The Broussard Sisters Ch. 09

"I mean, I knew a girl named Sidney, but they spelled it with all 'Ys' you know, but Teddy's sound too weird," Elizabeth said, the tears beginning to course down her face.

"His real name was Edward, right?" Missy asked quietly.

"Uh huh," Elizabeth managed.

"We can call her Eddi, you know, E D D I," Missy suggested.

"Okay," Elizabeth agreed.

"Oh!" Missy gasped. "Or we can call her Teddi, T E D D I!"

"Beautiful," Elizabeth smiled.

----

"No," Elaine said forcefully. "You just got off a double and you have to work again tomorrow? Go home and go to sleep. We can see each other later."

"You sure?" Charlie asked.

"Positive," Elaine said.

"Okay, you're the boss," he smiled and pulled up into his driveway, hit the button for the garage door and drove in.

"Good night," she said as she watched the garage door go down from the upstairs bedroom window.

"Hey, before I let you go, my mother is demanding to meet the girl's got my heart," Charlie said

"Girl that's got your heart?" Elaine asked, incredulous.

"Don't believe I stuttered, Charlie teased. "Good night."

"Wait, wait," Elaine ordered, but there was nothing but silence on the other end.

----

"And you can see, they're already forming the walls of our office," Ed happily showed Daphne and helped her over a few beams.

"Our offices going to be on top of each other again?" Daphne asked as she looked at the unintelligible frame.

How he could 'see' an office in the skeleton of wood and iron was beyond her. She specialized in codes, numbers, and charts.

"No, our office is going to be just one room; my desk will be right next to yours, then the conference table will be right up against the window, looks out onto the work area.

"We're sharing an office?" Daphne smiled. "But suppose we have a fight?"

"Then we'll be forced to work it out, huh?" Ed smiled. "But, hey, Honey, when's the last time we had a fight?"

"There's always a first time," Daphne laughed. "I don't got this red hair for nothing."

----

Paul pulled up to the house and parked behind the Toyota. From the back seat of the car, he grabbed the large television, and after some difficulty, managed to get it to the front porch.

"Hey, he called out as he set the television up on the bureau in the living room.

"Hey," Candy smiled. "Oh, you got us a TV?"

"Uh huh, and I bought this cheapie little dvd player at Wal-Mart; we don't have cable yet. They're coming on Thursday to run the cable."

He went back out to the car and grabbed the dvd player and the bag of dvd movies he'd bought at the used dvd store. Jerry had confided in him that the store specialized in pornographic dv dvds.

"Yeah," he called out as he was hooking up the machine to the television. "They're all in this big old bin, not even in alphabetical order, so I just grabbed a handful, you know?"

""You smell that?" Pam asked excitedly. "Can you smell the bread?"

"Yeah I can," he smiled as he used the remotes to test the television and dvd player. "Smells great."

"Dinner's almost ready," Pam announced and went back into the kitchen.

Paul turned slightly pale when he entered the kitchen and saw Celine sitting at the table, working on the salad. He turned to go back into the living room and grab one of the dvds he'd bought, just as a joke, to needle Cindy.

"Uh huh," Cindy smirked as she was reading through the titles. "Just grabbed a handful, huh?"

"Uh, yeah," he said and leaned close to her. "No one, why'd y'all not tell me she was here?"

"It's all right if she's here, huh?" Cindy asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I guess," Paul, whispered. "But let me see something real quick."

He flipped through the stack of dvds and then went through them again. 'Asian Bi-Sluts' wasn't there.

He breathed a sigh of relief; it was probably still out in the car, had probably fallen out of the bag.

----

Charlie smiled as he listened to the messages she'd left on his cell phone.

"You better not be kidding me, mister," she threatened.

After listening to the last one, he hit the number 9 on his cell phone and saved it to memory.

"Hey, Charlie?" she asked in a soft voice. "I love you."

He hit the speed dial for his mother's number.

"Hello Mother," he said cheerfully.

"Yes?" she said. "You calling to torment me some more?"

"Well why not?" he asked. "It's obviously something I'm quite good at, and it does seem to give you something to complain about."

"All those women, all those fine young ladies from good families, and none of them good enough for you, and you go and fall in love with some underprivileged urchin?" His mother sniffed.

"Yeah, well, hey, it okay if I bring her by on Monday night? I mean, if we can find her a garbage bag to wear or something," Charlie asked. "You know how hose underprivileged urchins are."

"Seven?" his mother asked.

: Seven's good for me," he agreed. "Love you."

"Love you too, though you're going to be the death of me," his mother said.

Elaine yanked the telephone off the receiver before it even finished the first ring.

"Hey you," he smiled.

"Charlie?" she asked.

"Uh huh," he said. "Doing anything on Monday?"

"What time?" she asked.

"Well, we leave here at about six fifteen, that'll put us in Lafayette in plenty of time," Charlie said.

"What should I wear, I mean, is this real fancy or what?" Elaine asked.

"Slacks, blouse," Charlie, suggested. "Its just dinner with my Mom and Dad. Want a good laugh at my expense? Ask to see my Kindergarten graduation picture."

"Uh huh," she smiled. "Don't think I won't!"

----

Paul fidgeted uncomfortably; getting a stack of pornographic movies was one thing when it was just going to be him and his girlfriends. But looking at Celine, she looked like just a couple of curse words would make her faint.

"I um, I just grabbed whatever they had in the bin," he stammered and blushed as Cindy commandeered the remote control and turned on the television.

"Come sit with me," Candy ordered and Paul sat next to her on the small sofa.

"Paul!" Celine called out. "You nasty boy!"

"This the one you was looking for?" Cindy Cindy's laughing voice called out the darkness.

Paul felt slightly nauseous; 'Asian Bi-Sluts' flashed on the screen, then the first vignette started right away. The girls all giggled as a petite Asian lapped at a blonde's pussy, while a large cock rammed into her from behind. Over the horrible synthesizer music. The blonde's voice could be heard encouraging her girlfriend to eat her.

Chapter 90

A few months later, Darwin watched as a smiling Paul packed up all of his belongings into a couple of cardboard boxes. The last item he picked up was the five-framed photographs from the top of the chest of drawers.

Rebecca Ann Robichaux's wrinkled, beautiful face looked at him and he smiled as he put it into the bubble wrap envelope. Then he put the photograph of Pam into it's own bubble wrap envelope. The pictures of Cindy, then Candy were also put into their own envelopes. Then the picture of Celine was given its own envelope.

"You're a fucking prick, Roebuck, you know that?" Darwin said.

"Uh huh," Paul said. "But the good news, Darwin, is you won't have to worry about that next semester, now will you?"

"Fuck you ass hole," Darwin spat. "I'm appealing their decision."

"Man, what's there to appeal? You got a Zero point four zero!" Paul shook his head. "Maybe you should have been more worried about doing your homework than getting a piece of ass, huh?"

----

"So I guess next semester they'll probably stick me with some real big Holy Roller," Trish joked as Pam haphazardly jammed her stuff into her suitcase.

"If you're lucky," Pam agreed.

"Yeah, probably quote the Bible to me all the time and stuff," Trish went on.

"You can always leave the room," Pam suggested.

"I'm going to miss you," Trish suddenly admitted.

"Don't worry," Pam said as she closed the lid, just barely, on her suitcase. "I'll still pray for you."

"Fucking bitch!"Trish laughed.

"Hope you have a Merry Christmas," Pam said as she tried to pick up the suitcase.

"Let me get it; Paul picking you up?" Trish said as she easily lifted the heavy suitcase.

----

The small airport called out for Celine's flight and the small girl turned to Cindy and tearfully hugged the girl good-bye.

"I miss you already," she sniffed in Cindy's ear.

"Miss you too," Cindy said and wiped at her tears.

"God, we'll all be back in a month!" Candy exclaimed, but wiped at her own tears.

Celine hurried away, paused at the door of the boarding ramp and waved one last time.

"I love you," Cindy called out.

"That little bitch!" Cindy exclaimed as she saw the four gaily wrapped packages sitting in the rear seat.

"We told her, 'no presents!'" Candy complained.

----

"Well, good-bye again," Trish said and hugged Pam tightly.

"See you next year!" Pam cheerfully said and got into the Impala.

"See you later," Paul smiled and got into the car.

Trish hurried back into the warmth of the dorm.

"Seems like she's really going to miss you," Paul remarked as he put the car into gear.

"Not for much longer," Pam giggled. "Give it about five minutes; she's going to be calling me all kinds of names."

Trish entered the quiet room to start packing her own suitcase.

She opened the top drawer and looked at the gaily-wrapped package. She shook her head in consternation; she told that little shrimp, 'no presents.'

She unwrapped it and looked at the simple wooden cross. Pam's childish scrawl adorned a small piece of paper.

'It's just two pieces of wood joined together---it only has religious meaning if YOU attach religious meaning to it. Love, Pam.'

Reverently, she put the cross back into the box and put it into her suitcase.

----

Elaine paused for a moment outside of the doors of La Scalia. She had balked at meeting with her father, but he had insisted. So she picked the expensive Italian restaurant, hoping he would say 'no,' giving her a reason to refuse to see him.

She entered and was immediately escorted to the table. Glen Simone smiled and tried to kiss his daughter, but she turned her head, giving him her cheek instead.

"So, what's this about you getting married, huh?" he asked, trying to be jovial.

"Yes, Christmas Eve; I sent you an invitation," she said and ordered a glass of red wine from the waiter.

"Well, um, as um as I am the father of the bride, I kind of expected a little more than an invitation," Glen said, trying to keep his anger in check.

It was really unfathomable to him; how could his own daughter cut him out of the limelight?

"Such as?" she asked.

"Well, um, such as walking my daughter down the aisle, of course," Glen said.

"Oh, I didn't think you'd want to do that, you never wanted to be a part of anything else," she said and opened her purse. "But since you're asking..."

Glen had noticed the purse when she came in. It was an expensive leather bag, retailing exclusively at Abdul's in DeGarde. The coat she'd let the maitre'd take from her was an expensive leather overcoat; matching the expensive boots she wore. Courtney's entire annual salary probably wouldn't cover the down payment on the engagement ring Elaine sported on her left hand.

"I took the liberty of printing up some stuff," Elaine happily said and handed Glen a sheaf of papers. "The top sheet is the child support agreement Judge Melancon had drawn up. You've made a grand total of seven payments on that, that only leaves one hundred and forty nine to go, at four hundred and fifty dollars, that's let's see..."

She rapidly tapped out on a PDA and nodded in satisfaction.

"Sixty seven thousand and fifty dollars. The next sheet is the tuition from Saint Richard's and Saint Thomas Aquinas, Kindergarten through twelfth grade; you're responsible for half; Momma's been paying it off a little each month, but she was bound and determined that Elise and I would get the best education possible. Elaine went on and nodded her thanks to the waiter and sipped the rich wine.

"Hey, listen here, young lady," Glen said angrily.

"The next three sheets are all medical and dental bills; again, you are responsible for half," Elaine went on. "The last sheet is all the expenses for the wedding; the bride's family is expected to pay for that, you know? You can start off with that sheet if you'd like."

"I don't have to listen to this shit," Glen said.

"The hell you don't!" Elaine screamed, causing the entire restaurant to turn and stare at them.

Glen, being a true sociopath, cringed at the negative attention his daughter was drawing; it to be a reflection of him.

"You want to walk me down the aisle, then pay your half, dead beat!" Elaine screamed.

"I've heard just about all..." Glen stood up.

"Sit down!" she screamed and punched Glen on his jaw, knocking him back into his seat.

There were several gasps from the audience. Elaine smiled in satisfaction and sat back down. She motioned to the waiter that she would like more wine.

"Yes, father," (she said the word 'father' as if it were a vulgarity) "You do have to listen to this shit. Momma struggled and scrimped and saved and damned near went bankrupt for Elise and me, while you've sponged off of one whore after another. You want to walk me down the aisle? Well where the hell were you when I went to my first day of Kindergarten? I was scared to death and cried and cried, but you were too busy that day. Where were you when I broke my arm? I fell off my bicycle; you never taught me how to ride that either; Mr. Brown across the street did that."

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the manager nervously said.

"Here," Elaine thrust a card at him. "Call this man to come pick me up."

"And when I started dating, I found men just like you, daddy," Elaine went on, loudly. "I found men that didn't think I was worth a shit, 'cause that's what my daddy taught me; I wasn't worth a shit. My last boyfriend damned near beat me to death, put me in the hospital where I almost died, but did you ever bother to come see me? Did you ever bother to call to see if I was all right? To see if I was going to live, or be a vegetable for the rest of my life?"

The manager read the card and punched in the number.

"Sheriff Davis," Dick answered.

"Uh, yes, uh, this is Paul, Paul Benetta , from La Scalia's, the restaurant; I have a disturbance, a woman is screaming at her father and I've asked her to leave and..." the manager stammered.

"On my way," Dick smiled and opened the car door.

"And you want to walk me down the aisle?" Elaine screamed, on the verge of tears of rage now. "I would rather rot in hell than let you walk me down the aisle!"

"Come on, Elaine," Dick said quietly.

"This is Sheriff Dick Davis, Father," Elaine said as she got to her feet. "This is the man that will be walking me down the aisle; he's been more of a daddy to me in the last six months than you've ever been in nineteen years."

She put her arm through Dick's arm and strode out of the restaurant, to the applause of many of the patrons.

"Ma'am!" a pregnant woman called out as Dick was opening the car door for Elaine. "Ma'am, wait! Please wait!"

"Yes?" Elaine asked as the breathless woman came running up.

"Ma'am, I'm pregnant; I just found out today it's going to be a girl," the woman said breathlessly.

"Well, congratulations," Elaine smiled sincerely.

"Thank you, my husband and I have been praying for a girl; I, we already have four boys," the woman giggled impulsively.

"Is that what that is?" Dick smiled. "I was going to suggest you cut back on the lasagna."

"He thinks he's a comedian," Elaine smiled.

"And I've been racking my brain and racking my brain, trying to think of the perfect name for a baby girl, I mean, we know her middle name will be Marie, that was his mother's name, but," the woman went on. "Then I get this hankering for butter nut squash ravioli and the only place I know that's got it is La Scalia's so I made my husband drive us all the way from Baylor Lake, and I know it was God that wanted me to be here today, 'cause I wanted my baby girl to have a name that means she'll be strong, and brave and won't take no crap from nobody, and then you show up, and what's your name?"

"My name is Elaine," Elaine smiled. "But the woman's name that really means strong and brave and wonderful and beautiful is Carmen; that's my mom's name."

"Elaine! That's perfect!" the woman giggled and hugged Elaine. "Our last name is Eckles! Elaine Marie Eckles! It's the perfect name!"

The woman turned and ran back to the restaurant.

"Bye!" the woman called out happily. "I love you!"

"I um, I'm walking you down the aisle?" Dick asked as he put the cruiser in gear.

"Please?" Elaine asked. "I guess I should have asked you earlier, but..."

"It would be my honor," Dick said sincerely.

Darlene Eckles walked back into the restaurant and smirked as Glen was arguing with the waiter over the bill for Elaine's glass of wine. As she walked past the table, she picked up the glass and tossed the remaining liquid into Glen's face.

"Oops, sorry, hormones, pregnant, you know?" she giggled and rejoined her laughing husband.

----

Elizabeth let herself into the apartment and looked around. It was unusually quiet. The television wasn't blaring its endless procession of game shows or talk shows.

She sighed; where to start packing was going to be the hard thing. She knew the last thing was going to be TeddiAnn's stuff; nothing worse than needing a diaper and not knowing where they were.

"Missy?" she called out.

There was no answer.

"Missy?" she called out again, a little louder.

"TeddiAnn?" she called out.

----

Paul lugged Pam's suitcase in and put it against the wall in the living room. Beaux barked to announce his presence, but Bobbi and Jake and Pam were chattering and squealing too excitedly to pay him any mind.

Cindy screeched to a halt and leapt out of the Toyota and ran, screaming, to her house.

Candy smiled at Paul as she ran past him into her own home.

"Here, son, let me give you a hand," Jake said as Paul opened the trunk of the Toyota.

"Thank you, Mr. Broussard," Paul smiled. "It's kind of cold out here!"

A moment later, a grumbling Bill Broussard was sent out by Emily to go help Paul and Jake.

"Y'all got it; why I got to be out here freezing my boys off?" Bill grumbled as he shook Paul's hand in greeting.

"Why should we have all the fun?" Jake said as he tried to lift Candy's suitcase.

"Let me get that one," Paul said and took the suitcase.

"God damn, boy, you could at least make it look like you're struggling," Jake said as he took another one of Candy's suitcases.

"I am, I am," Paul called out.

"Son of a bitch!" Bill grunted as he tried to lift Cindy's large suitcase.

"Get the smaller one, let Superman there get the other one," Jake advised as he contemplated dragging Candy's suitcase, but knew if he did that, he'd scuff the bottom of it up.

"Uh huh," Bill agreed and grunted as the smaller one wasn't much lighter.

----

Marie and Bob waited on pins and needles for Paul's return. Rebecca slept soundly in her crib

"He's here!" Marie squealed as the ugly green car came to a stop in front of the house.

"No kidding?" Bob asked as she ran outside, squealing excitedly.

"Hey," Paul laughed as he wrapped her arms around him squeezing him tightly.

"Hey son," Bob smiled as Marie chattered excitedly and yanked Paul in to meet his baby sister.

"Hey Dad," Paul smiled and hugged his father.

----

Dick stood, ramrod stiff in his police dress uniform as the music started. Elaine happily took his arm and they made the progression down the aisle of St. Thomas Aquinas.