“Bode never does anything without a reason,” Sela said. “God, it’s like an oven in here. How do you stand it?”
“I stand it because I have to stand it. Where is Wyn? He’s never late. I wonder if something has happened.” She completed her fourteenth walk around the table, wringing her hands and muttering under her breath.
“You can just get the idea that something’s happened to Wyn right out of your head. Nothing ever happens to the Wynfield Archers of this world. Society is programmed to believe the worst, did either one of you know that?” Brie spoke in a voice that was no different from the one she would have used to discuss Summerville’s yearly rainfall.
Pearl took that particular moment to make her entrance into the kitchen. Wyn simultaneously tooted his horn as he swerved the big Cadillac to a halt alongside the steps to the back porch. The three young women gasped, their eyes agape at Pearl’s splendor of attire.
“Pearl! How . . . beautiful you look,” Callie said, rushing across the kitchen to throw her arms around her. She immediately backed away to stare in awe at Pearl’s dress.
It wasn’t just a dress, it was a creation. Loose and flowing, kaftan style, it was a patchwork rainbow of color. Some of the patches were square, some diamond-shaped, some circular . . . all vibrant colors of raw silk that came alive on Pearl’s ample body.
“It’s gorgeous,” Sela said sincerely. “I want one.”
“I think it’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen,” Brie said. “It’s so . . . so commanding. Wherever did you get it, Pearl? Don’t tell me you made it.”
“My boy gave it to me,” Pearl said proudly. “He had it made special in Charleston. It’s a one-of-a-kind. Hand-sewed. The stitches are finer than my own. I have another one, too. Bode said I needed two—one for today and one for tomorrow. Look, he even gave me a purse.”
“Oh Pearl, it’s so beautiful,” Callie said, her eyes swimming in tears.
“My boy said I had to look good for the two most important days in my baby’s life. I won’t shame you, will I, Miz Callie?” she asked anxiously.
“You would never shame me, no matter what. If you want to go barefoot and wear your old green sack dress it’s okay with me. Bode had no right to say that to you.”
“Oh, shut up, Callie. You’re just bent out of shape because Bode one-upped you,” Sela grated.
“I want to take your picture, Pearl,” Brie said, rummaging in her purse for her small camera that she was never without. “Maybe Wyn will take our picture with Pearl.”
“That was a hateful thing to say,” Callie snapped to Sela. She smiled wanly in Wyn’s direction, offered her cheek for his light kiss. She frowned slightly when she smelled the alcohol on his breath.
“What’s hateful, and I’ll be delighted to take your picture,” he said, and grinned from ear to ear. He held out his hand for Brie’s camera.
“May I say you look lovely, Pearl,” Wyn said gallantly as he motioned the girls to get closer to her. “Now, everyone say cheese.” The women obliged.
“Take four of them, Wyn,” Brie requested. “I want us each to have one. I’m going to frame mine and put it on my desk. Maybe I’ll get it enlarged and have one of those calendars made up. Would you like one, Pearl?”
“Yes, I would,” Pearl said.
“Get me one, too,” Callie said.
“And me,” chimed in Sela, fingering the material in Pearl’s dress. “I bet this cost Bode a fortune. Show me the other one, Pearl.”
“I’d like to see it, too,” Brie said, her eyes going from Wyn’s questioning gaze to Callie. She sensed something wrong as she followed Sela and Pearl into her spartan room. Since she was the last in line, she overheard Wyn’s hushed words. “You didn’t tell me Pearl was coming. How’s it going to look, Callie? She’s so big, there’s not enough room in the car. If you’d told me you were inviting the servants, I’d have brought along mine, too. What were you thinking of, darling?”
“Pearl’s not a servant, at least to me she’s not. She’s like a mother, and she’s my best friend. Brie and I can sit in the front seat since we’re the smallest. Sela and Pearl can sit in the back. It’s not a problem, Wyn, unless you make it one.” How tight and angry Callie’s voice sounded.
“It’s just a wedding rehearsal, darling. And the party the Judge is giving is just a little gathering. Is this one of those female things I’m not supposed to understand?” Brie heard Wyn ask lightly.
“It’s important to me, Wyn,” Callie hissed. “If my parents were alive, they’d be at the rehearsal and the party. Pearl is my only family, so I want her there. Don’t spoil this for me, please.”
“Not in a million years. I’m sorry, darling. Of course there’s room for Pearl.”
Pearl’s hands trembled when she opened the shiny white box Bode had brought her earlier in the week. She’d heard every word. Her fingers worked at the thin tissue paper, worked loose the huge crimson seal that was the seamstress’s trademark. Tears burned her eyes when she withdrew the dress she was to wear to the wedding. She barely heard Sela and Brie’s ooohs and aaahs as they fingered the costly material and marveled over the tiny stitches.
“French seams. Who is this lady and how did Bode ever find her?” Sela asked.
Her voice husky with unshed tears, Pearl said, “She only sews for special people. I think she’s a client of Bode’s.”
The most intuitive of the three women, Brie said, “Listen, I have an idea. What do you say we let Callie and Wyn go along by themselves and us three go together. We can jabber to our hearts’ content and then Pearl, you can give us the real lowdown on Bode.”
“Good idea,” Sela agreed when she felt Brie’s kick to her ankle.
“Is that okay with you, Pearl?”
“Oh yes, Miz Brie,” Pearl said gratefully, her eyes still wet.
“Then I’ll tell Callie.” She kicked Sela again as she called out to Callie and Wyn.
“But . . . there’s plenty of room. Wyn’s car is air-conditioned,” Callie objected when she heard their plan.
“So are the rental cars. They come that way from the factory,” Brie said tightly. “Sela wants to change her dress. We’ll be there in plenty of time. Go ahead, you two.”
“But . . .”
“Darling, it’s the wise decision. Brie’s right. Come along.”
A devil perched itself on Brie’s shoulder. She didn’t mean to say it, she didn’t want to think about saying it, but the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could order her tongue to remain silent. “Yes, darling, run along before I put a ring on the other side of your nose.” She gasped then, and fled into Pearl’s room, slamming the door behind her.
Pearl and Sela stared at Brie’s blazing cheeks. “What did you do?” Sela demanded. Brie told her.
“My God!”
“Shame on you, Miz Brie. I taught you better than that,” Pearl said, wringing her hands.
“You know what? I don’t care. I don’t like him, and I’m tired of pretending I do. He damn well does have a ring through Callie’s nose and how she can’t see it is beyond me.”
“Now if I’d done what you just did, neither one of you would be speaking to me,” Sela said. “Callie loves him, and it’s none of our business. Wyn does love her. All you have to do is look at him to see how much. In the end that’s all that matters. Isn’t that right, Pearl?” she asked anxiously.
“When two people love each other, that is all that matters and you, Miz Brie, need soap in your mouth. Shame on you,” Pearl said, with a catch in her voice.
“Go ahead, pick on me. I just said what both of you have been dying to say all day. Furthermore, if I knew where to get hold of Bode right now, this damn minute, I’d stick my face in his and give him what for. Where is he, Pearl?” she asked viciously.
“He said he was going to the airport.”
“Well, let’s just see if Bode turned into a liar or not,” Brie said, stomping her way out to the kitchen, where she dialed Info
rmation and asked for the number of the airport. She repeated the number, broke the connection, and dialed, her eyes on Pearl’s. “This is Detective Brie Canfield from the San Diego Police. My badge number is . . .” Sela gasped, and Pearl reached for the back of the kitchen chair for support. “I need some information, and I need it now.” Five minutes later she gave a thumbs-up sign and grinned. “You take Pearl to the church, Sela. I’m going to the airport.”
“Miz Brie, you can’t do that!”
“Why not? Bode didn’t tell us good-bye. He owes us that. He’s ruining Callie’s wedding day. I can’t let him do that. I won’t let him do that. You’re good at telling lies, Sela. Say I twisted my ankle or something. I’ll get there when I get there.”
“Is this how you do things? You just bulldoze ahead and take matters into your own hands?”
“Not usually. I have backup most of the time. I hardly think Bode Jessup is going to attack me, but if he does I’m ready,” she said, brandishing the gun from her purse.
“Oh my God!”
“Lord have mercy,” Pearl whispered.
A moment later she was gone, the rental car spewing up gravel and clumps of overgrown grass in its wake.
“I guess we better get going. I need a drink, Pearl. Is there anything stronger than ice tea here?”
Flustered and out of control for the first time in her life, Pearl pointed to the kitchen cabinet.
“What is this?”
“The last of the elderberry wine Lazarus gave me.”
“Really, Pearl.”
“You be careful, Miz Sela, that wine has the kick of a mule.”
“That’s about what I need, Pearl. You too.” She poured generously into two water glasses. “What should we drink to, Pearl? I know,” Sela said happily. “First let’s drink to Brie shooting Bode’s balls off. Then let’s drink to that dickweed Wynfield Archer. Then we can drink to Callie coming to her senses, and if there’s any wine left we’ll drink to the fine, upstanding man who made this wonderful wine, Lazarus himself. Drink up, Pearl,” she said, clanking her glass against the old woman’s.
Pearl sipped. Sela gulped and upended her glass.
Sela poured, again and again. When the jug had less than two inches of dark wine remaining, Pearl fumbled with the cork before she took the bottle from Sela and stuck it back in the cupboard.
“Why’d you do that?”
“Because I need something to remember Lazarus by.”
“You should have married him, Pearl. Callie said he loved you. Did you love him?”
“Don’t make no never mind now. He’s gone. I prayed over his grave and sang a hymn in church for him. A woman can’t marry a man who don’t have no name. A man can’t marry a woman who don’t have no name. Their children will come into the world and not have a name. God didn’t see fit to give Lazarus and me names. The manor house name ain’t the same as being born with a name. If you don’t have a name, you can’t get social security. Lazarus didn’t have any. He died a poor man with no name and no social security and no one to grieve but me.”
Sela’s head bobbed up and down. “I see what you mean. Does Bode feel the same way?” She tried to look at the hands on her watch, but she couldn’t make out the small numbers.
“Bode give himself his name. He has two names, the one he was born with, but he don’t know that name, and the one he give himself.”
“We have to call a taxi,” Sela said, getting up from the chair. “Are we late, Pearl?”
“Yes’m, real late.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t go,” Sela said, sitting back down. “I wonder if Brie shot Bode. Turn the radio on, Pearl. I bet she handcuffs him and drags him back for the wedding.”
Pearl said, “My head feels like a bowl of Jell-O without the bananas.”
“Wait till your stomach starts going one way, the Jell-O the other way,” Sela singsonged. “Lordee, lordee, lordee.” She started to giggle.
Pearl, her eyes crossed from the amount of wine she’d consumed, shook her dress down over her ample bosom and announced; “I hear a car coming.”
“It must be the taxi,” Sela said, struggling to get up.
“You didn’t call no taxi, Miz Sela.”
“What time is it?” Sela squinted at the kitchen clock.
“We missed . . . I hear voices.”
“That’s because people are talking,” Sela said smartly. “Oh look, it’s Brie and Bode. They came to fetch us.”
Pearl sat down and started to cry. Sela joined her, both of them sobbing into their sleeves.
“Jesus Christ!” Bode spluttered.
“I’ll whip you, Bode Jessup, for taking the Lord’s name in vain,” Pearl blubbered.
“Do you know what time it is?” Brie yelled, trying to drag Sela off the chair. “Go in the bathroom now and throw up. Get it over with,” she ordered her.
“Mama Pearl, what happened?” Bode said, dropping to his knees.
“I got to feeling sad and Miz Sela said we should have a drink of Lazarus’s wine, so I said it sounded like a fine idea. That’s why Lazarus give me the wine. To drink when things were going poorly, he said. Why’d you come back, Bode?”
“Because this . . . this cop said she’d blow my lower extremities off if I didn’t. I came back because I didn’t want her to do something she’d regret later in life. Besides, she has no jurisdiction in South Carolina. And she said you needed me. Do you need me, Mama Pearl?” There was such anguish and hope mixed in Bode’s voice that Pearl could only say yes.
“The phone’s ringing,” Bode shouted in the general direction of the bathroom.
“Do what I do, you asshole, and answer it,” Brie shot back, her voice full of rage.
“I’m not answering it,” Bode said.
“Pick up the receiver and hand it to Pearl. You’re a devil come to life, Bode Jessup,” Brie shouted.
Bode picked up the receiver and held it to Pearl’s ear. He could hear Callie’s angry voice on the line.
Pearl started to cry the moment she heard Callie’s voice.
Disgust written all over his face, Bode took the phone and put it to his ear. “Callie, it’s Bode. What can I do for you?”
“Why is Pearl crying? Where are Sela and Brie? No one showed up for the rehearsal, and we’re late for the party. What is going on, Bode? What are you doing in my house? I want you out of there right now. You’re not my friend. You aren’t the person I gave you credit for being all these years. Put Pearl on the phone. I hate you, Bode Jessup.”
“Pearl is drunk,” Bode said coolly. “Sela is puking in the bathroom. Brie is trying to . . . I don’t know what she’s doing. She came to the airport and threatened me. That’s what I’m doing here. Now, if you can just come home and get your family and friends straightened out, I’ll be on my way. Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“Wyn said you’d screw things up, and he was right,” Callie said bitterly. “I can’t come all the way back there now. The minister is—well, he had an unholy fit. The Judge and his wife spent a lot of time and effort on this party, and I can’t just walk away. How drunk are they?”
“I don’t know too much about drunks,” Bode drawled, “but I’d say they’re pretty far gone. Wyn would know more about that sort of thing.”
“You are so hateful, Bode Jessup. I’m never going to forgive you for this. Never.”
“Is that your last word, Mrs. Soon-To-Be-Archer? If so, I’m outta here. I wish you the best, Callie. Have a good life.”
Brie was back in the kitchen, her hair in straggly strings around her face, her makeup streaked. Huge patches of perspiration bracketed the underarms of her linen dress. Her eyes spewed anger. “You’re really leaving?”
“I have to leave, Brie,” Bode said quietly.
“You’re breaking Pearl’s heart. Can’t you see what you’re doing to her? What’s gotten into you, Bode Jessup?”
“He’s a man. All men stink. None of them are any good,” Sela said hoarsely
. She looked ghastly.
Pearl continued to whimper at the table. “Go, Bode, just go. Don’t you pay them no never mind. My heart’s been broke and mended so many times it’s tough as the leather on these here shoes. You do what you have to do.”
Tears sparkled in Bode’s eyes as he stared first at the girls and then at Pearl. His eyes pleaded for understanding.
“You love Callie. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” Sela whispered. Her face was full of awe. “Well, I certainly understand a thing or two about unrequited love. You shouldn’t have forced him to come back,” she said to Brie.
Bode stared hard at Sela and Brie. He purposefully avoided Pearl’s tearful gaze. In one fluid motion he grasped one of the sturdy kitchen chairs and spun it around before straddling it. He was angrier than either girl had ever seen him. “Over the years, Sela, you have said some stupid things, but this is the worst to come out of your mouth. Never say anything you can’t back up one hundred percent. As an attorney, that’s probably the best advice I can give.
“Listen to me very carefully. I came back here because Brie charged into the airport, her hand inside her purse. She was wild. Dealing with high-strung females who tote guns is not my idea of a proper farewell. Now I could have taken you with one hand behind my back, Brie, but I didn’t want to cause a fuss. I also didn’t want to humiliate you. A gentleman never embarrasses a lady in public. I have too much respect for you, Brie.
“None of this is my doing. We all care for Callie, and because she’s such a good friend, I didn’t want to be a party to ruining her wedding. It’s no secret that Wyn Archer hates my guts. I don’t much care for him either, but that’s beside the point. I would never do anything to spoil Callie’s wedding. When the offer came to move to New Mexico, I jumped at it. Sometimes it’s just time to move on, and this is that time. My friends sent me the airline ticket. I suppose I could have changed it at a hefty fee, but I didn’t. You’re all making too much of this, blowing it way out of proportion.
“You’re both right about one thing, though—I should have stayed long enough to see Mama Pearl in her new dress. Being a man, I’m stupid, I guess. I thought giving it was enough—it wasn’t. Seth Williams was to pick up Mama Pearl. I made the arrangements. He’s going to look out for her until Callie and Wyn get back from their honeymoon. I thought this through. For God’s sake, I even sent a wedding present to Beaufort! I cannot believe that you two, who I considered to be my best friends, would think so ill of me.
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