Page 50 of Nineteen Seventy-Six

A deep sob wailed from the other end. “This is God punishing me, as he did the day I married that hellbeast. Now he’s taken my son, and I was wrong, and I’ll never get to tell—”

Elizabeth ripped the phone away and said, “Save it for when we’re not all in mortal danger. Nic is safe. Now go be safe, too, you ape,” and slammed down the phone. “Now, Aggie!”

“Where’s Ana?”

“In the attic, with Connor and Mama. And Bea. She’s fine.” She raced for the stairs and he followed behind, just as another window turned to shards. Elizabeth screamed, and Augustus pushed from behind, half carrying her as they darted for the attic, and the closest thing they had to safety.

Lisette screamed from the attic stairs on the third floor. “Listen to trees! Don’t be a fool!”

Cordelia scattered up the staircase, nearly shoving her to the side as she flung herself into the attic. “The only fool here is the man we both fucked hoping it would change our futures for the better.”

“Nicolas is in New Orleans!” Charles screamed from the staircase leading down to the second floor. His disheveled appearance, half-clothed, hair affright, knocked the rest of Cordelia’s cold words back.

“Which is your fault,” Cordelia hissed. “But he’s safe, which is more than I can say for you, standing out there like a damned idiot.”

“It wasn’t supposed to turn.”

“Hurricanes, like people, are unpredictable apparently. Why are you still standing there?”

Charles’ mouth gaped. “And Mama. Oh, fuck it all, my mother is probably alone out there, afraid—”

“No,” Lisette called, voice drowning against the insistent whipping of the wind. “I talk to her. She go to Augustus.”

“He would’ve told me that! I just talked to him!”

“You no talk, Charles, you just yell, like a maniac!”

“I’m on her side,” Cordelia said and started to disappear, beyond his view. Moments later, she peeked her head down. “Charles, you get your ass up here now. Do you want your son to have a father or not?”

Charles, dazed, eyes traveling the hall and beyond in haphazard stares and gapes, looked at her.

Lisette screamed as something from the exterior of the house was ripped away, a victim of the storm that was now right on top of them.

“Charles.” Cordelia’s voice was calm. Even. “Come. Please. Now.”

“What if I never see him again?”

“You’re a New Orleanian. This is par for the course.”

“Everyone else here, you crazy man,” Lisette called. “Everyone except… where Richard is?”

Cordelia inhaled a painful sigh and forced a smile as she lowered a hand. “Come on. Come with me, darling.”

Richard barreled up the stairs and used his body to propel Charles forward, toward the others, toward safety.

“You’re going up there, Master Charles, whether you like it or not!”

“Maureen, where are you?”

Edouard had never answered the phone, in all the time she’d been his wife. He’d never spoken with such urgency. Never expressed even an iota of concern for her well-being. Never acted remotely like he’d acted in his short, demanding sentence.

“Where’s Olivia, Edouard?”

“With the staff, in the attic, where I should be. Where you should be! Where are you calling from? Are you with your mother? One of your brothers?”

“I, uh…” Soren beckoned for her to hurry. She could lie, but he knew about this, because he’d given this gift to her. Perhaps the only gift he’d given her. “I’m outside the city. Outside New Orleans. I’m with someone.” She glanced at Soren. “I called to tell you I’m safe, so Olivia wouldn’t worry.”

He hissed something that sounded like thank God. “Give me the address.”

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