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they picked up?”
    An’gel didn’t linger to hear Jacqueline’s response. Really, the child was not only vulgar, she was also rather stupid.
    On the veranda, the door shut carefully behind them, An’gel paused with Dickce and enjoyed the beautiful view for a moment.
    “I shudder to think what will happen to all of this when Mireille and Jacqueline are gone and Sondra is responsible for it.” Dickce sighed. “We’ll be long gone by then, so I guess I shouldn’t even think about it, but it’s hard not to.”
    An’gel patted her sister’s shoulder, and Dickce caught the hand and gave it a quick squeeze.
    Dickce’s words held a deeper meaning for both of them, because their own beloved Riverhill would have to pass to someone who might not care for it as devotedly as they and the generations of Ducotes before them had. The fate of Riverhill was never far from An’gel’s thoughts, though she hoped to have more than a few years left to oversee its care, along with her sister.
    The sisters made their way down the steps, across the lawn, and around the edge of the ornamental pond. To An’gel’s relief, they reached the block of bed-and-breakfast cottages without spotting anything slithering past their feet.
    “Wonder who that can be?” Dickce pointed to a strangecar, a worn-looking sedan, parked beside their Lexus. “I didn’t think any other out-of-town guests would arrive until tomorrow or the next day.”
    An’gel moved closer to inspect the license plate. “Louisiana, so perhaps it’s someone local. Where could they be?” She glanced around but didn’t see anyone on the grounds near them.
    “I didn’t think about locking the door,” Dickce said. “Did you?”
    “Not that I can remember.” An’gel frowned as she moved quickly toward their door.
    Before she even touched the knob, the door of Benjy’s room opened. Instead of Benjy, however, a strange young man stepped out and closed the door behind him.
    An’gel’s eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen such a beautiful young man in her life. Tall, well-proportioned, with a head of golden ringlets and eyes of a brilliant green, he was a vision of perfection straight from the glossy pages of a magazine.
    He smiled sweetly at An’gel. “Have you ever been to New York?”
    At first An’gel thought she had misheard him. “New York? Yes, I have been there several times.”
    “I’m going there right after the wedding. It’s my first time, and I can’t wait.” He beamed at her and wandered past her and Dickce, apparently headed toward Willowbank.
    “That has to be Lance,” Dickce said in an undertone once the young man was about fifty feet away.
    “There can’t be two of them in St. Ignatiusville,” An’gel said tartly. “Of course it’s Lance. Jacqueline certainly wasn’t exaggerating about his looks.”
    “Almost too perfectly beautiful.” Dickce snickered. “I suppose the Lord didn’t think a man that pretty needed to be weighed down with much of a brain.”
    “I wonder what he was doing here,” An’gel muttered as she moved to knock on Benjy’s door.
    “Come in,” Benjy called. “It’s not locked.”
    When An’gel stepped in the room, she was immediately greeted by Peanut, who acted like she had been gone for two days, instead of an hour. An’gel patted his head and spoke to him before he transferred his attentions to Dickce. The cat, Endora, regarded them languidly from the center of Benjy’s bed.
    “We ran into your visitor,” Dickce said. “We were pretty surprised to see him. Did he want something in particular?”
    Benjy laughed. “Yeah, he was looking for the main house. I thought he’d never been here before, but when I pointed out that it was right next door, he just shook his head and said something about taking the wrong driveway.” He laughed again. “He definitely seemed a little confused. Do you know who he is?”
    “Yes, we do. He’s Lance Perigord, the groom,” An’gel said in a dour