The Wedding Pearls

by Carolyn Brown

  “The voice in my head,” Tessa answered honestly.

  “I have those, too. They’re a bitch, aren’t they?”

  Tessa nodded and went back to work.

  I really like both Frankie and Ivy. It would be difficult not to like them, as open and entertaining as they are. Traveling with them is like watching reruns of The Golden Girls. Ivy is a mixture of Blanche and Dorothy. Frankie has a touch of Rose when she talks about her husband and a lot of Sophia in her. But right now I wonder if I can ever cultivate real people feelings for them.

  And that brings me to Branch. I’m not a teenager with raging hormones, but . . . what can I say? He’s sexy as a model for the cover of a romance book, plus he is kind to the old gals, patient with Melody, and tolerates Lola. I bet kids and dogs would flock to him like bees on clover in the springtime. And everyone knows you can’t fool a child or a dog when it comes to people. Too many times today his elbow or his knee touched me when one of us shifted positions and the heat that shot through my body was not brought on by the wind blowing through the Caddy. I’ll have to be careful with Branch Thomas. Oh, yes, Madam Journal, I surely will.

  I wonder what they’d be writing about one another and me if they had a journal. Not that it matters, but I do wonder what their thoughts might be.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mollybedamned created quite a stir when Branch drove into town the next morning. Like celebrities or visiting dignitaries, Ivy and Frankie waved to the people on the streets. Melody kept her head down and tried to slide up under the front seat, but Tessa could almost feel the heat from her cute little red cheeks pushing past the backseat. Poor thing would probably never smoke pot again.

  Branch kept the speed at least five miles below the speed limit and his smile and that cute little dimple in his chin let every woman in Jefferson, Texas, know that a very sexy cowboy had come to town, even if he was driving a vintage Caddy instead of a pickup truck. He parked in the first available spot in front of a store specializing in antiques and quilts and like a good chauffeur held the door for the ladies to crawl out of the backseat first and then took care of Lola and Tessa.

  “I am going to sit on that bench right over there.” He pointed to a wrought-iron bench between two stores. “That way I can keep an eye on Mollybedamned. She might get lonely, and she wouldn’t like anyone touching her seats or her steering wheel.”

  “That car is not a person,” Melody said flatly.

  “Shhh, you’ll hurt her feelings and then she’ll make life miserable for you,” Branch declared. “You might apologize to her to be on the safe side.”

  Melody tossed her head back defiantly. “You are all crazy. I’m not apologizing to a stupid car.”

  Tessa patted the hood gently. “Remember, Mollybedamned, she’s a teenager. She doesn’t understand that you are like a fine wine to be appreciated and adored. Don’t make the rest of us suffer because you are angry at her.”

  Branch chuckled.

  Lola smiled.

  Melody rolled her green eyes. “I had high hopes that you might be the sane one.”

  Tessa let her face go blank. “I guess I lost my place as the chosen one.”

  Branch picked up the oxygen tank and set it on the sidewalk, then extended a hand to Ivy. “Next thing we know, she’ll be insulting Blister.”

  “That’s when I’m sending her to the detention home,” Ivy said. “And enough rolling the eyes, young lady. One of these days they are going to freeze like that and you are going to be forever looking up at the sky.”

  Melody must have believed her great-aunt, at least a smidgen, because she started another eye roll and immediately stopped, looked at a sign down the street a ways, and pointed. “Look, there’s an ice cream store. Can we go there?”

  “Maybe in a little while,” Frankie said. “Right now we’re going into every antique store in town. Lola wants to check out their stock and maybe send some stuff back to Boomtown.”

  Melody sighed dramatically. “I don’t want to look at dusty old antiques. Can I get my laptop out of the trunk and walk up there to that library and sit in the cool and do my homework?”

  “Only until lunchtime,” Ivy said. “And when you come out you’d best have every scrap of it done for this day. After lunch we’ve got some more stuff we want to do in this place and your job is to help take care of me, not run off to text with your boyfriend and pretend to be doing homework.”

  “I’m mad at him so I’m, like, not going to answer his texts or call him until tonight,” Melody declared with a toss of her red hair.

  “What he do? Change his mind about his new pot-smoking name?” Ivy asked.

  “No, he and my best friend, like, sat out in his car at noon and, like . . . never mind,” Melody said.

  “Made out?” Ivy pressed.

  “No! If they’d done that, I would have never talked to either of them again. They did a little smoking and she, like, had a vision, and now she has a new name and it’s not fair. That was supposed to be, like, our thing and I didn’t share it with her and now he has. And her new name is Dove Feather, which is prettier than River Dance and it’s going to take me all day to, like, get over it.” She pouted.

  Branch opened the trunk, handed her the computer, and she flounced off in the direction of the library.

  “Oh, to be young again.” He laughed.

  “I can’t believe she volunteered that much information,” Frankie said.

  “She had to get it off her chest and tell someone, even if it was four old ladies. Don’t look at me like that.” Ivy pointed at Lola and Tessa. “In her eyes you two are only slightly younger than we are.”

  “Would you want to be sixteen again?” Lola asked.

  “Living through that one time was enough for me. Branch, there’s a place across the street to get a cup of coffee or something cold to drink if you get thirsty,” Frankie said. “Mollybedamned won’t get mad if you forsake her long enough to get something to drink. Now, the rest of you, let’s start with this store. I like that quilt in the window, Lola. It would look real good on that old iron bedstead that’s been in your store for more than a year. Might even sell the thing for you.”

  Tessa followed them into her first ever visit to an antique store and fell in love the moment she walked inside. She roamed from one place to the other, drinking in the beauty of the antiques. If those old hand-stitched quilts could talk, they could fill books with stories of cold winter nights, picnics under shade trees with children chasing fireflies at dusk, or maybe brand-new lovers wrapped up in the afterglow like they were in a cocoon. She ran her fingers over a marble-topped oak buffet, the cold surface reminding her of another buffet, not so different from this one. It was in her grandmother’s house, and many times all the pretty geegaws had been put away so that it could be covered with shrimp gumbo, étouffée, and every other Cajun dish the family brought in for a gathering.

  There was comfort in old things, like the warmth of real love filling the heart. She stopped at the hall tree and leaned forward to catch a whiff of the scent coming from it. Someone in the past had sat right there and smoked, and the smell had found its way into the wood. Someday, when she had a house instead of a one-bedroom apartment, she wanted a hall tree in the foyer.

  Branch settled in on the bench and watched the people. There was something about Tessa that got under his skin—in a good way. It damn sure wasn’t love at first sight, because he didn’t believe in that shit anymore.

  “Hey, there, young man, you mind if I sat down here with you?” someone asked.

  When Branch looked up, he saw skinny legs sticking out from the bottom of baggy khaki shorts and a T-shirt that bragged about a trip to Las Vegas.

  “Not at all, sir,” Branch said.

  “You waitin’ on a woman?”

  Branch nodded and smiled. “Five of them.”

  The old guy combed back his wispy gray hair with his fingers and whistled through his teeth. “God must be testin’ you for somethin’ t
o lay a burden like that on you. That beauty right there.” He sat down and tilted his head toward the Caddy. “Does she belong to you?”

  “No, sir, but I’m the driver for the next few weeks. Takin’ those five women all over the state of Texas for a retirement party,” Branch answered.

  The man stuck out his bony hand. “To get to drive a beauty like that, I’d drive the devil and his favorite disciples around as long as they wanted. I’m Herman.”

  Branch shook it, surprised at how firm his handshake was. “I’m Branch. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Her name is Mollybedamned.”

  “Fittin’ name for a gorgeous redhead.”

  “You want to take a drive around the town in her while we wait?” Branch asked.

  “It’d be an old man’s dream.” Herman sighed.

  The four women came out of the store at the same time Branch stood up, and Frankie smiled. “Sit on back down. We’re just gettin’ started. Would you put this in the trunk? We’ll need to go to the post office and pack it into a box to mail, but we can wait until we get all our purchases down before we do that.”

  “Frankie, this is Herman. We’re going to take Mollybedamned for a little spin around town while we wait on y’all,” Branch said.

  Herman jumped to his feet and stuck out his hand. “So that beautiful lady belongs to you, ma’am?”

  “Yes, she does,” Frankie answered. “And since Mr. Herman here thinks she’s beautiful, she won’t mind him riding in her seats. Y’all have a good time.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. Do you think she’d mind if I got Branch here to use my phone and take a picture of me with her? Nobody back home in Pennsylvania will believe it if I don’t have the proof.” Herman’s old green eyes twinkled.

  “She might smile for you after those sweet words,” Frankie said.

  “Did you find anything that took your eye?” Branch asked Tessa.

  She shook her head. “A gorgeous hall tree, but it won’t fit in the trunk. Maybe I’ll find something in the next store that won’t require a moving van to get home.”

  “Well, let’s go see what we can find,” Lola said. “I bet we can get all the way to the library by noon, and I want to eat lunch at the barbecue place that lady in the quilt place was talking about.”

  After a flutter of the hand waving good-bye to Branch, Tessa joined the other ladies and pulled Blister for Ivy, keeping pace with the older lady while Lola and Frankie went on ahead.

  “That cute little blonde your woman?” Herman asked on his way to the car.

  “No, sir. It’s a long story but Frankie is the one with the gray hair that you shook hands with. The one with the tattoos is her daughter, Lola, and the pretty blonde is Lola’s daughter. The one with the oxygen tank is Ivy, Frankie’s best friend.”

  “That’s only four. Where’s the fifth one? Oh, I get it. Mollybedamned is the fifth lady, right?”

  Branch opened the car door for Herman and waited for him to get settled before he shut it. “No, she’s the queen. The fifth one is a sixteen-year-old great-niece of Ivy’s, and she’s at the library doing her schoolwork for the day.”

  Herman settled into the passenger’s seat. “Why ain’t she in school?”

  “Got caught smokin’ pot in the bathroom,” Branch said and wondered why he was telling an old man he’d just met personal things. Maybe, like Melody, he needed to tell someone and a stranger was the best option he had.

  The old fellow belted himself in. “This is downright wonderful. But you really ain’t with Lola’s daughter?”

  Branch started the engine and shifted into reverse. “Her name is Tessa, and I’m really not with her. This is only our second day on the trip and I barely know her.”

  “You go on and get to know her, son. Your soul already does. Your body and mind have to catch up, and sometimes they run a mite slow,” Herman said. “Last time I sat in a car like this was back in 1960. My brother got married and rented a Caddy convertible to take him and his wife from the wedding chapel in Las Vegas to the hotel. Me and my girlfriend, who’s now my wife, got to ride in the backseat.”

  “And you’ve been married how many years?”

  “Fifty-three this summer.” Herman grinned. “Takes work and a lot of waitin’. Sometimes a woman don’t know what she wants and we have to wait for her to figure it all out, but she’s been worth it. That pretty blonde will figure it all out if you’ve got the patience to wait.”

  “And if I don’t?” Branch asked as he drove slowly down the street.

  “Then it’ll be your loss.” Herman waved at all the gawkers who stopped on the sidewalk to point and stare at Mollybedamned. “Look at all them jealous people. Guess I ought to call Marybelle and tell her what I’m doin’ or she might get worried. I told her I’d be right there on that bench when she got finished lookin’ around.”

  Branch bit back the laughter when Herman explained five times that he was not in the car with a serial killer and that the man wasn’t going to rob him and throw him in the bayou for the alligators.

  When he ended the call, he looked over at Branch sheepishly. “Damn technology. Too many of these magic things like a phone you can use anywhere and it ain’t even got a cord. Gets a woman to thinkin’ foolish things. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, we were talkin’ about all the people bein’ jealous. Ever had a woman on your arm that people were jealous over?”

  “I was engaged to a woman named Avery, and she was beautiful. Trouble was, she knew it,” Branch answered and then wondered again why in the hell he was telling a stranger something so personal.

  “Was?” Herman asked.

  “I’m a lawyer. So is she. She wanted me to sell my ranch, and I love ranchin’ more than lawyer work so I said no. End of story.”

  “That kind of woman ain’t even worth waitin’ on. What about that cute little blonde you got ridin’ with you? She hate ranchin’, too?”

  “Don’t know. Haven’t asked her.”

  “Well, don’t let her get too far down the road before you do.” Herman chuckled.

  Tessa wandered around the second store full of all kinds of craft items with a few antiques in the rental booths. She was looking at a cream pitcher in blue and white when Lola walked up beside her.

  “You’ve got a good eye. That’s the Walker Blue Willow, and it’s been discontinued for years. That’s an excellent price at ten dollars. I could get forty for it at the store.”

  “Are you going to buy it?” Tessa asked.

  Lola picked it up and looked it over. “You saw it first. I wouldn’t steal it out from under you.”

  “I think I’ll start a cream pitcher collection on this trip. If I choose one thing to collect as we travel, maybe I won’t send too much home for a one-bedroom apartment,” she said. “So yes, this is going to be my first purchase.”

  Lola handed it to her. “If it had chips or nicks it would lower the value, but this one looks great.”

  Tessa carried it to the counter. “I don’t care if my collection isn’t in top shape. I want it to remember the days we’re all spending together.”

  Lola picked up a carnival glass bowl and checked it out. “This is fun, isn’t it? Thank you for coming along. It means a lot to Mama, but Tessa, it means as much to me.”

  “Thank you,” Tessa said past the lump in her throat. Now, why in the hell should she be getting all emotional over a mother who gave her away almost thirty years ago? It didn’t make any more sense than that flutter in her heart when Branch was nearby.

  “I’m too tired to tell stories tonight, Tessa,” Frankie said when they were back at the hotel. “Me and Ivy are going to watch television and drink a bottle of wine that we bought in that little specialty shop.”

  “And eat every bit of that marzipan chocolate with it,” Ivy said.

  “I’ve got my homework assignments done for two days. I don’t know why I, like, have to go to school. I bet I could, like, do a whole week’s worth of work if I kept after it all day, so I’m going to swim
and text my friends all evening,” Melody said.

  “Creek?” Tessa asked.

  “No, I’m, like, punishing him for another day. One of my other friends—not my bestie, Natalie, only now she is, like, Dove Feather—told me that he’s still hanging around Natalie and they’re, like, all chummy, so I’m not talking to him. I’ve only been gone two days and this is the way he treats me?” she whined.

  “I’ll call pizza in to be delivered at six thirty. What kind do you and Ivy want, Mama?” Lola asked.

  “Meat lovers’ with extra cheese, and make it a large,” Ivy answered quickly.

  Frankie tossed her purse on the bed and stretched out beside it. “Her eyes are always bigger than her stomach. I’ll share with her. Tell the delivery boy to bring us a six-pack of Coors. I like bottles better, but we’ll take cans.”

  “Mama, you’ve got wine.” Lola rolled her eyes.

  Frankie held up a palm. “Don’t fuss at me. It’s my retirement party and I’ll damn well eat and drink and do whatever I want this month. When we get home, I promise to be good the rest of my days.”

  “Okay.” Lola shook her head slowly. “But I can’t believe you’ve promised to be good for at least seventeen years. You’ve always said you’d live to be a hundred.”

  Frankie chuckled and shut her eyes. “If I live to be that old, I will be good and eat right and live on the memories of the night I ate cholesterol-filled pizza and chocolate and drank too much and me and Ivy giggled until midnight. Jesus, you’d think I was the child and you were the mother.”

  “Role reversal,” Lola said. “So meat lovers’ for that room. What do you want, Melody—or should we call you River Dance?”

  “Hell, no! And don’t look at me like that, Aunt Ivy. I’m renouncing my vision name. I’m, like, just Melody,” she said. “And since I’m no longer River Dance I’m not a vegetarian so I, like, want a sausage pizza with extra meat and cheese, and I’ll have one of those beers.”

  “You might not be River Dance, but you’ll have a soft drink or juice from the vending machine,” Ivy said.