Ruby (Landry 1)

"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 cocoon of deception around yourself.

As you see, I'm still doing that, still protecting

Daphne.

"Actually, I was fortunate and am fortunate to