Page 88 of Creole Kingpin
“Now, I’ve never been to medical school, so I don’t know much about this kind of thing, ma’am, but it might be worth making an appointment to follow up with your doctor, just to make sure.”
I think Norma and I both hold our breath as we wait for her reply.
Bernadette narrows her eyes on Moses. “Where are you from, boy? Who are your people? With that name and your accent, I’d say you’re Creole, aren’t you?”
He inclines his chin. “I am. My family started out in New Orleans, but I was born in Biloxi and raised by my grand-mère. She was a woman with strong opinions like you.”
Bernadette harrumphs. “You’ve got that right. There’s nothing wrong with a matriarch having a strong moral compass. No one knows how hard it is overseeing a family that doesn’t want to take direction.” At this, Bernadette looks at me. “This one was impossible to control.”
Moses rises and puts an arm around my shoulders. “She’s got spirit, all right, and that’s my favorite thing about her. You raised a hell of a woman ... pardon my French, Ms. Maison.”
Bernadette looks from Moses to me and back again. “Maybe you can finally straighten her out. She’s taken the wrong path.”
I open my mouth to snap out something, but Moses speaks first.
“I beg to differ. She took a path that led her straight back to me, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m sure you wouldn’t either.”
Bernadette doesn’t know what to say. Moses put her on the spot, and she’s struggling. I can see she wants to contradict him, but she can’t get it out.
“She’s done right by me.I guessI can’t argue that.”
I can’t believe Bernadette doesn’t expire on the spot after making the admission, but something I never realized was tangled in my chest suddenly unknots. “And I’ll keep doing right by you, Bernie. You took me in when you didn’t have to. I’d like to keep you around a while.”
Bernadette’s gaze cuts to me, and I see something there I haven’t seen before ... maybe ever.Affection.
“I’ll be around as long as the good Lord bids. Now, I suppose I could make an appointment with the doctor, just to make sure.”
“All right. I’ll have Norma give him a call,” I say, watching Norma nod in the reflection of a mirror across the room.
“Now it’s time for my stories. Thank y’all for stopping by.”
Moses crouches back down in front of her. “It was a pleasure, Ms. Maison. I look forward to seeing you again.”
Fifty-Seven
Magnolia
“You worked a goddamned miracle,” I tell Moses as Norma shuts the door behind us and we walk down the steps. “I don’t know how you did it, but you did.” I shake my head, still shocked that Bernadette didn’t slice him to ribbons with her sharp tongue.
“What can I say? I’ve got a way with the ... what the hell?”
I turn to follow Moses’s gaze, which is caught on a fancy stretched black car parked behind his Rolls Royce. As the window rolls down, I see a familiar face.
Mount.
“Get in,” he orders before rolling the window up again.
“Fuck,” Moses whispers under his breath.
“What the hell does he want?” I ask him, but Moses just shakes his head.
My heart picks up, thudding harder as we walk toward the car, and I don’t know why. I calmed my fears about Mount after he and Keira got together, and I know he won’t hurt me because she’d kill him.
But still ... something about this is unsettling.
Moses’s posture is rigid as V comes around to open the back door for us. I thank him and slide in first, taking the seat closest to the other side of the vehicle, opposite Mount. Moses takes the seat directly across from him.
“Is Keira okay?” I ask as soon as the door shuts. “Rory?”
