Bound for the Outer Banks (20 page)

Lacey grabbed Diet Cokes out of one of the coolers and handed one to Ella. As Lacey popped the top she rolled her eyes and exclaimed, “Boys will be boys.”

After the impromptu swim, Sam and Chief finished setting up the umbrellas and chairs. On either end of the line of umbrellas, extra chairs were placed for those wanting to soak up some of the last of the season’s sun. Lacey climbed over the tailgate of Sam’s truck and handed Ella a large folded blanket. Lacey then tossed over two additional blankets for herself. She instructed Ella that the three large blankets would be placed along the curve formed by the wind sails. As Ella unfurled hers, she realized it was made up of large blue, green, and aqua beach towels that had been sewn together to form the huge blanket. She smiled at Lacey’s ingenuity. “Nice blanket!” she yelled to Lacey, while pulling out the wrinkles in the large, pieced together fabric.

“Thanks! I got completely flustered trying to find exactly what I wanted. Something that was large enough and in the colors I wanted, so I finally just started gathering beach towels from the second hand stores up and down The Banks until I got enough to make my own.”

“You sew?” inquired Ella.

“Oh, heavens no,” Lacey answered. “I took all the towels over to my friend Sonya’s Home Economics class, and they sewed them together for me. Sonya’s always complaining about how expensive it is to find fabrics for the kids to sew on with her meager supply money. She was excited that they were going to get a lot of practice and I was excited I was going to have three new jumbo custom beach blankets. I asked them to sew the towels together wrong side up because the other sides were crazy hodge podges of dolphins, cartoon characters, and beer bottles.”

Ella smiled, “They’re going to make excellent seamstresses one day and put me out of business.”

“Whoa!” shouted Lacey. She placed her palm out toward Ella.

Ella stood still and waited to see what Lacey was about to say.

“You mean to tell me that you can sew?” asked Lacey using over exaggerated diction while speaking each syllable slowly with purpose.

“Yes, I can,” Ella said softly, shrugging off the comment feeling it was no big deal.

“I thought you were a fashion WRITER, not a fashion SEW-er!” Lacey bellowed.

“I just happen to be both,” Ella informed Lacey.

“Yes!” roared Lacey. “Could I pay you to sew something for me?”

Ella thought about how absurd the question seemed. She missed creating. Not only did she miss sketching new creations, but she missed the drudgery of drawing and cutting the pattern pieces and fabrics. But the thing she missed most of all was seeing the final product fitted on to her subject. Fellow students at SCAD modeled the design students’ creations which was always so fun to watch. Ella enjoyed getting to know her models and it was always such a crapshoot if you were going to end up with a person with blue hair and multiple piercings or a petite Southern princess. That’s what Ella loved about her designs. Each type of girl seemed equally comfortable in them. When she saw her designs at the end of each semester go down the runway at the student fashion show, she knew she’d found her calling. Ella thought about how much she’d love to sew again, but sewing wasn’t in high demand for a woman in hiding and being uprooted constantly to conceal her identity.

“I would love to sew something for you. If you have the fabric I’ll do it for free!” She told Lacey.

Lacey said excitedly, “No way. I want to commission you to sew a new gown for me for The Peacock Ball!”

About that time Sam walked over, taking a break from his grilling duties. “Lacey! I thought we were going to skip The Ball this year. I’ve dressed up in those ridiculous knickers four years in a row and I thought we agreed to take a year off this year. And hopefully that will become the tradition. You know I hate to dance.”

“I’ve changed my mind. It’s a girl’s prerogative to change her mind you know. I’ve worn that same stupid dress from the party store four years in a row. Now that Belle is here, I’m going to be the belle of The Peacock Ball!” Lacey started spinning around pretending to hold out the skirt of an invisible ball gown.

“I can’t believe this…..I tell you what, Lacey. I’ll go to The Peacock Ball with you if you go to the raft race with me,” Sam bargained.

“What?! No, I told you I don’t want to hang out on a river all day with a bunch of rednecks trying to float living room recliners down a river. It’s ridiculous,” Lacey complained.

“Then I’m not going to The Ball. It’s not anymore ridiculous than hopping around to classical music in knee britches and an ascot,” Sam bellowed.

“I like glamorous stuff. I’m an air conditioner repairman married to a commercial fisherman. Occasionally I want to do something kind of special,” Lacey sulked.

Ella had caught a glimpse of Chief, still shirtless, leaned over the pit, lighting the pile of wood he’d arranged on the stones. She figured Chief would surely participate in the raft race with Sam. “We’ll do the raft race,” Ella stated matter of factly.

Lacey snapped her head around in Ella’s direction. “We will?” asked Lacey. “No we won’t.”

“Don’t worry Sam. We’ll be there, but we’ll be on our own raft. A glamorous raft,” Ella said.

“A glamorous raft?” exclaimed Lacey. “That’s oxymoronic.”

“Trust me on this. I’m a seamstress and a designer. I can make anything glamorous with enough of the right material,” said Ella.

Lacey smirked then replied, “I’m trusting you, Belle. Our raft better be glamorous and seaworthy…….even though it’s a river race.”

Ella confidently replied, “It will be.” She knew she could construct something glamorous for the visual part, but placing it atop a raft that would stay afloat the whole afternoon and not have a tendency to flip over was an entirely different story. Immediately she thought of Art at the hardware store. She was sure Art could rescue her from her hollow promise to Lacey.

Chapter 20

After Ella and Lacey placed the last beach blanket down, Chief and Sam moved the white, square coffee tables on to the center of each blanket. The ladies placed long body pillows on each side of the coffee tables for seating. The crisp white canvas covers contrasted beautifully with the patchwork of blues from the blankets.

The ladder ball game, and horseshoes were set up on one side of the party area. On the other side Chief and Sam had set up the volleyball net and scraped the sand with their heels, drawing off the court markings. Earlier, Samoset had placed two utility tables near the grill. Lacey and Ella covered each table with beach towels in the same shades of blue and aqua. They made sure to turn them face down especially since one of the towels read, “Outer Banks Beach Bunny” with a cartoon of a curvy woman in a sheer lace bra and thong.

Melody Beauchamp Gainsborough, Lacey’s mother, was the first guest to show up, bearing a large bag of paper goods. Lacey introduced Ella to Miss Melody and placed the plates, napkins, and plastic utensils on one of the tables by Samoset. Chief took a break from stoking the coals of the clam pit fire to greet Miss Melody who hooped and hollered about how long it had been since she had seen him.

Miss Melody declared, “Honey, anybody that looks as good as your body needs to come around more often!”

Chief blushed from the compliment while Miss Melody embraced him in a bear hug, pressing her large bosom against him.

You should have seen him earlier when he was half naked, thought Ella, referring to the small interval of time that Chogan and Samoset had their shirts off before Lacey called them savages and made them cover their cut bodies much to Ella’s dismay.

“Once you boys start playing volleyball and that sort of thing feel free to get as naked as a boiled chicken, but until all of the guests arrive and we’ve properly greeted everyone let’s have some sense of decorum,” Lacey demanded.

Slowly more guests arrived including much of the wait staff at Pinkie’s and a few of their friends, Lacey’s employees Tanqueray and Desiree and their significant others, a few fishermen and shrimpers and their wives, and Roz and a few more friends of Melody’s from Church. Much to Ella’s delight Mary Lynn from Sassy Sweets showed up with the helpful hardware man, Art, who was holding a tall white box. He carefully made his way to one of the serving tables, set down the box and released the tabs. As each wall fell the box collapsed revealing a white, three tiered, smooth fondant cake with molded white chocolate seashells and coral surrounding the cake. Silver dragees accented the different points on the shells and coral. It was one of the most beautiful cakes Ella had ever seen.

Art placed the tips of two fingers on his bottom lip and let out a whistle. Bobby Lee Majors came bounding over the dunes. He managed to run the gauntlet of hands reaching out to pet him and finally ran to Art. “I was afraid if I didn’t make him stay by the car, he’d Scooby Doo the cake. He loves Mary Lynn’s cooking, just like me,” said Art. Art nuzzled Mary Lynn’s nose and immediately Ella realized why Mary Lynn had blushed when she talked about her smart, new man at Sassy Sweets. She was happy that Mary Lynn had found love again after marrying “The Idiot,” as she referred to her bank robbing ex.

Hmmm, Ella thought, Mary Lynn was married to a felon and survived just fine. I was merely involved with a member of the mob. Maybe I’ll eventually end up as happy as Mary Lynn.

Ella smiled to herself, enjoying the party, meeting new people, and reacquainting herself with others. She couldn’t help continuing to avert her gaze to Chogan Montauk. Did he know who she was? Was he really on administrative leave because his best friend got shot in the head while sitting directly beside him? Lacey seemed to know Chief’s friend Brad. Ella had asked a few more questions about the situation hoping to figure out if the Brad story was a cover or if there had been another coincidence regarding the location of her current safe house. But according to Lacey the tragedy was genuine. Also, Ella hadn’t noticed Chief following her around anywhere. Although if he had been, would she have noticed? The man was a trained killer. Lacey told Ella he’d received an award for valor in Afghanistan. He’d also been on some Special Forces team. Ella didn’t know much about the military, but she did know that Chogan Montauk wasn’t used to announcing his presence and if he didn’t want to be detected, she was sure he could avoid it.

Little did Ella know that Chief had been keeping fairly close tabs on her. His job was made much easier though by the newly forged friendship between Eleanor Augusta Barrantine and his sister-in-law. But Flynn hadn’t been asking for reports from Chief’s surveillance on their star witness which made Chief suspect even more that this was a bullshit assignment. However, he would continue to do what he was told because although he was certain that Ella’s identity and location were safe, The Sacred Crown was one of the most violent criminal organizations in the world and if her identity and whereabouts were ever compromised, he was certain that without protection, Ella Barrantine’s days would be numbered.

Ella, Lacey, Tanqueray, and Desiree were lounging in the beach chairs that had been placed on one end of the row of umbrellas. They were intent on soaking up the last of the afternoon sun. Sam, Chief, Desiree’s husband, Steve, and Tanqueray’s man of the hour, Dylan, were in a heated volleyball game with some servers from Pinkie’s.

The ladies were retelling the dead possum story when Desiree interjected, “I always tell Lacey when there’s a job in a rundown house or crawlspace, ‘Remember, Desiree doesn’t do possums’ and she sends Tanqueray. It’s not worth the bonus to me.”

“Wuss,” said Tanqueray as she sipped a frozen Pomegranate Acai Margarita out of a pouch.

Ella had chosen a Bahama Mama. She thought how funny they must appear sipping their alcoholic drinks out of little bags like preschool children at snack time with their Capri Suns. Well, she thought, they’re compact and spill proof should things get out of hand.

About that time Lacey jumped up out of her chair and yelled, “She finally made it!” Lacey then walked through the sand so forcefully that Ella could hear a squeaking sound with each step.

“Who’s that?” Ella asked, turning to see the lady Lacey was heading to.

Desiree answered, “That’s Lacey’s Aunt Harmony. Lacey likes to call her Mama 2 since she never had any kids and she used to keep Lacey a lot for Miss Melody.”

Harmony Beauchamp was now Harmony Beauchamp Patel. After high school, she’d attended the same school from where Lacey had received her technical training. Harmony became an LPN and worked at the local nursing home while traveling to New Bern three days a week to obtain her R.N. She desperately wanted to work with pediatric patients. She had been told she was unable to have children. Ella figured it was probably due to the savage rape she’d endured in high school. After getting her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, Harmony landed her dream job at Vidant Children’s Hospital in Greenville, North Carolina, where she eventually met her husband Raj Patel. When Harmony confessed to Raj that she couldn’t have children so he should find someone else to marry, he laughed and told her that India had plenty of kids to go around without him adding any to the mix. The two saw their patients at Vidant as their “kids” and although being married to Dr. Raj Patel had made it unnecessary for Harmony to work, she was still a full time nurse doing what she loved.

Since Harmony’s hometown of Manteo was only two hours away from Greenville, she was able to make all the parties and social functions of her old friends and family. Ella wondered if BeBe knew that Harmony had ended up so happy. Ella had asked BeBe few questions about Harmony. She knew the backstory and as a child had not been that interested in what her mother’s childhood friends from the Carolinas were now doing. She sorely regretted not asking BeBe more questions about the Beauchamp girls now.

Lacey yelled for Ella to come meet her “other mother.” Ella nervously walked over, clutching her pouch of Bahama Mama.

“Aunt Harmony, this is Belle Butler. She just moved to Manteo for some peace and quiet to write her fashion articles, and here I am dragging her to parties.”

“That’s our Lacey,” Harmony said, reaching out to shake Ella’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you Belle.” Even at her advanced age Harmony was a beautiful woman. Her hair was still dark with only a few strands of gray between the copper highlights.

Ella noticed the resemblance in Harmony and BeBe and saw how they might try to pass themselves off as twins. “It’s nice to meet you too Miss Harmony.” Ella addressed Harmony the way all Southerners addressed a person of the previous generation, calling them Miss or Mister followed by their first name.

Harmony held on to Ella’s hand for a moment longer and stared into Ella’s eyes. “You look awfully familiar, Sugar. Are your folks from around The Banks?”

The ladies unclasped hands and Ella squeezed the drink pouch with her fingers, thankful that she’d polished off most of it. “No ma’am. My parents are from up north. They’re both deceased.” Ella panicked hoping that she didn’t resemble BeBe so much that Harmony would put it together – a young lady who looked remarkably like BeBe Barrantine – BeBe Barrantine was killed along with her husband in a car crash leaving their young daughter behind. Ella had no idea if Harmony knew the story but she wasn’t taking any chances. “Unfortunately, they were killed in a ….plane crash,” Ella looked down at her beverage pouch, “flying to the Bahamas.”

“I’m so sorry Sweetie. I’m sure you miss them terribly,” consoled Harmony.

Ella blinked her eyes, fighting back tears. “Every day,” she said.

“I hope you enjoy your time here, Belle,” said Harmony. “My work took me away but I look for any excuse I can to visit.”

“Thank you. Lacey’s been so sweet introducing me to people and showing me around.” Ella told Harmony once more with great sincerity, “Again, it’s really nice meeting you,” then she walked away.

“You too, Sugar,” Harmony called out after Belle.

When Ella turned she saw Chief scraping the ashes off the now hot stones with the edge of a piece of driftwood. He had once more removed his shirt because of the heat rising from the pit. Ella decided she’d pussyfooted around Chogan Montauk enough that day. Lacey’s brother-in-law had been sent to Roanoke Island on administrative leave by the FBI. She didn’t know all the details, but she did know that The Bureau understood than an agent’s best friend being shot in cold blood, sitting directly next to him, couldn’t be good for even the most battlefield hardened person’s psyche. She had convinced herself that Chogan Montauk did not know Belle Butler from Adam’s housecat.

“Hi,” said Ella, overlooking the hot pit.

Chief, who was down on his hands and knees, scraping the rest of the charred wood from the stones, turned to look up over his shoulder at Ella. “Hi there. You’re just in time,” said Chief.

“Just in time for what?” asked Ella.

“Just in time to help me gather some Gulfweed,” Chief answered.

Ella grimaced, “Gulfweed?”

“Yeah, also known as Sargassum weed. Fortunately we have plenty to go around since the storm washed a lot of it on shore night before last. Come on I’ll show you.” Chief stood and dusted the sand from his hands. He began walking along the surf to a trail of brown seaweed that had washed ashore. He bent over and picked up a wad of the smelly ocean plant. “Behold Sargassum weed, a clambake’s best friend.”

“And why exactly is that?” asked Ella.

“The seaweed holds water which heats up and steams the clams and vegetables,” Chief explained. He then plucked out a few small branches of the slimy, brown weed. “See these bladders that look like berries?” They keep the seaweed floating close to the surface so it can get sun, but the bladders are great for clambakes because they get hot and explode releasing more steam for the clams.”