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Darcy couldn’t sleep. It had been a long day and she was tired. But she was at the mansion. And Daddy never let her come to the mansion. It was always the tower or California.
So, she lay in bed. Not sleeping.
After a few minutes she felt hot, so she stuck one foot out from under the covers. But then she heard a creaking and pulled her foot back under the blanket really fast.
With a whine she rolled over. But still couldn’t sleep. She lay on her back. But still couldn’t sleep. She crawled around until her head was where her feet went. But still couldn’t sleep. She tried to count in prime numbers like Daddy had taught her. But still couldn’t sleep. She tried to sing to herself the song Mom had taught her. But still couldn’t sleep.
And she was thirsty.
Darcy sat up and looked at the closed door. Maybe could sneak to the kitchen without anyone finding out. She wasn’t sure how much trouble she could actually get in with Daddy. She didn’t remember ever actually really being in trouble with him. But Mom was always so mean when Darcy got out of bed after she turned the lights off.
But she was so thirsty. Soooo thirsty.
She had to try.
She pulled herself to the edge of the bed, dropped one foot to the floor, pulled it back up almost immediately, and waited. No sound. No movement. No monsters. With a deep breath she lept towards the door, flung it open, and made a quick dash down the hallway.
It wasn’t until she was down the stairs that she heard voices. And then she remembered why exactly Daddy had taken taken her through the entire zoo that day and bought her a stuffed hippopotamus. It was so she would promise to stay in bed. Darcy had been upset thinking that Mom had tattled on her until the zoo had distracted her. Now there she was, not sure what to do. Maybe she would actually get in trouble with Daddy.
But she had honestly forgotten. And she was so thirsty. She couldn’t really get into trouble for that, could she?
Darcy took a deep breath and snuck closer to the kitchen. The big study had all the noise coming from it, so she decided to sneak the long way around the house so she didn’t have to by there and risk getting caught. But since she didn’t want anyone to find her, that meant she couldn’t turn on the lights. And the rooms were all dark. Really dark.
So she ran. Ran through the side hall. Ran through the library. And ran through the dining room.
She was just a few feet from the other side of the kitchen, could see the light shining around the edges of swinging door. She lept the last few feet, crashing into door, sending it swinging violently towards the wall, and her directly into a pair of legs.
She heard a laugh and felt a hand on her head, easing her back once she was stable.
“Mais, who have we here?”
Darcy looked up. And up. And up.
She always heard women talking about how Daddy was handsome, but he was just her Daddy. She always heard Mom talking about how that doctor on tv was handsome, but Darcy didn’t think so. And she couldn’t tell you how she knew, but the man she just ran into was the most handsome man in the world.
Then he smiled and she knew she was right.
“Who are you, petite?”
She held her hands behind her back, bouncing on her feet.
“Darcy.”
He pulled his hand back nodding.
“Ah, Stark’s young one.”
She had never been a shy child. And that was probably why she was more unimpressed at his response. It was obvious who she was. Who else would she be? But she passed up her usual sass because she still didn’t know who he was. And she wanted to know. He was very handsome after all.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Remy. Remy LeBeau at your service, cher.”
He gave her a grand bow and she covered her mouth as she giggled. No one ever bowed to her. And he talked funny, but she’d already gotten in trouble once with her mom for asking her neighbor why he talked weird. Her mom said Mr. Bezhani was just from Albania. Remy must be from somewhere else too, especially since he’d used two French words already. So, Darcy asked another question she thought was more important.
“Why are you here?”
“Why, to play poker, of course.”
He straightened with a wink and she looked at him confused.
“But you don’t look rich.”
He grinned down at her. She didn’t know what he thought was so funny.
“I don’t?”
“No. Daddy says he only plays poker with those who can afford it. And since he’s rich, he plays with rich people.”
He laughed at her deduction, but she thought it was obvious.
“That so?”
“Yes. And Daddy’s rich friends always wear suits or furs and have lots of jewelry. You don’t. If you’re not rich, why are you here for poker?”
He bent down again and looked around as though he was making sure the coast was clear before he whispered to her.
“Because I’m good with cards.”
She wasn’t so sure about that.
“Really?”
“Such a suspicious little one. I’ll show you.”
He stood straight and pulled out some playing cards. Darcy wasn’t sure he was supposed to be carrying cards if he was playing poker. In the movies people who had extra cards were always cheaters.
But he began to make the cards stream from one hand to the next, floating through the air.
“Wow.”
He grinned and plucked one card out. The ace of hearts. The card began to glow, a red light surrounding it, and Darcy gasped.
“Teach me how to to do that!”
He chuckled and gathered all the cards up. They no longer glowed, but rather sat in his hand like a plain old deck of cards. There had to be more than that. Did he have some special machine? Had Daddy made him something? Could she get one?
“I can’t teach you.”
She lowered her eyebrows at him.
“What do you mean you can’t?”
She was worried he’d say she was too little. Or that it wasn’t safe. She heard that way too much. Especially when it was Mom saying she couldn’t do something with Daddy.
“It’s something only I can do.”
Darcy tilted her head confused.
“Like magic?”
He chuckled.
“No, it’s not a trick. I was born with the ability.”
She dropped her shoulders.
“Oh.” She sighed. “I thought it was cool if you could teach me. But you can’t.”
He squatted down to look at her, a bemused grin on his face.
“Most people aren’t so disappointed. In fact, they’re usually scared.”
She was very confused at that.
“Why? It’s something you were born with. That’s boring not scary.”
He laughed lightly.
“You really find it boring?”
She looked down at her feet, rubbing one toe against the ground
“Okay, maybe it is kind of cool. But I need you to show me again to be sure.”
Remy smiled conspiratorially, but before he could do another trick, she heard someone else coming in from the other side of the kitchen.
“LeBeau you in here? I need someone to give Tony a taste of his medicine and kick his aa…..nd. Darcy. What’re you doing here?”
She put her hands back behind her back and pouted up at her Uncle Rhodey.
“I couldn’t sleep. And I was thirsty.”
“Thirsty, huh?”
She nodded.
“I forgot Daddy was having friends over. Honest.”
Rhodey sighed and Darcy resited a giggle. He always was a softie.
“Okay, let’s get you back to bed then.”
He started walking forward, but she hurried to where Remy stood and grabbed his hand.
“Can Remy take me back? He promised to show me a card trick.”
Remy chuckled, but didn’t call her on her bluff.
Uncle Rhodey put on his stern face.
“I don’t think he wants to tuck you in, Darce.”
“Why not?”
She turned and blinked up at Remy.
“Do you not want to tuck me into bed?”
He smiled and she knew he could tell she was pretending. But he gave her the same conspiratorial smile and looked back at Uncle Rhodey.
“It’s fine. Y’all can do without me for a couple more hands. Tell them I went for a smoke.”
She piped up with what her grandma always told her after one of her coughing fits.
“You shouldn’t smoke. It’s bad for you.”
Rhodey suddenly hid the hand that he’d forgotten held a cigar behind his back.
“Right. Okay. As long as you’re sure?”
Remy nodded with a grin, and Rhodey nodded back.
“Fine then. I’ll just, uh, say goodnight,” he came forward giving Darcy a kiss on the cheek and then backed away, “And now I’ll go back to the group and, uh, get a soda.”
Darcy waited until he turned before she rolled her eyes. She knew they were drinking Daddy’s whiskey and smoking cigars. They never actually did it around her, but that didn’t mean she was stupid.
But that didn’t matter anymore. Instead, she pulled on Remy’s hand and led him out the door.
“Come on, I’ll show you my room.”
They went back the long way, much slower than her first trip through. Although it wasn’t scary at all with Remy there.
The whole walk back she asked him about his card trick and how it worked. She understood about energy transfers, Daddy had taught her those the year before. But she didn’t understand why he explained it like it was a bad thing that he was born with it. Like when he’d said people were scared of him. That just didn’t make sense.
They made it to her room and Darcy ran and lept back into bed. She clambered around until she could face Remy who was standing in the doorway, shaking his head with a smile.
“Okay, show me again.”
He raised a brow at her expectantly and she sighed.
“Please!”
With a short nod he stepped closer, pulling his cards back out. Soon they were dancing from hand to hand, spinning and twirling in the air. He made some of them glow, others just fly, and she loved every bit of it.
Darcy laughed and clapped, but all too soon, he pulled the cards back into one pile and held on to them.
“Again! Again!”
But he simply walked forward and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I think you need to make do-do, petite.”
She tilted her head and scrunched up her nose.
“What?”
Remy laughed softly.
“It’s Cajun. You need to sleep.”
“But I’m not tired.”
She folded her arms and pouted, blinking at him slowly.
“That won’t work on me, Ms. Darcy. I see through your pretty little ruse.”
She sighed but couldn’t fight a smile.
“Okay. But can you just make the cards dance one more time?”
He hummed.
“I’ve never quite heard anyone call it dancing before. But, I’ll tell you what. How about I sing you a song instead?”
She looked at him unsure. It didn’t sound like a good substitute.
“I don’t know…”
“It’s a song my nannan used to sing to me.”
“Nannan?”
“My grandmother.”
“That’s not the French word.”
“It’s Cajun, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Remy paused and looked at her more closely.
“You speak French?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“I do with Daddy and my teacher at school. My mom doesn’t speak it though.”
“Ah, well, this song is in French, so I definitely think you’ll like it.”
“Really?”
He nodded again.
“It’s Cajun French.”
She thought for a moment but then shrugged and scooted back to the pillows.
“Okay. I guess I’ll listen.”
He shook his head, smiling, and turned to sit more solidly on the bed.
“That’s very kind of you.”
She knew he was teasing, and stuck her tongue out at him.
He smiled again and started to hum.
“Wait.”
Remy stopped and glanced at her in amusement.
“What is it now?”
Darcy lay down and pulled the covers up.
“I had to get ready. I know you’re just going to make me go to sleep, so I might as well lie down.”
He chuckled.
“Plus, you need to give me a goodnight kiss.”
He raised his eyebrows, pretending to be surprised.
“I do?”
She nodded very seriously.
“Yes. It’s part of tucking me in.”
“Well, I’m not one to argue with tradition.”
He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, laying one hand on her hair. She watched him as he sat back up and began humming once again.
Then he began to sing. She recognized some of the words. It was something about a hen laying eggs in weird places. Some words sounded different and others were completely silly to her. But then she couldn’t focus too much on the words anymore.
Remy continued singing as her eyes started blinking more slowly. He continued singing when they began to open less and less. And he continued singing for a couple minutes after that.
Darcy dreamed of cards dancing, chickens flying, and Remy’s laugh.