Page 8 of Ciao Bella
“MAMA!”
CHAPTER FIVE
“I could hear him yellin’ my name all the way from the ground through that plane window,” grinned Irene. “It’s the little things in life that give me pleasure at my age, Ruby. Makin’ my stiff, hard-assed son lose his cool is one of them.”
Ruby was laughing so hard she couldn’t even focus on the two grizzlies walking beside them. They were a couple of sweet old girls. They’d been part of a Russian circus act and were taken away because the circus shut down. Irene couldn’t stand it, of course. She snatched them up, brought them back here, and had been feeding them their weight in fresh fish.
“They are sweet, aren’t they?” smiled Ruby.
“Like little children,” nodded Irene. “Pasha and Sasha. Beautiful names. I think they’ll make friends quick on the island. They’re both too old to hurt anybody. Gaspar’s so wrapped up in his pitchin’ a fit, he don’t see that they’re all old and not long for this world. We’re just givin’ ‘em all a place to finish out their days. Sort of like you and me, Ruby.”
“Speak for yourself,” she scoffed. “I plan on livin’ a long, long time.”
“That’s the plan for all of us,” she smiled. “I know Pawpaw Robicheaux lived to almost a hundred and forty, and I’d love to do that too. He fell asleep on the beach watchin’ girls in bikinis bouncing up down, playin’ volleyball. That seems a good death to me. I don’t care to watch girls jumpin’ up and down, but I wouldn’t mind watchin’ my boys take down one last criminal.”
Ruby stared at her friend, frowning toward her.
“You plannin’ on goin’ somewhere, Irene? I ain’t ready for you to leave me.”
“Oh, I’m not goin’ anywhere just yet,” smiled Irene. “Besides, Matthew and I still have work to do. Gabriel needs some more trainin’ by his daddy. We gotta make sure there’s someone to manage the animals and them boys. Lord, them boys will take me forever to get wrangled in.”
“They’re good men, Irene. The best. You and Matthew should be proud of what you’ve accomplished with them. Not one of ‘em is a criminal, a terrible father or husband, or done anything you’ve been ashamed of.”
“Well, they chased a lot of tail in their days,” frowned Irene. “I thought for sure their penises would fall off the way they were workin’ through women. But I knew they’d find the one sooner or later, and thank the Lord, they did. Of course, I might have helped that along a bit. Even for my boys that weren’t Robicheauxs.”
“I can understand that. You forget I got six of my own that made me gray before my time. Darnel was engaged four times. Four! Each one of them girls was wrong for him, but he wouldn’t listen to me. They took from him, used him, and he cried about it. Then, one day, he said he was done. Didn’t date for five years. Not one girl.
“Mother’s Day weekend, he walks in with the prettiest young woman, all dressed in a conservative skirt and blouse with a jacket. She walks up to me, hands me flowers, and says, ‘it’s my greatest pleasure to meet you, Miss Ruby.’ I knew she was the one, and damned if she wasn’t. Been married forty years now.”
“That’s usually how it works. Poor Pierre, my heart broke for him when his high school love got so sick and died. He didn’t understand that he had a lot of life to live after that. It took a while, but he got back on that horse. Unfortunately, it was a damn broken mule he got on. That woman was trouble from the start.”
“Yeah, but we took care of her, didn’t we,” snickered Ruby.
“We did indeed. Although that broke his heart too. He almost missed out on Kari. I was so glad when that girl said she was pregnant. Oo-ee! Made me wanna dance. Then I thought, well, I’ll never get Gaspar out the door. Then our sweet little Alexandra was dropped on our island.”
“I remember you callin’ me about that,” said Ruby, shaking her head. “That little thing was in a bad way, and she was clingin’ to Gaspar like he was a life raft on theTitanic.”
“They all made it, Ruby. All six of yours, all fifteen of mine. Not many mamas can say that. We did good. You especially all by yourself.”
“I was never by myself, and you know that, Irene Robicheaux,” she chided. “You was with me all the way. A friendship, kinship like ours, doesn’t just fall out of a tree. You and I connected long before all of this. Long before the kids, long before the houses and the guns. We connected in ways most people would never understand. That’s what makes this a friendship that will last a lifetime. Nothin’ will beat that.”
“It sure doesn’t,” smiled Irene. “You know, it’s a beautiful day. Cold, but the sun is out. What do you say we take a walk to the pond and have us a swim? Afterwards, we’ll go into the city, have us a lunch at Galatoire’s, eat some beignets, and do some shoppin’. We’ll have our own little getaway.”
Ruby linked her arm with Irene’s and laughed at her friend.
“I think this is gonna be the most perfect day ever, Irene. Perfect!”
CHAPTER SIX
Wilson took the seat beside Sara, folding her hand inside his own. The former commercial airliner had been modified for maximum comfort and space. The seats were all reclining and could be reclined fully into a bed. Everything was to ensure their comfort and safety.
The two of them had been married a long time. Two daughters, three grandsons, and one great-grandson. Their lives were rich with family, friends, work, and so much more.
“Are you happy?” he asked, smiling down at her. She looked up at him with a curious expression, tilting her head.
“Happy? Dan Anderson, you have given me a life only a few women ever get the chance to even dream of.” He nodded at her, and she turned in her seat to face him. “Babe, you swept me off my feet from moment one. That handsome face of yours, this spectacularly sexy body, and those hands, Lord, those hands, made my body heat to the boiling point. And they still do, honey.
“Every time I see you working on a patient, playing with the kids, walking across the grove, or running during training with the other men, I think to myself it’s not all real. It can’t be. Why on earth would that man have chosen me? An Amazonian chef with too much ass for her own good.” She laughed, shaking her head, and Dan pulled her closer.