Something Molly Can't See

by Carol Maloney Scott

  “So, Ashley took pictures of the cars you’d restored. Oh, I get it. You had to travel to where the cars are currently because you sold them.”

  “Yep, I tracked down all the buyers from the past years, and we went on road trips to take the photos, and all the while Ashley pitched a story to Rural Virginia Living magazine about the cars and how I donate the money to charity.”

  “But I thought you said you don’t like people to know about that?”

  “I don’t. I didn’t. But she convinced me that I was bein’ a stubborn jackass, and that the publicity would help my auto shop business and the adoption agency. So, I’m hopin’ when the issue comes out, they’ll get more donations.”

  “Wow, she is smart. Now I might actually have to like her. Although, she doesn’t like me.”

  “She doesn’t know you. You never gave her a chance. And I hate to say it, but apparently Olivia feels the same way.”

  “What? Are you sayin’ that I’m the unwelcoming committee in Pentagon Place?”

  “No, I’m just sayin’ that maybe you need to be a little more accepting of people who are different.”

  “That is not fair. Angie is one of my best friends and she is very different!”

  “Angie is your husband’s cousin. So that doesn’t count. Also, is Ray still your husband?”

  “After the scene we just witnessed I’m sure he is signin’ those divorce papers. And you know he is gonna give me money, well what’s left of it after he has to pay off his cousins…who knows what will happen with that hot mess…but I am gonna take his help because we have children together and he owes me. You okay with that?”

  “Yes, I will mind my own business on the legal stuff between you and Ray. I just need to know if you are truly over him.”

  I lean in and say, “I am so over him that I don’t wanna talk about him anymore. He’s yesterday’s news and you are today’s hot story.”

  “Molly Mae, we are in a chapel. We’re supposed to be prayin’ in here.”

  “I was prayin’ before you came in. I was thankin’ the Lord for Daddy wakin’ up and for my sweet baby nephews (I want to say, ‘and finding out that we’re not related’), and for this.”

  I finally get my real kiss, and just as Tucker’s hands move to the short hair on my neck and I am about to moan in a way that truly is sacrilegious in this place, I hear another “Ahem, excuse me.”

  Why is this not a sacred space? This woman probably wants to know if we know where the bathroom is. At least I hope that’s all she wants…I can’t take any more surprises today.

  The light is dim in here but as she approaches us, I study her face and think, ‘Wow, she looks so much like the country star, Trudy Lou Dean.’

  Wouldn’t that be something? Mama would leave Daddy’s side if she thought her idol was running around loose in the hospital.

  She approaches us and wrings her hands. The resemblance is uncanny, and she even looks all bright and shiny like you would expect a star to look.

  She reaches out her hand and says, “I’m sorry to interrupt your private moment, but I was told Molly Jenkins might be in here.”

  Who the hell keeps sending people in here to interrupt us? I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d think someone was out to break us up before we get back together.

  I try to put on my polite smile and say, “Yes, I’m Molly Jenkins. And you are…?”

  She beams at us both and blurts out, “I’m your Aunt Trudy!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “Did you get a good look at that diamond? I’ve been savin’ like a wildman for months for that thing. You could put someone’s eye out with that rock. I’ll have to be on my best behavior—I gave the girl a durn weapon right there.”

  Dawson is telling everyone how proud he is of the engagement ring he gave Emma.

  It is beautiful and so was his proposal. Their engagement party is exactly what you would expect at Pentagon Place.

  We have the blow-up pool set up and the fake beach with the big sandbox. And Ken and Stan are manning the grill.

  Only unlike last year, no one is trying to trick Emma into thinking they’re only serving health foods. She’s lost so much weight and she’s feeling great, but she isn’t out to deprive the masses of their southern comfort picnic food.

  Mama sits down in a lawn chair next to me, and she’s got a tub of something and a cracker.

  “It’s a hot one already. I’m so glad you invited us to this shindig. I can see why you like livin’ here now. Everyone is so friendly. And did you see Daddy in the pool earlier? So handsome and strong. I am determined to lose some of this weight and live a long healthy life with him. Now what is this hummer sauce made out of?”

  I suppress a giggle. “Mama, it’s hummus. And I have never seen you eat such a thing.”

  “I know, but the non-stop fried chicken and cobbler surely shortened my mama’s life, and I don’t wanna repeat that. I wanna be around to see all my grandkids grow up and get married, includin’ that little one you’re cookin’ right there.”

  She points at my mid-section and I place a protective hand on my belly. I’ve started to feel the little butterfly flutters and I’m only four months along. I fondly remember all of this from the girls, and to be able to live it all over again—this time with the man of my dreams…well, it’s pretty dreamy.

  Mama has been in the best mood of her life after Daddy got better and she found out that the real Trudy Lou Dean is her long-lost sister.

  Apparently, Aunt Trudy (I still can’t get used to that) was looking for her birth family, and once Ed Franklin started our search, the two came together.

  Obviously, a famous country star has lots of money and resources, so she was hot on the Jenkins family trail.

  She was very sad to learn that Meemaw had passed, but I told her that her daddy was alive and well. I was asked to respect Albert and Gladys’ privacy, but I knew they would be thrilled to meet Trudy.

  Meemaw popped back into that chapel as soon as Trudy announced herself, and my sexy reunion with Tucker was interrupted.

  She was clapping her ghost hands and singing off key renditions of Aunt Trudy’s most famous songs, and I was so happy for her.

  I took Trudy to meet Mama, which truth be told was a little scary. I knew she would be excited to meet one of her idols, but finding out that Meemaw had a baby out of wedlock…

  Also, Albert and his wife were going to get pulled into this, and they didn’t deserve the wrath of Viola Jenkins, either.

  But after Mama had her fangirl moment, Trudy explained everything to her, and it all sounded correct based on my secret inside knowledge.

  Albert was eventually outed as the dad, and while Mama seemed shocked and a bit embarrassed that her Mama was fooling around with a boy before she met Peepaw, she got over it pretty quickly.

  She introduced Trudy to everyone as her sister and we enjoyed the rest of Easter Sunday at the hospital. The rest of the neighbors from Pentagon Place came over, and Angie and her husband, Paul, showed up with an enormous tray of lasagna and apologies for telling her ‘two meathead brothers’ that we were all at the hospital.

  But the biggest shocker came the next weekend at Mama’s house, after the babies and their mamas were discharged from the hospital, along with Daddy.

  I was holding Preston, or maybe it was Noah—they look so similar they could be twins.

  Meemaw appeared to me in the room Mama had already set up as the new grandbaby nursery in her house (apparently, she was planning on doing a lot of babysitting), and she asked me odd questions.

  By then I should have realized that Meemaw was tired of Haunting Jail and eating hummus in the void, and she was limited in what she could tell me. If I didn’t already know something, she couldn’t come out and say it, especially if it affected other living people. She had to be more creative in passing me information.

  She sat next to me (thank goodness, I was alone for five minutes for once) and she said, “So you’re en
joyin’ the babies?”

  “Yes, of course I am. They’re little angels.”

  I was so happy that Meemaw was able to visit me when I was with them, so she could see them. I didn’t know if she was gonna continue to visit me or if she’d take a break, or if there was a limit to her haunting time.

  “Hmm…how would you feel if you had one of your own? You know, hypocritically?”

  “You mean hypothetically? Why?”

  She pursed her lips and looked at the baby and then at my belly and I almost dropped the child on the floor.

  “Are you tryin’ to tell me that I’m expecting?”

  Just then Mama appeared at the door smiling at the scene of me holding my nephew and said, “Oh Molly Mae, you should have another one.”

  On the way home from that visit I told Tucker I had to duck into the pharmacy to get some tampons and he waited in the car. That usually does it for men.

  I bought a pregnancy test and did it in the bathroom of the CVS. I swear I did.

  I tucked that stick with the big ole’ plus sign on it in my purse and realized that I had not gotten my period in a while. How did I not notice that?

  Oh, I don’t know, maybe because of the ghost, and the lying ex returning, and falling in love only to think my love was bangin’ the neighbor girl? And was my cousin?

  Oh, and my daughter was chasin’ a grown man, and we got a puppy and oh yeah…I’m tryin’ to start a business.

  I decided to forgive myself because I should be hitting the bottle after all of that.

  I didn’t tell Tucker right away, but I knew I was gonna need to do so quickly. I made the big speech about trust and the truth, and now I couldn’t start more trouble by hiding this very important bit of information.

  He had told me months before that he saw his thirtieth birthday as a time to settle down and have a family, but I didn’t know if he meant instantly.

  When I told him he smiled for at least ten days straight. And then his magazine article came out and the adoption agency got a whole bunch of donations.

  Then we had to tell everyone about the baby and even my girls were happy about it.

  It was like Daddy getting better, the babies being born, and Trudy swooping into our lives was this wave of happiness, and everyone was swept away—even my surly mama and my hormonal eldest daughter.

  She was now dating the boy from the Swansons’ auto shop, and he seemed like a nice kid.

  I was keeping a close eye on her, though. Unplanned pregnancies seem to run in our family, and I don’t want that for my girls. A baby is always a blessing, but doing it the hard way isn’t gonna happen for my daughters.

  Tucker sees Mama trying to figure out the hummus and he comes over and says, “Mrs. Jenkins, I think they have some grilled chicken for you over there.”

  She drops the tub of hummus and says, “Thank the good Lord. I’m tryin’ to lose weight, but I need some sustenance.”

  She struggles to get up out of the chair and Tucker offers his hand.

  “Thank you, Tucker. And I want to say I’m sorry for doubtin’ you. I can think of no finer man for my Molly and her children.”

  She walks away and Tucker says, “This new version of your mama takes some gettin’ used to.”

  “Don’t I know it. Daddy said he fell out of a tree with the toughest wife in the county and woke up to an angel. He asked me if the hospital drugged her or took out part of her brain while he was in the coma.”

  We laugh and watch my parents fix their plates of food.

  Tucker and Dawson helped me, and my brothers, finish clearing out Meemaw’s house so we could get it on the market. It sold in five days and Mama and Daddy are going to take some much-needed time off.

  Daddy is not gonna climb trees anymore, and is moving into semi-retirement, letting his younger workers handle the hard labor.

  Mama has a trip to Asheville, North Carolina planned for them, and since they’ve never been out of state, you’d think she was going to Brussels with Lia and Logan, she is so excited.

  Tucker kneels in front of me and looks at my hands.

  “Tucker Swanson, what are you doing? You look like you’re gonna propose.”

  “Hmm…not today, but I am not gonna let this baby come into the world without my name, so when you least expect it, expect it.”

  He reaches up to kiss me and I feel our little boy flutter in my belly again.

  I just know it’s a boy. I feel different than I did with Magnolia and Zinnia.

  Olivia yells out, “We’re cutting the cake now. Everybody, let’s gather around the happy couple.”

  Tucker helps me out of the chair, and I am hoping I don’t get so huge that I’m actually going to need that help soon.

  I laugh to myself thinking of how Mama is gonna get skinny, and I’m about to blow up like a balloon.

  I stand next to Arielle, who is a bit farther along than I am. We exchange that expectant mother’s knowing smile—it’s a sisterhood I am blessed to join again—and maybe even again, after this one is born.

  Dawson and Emma cut their cake, and he jokes that he’s not gonna do the ‘cake in the face’ thing until the wedding. “I want her to be stuck with me first.”

  With that Emma smears some cake on his face and licks it off.

  Everyone laughs and grabs their slice of the delicious, homemade treat.

  We have a little makeshift stage set up and Aunt Trudy is gonna do a private performance for us in a bit.

  Her band is setting up and she’s talking to Mama and Daddy, probably telling them tales of places she’s been, much farther away than Asheville.

  Maybe my folks will get real wild and go to Nashville. I bet Aunt Trudy could introduce them to a whole crew of their favorites.

  Tucker licks the icing off his fork and I suddenly wish we were alone. This stage of pregnancy is one of the most active for you know what.

  “Hey, do you wanna try to get out of—”

  I don’t get to finish propositioning my baby daddy before we hear a loud popping sound and a river of water comes flying at all the unsuspecting cake eaters.

  Tucker holds onto me, so I don’t get knocked over. We’re all wet up to our knees.

  Tucker falls down on the floor laughing and points at the blow-up pool, which is now flatter than Meemaw’s friend Peggy Sue’s chest.

  I cover my mouth and say, “Oh no, was anyone in there?” I glance down at Tucker and say, “Tucker Swanson, have you been drinkin’? This is not funny.”

  Through alternating bursts of laughter and coherent speech, I make out why he finds this turn of events so hilarious.

  “Don’t you remember when Lia’s dad helped me put the pool away at the end of last season?”

  “Yes, I do. That nutty, hippy professor wanted to help, and he had no idea on God’s green earth what he was doin’.”

  “I had to let him help. It would have been impolite to tell him that it was a good thing he was a smart man, because if he worked with his hands, he’d be in a heap of trouble.”

  Everyone is running back to their apartments to get extra towels, and I am glad Lia and Logan aren’t here to see her dad’s handiwork. I snap some photos anyway, because I know she will find it funny after the fact.

  I can’t wait until my friend and her love return from their European tour. She promised me she’d be back long before baby Swanson makes his appearance.

  I told her she’ll have two more vacant apartments soon—Tucker and I are gonna buy a house in town, near Angie’s shop.

  It will be good for the girls to be able to walk to stores and such, and it’s time we get out of the nest of gossip. I’m sure Dawson and Emma won’t be far behind us.

  Things are really changing here at Pentagon Place, but I think the Santos’ will welcome their baby and stay here, and Ken Washington claims he and Beth are going to die here. He loves not having to do yardwork and maintenance.

  Shawn has turned out to be a good neighbor, and I’m hoping I can bec
ome friendlier with Olivia and Ashley, now that the error of my ways has been pointed out by my love.

  Tucker surveys the scene of chaos around us, and it looks like our friends and family are turning this mishap into a laugh fest.

  My girls are running around the wreckage looking for the hole in the pool, and I’m grateful that Ray will be picking them up later, so Tucker and I can have some alone time.

  Ray is embroiled in a legal mess with the Rizzo cousins, but his lawyer said that he didn’t do anything illegal, and that Aunt Ida was of sound mind when she decided to leave Ray all her money.

  I’m sure he did a bit of work on her head—he’s good at that—but he was there with her at the end and that should count for something.

  He signed the divorce papers and he said he would find a new place to live.

  I told him not to bother because I was gonna move, but he insisted that a quiet place further out in the county would be good for him.

  I’m just hoping that isn’t the start of some new scam. I wouldn’t put it past Ray to start an illegal moonshine business or a meth lab.

  Okay, the meth lab is not realistic. He isn’t smart enough to make anything but a big mess.

  Tucker takes my hand and walks me away from the fray.

  “Hey, it looks like this is under control.”

  He smirks because it’s anything but. However, there are enough able-bodied people here to handle it, and it’s not like a dam broke—just a vinyl, discount store pool.

  “Okay, so what did you have in mind?”

  “I was thinkin’ we could go back to my shop. I’ve finished that vintage car I was workin’ on. The owner is picking it up tomorrow.”

  He kisses me and pulls me in close. Pretty soon my belly is gonna make this awkward, but in the most wonderful way.

  “Hmm…did you want to take it for a ride?”

  I raise my eyebrows, and he says, “Molly Mae, I am surprised at you. I was gonna suggest we take it for an actual ride…on the road. We have the whole house to ourselves tonight. You were thinkin’ about a different ride, weren’t you?”

  I smile sweetly and say, “No, of course not. I would never think of sullyin’ a customer’s purchase in such a way. I’m a sweet expectant mother.”