Page 17 of Unshakable

Chapter Six

Toula’s heart alwayshurt when the broken pieces of her family came together. She’d done a poor job making life choices and these innocent children bore the brunt of her youthful indiscretions and need to be loved.

Beatrix stood beside her cousin. She and Helen resembled each other, both with dark hair and straight, thin builds. Helen had a round face and a quick smile, while Beatrix kept her long auburn hair pulled back from her stern expression.

Like her father, God rest his soul.

Louis hadn’t lived long enough to see his daughter born, part and parcel of her hard luck story. Toula hadn’t been in love with him, either, only running from Michael’s rejection.

Louis died in a car accident coming home from work on a long-ago Friday night. Disappeared, as if he’d never been there at all except for the baby in her belly. The house and property, a generational home on acres of sugarcane fields, needing endless upkeep and maintenance, had been his and became hers.

Louis had no other family besides her to inherit, and she’d lived there off and on over the years, a home base of sorts, spending more time there as she matured.

The girls needed security and boundaries, after all.

“Mama Toula?” Chloe stood an arm’s length away, her cherubic face pinched with thought. “Why are you so sad?”

“Oh,” she said, reeling the child in by her fingertips, “just remembering when your mother was as young as you are right now. Time goes by so fast, you blink, and years are gone.”

Chloe giggled. “That’s silly.”

This child didn’t understand, yet, how time would march against her, bring conflict to her doorstep and, if she were wise and patient, love to her heart.

“You just wait and see.” Toula prophesied. “One day you’ll look up, and I’ll be gone. All you’ll have are sweet memories of your Mama Toula.”

Chloe settled in against her and whispered, “She doesn’t like me.”

“Who?” Toula teased, knowing full well the child meant her own mother. “Who could resist you?”

“Mama. You know and I know how she really feels.”

A shiver vibrated through Toula’s body. “She doesn’t understand us, honey. Not understanding frightens her. It’s not about me or you, really. How she feels says things about her.”

“Why doesn’t she understand?” Chloe asked, her blue eyes squinting as she looked at Beatrix. “Isn’t that why she’s going to school?”

“Remember how I told you not everyone is like you and me? Some people have to work really hard to figure out how others feel on the inside. We can feel what they feel, they can’t do those things. They must guess, which is hard to do. They have to rely on people to say out loud how they feel and sometimes being honest about your feelings isn’t easy.”

“She doesn’t like Del, either.”

Toula stroked the girl’s hair, knew full well why she didn’t like the youngest. “Maybe when Delphine starts talking, they can work out how they feel about each other.”

“Del talks,” Chloe announced.

Toula’s heart stuttered. “What?”

“She talks to me. Sometimes,” Chloe said, as innocent as you please. “She tries to talk to everyone. She can only talk to me right now.”

“What do you mean, ‘right now’?”

“I’m special, like you said, so she can talk to me. One day, she’ll meet other people she can talk to. She just can’t talk to everyone, like we can.”

“Will she ever be able to talk to me?” Toula asked, her heart wilting over this odd conversation. “Because you and I are so very much alike?”

After a long moment, Chloe shook her head. “I don’t think so. She’s gonna have a hard time, isn’t she?”

“Let’s hope not,” Toula muttered, her gaze tracking the little girl ducking in and out of the barn, as if playing peek-a-boo with an invisible friend. “You’ll help her, won’t you?”

“She’s my sister.” Chloe answered simply, so wise for a girl her age. “I like Miss Helen. Can she be my mom?”

Toula stayed away from her question. “Would you and Delphine like to stay here for a couple days? Helen asked if you’d like to learn to ride and help her feed the horses. Alease already said yes, of course.”

“Could we?” Chloe asked, her upturned eyes catching the peaking rays of the sun. “What about Alease’s school?”

“Alease has Monday off for conferences, remember?” Besides, Beatrix wasn’t going to stay with them past this evening, and she didn’t know when Henri might return or what news he might bring from his foray into the city.

If he returned at all.

Putting Henri or herself at risk was one thing. She damn sure wouldn’t offer up the girls, specifically Chloe, on a silver platter. Not if she could help it.

No, she’d leave the girls with capable, kind, Helen, go back to the house with Beatrix, and get the temperature of the town before bringing them back home.

Perhaps she might steal some time alone with Henri. Her family didn’t have to be any the wiser.

“Lunch is ready!” Helen yelled from across the field and motioned for them to come to the house. Walking side by side with Beatrix, she and Helen seemed absolutely normal, so Toula closed her eyes and imagined they were.

Maybe for one afternoon, for one blessed evening, they could enjoy their family bonds, celebrate being women in this wide-open world, and be hopeful about what the future might bring, even what she and Henri might be together.

Because if she knew her enemy, life wasn’t about to hand them anything, they’d need all the help they could get, and these tense, brittle familial bonds could snap under the slightest pressure.

Chloe’s hand wrapped around hers and pulled her gently into motion. A motion carrying her across space and time, inching closer to the moment when tough decisions would need to be made. When sacrifices couldn’t be sidestepped.

When her will to protect these children mattered most of all.

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