The two aunts lived in a house on Prytania, Adelle was a widow and Tay-Tay a “maiden lady,” if such females still existed. They were napping when Skip arrived, having probably had a drop or two at their late nephew’s. She was let in by a maid who acted the perfect hostess while the aunts pulled themselves together. But Skip declined her offer to sit, preferring to prowl, looking at pictures and books,
Adelle appeared first, still smoothing a hastily donned knit skirt over the mono-buttock a girdle makes. She stood erect, had shoulder-length black hair with a white streak in it. Her mouth was a little tight for Skip’s taste.
“Adelle Gibert,” she said. “You’re Don Langdon’s daughter, aren’t you?”
Once Skip had hated to admit it, had longed to be known for herself and not her family, but that wasn’t the way New Orleans was made.
“Sit down,” said Adelle. “I hear Tay-Tay,” So did Skip-unless a rhino was charging; lampshades shook as the floor vibrated. Tay-Tay entered the room with the air of one who owns the parish, possibly the state; someone used to authority. Skip had a flash: retired schoolteacher.
She was a large lady-gray-haired, deep-bosomed, grandmotherly, wearing shorts that showed varicose veins and a T-shirt that couldn’t quite do its work-she had a solid line of bust to go with Adelle’s mono-butt. She looked as if she could give a flying flirt,
“Octavia Delacroix.” Without further ceremony, she plopped into a needlework rocker. “How can we help?”
“I was wondering about Aubrey’s sister.”
Adelle’s eyebrows went up. “Gina? Gina?” Horrified.
Tay-Tay was placid. “Poor little Gina. What about her?”
“I wondered if you know where she is.”
Adelle sat in censorious silence. Tay-Tay smiled. “Well, I guess we’re gon’ be awhile. Something cool, Miss Langdon? Or should I say Officer?”
“How about Skip?”
“And you must call me Tay-Tay. Or Tante Tay-Tay if you like. Everyone else does.” Skip felt engulfed by the warmth of her. She’d probably taught first or second grade, let the kids crawl up in her lap. “I’ll speak to Leeanna.”
When she had left, Adelle said, “Gina’s a very lovely girl, Miss Langdon. I can’t think where you’re going with this.”
Tay-Tay’s heavy step announced her return. She said, “I guess you noticed she wasn’t at the wedding. You think she could have been one of those black figures… that’s it, isn’t it?”
“I have to ask, that’s all.”
“Well, she wasn’t. She’s not even in town. Gina’s estranged from the family. Her daddy never had a moment’s time for her after he found out she had a drug problem. Threw her out of the house when she was eighteen.”
“Tay-Tay!”
“Adelle, she’s gon’ find out anyway. Might as well be from somebody that loves Gina.” She turned back to Skip. “Who wouldn’t take drugs with those two for parents?”
“I’ve met Clarice.”
“Well, Noel was… a Delacroix. Staunch churchmen, the whole lot of them.”
A little too staunch, Skip gathered.
“Anyway, next thing you know Gina got pregnant and he still refused to help her. Even when the baby was born. The good news is, she quit using, for the baby’s sake.” She smiled. “Darlin’ little Heather. Cutest thing old Tante Tay-Tay ever saw in her life.”
Adelle said, “We tried to help her, but Noel found out.”
“Is she disinherited? Do people still do that?”
Leeanna arrived with a tray of iced tea. Overhearing, she snorted. Adelle’s lips drew together again.
But Tay-Tay laughed. “Well, it’s pretty hard, in this state, but it can be done. You’re looking at two of the only…”
“Tay-Tay, I beg you!”
“Adelle, for heaven’s sake. Everybody knows the story. What are you being so silly about?”
Skip made her face a polite blank.
“Adelle tells it herself at parties-or used to before everyone in New Orleans had heard it three times. You know about forced heirship?”
Skip shook her head, mystified.
“Well, Louisiana’s the only state in the union that’s got it-you can’t cut a child completely out of the will, except in twelve very unusual circumstances. Or let’s say eleven of those and one that’s all too usual. Which is how Adelle got caught. When she was fifteen-a minor, you see-she ran away and got married.”
Adelle said, “Damn the Delacroix and all they stand for!”
“Hear, hear!” said Tay-Tay, raising her iced tea glass. Skip suspected she was still a little high from whatever she’d been drinking at the wake. “They don’t even, cut their wives in any more than they have to. The bulk of Noel’s estate will go to Aubrey, you watch. Clarice will get a house-though certainly not the one on Audubon Place-and just enough to live on, and Gina will get the fourth required by law. A bitter pill for Noel-she wouldn’t even get that if it weren’t for us. We’ve schooled the girl very carefully in the art of forced heirship-we’re experts. She always made sure she contacted him at least once every two years-if she hadn’t, she could have been disinherited. That’s one of the twelve ways, and incidentally one of the three our father got us on.”
“Both of you are disinherited?”
“Absolutely. And all because of our dear brother Charles. Now deceased.” Tay-Tay looked delighted about that. “You see he was the one who told Daddy he could do it and how-he was the lawyer in the family.”
“And the one who stood to get the entire estate.”
Adelle sniffed. “That’s what Daddy wanted anyway. The name male chauvinist was invented for Delacroix.”
Tay-Tay was enjoying herself. “They got me two ways, but one of them was fraudulent. A child can be disinherited if he hits a parent. Daddy and Charles claimed I hit Daddy when he told Adelle he was going to do it to her-but really, I only threw a vase. Anyway, after it all happened we never spoke to either of them again. Not even knowing that was one of the twelve grounds.”
“What are the other grounds?” Skip knew, as did everyone in Louisiana, that the state’s famous Napoleonic Code was eccentric, but this was such a preposterous twist she was fascinated.
“Oh, what are they, Adelle?”
Addle held her tongue.
“Let’s see,” said Tay-Tay. “Refusing to ransom a parent is one. And accusing a parent of a capital crime. Except high treason, that is, because that’s your duty. My personal favorite is refusing to take care of a parent who’s become insane. How would you prove he was competent to make a will?” She turned serious. “I’m sorry. It isn’t funny-I’m just used to it. To get back to our lovely family, Adelle has a little money from her late husband and I have my pension, but we’ve had to depend on Noel’s good nature for a house to live in.”
Adelle snorted. “His whims, you mean. Clarice bullied Noel into giving us this one only because it would have looked bad if we’d had to find a hovel somewhere.”
“He didn’t give it to us, Adelle.”
“He let us live here. So that’s why we couldn’t help Gina, have her come live with us, when she needed it. He wouldn’t permit it.”
“Do you have her address?”
Adelle thought they shouldn’t give it to her, but Tay-Tay prevailed. Softly, on the way out, she apologized for her sister’s coldness: “She’s just upset about Aubrey. The wedding being ruined and all.”
Gina lived in Baton Rouge and worked at a drug abuse counseling center. Skip caught her at home, her eyes red, her hair slightly dirty. She didn’t look as if she’d slept.
Skip made sympathy sounds.
Gina blew her nose. “I’m crying because I couldn’t go to my own father’s house today. The day after he died.”