But Nature had taught me early in my life that everything has its season. Our romance grew and bloomed, flourished and ripened, with every passing moment, every kiss, every promise in our breaths. Happiness was a bird at full wing, gliding gracefully toward the warm sun.

I knew that clouds do come, that rain must fall, that shadows must darken, and that even though our love was good and pure and full, it wasn't strong enough to withstand the hard, cold truth that lay dormant at our doorstep, waiting like some patient snake, so still it was hard to distinguish from the surroundings, but ready and eager to strike at the first opportunity.

We weren't always careful when we made love. In the beginning our passion was so strong and overwhelming, we could no more hesitate to protect ourselves than we could hold back a hurricane. Afterward, when I had a chance to sit and think, I admitted to myself that it wasn't just carelessness or a devil-may-care attitude. I wanted Pierre's child. I wanted a part of him in me. I wanted to bond us some way forever and ever. Maybe he wanted the same thing.

Unfortunately, I knew the symptoms of pregnancy all too well. I didn't have to ask Mama what this or that meant. It came upon me one afternoon when I realized I was late, and all the other indications announced themselves with clarity and certainty.

Despite my feelings, I was frightened. I had no idea how I would tell Mama, but I thought I must tell Pierre first. He didn't return for nearly two weeks after I realized my condition, and when I saw the blue cravat, I felt a pang of trepidation along with a feeling of happiness.

Early that night when I poled to the Daisy landing and walked to the shack, my body was trembling. Was this the end of our love affair? Would he run from me once he learned what had happened? I couldn't prolong the answer and stop myself from drowning in that all too familiar pool of despair.

He was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for my arrival. A bottle of wine was opened, more than half of it drunk already. He looked up with a smile.

But before I could blurt out what was happening, he greeted me with his own shocking news.

"Daphne," he said, "has found out about us."

"I didn't think she would even care," he said after having me sit at the table before telling me. He poured me a glass of wine and one for himself. He paced as he continued. "All this time I thought she enjoyed the freedom I was giving her, enjoyed her distractions, her charities and causes, her art galerie openings and dinners. She surrounded herself with so many people and lived for the society pages. Whenever I had to travel for business, she was unconcerned and disinterested. She never complained about our being apart.

"Apparently, her lack of interest in me and my affairs was just a smoke screen for her real intentions and actions."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She hired a private detective and had me followed and all this traced," he said, indicating our love nest. "Yesterday she came into my office, closed the door behind her, and revealed with glee all she had learned and knew."

"She knows my name?"

"The smallest details," he said, nodding. "She enjoyed rattling them off. Of course, she made threats. She would bring down my family name, destroy the Dumas reputation, but I know she would never do any such thing. She's terrified of putting a spot on her own reputation. The worst thing for Daphne is social embarrassment," he said confidently, but I couldn't keep the terror from jumping into my heart and bringing goose bumps over my arms.

"Maybe she will do something like that this time. You didn't expect her to have you investigated," I pointed out.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's all just a bluff. Right now she's playing the role of an abused wife."

"Oh, Pierre," I cried, and buried my face in my hands.

"It's all right." He laughed at what he thought was my reaction to only his news. "I just wanted you to know what was happening, but I don't intend for any of this to interfere in any way with our happiness. As far as Daphne goes—"

"You don't know the worst of it," I moaned, raising my bloodshot eyes to gaze into his proud, handsome face. "And at this time, too!"

"Worst? What could possibly . . ." He grimaced. "Something with your father again," he said. I shook my head. "Your mother?"

"No, Pierre. With me. I'm pregnant," I blurted. The words clapped like thunder in my own ears.

"Pregnant?"

"And there is no doubt," I added firmly. My tears rolled freely. With Daphne on the warpath, what would happen now?

"Pregnant," he said again, and sat, looking stunned for a moment. Then he smiled, a light springing into his soft green eyes. "How wonderful."

"Wonderful? Are you mad? How can this be wonderful?" I asked, my anxieties twisted into a tight knot.

"You're having my child; how could anything be more wonderful?" he replied. I shook my head in amazement. Sometimes, despite his urban sophistication, his formal education, his years and years in business and society, Pierre seemed more like a foolish little boy to me. Was this the power of love: to hypnotize and turn grown men into children again, children who lived in fantasy worlds?

"But you are married, Pierre. And you've just finished telling me how you were painfully reminded of that fact, n'est-ce pas?"

He stopped smiling. "That won't make any difference. Our child will have everything he or she needs," he vowed. "I'll build you your own house. I'll provide everything: clothes, money, private tutors, nannies. You name it and it's yours," he declared zealously.

"But, Pierre, if Daphne has had you followed and investigated, she will surely learn about all that quickly."

"What of it?" he snapped. "Daphne would never reveal such a thing. She would die of shame. Don't worry," he assured me with a cool, wry smile. "I know my wife."

"Mama will be furious with me," I wailed. How could he not realize the hardships and pain I would endure?

"I'll retire her and your father for life. I'm a wealthy man, Gabrielle. Money will provide the answers to all and any problem. You'll see," he predicted. He thought a moment. "When are you going to tell your mother?"

"Tonight," I said. "I can't keep it a secret any longer."

He nodded. "All right. I was going to leave early in the morning, but I'll wait right here until you return to tell me what she has said and what she wants you to do. If you want, I'll go to see her."

"I'm afraid to tell her," I wailed. "After all her warnings, I let this happen."

"Because you wanted it to happen. I know I did," he confessed.

"You really did?"

"Yes. You don't know what it's been like for me thinking I might never have a child of my own. It's wonderful," he declared again, and jumped up to pour us glasses of wine for a toast. His exuberance overwhelmed me and made me question my own fears and doubts.

"We will have this private, secret life forever and ever," he promised. "Don't look so skeptical," he added, laughing. "It's almost a tradition for us Creoles, you know."

"What is?"

"Being married yet having the woman you really love as well. My father had a mistress and so did my grandfather. But," he said quickly, "you are more than a mistress. You are my true love. Don't worry. We'll take it a step at a time. First, we'll have our child. Then I will quietly build you a new home, a decent home for our child. You will have all the money you need so you will have only to raise our child. Sometimes," he continued, planning our dream life, "you will come to New Orleans and stay at the best hotels. We'll take trips to Europe, and when our child is old enough, we'll put him or her in the finest private school."

I stared at him. Could all this really be?

"Now," he said, kneeling at my feet and taking my hands into his, "how are you feeling? Do you want me to bring a doctor next time?"

"A doctor?" I laughed. "Mama is ten times better than any doctor. Don't forget she's delivered my baby before," I reminded him.

He closed his eyes. "That's not the same thing. This is a baby born out of love, a baby we want."

Although he didn't mean them to be, his words were like tiny arrows piercing my heart. I cried for little Paul and couldn't imagine any child more precious or beautiful than he was. I couldn't imagine loving a baby more.

"But if you feel confident, I feel confident," he said, and began to pace again as he thought aloud. "Of course, I'll try to visit you more often, and if there is the slightest problem or complication, I'll see to it immediately. The important thing is that you feel safe and happy. My father is going to be a bit of a problem, but I will tell him all of it now."

"You will?"

He nodded. "He'll understand," he said. "I don't think it will be all that much of a surprise to him. Well, that's not for you to concern yourself with anyway. Just dote on yourself, my chérie," he said. "Shall we eat?"

"Oui," I said, rising slowly. Already I felt twenty pounds heavier. Invisible burdens rested on my shoulders. Pierre embraced me to kiss me and reassure me. I smiled softly at him and prepared our meal. Afterward Pierre understood why I wasn't in the mood to make love. He held me and repeated his promises and elaborated on his plans. I left somewhat earlier than usual because I wanted to talk to Mama before she went to bed.

"Remember," Pierre said on the dock, "I'll be here if you need me."

"Yes. Good night."

"Good night, my secret wife," he whispered. He remained on the dock watching me glide over the water.

After I tied up the canoe, I walked to the house, and when I turned the corner, I was surprised to find Mama still on the galerie, but asleep in her rocker. Daddy's truck was there, too, but he was nowhere in sight.

For a moment I just stood there staring at her in sweet repose. Mama didn't deserve me, she didn't deserve another burden, another thing to accelerate her aging. Daddy was enough of a weight around anyone's neck. I knew no one who was as caring and loving as Mama, no one who worried about the elderly, the handicapped, the sick and the weak, as much as Mama did. She was truly a saint to her people, and what amazed everyone was how so much compassion and so much wisdom and goodness could be packed into so small a woman.

Her eyelids flickered and then opened once, closed and opened again when she realized she was looking at me. She sat up in the rocker and scrubbed her cheeks with her palms for a moment.

"What time is it?"

"It's not late, Mama."

She took a deep breath and nodded at Daddy's truck.

"He's inside, sleeping on the living room floor. I had to sew up a gash in his head. He got into a fight in town and someone hit him with a crowbar. Least, that's what he tells me. He could have fallen over a railing, dead drunk, too, and smashed himself on something."

She looked at me again. "What is it, Gabrielle? You've got something to say."

"Oui, Mama," I replied in a small voice. Her body tightened as if she were preparing to receive a blow herself. I guessed that's what it would be.

"I've been seeing Pierre for some time now."

"You ain't telling me anything I don't know, child. I might as well have spoken to the wind about that, no?"

I nodded. "I love him, Mama, and he loves me. It's not something we planned or something we can help. It happened and it is," I said, my head down.

"You're still not telling me anything I didn't know before, Gabrielle," she said, rocking.

I swallowed back a throat lump and rallied all the courage I could muster.

"I'm pregnant, Mama."

She stopped rocking, but she didn't say anything. She gazed into the darkness across the road and then began to rock again.

"Pierre knows and he wants to take care of me and the baby. He wants to take care of all of us," I said quickly.

Mama didn't look at me. She kept rocking. "Of course, that's what he would say now. He would say anything."

"No, Mama, he means it. Pierre really does love me. He bought the Daisys' shack just to be near me and—"

"Buying a toothpick-legged shack in the swamp ain't much of an investment for a man like that, Gabrielle. Taking care of a child from the day it's been born . . . that's an investment, not only of money, but of love and affection and concern. It doesn't come in an envelope every week either, hear?"

"I know that, Mama. But I want the baby more than anything. It's a baby that comes from love," I told her. I didn't even feel the tears that were streaming down my cheeks, but I felt them fall from my chin.