“Luckily it’s not happening here.” Mostly because no one wanted her job. Politics in Papillon were nothing like DC, though she still got her own amount of protests and criticism. Public office here was mostly about taking care of her citizens. Sometimes they didn’t make it easy on her, though. She wanted to take care of Rene, but she was starting to worry they had two different versions of how to do that.

“I don’t know.” Sera’s gaze went to the table where Rene was now sitting back and his uncle was talking, his face going red with obvious anger. “That looks pretty dangerous to me. You know, I can’t remember ever seeing Rene and Cricket with the rest of the family at dinner. Or at church. They don’t sit together. Rene usually sits somewhere close to my brother and Lisa. Or Quaid’s family. He never sits with his own. I know they’re mostly spread out now, but he doesn’t spend time with the ones who live close, either. I never thought about how isolated he is, even in his own family.”

Sylvie wondered if any of them had come to visit him in the hospital when he’d nearly died. She couldn’t remember seeing any of these people there. Did they only care about him when they needed money?

“They get together once a year, right? That’s why I’m trying to find vegan options,” Sera said with a frown. “It’s hard to find that stuff around here.”

“Get a menu together and I’ll drive with you to New Orleans. We should be able to get everything there. And yes, apparently they get together for Roberta’s birthday and board meetings,” Sylvie replied. “That’s about it from what I can tell. This year the board meeting is scheduled the week after the celebration. From what Rene’s said, it’s going to be one long weekend of trying to win votes. Do you honestly think being married is going to change his aunt’s mind? Can it be that simple?”

“Just being married wouldn’t do it,” a husky voice said.

She needed to be better at subterfuge than she was. Sylvie turned and realized she and Sera likely hadn’t been alone for the last few minutes. Ashley Layton was standing a few feet away, leaning against the railing, a martini glass in her hand. Ashley was one of Rene’s cousins who was a few years younger. She’d grown up in Papillon but left for Los Angeles as soon as she’d finished high school. Sylvie had heard Ashley had come home a few years back. She was living with her mother in New Orleans. Her brother was still in Papillon, working for Rene. Her mother had been one of Rene’s father’s siblings.

Sometimes she thought a handy family tree would be needed to maneuver through the Darois family functions.