Snow on the Bayou: A Tante Lulu Adventure Read Online Free PDF Page A

batty Cajun folk healer, Tante Lulu Rivard. From freakin’ Loo-zee-anna bayou country.
    His second reaction was a puzzled frown. Why would they be here in California… and staring at him as if he were in the crosshairs of their lethal weapons?
    The fine hairs stood out on his body. It must have something to do with his MawMaw, the Cajun name for grandmother.
    JAM, Lieutenant Jacob Alvarez Mendozo, walked by, heading toward the beach. He indicated with a motion of his thumb toward himself and the swabbies that he was taking over. He also winked at Cage after giving Charmaine a quick once-over. As if Cage would ever be interested in the bayou bimbo! And he didn’t mean that as an insult. Charmaine had always gone out of her way to celebrate her bimbo-ness.
    No, it was because Charmaine was lots older than him… and married, last he’d heard. Of course, he’d known her only by reputation. But then, everyone in southern Louisiana knew Charmaine, and not just because she’d been Miss Louisiana when he was a freshman in high school. About forty years old, give or take, she still looked damn good. As for the old lady… who didn’t know the outrageous Tante Lulu? She was a friend of his grandmother’s, but everyone from one end of the bayou to the other had heard of her antics.
    Once Cage reached the group, Petty Officer Farley saluted him and went back to the command center, leaving him with the two women.
    “Hey, Charmaine,” he greeted her first since she was in front.
    “Hey, Justin.”
    “Tante Lulu,” he acknowledged as he got closer. “It’s great to see you.”
I hope.
    Charmaine shook his extended hand, but Tante Lulu grabbed on to him and gave him a hug, which was kind of awkward since he was six foot two and she was about five foot zero. She actually hugged his abdomen, and he found himself patting her blond wig, even giving it a little nudge to center it more on her head.
    But why was she hugging him so hard?
    Holding her away from himself, he asked right off, “Is something wrong with MawMaw?”
    Tante Lulu nodded.
    He braced himself before asking, “Is it bad?”
    She nodded again.
    “Oh, God! She’s not dead, is she?”
    Tante Lulu smacked his arm. “No, she’s not dead, you lunkhead.”
    “Thank God!”
    “No thanks to you.”
    “I beg your pardon.”
    “Justin LeBlanc, when was the las’ time you was home?”
    He stiffened. “That’s none of your business.”
    “It is when my good friend needs her only gran’chile.”
    “If she needed me, all she had to do was ask. And by the way, why isn’t she asking?”
    “Mebbe she dint wanna be a bother to
her only gran’chile
.”
    Cage bit the inside of his cheek to keep the irritation out of his voice. “Did she send you?”
    “No. St. Jude did.”
    “St. Jude?” he sputtered.
    “Thass what I said. Did they nick yer ears when they shaved yer fool head? St. Jude tol’ me ta go find that rascally Cajun boy and drag him home by the scruff of his neck, iffen he’s too stubborn ta know what’s good for him.”
    Cage briefly closed his eyes.
I wonder what the sentence would be for throttling a senior citizen? Better yet, we could probably use her as a secret weapon against the Taliban.
He returned his gaze to Tante Lulu. “What does St. Jude have to do with anything?”
    “Don’t ask,” Charmaine warned.
    But it was too late. Tante Lulu put her hands on her little hips and glared up at him. “St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless cases, and I’m thinkin’ yer as hopeless as a woodpecker in a petrified forest.”
    “Now settle down,” Charmaine told her aunt. Then to Cage, she said, “Is there somewhere we can go talk?”
    He hesitated, then conceded, “The officers’ dining hall should be empty.” He pointed to a building beyond the special forces center and began to walk away. Rude, yeah, but he was in a rude mood. Something serious was wrong with his grandmother, and he was having to deal with two crazy women… well, one