“Bill, no one will ever take your place in my heart, you know that, but having Darla Jean with me eases the pain of losing you. I wish you could have known her, honey; she’s everything you thought she’d be. Good-natured, sweet, not at all like Tommy. And, oh, how she loves that little girl of hers. Annie. You’d be very proud of them both, Bill, I know you would. I’m pretty certain it took a lot of doing to bring them here, but now I’m going to need your help with something else.”
Suzanna
Oh, Suzanna, Tell Another Lie
THE NEXT MORNING SUZANNA WOKE early and as she was stepping into a pair of worn denim shorts, she caught the sound of Annie’s laughter coming from downstairs. When she arrived in the kitchen, Ida had a platter of bacon and eggs on the table.
“I thought I’d skip breakfast and get an early start,” Suzanna said apologetically.
“Skip breakfast? Good gracious, Darla Jean, that’s the most important meal of the day.” Ida pulled a tray of biscuits from the oven and started plunking them into a basket. “A person can’t possibly do a proper job on an empty stomach; it’s like trying to get a car to go without gas.”
“Well, I guess I could take time for a quick bite.”
“There’s no hurry; sit down and relax.” Ida filled a mug with coffee and handed it to Suzanna. “Rushing through meals is what gives people indigestion. I know, because your granddaddy suffered with it for years. Every time I saw him, he was chewing on one of those antacid tablets. Finally, I laid down the law and told him there’d be no more hurrying dinner, and in no time at all he stopped needing those tablets.”
Suzanna pulled a chair out and sat. “I’ve not been bothered with indigestion.”
“That’s because you’re still young. But start scarfing down meals now, and sooner or later it will catch up with you.” Ida set the biscuits on the table, then lowered herself into the chair next to Annie.
“Grandma, are we still gonna make cookies this afternoon?” she asked.
“Yes, dear, but first we’ll clean out the closet in your mama’s room so she’ll have a place for her clothes.”
“Don’t bother about me,” Suzanna said. “I didn’t bring that much.”
“Didn’t you say you had luggage?”
“Just the suitcase I brought back from the bus station.”
“Oh. Well, then, we can start in Annie’s room. That used to be my sewing room, and the closet is stuffed full of remnants, buttons, bits of trim…”
As Ida rambled on about how she once loved to sew but had gotten away from it over the last few years, Suzanna noticed the way she named things. Annie’s room, Darla Jean’s closet, the bed in your mama’s room. It had such a sound of permanence that she had to remind herself they were leaving in two days, three at the most.
Knowing those few days would fly by all too quickly, Suzanna tried to hurry things along but it was impossible. Following the bacon and eggs, Ida downed several cups of coffee and then insisted Suzanna try a biscuit with her homemade peach jam. With one thing and another, it was after ten when they finally trudged upstairs and began digging through the closet. Before a single shelf had been cleared, Ida began rummaging through a box of scraps, suggesting they were the perfect size for making some doll dresses.
Turning to Annie, she said, “You have a doll, don’t you?”
Annie shook her head. “Un-uh, just Bobo.”
“Bobo’s a dog. I mean a doll that’s like a baby or a little girl.”
Annie shook her head again.
Squatted down inside the closet, Suzanna pulled a paper bag filled with buttons from the back of the bottom shelf. “Do you have a box for buttons?”
Ignoring Suzanna, Ida focused on Annie. “No doll at all? None?”
“Earl said I’m too big for dolls.”
“Earl? Who’s Earl?”
Hearing the name, Suzanna cringed. She backed out of the closet and glared at Annie.
“Earl’s the reason we left Florida,” she said. “I moved in with him after my daddy—”
Hit with the realization that as Darla Jean her daddy was supposed to be William’s son Tommy, she stopped smack in the middle of the sentence, buried her face in her hands, and turned away.
“I’m sorry. So sorry. I just can’t…”
Her voice was thick and wobbly, filled with the weight of tears that threatened to break free. Without turning to face Ida, she said, “We can’t stay here, we’ve got to—”
Before Suzanna could finish, Ida pulled her into a hug. “You’re not going anywhere. Don’t you think I already know how terrible Tommy was? He turned his back on his own daddy, and I’ll bet he did the same to you. He was as mean a man as ever lived.”
“No, you don’t understand—”
“I understand more than you might think. But what’s done is done. Over with. History. We’re never going to talk about this Earl or your daddy again. Not ever. Not you. Not me. As far as I’m concerned, the past is dead and buried.”
“But there’s more, I’m not—”
“Hush. There’s nothing else to talk about. Leave it be. The important thing is that you’re here now, and that’s all that counts.”
Feeling the warmth of Ida’s arms, Suzanna knew she wanted to stay. She wanted it for Annie and for herself. It had been years since she’d put her head on someone’s shoulder and allowed the tears to come, but she did it now. Shamelessly, the way she’d done when her mama was still alive. As they stood there, one woman comforting
