Free Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 02 - Dark Carnival by Nancy K. Duplechain Page A

in a few
places, but otherwise looked clean.  We stopped at apartment 318, and I could
hear a baby crying on the other side of the door.  The door was ajar, and Ruby
walked right in and set her bag on a little table next to the door.  I
followed, closing the door behind me.
    “Hey, girl,” said the
woman inside.  She was short, about five feet, five inches tall, with curvy
hips and streaks of dark red in her jet black hair.  She was pretty, maybe
twenty-seven years old.  She was in the kitchen running some water in a skillet
that had remnants of scrambled eggs.  Beside her, in a high chair, was a
crying, adorable baby boy who looked to be about a year old.
    When Ruby saw the baby,
she did something that shocked me: she smiled.  And then she softly squealed
and walked up to him with her arms out.
    “He just finished eating.
 He just started fussin’ a minute ago,” said the woman as she dried her hands
on a dish towel draped over the back of the high chair.
    Ruby gently lifted the
baby boy into her arms and held him up, looking him in his eyes.  “What’s the
matter? Did you miss me?  Did you miss me?”  His cry died down to a whimper,
and Ruby laughed at him.  He grinned at her and immediately started to pull at
her Tiger’s eye pendant around her neck.  She cradled him against her hip and
held the pendant up for him to see.  “Yes!  That’s Auntie’s necklace!  You
can’t have that right now.  No, you can’t,” she said sweetly to him, still
smiling. 
    “How ya doin’?  I’m
Tonya,” said the woman, extending her hand.
    “Leigh.  Nice to meet
you,” I replied, shaking her hand.
    “Can I get y’all
something to eat?”
    “No, I’m good, but
thanks,” I said.
    “Already had breakfast,”
said Ruby, still smiling at the baby.  She grabbed the dish towel, draped it
over her shoulder, walked off with him to the living room and sat in a rocking
chair.
    “You have a beautiful
baby.  How old is he?” I asked.
    She beamed.  “Thank you!  Devon’s
fourteen months.”  She gestured toward the living room.  “Let’s go sit.”
    I followed her into the
other room, and we sat on the sofa.  The living room was very lived-in with
baby toys scattered across the floor and a neatly folded pile of laundry in a
basket waiting to be put away, sitting on another chair.  Behind me, draped
across the top of the sofa, was a lovely hand-made quilt.
    Ruby had Devon leaning
against her with his head over the dish towel.  She gently patted his back,
softly humming a song in his ear as she rocked.  He soon belched, and Ruby
grinned.  “There you go!” she said, pulling him back up and wiping his mouth
with his bib.  He giggled at her, and she started to bounce him on her knee.  This
had him laughing hysterically.
    “He’s usually a nightmare
for me, but as soon as she gets here, he lights up like a Christmas tree,” said
Tonya, shaking her head.  “I think she put a spell on him on something.”  She
laughed.
    “No spell,” said Ruby.  “He
just loves his Auntie Ruby, don’t you, Devon?”  Devon replied by giggling
loudly.  Then he motioned that he wanted to be put down.  She set him down on
the carpet, and he started playing with some of his toys.
    Maybe I was wrong about
Ruby.   Maybe .
    Ruby got up and grabbed
her bag by the door.  She came back to the living room and pulled out a little
brown satchel tied with string.  “Here,” she said to Tonya, handing it to her.
    She took it.  “Thanks.”  Tonya
noticed my interested glance at the satchel.  “Love potion,” she said, a little
embarrassed.  “Devon’s daddy’s long gone, so I’ve been eyeing this guy I work
with.”
    “Oh,” I said, smiling
politely.  “Does it work?”
    “It did for Devon’s
daddy,” she laughed.  “But it’s just for attraction.  It’s not guaranteed to
keep ‘em.”
    “Make sure to follow my
directions,” said Ruby.  “That’s the last bit of it I have.  I