Snow on the Bayou: A Tante Lulu Adventure Read Free Page A

with hanging moss. On the counter, she saw a number of envelopes, including the one she’d been waiting for. Emelie’s heart skipped a beat. The return address said: “Dr. Charles Benoit, Southern Reproductive Services.”
    “Chuck’s Sperm Bank?” Belle inquired, her right eyebrow arched with disapproval.
    Emelie ignored Belle’s teasing nickname for the reputable, highly renowned clinic and nodded. Had she been approved for insemination by one of the candidates she’d chosen? Did the letter contain a specific appointment for the procedure? Was it possible she would be holding hervery own baby a year from now? She held the envelope against her heart.
    “Honey, you don’t know what you’re doing, taking on a child.” This from the single parent of thirteen-year-old twin boys, Michael and Max; she had a placard on her desk that read, MOTHERS OF TEENAGERS KNOW WHY ANIMALS EAT THEIR YOUNG . At the same time, her desk was cluttered with many framed photos of her little darlings from birth to Little League.
    Emelie just smiled.
    “I still say you should do it the old-fashioned way.”
    “Belle,” she sighed, “I’m almost thirty-four years old, I was married once, a long time ago—”
    “So, ask Bernard.”
    “If I didn’t want to remain married to Bernie, why would I want him in my life
forever
as the father of my child? Nope, I do not want the baggage of a man in my life permanently.”
    “He’s not that bad.” Having never been married, Belle had long been hopeful that someday a Prince Charming would come riding his Lexus down Bourbon Street to sweep her off her feet. Unfortunately, lately, Belle was willing to settle for a good man with a pickup truck and a job.
    “Furthermore,” Emelie went on, “I’m fulfilled by my mask-making career and singing sideline. I’m financially stable. I enjoy time out with a small circle of friends. I take the occasional lover.”
    “Occasional is right,” Belle muttered. “You could be a nun, if you asked me.”
    Okay, so Emelie hadn’t been in a relationship for two years. That was just another reason to seek alternative paternity, in her mind. “Hey, I’ve even made peace withmy father for what he did seventeen years ago. There’s only one thing missing from my life. A baby.”
    Belle just shook her head at her. “You’ve become obsessed with the idea.”
    “No wonder! My biological clock feels like Big Ben these days. Tick, tick, tick! People probably hear it when I pass by.”
    “I thought it was your stomach growling with hunger.”
    “Honestly, I notice every baby I see on the street or at the mall. I stop at displays of baby items in store windows.”
    “You even bought a baby name book,” Belle pointed out with a grin. “That’s understandable, but I still say you should have a baby the old-fashioned way.”
    “Too complicated!” For some reason, a picture popped in Emelie’s mind of a long ago time when she’d thought differently. Of course, she’d only been sixteen to her boyfriend’s seventeen, but the big plans they’d made seemed silly now. They were going to get married, move to California, and have four kids, two boys and two girls. What they had been going to do for a living had never mattered then. They’d thought they were in love.
    She laughed at the memory. It had been years since she’d even thought about Justin LeBlanc, hadn’t a clue where he was these days. Probably prison, which was the road he’d been headed on the last time she’d seen him, thanks to her dad, the longtime sheriff of Terrebonne Parish. When she’d refused to leave with him, thumbing his nose at her father and the entire justice system, Justin had the nerve to swear that there would be snow on the bayou before he ever returned. As if it had been her fault! Later, she’d heard that he joined the Navy, but by then her life had changed immeasurably.
    With a shake of her head, Emelie placed the unopened envelope back on the counter. Time later to