to leave me there as a patient," I said. "I was tricked
and locked up like some mentally disturbed person." "You were?" Her eyes widened.
"A nice young man helped me escape. I've
already told Daddy what she did."
Gisselle shook her head in disbelief.
"I can't believe she would do such a thing." "I can," I replied quickly. "Because she's not
really our mother."
"What?" Gisselle started to smile, but I stopped
her and seized her full attention when I reached out to
take her hand into mine.
"You and I were born in the bayou, Gisselle.
Years ago, Daddy would go there with our
grandfather Dumas to hunt. He saw and fell in love
with our real mother, Gabrielle Landry, and he made
her pregnant. Grandpere Dumas wanted a grandchild,
and Daphne couldn't have any, so he made a bargain
with our other grandfather, Grandpere Jack, to buy the
child. Only, there were two of us. Grandmere
Catherine kept me a secret and Grandpere Jack gave
you to the Dumas family."
Gisselle said nothing for a moment and then
pulled her hand from mine.
"You are crazy," she said, "if you thinkI'll ever
believe such a story."
"It's true," I said calmly. "The story of the
kidnapping was invented after I turned up here to keep
people believing Daphne was our real mother." Gisselle wheeled herself back, shaking her
head. "I'm not a Cajun, too. I'm not," she declared. "Cajun, Creole, rich, poor, that's not important,
Gisselle. The truth is important. It's time to face it and
go on," I said dryly. I was very tired now, the heavy