Leopard 05 - Savage Nature

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.”
    “I was fifteen, Miss Pauline,” Saria said, rolling her eyes. “I hardly broke his heart. I hit him over the head with a flower pot and told him if ed to put his hand down my shirt again, I’d shoot him with my gun. He was such a dog. He was always feeling up poor Charisse as well.”
    Pauline looked outraged. “You should have told your brothers.”
    Saria made a face. “Really? Because they were home so much and paid such attention to me? They sent money home and figured that was enough. They were not goin’ to deal with pere, no one was.” She gave Pauline a mischievous smile. “By that time I’d gotten over childish resentments and fantasies of five brothers dotin’ on me, and realized it was far better not to be noticed by them. Otherwise they’d be tryin’ to boss me.” She wrinkled her nose. “Sort of like they do now.”
    Pauline nodded her head. “It’s