Chapter 5
Until Ophelia’s therapist told her that being a middle child was a tough row to hoe, she’d never thought of holding that position in the family. She was the second born of seven, and the last four could actually be considered two since they were twins. When she questioned the silly idea, her therapist told her that she was the middle of the firstborn three, and as such, she was organized and able to entertain herself like most middle children. As a middle child though, she was prone toward being the one in the family who tried to fix everything, and that put her at risk for stress.
She had gone back to her on-base housing that night when she got off work and researched the personality traits of not only her but also her sisters. The two sets of twins were definitely the youngest in the family. Ursula, the oldest, was the bossiest, and her therapist was right—the middle child wanted to take care of everyone else. Tertia, the third child, was said to be the calmest of the siblings, always had a smile, and was often the jokester of the family.
“Spot on all through our lives,” she muttered as she parked her vehicle in the Paradise driveway.
Tertia was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair with Sassy curled up in her lap. She threw up her hand and waved. Ophelia returned the wave and then opened the back doors of her truck.
“How were things in Dallas, or did you go all the way to Houston?” Tertia asked.
Ophelia slid out of the seat. “What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t take two hours to pack up a few centerpieces, so I figured you made a wrong turn and went to Dallas,” Tertia teased as she carefully shifted Sassy over to another chair.
“Only got to Denton before I figured I was going the wrong way,” Ophelia threw back at her sister.
“Why? Were you analyzing that dream I disturbed this morning?” Tertia crossed the yard and picked up one of two boxes of leftover food in the back seat. “Where’s all the centerpieces?”
“I already unloaded them,” Ophelia said. “And I wasn’t analyzing that dream. Jake and I danced after everyone was gone. He can two-step better than any cowboy I’ve ever been with,” she answered and hauled the second box out of the back seat.
“Think Aunt Bernie has put a spell on him?” Tertia asked. “She’s definitely trying to put one on you and me both.”
“Who knows about that woman?” Ophelia whispered as they entered the house. “She seems to have one of those red phone lines straight to the boss of the universe. Think she’s serious about this matchmaking, wedding planning, and advice for the lovelorn?”
“If there’s a charge for her using that special phone, I bet her bill is sky-high. She might not be able to put Jameson in her coffee after she pays it, and you never know about her adventures. Right now, she’s busy with you and Jake, so she might have to put the new businesses on hold,” Tertia said and then raised her voice. “Supper is here, everyone! As long as it took Ophelia to bring it home, we’ll have to scrape the mold off of it.”
“Yeah, right,” Ophelia grumbled.
“We’ll talk more later,” Tertia whispered.
“After that smart-ass remark, I may not speak to you for days,” Ophelia shot back.
Tertia set the disposable containers of food on the counter. “You know you are dying to talk to someone about how dancing with Jake made you feel. I’ll leave the light on for you. Don’t knock or else we’ll have everyone in the room with us.”
“What are you two conspiring about, or should I say against whom?” Mary Jane asked as she turned on the oven.
“Ophelia danced with Jake, but don’t tell Aunt Bernie,” Tertia said out the corner of her mouth.
“Tattletale,” Ophelia hissed.
“My lips are sealed,” Mary Jane promised. “Y’all get on up to your rooms and change out of those pretty dresses. You don’t want to have to send them to the cleaners after just wearing them one time. I’ll put the food in the oven. This is a pretty special weekend. We had dinner served to us at the reception, and now supper, and I don’t cook tomorrow.”
Tertia wrapped her arms around her mother. “Mama, you know I love to cook, so I could take over the kitchen duties on a full-time basis. At least until I find a job.”
“Done, without a single argument, and appreciated more than words can say!” Mary Jane agreed. “That will give me more time to write the book I’m working on.”
“Think you will ever retire?” Ophelia asked.
“Nope,” Mary Jane answered without hesitation. “Someday when it’s time for me to step off this world and into eternity, I hope I have just typed ‘The End’ to the novel in my last contract. Then Joe Clay and I will lace our fingers together and sprout our wings at the same time.”
“Don’t talk like that,” Ophelia said around the lump in her throat. “I can’t bear to think of life without you and Daddy.”
Tertia wiped tears from her eyes with a dish towel and then wrapped her mother up in her arms and gave her a second hug.
“Face the facts, girls,” Mary Jane said. “We will most likely pass on before y’all do, which is the natural way of things. We grieve for our parents when they are gone, but if we lose a child, it’s unnatural, and the grief is even deeper. So, I hope that Joe Clay and I go before any of you kids. But for now, get on upstairs and change into your jeans and T-shirts. Shoo…go on.”
Ophelia made the hug a three-way, and then stepped back. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Mama, will you leave me the right to be the boss in your will?” Tertia’s grin didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“You can all fight for the right,” Mary Jane said and pointed toward the door. “If I have to tell y’all again to get out of the kitchen in your good clothes, I may ground both of you for the whole summer and write my will to say that Bernie is boss.”
“Sweet Lord!” Ophelia gasped as she turned around and ran from the room with Tertia right behind her.
“Okay,” Tertia said when she and Ophelia were at the top of the stairs. “Talk to me. Are you attracted to Jake?”
“Are you?” Ophelia crossed the hallway and opened her bedroom door.
Tertia followed her sister into the room and sat down on Ophelia’s desk chair. “Why would you ask such a thing? But to answer, no, ma’am, I am not. I don’t like blond-haired men.”
Ophelia raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Probably because Noah Wilson had blond hair,” Tertia answered with half a shrug.
Ophelia removed her dress and hung it up in her closet. “Who is Noah Wilson?”
“That smart-ass kid who was hateful about me living in an old brothel when we first came to Spanish Fort. I blacked his eye and had to stay in during recess for a week because of it. Never have liked blonds since then,” Tertia answered. “Jake is sexy for sure, and his eyes are pretty, but he doesn’t do diddly-squat for my hormones. How about yours?”
Ophelia fanned her face with the back of her hand. “Oh, honey!”
“Lust or love?” Tertia asked.
“I don’t know which one it is yet.” Ophelia pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with the United States Air Force logo on the back. “What if it’s just attraction and things go south? Or if it works out to be real, and Aunt Bernie never lets me live it down?”
“Small price to pay to have that kind of love, don’t you think?” Tertia asked. “I’ll see you downstairs and we’ll talk more later.”
Ophelia stretched out on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “This is insane. I’ve only known Jake a few days,” she whispered.
“I heard you say something about Jake. Who are you talking to?” Luna asked as she came into the room and lay down on the other side of the king-sized bed.
“I was talking to myself,” Ophelia answered.
“Did you tell him that you would take that job he offered you?”
“I did,” Ophelia admitted.
Luna patted her on the shoulder. “That’s good. Y’all seemed to work well together at the reception. I hope that…” She paused.
“That what?” Ophelia pressured. “You look worried. Is something going on between you and Shane?”
“No, not between us, but with me,” Luna said. “I’m afraid that after we are married, Shane and I will get tired of each other.”
“That’s normal bride jitters,” Tertia said.
Luna raised an eyebrow. “How would you know?”
“I read about it in one of those bride magazines that Aunt Bernie has lying around everywhere. But go on,” Tertia said. “What put that negative thought in your head?”
“Up until last week I was teaching all day, and he was overseeing the work on the new store and doing some fishing guide tours,” Luna explained. “We only saw each other in the evenings and on weekends, and even then I was busy with grading papers and lesson plans. Now that I’ve left teaching, we’ll be together quite a bit of the time, and I’m worried about us getting bored with each other.”
Ophelia propped up on an elbow. “If that’s all that bothers you, then, girl, you are home free. You and Shane have one of those relationships like Mama and Daddy have.”
“Are you sure?” Luna asked.
Tertia nodded. “Yep, we are both positive, so worry about rain on your wedding day, not whether you and Shane will grow bored with each other.”
“Thank you,” Luna said with a smile. “I just needed some reassurance.”
Ophelia gave her sister a quick hug. “You are stepping off into a lot of unknowns. It’s natural that you would have some doubts.”
“What?” Luna frowned.
“You have quit teaching, which was a job you were used to. You are getting married. You’ve lived with Shane for six months, but marriage is serious business. You are going to manage a store—again something new to you. And you are possibly going to start a family pretty soon. Any one of those would cause stress, but add them all together, and it’s only natural you would worry,” Ophelia answered.
“Do you ever regret leaving your job?” Luna asked.
“Sometimes,” Ophelia answered honestly. “I knew that job, and I was good at it, but it was depressing enough that I was seeing a therapist.”
Luna sat up in the middle of the bed and crisscrossed her legs. “Really? I knew what you did was classified, but…”
“It was that plus the working nights,” Ophelia told her. “Coming home has been the best thing for me.”
Luna threw her legs over the side of the bed and took a couple of steps toward the open door. “Me, too, and that goes for Endora as well. She’s coming out of that horrible funk she sank down into after Kevin cheated on her. Her cats and working on her children’s books have really helped her.”
“Maybe Aunt Bernie is right,” Ophelia said, “about all of us needing to come home and put down roots.”
“I’m sure she is,” Luna agreed and disappeared out into the hallway.
Ophelia needed to consider everything before things went any further with Jake. Maybe he was just out for a good time with no strings. She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror above her dresser as she ran a brush through her light-brown hair. “Do I want to waste my time on a chance that it could just be a two-consenting-adults arrangement?”
She stared at her reflection for several minutes and decided that she did not—not even for someone who could dance as well as Jake did.