The Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society Jubilee

by Carolyn Brown

  She had a raging headache when she reached the Prescott house and Clayton opened the door. “Come in, Catherine. I would like a few words with you before you and Ethan, and of course Violet, go to Annabel’s to order the cake.”

  Every hair on her arms stood straight up. Her stomach knotted into a pretzel. It was prenup time and she hated the whole idea. For goodness sakes, this was Grayson County, Texas, not a big city. Sure Ethan would inherit an estate someday, but it wasn’t millions, and besides, she wouldn’t have agreed to marry him if she wasn’t serious about staying married. Two people were supposed to have enough love to carry them through the bad times.

  Clayton’s eyes were icy cold. His side glances as he walked beside her sent waves that chilled her skin even though the first chill of winter hadn’t hit yet. His touch would probably freeze her to death, so she kept her distance. No one else was in the office, and he sat in Ethan’s chair like he was judge, juror, and executioner. He motioned for her to sit in one of the two chairs facing the desk. “Sit down, please. I’ve drawn up a prenup according to what Violet and Ethan have requested. Basically it says that what you bring into the marriage is what you take out when you leave it, if you should. It also says that what Ethan brings he keeps. That means, in layman’s terms, that you will not be able to sue him for part of this estate or his present trust fund.”

  “I’ll take it home and read it,” she said.

  Clayton handed her a pen. “Reading it won’t change a thing, Catherine. It’s standard, so just sign it.”

  She looked down and her eyes came to rest on the words Miss Clawdy’s Café. “It says that I have to sell my part of the café or give it away.”

  “That’s part of the prenup. A politician’s wife or a professor’s wife or a Prescott does not work in a café,” Clayton said.

  “I’m not signing it right now. I want to read it.”

  Ethan, bless his heart, chose that moment to poke his head in the door. “All done? Let’s go to Annabel’s and look at cakes, sweetheart. Mother is already waiting in the car.”

  She picked up the papers and shoved them down in her purse with her e-reader and smiled at Ethan. “I’m ready.”

  Ethan laced his fingers in hers and they went out to the car where he opened the door for her. She had the whole backseat in the big white car to herself since, as always, Violet was up front in the passenger seat.

  The doorbell had barely stopped buzzing when Anna Ruth opened the door to her aunt’s house. “Hello. Come right on in. Aunt Annabel is in the dining room. We have coffee and cookies for you while you are looking at the wedding cake book.”

  “I’m so excited that I could be here to help pick out the cake,” Anna Ruth said.

  Cathy wondered how long she could live on what was in her savings account if she slept in her car and ate bologna sandwiches and generic chicken noodle soup.

  Annabel motioned for them to join her at the dining room table where refreshments awaited, along with the book. It was covered in white satin with little gold bells sewn to the ribbons that tied it shut. It looked as ominous as the one that St. Peter reportedly had on a pedestal right outside the pearly gates.

  “I’ve kept a picture of every wedding cake I’ve ever made. That way you can see my work,” Annabel said.

  Ethan pulled out a chair on Annabel’s right and Cathy slid into it.

  Surely it wouldn’t take long to flip through the book, pick out the style, and tell Annabel that she didn’t want any color on it. White wedding cake, white icing, and a few white sugar roses. The cake topper, a gorgeous crystal bride and groom she’d found in the spring, would sit in a bed of white rose buds and greenery that she’d have arranged at the florists.

  Violet wasn’t going to like it, no matter what she chose, but Marty was right. It was her wedding and her cake.

  Annabel pointed at the chair on her left. “You sit here, Ethan, so you can both see everything.”

  Violet stood behind Annabel. Anna Ruth put her hands on Ethan’s shoulders and leaned in for a better look when her aunt opened the book. Annabel stroked the first page with the loving fingers of a mother showing off pictures of her children.

  “I made this for Anna Ruth’s mother’s wedding. It was my very first.”

  Hmmm. I wonder if Marty had a book like that with all the cowboys she’s slept with if she’d treat it like a national treasure.

  “And this is my second cake. Everyone thought I did such a beautiful job on the first one that I started getting orders. Look at the little rosebuds. I’d just learned to make them.”

  “They are just beautiful, Aunt Annabel. I swear you’ve always had the touch,” Anna Ruth said.

  By the time they reached page twenty, Cathy was ready to yank her hair by the roots and paint her bald head purple.

  “Annabel, they are all lovely, but we’d like a simple cake. White cake, white icing, only a few white sugar roses,” Cathy said.

  Annabel, a small slip of a woman with salt-and-pepper hair and a long face, wiped at a tear and shut the book, picked up a pen, and pursed her thin mouth. “Well, if you know what you want, I’ll start taking notes.”

  “I’m just not one for pillars and bright colors,” Cathy said.

  Violet threw up her hands. “Nonsense! The cake is important. It makes a statement, and Ethan’s wedding will do just that. A plain old white cake would just say that he was plain. We have to get the message out that he’s bold. After all, he will have just stepped into office. We have to think about the future of his career, Catherine. Now, Annabel, we want it to be like that big one you made last year for the Smith-Gilbert wedding. Remember, it was this tall.” Violet held her hand up beside her waist.

  Annabel perked right up and flipped the book to one of the back pages.

  It was the exact opposite of the elegant cake she had in mind, but the way Violet’s eyes were lighting up said she wasn’t backing down. It was just a cake, for God’s sake. It wasn’t a statement, and Cathy was too jittery to argue the point.

  Violet pointed but didn’t touch the book. “Like that one. Red velvet inside with white icing and lots of piping. Then we want bright blue flowers on it.”

  Annabel smiled brightly. “Oh! Morning glories? I’ve been dying to make a cake with morning glories. They are so pretty and I’ve never gotten to do them before. I’ll make them in life-sized sugar flowers and we’ll put the cake on a mirror so when it is cut it will reflect all the colors of the flag. If it’s agreeable to you, Violet, we will use your gorgeous red crystal vases on either side of the table with an arrangement of the same flowers. And maybe we can even find some good quality silk morning glories to use on the guests’ tables.”

  “Doesn’t she just have the best ideas ever?” Anna Ruth threw her arm around Ethan and hugged him in her happiness. “I can’t wait until she and I can start preparations for my wedding.”

  “I’m sure that Annabel will design everything beautifully,” Ethan said.

  The monstrosity in the book hurt Cathy’s eyes. She blinked, looked down at her feet, and spotted the e-reader. Right next to it was the prenup document. She couldn’t call off a wedding after she’d already bought the dress, could she? How had things gone so far astray? She was so excited to be engaged, and now she’d rather be in the Rib Joint with her e-reader or weeding her flowerbeds than ordering her wedding cake.

  “Well, I guess that covers it,” Violet said. “We really must be going since tomorrow is our press day.”

  All eyes were on Cathy.

  No one had listened to her about anything, so why should she say anything? Violet was a mother-in-law-zilla, but her time was fast coming to an end. When the wedding was over, Cathy and Ethan would only have to see her once a week, if that. Cathy would live through the wedding and the absurd wedding cake. Someday when her son was getting married, she’d use the experience as a guide in what not to do.

  Violet tapped her foot. “Well?”

  “Nothing I can think of,” Cath
y said.

  Violet cocked her head to one side and looked at Annabel.

  Cathy’s eyebrows knit together and promised a raging headache. “Thank you so much, Annabel. I appreciate your doing this for us.”

  “I’m glad to get the business. You could have paid a bakery to do it for you, but I’m so glad that you chose me to have a little part in your wedding. It will be great for my business, and because you’ve been so kind, I’m going to give you a ten percent discount,” Annabel said.

  That was it! Cathy was supposed to pay the woman? The way Violet had talked, Cathy was under the impression that Annabel was making it as their gift. How stupid of her! She picked up her purse and took out her checkbook.

  “Thank you for the discount, but I’m glad to pay full price,” Cathy said.

  “Oh, honey, that is so sweet of you. Just having the business would be enough, but I’ll make sure I do an extra special job on it since you won’t even let me give you the discount,” Annabel said as she pushed a piece of paper toward Cathy. “Violet said five hundred people. This cake easily feeds three hundred, but I’ll have sheet cakes in the back if we run out.”

  Cathy blinked twice. A thousand dollars for a cake! And she was supposed to quit work, according to the prenup?

  She made out the check and put it in Annabel’s hand. “Once more, thank you.”

  “Well, we are definitely going now.” Violet ushered Ethan and Cathy out the door with Anna Ruth and Annabel right behind them.

  Cathy heard the chatter between them, but she couldn’t utter a single word. A thousand damn dollars for a cake that was going to look like shit!

  ***

  Trixie hadn’t meant to get involved with the work in the garage when she’d wandered out to check on the Caddy’s progress. Ten minutes and a beer later, her head was under the hood with Jack’s and she was working as hard as Marty. Without a father around in her life, Trixie’s mother had made her learn to change tires and change oil before she was allowed to drive the family car. So a car engine wasn’t completely foreign to her, but she couldn’t tear one down and put it back together the way Marty or Jack could.

  Jack Landry had quit from the Army and come back home to Cadillac. An opening came up for a night shift at the police department and he applied. He had meant to stay with his mother just long enough to find his own place, but a month stretched into six, and a year stretched into two.

  The girls kept telling him that he should buy his own place, but now it had gotten complicated. Beulah was going to have a fit and make a big issue out of it after all this time.

  “You are awful quiet tonight.” Trixie poked Jack’s arm.

  “Got a lot on my mind.”

  “Finally thinkin’ about moving out of your mamma’s house?” Marty asked.

  “Maybe, but I’m not ready to talk about it yet,” he said. “What’s the newest scuttle on the wedding plans?”

  “Did Cathy tell you what Violet wants us to wear as bridesmaids in the wedding?” Marty looked at Trixie and winked.

  “Something to do with red, white, and blue because she thinks that Ethan will be a couple of weeks away from taking oath in his new office. Wonder how she’ll feel when the wedding is all arranged and he don’t win that election. I can’t see him really winning, can you?” Trixie asked.

  Marty didn’t act any different. If she had really voted for Anna Ruth to get into the club like Andy said she did, there would have been a big difference, right?

  “Hell, no! He’s not going to win. I don’t even know why he’s all up into politics anyway,” Marty answered. “What about you, Jack?”

  “I don’t see it happening. I just hope it doesn’t disappoint Cathy,” he answered.

  “Did I hear my name again? I swear, every time I come home, y’all are gossiping about me,” Cathy said.

  “Did you pick out the cake?” Trixie asked.

  “I paid for a cake.” Cathy’s voice did not give off happy vibes.

  “I didn’t ask if you paid… what? I thought Annabel was making it for a present.” Trixie frowned.

  “Annabel would charge Jesus for a cup of water,” Jack said.

  “You got that right, Jack, and she’d make him pay double,” Trixie said.

  “She does make pretty sugar flowers but…” Cathy let the sentence dangle.

  “But what?” Marty asked.

  “Can you imagine a red velvet cake with big, blue, life-sized morning glories all over it?” Cathy moaned.

  Trixie slapped a hand over her mouth to keep the giggles back.

  It didn’t work.

  Marty guffawed and held her ribs. “Stop thinking, Trixie. I can see your thoughts. At least she didn’t want you to have fake jalapeños all over the thing. I bet she does figure out a way to put at least a few peppers somewhere in the decorations.”

  Jack chuckled. “Sounds more appropriate than morning glories to me. At least they’re hot!”

  “Well, hot damn!” Trixie giggled harder.

  Cathy popped her hands on her hips. “It’s not funny! It’s horrible. I hope when you two get married that you get a mother-in-law who’s twice as bad as Violet.”

  Trixie wiped her eyes. “Had one and am grateful that she moved to Florida the second year of my marriage or there wouldn’t have been a third year. Well, shit! If she’d have stayed, I wouldn’t have wasted all those years. She could have broken us up instead of Andy’s cheating.”

  “And I don’t intend to ever get one. I’m learning my lessons from you, sister,” Marty said.

  See there, Trixie thought. Andy had been lying about Marty voting for that hussy. No way would she vote for Anna Ruth and then call me sister!

  Chapter 7

  “Lawdy, Miss Clawdy” was blaring from the CD player when Jack walked into the café that morning. He grabbed a table in the smaller room and nodded at Trixie.

  She filled a mug with coffee and carried it to him. “You just gettin’ off work?”

  He covered a yawn with the back of his hand. “I am and it was a boring night. Hey, I forgot to tell you. Couple of days ago a guy stopped out front and asked directions to Dallas from here. He’d taken the wrong highway out of Sherman. Anyway, he asked me which one of y’all was Miss Clawdy.”

  Trixie smiled. “Had he been in here?”

  “Had beans and greens with y’all that very day. I told him about the café being named for the twins’ mamma. He said it was the best food he’d ever eaten, so pass that on to Marty.”

  “I will,” Trixie said. “Hey, did your mamma mention the voting at the social club the other night?”

  The music stopped and then Elvis started singing “Suspicious Minds.”

  Heat inched its way up the back of Jack’s neck. “Why would you ask that? You know that what goes on in their club is so secret that they have to sign their names in blood just to get inside Violet’s house. That’s probably why Marty don’t go very often. You remember how she acted when she saw blood when we were kids?”

  The door opened and eight people trailed in together.

  “You won’t be able to sleep if you leave before you have breakfast,” Trixie said as she turned away from Jack’s table.

  “You are probably right. But this is my supper since I’m just getting off work. What’s in the fridge from yesterday? I’ve had my mind on beans with a big chunk of cornbread, greens on the side, and maybe a piece of fish.”

  “Got enough beans and greens for you, but the fish is all gone. Pork chop do? You could have picante or pepper jelly with it.”

  “Oh, yeah! Both. A side of picante and pepper jelly with my cornbread.” He exhaled slowly. He’d barely escaped that bullet, but Trixie really did have a suspicious mind, and she would find out about that damned vote. He just hoped he wasn’t the one who told her.

  ***

  Cathy could scarcely believe that Violet was smiling when she opened the door that morning. At least until her gaze dropped to the same suit Cathy had worn to the club ear
lier in the week. The smile faded and her highly arched brows shot up another inch.

  Cathy breezed past her into the house. “Thank you so much for your advice on what to wear, Violet. But I didn’t have time to shop and I didn’t have a thing in royal blue. Trixie did have this gorgeous scarf she picked up last week at Walmart that matched so I borrowed it and didn’t wear Mamma’s pearls. What do you think?”

  “It’ll have to do. You’re too tall to wear one of my better suits, or we could whisk you up to my bedroom and change you. The scarf is cheap, but it does match.”

  Cathy ignored her and asked, “Where is Ethan?”

  That’s when Violet noticed that Cathy wasn’t wearing panty hose and sucked up enough air to blow her lungs right out of her rib cage.

  “I told you to wear hose. Now they’ll have to take the picture from the bust up and I wanted a less personal one. What’s the matter with you, Catherine?”

  “I shaved my legs,” Cathy said.

  Violet shook her head. “I just hope no one got a picture of you at the club and puts it in the Cadillac News this week. There will be a big spread in the Sherman newspaper, and it would be tacky if you were seen in the same suit in both papers on the same day.” Violet shut the door with enough force to rattle the pretty crystal vase on the credenza. “Ethan and Clayton are in the study. I’m hoping that gigantic purse of yours has the prenup in it and you’ve signed it?”

  “Not yet. I didn’t have time to read it last night. I’m not very smart when it comes to legal papers, so after church tomorrow, Darla Jean is bringing her lawyer to the house, and he’s going to explain all the fine points to me.”

  Violet turned beet red and looked like she was about to explode. Cathy thought for sure she’d fall on the floor any minute, grasping at her throat and rolling her eyes back in her head. The doorbell rang, but she didn’t hear it until Cathy pointed.

  “What?” she snapped.