'Well, Beau already knows about her,' Daphne said.
'Exactly,' my father said. 'Of course, I could ask him to keep it all a secret, and I'm sure he would die in a duel before revealing it, but things are revealed accidentally, too, and then what would we do? It could unravel everything we've done up until now.'
Daphne nodded.
'What will you tell Gisselle?' she asked him, her voice somewhat mournful now. 'She'll know the truth about me, that I'm not really her mother.' She dabbed at her eyes with a light blue silk handkerchief.
'Of course you're really her mother. She hasn't known anyone else to be her mother and you've been a wonderful mother to her. We'll tell her the story just as I outlined it. After the initial shock, she'll accept her twin sister and hopefully help you, too. Nothing will change except our lives will be doubly blessed,' he said, smiling at me.
Was this where I got my blind optimism? I wondered. Was he a dreamer, too?
'That is,' he added after a moment, 'if Ruby agrees to go along with it. I don't like asking anyone to lie,' he told me, 'but in this case, it's a good lie, a lie which will keep anyone from being hurt,' he said, shifting his eyes toward Daphne.
I thought a moment. I would have to pretend, at least to Gisselle, that Grandmere Catherine had been part of some kidnapping plot. That bothered me, but then I thought Grandmere Catherine would want me to do everything possible to stay here—far away from Grandpere Jack.
'Yes,' I said. 'It's all right with me.'
Daphne sighed deeply and then quickly regained her composure.
'I'll have Nina arrange one of the guest rooms,' she said.
'Oh, no. I want her to have the room that adjoins Gisselle's. They will be sisters right from the beginning,' my father emphasized. Daphne nodded.
'I'll have her prepare it right away. For tonight, she can use some of Gisselle's night garments. Fortunately,' she said, smiling at me with some warmth for the first time, 'you and your sister look to be about the same size.' She gazed down at my feet. 'Your feet look fairly close as well, I see.'
'You'll have to go on a shopping spree tomorrow though, darling. You know how possessive Gisselle is with her clothes,' my father warned.
'She should be. A woman should take pride in her wardrobe and not be like some college coed, sharing her garments down to her very panties with some roommate.' She rose gracefully from the high back chair and shook her head slightly as she gazed at me. 'What a Mardi Gras evening this turned out to be.' She turned to Pierre. 'You're positive about all this. This is what you want to do?'
'Yes, darling. With your full cooperation and guidance, that is,' he said, rising. He kissed her on the cheek. 'I guess I'll have to make it all up to you doubly now,' he added. She looked into his eyes and gave him a small, tight smile.
'The cash register has been ringing for the last five minutes without a pause,' she said, and he laughed. Then he kissed her gently on the lips. From the way he gazed at her, I could see how important it was for him to please her. She appeared to bask in the glow of his devotion. After a moment she turned to leave. At the doorway, she paused.
'You will be telling it all to Gisselle?'
'In a few minutes,' he said.
'I'm going to bed. This has all been too shocking and has drained me of most of my energy right now,' she complained. 'But I want to have the strength for Gisselle in the morning.'
'Of course,' my father said.
'I'll see to her room,' Daphne declared and left us.
'Sit down. Please,' my father asked. I took my seat again and he sat down, too. 'You want something to drink . . . eat?'
'No, I'm fine. Nina gave me something to drink before.'
'One of her magical recipes?' he asked, smiling.
'Yes. And it worked.'
'It always does. I meant it when I said I have respect for spiritual and mysterious things. You'll have to tell me more about Grandmere Catherine.'
'I'd like that.'
He took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, his eyes down. 'I'm sorry to hear about Gabrielle. She was a beautiful young woman. I had never and have never met anyone like her. She was so innocent and free, a true pure spirit.'
'Grandmere Catherine thought she was a swamp fairy,' I said, smiling.
'Yes, yes. She might very well have been. Look,' he said, growing very serious very quickly, 'I know how disturbing and how troubling this all must be to you. In time, you and I will get to know each other better and I'll try to explain it. I won't be able to justify it or turn the bad things that happened into good things. I won't be able to change the events of the past or make mistakes go away, but I hope I will at least get you to see why it happened the way it did. You have a right to know all that,' he said.
'Gisselle knows nothing then?' I asked.
'Oh, no. Not a hint. There was Daphne to consider. I had hurt her enough as it was. I had to protect her, and there was no way to do that without creating the fabrication that Gisselle was her child.
'One lie, one mistake, usually creates the need for another and another, and before you know it, you've spun a
