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BIANCA WATCHED THE newly married couple dance from her hiding spot. She would love to put a voodoo curse on the new Mrs. Dominic St. Germaine, but that would bring HIS wrath down heavy on Bianca and she did not want that. She had fallen hard for Dominic and he swore that she was the one he wanted, but this marriage had been arranged long before they met. He promised his new wife that they only had to be married for a short year, and then he would let her go. This would be the longest year of Bianca’s life, but at least, she had her work.
As Bianca watched the happy couple dance at their wedding reception, her hatred for the new bride was once again ignited. She clearly remembered the day she first met Alexis Lemoine; Bianca was six years old and Alexis was nine.
Bianca's mother worked for the Lemoine family as a cook at that time. She went in the mornings to cook their breakfast and came home after the dinner dishes were cleared away. Growing up, Bianca ate breakfast early if she wanted it hot. Bianca’s supper was always late when her mom had to cook. Most days, her grand-mere cooked supper.
On that fateful day when Bianca met Alexis Lemoine for the first time, Bianca begged her mom to go to work with her. There was no school that week because of Mardi Gras and Bianca didn't want to spend the day at her grand-mere’s shop; she wanted to spend time with her mother. After promising her mother that she would not get into any trouble, her mother allowed her to go with her.
It so happened that day Alexis was celebrating her birthday and her mother was preparing everything for the party.
Bianca watched as her mother busily prepared the elegant dining room for the birthday cake. Bianca had never seen so much pink. Someone had already put up pink balloons and streamers throughout the room. To this day, Bianca couldn’t stand the color pink.
They had fancy pink plates and glasses for the guests to use. Over the years, Bianca had come to learn that the plates and glasses were made of Depression glass. She’d never seen anything like it before. She was in total awe at the sight of the dining room. Her whole house could probably fit in that one big room.
While Bianca's mother was finalizing everything in the room for the party, she instructed Bianca to start washing dishes. This was one chore that Bianca enjoyed. It was the one time her mother allowed her to play in the warm sudsy water as much as she wanted, just as long as the dishes were cleaned in the process. She piled soap bubbles as high as she could before blowing them away. The more she played in the water the more bubbles there were. Her mother figured this would keep her from getting underfoot.
Bianca was having so much fun when Alexis entered the kitchen; she didn‘t even notice her. She must have been quite a sight now that she thought about it, but at that time all she could think about was how mean the girl had been.
Bianca was playing in the water and her clothes were soaking wet. Her mother had been cooking in the kitchen and Bianca's unruly hair had started to frizz because of the heat.
When Alexis walked into the kitchen, she gawked at Bianca before bursting into giggles. Bianca had never seen a girl as pretty as her. She had the greenest eyes with black hair. The two things together created quite a contrast. She even had a green dress and a hair bow that matched the color of her eyes giving them a depth Bianca envied. Bianca’s hazel eyes only showed a vivid green when she was upset. Bianca felt dowdy next to this girl. She even had on shiny black leather shoes that probably cost more than her mother could ever afford.
She wished she had such striking looks. When Alexis laughed at Bianca, she knew this girl certainly was not as pretty on the inside as she was on the outside. To make it worse, the mean girl brought her friends into the kitchen so they could get a good laugh.
Bianca had been so embarrassed. As she raised a finger to put a curse on the awful girls, her mother walked into the room. She pushed Bianca's finger down before she could do any harm and ushered the other girls into the dining room.
While the girls were busy with the birthday party and her mother was tending to their every need, Bianca slipped out of the house and went in search of something to scare the mean girl. As she made her way to the river, she found what she was looking for - a little grass snake.
Bianca learned at an early age how to handle even the most poisonous of snakes. Her grand-mere collected cottonmouths to defang. They were important in some of the voodoo rituals. The snake was thought to give you supernatural powers when performing your voodoo practice. She also collected the venom from the cottonmouths and rattle snakes to use in potions.
Bianca carefully captured the snake and hid it in her shirt. She held back the giggles as it slithered about. She peeked into the dining room and noticed the pile of gifts on the buffet. She immediately knew what to do.
Bianca snuck into the room and hid behind the heavy velvet damask drapes that flanked the French doors. She found a gift box she could easily slip the snake into. Before leaving her hiding spot, she made sure no one saw her.
As Bianca finished up the dishes, a scream tore through the house. She let out a soft giggle. It served the little princess right. And to make it even better, Alexis was so scared that she peed in her panties in front of all of her friends and her friends laughed at her. Bianca had been scared that she would be found out, but instead, Alexis's little brother was reprimanded since he was always taunting his older sister with snakes. Bianca didn't feel bad that he got in trouble for her prank either; he was just as mean as his sister. He called Bianca names behind her mother's back.
Later that night, Bianca's mother reprimanded her for trying to put a voodoo curse on those girls, explaining that if she ever did that then Bianca's mother would never find work again.
As Bianca watched the couple enjoy their day, jealousy rushed through her body. She couldn’t wait a year before Dominic made her his. She had to get rid of this woman. She wondered if Alexis even remembered that they’d met when they were children. Alexis was one of her faithful customers at the shop and had never mentioned anything. She came in at least once a week to have her palm or tarot cards read. She even came to have a reading right before the wedding.
Dominic swore he didn’t love his new wife, but Bianca saw the way he looked at her and she had seen the cards. She needed to break up this marriage before they realized that they loved each other.
As Bianca watched the happy couple, she despised the fact that they made the perfect couple on the outside. Would Alexis think of Dominic in the same way if she knew all of his secrets? Mais non, Bianca couldn’t see this prim and proper girl going for any of the things that Dominic enjoyed.
Unable to take watching the festivities anymore, she headed over to where she had her ginseng planted. She needed more ginseng root for the shop. Her grand-mere taught her that the root would cure the part of the body that it resembled the most. When a customer asked for a remedy for an ailment for a specific body part, she ground up the root that best fit the circumstance for their use.