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"Ruby . ."

"Beau, you promised! No," I screamed. I struck him in the chest with my small fists, pummeling him. He grabbed my wrists and embraced me tightly.

"We'll get her back. We will," he said.

"I can't," I said, shaking my head. "I can't." My legs gave out and Beau held me up.

"Please," he said, turning to the lawyers, the policeman, and the nurse, "give us ten minutes to prepare the baby."

Mr. Rogers nodded and Beau literally carried me along, up the stairs, whispering assurances in my ear.

"It will be ugly," he said, "if we physically resist. Once we explain who we are, it will all end quickly. You'll see."

"But, Beau, you said this wouldn't happen."

"How did I know she would be this vicious? She must be crazy. What sort of a man is she married to for him to let her do this?"

"A guilty man," I said, and sniffed back my tears. I looked toward Pearl's nursery door. "Oh, Beau, she'll be terrified."

"Only until she gets to Cypress Woods. She knows all the servants and--"

"But they're not taking her to Cypress Woods. They're taking her to the Tates."

Beau nodded, the realizations deepening in him, too. He sighed deeply and shook his head. "I could kill her," he said. "I could put my hands around her neck and choke the life out of her."

"It's already been choked out of her," I said, nodding. "When Paul died. We're dealing with a woman who's lost every feeling but one, the desire for revenge. And my child has to go into that household."

"Do you want me to do this?" he asked, looking at the nursery.

"No. I'll do it with you so we can comfort her as much as possible."

We went in and explained to Mrs. Ferrier that the baby had to go to her grandparents. Beau thought that was best for now. Pearl knew the Tates as her grandparents, so I sucked back my sorrow and hid my tears. Smiling, I told her she had to go see her grandmere Gladys and grandpere Octavious.

"There's a nice lady to take you to them," I continued.

Pearl gazed at me curiously. It was almost as if she were wise enough to see through the deception. She put up no resistance until we carried her down and actually placed her in the backseat of the limousine with the nurse. When I backed away from the door, she realized I wasn't coming and started to scream for me. The nurse attempted to comfort her.

"Let's get moving," Mr. Rogers told the driver. The two lawyers got into the car and slammed the doors shut, but I could still hear Pearl's screams. As the limousine pulled away from the house, the baby broke loose from the nurse and pressed her little face against the back window. I could see the fear and the torment in her and I could hear her screaming my name. The moment the car disappeared, my legs went out from under me and I folded too quickly for Beau to stop me from crashing to the tile and the comfort of darkness.

16

All Is Lost

.

"Well," Monsieur Polk said after he heard Beau

describe our story, "this is a rather complicated matter. Very," he added, and I nodded emphatically, jiggling his jowls and his loose double chin. He sat back in his oversize black leather desk chair and pressed his palms against his bear-size chest with his fingers intertwined, the large gold pinky ring with a black onyx oval stone glittering in the afternoon sunlight that came pouring through the thin, white blinds.

Beau sat beside me and held my hand. My other hand clutched the mahogany arm of the chair as if I thought I might be toppled out and onto the dark brown carpet in Monsieur Polk's plush office. It was on the seventh floor of the building, and the large windows behind Monsieur Polk's desk looked out on the river with a vast view of the boats and ships navigating in and out of New Orleans harbor.

I bit down on my lower lip and held my breath as our attorney pondered. His large, watery hazel eyes gazed down and he was so still, I feared he had fallen asleep.

The only sound in the office was the ticktock of the miniature grandfather clock on the shelf to our left.

"No birth certificates, you say?" he finally asked, just raising his eyes. The rest of him, all two hundred forty pounds, remained settled in the chair, his suit jacket folded and creased in the shoulders. He wore a dark brown tie with lemon dots.

"No. As I said, the twins were born in swamp country, no doctor, no hospital."