“Did you really sneak into houses . . .”

“Eight houses,” Pauline pointed out. “All in one night and no one caught her.”

Drake shook his head, unable to keep from laughing. “You broke into eight homes and left each one a baby alligator?”

Pauline nodded, beginning to laugh at the memory. “She’s very inventive, this one. She tied a bow around the necks of the alligators with a little rolled-up note, like a scroll, and left one in each bathroom, either in the tub or shower. All women of the church and very proper.”

“I’ll bet that went over well.”

“Mind you,” Pauline added, “these were town women. They lived on the river, but they weren’t like those of us in the swamp. Can you imagine the ruckus those ladies made findin’ gators in their fancy bathrooms? I think everyone heard the screams up and down the Mississippi.”

Saria burst out laughing again and Pauline, shaking her head, joined with her.

“What did the note say?” Drake asked.

“Wait, I still have mine,” Pauline jumped up so fast the chair wavered for a moment.

Drake steadied the chair while Pauline left the room to retrieve the note.

“Remind me not to get you upset with me,” Drake whispered. “You believe in revenge.”

“Good thing to know about me,” Saria said. “I don’ like people pushin’ me into anything, even ma famille. I had to be an adult and no one was goin’ to come into my home and tell me what I could or couldn’t do.”

“We were tryin’ to give you a childhood,” Pauline pointed out as she plunked the note down on the table in front of Drake.

“I know that now, Miss Pauline,” Saria said. “That’s why I said I appreciated the intervention. Later, when my temper cooled, I sorted it out and realized it was done because you all cared. I left an apology at each house a few weeks later.”

Drake glanced down at the note expecting to see a childish, angry scrawl. He was shocked that the note was done in calligraphy. He looked up and met Pauline’s eyes.

“Do you see why I kept it? That note was such a work of art. She gave us all a baby to take care of because we had too much time on our hands and she didn’t need our concern. She said to pour our lonely feelings out to the new baby.” Pauline ped herself another cup of coffee and took a beignet. “Of course it was a baby alligator, but so clever to think of it.”

“And what did you do for an apology?” Drake asked, more fascinated than ever. Clearly there was quite a lot to learn of Saria and he wanted to know everything.

“I baked them a rare Cajun bread, a recipe that’s been in ma famille for years. I wrapped each loaf up with a beautiful tissue paper my mom had kept for years in case something important came up and I snuck into their houses and left it on their tables. That was much easier than putting the alligators in the bathrooms.”

Pauline beamed at her. It was obvious they had great affection for one another. Drake could understand why. Pauline had no children and Saria had no parents. Naturally they would gravitate toward one another.

“You have to remember, I had a lot of time on my hands to do anything I wanted, so the subjects that interested me, like cookin’ and art and photography, I spent a great deal of time on. Things I didn’ like . . .” She trailed off with a rueful shrug.

“Saria has hunted alligators during the season by herself. Most of the men won’t do that,” Pauline added a little slyly.

Drake knew the woman was baiting him. She had thrown that out to test his reaction. He forced down the first explosive reaction and took a quieting sip of coffee. “Why? Do you have a death wish?”

Saria shrugged. “When I was really young, I went out with mon pere. Everyone does it when they need money. You get so many tags and they buy them by the size. I happen to be a good shot and you don’ have a big target on an alligator. It’s about the size of a quarter. The gator is usually rollin’ and fightin’ and you have to have good reflexes. Mon pere took me when my brothers were in the service or workin’ on the river. When he got sick and couldn’t go out, there was no one else.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I rigged a pulley to help me pull in the gator after I killed it.”

Drake closed his eyes briefly, drawing in his breath. Saria was matter-of-factly detailing her childhood. To her, it was a way of life, not a bad thing at all. She did what had to be done and she didn’t waste time wishing things were different. More, she was proud of things she had accomplished and he—or anyone else—could go to hell if they didn’t like it.

Saria took life head on and refused to be intimidated by it. The more he knew of her, the more he found her courage both terrifying and alluring. A woman like Saria would stand beside her man, fight for her children and for the relationship, no matter how tough it got.

“Of course you rigged a pulley,” he said and took another bite of the trout. He had to admit the dish was incredible. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you walked on water, Miss Boudreaux.”

Pauline burst out laughing. “You aren’t the first to say that. The Lanoux boys are intimidated by her. I was talkin’ to them at the post office and they said courtin’ her is like grabbing a gator by the tail.” She leaned her chin into her hand. “And didn’ you run off Elie, Amos Jeanmard’s boy? He looked like a broken man when he left to join the service.”