“Where are the others?” Lizzie asked, pausing between taking photos of the house with her cell phone.
“Varina wanted to show Felicia her old house at Oyster Bluff, so Mr. Wynant drove them over there in my truck,” Louette said. “They ought to be back pretty soon.”
“I want to see that old slave settlement and the site of the plantation,” Lizzie said. “But first, Dweezil needs to stretch her legs.” She set the carrier down on the ground, and the cat bolted out, streaking across the lawn.
“Dweez!” Lizzie cried, taking off after her. Marie followed right behind.
Brooke pulled Louette aside. “Louette? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Josephine. She fired me and Shug.”
“What? That can’t be true.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Louette nodded for emphasis.
“But why? How? She can’t mean it. She wouldn’t fire you.”
“But she did. I told you, she hasn’t been sleeping; the pain’s been so bad. So last night, I called up her doctor and told him he needed to give her something stronger. Which he agreed was the thing to do. What I didn’t know was, somehow, Miss Josephine managed to get herself up out of bed and come looking for me in the kitchen. She heard me talking on the phone.”
“Uh-oh,” Brooke said.
“I’ve never seen her so mad. She said I had no cause to go messing in her private business and calling her doctor behind her back. She yelled at me and carried on so bad, she had me crying. Called me names nobody ever called me. Then, Shug came in, and he heard the ruckus, and when he tried to stand up for me, she took after him too!” Louette bit her lip and blinked back tears. “Finally, Shug told her if she felt that way about us, we would just quit, and she could get somebody else to work for her.”
“Oh no,” Brooke moaned.
“That’s when Josephine said we couldn’t quit, because we were fired. And then she said, ‘Oh yeah, I changed my mind too, and I’m not gonna give y’all back Oyster Bluff, after all.’” Louette burst into tears.
Brooke hesitated, then folded her arms around Louette’s bulky shoulders. The older woman heaved with every sob. After a moment or two, she pulled away, obviously embarrassed by her outburst.
“I’m sorry,” she said, taking a neatly pressed handkerchief from the pocket of her white uniform. “I didn’t mean to be such a crybaby. I know Josephine’s only acting this way ’cause she’s old and sick and hurtin’, but I just don’t understand how she could be so ugly to me.”
“I don’t understand it either,” Brooke said.
“I’m still sleeping in that room next to hers, and I hear her at night, she can’t hardly breathe right, and she’s not sleeping, and that’s why I called the doctor. He told me there’s no reason she needs to be in pain, so close to… you know. Her time.”
“You absolutely did the right thing,” Brooke said. “And I don’t care how sick Josephine is. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. You and Shug would certainly be justified in quitting, if that’s what you want.”
“Shug wants us to go. We’ve got money saved. We could go someplace like Brunswick and buy us a little house for our own. He can work anywhere, and he wants me to retire. But I don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t working.” Louette sniffed. “And then what happens to her?” She jerked her head in the direction of the house. “She can’t take care of herself. She don’t know how to cook, and she’s weak as a kitten. Who’ll stay here and look after her if we leave?”
“We caught her!” Lizzie emerged from a thicket of overgrown azaleas on the north side of the house, clutching the errant cat. “Jesus, I need a drink!”
Marie was close behind. She frowned when she saw Louette’s distress. “Everything okay here?”
Brooke took a deep breath and tried to swallow the anger bubbling up from her gut. “It will be,” she said. “Louette, I know Josephine thinks she fired you, but could you please take Lizzie and my mom to the kitchen and give them something cold to drink? It was pretty hot out there on the water today.”
“Of course. I should have offered that as soon as we got here,” Louette said. She opened the front door. “Y’all come in and get out of this heat.”
“And I’ll go speak to Josephine and get this firing thing straightened out,” Brooke said.
***
She found Josephine dozing in her recliner. Her face was paler than it had been, her lips cracked and bloodless. There were deep purplish circles under her eyes. Her mouth was ajar, and she snored softly, as did the two Chihuahuas who were cradled in her lap. As soon as Brooke approached, both dogs scrambled to their feet, instantly alert and on the defensive.
“Hi, girls,” Brooke whispered. She reached out and touched each dog’s head. Then she pulled a wooden chair closer to the recliner, sat down, and stared at her client.
Josephine’s red-rimmed eyes opened slowly. She coughed violently, and when she could finally catch her breath, she spoke with difficulty.
“Teeny and Tiny must be used to you now,” she said, wheezing. “They didn’t even whimper when you came into the room.”
