When Tommy started wailing for his mother, Doctor Raeburn stopped in his tracks. He flipped the patient's chart to the next of kin section and read the information provided by the police department. He scanned the page and turned his attention to the man cowering on the other side of the bed.
Mister Bledsoe," he said soothingly, "I don't see your mother listed on your chart. It says here your next of kin is a sister in Florida."
Tommy nodded, somewhat calmed by the man's soothing voice.
"Mama Rita is in Brantley, am I still in Houston?"
Raeburn nodded, so Tommy continued.
"Something happened to my brains and I saw some really, really bad things. Then some men beat me up. Then I woke up here in this bad place, so you need to call Mama Rita so she can come get me and take me home."
Raeburn nodded his understanding.
"Do you know her phone number?" he asked.
Tommy was about to spout out the number when a burly orderly peeked through the door.
"Ah, Doc, there are three women at the nurses' station demanding to see this guy. One of them says she's his fiancée."
Raeburn looked over at his patient inquisitively and Tommy looked at the orderly.
"Which one?" he asked.
The orderly shrugged his massive shoulders.
"I didn't catch a name, but she is very pretty, with long wavy black hair."
For the first time in two days, Tommy felt the least bit more at ease.
"That's Connie; Mama must have sent her to get me."
Raeburn glanced at the orderly and shrugged.
"Might as well bring them down, maybe it will help us understand this mess."
Even though Tommy thought the doctor might end up being his friend, he still kept the bed between them. After what had happened to him lately, he wasn't about to trust a stranger.
A couple of minutes later, Connie, Paloma and Caroline came steaming into the room. Paloma and Caroline stopped at the doorway, but Connie charged across the room and took Tommy into her arms.
"My poor baby," she cooed as she gently traced the vivid purple bruise under his swollen right eye.
Tommy sighed and sagged against her. He felt safe for the first time in a couple of days.
Raeburn's brow furrowed in concentration as the beautiful young woman held his patient. The woman looked familiar, but he couldn't put a name to the face. His concentration turned into something else when the statuesque woman turned toward him looking seriously irate.
"Why is Tommy locked up in here and what happened to frighten him so badly?" she asked heatedly.
Raeburn held up his hand in a stop gesture.
"Whoa, there, Miss, we are on the same side. Now just who are you three?"
Connie blushed at her rudeness and rushed to correct it.
"Delgado," she said, "Connie Delgado, and these are two of Tommy's friends, Paloma and Caroline. Sorry for the outburst, but we've been worried sick."
The name Delgado caught Raeburn's attention, and he quickly put the name and face together. Conchita Delgado films had been a staple for him when he was a struggling young intern living in near poverty. That a woman of Conchita Delgado's beauty and stature was engaged to his patient, made him reevaluate what he thought of the man.
"I'm pleased to meet you ladies, I'm Jeffery Raeburn, head of psychiatry for the hospital," Raeburn said with a slight bow. "And to answer your question, Miss Delgado, Thomas Bledsoe was admitted to this ward when he became uncontrollable in the emergency room. The fright he exhibits now is only a small fraction of what he felt when he was admitted. The fright was cause by flashbacks he was having of some unpleasant experiences he must have had in Vietnam."
Connie looked at the doctor in surprise.
"Tommy doesn't have any memories of Vietnam. In fact, he doesn't remember anything after the age of twelve, until he awoke from a coma two years ago."
It was Raeburn's turn to be surprised, and the case just became much more interesting. He thought for a minute before replying.
"Research conducted over the last few years indicates that the mind spreads little snippets of memory in various locations besides the prefrontal lobes. Maybe the large quantity of LSD your fiancé ingested triggered painful snippets he'd been suppressing," Raeburn suggested.
"LSD!" Connie exclaimed. "I've never seen him have anything stronger than a glass of wine."
She grabbed Tommy's hand and looked up into his confused expression.
"Did you take LSD Saturday night, Tommy?" she asked softly.
Tommy shook his head emphatically.
"I don't even know what that is! All I had Saturday night was the Doctor Pepper my new friend Roger fixed me. You can ask him if you don't believe me."
Connie soothed Tommy and looked pointedly at Paloma.
"Roger Taylor is an old boyfriend. In fact, he's the one who drove me around Saturday night looking for Tommy. He has also been bragging lately about this new acid he found. But why would he send Tommy on a trip without telling him?" Paloma said.
Connie's eyes narrowed at that bit of news. Connie Delgado did not share Paloma's view that peace was the answer. Roger Taylor would soon find out that fucking with her man was a very bad idea. Although seething inside, Connie pasted on a smile and exercised her considerable skill as an actress. In no time, she had charmed Doctor Raeburn into releasing Tommy to her, with the caveat that she either bring him back in a few days for a follow-up visit, or get him in to see a VA specialist.
By the time Tommy was discharged from the hospital, it was too late to drive back to Brantley, so Connie and Tommy spent the night at Paloma's house.
After supper, Janet and Caroline locked themselves into their rooms to study while Tommy, Connie and Paloma watched television and chatted. Connie liked tall slender Paloma, and the two women openly flirted all evening long. Under normal circumstances, Connie would have dragged both Tommy and Paloma off to play, but in Tommy's current condition, that wasn't an option. It hurt Connie's heart that her guy was suffering so much.
After a tough night of Tommy fitfully dozing in between heart-wrenching nightmares, Connie felt even worse for him. As they sat at the kitchen table having breakfast with Paloma and Caroline, Connie had a sudden inspiration. She hopped up and asked to borrow the telephone.
An hour later, she and Tommy were on the road. But they weren't headed west towards Brantley and the heart of Texas. Instead, they were pointed east towards Lafayette, Louisiana and the Hotel Arcenaux. Connie had a strong feeling that somehow, the seemingly supernatural bond Tommy shared with Marie Arcenaux was the solution to his problems.
It was only a three hour drive from Houston to Lafayette the way Connie drove, so the couple pulled up to the gingerbread Victorian Inn right at lunch time. Salmarie was working the desk when they arrived.
"Ahhh, you brought him back so that I could have my turn, eh Cherie?" Salmarie said teasingly.
Connie guessed that Marie hadn't shared with her daughter that there was a problem with Tommy.
"Sure Salmarie, provided your mother can make him better," Connie replied.
Salmarie gave her an inquisitive look as she spun the register around for Connie to sign. Connie shrugged and mouthed, "I'll tell you later," as she signed her name.
Marie made her entrance just as Tommy was picking up Connie's pink Samsonite week-ender suitcase. Marie gave Connie a firm hug then stepped into Tommy's arms. Maria understood the nature of Tommy's problem as soon as they touched and his aura enveloped her. Before, his aura had been strong and golden-hued. Now it was weaker and shot through with inky patches of hurt and small tendrils of malice. The only good thing about his damaged aura was that it was not as overwhelming as it had been during his last visit.
It hurt Marie deeply that Tommy was suffering so much, but she also knew that she could change that if they had some time alone. Marie knew exactly how Tommy's aura should look, because she had its clone growing in her womb. Decision made, she turned to face Connie.
"Tommy and I are going to spend a couple of days at the bayou house. Can you help the girls and Pierre while I'm gone?"
Connie grinned and said, "Sure Marie, no problem."
Marie drove Tommy out to her family's little Cajun cottage that was situated two miles off US 90 on Bayou Laveau (pronounced La-voe). Laveau was Marie's maiden name. The Laveaus were a small family by Acadian Louisiana standards, yet they were legendary for their pretty but strange and mysterious women. Bayou Laveau was a pristine, undisturbed waterway that drained into the Vermillion River, south of Lafayette. Legend had it that the bayou was untouched because a Laveau woman bewitched an Army Corp of Engineer surveyor into moving further to the south a drainage canal needed for the construction of US Highway 90. The four-room house had been in Marie's family since the 1840s. It was so old it didn't have nails in the original rough hewed cypress timbers that made up the framework.
Marie and Tommy settled in and put away the groceries they'd bought for their stay. Tommy was infatuated by the quaint old house, and spent an hour exploring in and around it. The house was on creosoted cypress pilings that put the floor four feet above the ground. It was oriented north-south for better cross-ventilation, and had a wide porch that extended end to end across the front. A set of stairs on the porch, or galerie as Maries called it, led up to an attic under the steeply pitched roof. Marie said the attic was commonly referred to as the grenier and was often used as a bedroom for male children.
While Tommy was poking around, Marie bustled about opening the cabin and letting the delightful mid-April air freshen the place. When she finished, she joined Tommy on the short dock that jutted into the bayou. When she walked up, Tommy was examining a small flat bottomed boat turned upside down at the end of the dock. He looked up and gave Marie a small smile.
"Can we take your canoe out on the water? I'll paddle so all you have to do is ride."
Marie was encouraged by his smile, even weak as it was.
"Sure we can, Tommy, but it's a pirogue, not a canoe. Canoes don't have flat bottoms," she said.
Tommy was an enthusiastic oarsman, but he couldn't keep the boat headed in a straight line until Marie gave him some instructions. Soon enough, they came to a wider portion of the bayou where the water was shallow enough to make paddling ineffective. Tommy was amazed when Marie stood up and used a long pole lying in the bottom of the boat to effortlessly push them across the water. Tommy insisted on taking over the poling, and twice, he almost tipped them over before he got the hang of it.
Marie smiled indulgently at Tommy as he paddled them back towards the house. So far, the serenity of the peaceful bayou was having the desired effect on him. See, her plan wasn't that complicated, she just needed him alone in a peaceful setting so the special connection they shared could work undistracted.
When Tommy had the boat back on the dock, Marie took his hand and led him back through the house to the front galerie. She sat him down on a sturdy cypress bench then straddled his legs with hers, so she was sitting in his lap facing him. Next she put her hands on his cheeks and turned his face until they were eye to eye.
"That's it Baby," she crooned. "Look into my eyes and listen to me. Those memories you've been having aren't yours, Honey, any more than Old Tommy's money wasn't yours. And just like that money, you need to get rid of those bad thoughts. Understand?"
Lost in her amber orbs, Tommy nodded.
"Good. So here's how we are getting rid of old Tommy's nasty memories: every time you have one, you are going to throw it into the bayou so that it can drift out to the ocean and be gone forever. If you do that, they will all be gone by tomorrow night."
Even though he hadn't tried it yet, Tommy knew that what Marie said would work. He knew that because her words poured through her eyes and into his soul. It was unscientific, so Doctor Raeburn and his professional ilk would say that what Tommy felt was actually the power of suggestion and Marie was manipulating Tommy using his love and trust for her. Tommy didn't think that way because he knew Marie was magical. In actuality, both Raeburn and Tommy were correct.
Marie smiled when she felt Tommy's aura brighten slightly. She kissed him sweetly and jumped off his lap to fix them supper.
Back at the Hotel Arcenaux, Connie was working the registration desk while Salmarie took her mother's place as hostess for the restaurant. Since she wasn't busy, Connie called Rita Maude Fricke to update her on the status of her quasi-adopted son. Rita also had news for her.
"I was leery of that woman when Tommy described her, but if she helps him get better, she has a friend for life," Rita began. Then she changed gears. "Oh yeah, the police over in Houston called here this afternoon. They found Tommy's truck. It was stripped clean of anything of value, but at least the police say the thieves didn't torch it. Ben and Ramon are taking Ben's flatbed wrecker to pick it up tomorrow. Maddie and Leo Dixon have already filed a claim with his insurance, and Ben says there is enough in the settlement to fix Tommy's truck good as new."
Connie thought that was great news, because the loss of his beloved truck was just another thing weighing heavily on Tommy's mind. So Connie was in a good mood when Michelle Arcenaux strolled out of the restaurant dressed in her usual French maid's outfit.
"All of the guests are taken care of, Miss Conchita; may I make a plate for you?"
Connie grinned wickedly, motioned Michelle closer and whispered teasingly in her ear.
"Sure, little one, make me a plate. And while I'm eating, I'll provide a little snack for you."
Marie and Tommy spent a fitful night that night as he kept waking up from nightmares. Every time it happened, Marie sent him out back to throw the memory into the bayou. By five in the morning, Tommy had purged enough bad memories to actually fall into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.
Marie put Tommy to work when they woke up later that morning. She had a list of deferred maintenance items, and now was the perfect time to work some of them off. The routine physical labor helped Tommy, because it left his mind free to dredge up more memories to join the ones already in the bayou. When Marie freed him from his indentured servitude just before dark, she was elated to see his aura glowing brightly and free of the inky black blobs of residual memories. Almost as good as seeing him free of his torment was the realization that his aura no longer overwhelmed her as it had when they first met. Marie guessed that was because she now had a piece of that aura growing inside her womb.
Further proof that Tommy was back came when he pulled her down in his lap and laid a kiss on her that left them both breathless. It was the first sign of sexuality from him in five days. Marie reluctantly broke the kiss and leaned back in his arms.
"Later for that, young man," she mock admonished. "Before I let you plunder my body, I need a bath and then you are going to wine and dine me."
Marie wasn't being coy or cruel; hell, she wanted him so bad it hurt. But she did want a shower and she was hungry and even more importantly, they needed to test how Tommy would do in public before she could consider him cured. She knew just the place to both satisfy her hunger and see how Tommy would react being around a crowd.
So after a warm shower for Marie and a cold one for Tommy, they headed down the road to Boudreaux and Charlene's Bar and Grill. Tommy liked the place and the friendly people in it immediately. This was more his type of crowd, because they were warm and gracious, yet fun and down to earth. One of the first people Tommy met was the owner of the bar, Marie's first cousin, Boudreaux Laveau. Tommy was proud that he remembered Marie mentioning her cousin's name once before because of the powerful wine he made. Tommy used that memory when they shook hands.
"You must be Marie's cousin, the vintner," Tommy said, remembering his wine lingo.
Boudreaux looked at Tommy in bewildered surprise, because he'd been accused of a lot of things, but vintner wasn't one of them. Marie barked out a laugh and explained things to her cousin.
"I shared a glass or two of that muscadine concoction you gave me last Christmas. It made quite an impression on him."
Boudreaux grinned and nodded, he remembered that batch because it had started out as an attempt to turn the wild grapes into brandy. Boudreaux had been trying a number of different fruits in his still, because the feds had started snooping into his corn and sugar purchases. Boudreaux did okay with his lively little juke joint, but he was a wealthy man from his bootlegging activities. When not dodging the revenuers, Boudreaux Landry cooked up moonshine that was strong enough to fell an ox, yet smooth enough for your mama to serve at her Bible study group.
Tommy also met Boudreaux's wife, Charlene. Charlene was a big, good-natured, dark skinned gal with a ready laugh, while Boudreaux was short and wiry. Tommy liked them both and he was amazed that the couple had seven children, the oldest in college, and the youngest in kindergarten.
Charlene brought Marie and Tommy heaping bowls of delicious gumbo and fresh baked bread. Tommy ate two big helpings of the spicy gumbo, which pleased Charlene no small amount. He was doing some serious damage to a big serving of banana pudding when Boudreaux climbed up on a small bandstand at one end of the room and rift a few notes on a button accordion. Charlene was sitting with Marie and Tommy when Boudreaux started messing around on the stage. She jumped up at the first note and scooted to the stage, faster than you'd think possible for a woman of her generous proportions.
Once on the stage, Charlene grabbed up a fiddle off a music stand and plucked a few notes to make sure it was in tune. When she was satisfied she was ready, she swatted Boudreaux on the ass with her bow. Boudreaux pretended to jump and then launched into a fast waltz. Tommy couldn't understand the French lyrics of the song that Boudreaux was warbling, but he loved the Cajun Zydeco music nonetheless. He watched the first two couples on the dance floor until he was satisfied that he could copy the waltz they were doing, then he turned to Marie.
"Miss Marie, may I have the pleasure of this dance?" he asked, just the way Mama Rita had trained him.
Marie smiled and nodded.
"J'ai le plaisir, mon ami," she replied, just as she had at the cotillion.
And just as it was at the cotillion, they moved together as if they had been dance partners for years.
Tommy danced with Marie three times before she handed him off to Charlene's eldest daughter, Desiree.
Like her mother, Desiree Laveau was a big healthy girl. Tommy guessed she was about six-one and weighed close to two hundred pounds. Desi shared her mother's dusky Creole complexion, but her midnight black hair was wavy like Connie's, rather than tightly curled like Charlene's. Her facial features were strong, but not unattractive, and although Desiree was a large woman, her curves were in all the right places.
Desiree gingerly stepped into Tommy's embrace in a very proper dancing position. Tommy commented on how far she danced from him.
"Miss Desiree, if you were any further away, we'd be part of a different couple," he said teasingly.
She looked him in the eye for the first time and sighed.
"Sorry, I just know you are dancing with me because mama put Cousin Marie up to it. Lets just finish this out so you can be with someone petite and pretty again."
Tommy was intrigued that Desiree's eyes were much like Marie's, in that they were flecked with gold. But unlike Marie's, Desiree's eyes were hooded, and he wasn't falling into them. He was also surprised at the resigned tone in her voice. As it was with Marie, Tommy instinctively knew what to say to Desiree.
"You aren't petite," Tommy confirmed, "but you are smaller than me, very graceful, and from what little of you that is near enough for me to feel, you are every inch a pretty woman."
Desiree instinctively knew that Tommy was not spewing a line of bullshit, and she certainly liked what he was saying. She didn't object when Tommy pulled her close enough for them to dance cheek to cheek. He waltzed her over by the far corner of the bandstand right below where her mother was fiddling, then he pulled back from her a little as his left hand slipped down and touched her large firm ass.
"I like this..." he said softly. Then he pulled the hand off her butt before she could react and moved it up until he could cup one of her very big breasts.
"And these are nice too..." he continued as the hand kept moving upward until he touched her right between the eyes.
"But this is what I think makes a woman sexy ... and I'll bet you have a big one."
As she stood there gawking at him open mouthed, he trailed his index finger down and tapped her on the sternum.
"I also think a good one of these is essential ... and I'll bet yours is fantastic."
Desiree stopped dancing and she just stared at him. She was staring because he'd just put into words what she'd been feeling inside for the last four years. Until her sixteenth birthday, she'd traded sex on the chance it might bring her love. But on that birthday, she vowed that she wouldn't sleep with another man until she was convinced he loved her for what was in her heart and mind.
It only took a couple of seconds for Desiree to process her thoughts, and then she blinked slowly and looked into Tommy's eyes again. Tommy grinned when he saw she was now wearing a junior version of Maria's mesmerizing gaze. When he pulled her back against him to resume dancing, she slipped both her arms around his neck and draped herself on him as if she were a second skin.
This all happened right below Charlene, so she had a bird's eye view of the couple. She almost lost her place in the song she was bowing, when Tommy put his hand all over her daughter, and Desi didn't kick his ass into next week. Charlene glanced over at Marie when Desi molded herself to Tommy. Whatever he'd said to her must have been good, because Desiree had never danced that close to a man in her life. Marie caught the look and returned her a wink.
Marie was very happy to see the attraction blossom between Tommy and Desiree; they were two of her favorite people, after all. Marie wasn't jealous, because she knew a full time relationship with Tommy was impractical for her. Of course, there wasn't much of a chance of Tommy and Desi being permanent either, but he sure looked like just the man to bring Desi out of her shell. That wasn't going to happen tonight though, because Marie had plans for the boy that didn't include Desiree.
Tommy danced once more with Desi, then happily agreed when Marie suggested it was time to go home. Tommy waited at the table while Marie and Desi made a trip to the bathroom. They were gone for a good fifteen minutes.
Marie took Desi with her to explain a few things about Tommy to her niece and God-child.
Desiree was disappointed he was leaving so soon after they met, but she was very happy that her cousin wasn't laying claim to him.
Tommy held both women's hands as they walked out to Maries dark blue Bonneville. Then at the car, he gave Desiree a sweet kiss.
"Can I come back and visit you sometime, Miss Desiree?" he asked.
She nodded and gave him a dazzling smile.
"I'd like it a lot if you did," she replied.
That night, as the dappled light from a full moon caused the swamp to eerily glow, Tommy and Marie made sweet and passionate love in the little house on Bayou Laveau. It was a great night for Tommy, because Marie was a skilled and passionate lover. But for Marie, the night transcended superlatives. Yes it was outstanding physically, but the emotions of making love in her ancestors' house for the first time made it ten times better. Marie and Rene had never made love in the house, because for some reason, he'd been impotent there. And until Tommy, she'd never found another man worthy of bringing there.
See, Marie was the sixth Marie Laveau in an unbroken line that stretched back to 1791. Every one of those Maries had been born in either the present house or the one that sat here before it. The first two Maries (historically known as Marie I and Marie II) were free women of color who had been powerful and well known voodoo priestesses based in New Orleans. [Hey, this part (I&II) is true — you can get the details by checking the name on Wikipedia].
Marie III did not move to New Orleans or travel much at all. She was born in 1850, so she reached adulthood during Reconstruction after the War Between the States. Marie III used her talents to make life better for the newly freed black population of southern Lafayette Parish. Marie III also did not practice voodoo, as her mother and grandmother had. The result of not practicing voodoo made it so that people respected her abilities and sought her help instead of fearing her as they had her mother and grandmother.
The next two generations followed Marie III's example.
The current Marie broke that tradition when she fell in love with Rene Arcenaux and moved to Lafayette to help him run his family's hotel. She also broke with tradition when she took her husband's name instead of keeping Laveau. She did those things because of the love she felt in him when they touched and the love that she felt for him. Rene was uncomfortable with Marie's talent and her family's reputation, so she suppressed one and moved away from the other.
One thing she couldn't break with though, was the gift that ran in her family. The Laveau women were blessed (or cursed) with an uncanny ability to read the slightest things about a person and fairly accurately deduce what they were thinking, regardless of what they were saying.
After Rene died in Korea, and while the children were young, she used her talent sparingly. She was just too busy for more, what with three young children all a year apart and a hotel to manage. Once all three children were in school, she had more freedom of movement, met more people and even started visiting Bayou Laveau again. Word got around about the quality of the advice she gave, and it wasn't uncommon for two or three people a week to seek her out. Still, she'd carefully kept her Arcenaux persona and mostly suppressed the Laveau. Now though, after two days here with Tommy, the Laveau was starting to reassert itself. She could actually sense the lingering presence of her deceased ancestors' essence.
As she lay there is her blissfully sated state with Tommy's strong arms wrapped around her, she suddenly had the clearest glimpse of someone's future that she'd ever had. And that someone was her. The vision or dream or whatever was so clear and correct, that it jolted her wide awake and she sat up with a gasp.
She'd had it all wrong. It wasn't a little Rene in her womb, it was a little Marie. And her daughter would be born in this very house with the name Marie Laveau on her birth certificate. Best of all, the daughter in her vision had all of her mother Marie's talents and all of her father Tommy's goodness. Marie VII would be born bound for greatness.