The Legacy Read Free Page B

the bayou she loved so much. “My family is here.”
    Cally reached over and gave Marjo’s hand a quick squeeze. “And look at the bonuses you get—we’re just as dysfunctional as some real families.”
    Marjo laughed. “Anyway, that’s why all this is so important to me. And for a lot of people in Indigo, restoring the opera house is like a sign of hope, I guess. It’s a way for the town to grow and prosper, yet still preserve our links to the past.”
    Cally nodded, sipping at her iced tea. “You have a point. When Luc Carter came in and turned La Petite Maison into a successful bed-and-breakfast, he brought a little bit of hope to the bayou. Not to mention some very good-looking visitors.”
    Marjo laughed. “I think you’d be happier if the bed-and-breakfast only catered to Chippendales dancers.”
    “Hey, I’m all for supporting the performing arts.”
    Marjo sobered. “Well, I just want to support this community. I look around me and I see the Cajuns getting swept up into pop culture, trading theirheritage and customs for cool jeans and fast food. We need to protect what we have left, for the future. For our kids.”
    “Speaking of that,” Cally said, “when are you going to find yourself a man and have a few of those? Babies, I mean.”
    “You know I can’t do that,” Marjo said quietly. Yet, even as she spoke, a little voice inside her reminded her that she was thirty-five and her clock wouldn’t be ticking forever. She turned and looked out the window. “I can’t start a family, not as long as Gabriel needs me. He’s not ready for life on his own, and I’m afraid that if I pushed him out too soon, he’d see it as me abandoning him.”
    Cally leaned forward and touched her friend’s hand, her palm soft against Marjo’s. “You need to have your life, too. Gabriel is nearly grown up.”
    “I will. Someday.”
    Cally bit her lip, but didn’t say anything. It was a familiar argument, particularly since Marjo had ended her engagement to Kerry Tidwell last year. Kerry had made it clear he didn’t want the package deal of Marjo and Gabriel.
    Marjo had decided then and there that until Gabriel was mature enough to live on his own, her love life could wait. Her younger brother was more important than any man who might come along with a ring.
    Despite her best intentions, though, the pain of Kerry’s betrayal still stung. All along, she’d thoughthe’d loved Gabriel. Until she realized he’d been talking to group homes and assisted-living communities, and planned to ship Gabriel off as soon as Marjo had said “I do.”
    Cally kept trying to convince Marjo to let Gabriel go out on his own more, to loosen the proverbial apron strings. But no one knew Gabriel like his sister did. He wouldn’t make it on his own. He was too fragile, too gentle, to survive the world out there.
    And if that meant she needed to put her own goals on hold for a while, so be it.
    Marjo rose and crossed to the ivy plant that hung in the window. She plucked a few dead leaves from the neglected greenery. “Right now, all I’m worried about is getting Paul Clermont to go back to wherever he came from and leave me and the opera house alone.”
    “Well,” Cally said, turning her glass, watching the ice dance, “maybe you should try another tactic. Like, get to know him better.”
    “Get to know him better?” Marjo spun around. “Yeah, I’ll try that—with a twelve-gauge in my hands.”
    “Hey!” Cally put her hands up. “I’m a lawyer, remember? Don’t be plotting a felony in front of me.”
    Marjo laughed. “I wouldn’t really do that. It’s just that that man is like a nest of yellow jackets kicked up by some overeager teenager with a Weed-wacker. He drives me nuts.”
    Cally waved a finger at her. “Now, be nice, Marjo. You know the old saying—and you also know it wouldn’t be an old saying if it weren’t true. So if I were you, I’d try catching this fly with some honey. Add a little Savoy