All That Glitters

'It's for Madame,' he announced. Paul looked up curiously. I shrugged and rose.

'Maybe it's Jeanne,' I suggested. He nodded. But it was Beau, who sounded like a voice without a body . . . a wisp of himself, so soft and stunned, I questioned whether it was really he.

'Beau? What is it?'

'It's Gisselle. We're at the ranch. We've been here for more than a week now.'

'Oh,' I said. 'She knows about us, then?'

'No, that's not it,' he replied.

I held my breath. 'What then, Beau?'

'She was bitten by mosquitoes. We thought nothing of it. She complained like crazy, of course, but I rubbed alcohol on her and forgot it. Then . . .'

'Yes?' My legs felt as if they might turn to air and float out from under me.

'She started to have these severe headaches. Nothing I gave her helped. She took nearly a bottle of aspirin. She had a fever, too. Last night the fever went way up and she was hallucinating. I had to call the doctor from the village. By the time he arrived, she was paralyzed.'

'Paralyzed!'

'And she was babbling incoherently. She couldn't remember anything, not even who I was,' he said, amazed.

'What did the doctor say?'

'He knew what it was immediately. Gisselle has contracted St. Louis encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain caused by a virus mosquitoes transmit to people.'

'Mon Dieu,' I said, my heart thumping. 'Is she in the hospital?'

'No,' he said quickly.

'No? Why not, Beau?'

'The doctor said the prognosis is not good. There is no known treatment of the disease when it is transmitted by viral infections other than the herpes simplex virus. Those are his exact words.'

'What does this mean? What will happen to her?'

'She can remain in this condition for some time,' he said in a voice devoid of any feeling, a voice drained and lost. And then he added, 'But no one back in New Orleans knows about it yet. In fact, only this doctor and some servants here are aware of what's happened, and they can be persuaded not to talk about it.'

I held my breath. 'What are you suggesting, Beau?'

'It came to me just a little while ago while I stood by her bedside and watched her sleep. When she's asleep, she looks so much like you, Ruby. No one would question it.'

My heart stopped and then began to pound so hard, I thought I would lose my breath and consciousness. I shifted the receiver to my other ear and took a deep breath. I knew what he was suggesting.

'Beau . . . you want me to assume her identity?'

'And become my wife now and forever,' he said. 'Don't you see what an opportunity this is?' he asked quickly. 'None of the secrets of the past have to be revealed and no one has to be hurt.'

'Except Paul,' I said.

'What good is it if we're all unhappy?'

Could we do this? I wondered, my excitement building. Would it be wrong?

'What will happen to Gisselle?'

'We'll have to institutionalize her, secretly, of course. But it won't be hard to do.'

'That's terrible. You remember when Daphne tried to do that to me,' I said.

'That was different, Ruby. You were alive and well and had your whole life ahead of you. What difference will it make to Gisselle? She has accidentally given us a gift, repaired so many wrongs she has committed. Fate wouldn't hand us this opportunity if Fate didn't want to right the wrongs, too. Come to me,' he pleaded. 'With you I can restore my troubled soul and become someone I can respect again. Please, Ruby. We can't waste a moment of this chance.'

'I don't know. I have to think.' I turned and looked toward the study. 'I have to talk it over with Paul.'

'Of course, but do it right away and call me back,' he said, and gave me the telephone number. 'Ruby, I love you and you love me and we should be together. Destiny has come to realize that, too. Who knows? Maybe your Grandmere Catherine's at work someplace in the hereafter or maybe Nina Jackson's cast a spell for us.'

'I don't know, Beau. It's all happening so fast. It's complicated.'

'Talk it over with Paul. It's right; it's good. It's what was meant to be, finally,' he said.

After we hung up, I stood there, my heart still pounding very hard and quickly. The possibilities loomed before me as well as the dangers. I would have to assume my sister's identity, become Gisselle, but we were so unalike, really. Could I do it well enough to fool people and be with Beau forever? Love, if it's strong enough, I thought, gives you the power to do things beyond your imagination. Maybe this was true for us now.

I took a deep breath and then returned to the study and told Paul what had happened and what Beau had proposed. He sat there with amazing calm and listened as I gushed the story and the fantastic proposal. Then he got up and went to the window. He stood there for the longest time.