Page 15 of The House on Prytania
I looked up to find Beau’s gaze on me, his thoughts reflecting mine. I thought about my conversation with Sam, and how she wanted me to involve myself with the people who had the power, reach, and lack of conscience to steal a child from her family and leave no trace of their involvement. Or at least knew the right people to bribe. An involuntary shiver blew across the back of my neck as I considered again what that family might be capable of if they discovered anyone digging into a past they preferred to leave buried.
“Yeah, Mom and Dad figured that out, too,” Sunny said, her voice just barely audible. “It took me about six months to talk myself into asking to find my birth parents, and that’s when we discovered what happened.”
I took a slow sip of my water, letting it slide down my suddenly dry throat. “So how in the world did you end up here?”
“Reddit.” She lifted her hands, palms up. “I know, right? Who knew social media could actually do something productive?”
“Actually,” Jolene said, accepting another Sazerac from Christopher while studiously avoiding my gaze, “I find Instagram a wonderful way to discover new makeup tips, with great tutorials. They’re almost as good as a big Barbie head.”
“Right,” Sunny said slowly. “Anyway, I ended up in a forum that shares information about missing children.” Her voice broke, and she dipped her head to regain her composure. “I didn’t know that I was missing at that point, but I’d have to be pretty oblivious for the thought not to have occurred to me.” She gave me a wobbly smile. “It’s actually pretty amazing. I shared that I was looking for information on my birth parents, but all I had was my approximate birth year and a picture of what I looked like right after I was adopted. And then...”
Sunny was interrupted by the appearance of a fat black cat, its measuring green eyes taking in the room and its occupants as it stalked onto the Aubusson rug. It paused in front of the sofa, twisting its glossy head before choosing Sunny’s legs to rub against, then settling down at her feet.
“I didn’t know you had a cat,” I said.
“We don’t,” Mimi said. “It arrived on our doorstep a few days ago with no collar and no chip—just like Mardi. We didn’t feed it at first, hoping it would go away, but it took a liking to my back garden. And when no one claimed him, Sunny began feeding it. That very first day when I opened the door to bring out some food, the cat just walked calmly inside as if it owned the place and hasn’t left since. Lorda set up a bed and litter box in the kitchen and the cat seems to know what to do, so I suppose we have a cat now. Although it ignores the bed in the kitchen at night and heads to Sunny’s room to sleep on the pillow next to her. It’s the craziest thing.”
“Have you named him?” Jolene leaned over to see the underbelly of the cat. “Or is it a her?”
“Mambo,” said Mimi. “Sunny named him.” She squeezed Sunny’s hand. “It makes all of this so real. As if Sunny has always lived here and been a part of our family.”
“Do cats like to wear clothes?” Jolene asked. “I think a bow tie on Mambo would be very distinguished.”
“And then what happened?” I asked, as eager to drop the subject of cats wearing clothes as I was to hear the rest of Sunny’s story. To discover something in it that would stop my misplaced feelings of what I could describe only as resentment. After all, like Sunny’s, my story had ended happily. Eventually.
Mambo jumped up into Sunny’s lap, and she began stroking the cat beneath the chin. “In something like two days someone had found a news article from theTimes-Picayuneabout my abduction along with a photograph of me from around that time. Compared to the photo my parents had taken, it was almost identical. There was no denying that I was Sunny Ryan.”
“And that you had a family in New Orleans who had never stopped missing you.”
“And looking for me.”
Sunny bent to kiss the top of Mambo’s head while Beau’s gaze met mine. Mimi had never stopped missing her, but shehadstopped looking, although only to protect her one remaining grandchild.
“And that’s when you got the tattoo,” I said.
“Pretty much.” Sunny sank back into the sofa, pressing herself against Mimi.
Jolene used her napkin to dab at her eyes. “It really is a miracle. Just like that time my uncle Stubby’s prized sow gave birth to a two-headed piglet. You don’t see that every day, you know?”
“No, we certainly don’t,” Christopher said as he stood to refill my water glass.
Jolene placed her empty glass on a low table in front of us, then leaned her elbows on her knees. “What name did they give you?”
“Donna. Donna Marie Mathieson. But I think I want to go back to using Sunny. I think I feel more like a Sunny than a Donna. Even though I guess my real name is Jolie, so I better get used to signing both.” She offered a tentative smile.
Jolene thrummed her fingertips against her jaw, her elbows moving side to side with her knees. “Your mama and daddy don’t mind?”
“I, um, they...”
“They were killed in a car accident shortly before Sunny found us,” Beau said softly, his eyes on Sunny as she pressed her face into the cat’s neck.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Jolene said. “To lose both of your parents.”
“Twice,” Beau added. “Even though she doesn’t remember our parents, it’s still another loss.”
“Of course it is,” Jolene said, dabbing a napkin at the corners of her eyes. “You poor, poor thing. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. But what a miracle that you made your way back to your other family.”
Sunny lifted her head, her own eyes moist. “I don’t know what Iwould have done without Mimi and Beau. They’ve really been my rocks, dealing with the emotional blow and helping me with my parents’ estate and all the paperwork.” She shrugged. “Mom always used to say that when a door closes, a window opens. I just wish she and Dad could be here to share this with me. We could all be one happy family.” She began crying in earnest, and Mimi pressed Sunny’s head onto her shoulder, muffling her sobs.
