Drew and Pris and the rest of the audience shook their heads.
“She said, ‘We lived today, didn’t we?’” Darnell left the podium and patted the teal coffin. “And we did.”
On the side of the room, Lola wiped her eyes.
Drew didn’t understand it. Had Lola known Marcia? Or was she in Woe-Is-Me mode? He’d been encouraging Lola to let things rest. And she was. The plastic dolls were gone from her window. She hadn’t gotten into a fight with anyone in days. But she was crying.
Drew almost got out of his seat to put his arm around her.
Pris clutched Drew’s arm. “What’s Jane doing up there?”
Sure enough, while Drew had been mooning over Lola, his ex-wife had been climbing the stage steps on the other side of the chapel. Drew shifted in his seat, prepared to move, prepared to stop whatever trouble Jane was about to cause.
Jane took her place at the podium. She was wearing a crocheted black sweater and a long black skirt. Her hair was spiked up, and her makeup toned down.
“I didn’t know Marcia Stephens very well,” Jane said in that deep voice of hers. “She hosted a party for everyone after high school graduation. She pulled me aside and told me I had talent. She told me that meant I had to make difficult trade-offs.” Jane hauled in a deep breath. “Like having a family or pursuing my art. She told me whatever choice I made, she’d always support me. And when I left town…”
Drew was several rows back in the chapel but he could tell Jane’s eyes were filling with tears.
“When I left town, she sent me care packages. Cookies. A gift card to Walmart. Notes of encouragement.” Jane looked at Barbara and tried to smile. “That meant a lot to me. As did her hug when I came back to town.” Jane’s gaze dropped down, and then her head lifted and her voice filled the chapel.
She sang “Amazing Grace.”
Over to the side, Lola cried some more. Next to him, Pris sniffed.
And Drew? He was deep in thought.
If Jane had taken the stage and simply began to sing, he would have sworn she’d done it for all the wrong reasons. But her story about Marcia…It seemed heartfelt. And as much as he hated to admit it, her efforts with Becky seemed genuine too.
He wasn’t in church but he was having a revelation. Lola had forgiven Avery. And Mary Margaret. And whoever had given her the pearl ring Randy had stolen. She might even have forgiven Randy. If Lola could do all that, Drew was going to have to forgive Jane for leaving and support her right to visitation. He was also going to have to forgive Gary and one overweight pig. It wasn’t Rosie’s fault she’d banged up Becky. He’d do his best to find her a good home somewhere else or convince Eileen that Tom’s intentions were good.
Spring-thaw madness is over.
Jane finished. She came down the steps and was met by Victor. He hugged his daughter and accompanied her to a pew. Forgiveness. It was in the air.
Pastor Mike stood behind the podium once more and spoke in a soft, whispery voice. “Marcia’s casket is going to be open one last time for friends and family to pay their final respects. Her image will also be broadcast on the screen above me. If you’ve already said your goodbyes, please move outside. Augie will be leading the procession to the cemetery with the white hearse.”
It was an announcement warning those uncomfortable with the face of death to head for the hills.
Most people got up and began to leave.
A string quartet played classical music. Overall, it was just the kind of service Barbara would have wanted had she died. If it’d been up to Marcia, a band might have been playing the Eagles or ABBA.
Mourners were still clogging the aisles when the image on the screen above the pulpit changed from the words of the last song the choir had performed to an image of Marcia, who looked more like Marcia than she had an hour before in the visitation room. Her makeup was more lifelike, and her hair had a streak of blue.
Whispers and murmurs rolled through the assembled mourners. People on their way out paused and turned.
Barbara made a keening noise. She rose to her feet and faced Lola. “What have you done? Did she look like this the entire time?”
Lola’s chin was up, her shoulders back, her eyes flashing in Watch-Out-World mode.
Drew choked on air.
Spring-thaw madness is never going to end!
“I honored Marcia,” Lola said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “This is who she is. You tried to make her into someone she wasn’t when she was alive. I won’t let you do that to her in death.”
“I’m going to hug that girl,” Darnell said.
Augie was trying to push his way down the aisle, followed by Mims and the Widows Club board. It was too congested. They weren’t getting very far, not as people turned to see what all the fuss was about.
“Barbara?” Kevin stood, looking perplexed. “I thought you did your mother’s hair and makeup.”
Too late, Barbara became aware she still had an audience. “I didn’t. I couldn’t. I…” She tried to put the mask of grief back on but she was scowling too hard.
“She lied.” Lola walked up the stairs, hanging on to the railing as if she needed support. “She lied about a lot of things.”
Drew was moving before he realized it, trying to work his way through the twenty people packed in the aisle to reach Lola’s side.
“Stop lying, Barbara, and tell everyone how much your mother loved my husband.” Lola’s words silenced everyone in the chapel.
Movement stopped. Commentary stopped. There was more drama here than the town would see at Becky’s play that night.
Drew’s gut tensed as if readying for a blow. “Lola…”
Lola was beyond warnings, beyond the protection of Watch-Over status, which had never worked when it came to her anyway.
She stood strong and righteous before the town, beneath the projection of Marcia on the screen. “Or maybe you should tell your husband how much my husband liked your perfume. Randy kept a little bottle of Joy for you, didn’t he?”
The assembled might have been shocked into limbo but Drew wasn’t. He kept inching his way toward Lola.
“Don’t you dare,” Barbara warned Lola in a voice that didn’t crack.
Lola choked out something that sounded like a laugh. “Don’t dare what? Face the truth? Death is the end, Barbara. And at the end, you have nothing left but the truth. I loved Randy. And I love that my husband made your mother feel young again. But when he died, a part of her died with him.” She sniffed and pulled herself together. “But what did Randy give you, Barbara? Did he accept you, dark roots and all? Did he let you be imperfect?”
“Shut up!” Barbara’s entire body went rigid. Her face was beet red.
Whereas Kevin’s was pale. “Barb?”
Barbara turned to him as if in slow motion. She laid her hands on Kevin’s lapels. “She’s lying, honey.”
“You know I’m not.” Lola scanned the crowd. “Since I found out Randy was unfaithful, I’ve never lied about anything. And trust me, it would have been easier on me to live with a lie but I didn’t.” Lola’s expression turned grim. “I admitted my husband cheated at the bachelorette auction. I confronted Avery at the bake sale. I confronted Mary Margaret at the fashion show. But I never lied.” Her gaze found Drew’s. “All I’ve ever wanted is the truth.”
“And peace,” Drew said softly, thinking Lola should never be anyone’s backup plan.
“And peace,” Lola repeated with a rueful smile.
“You’ve ruined everything.” Barbara refused to give up. “This was supposed to be a special day to honor an angel.” Barbara pounded Kevin’s chest. “Do something. Tell Drew to arrest her.” And then she spotted Drew. “Arrest her!”
Judge Harper turned, squinting until his gaze found Drew.
Drew didn’t care what the judge thought. Nevertheless, he stopped trying to reach Lola, afraid to give the impression he was going to cuff her.
As if in solidarity, Kevin sat down.
<
br /> High school students could have taken their college entrance exams in the chapel. It was that quiet. But there was a tension to the silence. Drew didn’t know which way the remaining members of the crowd would turn when they awoke from their stupor. Would they rally around Lola? Or would they back Barbara, the local favorite?
Barbara spun every which way, trying to find someone, anyone who might be sympathetic. Finding no one, she turned back to Lola. “You suffocated Randy.” Barbara was panicking, trying to save herself. “You wanted to be with him every minute of every day. And he couldn’t take it. He needed an outlet.”
“Barb?” Kevin’s voice was weak.
“Of course Randy would look elsewhere.” Barbara was like a runaway train headed off a cliff. Everyone could see the hopelessness but Barbara couldn’t seem to work the brake. “Anyone who can’t breathe in a marriage looks elsewhere.”
“Did you need an outlet?” Kevin looked up at his wife, the truth clear in his eyes.
Barbara’s features contorted. She couldn’t pull all that rage back to the façade of tranquility. “Kev?” And her voice…It was raw from desperation. “Why would you ask me that?”
Someone laughed. It wasn’t an amused laugh. It was the shocked laughter after a really bad storm. But laughter was what the room needed. More joined in. By laughing, they didn’t have to choose sides—to gravitate to truth or continue to support a lie.
Kevin walked out.
“Why are you wearing my mother’s pearl ring?” Barbara’s voice bounced off the rafters. “If you won’t arrest her for ruining everything, arrest her for stealing my mother’s ring.”
The pearl ring. That was how Lola had figured all this out. She was smart. She was kind. And justice was important to her. More important than the status quo. In that moment, Drew couldn’t have loved her more.
If only she would let him love her.
Lola didn’t argue with Barbara. She extended her hands toward Drew and waited for him to cuff her.
“We need to talk,” Drew said, taking her by the arm. He wasn’t in uniform and didn’t have any cuffs with him.
Lola allowed herself to be led out, and above the noise, he thought he heard her say, “I’m afraid I’m all talked out.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lola sat in a jail cell, huddled on the bench.
It would have been better if she’d had a cellmate—Avery, Marvin the rooster, or Rosie the pig. At least then she’d have someone in her corner.
On the other side of the bars, Drew was refereeing an argument between Augie and Barbara. Judge Harper leaned against the far wall, watching it all and making Lola very nervous.
“My mother will be buried today, and she will be buried with that pearl ring!” Barbara glared at Lola.
“Lola says the ring is hers.” Augie kept trying to argue. “I have no records at the mortuary of Marcia’s personal effects including a pearl ring.”
Lola felt guilty about that. She hadn’t logged in the ring with the rest of the items in that blue velvet bag Barbara had given her.
“Lola, do you have proof the ring is yours?” Drew’s gaze was sympathetic but he’d been the one to throw her in the pokey.
“I have the original ring box it came in.”
Barbara huffed. “That’s not proof.”
About the time Drew reached her at the service, the anger that had driven Lola to change Marcia’s appearance and confront Barbara had left her. She had no fight remaining. For all she knew, Barbara could have had an affair with Randy before Lola’s marriage.
“My grandmother’s wedding date is inscribed inside,” Lola said wearily.
“Anyone can memorize a date.” Barbara looked to Judge Harper for agreement but he wasn’t saying anything.
Was he deliberating her punishment? Lola tried to make herself smaller.
There was a scuffle down the hall.
“Wait!” Mims traipsed to the cell, trailed by Avery. She held Lola’s scrapbook. “Lola is innocent. It’s her ring, and I have proof.” She flipped through the book. “Here’s a picture of Lola and her grandmother. And look.” Mims tapped the page. “Her grandmother is wearing that pearl ring.”
Barbara growled in frustration, refusing to look. “A coincidence. Nothing more.”
“Looks like the ring to me.” Augie smiled kindly at Lola.
“Me too.” Drew handed the book to the judge, who nodded.
“Don’t you dare let her go.” Barbara struck a bar with the heel of her hand, making the bars shake. “There’s still the matter of Lola disturbing my peace.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Judge Harper pushed clear of the wall on legs that were visibly unsteady. “Ms. Williams, the charge against you is disturbing the peace. How do you plead?”
Lola stood, prepared to face the consequences. “I’m guilty, your honor.”
Judge Harper nodded, looking less severe than a moment earlier. “You disrupted a beautiful tribute to a woman beloved by this community.”
“I did.” She hoped he wasn’t going to ask whether she’d do it all again, because the answer would be yes.
“Don’t forget,” Barbara said snidely, “she defaced my mother’s body.”
“No, she didn’t.” Kevin joined the crowd on the other side of the bars. He held a stack of papers with blue paper backing. “This is Marcia’s will. It says, I wish to be buried the way I lived. I think most of us would agree she wanted to look more like herself.” He caught the judge’s eye. “I’m not pressing charges.”
He was handsome and had moral fiber? Lola was definitely voting for Kevin in the next election.
“But I’m pressing charges, and it’s my opinion that counts.” Barbara edged her way around Mims and Avery. “Kevin, we need to go somewhere and talk.”
“No, we don’t.” Kevin wasn’t smiling, and there was a quality to his voice Lola hadn’t heard before—the harsh barb of reality. “I hired Rupert. We’re getting a divorce.” He walked out.
“But…Kev! Wait.” Barbara scurried after him.
Drew’s lips were moving upward. He put the key in the cell door lock.
“Not so fast.” Judge Harper’s stern voice struck fear into Lola’s heart. “There is still the matter of disturbing the peace.”
“Yes.” Lola nodded.
“I can throw you in jail for thirty days—”
Mims gasped.
“—or you can serve a sentence of thirty hours of community service.”
“Service,” Lola blurted, incredibly grateful for leniency, since she’d heard the judge was hard on lawbreakers.
Judge Harper nodded. “You’ll work with the mayor to cut through the red tape and get us a safe intersection at the highway.” He clapped his hands once and walked out.
Drew unlocked Lola’s cell door and hurried after him.
* * *
“Judge Harper.” Drew followed the old man to the outer office. “I need to talk to you about Jane.”
The old man turned with a wobble, reaching out to steady himself on what used to be Gary’s desk. He gave Drew the same unwelcome glare he’d given his two sons in chambers.
“I mean…” Drew gathered himself and started again. “I’ve changed my mind. I’d like Jane to have visitation. Preferably supervised, at least at first.”
“Hmm.” Judge Harper tapped his fingers on Gary’s desk. “And…”
“And you should know that I’ve decided to hire Gary Wycliff back.” He’d have to shift some line items in the budget to send Gary to additional training, but it felt like the right thing to do.
“Good.” The judge tilted his head. “And the pig…”
“The pig?” Drew blew out a breath. “Legally, Rosie can’t live in Sunshine. She’s better off on a ranch.”
The judge leaned down and pounded his fist on the desk as if it were his gavel. “I didn’t think you were the kind of man to allow an animal who was raised as a pet to be shot and butchered.”
That wasn�
��t a pretty visual. “I’m not. I keep telling people when she loses weight, she can go to a good home.”
“A pig that size?” Judge Harper’s gaze hardened. “You believe Tom Bodine will let her go?”
“I have no reason to believe otherwise.” Tom had always been an upstanding citizen, if a hard businessman.
“Get that pig back.” The judge straightened, more well-connected to the happenings in town than Drew. “I’m going to grant your wish for supervised visitation, Sheriff. We’ll revisit the issue in six months.” He glanced at the phone on the desk. “Call Gary. I’m tired of complaints from angry townsfolk who think I can influence our sheriff.” With a wink, the judge tottered out the door.
Lola and her supporters filed out of the cell hallway.
Lola wasn’t wearing the bracelet. That must mean…
“You found all five of Randy’s lovers.” Drew had thought he’d be relieved when this moment came.
She nodded.
Drew wasn’t relieved. He felt as if he couldn’t breathe.
Lola walked slowly toward the door in her New York clothes with her Sunshine friends. She’d never blend in. And he didn’t want her to try. He loved all that color and impracticality. He loved her unpredictability.
But…“Does this mean you’ll be leaving town?” he asked. That’s what she’d said, after all. That she’d leave when she found Randy’s lovers.
Lola’s eyes widened. Mims and Avery protested but Drew could see the truth of it in her blue eyes. Lola was returning to New York.
The pressure in his chest increased until he labored for each breath.
He loved Lola.
And she was leaving.
* * *
“You have balls, Lola.” Avery poured Randy’s whiskey into shot glasses. “I can’t believe you outed Barbara when I couldn’t even publicly admit at the bake sale that I’d slept with Randy more than a decade ago.”
Can't Hurry Love Page 30
