39. Sarra

I sat on my bed,wondering how I would keep my distance from this man. The moment I laid eyes on him, I knew who he was. I didn't know his name, but I knew him. He has been in my dreams since I turned sixteen.

Many people don't believe their dreams mean something, but I was never one of those people. There was a reason he was here now at this time when my life was threatened.

Raised in these swamps, Mam always taught me that my dreams were trying to tell me something. She knew about my dreams concerning this man, and I first saw him when he was younger.

Mam said that if I ever saw him, I should be sure not to push him away. I would never do that. It felt like he had finally come home. I wondered if he had ever dreamed of me. Probably not.

There are people who live here in the swamp, like Mam, who could look at your hand and tell you about your future. Mam told me to ignore most of that because they always added to the telling. She was raised out here in these swamps, and she didn't like leaving here when they sent her away to college.

My cousins are all brothers, six of whom are as handsome as Knox. I never knew I had a family. Mam always said it was just the two of us. I loved Mam; to me, she was my mother. When she died, it hurt, and it still hurts every day.

When I found out I had more family, I contacted my cousins. They tried advising me on what to do with my life, but I only wanted to live here in my house. They all live in New Orleans, so they knew something about how I grew up from stories they heard about the people in the swamps.

They knew some of the families out here, and I introduced them to my friends. I didn't have many, but I didn't need a lot of people around me. People here were my true friends.

I don't know why people think the swamp is scary and dangerous. The swamp is always beautiful, and the birds always sing. If they weren't singing, you better climb a tree and grab your bow and arrows because evil was near. That's what the people here said, anyway.

When I got in touch with my cousins, I mostly spoke French because Mam preferred speaking French. My cousins were angry that Mam took me to live with her. They said she stole me, and all of them thought I was dead.

I don't remember my parents, but if they hired a nanny to care for me, they didn't care for me themselves. Maybe that's why I don't remember anything about them. I also wondered why Mam was a nanny; after all, she had an engineering degree.

There is so much going on in my life right now that it makes me dizzy just thinking about everything. I looked at the clock; it was dinner time, and I was making gumbo, and it should be done by now. Knox was standing at the stove when I opened my door, stirring the gumbo.

"I made some biscuits to go with dinner. I hope that's okay," he said, smiling.

"Yes, of course, it's okay. You can cook anytime you feel like it. I want you to act like this is your home and do whatever you want," I said, taking bowls from the shelf. I fed Bub his food first, then scooped out Knox's and my dinner.

"These biscuits are delicious. Did your mom teach you to cook?" I asked.

"No, my grandpa taught us to cook. My parents died when we were little, and Grandpa raised us."

"I'm sorry. I never had my parents either, but I had Mam and loved her like my mother. I never knew she wasn't my mother until she died."

"Do you think she should have taken you to your family instead of letting them think you were dead?"

"I suppose she should have. I don't know why she didn't. She left me stacks of folders filled with stories about my life before the swamp and my years here. She said she would have been imprisoned for keeping me with her," I said, getting another biscuit.

"But she kidnapped you."

"I will never blame Mam for any wrongdoing. She loved me, and I wasn't stuck back in the swamp without learning anything. Mam went to college; her parents made her go, and she taught me everything she knew. I had class six hours a day, five days a week, just like other school kids."

"Did you have friends your age?" Knox asked.

"I had a few. I wasn't the only child living here in the swamp. Look around you, it's beautiful here. Who would want to live anywhere else?" I explained.

"What about the alligators, snakes, tons of mosquitoes, and spiders?" Knox would have kept talking but I interrupted him.

"When you grow up here, you know what to do. You watch for the gators and snakes and go inside when the bugs fly around your head. The spiders only bother you if you bother them."

"I can tell you love it here."

"I do. I don't want to ever move from here. I tried that, and I didn't like it. It's perfect for my writing."

"What do you write?"

"Thrillers. I use a pen name. Mam told me it would be better that way. I didn't know my last name was Allen while I lived with Mam," She looked like she didn't want to say anything but changed her mind.

"I do wonder why no one investigated Mam and where she was when everything happened at my parent's home that night. My cousins said they didn't know Mam worked for my parents. Of course, they were young, also.

"I guess you didn't know anything about your life before you lived with Mam. She's right; she would have gone to prison. What she did was wrong; she should have given you to your family instead of making them worry and wonder.

"Let's not talk about Mam. Tell me about your family."

"I have two brothers and two cousins. We all grew up in Grandpa's home. Our parents, my cousins' parents, and Grandma died in an accident coming home from a concert."

"Grandpa raised us. My brothers and cousins are all married. I still live in Grandpa's house. My brother Rebel and his wife Evie live there with their little girl, Hannah, and a new baby boy."

"Does the other brother live nearby, and the cousins?"

"We all live on the mountain where we grew up. Most of the people I went to school with still live on the mountain, and most who moved away have moved back."

"It sounds crowded."

"I guess sometimes it is a little crowded. We always have big get-togethers, and Steel has a family reunion yearly; over a hundred Petersons live on the mountain. Steel is our buddy, so we all enjoy his family reunion."

"Where do you sit with that many people?"

"Tables are set up everywhere. Steel calls Party City in the biggest town near us, and they set up the tables. It's fun."

"It sounds exciting. I mean, you all know each other. How can someone know so many people?"