Chapter 5
Clara was struck speechless when Endora came out to the truck to meet her and Bernie.
There was no doubt that they were cousins, with the same blue eyes and face shape.
Clara might have been slightly curvier than Endora, but still it was one of those uncanny almost doppelg?nger moments.
Then the front door opened, and Luna waved from the porch.
“It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing two more of me wearing blond wigs,” Clara whispered.
“We’ve got the same DNA flowing through your veins. I remember when we were little, and you came to visit. I loved your red hair. A couple of my sisters got it, but Luna and I both got this straw-colored stuff,” Endora said. “Come on inside. Y’all are just in time for lunch.”
“I remember us playing together with your Barbie dolls, but that was in a big city,” Clara said.
“Yep, it was, and those dolls came with me to this house. I’m so glad that you are here.
I can just barely remember you and your sister and brother coming to see us before we moved to the Paradise.
” Endora looped her arm into Clara’s and led her to the house.
“Let’s have lunch and then catch up on our lives.
I hear that you are working at Aunt Bernie’s bar. ”
“Yes, I am, and I love it,” Clara said.
“Mama, they are here,” Luna called out and then gave Clara a hug.
“It’s been too long, girl. Come on in the house, where it’s cool.
I swear, this has been one crazy summer.
If it’s not hotter’n blue blazes, then it’s raining.
The heat we expect. The rain not so much, and we’re not used to this muggy feeling in the middle of summer. ”
Mary Jane gave them both a hug and then motioned toward the table.
“Welcome to the Paradise. I’m so glad to get to see you again, and that you are helping Aunt Bernie.
I’ve been worried about her overdoing. I’ll be glad when she’s living close by where I can keep an eye on her.
We made a hot chicken casserole, salad, and fresh yeast rolls. ”
Bernie gave her another hug. “The one with potato chips on the top?”
“I remembered that was your favorite,” Mary Jane said. “It’s ready, so let’s all five sit down at the table and visit while we eat. Joe Clay says to tell y’all hello. He’s off helping the pastor of our church put a new roof on the parsonage.”
“You go to church?” Clara asked and then wished she could cram the words back into her mouth.
“Of course.” Mary Jane grinned. “And Aunt Bernie will go with us when she moves down here.”
“I don’t know why that would surprise you,” Luna said.
“But those amazing books you write…” Clara snapped her mouth shut and wished she could hit a button and delete the words.
“Even the preacher’s wife can’t wait to get her hands on Mama’s books when they come out,” Endora said.
“Wow!” Clara exclaimed. “I want to go to a church like y’all do.”
“Nash’s grandpa, Hoot, and his grandma, Darlene, would probably welcome you,” Bernie said. “I’m a CEO Christian and have sat on the pew with them a few times.”
“What is that?” Luna asked.
“Christmas and Easter only,” Bernie answered as she pulled out a chair and sat down. “I have to show the good Lord on occasion that I still appreciate his house of prayer.”
“Mama, can I be that kind?” Endora asked.
“Nope,” Mary Jane answered, “and neither will Aunt Bernie be when she moves to the Paradise.”
Bernie put a couple of big scoops of casserole on her plate. “But I won’t be living in the Paradise. I will be staying out in the backyard in my trailer.”
Luna had taken a swallow of cold sweet tea and spewed it all down the front of her shirt. Endora tossed an extra napkin her way and laughed out loud.
“Well, Sister,” Luna said as she wiped at the wet spot. “That was worth it if it made you laugh.”
“Oh, hush!” Endora scolded and passed the casserole over to her sister. “Be glad you didn’t already have food on your plate, and what was so funny anyway?”
“I think it was Aunt Bernie’s tone more than what she said,” Luna answered. “She even did a little head wiggle. The underlying message was that she would go to church if she wanted to, but that since she didn’t officially live in the Paradise, she didn’t have to attend with us.”
“The trailer is like Las Vegas,” Bernie informed them. “What happens there stays there, but I don’t mind going to church at all once in a while. I can sit with the family and think about Sunday dinner.”
“That’s what I do. If God really loved me, He wouldn’t have put me through that horrible time with my ex,” Endora said.
“Maybe He is testing the Jesus in you to be sure you are worthy for the next person He tosses over the fence for you to meet,” Bernie told her.
“He can keep whoever it is, or give him to someone else,” Endora declared. “Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, and you can go to hell.”
Luna laughed out loud. “I don’t think that’s the way the saying goes.”
“It is in my mind,” Endora snapped.
After all that Clara had heard about the infamous Paradise, she could hardly believe how comfortable and relaxed she was in the house. The aura surrounding her here wasn’t unlike the one at Bernie’s bar. She felt as if she had finally found peace and happiness.
Don’t get too comfortable or happy. Don’t come running back to me when the shine wears off this new ridiculous job of yours and when you figure out that my sister isn’t what you think she is. Her grandmother’s voice popped into her head.
Clara took a deep breath and shoved food in her mouth to keep from arguing with her.
***
“Why don’t you girls give Clara a tour of the house, and y’all have a visit.
I’ll help Mary Jane take care of cleanup,” Bernie said in an attempt to run the cousins out of the kitchen when everyone had finished lunch.
Clara could use a therapy session with someone who had essentially been through similar experiences.
From what Endora had said, she could definitely benefit from comparing notes with her cousin.
And besides all that, Bernie wanted time to talk to Mary Jane without all the girls around.
“I don’t mind helping,” Clara said.
“We only have so much time before we have to start back. You girls need to make the most of it,” Bernie said.
“No argument from me,” Luna agreed, and led the way out of the kitchen.
Mary Jane pushed her plate back and refilled both her and Bernie’s tea glasses. “Now, tell me about this fellow who is willing to work for free to get a chance at buying your bar.”
“I’ve known his grandparents for years. Hoot, that’s his grandpa, comes in the bar every week when his wife is at her quilting meeting at the church.
Nash is their grandson, and he seems to be a good fit for the bar.
” Bernie pulled her phone from her shirt pocket and scrolled down through it.
“Here’s a photo I shot of him and Clara on Monday night. ”
“Good-lookin’ fellow,” Mary Jane said, “but isn’t he a lot older than Clara?”
“Nope, only about five years. Seems that he got premature gray hair. Downright sexy, don’t you think?”
“Oh, yeah,” Mary Jane answered, “and Clara looks happy. I feel bad that I’ve missed so much of her life.”
Bernie cut a brownie in half and ate it with her fingers. “That’s not on you. Maybe someday Marsha will grow up and realize how much family means to a person.”
“It’s been more than twenty years since I moved into the Paradise,” Mary Jane said with a long sigh.
“It’s just a house that quit being a brothel over a hundred years ago.
I can’t understand why they were all so against me living here.
Or writing romance books, either. It’s what I do, not who I am. ”
“Add that to the anger they have at you for not throwing me out with the trash and continuing to let me be a part of your life, and you might have an inkling of their excuses and reasons for the way they treated you,” Bernie told her.
“Changing the subject here. I’m worried about all three of those girls.
Clara and Endora have been through tough times, but something is off with Luna.
She seems happy and sad at the same time. ”
“She and Endora are the kind of twins that share each other’s emotions,” Mary Jane explained. “Luna feels guilty if she’s happy because Endora can’t get over the betrayal. Her fiancé snowed us all. We thought he hung the moon and stars, but all that was fake.”
Bernie nodded the whole time Mary Jane was speaking and thought of another fellow by the name of Kent who was pretty much the same, even if he was an abuser in a different way.
“Sounds an awful lot like the story Clara told me about the fellow she was living with up until a year ago. Too bad Marsha didn’t stand up for her like you have done for Endora.
” She went on to tell Mary Jane about the controlling relationship Clara had gotten out of.
“I think all three of them need to find a man who would walk a mile over hot coals and through a tornado to bring them a bouquet of wildflowers.”
“You got that right, but I think the last man who would do that might have been Joe Clay Carter, and I married him more than twenty years ago,” Mary Jane said.
“I’m a pretty good reader of people, and I think Nash might be one of the few.
” An idea floated through Bernie’s mind that she could possibly be a matchmaker for all of her great-nieces.
She could practice on Clara, and then move on to all seven of Mary Jane’s girls once she had moved to Spanish Fort.
Of course, Ursula and Luna would be first on the list. Endora would need to see that her sisters could have a happy-ever-after, and that all men weren’t like that sorry sucker who did her so dirty.
“What are you thinking about?” Mary Jane asked. “You look like you are about to chew up railroad ties and spit out Tinker Toys.”