Chapter Eighteen

The silent treatment lasted most of the way to the ranch, though Jessie gave her anxious parents a happy goodbye wave as if she were going to cheerleading camp and glad to be on her way. “Did you bring the gun?” she asked as they turned off the highway for the backroad.

“In the glove compartment. Knox will have plenty of ammunition. He always does.”

“Good,” Jessie answered a little ominously.

As they approached the gate, Teddy said, “Give me a break. We wanted to show you still had a job if you wanted it. Get all the fuss about your accident out of the way and get on with your life.”

“I’ll bet you’re the kind of person who thinks ripping a bandage off fast is better than doing it in stages. That’s great if you don’t take any skin along with it.”

Teddy opened the gate. Okay, she seemed determined to be difficult. He tried a compliment. “You did really well working on X-avier.”

“He asked me out.”

“What! I mean, that’s great. I knew you could get an able-bodied if you wanted. Are you going?” Target practice hadn’t started yet, and he’d already shot himself in the foot.

“Of course not. He’s too young, and I’d only be a novelty for a while. X-avier is very appealing though, great bod, nice smile, and he loves his mama.”

“I didn’t mind being a novelty if it got me some—and I love my mother, too.”

“You shouldn’t mention both in the same sentence. But yes, Miss Nell is wonderful. Same for the rest of your family.”

“You don’t know Mack, but Mom is convinced the right woman will come along and straighten him out like she did with Dad.”

“So a good woman is all it takes?”

“Or the right man, I mean if you are a woman. Which you are.” They arrived at the mansion so often called the ranch house before he could experiment with putting his foot in his mouth again.

As usual, fairly easy to tell who had come to watch the opening Sinners’ game by the vehicles parked near the door. Xochi drove her husband’s husky SUV. His twin sisters’ small sub-compacts, as petite as they were, sat next to it. Jude and Annie had probably stayed over after the shower. Brainy Trinity always showed up for Sunday dinner driving his electric Tesla, an environmental statement for him. Judging by the car seats in the back, Stacy had carted the grandchildren from New Orleans. Only family then, though more people might show up later. Mack played with the Cowboys at noon. Dean, Junior, Tom, and his wife were slated for a three o’clock start with the Sinners on the west coast, a good afternoon of football ahead.

Teddy got Jessie set up in her wheelchair before claiming his own. As they pushed through the kitchen door, Corazon raised a crispy stuffed pork roast from the oven. The herbs of the seasoning, bay leaf and garlic among others, filled the room. She followed that with a huge pan of rice dressing.

“Teddy, good, you are here. You slice the French bread for me. Miss Jessie, can you set the table in the dining room? The dishes are already in place.” She turned over a bread knife to one and a silverware caddy to the other.

“No one else back from church yet?” Teddy inquired.

“Any minute now, they all come and want to eat fast, fast to watch the game. Jude and Annie, they don’t go. They sit with Ella by the pool.” Corazon moved the pork roast to a platter and worked the drippings into a rich gravy. “My husband take the rest in the van. I been to the early service already.”

In the complicated religious life of the Billodeauxs, that meant Joe, Trin, T-Rex, and Xochi, probably accompanied by Mawmaw Nadine, went to the Catholic Mass while Nell, Stacy and the grandkids went to the Episcopal service since the twins had evaded a dose of sanctity. Mama Nell wouldn’t push Ella to attend, though she could most likely use a pinch of godliness. Knox generally read the Sunday paper somewhere in the shade while waiting to pick them up again.

Corazon checked a large pot of simmering green beans boiled with bits of ham, and added a dash of Cajun seasoning, completed her gravy and poured it into two serving boats. Jessie returned with the empty caddy and reported, “No bread pudding on the sideboard, but we have four pecan pies.”

The housekeeper sniffed. “Mawmaw Nadine made those pies. Mine are not good enough, she thinks. But I make better cakes.” Corazon spread the sliced bread out like a deck of cards into an oblong basket. She popped the heels of the loaf inside a plastic bag and set it by a tower of refrigerator containers, one of them already filled with greens. Plunking the basket into Jessie’s lap, she said, “You take to the table, por favor. Teddy, get the salad, bottom shelf. I hear the van.”

Putting a layer of rice dressing into the bottom of a container, Corazon forked two pieces of the roast on top and baptized them with gravy. The rest of the sliced pork roast ringed a large platter. She filled another with green beans before pouring the vegetables into a serving dish. “All ready,” Corazon announced and began packing Sunday dinner for herself and her husband into a shopping bag.

Teddy returned. “You know, you and Knox are family, especially since Xochi married Junior. You could eat with us. No one would care.”

“I care. I like my quiet Sunday afternoon off in our cottage. We watch the same games, but with not so much noise.”

“I kind of hate to ask, but would Knox set up some targets for us and show Jessie how to shoot my revolver, maybe at halftime?”

Immediately, Corazon’s brown forehead creased. “Why? You got troubles?”

“No, no, just something new for Jessie to learn.”

“He do it. I tell him.”

That statement seemed to settle the matter as the clan left the van and flowed into the kitchen. One grabbed the platter of meat, another the bowl of vegetables, a third the pan of rice dressing, and a fourth the iced tea from the fridge. Out by the barbecue pavilion, the clang of an iron triangle summoned the people from the pool. Corazon edged toward the kitchen door with her bag. Jessie backed her chair into a corner out of the way of the traffic.

Mawmaw Nadine bullied her way through the throng, calling, “Wait, Corazon, one of my pies is for you.” The sturdy old woman fetched it herself and placed it into Knox Polk’s hands as he held the door for the girls trooping in from the pool and mingling their scent of sinful Sunday cocoa butter and chlorine with the aftershave and perfume of the family members dressed for church. In a flowing flowered muumuu, Ella trundled to the dining table.

Joe Billodeaux relieved Knox of doorman duty and sent him and Corazon on their way. “Enjoy your peace and quiet. Quick, quick! Game starts in fifteen minutes.”

Nell scooted under his arm. “We will not gobble our food. You know they only blather about the game for a while, have to do the National Anthem, coin toss, and all that before beginning. Everyone take a seat. Nice to see you again, Jessie. Why don’t you sit next to Teddy?”

Having restored order, Nell Billodeaux took her place at one end of the table and offered a sincere but very brief grace. As the butler and his wife also had the day off, the family passed the various dishes, helping themselves to as much or little as they pleased. Nell granted permission to everyone to cut a piece of pie, top it with whipped cream, and adjourn to the den with their desserts in-hand. She started coffee for those who wanted it, and joined them slightly after the Cowboys kicked off.

Mack scored a dramatic touchdown in the first half to the cheers of his family, but drew a fifteen-yard penalty on kickoff for excessive celebration as he danced and dabbed in the end zone. His Cajun frustration showing as the game progressed, Joe muttered, “I’ve told him, me, over and over not to do dat.”

At halftime with the Cowboys ahead by seven, Knox Polk summoned Ted and Jessie to handgun practice. He had the paper targets set up in a glade used for the purpose far from grazing livestock and rumbustious children. “Set your break,” Teddy cautioned Jessie.

“Yep, I do remember Teddy’s first try with a gun.” Knox allowed one very swift, thin-lipped smile, so rarely seen, to cross his lean face. “You won’t have any trouble, Miss Jessie. You right-handed?”

“Yes.”

“Put your right hand high on the grip. That helps with recoil. Left hand around the grip under the trigger guard. Fit your hands together. Extend your arms. Aim with your dominant eye, lining up the sights. Cock your gun and squeeze, don’t pull, the trigger. Let it surprise you when it goes off.”

Bam! Jessie hit the lower end of the target.

“Got him in the groin, which I guess would do the job, but being in a chair, you might want to aim higher,” Knox said, absolutely deadpan.

“Maybe that’s where I aimed,” Jessie answered.

Again, a flicker of a smile lifted Knox Polk’s lips. “Be careful of this gal, Ted. But not bad for a first shot. You have strong hands and arms. Did better than Teddy his first time.”

“Hey, I was a skinny twelve-year-old!” Teddy knew his face burned.

“What counts is that you improved, but you don’t come out here and practice enough. Stay as long as you like. I’m leaving plenty of ammo. All casings get picked up before you leave. Teddy, make sure she learns how to clean her weapon when you’re through. I’ve got the end of the game to catch.” Knox loped off in long strides.

Jessie emptied the revolver, moving farther toward the center of the target each time. Teddy reloaded and executed a fair cluster in the center of his. “I’m not that bad.”

“Sometimes, I wish you were. Look, I appreciate all you are teaching me. Just don’t push me before I’m ready.”

“I understand. So are you going to call X-avier for a date now?”

“Hardly. My dad wants me to ride on the team bus to Lake Charles this coming weekend. See what you started?”

“Something good, I hope. The Sinners play at home. I’ll have to be in New Orleans on Sunday. Ella will be home all week. There goes our opportunity for some more hanky-panky.” He punctuated that statement with a regretful smile.

“Yes. I feel like I wasted a night pouting.”

“You did.”

Jessie swung the unloaded gun his way. Teddy pushed it aside. “Knox would say, never point a gun in anyone’s direction unless you intend to use it. Never know when a forgotten bullet might be in the chamber.”

“I still have a lot to learn.”

“You know I’ll help every step of the way.”

They resumed practice until they expended the bullets, policed the area, and headed back to the house for the Sinners’ game after a Cowboys’ victory despite Mack drawing a couple more penalties for taunting. Leftovers for dinner, then back to Lafayette with the red van crammed full of baby furniture and gifts Ella couldn’t wait to show Jessie. Teddy hoped he’d given another gift of independence today.