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“I wanted to wait until we were alone to tell you. I saw Creighton today before arriving at the convent.”
He went still. “Tell me what happened.”
She complied and when she finished, added, “His eyes are still so swollen from your punch, I’m surprised he could see me at all.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he said softly.
She found that endearing. “You can’t be everywhere, and we were in the middle of the Quarter. He did scare me, but I wasn’t worried about him assaulting me with so many people about.”
“Still, he had no business approaching you, let alone making threats. He was warned.”
For a moment he observed her silently and she wondered what might be going through his mind. “Yes?” she finally asked.
“Creighton aside, just enjoying being with you.”
In spite of their small verbal dustup a few minutes ago, she was enjoying his company as well.
“Did my mother show you my tree house?”
“Your tree house?” she echoed warily. “No.”
He stood. “Come. Let me show it to you since you enjoy climbing.”
“I haven’t climbed a tree in decades.”
“Maybe this will re-spark the hellion.”
Amused and not sure what to do with him, she rose and followed him deeper into the trees.
It was a short distance away. She viewed the ramshackle remains of the broken slats and listing wood high up in the thick moss-covered boughs of a great oak. “That’s your tree house?”
“What’s left of it, yes. Granted, I built it when I was ten, but it served its purpose in those days.”
“Now, it looks like it’ll serve as a way to a hospital.”
“You wound me,cheri.”
The tar paper roof had large holes that matched the holes in what had once been the floor. “Anyone foolish enough to go up there will be wounded, too.” She eyed the worn ladder nailed to the trunk. “Is that how you climbed up?”
“Yes. Our feet were smaller then, so the slats were shorter.”
Val took in the perch. “It’s pretty high up. I imagine you could see the countryside for miles.”
“I could. Being up there made me feel like the king of the world.”
“I did love being high above everything.”
“My brothers and I had many an adventure up there. One day we were pirates sailing the seas, and the next day balloonists floating to Haiti. We imagined being members of the Louisiana Native Guards and saving Andrew Jackson’s troops during the War of 1812.”
She was surprised by that.
“You don’t know about the Louisiana Guard saving Jackson’s bacon?”
“No.”
“It’s a celebrated part of the history of New Orleans. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.”
“I will.” She surveyed the tree house again. “It doesn’t look like you’ve played up there in quite some time.”
