Bayou Baby (Butterfly Bayou 2) - Page 28
Sometimes her daughter could be obnoxious. “Angela.”
She shrugged. “Well, you make me go to church, and we’re all supposed to be honest. It would be way easier to sway me to his side if he offered me some carbs.”
Quaid sighed and sat back. “I wasn’t trying to sway anyone. I was merely pointing out that writing wills is my job. Irene Guidry paid for my services and I wrote her will. It was not my place to tell her who to leave her property to.”
“It is your place to watch out for this family’s best interests.” She was well aware of the ice in her words. She used the voice she spoke to badly behaving board members with. “The Beaumont family makes up a large part of your business.”
“Yes, and I’m the only lawyer in town,” Quaid countered.
He was underestimating her will in this. “Business can be conducted over the telephone these days. I assure you there are plenty of lawyers in New Orleans who would be thrilled to represent my interests. My daughter’s fiancé is a lawyer.”
Angela raised a hand in a vain attempt to call her off. “Momma, Austin is a prosecutor. He doesn’t do business law.”
“Well, Quaid here does everything. I’m sure Austin can, too.” She would send him right back to law school if she needed to. “I don’t want that tramp in my backyard. I’ve made it plain that I want to buy Guidry Place for years.”
“And I took your offers to Irene,” Quaid replied. “At great personal risk. I was lucky that old woman’s eyesight was going.”
She waved it off. He was being a baby. “I told you I would pay for the Kevlar vest.” She sighed and sat back. It was obvious the man was going to be useless for anything but basic information. “So Seraphina is planning on living in that rattrap?”
“That rattrap is worth a lot of money.” Quaid settled in as though he realized the real danger had passed. He really was the only option in town. “As for Seraphina’s intentions, I don’t know exactly what she’s planning on doing with it.”
Celeste knew. The young woman would use it as a weapon to torment her. She would parade that family of hers around like they had the right to be there. Delphine hadn’t lost her boy. Delphine, for all the mistakes she’d made, still had a loving family around her. Seraphina had done her best to ruin Celeste’s family, but she’d still gotten a sweet baby boy out of whatever man she’d chosen over Wes.
If only Wes had lived, he would have seen Sera for who she was. He would have seen that Seraphina was a woman who slept with married men. It was the only reason Celeste could come up with for her not telling the world who the father of her child was. She was ashamed, and she should be.
She ignored that prickle of unease that nagged at her. What would her sister have said? There but for the grace of god . . .
It had only been her mother-in-law’s desperation for a grandchild that had caused her to allow Ralph to sully the Beaumont name by marrying a flight attendant.
“If I had any other options, I would take them, Celeste,” Opal Beaumont had said the day of Celeste’s wedding. “You won’t ever be a real Beaumont, but after I’m done with you, no one else will question it. But you and I will always know that you’re a gold-digging imposter.”
“I can’t imagine Sera is going to live there, Momma.” Angela was using her soothing tone.
It set her on the edge because she didn’t want to be soothed. She wanted never to have to see Seraphina Guidry again. She wanted that woman to stop haunting her every day of her life.
Quaid leaned in like he was telling her a secret. “If it helps, I don’t think she’s going to live there, either. I think she’s going to fix it up and sell it. Give her some time and you might be able to get that property.”
Sera would never sell to her. Or perhaps she would, but only if she paid far more than that ramshackle place was worth. There was no reason to fix it up when she was going to raze it to the ground and build something new. She forced a smile on her face. “Of course, you’re right. Angela, we should go or we’ll miss the appointment with the florist. Quaid, if you hear anything about Guidry Place going on the market, please let me know.”
He nodded, but there was suspicion in his eyes. “I will do that.”
That suspicion proved he wasn’t a dumb man. She had zero intentions of letting the situation lie until Seraphina had the upper hand. She needed a plan. She would have to find a way to win this war she found herself in.
Source: readsnovelonline.net