The Lilac Bouquet

by Carolyn Brown

  “Are you crazy? Did that doctor tell you that you were dying of bone cancer or something?” she asked.

  “He says I’m healthy as a horse, have the vital signs of a fifty-year-old man, and, once the hip is healed, I can do anything I want,” Seth said. “Don’t give me an answer today. Talk to Logan about it on Tuesday. The downside is that it is three miles out of town. The upside is that you won’t be in a trailer court with Tandy.”

  “I’ll think about it,” she said. “But right now let’s go have a burger.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Seth said.

  She hadn’t said no. That was a good sign. He made a mental note to call the contractors he used from Wichita Falls and have them come to Hickory next week to do some cosmetic work on the old farmhouse. New paint inside and out, put in a central air-conditioning unit, tear up the old carpet and lay new, and put new appliances in the kitchen. Update the upstairs bathroom and make sure that the wiring and plumbing were all in good order. Maybe even plant a few flowers in the front yard. That should help sell her on the idea.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The gray skies were pouring down rain so hard that Emmy Jo drove into town at fifteen miles an hour. Even with the windshield wipers at full blast, she could only see a few feet ahead of the car at any time. She’d already parked in front of Libby’s when she remembered that she’d forgotten her umbrella, so she pulled up the hood of her zippered sweatshirt and jogged through the puddles.

  Her insides were quivering when she threw back the hood and looked over the café for Tandy. There was going to be no going back this Tuesday. Tandy was going to tell her what she wanted to know—period. Her hands shook. She bit at her lower lip in nervousness. Her stomach was twisted up like a pretzel.

  “You look like a drowned rat,” Tandy said from the first booth to the left.

  “I feel like one.” Emmy Jo removed her sweatshirt and hung it on the coatrack and kicked off her wet sandals. “Sorry, Libby, I know the sign says I need shoes and a shirt, but my feet are cold and wet.”

  “Need some socks?” Libby asked from behind the counter.

  “Got some in my purse, but thank you. Has Granny ordered?”

  “I’m waiting on you, but I want the Tuesday morning special with two extra pancakes,” Tandy said. “And a bowl of stewed prunes on the side.”

  “Make that two, only with a big glass of orange juice instead of the prunes,” Emmy Jo said.

  Tandy was sporting a new haircut and she wore her lucky bingo pants again, so maybe she was in a good mood even if it was raining hard enough to flood the whole state of Texas. She was a force to be reckoned with when she was pissed, so Emmy Jo didn’t jump right into the deep waters of the ancestry question.

  In the sleepless night before, she’d formed a strategy where she would ease into the conversation and simply chat. Maybe Tandy would give her a name before she even realized it had come out of her mouth.

  “So how did you do at bingo this week?” Emmy Jo asked.

  “Came away with twenty more than I went in there with, and I’m not telling you jack shit about my past,” Tandy said. “I’ve got two new recipes that I wrote down for you. They’re similar to that Texas sheet cake you like so well—lemon sheet cake and vanilla coconut sheet cake. Here, I brought you a piece.” She set a plastic container on the table with two note cards on top. “Go on and eat it while you wait on breakfast.”

  “Thank you.” Might as well enjoy the cake while she tried to wait her grandmother out. She shoved the recipes into her purse and removed the lid from the container. “Oh. My. God,” she muttered when she took the first bite. “This is amazing, Granny.”

  “Thought you’d like it, the way you love lemon so much. They’d both be good recipes for some of the cupcakes at your wedding,” Tandy said.

  Emmy Jo swallowed fast to keep from choking. She pinched her leg to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. What in the . . .oh . . . now that she knew Jesse wasn’t Rose’s father, Tandy was coming around.

  “So you are ready to look at my wedding book and help me make decisions?”

  Tandy’s bony hands toyed with her coffee cup. “Maybe, but that don’t mean I’m going to be nice to Jesse at the wedding.”

  “Fine, I’ll bring it by the house on Thursday morning. You think you could make another one of these cakes? I could use a bigger piece than this little taste you brought to tease me with. And I’d still like to use your mama’s ring in my bouquet.”

  “I’ll make half a lemon and half of the coconut so you can taste them. I could even make them up in cupcakes so we can see how they hold up when the paper is peeled off.” She sipped at her coffee. “And if you want to use the ring, I’m okay with that.”

  “That would be wonderful, Granny,” Emmy Jo said. Baby steps. Just like with Seth, she had to take tiny little steps. First it was getting him to smile and then to trust her as a friend. She’d get Tandy excited about the wedding and then she’d work around the elephant in the room called whoever the hell had really gotten Tandy pregnant more than sixty years ago.

  “My colors are shades of purple, and I’m going to carry a lilac bouquet. Will you go shopping with me and get a pretty dress in a shade to match your lilac corsage?”

  “I look better in red, but I guess I could wear a deep, dark purple.”

  “You’ll be the belle of the ball.” Emmy Jo beamed.

  “No, honey, you are the one who’s supposed to be the center of attention. I’m just there for pictures with you. Promise me that you won’t make me take one with Jesse or make me stand beside Logan.”

  Emmy Jo held up her pinky finger and Tandy locked hers into it. “I pinky promise that you won’t have to do anything at my wedding that you don’t want to do. But you have to promise me that you won’t create a scene with Seth or Jesse. I doubt that Jesse will even come, but we’re holding out hope that he will.”

  Tandy jerked her hand away. “Why would Seth come to your wedding?”

  “He’s my friend,” Emmy Jo snapped. Nice hadn’t lasted very long, but at least she’d made a little progress.

  “Well, I’m damn sure not promising anything.”

  A smart-ass remark leaped to Emmy Jo’s tongue, but she bit it back and silently thanked God that Libby brought their food right then. “I saved one bite for you, Libby.” Emmy Jo pushed the container to the edge of the table. “You might want to start making this to sell in here.”

  Libby forked the last piece into her mouth and groaned. “I’ve got to have that recipe, Tandy.”

  “It’s right here. You can write it off while we are eating breakfast.” Emmy Jo handed it to her. “So what do you think, Granny? Lemon, coconut, red velvet, and maybe your famous Hawaiian wedding cake?”

  “And an assortment of mini cheesecakes on the groom’s table,” she said as she poured maple syrup on her pancakes.

  Food. Cooking. Wedding. Three safe topics for the morning. Next week maybe she’ll be ready to tell me something.

  When Emmy Jo arrived at noon, only one booth was left in the whole Dairy Queen. It was across the room from where she and Logan usually sat, but at least it was beside a window. She kept her eyes on the parking lot outside. Something didn’t feel quite right. She figured that the crazy feeling was right when Logan got out of the truck, his eyes on the ground. He looked as if he was bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. Good Lord! Had someone died or had he gotten bad news? Instead of meeting him, she waited at the booth. He kissed her on the cheek and slid in across from her instead of beside her.

  “It’s been a hell of a week,” he said.

  “Family? Work?” she asked.

  “Both.” He took her hands in his. “Just seeing you even for an hour helps. I’m planning a surprise on Thursday, so please don’t get sick or let anything happen.”

  “Do my best.” She wanted to tell him about Seth’s offer, but this wasn’t the time or the place. Maybe they’d discuss it on Thursday in the hotel. A picture of a n
ice hotel room with lit candles and rose petals on the bed flashed through her mind. “Want to talk about it or just sit here and soak up the fact that we are finally getting to be together?”

  “I don’t want to talk.” He picked up her hand and kissed each knuckle. “Did you order for us?”

  She nodded. “I sure did. Six tacos. Two chocolate malts and two large fries.”

  “Fantastic.” He dropped her hand and fidgeted with the salt-and-pepper shakers.

  The waitress brought their food, and Emmy Jo was in the process of taking the paper off the first taco when she looked up to see Jesse Grady entering through the door. She caught his eye. He scowled and set his mouth so tight that a gnat couldn’t have wiggled its way between those thin lips.

  “Well, hello, Preacher Grady.” She waved. “Come on over here and sit with us.”

  “What are you doing?” Logan whispered.

  “Making peace, not war.” She grinned.

  “No, thank you,” Jesse said as he walked past their booth.

  “Ah, come on,” she said sweetly. “There’s no place else to sit, and besides, I want to talk to you about performing the ceremony at our wedding.”

  “No, thank you, again,” he growled.

  “You are still a preacher, right?” she asked.

  “I am, but—”

  She held up a palm and butted in before he could say another word. “And you can marry people, right?”

  “Yes, but—”

  Her other palm shot up. “Sit down and let’s visit, or the whole town will think that you’ve got something in your past concerning me that you don’t want the world to find out.”

  You are chasin’ ghosts, the voice in her head said. That’s the best-kept secret in all of Texas, not just Hickory.

  “Don’t you threaten me, young lady,” Jesse hissed as he sat.

  “Don’t you be such a jackass,” she shot back.

  “What exactly are you accusing me of, anyway?” he asked.

  “Why don’t you tell me what you think it might be?” Emmy Jo smiled sweetly, enjoying every second of his squirming.

  “Most likely that my father didn’t want Tandy in his church because she was pregnant and unmarried,” he said. “I was gone when my dad told her to find another church. That’s not on me.” He pulled up a chair from a nearby table and sat down at the end of the booth.

  “Did you ever commit a sin, or have you been perfect your whole life?” Emmy Jo handed him one of her tacos.

  He instinctively took it and then dropped it on the table.

  “Hey, I did not spit on it. It’s just a taco,” she said.

  Logan chuckled, and Jesse shot a dirty look over his shoulder. “What’s so funny?”

  “Emmy Jo does not bite. She’s kind and sweet and she’s trying to get to know you. She’s right. You are being a jackass. Jesus wouldn’t act like this,” Logan said.

  “She don’t want to know me. She wants to humiliate me. I might be a jackass, but she’s a smart-ass, just like her grandmother,” Jesse snapped.

  “Yes, I am like her and proud of it. She raised me to speak my mind. So here goes: I will marry your grandson. If you want to be a part of our lives, then be nice. If you don’t, then we won’t bother you with our presence. Now, are you going to perform our wedding or not?”

  “Not,” he said. “Not in a million years will I condone this marriage.”

  “Why?” she asked with another smile. “You seem so set on that point.”

  He glared at her, pushed the taco back her way, stood up, and left without another word to her or Logan.

  Emmy Jo removed the paper from the taco and bit into it. “Well, that went well, didn’t it?”

  A chuckle started down deep in Logan’s chest, built into laughter, and then went to a full-fledged guffaw. Before Logan got control of it, he had the hiccups and tears poured down his cheeks, dripping on his pretty blue shirt and leaving water circles. “That was horrible. How can you even think it went well?”

  “He didn’t try to suffocate me with a fistful of paper napkins or nail me to a cross,” she answered. “So it went very well. I’m alive and you are laughing, which is better than that sadness you brought in here with you.”

  “Emmy Jo Massey, I love you,” Logan said.

  “Well, I’m damn sure glad you do.” She stirred her malt with the straw and then sucked up part of it, her focus never leaving his face. “Our love will be tested.”

  “I believe it’s strong enough,” he answered.

  “Good! Now tell me about this surprise on Thursday. And why were you so mopey when I first got here?”

  “I can’t tell you right now, but believe me, darlin’, I will pretty soon. The surprise has something to do with water. That’s the only hint that you get.”

  When the hour had passed and they said good-bye, she thought about going to the library, but there was nothing she could look up. Edith likely wouldn’t know who Tandy had been seeing, with one of her two relationships having been a secret. Seth’s story was almost told, but for the part when Clifford died and Seth took over the business.

  Deciding on Seth’s house, absent other options, she found Oma Lynn putting a roast in the oven for supper. Emmy Jo handed her the two new recipes, and Oma Lynn immediately went to the pantry to see if she had everything to make the lemon cake. She clapped her hands together several times when she found the can of lemon pie filling.

  “Seth is in the office watching that show y’all watched yesterday. He said that there were parts of it he needed to study,” she said as she turned the oven on. “I don’t imagine he’d mind if you joined him.”

  “No, thank you. One five-hour session with the Hatfields and the McCoys is enough for me. Besides, I’ve got my own feud to worry about,” she said.

  Oma Lynn clucked like an old hen gathering in her chicks. “It’s time for Seth and Jesse to let whatever it was go before they have to face off with God over all that bitterness in their hearts.”

  “Ain’t it the truth,” Emmy Jo said as she left the kitchen. She was going to succeed in putting an end to the Grady-Thomas-Massey feud. She could feel it in her soul. Squeezing her great-grandfather’s identity out of her great-grandmother had to be part of the way forward.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Several strands of Emmy Jo’s hair had escaped her ponytail, and she wore very little makeup. Cutoff jean shorts showed off muscular legs. A cute plaid, pearl-snap shirt was tied at the waist. Watching her eyes light up when she saw Logan took a little of the weight from his chest.

  “I smell burgers,” she said as she got into the truck. “And I brought cupcakes from Granny’s house. She has new recipes we might use for the wedding and I want you to taste them.”

  He leaned across the console, cupped her face in his, and kissed her with enough heat to fog the windows. “I just picked up the burgers at the Dairy Queen, and there’s a quilt back there. The surprise is that we’re having a picnic at the creek today. And you know how much I love cake, so I’d love to sample the cupcakes.”

  “Oh, I thought we were going to the hotel. It’s been forever.” Her tone left no doubt she was disappointed.

  “If we’re in a hotel, we’ll shut the door and forget words until five minutes before it’s time to leave. I want us to talk,” he said.

  Her quick intake of air and the way her eyes opened wide said the words before she whispered, “Are you breaking up with me?”

  “No, but you might be telling me to hit the road. We’ll wait until we are under our favorite willow tree to start this conversation. Until then I love you with my heart and soul,” Logan said.

  He needed five more minutes to collect his thoughts and get the story outlined in his mind. And he wanted to be where he could hold her hand while he told her. He turned right after they crossed the bridge over Hickory Creek, then made another quick right and parked the truck off the road. She got out and opened the back door, picked up the quilt, and, without a word or even a
nod, headed toward the willow tree down the sandbar about fifty yards. She had the quilt spread out and was sitting right in the middle when he reached her with the food. He dropped the cooler in front of her, removed his tie, and sat down. Taking her hand in his, he took a deep breath.

  She jerked her hand away. “Did you cheat on me, Logan Grady?”

  “How could you even ask that?” he blurted out.

  “You’ve been acting weird for more than a week, and the creek? Come on, Logan, you never missed a chance at spending an afternoon in bed with me before now,” she said.

  “I did not cheat on you. I wouldn’t, Emmy Jo. I couldn’t, because I love you too much, but I did keep something from you, and it’s been eating at me, so that’s what you sensed,” he answered.

  “We don’t keep secrets.” A sharp shot of guilt pierced her heart.

  “We never have, and that’s been driving me crazy. I went to see Seth while you were buying a television.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because he asked me to and because something was buggin’ me about this Jesse-Tandy-Seth thing, too. Have you talked to Tandy?”

  “Of course, just a couple of days ago. I was waiting to tell you until we were together.”

  “Thank goodness. I’m not breaking Seth’s confidence, then.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Keepin’ things from you was killin’ me. I’m so excited that we can talk about this. It’s great news,” he said. “I had no idea about my grandpa and Tandy. That really is a pretty big secret. To think it never surfaced all these years. When Seth told me about bein’ in love with Tandy and she was pregnant and thought it was Gramps’s baby but it wasn’t because he and his doctor figured it out with blood types”—he stopped and took a deep breath before he went on—“I was blown away. I couldn’t hardly believe it, but it sure made sense as to why they’d all three carry a grudge all these years.”