LOVE CONQUERS ALL

by Kim Cox

I thought our troubles were over. Nothing could stop us as our lives were once again moving forward. We had conquered Tyler’s gambling problem, and he was back to doing what he loved—chainsaw art. Javier Fortier was a name of the past once again, or so we thought.

As I hung our laundry on the line, I heard something. When I turned, I noticed the long, black limo pulling into the front yard. Javier Fortier stepped from the car—ramrod straight, with an aristocratic, self assured stance. I dropped the wet shirt I’d been holding and turned to meet the intruder face to face. What could he want of us now?

His black eyes seemed to pierce through to my very soul.

"Cheri, how have you been?" The smug look on his face made me want to gag.

"Good," I said, stiffening.

"Not as I heard. Your means seem less desirable, oui."

"I have all I desire, monsieur." The breeze of the day stopped and a stuffy, oppressed stillness replaced it.

"Why so formal? Have we not been friends for a long time."

"No, we were never what I’d call friends."

"Still mad with me?" The man had an ego the size of Mt. St. Helens.

"No monsieur. I’m not mad. I feel for you as I would a rock. You neither annoy or excite me."

"I don't believe you. All the words of love we spoke when we were together. Our love is forever. We have the same heritage. Cajuns should always marry their own kind."

"I’m no longer the young fool I was. You did me a favor by leaving me, and I’m grateful." This man actually thought he could waltz back into my life and pick up where he’d left off five years ago. After what he’d done to me, and then later when he came back to Houma, Louisiana, tricking Tyler into gambling again. He had to be insane.

"Don't insult me, cheri, you’ll regret it. I want you, and I plan to have you." Javier stood there, looking so confident that I felt I would be ill.

Suddenly I wished for a wind storm to stir the dirt yard into a pile to cover him where he stood. The birds were even silent, the jungle motionless as if they were listening to what we were saying.

"Please, monsieur, don't bother to pursue me. I told you before, it isn't possible. The answer is the same." Of all the gall. Why didn’t he leave me alone, and look for another rich woman, as he had five years ago. The spanish moss hanging from a yonder tree caught my attention and I stared at it as if in a trance.

Even if I wasn't remarried, I wouldn't take him back. Never! I had married Javier Fortier when I was a child of seventeen. After going back and forth from the Louisiana Bayou to New Orleans to work, he stopped coming home altogether. Next thing I knew, I’d received divorce papers by courier. As rumors flew around the small town of Houma, the reason was soon recognized. Javier had always been consumed with the want of money, the more the better.

He had taken up with and later married a rich widowed woman three times his age. He’d lived in New Orleans ever since, until six months ago after his wife died, leaving him her fortune. Now he mistakenly thought he could get me back. Like I just pretended to be happy to spite him and wait for his return. The man was insufferable. Tyler held my love forever.

From down the dirt road, a neighbor’s dog began to bark, bringing me from my reverie, and I realized I hadn’t been listening to Javier. Nonetheless, he had nothing to say of interest to me.

"I’m not asking, I’m telling. You’ll be mine again. For now, I’ll settle for sampling the pleasures of your sweet body." Javier snatched me by the wrists, pulling me to him. He kissed bruised my lips. I pulled away, slapping him across his cheek. He grabbed me again. "Don't you ever . . . you have two weeks to leave Tyler and come with me, or I’ll evict you and your husband."

"You can't, you don't own this-- "

"I bought it just after you signed the rental agreement. Who do you think doubled your rent?" Javier laughed in my face.

"You conniving, no account pole cat." I screamed at him.

"Call me all the names you want, cheri, you will still be mine." He pushed me to the ground and walked back to his car.

Tyler had been through so much already, overcoming his gambling problem. So I made plans to deal with Javier myself.

In the nights that followed, I became more subdued. Tyler tried to bring me out of my depression by giving me gifts and joking with me, but nothing worked and I couldn’t even tell him why.

Then it was as if my depression had rubbed off on Tyler. For the next couple of days he kept to himself and didn't speak to anyone as far as I knew. Had Javier spoken with him too, or had he seen the black limo riding by the house. I didn’t have a clue of what had transpired between Javier and Tyler, but I felt something had.

It bothered me that Tyler wouldn’t discuss his feelings with me, and he had suddenly become uncommunicative about anything. If I asked him a question about anything, I’d get only silence. All he did was go to work during the day, and at night, he moped around the house. I didn’t know why he’d changed. A few times I asked him what was wrong, but he only replied, "Nothing."

Engulfed with nervousness, I dropped every dish I touched. The deadline was here, and Javier wouldn't be put off any longer. He owned most of the rental property in Houma, and what he didn't, he said he would purchase if we moved. As I watched the familiar car drive past for the fifth time, I felt trapped. Time had run out.

Then the old, beat-up red Chevrolet truck putted into the yard. Tyler was home early.

"Supper's not ready," I said, rinsing out a rag and wiping off the counter.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not hungry." He slumped down in the dinette chair, opening the weekly paper. I’d never seen him look so defeated, as if the world had come to an end. He walked up beside me, and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. Then he turned away.

At the sound of a car passing, we both looked out the window. Javier’s car went by.

"I've had about as much of Mr. Fortier as I can stand. It's time we talked, man to man."

"Please Tyler, don't!" I pleaded. "He’s not worth it."

"Why? You want him?" he asked, accusingly.

"No, cheri." I backed off, shying away from his reddened angry face. "Don't be silly."

Tyler was out the door, speeding down the road in the direction of Javier's mansion.

All I could do was pace from one end of the shack to the other, making thin the kitchen’s already worn tiled floor. Lightning lit up the sky and the thunder boomed. Two hours later, Tyler drove into the yard. I watched him through the kitchen window, hanging his head against the steering wheel. Tears formed in my eyes.

My body felt numb and I moved like an arthritic old lady, turning away from the window, no longer able to bare the sight of his pain. Then I heard the creaking of the truck door. Snapping back to life, I looked around the truck in every direction. The door stood wide open, while hard pellets of rain bounced upon its vinyl interior. But Tyler was no where in sight.

I ran to the back of the hut, just as he disappeared into the swamp. Terrified, I didn’t know what to do except wait.

Minutes turned into hours. The clock ticked, the wind blew, the thunder clapped, and the rain poured. Finally, unable to bear the waiting any longer, I called the police.

A few minutes later, a car pulled into the yard. I thought it was the police and flung the door wide open, but instead Javier stepped into my living room, looking around as if disgusted by our meager life.

I couldn’t control myself, so I yelled at him, "What lies did you tell Tyler?"

"Only the truth. I told him we’re getting married."

"You're crazy! I'm already married. You didn't think I’d ever succumb to your threats." I laughed wildly, like I’d lost my last bit of sanity. "You never knew me. You still don't, if you think I’d leave the man I love for a filthy gator like you."

"Surely, you don't have a choice in the matter. I offered him money to leave town and he threw it into my face. Oh well, his loss. Now come along, we must get you to your new home." He grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward the door.

My heels skidded across the floor. I came to a standstill and pulled away pulled away from him. "No!" I screamed. "I’ll leave the bayou, even Louisiana if I have to, before I let you destroy the only love I’ve ever known. Jerk. Creep. Get out of my house, monsieur, and stay out of my life. You’re gator bait if you don’t."

"But-- " Javier’s eyes drew together as if in question. Confused, he rubbed his forehead with the tip of his fingers.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts of bodily throwing him out my front door. I jerked the door open and a policeman walked in. "What’s the problem here?"

He seemed to think it was another marital dispute that brought him out into this nasty storm, and his mood wasn’t a pleasant one.

"Monsieur, my husband, he’s missing."

"How long has he been gone?" he asked, businesslike.

"Three hours."

"What happened?" He took out a pad and pen, looked from me to Javier and rubbed his chin, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"He walked into the swamp, then disappeared."

"We can't do anything unless he's been gone at least twenty-four hours. And even then, in this storm, it would be impossible to track him through the swamp."

"You don't understand, he’s upset," I pleaded.

"Why?" He looked at me skeptically, then averted his gaze to Javier. Had he heard some of the gossip or lies Javier had been spreading?

I pointed at Javier, jabbing him in his chest. "This man told him we’re having an affair."

"Is it true?"

"No! Of course not." That he could believe such a lie appalled me, even though I knew he didn’t know me.

The officer’s brows furrowed. "Like I said before, we can't--"

"But, you’ve got to do something, his life may be in danger."

"Mrs., ahh-- "

"Anderson, Carina Anderson."

"Mrs. Anderson, you must understand, I can't endanger the lives of my men when your husband walked into this terrible storm and the swamp on his own. Call me tomorrow, if he’s not back." The policeman started out the door.

"There is one thing you can do. Escort this man to his car and off the property. Tell him never to step foot around me or my husband ever again."

"Come along, Mr. Fortier."

"But-- " Javier’s mouth gaped open in shock that anyone, let alone I could have him kicked out. "You don’t understand, I’m her landlord. I own this house, you can’t—"

"Do as the lady asks, or I expect she’ll sign a complaint. Even a landlord can’t trespass without permission, sir. If you have a complaint against this woman or her husband you can file it downtown."

The policeman left. Taking Javier by the arm, he lead him to his car.

Tired of waiting any longer, I draped a raincoat around my shoulders and took off into the swamp. It had been years since I’d poled my pirogue through these waters. Not used to so much exertion, my legs trembled from the lack of exercise, but once I gathered speed and momentum, they grew stronger. My gaze darted from side to side in fear of finding Tyler injured or worse, dead. "What would I do?"

The thought of it made her heart pound harder. These waters could be deadly, especially at night. Greenish-gold eyes sparkled on and off along a far bank. The eerie feeling of gators or snakes’ eyes persuing me, sent chills over my arms and I shivered.

There was one place I hadn't looked. It had been our special place. The rain let up to a drizzle, the thunder stopped, and the water became calmer. I ventured farther, around a sharp bend and across some overgrown cypress.

An alligator slid off the bank and into the marsh. A slight breeze swooshed down up me, picking up my hair and slinging it up onto my face. Then an owl hooted from the tree draping over the water just over my head. Jumping, I looked around. The swamp seemed more spooky tonight than I remembered—a place where as a teenager had become my second home.

Finally I saw it, a secluded, peaceful pond with a large rock in its center. The same spot where we had often gone on picnics, sunbathed, and skinny dipped, and finally, where Tyler had proposed to me.

At first, I didn't see him and had turned to leave when I heard him groan. He lay on the other side of the rock, his feet dangled in the water and blood dripped from his brow. A tree laid in the water below him. It must’ve hit him when it fell.

I ran to him, hugged and kissed him as tears streamed down my cheeks. He’d be okay now, wouldn’t he. "Oh, God, please," I pleaded, "let him be all right." My hand slicked back his damp hair from his face, but he didn’t stir, not even a muscle moved, nor another moan escaped his lips. Blood appeared on the tips of my fingers, and I knew time was of the essence.

It took all my strength to drag him to the pirogue, and then I poled back to the landing as fast as I could, too terrified to look at him until after I’d docked.

At the hospital, the doctors told me he had a concussion, and they needed to keep him a couple of days to be sure he recovered completely.

After what seemed like hours, Tyler awakened and lifted himself up onto his elbows. "Carina, I ... ahhhh ... my head-- " he said just before he fell back onto the pillow.

"No cheri, don't talk, just listen." I climbed onto the bed, wrapping my arms around him. "I should’ve told you sooner. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d lost—"

"Don’t say that. You’ll never lose me." He locked gazes with me as I felt a tear drip from my eye and down my cheek. Touching my chin, Tyler caught it with his finger.

"I was so scared when you didn’t come out of the swamp. The police wouldn’t look for you, and Javier—" I wiped away the next tear.

"But you found me." Tyler tilted my head down and looked deeply into my eyes.

"Listen, cheri. Javier threatened to evict us if I didn’t—I didn’t leave you and go to him. You’d had so much on your mind lately, I didn’t want to bother you. I thought I could handle him on my own." My arms tightened around him, squeezing him close.

"Carina, you’re the love of my life. You should’ve told me, but I understand. I’m guilty of the same. You were only trying to protect me, and I—"

"You did nothing wrong." I pulled away from him. Resting on one elbow, I looked down at him.

"But I did. I heard rumors about you and Javier. I could’ve trusted you and I could’ve asked you, but I didn’t. I was too wrapped up in pride and fear."

"Fear of what?" I looked at him--a man I knew feared nothing. Tyler was strong as a bull and could be twice as stubborn.

"The fear of losing you. Fear you’d confirm the gossip that you loved Javier instead of me." He held my hand in his, gently caressing the back with his thumb.

My hair swung freely around my shoulders, tickling against the paleness of my arms. From hours spent waiting in the hospital, fatigue descended upon me. "It’s over now and we can mend our ways. At least now we know our love can withstand anything. But to keep us from going through this heartache again, let’s make a pact." I smiled, gazing into his bright eyes.

"A pact? What kind of pact?"

"Let’s agree to never keep secrets again, no matter how painful."

"Agreed," he said, shaking his head and smiling. "Now come here," he said, touching his lips to mine, sealing our agreement with a kiss.

I walked to the door and closed it. Then I ran back to Tyler, jumped onto his bed, wrapped my arms around him and held on for life. For the man I love would always be mine no matter what the odds.

THE END!!!

(c) by Kim Cox -- no portion can be copied or reproduced without permission of the owner.