Ruby
Ruby is a young teenager who has lived her entire life with her grandmother Catherine, a traiteur (a Cajun folk healer) because her mother had died giving birth to her. They live in Houma, a small swamp village in Louisiana. Ruby is an artist and has already sold some of her paintings to a gallery in New Orleans from their roadside stand for tourists. Her grandfather Jack lives in a separate shack, having been thrown out by her grandmother when Ruby was just a baby.
Ruby begins a relationship with Paul Tate, who belongs to one of Houma's richer families. Paul's parents don’t approve of the relationship and Ruby thinks that it is because she is poor. Only after Grandmere Catherine sees that the relationship is getting serious does she tell Ruby the truth - that Paul is her half brother. Ruby's mother, Gabrielle, was raped by Paul's father, Octavius, just before she graduated. In 1950s Louisiana, Gabrielle could not abort the baby legally but her father Jack blackmailed Paul's father, Octavious to take the child in order to keep it secret from the town and was forced to give it up to Gladys Tate, Octavius's wife, while her father was paid to stay silent. Sad and angry at this, Ruby does what is right and breaks up with Paul, with whom she was falling in love. Soon after, Ruby's grandmother gets sick and passes away. After her death Ruby admits the truth of their shared maternal parentage to Paul, explaining that to be the reason that she ended their budding romantic relationship.
Shortly before Grandmere Catherine's death, she tells Ruby the truth about her parents: Ruby's mother become pregnant as a result of an affair with a rich Creole man named Pierre Dumas. Pierre was married, so he and Gabrielle agreed that the child would stay and live with Gabrielle in the bayou. But Grandpere Jack made a secret deal with Pierre's father to sell the child to the Dumas family for a large amount of money, while Pierre's barren wife, Daphne, would pretend to be pregnant. Grandmere Catherine knew that it was going to be twins, but she never told Jack or Gabrielle. When the time came, she gave the first baby to Grandpere Jack and kept the second baby, Ruby. When Jack saw Ruby he wanted to sell her, too, yelling that they could get twice the amount of money for two babies. At this, Catherine threw him out and told him to never come back. Exhausted by giving birth to two babies, Gabrielle survived long enough to see Ruby and name her, then died. Grandmere Catherine's only wish was for Ruby to find her real father. She had been selling Ruby's paintings in the hope that Pierre Dumas would see the signature and become curious. After Catherine's death, Ruby has no one left in the bayou now except Grandpere Jack. She overhears him making a deal with his drinking buddy Buster Trahaw that she can be his common-law wife. Terrified, Ruby runs away to New Orleans to find her father, knowing only that he lives in the Garden District. With the help of a woman she meets on the bus, Ruby finds her father's address and goes to his house. Standing at the door she meets Beau Andreas. He takes her into the house, mistaking her for her twin sister Giselle, who has grown up in the lap of luxury. Although Beau and Daphne are both taken in by the resemblance, Pierre immediately recognises that Ruby is not Giselle. After Ruby explains what has happened, he agrees that she can come and live with them.
Ruby is accepted immediately by her father but not by her twin sister or stepmother, Daphne. The Dumases concoct a story that Ruby was kidnapped as a baby from the hospital. Ruby is thus brought into Creole society. Giselle, threatened by Ruby's intelligence and similarity, is extremely cruel to her and deliberately gets her in trouble, which does not improve Daphne's opinion of her. Beau Andreas is Giselle's boyfriend, but Ruby and Beau become romantically close, eventually sleeping together when Ruby sketches Beau's portrait. This drives a further wedge between Ruby and her sister. All the while Daphne is doing anything she can to get rid of Ruby because she is a constant reminder to her of Pierre's affair. Giselle gets a new boyfriend, Martin Fowler. They get into a car accident, which cripples Giselle and kills Martin. This sends Pierre into a depression. He starts drinking heavily and locks himself away in his study, gazing at a picture of Jean, his younger brother, who was brain damaged after an accident. Discovering Ruby's naked sketch of Beau, Daphne has Ruby imprisoned in a mental hospital as a nymphomaniac, but Ruby escapes with the help of an inmate, after meeting her uncle Jean. She manages to tell her father what Daphne did to her. She reassures him that Jean is not a hopeless case, but the family must stop lying. She wants to be able to tell the truth about where she came from, and tell Giselle about their real mother. Pierre agrees that they must all be more truthful with each other, but decides that it is best for the twins to go away for school in Baton Rouge in order to let the dust settle.
Pearl In The Mist
Ruby's school life immediately gets off to a bad start when the school's headmistress, Mrs. Ironwood, informs her that Daphne has made her aware of her Cajun background (implying that she is badly brought up and a troublemaker) and that she will be keeping an eye on her. Giselle quickly ingratiates herself to the small clique of girls she and Ruby first meet when arriving at Greenwood, using them to amuse herself. Despite her problems with her sister, Ruby manages to make friends with the blind piano player Louis Turnbull, who is the school founder's only grandson; the art teacher, Miss Stevens; and a fellow student, Abby, who shares Ruby's intellectual ambitions. She even rekindles her relationship with Beau Andreas. As time goes on however, Giselle becomes jealous of Ruby's friendship with Abby. She exposes Abby as a quadroon at the school's Halloween dance, a secret Abby had been keeping in order to study at Greenwood. Abby leaves the dance in the middle of a violent storm, but returns the next morning to formally withdraw, as Mrs Ironwood will not permit her to stay with her ethnic background. Disgusted by Giselle's behavior, Ruby is poised to leave as well, but Abby urges her to stay and continue in her artistic endeavors. Miss Stevens comforts Ruby later, telling her that she will always have her help and guidance if she needs it. Days later, Ruby discovers to her horror that Pierre has died of a heart attack. After the funeral, Mrs Ironwood threatens to expel Ruby, saying she has eyewitness accounts of her having sexual liaisons with the school caretaker. Fortunately, Louis and Miss Stevens come to her aid, testifying that Ruby could not have been in those places at that time, as she was with Louis. Miss Stevens vouches for Ruby's character and Ruby is exonerated, though the mystery remains.
During the Christmas vacation, Ruby walks in on Giselle standing up without the aid of a stick. She forces her sister to confess that she was the one who met the school caretaker, but Giselle dismisses what happened, since Ruby was not expelled. Although walking is still difficult, she says her legs are getting stronger. Ruby threatens to tell Daphne that Giselle is using her paralysis to make people run and fetch for her, but Giselle merely retorts that she will tell Daphne about Ruby resuming her relationship with Beau. After this less than merry Christmas, Ruby and Giselle return to Greenwood, where Ruby discovers that Miss Stevens has resigned over a scandal where she was accused of seducing a female student. Ruby knows this to be a lie, but is powerless to do anything to help Miss Stevens. Her troubles are further compounded when she learns that she has become pregnant with Beau's child after they had unprotected sex during a visit to the campus. Ruby leaves Greenwood and returns to New Orleans, where Daphne informs her that Beau's parents have sent him away to attend school in France after learning about the pregnancy. She then arranges for Ruby to have an illegal abortion. Ruby feels so depressed and alone that she does not object, but after seeing the dilapidated state of the clinic Daphne sends her to, she runs back to her home town of Houma. On her way there, she tries to get in touch with Beau, but discovers that he has already left for France. Despondent, Ruby contacts her half-brother, Paul Tate, instead. He is glad to hear from her, but warns her that Grandperè Jack is in a terrible state, having gone semi-mad after she left. They find him near the old shack she shared with Grandmere Catherine, but after a brief altercation with Paul, Jack runs off and drowns in the swamps. Later Paul offers her a home for her and her baby in a newly built mansion named Cypress Woods, but Ruby is very reluctant to accept the offer, as she knows people will assume that the child is Paul's if she accepts his help. She also suspects that he is still in love with her and does not want to encourage his feelings.
At the climax, Ruby gives birth to her daughter, Pearl, in a hurricane which blows away many (if not most) of the surrounding homes. This is later described as one of the worst storms in decades. At the end of the story, Ruby is uplifted by the birth of her baby and believes her future is bright and hopeful.
All That Glitters
The third entry begins with Ruby and her daughter Pearl living in the bayou, Ruby having fled New Orleans at the end of the last book. Paul Tate, Ruby's half-brother, tries to convince her to marry him so he can take care of them both. Ruby is touched by his love but is reluctant to marry, partly because they are related, partly because she knows that Paul's mother, Gladys, hates her. She eventually agrees after she is almost raped by Buster Trahaw. Octavious Tate, Paul's father, tries to convince Ruby not to marry Paul, offering her a substantial amount of money to move away and start again, but Ruby has little respect for his opinion, as he raped her mother, and the marriage goes ahead, on the understanding that it is for show only.
At first, Ruby is happy. Paul is a loving father figure to Pearl and treats Ruby with great respect. She has space and time to continue her paintings and her reputation as an artist is growing. Then her twin sister Giselle reappears. Giselle has now fully regained the use of her legs. She brings the news that their Uncle Jean committed suicide at the mental institution and Beau Andreas, Pearl's father, broke up with his fiancée in France. Some point after her first visit, she writes to Ruby to let her know that Daphne died in a horseriding accident. Later on, Giselle marries Beau, mainly out of spite towards Ruby. Tormented by their loveless marriages, Ruby and Beau begin a secret affair. Beau is at ease with the arrangement, as he is sure Giselle also takes lovers, but Ruby feels terrible guilt, as she knows that Paul truly loves her and would be very hurt if he discovered what was going on.
After another visit to Cypress Woods, Giselle is stricken with encephalitis from a mosquito bite and becomes deathly ill with no chance of recovering. Beau and Ruby take advantage of this situation to pretend Giselle is Ruby and vice versa. Paul is not happy about it, but goes along with the plan because he knows that it will make Ruby happy. Ruby finds it difficult to act like Giselle, and Paul becomes convinced himself that it really was Ruby who died. Grief-stricken, Paul goes off into the swamps drunk with grief and inadvertently drowns.
After Paul's death, Gladys Tate seeks revenge on Ruby, as she knows it was really Giselle who died. Most of the town believe Paul to be Pearl's father, so Gladys tries to get custody of Pearl. At the custody trial, Ruby reveals her true identity, but Gladys sways public sympathy in her favor by disclosing the affair. Left with no other choice, Ruby pleads with Octavious to tell the court that Gabrielle Landry was Paul's mother, not Gladys, which he does to Gladys' horror. Ruby and Beau keep custody of Pearl.
The book ends with Ruby having twin boys, Pierre and Jean, named for Ruby's father and uncle respectively.
Hidden Jewel
Pearl Andreas, Ruby Landry's daughter, is graduating high school and goes to an apprenticeship at a hospital. There, Jack Weller invites her to his house ("to study") and tries to seduce her, saying she is "frigid". Pearl leaves, but begins to wonder about what he said.
Whilst Ruby is at Pearl's graduation party, her friend Nina dies. Nina sends a message for Ruby to hurry, but Ruby stays for the rest of the party. When she does get there, Nina is already dead.
Soon after, one of Pearl's little brothers, Jean, dies from a snakebite. His twin, Pierre, become catatonic with grief, Beau begins to drink, and Ruby, thinking that this happened because she did not go to Nina when she was asked, flees to where she grew up- the bayou. Pearl follows her there, and while there looking for her, begins a relationship with Jack Clovis.
Pearl is kidnapped by Buster Trahaw, to whom Grandpere Jack promised Ruby many years ago. Pearl escapes, and when Buster tries to follow her he is eaten by alligators. Eventually Pearl and Jack find Ruby, who practices a vodoo ritual.
Ruby and Pearl return to New Orleans, and Pierre eventually comes out of his catatonic state. Pearl keeps up her relationship with Jack Clovis.
Tarnished Gold
Gabriel Landry is as beautiful as her beloved bayou.
Her high school graduation just days away, Gabriel is blissfully happy, despite the ever-widening rift between her Mama and her conniving, whiskey-drinking Daddy. Then rich cannery owner Octavious Tate surprises her near a secluded pond and shatters her sweet innocence, forever....
Pregnant and desolate, Gabriel agrees to let Octavious's frigid wife Gladys pretend she's the one who's expecting, and claim the baby as her own. Hiding in a tiny room in the Tate mansion, Gabriel is miserable, awaiting visits from her Mama, whose reputation as a Cajun healer gives her an excuse to treat Gladys Tate's "pregnancy." But nothing is more wrenching than the moment when Gladys takes baby Paul away forever.
A twilight gloom settles in Gabriel's soul, until a hunting party brings handsome, gentle Creole millionaire Pierre Dumas to the bayou. Falling desperately in love, she does not heed the warning voice: he may bring more grief than she can bear....
"I won't leave before I see him."
Octavious nodded.
"Gladys is sleeping. She claims she's exhausted. If you're very quiet about it..."
"I will be. I promise," I said.
"Very, very quiet," he said, and practically tiptoed down the hallway to the nursery.
I stepped up to the cradle and peered in at baby Paul, wrapped in his blue cotton blanket, his pink face no bigger than a fist. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing nicely. All of his features were perfect. Mama was right. His fingers, clutched at the blanket, looked smaller than the fingers of any doll I had ever had. My heart ached with my desire to touch him, to kiss him, to hold him against my breast....
"We better go," Octavious whispered.
"Come on, honey," Mama urged. She put her hand through my arm and held me at the elbow.
"Goodbye Paul," I whispered....
Ruby is a young teenager who has lived her entire life with her grandmother Catherine, a traiteur (a Cajun folk healer) because her mother had died giving birth to her. They live in Houma, a small swamp village in Louisiana. Ruby is an artist and has already sold some of her paintings to a gallery in New Orleans from their roadside stand for tourists. Her grandfather Jack lives in a separate shack, having been thrown out by her grandmother when Ruby was just a baby.
Ruby begins a relationship with Paul Tate, who belongs to one of Houma's richer families. Paul's parents don’t approve of the relationship and Ruby thinks that it is because she is poor. Only after Grandmere Catherine sees that the relationship is getting serious does she tell Ruby the truth - that Paul is her half brother. Ruby's mother, Gabrielle, was raped by Paul's father, Octavius, just before she graduated. In 1950s Louisiana, Gabrielle could not abort the baby legally but her father Jack blackmailed Paul's father, Octavious to take the child in order to keep it secret from the town and was forced to give it up to Gladys Tate, Octavius's wife, while her father was paid to stay silent. Sad and angry at this, Ruby does what is right and breaks up with Paul, with whom she was falling in love. Soon after, Ruby's grandmother gets sick and passes away. After her death Ruby admits the truth of their shared maternal parentage to Paul, explaining that to be the reason that she ended their budding romantic relationship.
Shortly before Grandmere Catherine's death, she tells Ruby the truth about her parents: Ruby's mother become pregnant as a result of an affair with a rich Creole man named Pierre Dumas. Pierre was married, so he and Gabrielle agreed that the child would stay and live with Gabrielle in the bayou. But Grandpere Jack made a secret deal with Pierre's father to sell the child to the Dumas family for a large amount of money, while Pierre's barren wife, Daphne, would pretend to be pregnant. Grandmere Catherine knew that it was going to be twins, but she never told Jack or Gabrielle. When the time came, she gave the first baby to Grandpere Jack and kept the second baby, Ruby. When Jack saw Ruby he wanted to sell her, too, yelling that they could get twice the amount of money for two babies. At this, Catherine threw him out and told him to never come back. Exhausted by giving birth to two babies, Gabrielle survived long enough to see Ruby and name her, then died. Grandmere Catherine's only wish was for Ruby to find her real father. She had been selling Ruby's paintings in the hope that Pierre Dumas would see the signature and become curious. After Catherine's death, Ruby has no one left in the bayou now except Grandpere Jack. She overhears him making a deal with his drinking buddy Buster Trahaw that she can be his common-law wife. Terrified, Ruby runs away to New Orleans to find her father, knowing only that he lives in the Garden District. With the help of a woman she meets on the bus, Ruby finds her father's address and goes to his house. Standing at the door she meets Beau Andreas. He takes her into the house, mistaking her for her twin sister Giselle, who has grown up in the lap of luxury. Although Beau and Daphne are both taken in by the resemblance, Pierre immediately recognises that Ruby is not Giselle. After Ruby explains what has happened, he agrees that she can come and live with them.
Ruby is accepted immediately by her father but not by her twin sister or stepmother, Daphne. The Dumases concoct a story that Ruby was kidnapped as a baby from the hospital. Ruby is thus brought into Creole society. Giselle, threatened by Ruby's intelligence and similarity, is extremely cruel to her and deliberately gets her in trouble, which does not improve Daphne's opinion of her. Beau Andreas is Giselle's boyfriend, but Ruby and Beau become romantically close, eventually sleeping together when Ruby sketches Beau's portrait. This drives a further wedge between Ruby and her sister. All the while Daphne is doing anything she can to get rid of Ruby because she is a constant reminder to her of Pierre's affair. Giselle gets a new boyfriend, Martin Fowler. They get into a car accident, which cripples Giselle and kills Martin. This sends Pierre into a depression. He starts drinking heavily and locks himself away in his study, gazing at a picture of Jean, his younger brother, who was brain damaged after an accident. Discovering Ruby's naked sketch of Beau, Daphne has Ruby imprisoned in a mental hospital as a nymphomaniac, but Ruby escapes with the help of an inmate, after meeting her uncle Jean. She manages to tell her father what Daphne did to her. She reassures him that Jean is not a hopeless case, but the family must stop lying. She wants to be able to tell the truth about where she came from, and tell Giselle about their real mother. Pierre agrees that they must all be more truthful with each other, but decides that it is best for the twins to go away for school in Baton Rouge in order to let the dust settle.
Pearl In The Mist
Ruby's school life immediately gets off to a bad start when the school's headmistress, Mrs. Ironwood, informs her that Daphne has made her aware of her Cajun background (implying that she is badly brought up and a troublemaker) and that she will be keeping an eye on her. Giselle quickly ingratiates herself to the small clique of girls she and Ruby first meet when arriving at Greenwood, using them to amuse herself. Despite her problems with her sister, Ruby manages to make friends with the blind piano player Louis Turnbull, who is the school founder's only grandson; the art teacher, Miss Stevens; and a fellow student, Abby, who shares Ruby's intellectual ambitions. She even rekindles her relationship with Beau Andreas. As time goes on however, Giselle becomes jealous of Ruby's friendship with Abby. She exposes Abby as a quadroon at the school's Halloween dance, a secret Abby had been keeping in order to study at Greenwood. Abby leaves the dance in the middle of a violent storm, but returns the next morning to formally withdraw, as Mrs Ironwood will not permit her to stay with her ethnic background. Disgusted by Giselle's behavior, Ruby is poised to leave as well, but Abby urges her to stay and continue in her artistic endeavors. Miss Stevens comforts Ruby later, telling her that she will always have her help and guidance if she needs it. Days later, Ruby discovers to her horror that Pierre has died of a heart attack. After the funeral, Mrs Ironwood threatens to expel Ruby, saying she has eyewitness accounts of her having sexual liaisons with the school caretaker. Fortunately, Louis and Miss Stevens come to her aid, testifying that Ruby could not have been in those places at that time, as she was with Louis. Miss Stevens vouches for Ruby's character and Ruby is exonerated, though the mystery remains.
During the Christmas vacation, Ruby walks in on Giselle standing up without the aid of a stick. She forces her sister to confess that she was the one who met the school caretaker, but Giselle dismisses what happened, since Ruby was not expelled. Although walking is still difficult, she says her legs are getting stronger. Ruby threatens to tell Daphne that Giselle is using her paralysis to make people run and fetch for her, but Giselle merely retorts that she will tell Daphne about Ruby resuming her relationship with Beau. After this less than merry Christmas, Ruby and Giselle return to Greenwood, where Ruby discovers that Miss Stevens has resigned over a scandal where she was accused of seducing a female student. Ruby knows this to be a lie, but is powerless to do anything to help Miss Stevens. Her troubles are further compounded when she learns that she has become pregnant with Beau's child after they had unprotected sex during a visit to the campus. Ruby leaves Greenwood and returns to New Orleans, where Daphne informs her that Beau's parents have sent him away to attend school in France after learning about the pregnancy. She then arranges for Ruby to have an illegal abortion. Ruby feels so depressed and alone that she does not object, but after seeing the dilapidated state of the clinic Daphne sends her to, she runs back to her home town of Houma. On her way there, she tries to get in touch with Beau, but discovers that he has already left for France. Despondent, Ruby contacts her half-brother, Paul Tate, instead. He is glad to hear from her, but warns her that Grandperè Jack is in a terrible state, having gone semi-mad after she left. They find him near the old shack she shared with Grandmere Catherine, but after a brief altercation with Paul, Jack runs off and drowns in the swamps. Later Paul offers her a home for her and her baby in a newly built mansion named Cypress Woods, but Ruby is very reluctant to accept the offer, as she knows people will assume that the child is Paul's if she accepts his help. She also suspects that he is still in love with her and does not want to encourage his feelings.
At the climax, Ruby gives birth to her daughter, Pearl, in a hurricane which blows away many (if not most) of the surrounding homes. This is later described as one of the worst storms in decades. At the end of the story, Ruby is uplifted by the birth of her baby and believes her future is bright and hopeful.
All That Glitters
The third entry begins with Ruby and her daughter Pearl living in the bayou, Ruby having fled New Orleans at the end of the last book. Paul Tate, Ruby's half-brother, tries to convince her to marry him so he can take care of them both. Ruby is touched by his love but is reluctant to marry, partly because they are related, partly because she knows that Paul's mother, Gladys, hates her. She eventually agrees after she is almost raped by Buster Trahaw. Octavious Tate, Paul's father, tries to convince Ruby not to marry Paul, offering her a substantial amount of money to move away and start again, but Ruby has little respect for his opinion, as he raped her mother, and the marriage goes ahead, on the understanding that it is for show only.
At first, Ruby is happy. Paul is a loving father figure to Pearl and treats Ruby with great respect. She has space and time to continue her paintings and her reputation as an artist is growing. Then her twin sister Giselle reappears. Giselle has now fully regained the use of her legs. She brings the news that their Uncle Jean committed suicide at the mental institution and Beau Andreas, Pearl's father, broke up with his fiancée in France. Some point after her first visit, she writes to Ruby to let her know that Daphne died in a horseriding accident. Later on, Giselle marries Beau, mainly out of spite towards Ruby. Tormented by their loveless marriages, Ruby and Beau begin a secret affair. Beau is at ease with the arrangement, as he is sure Giselle also takes lovers, but Ruby feels terrible guilt, as she knows that Paul truly loves her and would be very hurt if he discovered what was going on.
After another visit to Cypress Woods, Giselle is stricken with encephalitis from a mosquito bite and becomes deathly ill with no chance of recovering. Beau and Ruby take advantage of this situation to pretend Giselle is Ruby and vice versa. Paul is not happy about it, but goes along with the plan because he knows that it will make Ruby happy. Ruby finds it difficult to act like Giselle, and Paul becomes convinced himself that it really was Ruby who died. Grief-stricken, Paul goes off into the swamps drunk with grief and inadvertently drowns.
After Paul's death, Gladys Tate seeks revenge on Ruby, as she knows it was really Giselle who died. Most of the town believe Paul to be Pearl's father, so Gladys tries to get custody of Pearl. At the custody trial, Ruby reveals her true identity, but Gladys sways public sympathy in her favor by disclosing the affair. Left with no other choice, Ruby pleads with Octavious to tell the court that Gabrielle Landry was Paul's mother, not Gladys, which he does to Gladys' horror. Ruby and Beau keep custody of Pearl.
The book ends with Ruby having twin boys, Pierre and Jean, named for Ruby's father and uncle respectively.
Hidden Jewel
Pearl Andreas, Ruby Landry's daughter, is graduating high school and goes to an apprenticeship at a hospital. There, Jack Weller invites her to his house ("to study") and tries to seduce her, saying she is "frigid". Pearl leaves, but begins to wonder about what he said.
Whilst Ruby is at Pearl's graduation party, her friend Nina dies. Nina sends a message for Ruby to hurry, but Ruby stays for the rest of the party. When she does get there, Nina is already dead.
Soon after, one of Pearl's little brothers, Jean, dies from a snakebite. His twin, Pierre, become catatonic with grief, Beau begins to drink, and Ruby, thinking that this happened because she did not go to Nina when she was asked, flees to where she grew up- the bayou. Pearl follows her there, and while there looking for her, begins a relationship with Jack Clovis.
Pearl is kidnapped by Buster Trahaw, to whom Grandpere Jack promised Ruby many years ago. Pearl escapes, and when Buster tries to follow her he is eaten by alligators. Eventually Pearl and Jack find Ruby, who practices a vodoo ritual.
Ruby and Pearl return to New Orleans, and Pierre eventually comes out of his catatonic state. Pearl keeps up her relationship with Jack Clovis.
Tarnished Gold
Gabriel Landry is as beautiful as her beloved bayou.
Her high school graduation just days away, Gabriel is blissfully happy, despite the ever-widening rift between her Mama and her conniving, whiskey-drinking Daddy. Then rich cannery owner Octavious Tate surprises her near a secluded pond and shatters her sweet innocence, forever....
Pregnant and desolate, Gabriel agrees to let Octavious's frigid wife Gladys pretend she's the one who's expecting, and claim the baby as her own. Hiding in a tiny room in the Tate mansion, Gabriel is miserable, awaiting visits from her Mama, whose reputation as a Cajun healer gives her an excuse to treat Gladys Tate's "pregnancy." But nothing is more wrenching than the moment when Gladys takes baby Paul away forever.
A twilight gloom settles in Gabriel's soul, until a hunting party brings handsome, gentle Creole millionaire Pierre Dumas to the bayou. Falling desperately in love, she does not heed the warning voice: he may bring more grief than she can bear....
"I won't leave before I see him."
Octavious nodded.
"Gladys is sleeping. She claims she's exhausted. If you're very quiet about it..."
"I will be. I promise," I said.
"Very, very quiet," he said, and practically tiptoed down the hallway to the nursery.
I stepped up to the cradle and peered in at baby Paul, wrapped in his blue cotton blanket, his pink face no bigger than a fist. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing nicely. All of his features were perfect. Mama was right. His fingers, clutched at the blanket, looked smaller than the fingers of any doll I had ever had. My heart ached with my desire to touch him, to kiss him, to hold him against my breast....
"We better go," Octavious whispered.
"Come on, honey," Mama urged. She put her hand through my arm and held me at the elbow.
"Goodbye Paul," I whispered....
