NEW ORLEANS, 1969
"When are you gon' tell him, Yvonne?"
"Tell him what, Tante Mattie? Dere's nothin' to tell. He already knows we're havin' a baby, what more do I need to tell him?" Yvonne Alouette replied, scared to look at the healer's kind, concerned face. She knew what Tante Mattie was talking about, but she didn't want to face facts just yet.
"You know de truth 'bout dat child you're carryin'. An' Pierre has a right to know too." Tante Mattie said, her voice quiet but firm.
Yvonne sighed. "I know." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I jus' didn' wan' have to tell him yet...I'm already payin' for my mistake, can' dat be enough?"
"He deserves to know. So does Helene. An' so..." Tante Mattie sat down on the bed beside the young woman, very gently taking the shaking white hand her her own dark, calloused ones. "So does Mercy. When de time comes, so will your son."
Yvonne's brown eyes widened in horror. "Mon Dieu...she'll hate me...an' worse, she'll hate her father." She looked down at her stomach, tears flowing in rivers down her cheeks. "I wish he didn' have to know...I wish neither of dem ever had to know..."
"Dat's not your decision to make entirely, child. You need to speak wit' Jacques. An' de two of you need to sit down wit' Pierre an' Helene an' work somethin' out. For your own sakes, but more for Mercy's an' dat little boy's sakes."
"I know..."
Two evenings later, Yvonne met with Jacques in the secrecy of Tante Mattie's home. No one but the old woman knew they were there. Jacques looked tired and worn out and when she saw him, Yvonne sighed. She was only in her fifth month of pregnancy and the tension between the two families for the next four months was going to take a toll on her.
Jacques brushed his wavy blond hair out of his brown eyes and smiled at Yvonne. He still didn't know exactly what made them do what they did in the first place, but that didn't matter so much to Jacques anymore. Now they had to do what was right, no matter what it cost them, for the sake of their unborn child.
Before leaving them in peace, Tante Mattie had one thing to say. "In half an hour, I'm gettin' Pierre an' Helene to come here to join you so you'd best be prepared when de time comes."
"We will." Jacques said. "T'ank you, Tante."
Tante Mattie nodded silently and left them, closing the door as she went. Two pairs of brown eyes looked at each other for a few moments. Finally, Yvonne spoke, breaking the silence with her beautiful voice.
"What are you going to tell Mercy?"
Jacques chuckled lightly, sitting down across from Yvonne in one of the plush armchairs. "If I can talk Helene into it, I'm not gon' tell Mercy anythin'. Why should she be forced to suffer wit' de knowledge of what we've done? Why should our son, for dat matter?"
"I don' want to tell him...but...I jus'...I don' know..." Yvonne hid her face in her hands and cried. She was desperately afraid. Not for herself, but for her son.
Jacques, concerned over why she was crying so hard all of a sudden, got up and knelt down by her, putting a hand on her arm. "Yvonne? What's wrong? What is it?"
"What if Pierre rejects him...I'm so scared he won' want to have anythin' to do wit' de baby b'cause he isn' de father...lord, Jacques, we messed up..."
"Yeah, we did. Big time. Yvonne, I'm sorry..."
They stayed like that, lost in their own thoughts and regrets, until Pierre and Helene joined them. Although neither of them had ever voiced it, they had had their suspicions about what was going on, and as they walked over to Tante Mattie's house together, they both silently wondered what was going to have to be done.
"Tante Mattie said you have somethin' to tell us." Pierre said. He was never one to beat around the bush, even in his role as the Harvest Disseminator of the New Orleans Thieves Guild. He looked at his wife for an answer, but it was Jacques who answered instead.
"Yeah we do. We made a mistake, an' now we have to own up to it.We've been tryin' to figure out why we did it, but I guess it don' matter much now, 'cause it's been done." Jacques sighed and kept going. "Six months ago, Yvonne an' I had an affair."
Pierre, angry in spite of his suspicions, walked over to the window and stood in front of it, looking out at the dark New Orleans streets. Yvonne rose and joined him, waiting for him to speak before she said anything.
Helene, her green eyes wide, almost couldn't believe what she'd just heard. "Jacques Cordeau, how could you--" she began and then stopped, bringing her hand up to her mouth in shock as she realized the true result of the affair. "Oh my God...de baby..."
Across the room, Pierre put his anger in check without saying a word. He continued to look out the window, but he wasn't seeing what was outside. He was lost too deeply in thought. "He's de baby's father isn' he."
It was a statement, not a question. Yvonne nodded, tears in her eyes and whispered the answer. "Oui. I'm sorry...Pierre, please..."
"Are you two still...?"
"Non." Yvonne shook her head. "When I found out I was pregnant, I told him an' we agreed to end it."
"Okay. I don' know what dey're gon' decide in regards to tellin' Mercy, but if dat little boy finds out de truth, it won' be from me."
"Does dat mean...?"
"It means dere's no reason for de children to suffer." Helene said as she and Jacques joined them. "We're not gon' tell Mercy either. At least not now."
NEW ORLEANS, FOUR MONTHS LATER
Tante Mattie wrapped the newborn little boy up in a soft blanket, singing softly to him the whole time, and laid him in his tired mother's arms with a smile. Yvonne felt an overwhelming surge of love and protectiveness for this small, innocent boy who depended on her for everything.
"He's beautiful, Tante. Absolutely perfect. What color are his eyes?"
"Oh didn' you know, all babies are born wit' blue eyes. But given de genetics, I'm willin' to bet dey'll be brown in six months." Tante Mattie replied, going to the door and motioning for Pierre to join them. When he did so, she asked them if they had a name picked out.
"Actually, we do." Pierre replied, allowing his own love for the baby take control over everything else. He suddenly realized that it didn't matter that he wasn't the baby's biological father. That little boy was his son and nothing was ever going to change that. Period. "We're namin' him Genard Pierre after his grandfathers."
"An' you. But I know, I know, you were named after your father, so technically he is bein' named after dem." Yvonne laughed.
Tante Mattie smiled at the young family. "I t'ink de name suits him jus' fine."
"What name would dat be?" A bright voice asked from the doorway. Mercy Cordeau was twenty years old, tall, blond and beautiful. She had been oblivious to the affair her father had with Yvonne and like everyone else in the Guild clans, she thought of the new baby as just that. A new addition to the family.
"Mercy, meet Genard Pierre Alouette." Yvonne said, trying not to let her voice catch. Neither Mercy nor Genard must ever suspect the truth. At least not as long as their parents were alive. "Would you like to hold him?"
"Oh...may I?" Mercy asked, her green eyes lighting up like beautiful gems.
"Of course you may." Yvonne replied, smiling warmly at the young woman. She gently handed Genard to Mercy, who held him like a pro.
"He's so cute!" Mercy exclaimed. She gently traced one finger along his tiny face and spoke softly to him. "Well Genard, you are one adorable little boy, you know dat? An' dere's a whole lotta people 'round here who're gon' spoil you absolutely rotten, too. But dat's okay, an' when you get a little older I'll tell you why. An' Henri, Theoren, Claude an' I will teach you how to play poker but you gotta promise me you won' tell anyone."
"Mercy, what on earth are you sayin' to him?" Pierre asked, confused.
Mercy laughed, gave the newborn baby a gentle hug and handed him back to his mother. "Genard an' I were jus' talkin' secrets, dat's all Pierre. Don' worry 'bout it."
With that, Mercy left to go find her friends and Pierre and Yvonne were left in peace with their son.
"Do you t'ink she knows...?" Yvonne asked, sounding worried.
Pierre shook his head. "Non. If Jacques an' Helene said dey weren' gon' tell her, den dey didn'."
"I've written a letter...I've left it wit' Tante Mattie. It's for Mercy an' Genard...Jacques added to it as well. Dere's a good chance Tante Mattie, bein' a healer, will outlive all four of us, an' she gave us her word dat dey won' be given de letter until she's on her deathbed."
"Dat makes sense. I jus' hope she hides it well enough so dat no one finds it durin' spring cleanin' or somethin' in de meantime." Pierre commented.
Yvonne sighed and held her baby closer. "Me too...me too."