Chapter 21
Twenty-One
I got out of the tub and dried off. If I would have known what extensive therapy Maudra’s claw-foot tub provided, I could have saved myself years of paying a therapist. The hot water had done its job, although I had to soap up and rinse off three or four times before I even began to feel clean.
I looked in the mirror before I started getting dressed.
I had lost weight. I hadn’t even noticed.
I guessed probably ten or fifteen pounds.
That was the exact opposite effect from what I’d expected, moving back.
I hadn’t been lifting weights the past couple of months, so my muscles weren’t quite as toned, but all the work at Rose’s had kept them in good enough shape.
Surprisingly, I realized I looked good. I looked healthy.
My body hadn’t looked this fit in several years.
I slipped into my jeans and one of my faithful black T-shirts.
The bath had enabled me to think through the scene at my mom’s.
For some reason, I still wasn’t able to be angry with her.
It was strange. I was always angry with my mom.
I should be beyond angry now, more than ever.
I wasn’t. I guess the feeling could have been described as numb, but that doesn’t really fit either.
She was just being Rose. She was doing what Rose does with men, especially good-looking men.
It didn’t matter if she was older and sick.
It didn’t matter if they were gay. It also didn’t matter if they were her gay son’s husband.
While I still wasn’t able to feel how I should toward Rose, the bath had helped me regain my perspective on Jed.
Though the ride back to Maudra’s wasn’t very long, I felt like I was with one of Rose’s men the entire time.
I had always hated being alone with them.
Always. With the exception of Adam. He had been different.
With everyone else, I’d felt dirty. I’d felt dirty with Jed.
I couldn’t wait to get away from him. The hot water had washed that away, and he was my Jed again, untainted by Rose’s infection.
Maudra had been home when we walked in. I hadn’t said anything to her.
I just went straight to the bathtub. As I walked back into the kitchen, she and Jed were setting the table.
I was sure he had filled her in on his experience with my mom.
I was glad I didn’t have to go through it again for Maudra. Not that I would have.
Jed looked up at me hesitantly as I walked in. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it.
I walked over and kissed him lightly on his lips. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
I felt him ease, and he wrapped his arms around me. “It’s okay, baby. I completely understand. Glad you’re better.” He pulled back and kissed me deeply.
“Dear Gawd, ’nuf of that.” I felt something smack my back. I pulled away from Jed to see Maudra stuffing a tan hand towel into her apron pocket. “If’n y’all er gonna make out, go find somewhere else. Don’t need ta see somethin’ I cain’t have.”
Jed let me loose and swept Maudra into an embrace. “Like you wouldn’t have every eligible bachelor lined up around the block if they thought they had a chance.”
“Oh, git on now.” She swatted him, but a pleased blush crept onto her cheeks.
As with everyone who met Jed, Maudra loved him instantly.
She and Jed were always laughing and joking about something.
She pulled free and looked at me. “’Bout time you got down here.
We was about ta eat without ya. Jist cause yer mamma’s crazy don’t mean we gonna let supper git cold fer ya. ”
I laughed. Leave it to Maudra to make the day’s event into something light enough to razz someone about.
“Well, don’t jist stand there. You git the ice, Brooke. We did all the cookin’ and settin’ the table. Least you kin do.”
“Fine. Fine. I’m living with slave drivers.” That earned me another swat with the dishrag. “So what are we having for dinner?”
Maudra waggled her finger at me. “Well, well, look who’s interested now.
” She went over to the oven, somehow managing to open the door with her massive cooking mitts on, and pulled out a glass pan and held it out to me.
“Enchilada casserole. It was yer Grandma’s recipe.
She was kind enough to give it to me after she brought it to a potluck one time.
I figured it would be a good night fer it. ”
It was a perfect night for it.
Jed sniffed the air dramatically. “Smells amazing, Maudra.”
She gave him a pointed look. “Well, ’course it does. I made it, didn’t I?” She sat the casserole on the table alongside Spanish rice and broccoli and cheese. “Now hurry up and sit down before it really does get cold.”
With the amount of steam pouring off the casserole, I doubted there was any danger of it getting cold for several hours. After pulling up chairs, Maudra looked at me. “Care ta offer the blessin’, Brooke?”
“What?” I most definitely did not want to do that.
“Good Lord, boy. You gonna be a youth pastor in a bit. You’d better git used ta prayin’ in public.
” She didn’t give me a second chance before she closed her eyes.
“Dear Father. Thank you fer this food and fer fillin’ this house with love again and lettin’ us all be tagether. In yer name we pray. Amen.”
“I love your short prayers, Maudra.” Jed grinned at her as he dished her out some of the enchiladas. “I need you to give my dad a lesson in how to do that.”
“Well, no need in boring God ta tears. Ya want ’im to keep listenin’, don’tcha?”
He chuckled. “I guess so.”
The food was wonderful. She had captured the essence of Grandma’s recipe, and the tastes and smells brought Grandma back to me as we all got lost in the act of eating for several minutes.
“So, Jed here tells me that he’s prolly gonna get a job over at Cottey.” Maudra wiped the corner of her mouth with her silk hanky. “I think that’s a wise choice. They pay better ’n the public school here, and college professors get more time off than normal teachers. Think it’ll be a good thing.”
My mouth was wonderfully full. I hadn’t felt this content in ages. “Well, he’s going to need all that extra time, Maudra.” She raised an eyebrow quizzically at me. I feigned surprise. “What? He left that part out of the story, did he?”
She looked at Jed accusatorily. “You left out parta the story? Boy, I might jist take ’way yer supper.”
Jed raised his fork in innocence. “I honestly don’t have a clue what he’s talking about, Maudra.”
She looked at me. “Well, spill it, child. What’s this story that’s so juicy?”
“I don’t know how juicy it is, but we went downtown today, and Jed about had a fit with how poorly designed it seemed to be. He might be upset enough to join that committee that’s wanting to revitalize the town.”
“Oh, that.” Jed nodded, giving me an exaggerated eye roll. “Yes, it was quite a sight, Maudra. I can’t believe you’ve lived here so long and haven’t forced somebody to do something.”
“Oh, child. I stay outta that. But Donnie will be thrilled there’s someone else who wants to help return this old town to its original grandeur.”
Jed backtracked. “Well, now, I just got here. I don’t know how appropriate it would be for me to start telling people how to redesign their town.”
“I’ll give ya that this town’s fallin’ apart, but I think the base of it is still there. I think the downtown area could be rill nice. And the park is rill pretty. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. What’d ya see that gotcha all riled up?”
“We went to Rose Petal’s Place.” He made a face like he had a bad taste in his mouth.
“Jed wanted to get Mom some flowers or something before we went there, so I took him to Iris’s.”
Maudra’s eyes got big, and she nodded. “Well, no wonder. That store’s enough ta give a saint a headache. All those horrible colors and those fake plastic flowers.”
“Thank you!” Jed smacked the table with his palm, the sound sharp in my ears. “Right? Aren’t they horrible?”
Maudra put her hand to her chest. “Well, goodness, boy, ain’t no reason ta give me a heart attack over it.”
“Sorry, Maudra.”
I jumped back in. “I don’t think Iris was too glad to see us. Well, actually, she was at first. I think she thought the most handsome man in the world had just come into her store. She was ready to set him up with every girl in town.”
“Don’t fool yerself. She was jist tryin’ ta figure out if she could set him up with herself.”
Jed shuddered.
I shook my head. “She got her hopes dashed, then. When she figured out he and I were together, she quit being quite as friendly. I don’t know if it was the fact we were gay that upset her more, or realizing I was Rose’s boy.”
“Oh well, ain’t no surprise there, on either account. She was always horrible ta Ray when he was alive. Never liked yer mom none either. Course, didn’t help that her late husband, Vern, would git tagether with yer mom from time ta time ’fore he died.”
“Oh.” The too-familiar shame in the mother-shaped hole in my chest flooded. I couldn’t help but feel a little less resentful of Iris at Maudra’s words. No wonder she didn’t like us.
Maudra continued, “Don’t judge her too harshly. She’s had a rough go of it, even more ’n Vern cheatin’ and dyin’ on her.” She looked over at me. “You ’member Jack and Dean, don’tcha? They was a few years younger ’n you.”
I thought for a second. “I don’t think so. I’m so bad with names, though. Maybe if I saw a picture.”
“Well, it don’t matter none anyway.” She sighed. “It’s jist horrible. I doubt I’d be able to manage as well as Iris if I’d been in the same situation. If I was a differ’nt person, I’d say she deserved what she got fer all the grief she caused Ray, but don’t nobody deserve what she been through.”
Jed looked at her, wide-eyed. “What happened?”
“Well, ’course you don’t know any a these people, Jed, but Brooke does, if he could get that brain ta remember.
” She set her fork down, preparing for a long story.
“Vern died when Brooke was prob’ly twelve or thirteen.
Don’t ’member at the moment what it was that killed ’im.
Some sickness or other. Either way, left her with those two boys.
The oldest, Jack, had ta be close ta Brooke’s age, and Dean was prob’ly six or so years younger ’n him. ”
She took a drink, then continued. “Well, it was a couple years after you left, Brooke. Dean had ta have jist turned sixteen. He was always a sweet, sweet boy. I always suspected he’d turn out ta be gay too.
He was always nice ta me. Now, Jack, on the other hand, was nothin’ but trouble.
Couldn’t ask fer more differ’nt boys. Even so, they was best a friends, those two.
Dean had tagged along after Jack since he could walk.
Never figgered out how he spent so much time with that waste of a brother a his and still stayed so sweet.
“Anyway, one night, Jack, being the idiot he was, thought it’d be a good idea fer them to race their cars.
Well, somehow during the race, little Dean got pretty far ahead a Jack.
By the time Jack caught up with ’im, little Dean was pulled over on the side a the road, an’ a policeman, Rick Anderson from Black Jack, had ’im out and handcuffed.
The boy was probably going close ta a hundred.
“Jack got scared when he saw Dean in cuffs. He rilly did love the boy, so I ’magine he felt guilty too.
Didn’t want the boy ta get in trouble. Before little Dean even knew what was goin’ on, Jack had hit his gas, aimed his truck, and ran over poor Rick Anderson.
Killed him instantly. They had ta have a closed casket, matter-a-fact. ”
Jed and I had both quit eating and were staring at Maudra with open mouths.
“Long story short, it shook up the town, a’course.
Jack went to the state pen, where he shoulda been years before.
Iris was a wreck, as you kin imagine. So was Dean.
Jack was probably only in jail a couple months before Dean hung hisself in Iris’s backyard one afternoon when he got home from school.
Iris got home from workin’ at the flower shop and couldn’t find him inside.
She figgered he was out with some friends.
It wasn’t till the next mornin’ when she still couldn’t get ahold a ’im that she found his body a hanging in the backyard.
Lord, she went crazy. As would any good mother.
“I heard later that Jack got killed in a jail fight. Iris said she figgered he heard about Dean and started somethin’ so he’d get killed and could join his brother. ’Course, I doubt they ended up in the same place, but who am I ta figure what God’ll do. I hope He showed ’em both mercy.”
We were silent as Maudra finished telling us about Iris’s lot. Any hard feelings I had for her had vanished. I wanted to rush to her and take her in my arms, as if that would have made anything better.
“Well.” Maudra stood and picked up our plates. “I made blackberry cobbler. ’Course, they aren’t in season, but I had some frozen ones. Won’t be quite as good, but still be better ’n any other blackberry cobbler you ever had. You want two er three scoops a ice cream on top?”