Mimosa Grove by Dinah McCall Read Free Book Online Page B

behind her.
    “Where, then?” she yelled. “Tell me which way to go.”
    With the wind at your back.
    She spun abruptly and began to run, taking care to keep the force of the storm at her back, letting the wind push her when her legs were too tired to move.
    Several minutes passed, and still she could see nothing but rain and the dark, verdant thrashing of storm-tossed limbs. Then, just as suddenly as she had entered the grove, she was out, running across the grounds toward the blessed safety of the old house.
    Marie was standing at the back with the door open, waving for her to hurry as Laurel bolted up the steps and all but fell into the kitchen. Her eyes were huge, her heart hammering so hard she could barely hear Marie scolding her for being gone too long. She looked down at the puddle she was making on the old linoleum flooring and started to shake.
    “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m getting everything wet.”
    Marie made a clucking sound with her tongue as she began tugging and pulling at Laurel’s clothes.
    “Take these off right here, baby girl.”
    When Laurel hesitated, Marie scolded her again.
    “There ain’t nothin’ under those clothes I never saw before, and you gonna catch your death if you don’t get yourself dry. Lord, Lord, honey, you worried me right out of my mind. I was afraid you’d gone and gotten yourself lost in there.”
    Laurel began pulling at the sopping spandex, which was all but glued to her skin.
    “I did get lost,” she said, shivering as her teeth began to chatter.
    Marie kept shaking her head as she helped Laurel peel off the wet clothes and shoes.
    “It’s good you find your way out,” she said. “It’s ’bout dark as night out there now, and it ain’t even seven o’clock.”
    “But I didn’t,” Laurel whispered.
    Marie pulled an afghan from the arms of an ancient rocking chair and threw it around Laurel’s shoulders, wrapping and patting until it had covered Laurel’s nudity all the way to the tops of her knees.
    “There now,” Marie muttered, then realized what Laurel had just said and looked up with a frown. “What you mean…you didn’t? You standin’ here big as day, ain’t you?”
    “I was lost. When it started to rain, I began to run. Then she told me I was going the wrong way.”
    Marie frowned. “She who? Ain’t supposed to be anyone else in the grove.”
    “I didn’t see anyone else. I just heard her voice…in my head. She told me to put the wind at my back, so I did. That’s how I got out. That’s how I found my way home.”
    Marie’s expression blanked. She took a deep breath, then stared at Laurel before she began to nod.
    “What?” Laurel asked.
    “She likes you.”
    Laurel pulled the soft, well-washed blue afghan tighter around her shoulders.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Remember the day you arrived? Remember the feelin’ you had on the stairs?”
    The skin on the back of Laurel’s neck began to crawl. It was all she could do to answer.
    “Yes.”
    “That was her. She don’t welcome just everybody into this house.” Then she patted Laurel’s back and then took her by the hand. “Come with me, baby girl. We gonna get you all warm and dry, and then we’ll have us some supper. Yep. You’re gonna be all right now. Don’t ever have to worry ’bout anything again. She likes you. She’ll take good care of you.”
    Laurel paused. “For Pete’s sake, Marie. Quit talking in riddles. Who likes me? Who’s going to take care of me? Are you trying to tell me that my grandmother’s spirit is still in this house?”
    “Lord no, honey,” Marie said. “Your grandmama was ready to go. She met her Maker with a clear conscience and His name on her lips. She’s with her Etienne again and got no need to stay in this place.”
    “Then what are you trying to tell me?”
    Marie looked at Laurel in disbelief. “Why, honey, I thought you knew. It’s Chantelle LeDeux.”
    Laurel stared at Marie as if she’d just lost her