Wedding Ring (37 page)

C
issy arrived for a quilting lesson Thursday morning, and before she left, she went to show Tessa the progress she’d made on piecing her top.

Tessa was lounging under the maple trees on a blanket she had spread to take advantage of the shade. Until Cissy’s arrival, her only company had been one of Helen’s barn cats, a black tom with white markings who was perched like a sentinel on the porch railing. The day was cooler than usual, with a light breeze blowing from the north and fluffy cumulus clouds protecting them from the worst of the sun. When Cissy approached and flopped down beside her, Tessa had the wedding ring quilt spread over her lap and was removing another of the patches that had disintegrated.

Clearly Cissy was taking a great deal of pride in the baby quilt, and the six pinwheel blocks she’d made so far had been sewed into a perfect rectangle. “The colors are lovely, and so is the workmanship,” Tessa told her.

Cissy shyly smiled her thanks. “Now that I’m down here, no telling if I’ll be able to get myself up again without getting on all fours like an old hound dog.”

“Stay a moment. Did Gram give you something to drink? I’ll be happy to get you something.”

“She made me spearmint tea. She makes it like my granny did. I like to have cried when she handed me that glass.”

Tessa wondered if Helen realized that she was coming to represent family to this homeless, pregnant waif. She hoped her grandmother would continue to soften and provide Cissy with some of the love she so obviously needed. It would be good for both of them.

“What are you working on?” Cissy asked.

Tessa gave her an abbreviated version of the wedding ring quilt history. “It’s too nice to work inside today, so I gave up and came out here. Who knows if we’ll have another day like this one this month.”

“I think it’s about the prettiest quilt I ever saw,” Cissy said. “All those little pieces, all different. And knowing it was made from all that love.”

Tessa smiled at the adolescent sentiment, but the truth was that she loved the quilt for the same reason.

“I just wondered…” Cissy stopped, as if she was searching for words. “Well, I just thought maybe you might come over to our place tonight. We’re having an old-fashioned music night, the way they always used to around here. Zeke’s friends are all coming over to play outside on the Claibornes’ lawn, and there’ll be supper, too. Everyone’s bringing something to share.”

Tessa looked up and saw that Cissy’s eyes were sparkling. She’d been about to say “no thank you,” but now she realized she couldn’t. Cissy wanted to give something back to the women who had taken an interest in her, and this was her way.

“Did you ask Gram?” Tessa said.

“She said she don’t—doesn’t—go out of an evening. But I think she might come if you did.”

Tessa thought her grandmother might, too. Then an image of Mack passed through her mind. Mack, who loved country music best, not the kind that was only a step from rock music, but roots music, the old-fashioned kind. He had played the soundtrack from the film
O Brother, Where Art Thou
so many times she had committed every cut to memory.

She spoke her thoughts out loud. “It’s too bad my husband isn’t here. He’d love to come.”

Cissy managed to get back to her feet without resorting to sinking to all fours, but only just. “Maybe you can call him and ask him to come up.”

Tessa had no intention of asking Mack. She wasn’t even sure why she’d mentioned him to Cissy. “I’ll be there, at the very least, and I’ll see if I can convince Gram. We’ll bring a strawberry cream cake. She made one yesterday and put it in the fridge. If we eat it by ourselves, we’ll gain twenty pounds apiece.”

“Yum. I’ll save some room.” Cissy looked pleased with herself. “We’ll get started around six, when all the men come home from work.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Cissy started toward her pickup; then she turned. “Your mother’s invited, too. I forgot to say that. I’m sorry.”

Tessa tried to imagine Nancy at a down-home music night. “I’ll be sure to mention it to her.”

Cissy departed, the old truck coughing and sputtering, and Tessa rested against the maple trunk and stared at the newly unleashed cloud of dust that went with her.

“I like that girl.”

Tessa looked up to find her mother standing over. Nancy was wearing a lime-green jumper and more of her frivolous Wal-Mart flip-flops.

“Do you? You weren’t so sure at first.” Tessa made room, and Nancy joined her on the blanket.

“She reminded me too much of myself. That’s why.”

“And now?”

“I’m getting in touch with my inner Nancy.” Nancy smiled to let Tessa know she was, at least partially, joking.

Tessa wondered if it was the inner Nancy who was so staunchly ignoring Billy these days. Nancy hadn’t spent even a few minutes alone with her husband on his visit at the beginning of the week. She had risen late, and by the time Tessa and Billy returned from bird-watching, Nancy had already left for the church to make more decisions about Helen’s quilt show. From what Tessa could tell, her mother had every woman in the congregation helping her.

Tessa realized she couldn’t ignore this any longer. “Mom, I think Dad is hurt that you’re never available when he comes to visit.”

“You’re officially off the case, Tessa. Your dad and I will work out our relationship the way we need to without your help.”

“I feel like I caused new problems by talking to you both.” Although she and her father hadn’t discussed anything important on their bird-watching trip, there had been a new restraint in their interactions that had sobered Tessa.

“You’re absolved of all guilt.”

“I love you both.”

“Tessa, sometimes the hardest thing you can do when you love somebody is stand by and watch them make mistakes. I’ve been watching you make your share these past years, and now maybe it’s your turn.”

Tessa knew what mistakes her mother was referring to. Once more she thought about how Mack would enjoy the gathering at the Claibornes’. “Cissy invited all of us over for a potluck supper and music tonight. Zeke’s friends are bringing their instruments.”

“What fun.”

“You’ll come?”

“Of course. Maybe your grandmother will give up her strawberry cake for the cause.”

“It’s just country music, Mom. Mountain music. Bluegrass, most likely.”

“And you think I won’t enjoy it? I grew up with string bands, remember?” Nancy rose and dusted herself off. “Here’s some advice you didn’t ask for. Call Mack. He’ll be in his element, even if he is a California boy. If you have any interest in trying to save your marriage, this would be a good start.”

After Nancy left, Tessa stared at the horizon, the quilt clutched to her chest. Why did something that had once been so easy seem so impossible now?

When was the last time she’d had the courage to ask Mack for anything?

Late that afternoon, Mack was still mulling over Tessa’s phone call as he neared the turnoff to Fitch Crossing Road. He had expected something quite different when he picked up the receiver. Exultation that she’d caught Owens drinking or driving. A request for a meeting to discuss a divorce.

The possibility that she might be issuing an invitation to do something fun together hadn’t even entered his mind.

He’d been planning to call her himself, only he was a coward and had put off the call. Now he could talk to her in person and see her reaction. But which Tessa would he find? The one he had married? The one who had turned to stone at their daughter’s death? Or some new hybrid who was learning, at last, to breathe again?

He slowed once he was on Fitch. The drought was still in effect, and the trees had subtly closed in on themselves, as if sheltering their trunks under drooping branches might conserve what little moisture they could draw from the earth. He understood only too well how they felt and knew Tessa did, too.

He arrived at Helen’s to the hustle and bustle of three generations getting ready for the party. Nancy greeted him, kissing him on the cheek as if their last encounter hadn’t been filled with tension. He admired her new haircut and told her so, reaping a broad smile as harvest. Next Helen came out to the porch and kissed his cheek, too, but her expression was dour.

“Don’t know why I have to go. Never been over to see Ron Claiborne and hoped to keep it that way ’til I died.”

“We’re driving,” Nancy told him, ignoring her mother. “Tessa said you might walk. We’ll see you there.” Nancy took firm hold of her mother’s arm and guided the grumbling Helen down the porch steps. “Go on in,” she called behind her when she glanced around and saw that Mack was still standing at the door. “Tessa’s in the kitchen.”

He admired the changes in the house as he strolled through. He imagined Helen had groused about every one of them and still enjoyed them, the way she would probably enjoy tonight’s party.

He found Tessa in the kitchen, setting a cake on a cake plate. She hadn’t heard him approach, so he watched undetected for a moment from the doorway. Her hair was loose, flowing straight to the middle of her back. She wore a turquoise sundress he didn’t remember and shoes that reminded him of Kayley’s ballet slippers. Around her neck was the squash blossom necklace he had bought her on their Arizona honeymoon. She hadn’t worn it in years. He wondered why she had even packed it.

“You look lovely.”

She turned, startled, and for just a moment she looked vulnerable, as if she wasn’t sure what to say or do. Then she smiled a little. “If you’d gotten here sooner, you would have caught me sneaking crumbs off the old plate. This is my grandmother’s specialty.”

“Is it? I don’t remember it.”

“I don’t think she ever bothered to make it for
us
.”

They laughed at the same time, then sobered together, too. “You do look lovely,” he said. “I’d forgotten how much I love you in that necklace.”

She held it away from her breasts. “Do you remember the Navajo silversmith who sold it to us?”

“He said the crescent was to remind us that even a good marriage waxes and wanes like the moon.”

“He was some salesman. He spotted us as newlyweds right off the bat.” She released the necklace.

“Because I couldn’t keep my hands off you.”

“I thought it was the way I looked at you.” She turned back to the cake, reaching for the domed cover. “Gram and Mom are gone?”

“Grouching all the way.”

“Which one?”

“Your grandmother.”

“Mom seems determined to have a good time.” Tessa glanced at him and frowned. “If it weren’t so incongruous, I’d say I’m worried about her.”

“I don’t remember ever seeing her so…” He searched for a word. “Contented?”

“It’s odd, isn’t it, because I think she and my father are heading for a separation.”

“Your parents?”

She stopped fiddling with the cover. “You thought we’d beat them, didn’t you? So did I.”

“Is that an announcement, Tessa?”

“I don’t know what it is. I feel like every day I’m walking on shifting sands. I don’t seem to be able to figure out who anybody is anymore.”

“Including you?”

“Most of all me.” She looked up again. “Or you, Mack. You’re so far away from me that I’m not even sure I can see you anymore, much less figure you out.”

“What about your parents?”

“They got married because Mom got pregnant. They stayed together because it was easier to raise me that way. And for some reason they stayed together once I was gone. I’m just not sure they understand why. I certainly don’t.”

“Do you want them going their separate ways?”

She shook her head. “That’s the crazy part. We’re all grownups, but I want them together. I feel like a little girl again.”

“It doesn’t sound crazy.” He joined her in the kitchen, but he didn’t touch her. He didn’t think he could bear another physical rejection.

“It’s out of my hands, isn’t it? There are just so many things I have no control over.” Clearly that bothered her.

“And some you do.” Mack edged past her and lifted the cake from the counter. “Like tonight, for instance. We could just have fun. No strings, no expectations. No thinking about things we can’t change. We can control that much, can’t we?”

“I’d like that.”

He was surprised but didn’t say so. “Then it’s a done deal.”

“Mack, there is a little business…”

He nodded toward the door. “Shall we walk? We can talk on the way.”

“You’re willing to carry that?”

“I’m willing to share the burden.”

“Deal.”

Neither of them spoke until they were out on the road. “I did surveillance yesterday,” Tessa said, as they left the farmhouse behind. “And there’s something you ought to know.”

Mack was sorry the “business” was about Robert Owens, but he had his own business concerning the young man, and it looked as if this was going to be the time to conduct it.

“If you’d caught him doing anything illegal he’d already be in jail,” he said.