“You didn’t miss anything, Miz Agnes. They haven’t started yet. Put your tote bag right down here beside our feet,” Charlotte said.
Gene patted Luke on the knee. “You can sit in my lap and Tanner can sit on Mama’s knee to make a little more room.”
“I’m not a baby,” Luke said.
Tanner shook his head. “Me, neither.”
“We’re fine down here,” Jed said. “No need for anyone to hold one of those boys. We don’t mind being scrunched, do we, Rhett?”
“Not a bit.” Rhett’s chin dimple deepened.
Agnes nudged Nancy. “I hear there’s a fish fry going on at y’all’s place Sunday night.”
“There is and you should come,” Nancy said.
“Well, thank you. What can I bring?”
“A six-pack of Coors.” Everett laughed.
“I’ll bring a case and it’ll be cold,” Agnes told him.
“Fish fry? Are we goin’, Mama?” Tanner asked. “Is Rhett coming, too? Can we bring our bats and gloves?”
“You sure can,” Rhett said. “I might even talk Boone and Jed into playing a game with us.”
“I thought you guys were coming to my place this weekend,” Gene said.
“No, Daddy, last weekend was yours. Remember, you said that you and Rita had plans so we got to stay with Grandpa and he took us fishin’. We love to go fishin’ but we love to eat ’em as well as catch ’em,” Luke reminded him.
Stella could have kissed that child. It was way past time for karma to bite Gene square on the ass and she was so glad that she got to be there when it did.
“If you ask my daddy, I bet he’ll let y’all turn the crank to help make homemade ice cream,” Stella said.
“Wow! That’s awesome.” Luke held up a hand and Tanner slapped it in a high five.
Gene shot a drop-dead look her way, but she just smiled at him. Oh, yes, Madam Karma had made a perfect entrance. It was worth sitting between the two men that her mother absolutely did not want her to be involved with just to see Gene on the hot seat.
Ethan Prescott’s voice came through the microphone and the noise level dropped to a dull roar. “Good evening, everyone. We’re glad you could all join us tonight for the Cadillac Fireworks Festival. We’ve got a fantastic show for you, but before it starts, my mother, Violet Prescott, would like to say a few words.”
“Well, dammit. She’s a perfect target up on that flatbed trailer with the lights shinin’ on her,” Agnes groaned. “And I didn’t bring my pistol. Anyone got a tomato I could throw at her? I’ve got a good pitchin’ arm.”
“Agnes!” Nancy exclaimed.
“Well, I do. And, honey, you might not know it, but sittin’ beside me will most likely cause Heather to make you give up your angel-prayin’ panties.”
Stella giggled. “Yes, Mama, you can take my name off the list now, because none of those prayin’ women are going to enlist God’s help for you since you’ve thrown in with the redheads.”
“I wish to hell—pardon me, Jed—that I’d never asked them to put your name on the list,” Nancy said.
Everett patted her on the knee. “I’ll all be over by the end of the month, darlin’.”
Violet took the microphone from her son and tapped it to be sure it was working. “Guess that you can all hear me all right?”
“We hear her too damned good. No tomatoes, anyone?” Agnes asked.
“I got a little bit of a hot dog left,” Luke said.
“And you are going to eat it,” Piper said.
“Guess y’all don’t leave me no choice.” Agnes pulled a bright red megaphone from her tote bag and stood up.
“We thank you for coming and we would like to . . .” Violet started off her speech.
Agnes turned around toward the packed bleachers and shouted into the megaphone, “Let’s hear it for the firemen who have donated their time, energy, and money into putting on this show for Cadillac. Put your hands together and stomp your feet for our Cadillac firemen.”
Folks over in Fannin County probably looked to the southwest for an approaching tornado when catcalls, yells, and applause joined the stomping that vibrated the wooden stands. Agnes worked the crowd better than any country music star Stella had ever seen. When the folks began to take their seats, she yelled into the megaphone again, “Now let’s give a big round of applause to all the vendors who’ve battled the heat and mosquitoes to make it a wonderful evening for the Cadillac citizens. Let’s hear it for the hot dogs, the funnel cakes, and all the good food.”
That round was so loud that Luke put his hands over his ears, but he was stomping just as hard as Tanner. Stella glanced over at Jed to find him laughing too hard to cheer.
“Can I have everyone’s attention? Please, qui . . . et!” Violet yelled into the microphone. “I would like to say—”
Agnes checked her watch and put the megaphone back to her mouth. “Countdown until the first blast. Ten . . . can I get a ten?”
“Ten!” the whole crowd yelled.
“Nine . . . can I get a nine?”
Nine!”
It went on until she yelled, “Blast off!”
The first rocket lit up the sky in red, white, and blue. Stomping ceased. Everyone took their seats and watched the sparkling display, one after the other, and Violet was left on the flatbed, pointing a glittering gold fingernail up toward Agnes.
Agnes tucked her megaphone back into her tote bag. “Don’t worry, Nancy, she won’t excommunicate you from the Angels until after the ball or else Everett won’t fix the barbecue.”
Everett patted his wife’s knee. “Damn straight.”
Stella nudged Jed. “You are living dangerously, sitting up here among the Baxter heathens and Agnes Flynn. You might not have a pulpit to preach from come Sunday morning. Violet might work the deacons up into a mood to fire your butt.”
“Whatever happens with this job, darlin’, I’ll trust that it’s God’s will. I survived before he called me to preach. I reckon I can find a job doin’ something else if he wants me to quit preaching. Remember, I’ve still got some acreage and an old mule up around Ravenna. We could always go to raisin’ turnip greens and hogs,” Jed whispered.
“I like turnip greens,” she whispered.
“Did you see that one, Mama? It was your colors. Pink and purple,” Luke shouted in excitement.
“Pretty, wasn’t it?” Piper hugged him. “Thank you for remembering my favorite colors.”
“I always remember. You like pink roses and the purple stuff that looks like feathers. Grandma used to send them to you for your birthday before she went to live with Jesus . . . oh, look at that one, it’s red and green like Christmas.”
Rhett tilted his head toward Stella. “Pink roses, huh?”
She nodded.
Jed nudged her from the other side. “And what’s your favorite?”
“She’s always loved yellow roses. Her favorite ones were right off the bush in our front yard. Her grandpa wanted us to name her Stella Rose because his favorite song was ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas,’ ” Everett answered. “That’s why she named her beauty shop what she did. She couldn’t very well name it Amos Moses after her grandpa.”
“So you named her Stella Joy? Why?” Jed asked.
“Joy because I knew when I laid eyes on her that she would be mine and her mama’s joy and Stella because that was my mother’s name.” Everett grinned.
Stella blew him a kiss. “That’s so sweet, Daddy.”
“It’s the damn truth,” he said and went back to watching the fireworks.
Violet had both hands on her hips and not a single one of her three chins had the nerve to move an inch when she met Agnes in the middle of the football field. Stella hurried on past Jed and her father to join Cathy, Marty, and Trixie as they circled around Agnes.
&n
bsp; “You are a thorn in my side, Agnes Flynn,” Violet hissed.
“Well, you are a pain in my ass, Violet Prescott.”
Violet’s eyes narrowed into slits. “You aren’t going to goad me into a fight, but if you think you are going to ruin Heather’s ball, you’ve got another think comin’.”
Agnes’s smile was laced with equal amounts of sugar and sarcasm. “I thought I was helping, getting the crowd all worked up for the fireworks show. Y’all all see how she reacts when I try to help and be her friend. Some folks just don’t appreciate any damn thing you do for them. Help her work up the crowd and she swears at me.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing and I did not say a single swear word. You were the one doing the damn cussin’.” Violet clamped her mouth shut and took a deep breath. “You are a bitch, Agnes Flynn,” she hissed when her lips parted. “You can’t leave anything alone, can you? My niece just wants to have a nice event for Cadillac.”
“Your niece is just trying to push her marriage ministry shit on us and we don’t want it,” Agnes said.
“Whoa!” Stella held up a hand. “That’s enough, Violet. Let’s go home, Agnes, before tempers get out of hand.”
“It will be enough when I’m finished talking and I’m not and you, young lady, are the reason for all this crap. If your stupid mama hadn’t put you on the prayer list, none of this would have happened anyway,” Violet said.
“Don’t you call my mama stupid.” Stella raised her voice a notch.
“Don’t you yell at my aunt.” Heather joined the group.
Ethan, Violet’s son, took a step forward and Agnes laid a hand on his shoulder.
“You should take your mama to the doctor first thing in the morning. I read up on old people and dementia just this week. There was an article in the AARP magazine that I get every month. It’s said that the first sign for some folks is that they get fired up and mad about everything, especially if they don’t get their way.” Agnes sighed and raised her shoulders a notch before she went on. “I’ll be glad to let everyone in Cadillac know that you’ve got the beginning signs of it so they won’t get offended at you. I bet all that glue up under that gold fingernail done caused you to get infected with dementia and I hear there ain’t no cure for it.”
“Aunt Violet does not have dementia!” Heather yelled over the buzz of cars starting up engines and people talking all around them.
“Bless her heart, Ethan. It’s too bad they don’t have some little white pills to cure it, but they just don’t. It’s that fingernail. I just know it is. I’ll pray for her. That’s the best any of us can do,” Agnes shouted.
“You’re not a member of my Angels,” Heather declared.
“I know, honey. I know. But I can pray to God right out on my front porch. It’s tough gettin’ old and not even knowin’ that you forgot to put on a bra,” Agnes said.
Violet looked down at her breasts and hollered so loud that Ethan took a step backward. “I’ve got on a bra. I have on underpants and a girdle, too, for your information.”
“See, Heather, when they get afflicted with that horrible thing, they say the most outlandish things, and I hear that it’s hereditary. Do you know what that means?”
Violet’s cane sank into a gopher hole when she took a step toward Agnes and she went down on her bad knee. She reached out to grab anything to break her fall and got a firm hold on Agnes’s shoulder, bringing her down with her. Everyone in the group heard the loud crack of bones as they fell in a pile of moans and groans.
“My knee!” Violet screamed.
“My hip,” Agnes whispered and all the color left her face.
“Call nine-one-one,” Heather and Ethan said in unison as they dropped down beside Violet.
“The ambulance is already here for any emergencies. Just hang on, Agnes. They’ll be here soon as they can get down the field,” Everett said.
Stella knelt beside Agnes. “Don’t move. Keep breathing. The ambulance is coming right now.”
“Have to tell you something. Come closer,” Agnes said.
Stella put her ear to Agnes’s mouth.
“Your mama is my snitch. She’s sorry she put your name on that list and she’s doin’ what she can to make it right. You’ve got to take up the reins and . . . damn, this hurts like hell . . . make sure Heather don’t become the next Violet. Remember, it’s up to us redheads to save Cadillac from ruination.”
“What have we got?” the paramedic asked.
“I think her hip is broken,” Stella said.
“Aunt Violet’s knee,” Heather sobbed.
“Call for the other ambulance,” he yelled at his coworker. “I’ll stabilize the hip. You work on the knee.”
Trixie kissed Agnes on the forehead as they loaded her into the van. “Get well, you old toot. I’ll take care of you when you get out. I’ll take you up to my room and you can help me work on a ceramic flowerpot I’m fixin’ up for my mama.”
Agnes opened her eyes and glared at Trixie. “I’m not going in your damn room. It’s so damn messy that the rats won’t go in there.”
Trixie laughed. “She’ll be kickin’ ass in no time.”
“I’m going to the hospital,” Stella said.
“You can ride with us.” Trixie nodded.
Stella turned the doorknob, automatically flipped on the light, and hoped that Jed would appear wearing nothing but a towel or a pair of lounging pants slung low on his hips. But a hunky blond-haired preacher didn’t poke his head out around the kitchen door.
Charlotte did.
“We were about to give up on you and go home. Shhh . . . the boys fell asleep in the spare bedroom while they were playing with their little video game things. How’s Agnes?”
Stella sat down on the sofa and propped her feet on the coffee table. “She broke her hip. They’re calling in an emergency team of specialists to replace it tonight. Marty sent Cathy and me home. She said she and Trixie would stay and call us as soon as it was over. The doctor said that she’d be in the hospital a week and then rehab for a few weeks. She’s going to love that.”
“And Violet?” Charlotte sat down and picked up a ball of green baby yarn.
“She’s scheduled for knee surgery on Monday so they’re going to keep her, but she didn’t do any damage other than falling and making it hurt. They’re not in the same room and Trixie already warned them not to put the two old farts in the same rehab room when they get out.”
Piper smiled. “Smart woman. What was it that Agnes was whispering to you?”
“Mama is her snitch.”
“I’ll be damned,” Piper whispered. “I knew Nancy was sorry. I just knew it. She already knew she’d done wrong that first morning and the doughnuts were a peace offering. You should have listened to me.”
“Maybe so, but she could have told me,” Stella said. “And Agnes said that I had to take her place and not let Heather ruin Cadillac.”
“And how do you feel about all this?” Piper asked.
Stella raked her fingers through her red hair. “Hell, I don’t know. I was so mad at her and she was so sweet tonight and I felt guilty and now I’m mad again. But I don’t know if I’m mad at her or at Heather for creating this shit storm.”
“She started it when she put you on that damned prayer list, but Heather shouldn’t have put up that sign or started all this crap about a barbecue ball.” Charlotte pulled a quart of ice cream from the freezer, stuck three spoons in it, and set it in the middle of the coffee table. “I bet this fireworks show goes into the history books.”
“Can you believe Gene showed up and had the balls to sit with us?” Piper dug into the ice cream. “I bet that by morning the story will be that we’ve gone back together.”
Charlotte followed Piper’s lead by putting her knitting away and dipping deeply into the ice cream. “I heard someone
whispering behind us that the baby blanket I’m working on isn’t for Stella after all, it’s for you, and that Gene doesn’t know you were seeing Rhett while y’all were married. And that the twins might not have the same father.”
Piper licked the spoon clean. “You’ve got to stop bringing knitting to work, girl.”
Stella picked up a spoon and dipped deep into the rocky road ice cream. “Can you believe I talked to my mama before I knew she was a NASA snitch and agreed to go to supper tomorrow night? I was going to be mad at her until after the ball at the very least. Something’s got my emotions all in turmoil.”
“It’s that damn past gossip about you and that preacher’s saint of a son of a bitch son. If you’d let go of that, you could move on, Stella Joy,” Charlotte said.
“It’s hard to let go of something that’s always starin’ at you in the face.”
“When you see it starin’ at you, spit on it,” Piper said.
“Lord, that sounded just like Agnes.” Stella laughed.
“I’m going to miss Agnes.” Piper sighed. “We’ll all take turns going to visit her and we’ll take some form of chocolate every time we go.”
“Can you believe that I’m not home in bed with the sexiest man in Grayson County but I’m here eating ice cream with you two because I want to talk about what all happened this evening?” Charlotte asked.
Stella picked up her spoon. “Let’s talk about Rhett now.”
Piper fell backward on the sofa and shut her eyes. “What am I going to do? Gene and I had a hellacious argument out in the parking lot. I’m glad the boys were already in the van because I lost it. My language was pretty damn bad.”
“And what did the best husband in the world have to say?” Charlotte asked.
“He called me a slut and said that he wouldn’t abide Rhett Monroe sleeping with me in the house with his sons,” Piper answered without raising her head.
“And what did you tell him?”
Piper jerked her head up and chewed on her lip before she answered. “That I had not slept with Rhett but if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be a damn bit worse than what he did when he took them to his new place and slept with Rita.”
The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop Page 14
