Chapter 51
Delta Suffolk beams as she swings open her front door. “What a surprise! But I’m always glad to see you ladies.” She dips
to check her planter. “I knew I’d regret this black-eyed Susan with this heat. It’s already crisp.”
Magnolia shoves past her. “This isn’t a friendly visit.”
Delta and I follow her into the spacious entryway, and Magnolia makes a sharp left into the formal dining room that has a
small sitting area adjacent. That’s where she stops.
Delta scurries in behind me, looking both perplexed and concerned. “Unfriendly? What on earth, Mags? Is everything ok?”
Magnolia stands tall but frozen in this formal room. She is formidable, and for the first time, it’s a comfort, a reassurance,
knowing we’re in this together. Her strength has for so long felt automatically adversarial, and this is the one good thing
to have come from the muck that’s fallen out around us. She is strong—just like me. And seeing her here, fearless like this,
is assurance that I’ll be all right as well.
“Theo Hartman has been working on your property for months.”
Delta’s eyes flutter to me before she shoots Magnolia a specific look.
“She knows,” Magnolia says. “I told her.”
Delta mashes her hands together as she studies the hardwoods. “I’m sorry, Mags. I should’ve told you. I tried to get Ned to fire them, but he loved their work. He simply refused.”
“And is that all?” Magnolia demands.
“It was a horrible accident, Mags. If I could’ve prevented it, I would’ve. You’re mad at me because he was here working and
this is where it happened. If we’d never hired him, he wouldn’t have died—”
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself, Delta,” Magnolia says. “You’re far too weak-spirited to be responsible for anyone’s death. You
don’t have the guts for it. But lying and sneaking around? Manipulating and fixing behind the scenes? That’s less of a problem
for you.”
“What did you want me to do— tell Ned who he was ?” Delta flails her hands. “I’m sorry, but I was caught in a tough spot.”
“A tough spot of whose creation?” Magnolia reaches out and takes the back of a chair. Her knuckles are white where she grips
it. “Tell me the rest of what you’ve done—what you did back then . I’m not bullshitting around this any longer.”
Delta stands silently. Her eyes are trained on Magnolia, and her mouth wobbles and her limbs shake. Still, it’s as if she
thinks looking away is some final admission of guilt.
Instead, Magnolia turns. She crosses the room to the china cabinet in three swift strides. She pulls on the door of the hutch,
giving it an extra tug to pop it open. “Your mama’s?” she asks Delta.
“Suffolk stuff,” Delta says. “Of five generations.”
Magnolia pulls out a small dessert plate and examines it closely, running her fingers over the intricate lattice detailing
on the rim. “It’s gorgeous.” She holds it between a single finger and thumb and lets it hang. “Probably irreplaceable.”
And she lets it slip, drop, and shatter on the floor.
Delta and I jump in unison at the sound.
“Oopsie,” Magnolia says. When she turns, her eyes are so piercing that I can almost see them strain. “You were saying?”
Delta clears her throat as she sheepishly edges toward the broken china. “I don’t have a clue what you’re getting at, Magnolia.
Is this about Theo’s death?”
Magnolia answers from within the cabinet. “Not specifically, but thanks for letting me know about that, by the way. I probably
won’t plan to make it to the service, but I might send an arrangement.” She spins to face Delta. “Funny, you didn’t think
to mention it to me.”
Delta is tight and still, as if she’s hoping to be overlooked. “It’s just—”
“Frankly, in a town this size, the fact that you thought I wouldn’t eventually find out that Theo Hartman died on your property
is absurd. But perhaps it speaks to your intellect more than anything else.” Magnolia swipes two teacups into each hand. “Aren’t
these just darling?”
Smash.
They hit the floor together.
Then a dinner plate.
Smash.
“Magnolia, I-I’m—” Delta shuffles her feet. “I didn’t—I thought I was doing the right thing.”
Mama makes a sound somewhere between a grunt and a growl, then grabs a stack of dishes.
“Quite the armory you’ve got here,” she says.
Smash. Smash.
“ Please , Magnolia. Stop. That china is generations old,” Delta says. “It can’t be replaced.”
“Exactly like what you took from me!” Mama whirls around and sets her gaze on the woman. “Unless you have a way for us to go back in time and change it.”
Smash.
Delta lets out a peep.
Smash.
“How dare you!” Mama roars. “I know it was you.”
Ned Suffolk bustles into the room and looks between the women. “Dee? Magnolia? What’s going on?”
“Yes, Dee,” Mama chimes in. “Care to explain how you’re the one to blame?”
Smash.
I don’t even blink this time.
Smash, smash, smash.
“All right, all right!” Delta holds her hands up as she presses the words out. “ Fine .”
Mama’s footsteps crunch over the dinnerware fragments as she crosses the room to where the rest of us stand. She slows, and
her hands shake almost unnoticeably. Mama’s not a young woman, even if she does harness a youthful rage. My heart squeezes.
Now I know what she’s lived and what she’s lost. She drops into an armchair.
Delta walks over and perches on the love seat across from her. “I’ll tell you everything I know. Where do you want me to start?”
“Right at the very beginning. And you’ll tell me everything,” Mama says firmly.
Delta nods curtly. “Ok.”
Magnolia meets her eyes. “You’re the only living person with the whole story.”