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"Oh, hush your mouth," Ella snapped, but she brought my lemonade to the table. "What was I telling you? Oh, yeah. I remember once I had this terrible earache. Couldn't sleep on that side. I went to your great-grandmere Catherine, and she blowed smoke in my ear and covered it with her hand. Next day my earache was gone. Simple remedy, but only a real traiteur knew just how much smoke and just how to do it, hear?" she said. I smiled.

"That's what I've been told," I said.

"You go to school?"

"I'll start college in the fall."

"Oh, ain't that something," she said.

"Here's the lady's jambalaya. You want to give it to her before it gets ice cold?" Billy remarked.

Ella rolled her eyes and brought me my lunch. "Billy ain't from Houma. He's from Beaumont, Texas," she said, as if that explained everything.

"Did you visit my mother and me when we lived at Cypress Woods?" I asked as I began to eat.

"Me? No. Your mother stayed to herself most of the time in those days and rarely came into town. Paul did everything for her. No man was more devoted to any woman. Men from Beaumont," she added loud enough for Billy to hear, "could have learned something from him about taking care of their women."

"Get away from that girl and stop bending her ear out of shape," Billy told her.

"Of course, the custody trial was a shocker. To this day people still believe you were really Paul's daughter. I can tell you this," she said. "Every time I saw you in his arms, I felt my heart warm. Father or no father, he couldn't have loved you more. Tragedy," she said again. "Well, you get your mother to stop by and see me, hear? She shouldn't forget her old friends now that she's a famous New Orleans artist."

I nodded, and she returned to the counter. As I ate, I thought about the things Ella had said. For a time, life at Cypress Woods must have been idyllic for Mommy. She lived in a castle with a man who treated her like royalty. Her art was her only contact with the outside world.

The jambalaya was delicious, but my stomach felt so tight after I began to eat that I couldn't finish it all. After Ella cleared away the dishes, I called Daddy from the pay phone in the corner. This time he was awake.

"I've really gone and messed things up some more, haven't I?" he moaned. "I should be up there with you, looking for Ruby."

"I'm okay, Daddy. Are you in a lot of pain?"

"I deserve it," he replied. "Listen, Pearl, I don't want you wandering around up there by yourself. It's too dangerous. You better come home. After I recuperate another day or so, we'll figure something out."

"It's all right, Daddy. I know Mommy's here now. I can't leave without her. Jack Clovis is helping me."

"Oh. Well, at least someone is," he said, still overwhelmed by waves of self-pity. "Call me and keep me up to date, will you?"

"I will. The moment I find Mommy, I'll call," I promised.

"Now I can't even get over to the hospital to see Pierre," he groaned. "I'm a mess," he added and started to sob. I attributed his tearful mood to the medicine and his condition. I tried to comfort him some more and then hung up and called the hospital. This time I got Dr. Lefevre.

"I'm afraid things are going badly," she said. "Dr. Lasky has Pierre on the dialysis machine. His periods of withdrawal are getting longer, and he is completely unresponsive to me. What have you learned about your mother?"

"I'm trying to find her. I'm in Houma."

"Time is not on our side," she told me. "Pierre's blood pressure is falling."

After I hung up, my worried expression drew Ella Thibodeau's attention. She came over to me quickly. "Is there trouble, sweetheart?" she asked.

I shook my head, but tears were streaming down my cheeks. "No, ma'am," I said, my voice cracking.

"Well, if you need anything, you call us. Cajun folks stick by each other."

I thanked her and paid my check. Then I left quickly to return to Cypress Woods.

As I drove there, I calmed down again. After speaking with Ella, I felt I had a better understanding of what life at Cypress Woods had been like. I wondered what Mommy had seen when she returned. Did it depress her even more, or did she look at her former home through rose-colored glasses? Did her memories take her back to the time when flowers were blooming and birds were singing, a time of music and beauty, comfort and safety? Considering all that had happened, it didn't surprise me now that she would flee to Cypress Woods and the world where she had once been protected by Paul's money and love and by Grandmere Catherine's magic.

Where was that magic now? I wondered. We need it so.

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