The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (15 page)

“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.

“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 Mon
roe 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.”

Stella nodded. “Don’t let him walk on you. Remember what Mama told you when you first got the divorce? You can only be someone’s doormat if you let them walk on you.”

“How could you have ever been mad at her, Stella? I’d give anything to have my mama back to talk to.” Piper’s eyes misted.

“Mama should have thought twice before she put me on that prayer list,” Stella said defensively. “But this is not the first time we’ve been in a big argument and I don’t expect it will be the last. It’s just that this one might be the most public what with the sign and this prayer shit.”

“Nancy is a good woman.” Piper wiped at her eyes with her shirtsleeve.

Stella inhaled deeply. “Yes, she is, but she still should’ve remembered that we’re all talking about Heather and the fact she wants to take Violet’s place as Miz Cadillac Head Boss Lady. Besides, you are my friend.”

“Yes, I am, and that’s why I’m tellin’ you like it is.” Piper’s tears started again.

“No more tears,” Charlotte said. “Unless maybe you are crying for your ex-husband and in that case we may drown you in Stella’s bathtub.”

“I’m not crying for that fool. I can’t call him a son of a bitch because his mama is such a nice person. I’m cryin’ because I want a mama like Nancy that loves me enough to put me on the damn prayer list,” Piper sobbed.

Stella slung an arm around her shoulders. “Then stop it. I’ll share my mama. She always wanted more than one child, so you can adopt her and I’ll even tell her that she can put you on the prayer list. I’d let you adopt her, too, Charlotte, but you got a mama.”

“One is enough,” Charlotte said. “All we do is argue these days. I don’t need two mamas, believe me. We were into it at her house just before Boone picked me up for the fireworks.”

“What about?” Piper filled her spoon with more ice cream.

“My bouquet. I want to carry three roses on my Bible. One for me. One for Boone. One for our life together. She picked out one of those new brooch bouquets with enough bling on it to light up the whole church,” Charlotte answered.