The Wedding Gift (23 page)

That cracked up Jessie and
me. Daddy was in his stride now that he had such an appreciative
audience. “
You know, she was always alone,
too, I remember that. No matter what day it was, weekends and such,
it was just her .... her and those kids. I never once saw old Roger
out with her, and she didn’t have a single friend here I don’t
think
.”

Jessie asked him why he
thought that was. He ruminated a little and then said he figured it
was on account of her being “
so much more
beautiful than any other woman in this town that they didn’t want
to suffer the comparison. And then of course, she was a Yankee,
poor little thing
.” But he didn’t think
that was the main reason. He guessed that it was because she was
married to Roger Willets, “
Dalton’s
favorite son, old Prince Roger himself. I think it just galled
every other woman in Dalton to death. See, Roger had left Dalton
for a few years and then he just showed back up with this beautiful
girl he had married from back east somewhere. And Roger’s mama, old
Miz Willets, well girls, she hated her on sight, and treated her
like dirt every day of her life. I guess that attitude kind of
trickled down to the other ladies, which isn’t too surprising,
because you women all stick together like hens, don’t
you?
”

Jessie made a cackling
noise and pretended to shake her tail feathers. She said to daddy
“
You got us in one, Charlie, but, hey, you
gotta tell me, was that old Miz Willets as horrible as Miz Bethany
is now?
”

He laughed, and called
Jessie a pistol, and said that the original Miz Willets could have
eaten Miz Bethany for lunch, and probably did after Robina offed
herself and she was the only daughter-in-law left around to
torture.

Jessie told me then, that
see, “
It could be worse
”.

I just rolled my eyes, but
inside I did feel my first little twinge of sympathy for Robina.
Jessie was asking Daddy now about “
Prince
Roger
” and what he had been
like.

Daddy was in full steam on
that subject. “
Well, I guess that Roger
Willets was the biggest prick this town ever saw. When he was
growing up here, his mama worshiped the ground he walked on … his
daddy, not so much, but Miz Willets ruled the roost. He was a good
looking son of a bitch; probably the only good looking Willets ever
born .... sorry, Sugar (he winked at me), but an entitled little
son of a bitch from day one. He didn’t even play football in school
… acted like it was beneath him. Shit, everything was beneath him,
I guess. Then if he didn’t up and announce to his parents that he
didn’t want to work in the family business - no, that wasn’t good
enough for his highness. He wanted to be an architect and wanted to
go to Yale for school. Not OKC College, that weren’t good enough
place for him even though that’s where his daddy and grandpa
attended and where his sad-ass brother George was going …sorry,
Sugar
.”

I shrugged. I didn’t much
care what Daddy said about George. Shoot, did I care about George
at all? Oh those were nasty thoughts. I shook myself back into
right now and daddy was still talking.

“
That was probably the
first time in their whole marriage that Mr. and Miz Willets agreed
on something about Roger. His daddy didn’t want to support his ass
if he wasn’t going to get a business degree and come back and work
for Willets Petroleum, and his mama just didn’t want him out of her
sight period
.”

Jess and I were hanging on
daddy’s every word by then, and Jess said all breathless
“
Then what happened,
Charlie?
”

Daddy loved the attention
and was grinning now while he talked. “
Well, I guess Roger had him some money, not much, but enough
from his grandma to head off to Yale without his parents’ help, and
that’s just what he did. None of us saw him around here for years,
and old Miz Willets, she just got meaner every day. Then the old
man died, and see, normally, all the money it just goes to the
oldest son, along with the company,” (this part I knew about
already from George), “but in this case, the oldest son, that being
Roger, got cut out, and then old man Willets, he cut out his next
son George too. I guess he knew another asshole when he saw him -
sorry again, Sugar
” (looking to me, as if I
cared if he called George an asshole).

I just grinned and waved at
him like it’s okay, Daddy, say what you want.

“
So, anyway, it wasn’t too
long after the old man died, that old Roger shows back up in town,
only he wasn’t alone. He brought along this beautiful girl and
three kids with him. I guess that he just wasn’t as smart as he
thought he was and had run out of money. So when his mama called,
he came running back with his tail between his legs and, before you
could say sad ass mama’s boy, he was running Willets Petroleum and
him and Robina and the kids were living in Willets
House
.”

I couldn’t help it, I had
to interrupt.

“
Daddy, you mean they
moved in with his mother?
”

Jessie glared at me for
talking, but I couldn’t help it I had to know.

Daddy shook his head at me.
“
Well, yeah, I guess at first they was all
living there real cozy; young George too. But then George went off
to college up to OKC and, the next thing you know, old Miz Willets
had built herself a new monster house out where the golf course is
now. Actually now that I think of it, the present clubhouse is part
of her old home. The old bitch lived to be about a thousand. Back
to Roger, unless you two are getting bored now
…”

We both shook our heads
frantically.

“
Okay then, so Roger was
back and had fallen in line and old Miz Willets had opened up her
purse, but she was still holding the strings, if you know what I
mean
.” (We did). “
And so Roger, well, he must have resented it something awful.
I don’t know, but maybe he felt ashamed for quitting his life up
north and coming back here to be his mama’s lap dog because rumor
had it that he started taking out his anger on Miz Robina. Now I
don’t know if that’s true … people do gossip in this
town
.”

Me and Jessie both nodded
again. Daddy was speaking a truth we knew real well.

“
But I will say this,
after a few months back here, when I would see her around, she
always had these big glasses on … just like Jackie Kennedy again,
now that I think of it
.” Daddy loved Jackie
Kennedy something fierce, she was like a damned fetish with him I
swear. “
Now this part I do know myself ...
Roger took to drinking like prohibition might be back upon us.
Shit, he was in here just about every day of his life, and early,
too
.”

God help me, I know that
the irony of that statement was completely lost on daddy. It was
all I could do not to laugh out loud but I knew, if I did, he would
get furious and stop talking, so I took a big swallow of my coke
and bit my tongue. Jessie, of course, was flattering him to no end,
she was all… “
Wow. Charlie, this is a good
story
.”

He puffed up and kept
talking. “
Yeah, pretty much everybody in
town was talking about Roger and his drinking by then. He even
racked up a couple of car accidents but, of course, being a rich
asshole Willets, nothing happened to him. Sorry, Sugar, I know they
are your people now, but once an asshole, always an asshole is the
way I see it
.”

I nodded. God, I guessed
they were my people now …hideous thought.

“
Anyway, instead of
blaming Roger for being the asshole he was, his mama started
telling everyone in town that poor Roger was just drinking away his
sorrows because he had married the wrong girl. Old Miz Willets said
that Robina was a strange one, and just couldn’t settle here in
Dalton. And, I’ll tell you what, every woman in this town seemed to
want to agree with her. They just shunned that poor little gal
something awful. Well not your mama, Leeann, my Elma is a saint and
don’t you forget it
.”

I nodded. Daddy didn’t have
to tell me my mama was a saint.

“
Then, I don’t know, she
had another baby, and sort of disappeared from sight, and you
started hearing talk about how Roger was running around on her. But
I’ll say this for the old boy, he must have still been doing his
job at home, because then she was pregnant again. Course this time
there was no baby. Don’t know what happened there, and then of
course she had that last one, and it wasn’t too long after that,
them murders was committed
.”

Daddy stopped talking and
signaled for another beer and I fished out my wallet and laid down
a twenty on the bar.

“
Girls, I’ll tell you
something; from what I saw of her, that little gal wouldn’t have
hurt a fly. I don’t know what happened to make her go crazy like
that, but if you think of her, maybe you should do it with more
pity than hate. Well, that’s what I think,
anyway
.”

I could see Daddy was done
talking now. I wondered if he would still think Robina was to be
pitied if he knew what I did about Charlie. That thought made me
feel protective towards him and I leaned over Jessie to kiss him
goodbye. I said we had to get going now, that I had to get cleaned
up because George was taking me into OKC for dinner and a movie.
And Jess said she had better get going too because Mark would be
coming home to take her to bed, and then maybe watch a movie on TV.
Daddy laughed at that, and reminded me to call Mama. I said I would
as I needed to ask her to come to dinner on Friday with the in-laws
and, well, to cook the dinner too, if I was being strictly
honest.

Chapter
30

Damn, it was bright
outside, and hot too. Jess and I both yelped when our butts hit the
leather seats of the Humvee; no wonder George didn’t drive it in
the summer.

On the way back to her
apartment we talked about what Daddy had told us and Jessie said
that it just proved her point about marrying into the Willets
family. I just sighed and asked her what was next. She said that
she thought she had enough information now for her séance, and what
night should we do it?

I had to think about that
one. I knew it had to be a night when George wasn’t home (the night
part Jessie insisted on - personally I would have preferred high
noon). I went over the week. Jess was only off on Tuesday and
Saturday, so it had to be one of those nights. I said I had to
check with George as to when I could maybe get rid of him, and that
I would call her as soon as I knew. I told her sternly that if I
could get rid of him for a night then she was definitely sleeping
at my house after the séance since there was no way in hell I would
be alone there after that.

She told me in return that
I was a giant pussy and after hearing what Daddy had told us, that
she didn’t think Robina was so scary anymore. Jess said that she
thought Robina was just sad but that, yeah, she’d stay over and
protect me. I had to wonder how brave Jess would be if she ever got
to see Robina as I did, with her skin rotting off and those things
moving in her eyes. How much would she feel sorry for her
then?

I dropped Jess off and
drove on back to Willets House. George’s Jag was out front, to my
relief. I walked inside, told him I had been out with Jess at the
lake all day …mostly true, and that, no, I hadn’t totaled his
Hummer, obviously since it was in the driveway undamaged, and that,
no, I didn’t want a line (the damn junkie), and could he please
give me half an hour to shower; then we could get going.

He followed me upstairs,
talking about his golf game, and then what the hell? He followed me
right on into the bathroom and just sat there on the closed toilet.
He was sitting there like he planned to stay while I took my
shower! I kind of looked at him funny, but he just smiled and said
that I was his wife and, even though he couldn’t touch me for
another week or so, he could sure as hell look if he wanted
to.

This, sadly, I guess, was
the truth. I was his wife and there was no argument there. I
wondered why I felt so self-conscious taking my clothes off and
getting into the shower in front of him. I mean, we had done it
like twenty times, so obviously we had seen each other naked, well
him more than me because I mostly kept my eyes closed. But I didn’t
like it, being naked in front of him. I felt bad about that because
he was my lawfully wedded husband, but I couldn’t help how I
felt.

It’s funny because, when I
had been with Donny buck naked in the full sunlight, I had loved
him looking at me. I could have stayed naked with him forever, like
Adam and Eve, only no fig leafs needed. But Donny wasn’t my husband
… George was, and I needed to start making the best of it. So all I
said was “
Sure, Sugar, you look all you
want. After all, I belong to you, don’t I?
”

And then I was real glad
the doors of the shower were pebble glass. That way I figured for
sure that George would not be able to tell that the water running
down my face was not just from the shower.