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“It’s always nice to see family.” She beamed. “Where is Felicia? You could have brought her with you.” She looked past my shoulder as if my mother would magically pop out of a row of hedges.
My inward resistance to going anywhere with my mother wasn’t something I was going to share with Seraphina’s in-laws. “She has other plans tonight. Maybe next time.” I bit my tongue. She was likely on her second bottle of wine, wandering the house, yelling at my father’s portraits, and barking at the house staff.
Seraphina’s nervous laughter was almost too telling. I gave her a gentle poke in the back to put her in check. We needed steady actions.
“That’s too bad. I’m sure it’s hard to be alone now. I really can’t imagine. You should bring her, dear. I can’t imagine how she spends her time without your father around.” She turned to her own husband. “Look, Knight came to dinner with Seraphina.”
“I see that.” I shook Louis’s hand. He had a good strong grip beneath fat knuckles. I regarded the large gold ring on his hand. The Castille crest was formed from diamonds. It sparkled when it caught the light from a nearby gaslight.
“Thanks for having me.” I looked around. The steakhouse was crowded with diners. I saw business meetings underway. Dates. A birthday dinner as we were guided through the tables and into a private dining room. Brandon was inside. He barely noticed when Seraphina sat next to him. From what Seraphina said, it was normal for her husband to ignore her.
The rest of the family gathered. A server opened several bottles of wine and placed them on the table.
I’d spent Sundays as a child squirming against wooden backed pews, meant to keep my spine straight. My mother tossed warning looks while my father checked his watch in between the priest’s movements on the alter. I’d inhaled the smokey incense and lit candles after mass. It always seemed meaningless. An exercise in building tolerance for the ceremony. As I sat watching Louis Castille, I flashed back to those moments, kneeling behind a pew, complaining about my knees and my father’s growl on my neck to endure. To shut up and listen.
“I think we should toast the evening.” Louis raised his full glass in the air.
My sister had already been given a glass of sparkling cider. She joined her father-in-law by raising her glass.
“What’s the occasion?” I asked. I wondered if this was it. If this was in fact a celebration of taking down their son’s competition. I couldn’t believe they would be blatant enough to brag about it.
“That you are home. Back in New Orleans as head of your family where you belong. Also, a toast to your father. May he rest in peace. To Raphael.” Louis bowed his head. I had to acknowledge the gesture as much as it made my stomach turn. “And to our grandchild.” He grinned broadly at Seraphina. “The seasons of life continue to bring us blessings. We are anxious for that baby to arrive.”
“That’s a beautiful toast,” Margaret echoed. I wondered how Seraphina sat through these dinners. No wonder she wanted me to tag along.
“Don’t be too anxious,” Seraphina bit her lip. “I still have three months to go.” Her hand moved to the swell of her belly. I didn’t know how to get her away from the family and back with Crew. Everything was riding on the birth of this child and it wasn’t even a Castille.
“Oh, I remember how sick I was when I was pregnant with Brandon,” Margaret chimed in. “You’ve been lucky.”
“You have no idea what I have to deal with,” Brandon grumbled.
I shot my brother-in-law a warning stare. I was in their domain, but I wasn’t going to tolerate his disrespect. Brandon’s eyes cut to his plate and the last bites of steak he had to eat. The bastard was in over his head in every aspect of his life. He just didn’t know it.
The longer the meal continued, the more the family prattled on about the upcoming baby shower, what Margaret thought they should do to the nursery, and Louis’s list of baby names.
My stomach clenched. There was nothing here. Not a twitch. Not a hair out of place. The only ones struggling to get through the evening were Seraphina and me. Brandon seemed bored and uninterested. He hadn’t bothered to acknowledge the toast. The Castilles did not seem likely suspects to have pulled off a major kidnapping today. Louis wouldn’t be able to hide the thrill of such a coup. This was a family dinner. Dull, plain, and as ordinary as any mafia dinner I’d attended.
I had to get out of this dining room and back to Kennedy at the cabin.
I leaned over to whisper to Seraphina. “I think you’ve got this. I need to get going. More important calls to follow up on.”
She nodded. “Will you call me?”
I didn’t think it was a good idea. “If I hear anything.”
Her eyes began to mist. I didn’t want her to fall apart now. She couldn’t. She had done her best for Crew tonight. “No matter what time it is,” she urged.
I squeezed her fingers and kissed her on the forehead. “No matter what time.” I stood to face the Castilles. “Louis and Margaret, thank you for letting me drop in like this. Unfortunately, I have some business to attend to tonight.” I dropped the linen napkin on the table.
“But Knight, it’s early. We’ll open another bottle of wine,” Margaret pleaded. “Stay. You should try the cheesecake. It’s the best in New Orleans, dear.”
“Thank you.” I took her hand, kissing the top of it. “I will come back another time. Maybe bring Mother. I know she misses seeing everyone.”
“That would be nice. She needs her family now more than ever. It must be so, so hard.I’d love to see her and talk. We are about to be grandmothers together.” I wondered how often Margaret lied to people. She was part of the old family regime. She had grown up watching her mother do the same thing. Tell the same stories.
I shook Louis’s hand and patted Brandon on the back. “Get some sleep, man,” I suggested. “I hear that gets harder with a baby.”
“Don’t scare him,” Seraphina teased. She had immediately snapped back to her beguiling self. Brandon perked up.
