Remember the Future (19 page)

27

Maddy stood alone at the railing of the Riverwalk looking out at the Mississippi, pondering the nickname it had been given as the “Gathering of Waters.”  The title of “Old Muddy” had always seemed more appropriate to her.

Grant backed slowly up to stand beside her.  “No one’s following us yet,” he said breathlessly.  “We should go.”

Maddy shook her head.  “It’s okay, Grant.  No one will find us here.”

“We’re only a few blocks from the casino,” he protested incredulously.

“No one will follow us now,” she said, turning to study him.  “You said you trusted me.  You meant that, didn’t you?”

His taut shoulders slowly relaxed.  He gave her a simple unqualified nod.  “You’ll have to explain to me what just happened?  I heard screams.  I heard gunshots.  But nothing even touched us.  In fact, we just walked out right under their noses, didn’t we?”

Maddy studied him.  She could see a little agitation in his eyes, but that was probably just a little of the residual adrenaline.  Beneath that, she could see a strong foundation.  This incident wouldn’t blow his house down, she knew.  If he accepted this particular batch of weirdness, they would be okay.  Really okay.

“What are you really asking me, Grant?”

“What did you do to them?”

“Well, in the words of Louis Prima, ‘I took a bucketful of steam and a dozen rooster eggs, and I mixed them up gently with a bushel full of goldfish legs.’”

Grant turned away from her with a tense smile and gazed out over the river.

“I just showed them nonsense.  I gave them something else to worry about,” she said.  “A carefully shuffled shell to look under.”

He studied her and an amused smile broke across his face.  “So, you twisted their perception of reality?”

“Well, if you want to get technical.”  She made a small expression of surprise with her mouth, her eyes going out of focus for a moment.  “I guess Bert and Ernie were right after all, huh?”

Grant sighed heavily and searched behind them.  It was hard to break the old practiced patterns of paranoia.

She asked if he trusted her and he had answered truthfully.  He had answered from his heart.  Now he had to convince his mind.  That feat would be something altogether different.

Maddy turned back to the small lapping muddy waves of the river and reached blindly back to gently take his hand.

In response, he firmly grasped her hand and settled comfortably by her side.

A laughing young couple walking hand-in-hand brushed past their backs, nearly colliding with them, despite the fact that there was plenty of room on the Riverwalk.  Grant frowned in consternation at their seemingly rude behavior, then slowly it began to dawn on him.

They couldn’t see them, just like inside the club.

“Could you do this all along?” he finally asked her.

“No. Maybe.  I don’t know,” she responded with a nervous giggle, leaning closer and putting her weight against him.  “I think I just I woke up.  It was your trust in me that opened that locked door. I just needed a guide to show me the way inside.”

Grant slowly, awkwardly folded his arm around her waist.  Suddenly, it felt natural to him.  Her warmth, soothing the cold places.  Her substance, filling the gaps in his soul.

“How did you know about Torres?  How he felt about my wife?  Were you able to see something in his mind?”

“No, Grant.  Just the natural power of woman's intuition.”

Glancing up, Grant spotted the couple that had passed them walking together on the Riverwalk seemingly oblivious to their conversation.  It struck him in that moment the enormity of this talent that she seemed to have and he understood for really the first time why she was such a prized target.  She held a power that could be very valuable and very destructive.

By all rights, he should feel a healthy fear of her, he decided, but he hadn’t lied when he said that he trusted her.

“I’ve dedicated my life to making amends for her death,” he told the woman beside him, his hand wringing the metal railing. “Now that I know that she was targeted by an evil man just because she was a good woman, what am I supposed to do with that?”

“Give yourself absolution, Grant, and start living again. Like a good man should.”  She leaned her head against his arm.  “You’ve done your penance and Lara forgave you a long time ago.”

“How could you know that?”

“Maybe it's a conversation she and I will have sometime in the future.”

Grant gave her a cathartic chuckle and wiped his eyes.  Taking her hand, they began to walk down the path beside the Mississippi.

“I thought I was going to die tonight,” she reminded him.  “And suddenly, there's a tomorrow.”

“After what happened tonight, I see the whole world in a different way.  I mean, what am I supposed to do now?”

“What do you
want
to do?” she asked, glancing furtively over at him.

“I know what I
don’t
want to do,” he replied.  “I don’t want to go back to the depressing life where I did my time, waiting to die.”

“You could stay with me,” she suggested, linking her arm in his securely.  “They say that you’re responsible for the life you save.”

“You or me?  I mean, who really saved who here?”

“I think we both made out on that deal.”

They laughed together and caught each other stealing a look at the other at the same time.

Maddy stopped abruptly and planted herself in front of him.

He took her face in both hands and gave her a tame kiss that quickly grew passionate.  Like blood rushing back into long resting legs, he remembered the steps again and followed his heart along the dusty dance floor.

When they finally separated, he continued to hold her face in his hands and simply gazed upon her.  She opened her eyes and smiled sheepishly at the attention, ultimately blinking and burying her face in his chest to hide the tears of joy she could no longer contain.

Finally
, she thought. 
Finally!

“I guess I kept another little secret from you,” she admitted in a quiet voice.  “When I used to remember the moment shared with someone out at Jackson Square, I also recalled a kiss.  A wonderfully, romantic kiss.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, kid,” Grant quickly responded with a wry smile.

She tagged him on the arm and started away from him with a mischievous look on her face.  He gave pursuit.

“Now that we’ve got the big decision out of the way, where shall we go from here?” he asked her.

“Short term, I could really go for a drink right now,” she told him.  “A Hurricane sounds good.”

“Well, if we’re talking about short term, I think I'd like to go back to the little church if you wouldn't mind. Y'know, the one with St. Expedite,” he told her.

Maddy paused and allowed him to catch up, giving him a look of surprise.  “You?”

“In the heat of it all, I kinda asked old Jude to pray for a hopeless cause and help us out.”

She took his hand and squeezed it tightly.  “That’s big, Grant.”

“Can’t remember the last time I prayed,” he confessed, looking down at their joined hands with an intensity reserved for the freshly committed.  “Now, I think we need to talk about the long term plan.  I don’t know what happened after we exited the stage, but I heard a lot of gunshots, and I have a feeling whatever organization wants you, isn’t about to give you up so easily.”

Maddy gave a sober nod.

“Here’s the deal,” he replied. “I'll get your back, if you just keep your eyes out for what's ahead.”

After a few moments, she said, “Grant, y’know how I’ve been practicing this little exercise of releasing control and allowing myself to be guided?”

Grant nodded, recognizing the seriousness in her face.

“I think maybe that’s what they mean when they talk about Faith,” she whispered.  “You think?”

Grant remained silent, considering her question.

“I’ve been living in the future for so long,” she said, gazing down at their intertwined fingers, “that you’ll have to excuse me if I want to just live in the present for now.”

She ducked down and brushed her lips across the top of his hand, smiling brightly up at him.  “How about we both just live in the moment for a change?”

Together they walked hand and hand toward the lights and sounds of the French Quarter.

                                                                                                                6-7-15

For Gi Gi

Bryant Delafosse was born and raised in Southeast Texas.  He currently lives in Southern California with his wife, son, and two terriers, Luna and Jules.  His two previous novels include
The Mall
and
Hallowed
.

You can email the author at
[email protected]
and follow him on Twitter @BryantDelafosse.  Become a Fan on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/BryantDelafosse
.