“I’ll have to drive. It takes ten hours.”

“I have to go to Atlanta today to finish some depositions, but I could fly there tomorrow. Where are you now? I’ll call you back as soon as I make some reservations. And Rhoda.”

“Yes.”

“It will be good to see you again. I’ve been thinking about you.”

“I was thinking about you too. I thought about you a lot. I’m in Fairfields, Alabama, at five-five-five-four. It’s Charles William’s house. I’ll be right here.” I hung up and turned back to my friends.

“He’s going to meet me in Alexandria. He’s calling me back as soon as he gets a plane. I’m going to drive down there tomorrow. I’m going to meet him there. Oh, God, he’s so cute. He’s the best-looking man I’ve ever seen.”

“Let’s eat breakfast,” Irise said. “While you wait for him to call.”

“This has got everything,” Charles William added, and waved his coffee cup in the air. “You’ll have to run away, Dee. They’ll never let you go.”

“Then I’ll run away. Mother’s got plenty of help. Daddy hired Fannin’s cousin. They’ve got maids in every room.” I moved to Charles William’s side. I put my arm around his waist and held him close to me. Irise beamed at us and started pouring waffle batter into a waffle iron.

Jim called back while we were eating. I talked to him, then I called Klane. “We’ll fix this up,” I told her. “This man can do anything. The Justice Department is behind him. They can’t make deals with him, Klane. He’s an honest lawyer.”

“Don’t be bringing any Yankee lawyers down here to mix into this. You just going to make things worse for me.”

“It won’t make things worse. This man is brilliant, Klane. Justice doesn’t stop in Alexandria, Louisiana. They send things to the Supreme Court if they do them wrong at home. Believe me, Klane. I know what I’m doing.”

“You thought you knew what you was doing when you got Mr. Haverty’s cousin to be my lawyer. Now look at all this mess. I can’t go into a jail, Rhoda. I can’t go back in there.”

“You won’t have to. I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon. Stay where I can find you, Klane. He’ll need to talk to you as soon as we get there.”

“It won’t do no good.”

“Yes, it will. I swear it will. You have to believe it will. Will you be waiting when I get there tomorrow? Klane, answer me. Where will you be?”

“I’ll be right here. Right here where you left me.”