talk about this later? I really want to
go see Clothilde. The noon hour is almost up.”

He nodded. “Come
on. I’ll drive you. But I have to get back to work. I was working on a case and
left in the middle.”

“Sorry.” I
looked down at the floor.

He shook his
head, softening a little. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I was just so
relieved that you were okay. I can call one of the guys to give you a ride back
when you’re ready.”

I laughed.
“Thanks, but I don’t want the Lafayette PD to be my personal taxi service. I
asked my insurance company to meet me at the hospital with a rental. I’ll be
okay.”

We waved goodbye
to Carrie, who looked a little relieved that some of the tension between us had
dissipated, but she still looked uncertain and questioned me with her eyebrows.
I discretely shook my head, meaning for her to drop the subject. Outside, a
white sheet of rain obscured the parking lot.

“I’ll bring the
truck around,” he said.

“No. I’ll run
with you.”

“You sure?”

I nodded.

He pulled the
keys from his pocket and held the key to unlock the doors in his right hand.
His old truck didn’t have electronic locks. He held out his left hand for me. I
glanced at it for a second and smiled briefly at that old southern-gentleman
nature of his. It was the kind of gesture he did without thinking, probably not
wanting me to slip and fall running across the wet pavement. I took his hand,
and we sloshed through the water building up over the lot.

He opened my
door first and closed it for me after I got inside. When he came in and shut
the door on the driver’s side, we looked at each other and let out a small
laugh at how pathetic we looked. He started the truck and turned on the heater.
The radio kicked on. It was always tuned to the same classic country station.
Willie Nelson’s “Red Headed Stranger” was playing. It reminded me of the last
time I heard Willie. It was when I first moved back to Louisiana. I was with
Lucas at a bar. We had talked about the Dark Man that night, but we also spoke
of faith and the afterlife. Lucas, always the faithful and the good.

“What are you
thinking about?”

His eyes were on
mine. In this kind of rain, the light tends to have a white tint. It brought
out the green in his eyes.

“That you’re too
good for me.”

He rolled his
eyes and laid his head back on the head rest, staring up at the ceiling of the
cab. “C’mon, Leigh.”