Chapter 50
The Suffolks live farther out of town, out where the lots are large enough for estates, and the drive gives us time we need.
“Delta knows Theo Hartman,” Magnolia says.
“But she would’ve told you if she knew Ned hired him,” I say. “Y’all have been best friends since forever. Maybe she didn’t
recognize him? Maybe they didn’t cross paths?”
“Have you seen the trucks? There’s no missing the branding. There’s no missing the name.” Magnolia stares straight out the
window.
“After what Theo did to you—to us —she wouldn’t have wanted him on the property,” I say. “There’s no way she knew, Mama. It just doesn’t add up.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“She wouldn’t intentionally keep it from you.”
“It’s because she’s got something to hide,” Magnolia says. “Otherwise, she would have called me up the very moment she saw
that man in her yard or a truck with his name on it on her street. She never liked Theo, always tried to talk me into ditching
him.”
“You can’t possibly think she had something to do with the accident?” I sputter.
“Of course not. Delta might be a snake in the grass, a liar, and a cheat, but she’s not a killer.”
“Ok, I still don’t get it.”
“Theo left for Charleston Southern soon after he left me— us . My folks were adamant that I not go looking for him or speak a single word to him if I wanted them to keep helping me. I
couldn’t have survived without their financial help, and I was mad enough at Theo to agree. Plus, my responsibility was to
you. So by the time he came back, and presumably took over his daddy’s business, I was even less interested in seeing him.
We’d already made a life, you and me. We’d figured it out. The last thing I wanted was him and his frigid little heart coming
back around and messing things up again. Delta agreed she’d keep watch, to make sure it never came out who he was to us.”
I scoff. “Some watchdog.”
A few moments of silence sit between us, and I’m surprised by my sadness at Theo’s death. I’ve lost the opportunity to get
his side of the story. Lost the opportunity to ask him to start fresh. Lost the opportunity, at the very least, to know why
he didn’t want me. But mostly, my insides are screaming that the whole thing doesn’t add up. Theo was warm with me; he gave
more than necessary, and even in his death, he was being a good guy, filling in on the grunt work.
Maybe he was different all those years ago. Maybe all of this loveliness was a second act, his penance for what he did back
then. Maybe he couldn’t figure a way back to the Magnolias, couldn’t reconcile trying after he messed up so bad.
But still, he was made up, at least partially, of good.
“You know, Mama, I met Theo. He did the grounds on the Daniel House. He came for the fellowship tour and helped us get through
the last days leading up to it. And it was Ned who recommended him to Grady.”
Magnolia lets out a slow sigh, her eyes trained on the horizon beyond the window. “Ned wouldn’t have known who he was to you. And I guess even if Theo was a no-good father, at least he did you right on the landscape.”
I look over at my mother in the passenger seat, and she looks resigned. She also looks tender, hurt in a way I’ve never seen
before. It’s then I’m sure what I saw in Theo were the same things she saw in him. She and I are more alike than I’ve ever
known, and just as I believe my impressions, I believe hers too.
What if, just like me, she was overwhelmed by the chorus of people around her when all along, she was the one who was right?
“What if you were right about Theo? What if he really was that man you fell in love with?”
After a pause, she looks at me. Tears run down her face in silent streams.
“I think I’ve made a right mess of this.”