Marlene watched Tom as he walked to the bar. The way he’d looked at her…it’d been a look. And she hadn’t had one of those looks in years.
She’d sworn off men. She was going to live as an independent woman who followed her own passions. So if all that was true, then why was she sneaking a peek at him in return?
Ruby leaned in. “If you ask me, it’s not right, not showing up for work. That Helen’s a fast woman. Lord knows where she’s off to. ” The woman’s conspiratorial whisper hadn’t been a whisper at all.
“You hush. ” Marlene nudged her aunt’s arm. “That’s not our business. ”
Pearl ignored her, adding, “Doesn’t pay to be a fast woman. ”
“Our Emerald was a fast woman,” Ruby said.
At mention of her mother’s name, Marlene felt her cheeks go hot. She looked at her mother as she said, “Good on Mama for getting out of Sierra Falls and living a little. ”
Marlene’s grandfather, Frederick Bose Kidd, had been a pinched old tough-as-nails preacher, and he’d raised the Kidd sisters with a heavy hand and a hefty dose of brimstone. It was no wonder they were all spinsters.
Her aunt pressed on and said with a definitive nod, “Fast living is what gave our Emerald the Alzheimer’s. ”
“Whoa,” Laura muttered under her breath.
Sorrow gave a beleaguered sigh. “Not this again. ”
But Laura only laughed. “So…having sex before marriage gives you Alzheimer’s in your later years?”
Marlene wanted to say something to hush such inappropriate talk, but froze when she saw that Laura’s comment had brought an unlikely, matching smile to Sorrow’s face. Such sisterly goodwill was just too valuable to censor.
“I love their scientific theories,” Laura said.
“Some things never change,” Sorrow agreed.
“Emerald’s the one who frittered away her youth,” Pearl said. She and Ruby looked like a matched pair of bookends, shaking their heads in judgment.
Laura looked from Emerald to the other women, amazement on her face. Ma was wearing her usual pleasantly blank expression. “She’s sitting right here. ”
Little did Laura know that she and Sorrow sounded just as callous when they fought. Apparently every generation of sisters had its fair share of trouble.
“She doesn’t listen anymore,” Ruby said. “Fast living took its toll. ”
Marlene couldn’t keep it in any longer. “Good heavens,” she erupted, “don’t say such things. That’s your sister you’re talking about. And my mother. ”
“What’s that, dear?” Mama asked, a smile in her voice. The old woman had spent a lifetime bearing her sisters’ judgment with a mischievous good humor that never seemed to flag. Even now, even with the senility that encroached more each day, she still wore that smile.
Marlene fought the urge to hop up and hug her. Instead, she reached over and put a napkin under Mama’s glass of iced tea where it’d sweat a puddle onto the table. One day soon she’d need to put her in a home. It was the hardest decision she’d ever faced. Some days Ma was the same woman as always, kind and playful. But other days, it was like a part of her was missing. The mind was a funny thing, solid but with blank spots, like Swiss cheese.
Edith finally joined in, speaking with an uncharacteristic edge. “Pearl, Ruby, you’re sounding like your father. ”
Ruby sat erect in her chair, looking prim as ever. “Emerald was the one who ran off. Not us. ” Her aunt was as stubborn as the day was long, and Marlene wished for once she were disrespectful enough to tell her so.
“Met some man. In Los An-ge-les. ” Pearl said, elongating the words. “Got herself in trouble. ”
Laura touched her shoulder to Sorrow’s, whispering, “Seriously? Emerald went to LA?”
Sorrow nodded. “Word is, she used to party with Olivia de Havilland. ”
Marlene had to unlock her jaw to speak. “You ladies are just jealous. ”
She put up with a lot, but this was getting to be too much. She’d used what meager nest egg she had to wall off the porch so the women could have a TV room. She’d put off vacations, and trips, and lunches with friends, always taking a backseat to what her aunts and mother might need. And it had gotten to be too much.
Tom hustled from behind the bar with the tray. “How ’bout some iced tea for you ladies?” He caught and held her eye. There was an earnest look on his face. He seemed anxious to change the topic. For her sake.