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“I’m glad I won’t be here, then,” she said, laughing as she left the room.
He sat, pensive, drinking his vodka. In ten minutes, Rose came back and kissed him.
“I’m sorry you have to drag this up now,” she said. “I’m not sure how therapeutic it will be for your sons. There’s an old Cajun saying, Ne cherchez pas l'argent dans la boue. Don’t look for silver in mud.”
“I think it’s don’t look for gold in horse manure.”
“You’re nuts,” she said, laughing.
“I made it up, but it’s true. Anyway, I see what you’re getting at. Telling the truth might make a bad situation worse. But I don’t want them to find out on their own. Especially Dave. He’s my gentle soul, and he’s got enough going on in his life.”
She went to the door and waved, wishing he cared enough about her to talk her out of going, even to walk her to the car. Accepting what he gave her might be a cop-out at her age.
“Text when they leave, and I’ll head home,” she said.
He raised his glass to her. “Will do. See you later.”
Resting his head back against the chair, Vic closed his eyes. His sons visiting brought him so much joy. A great sense of peace filled Vic, having Justin right across the parking lot at the clinic. Although he didn’t know Katrina well, she and Maggie were becoming integral to his well-being.
He could effectively destroy the comradery they had with his disclosure tonight. He wanted to remember details of his life with Emily that were slowly disappearing with old age and the passing of time. Having all the details out would give him the freedom to talk about her as he’d resisted doing since her death.
Allowing Rose to go through Emily’s belongings might have appeared to be a mistake, but he trusted her because Rose had loved Emily. If she found anything incriminating, she would keep it to herself. Having to do the deed himself was just too overwhelming.
His mind flew back in time to the Christmas when he’d seen Emily Benoit as a woman and not Thom Benoit’s little sister. Main Street was still a dirt road. The parades had passed by, the torches burning their last hour of light on the dusty streets. The music and revelry coming from the barn along the creek echoed into Main Street and down to the dock.
Vic was with the group of male friends who had so far avoided the draft and were out of college or in business for themselves. Despite being handsome, educated, and successful, they incongruously stood in front of the darkened post office like a bunch of hoodlums, drinking beer from paper cups, watching as people came to the sleepy town to celebrate Epiphany.
“Where are all these attractive young women coming from?” Gus Hebert asked.
“You’ve had too much to drink, and it’s affected your eyesight,” Thom Benoit said, snickering. “That’s my kid sister and her friends. Seniors at Saint Anthony’s.”
“No one looked like that when I was at Saint Anthony’s,” Vic said. “Too bad I’m too old for her.”
Thom looked at him sidelong. “You’re the town veterinarian. When she’s eighteen in March, I’ll introduce you.”
“Okay, I’ll hold you to it,” Vic said.
During Mardi Gras, Thom introduced Vic to his sister, Emily, and he later said it was love at first sight. It was another unforgettable moment. A brass band played over at the Cajun barn, the refrain “When the Saints Come Marching In” resonating over the village. Vendors in cabanas up and down Main Street sold ice cream and souvenirs, beignets and chicory coffee.
Vic waited at the corner just as the last train came through, dropping more revelers off for an evening of debauchery in Cypress Cove. He saw them arriving from a distance and crossed the street to meet in front of the dockmaster’s shack. “Vic Chastain, Emily Benoit,” Thom said. “And I have to pick up Gretchen or I’m dead meat. Will you see that she gets home by eleven?”
“Eleven!” Emily shouted. “It’s carnival time!”
“Eleven it is,” Vic said, looking down at her with a grin.
He didn’t waste any time asking the Benoits for her hand in marriage.
“She’s luminescent,” Vic told his friend Gus. “That’s the only way to describe her. I’ll marry her tomorrow if her family will allow it.”
“Vic, she’s too young for you.”
“Ha! We shall see.”
Her family would allow it. Margaret Benoit was over the moon.
“My daughter is engaged to the Chastain boy. Yes, he’s a veterinarian! You know how much Emily loves animals. They’re getting married a year from June.”
Something happened during the Fat Tuesday festival that changed who Emily was as a person. After the incident, he never got the details. Thom’s girlfriend, Gretchen Amotte, was Val’s sister. She’d invited Val to a party at the Benoits’ house. Emily didn’t tell them what had happened. After high school graduation, she found out she was pregnant and revealed to her family that Val Amotte had raped her on Fat Tuesday.
