THE FUTURE WIDOW'S CLUB

by Rhonda Nelson

  Eyes puffy and her face generally wracked with grief, Meredith answered Jolie's knock. "Come in, dear," she said. "We're gonna open it in the back parlor."

  Jolie nodded and somberly followed her to a room she'd never been in before. Windows lined the back wall, which overlooked a small enclosed garden with a big brick barbeque pit. "How are you feeling?" she asked, no doubt referring to the pregnancy.

  Jolie managed a genuine smile. "Huge." Finding out that she was pregnant with Jake's baby had been a dream come true. She'd taken a broken road, but had finally ended up on the right one.

  With him.

  It seemed like a lifetime ago that she'd been involved with Chris, embroiled in a horrible nightmare of a marriage. As a result of that disaster, there wasn't a day that went by that she wasn't thankful for Jake, for his love and the relationship they shared.

  He completed her.

  There were times when she just looked at him and her heart would expand and she could barely catch her breath. Times when he dozed off, and she lay awake in their bed just so she could watch him sleep. Times when she woke him up because sleeping was the furthest thing from her mind. Be it merely holding hands or making love, he moved her in a way that defied reason and trumped logic. She could feel him in her bones, in her blood, and knowing that they'd created this little life inside her belly was a divine joy that often brought tears to her eyes.

  Managing to look both strong and shattered, Sophia stood when they walked in. "Hello, dear."

  Jolie's eyes misted and she crossed the room and hugged her. "I'm so sorry," she said, knowing it was inadequate. She couldn't even imagine a life without her best friend, couldn't think of going on in a world where Sadie didn't exist. As if on cue, Sadie made her way into the room.

  "Thanks for coming, Sadie," Meredith told her.

  Looking slightly bewildered, Sadie nodded, then sent Jolie a curiously nervous look.

  Sophia pulled in a bolstering breath. "Well, the suspense has been killing me all day, so let's just go ahead and get it over with. Knowing Bitsy, it's her damned coupons," she said, her voice a poignant cross between a laugh and a sob.

  Openly crying, Meredith giggled. "You open it, Sophia."

  Sophia nodded, picked up a pair of scissors and cut into the box, then lifted the lid and pulled out a letter.

  "Dear girls,

  If you're reading this letter, then I'm dead.

  (Well, that goes without saying, doesn't it?) Anyway, now that I'm gone there's no reason to keep hiding these things from you. In this box you will find some things that, at first, will appear odd—a couple of syringes, a crochet mallet, a gun, a pair of scissors and a bath towel."

  Sophia looked up and frowned, then resumed reading.

  "For the past decade or so I've kept a secret, one that I knew that I'd have to take to my grave. (Somebody see to it every once in a while, would you? I like daisies.) Sophia, Meredith, I know you think your husbands—and even mine—died of natural causes. Well, you thought wrong. I killed them. A healthy shot of vitamin K induced those random heart attacks mine and yours had, Sophia, and the crocket mallet sent your husband down that mountain, Meri. (He was drunk. The damned fool would have eventually done it to himself anyway, goin' on all those infernal nature hikes.)"

  Meredith inhaled sharply, Sophia's face had gone chalk white and Jolie had had to find a place to sit.

  She knew what was coming, but she simply couldn't believe it.

  Sweet little scattered Bitsy? A cold-blooded killer? Her gaze shot to Sadie, who seemed curiously reluctant to look at her.

  "As for you, Jolie, I just felt so sorry for you that I had to do something. That SOB you were married to didn't deserve to live. Shooting him was planned. Cutting his penis off with my sewing shears and gluing it to the statue wasn't, but it was pure genius if you ask me. Sadie, you're here because I know you saw me altering dear old Jebediah and yet you never told."

  Jolie inhaled sharply and her gaze swung to Sadie. "You knew?" she breathed.

  Sadie shrugged helplessly. "I couldn't tell on her for having the courage to do what I couldn't," she explained. "It wasn't right."

  Sophia and Meredith shared a look, then Sophia let go a small breath and continued reading.

  and in the county and therefore deserve to be an honorary member of the Club. (Sophia, see to it, would you? This is my last nomination, after all.)

  "Finally, don't be mad at me, girls, and I hope this doesn't change your opinion of me. We were all married to bastards who needed killin'—I was just the one to do it. I'll see you in the hereafter. Until then… Much love from your Bitsy."

  P.S. I glued the dick to the bloody statue with denture adhesive. Brilliant, eh? I've left a sizable fund that should take care of old Jeb, by the way. In coupons, of course. Ha! Just kidding."

  Hands shaking, lips twitching, Sophia lowered the letter and looked at both of them in turn. "Well."

  "My God," Meredith breathed. "I never dreamed— Never imagined."

  Sophia shook her head, seemingly lost in her thoughts. "Me neither." She looked heavenward and blinked back tears, and Jolie listened as she said the one thing that neither she nor Meredith had the courage to say. "Thank you, Bitsy," she whispered softly.

  "What are we going to do with all this stuff?" Meredith asked, typically moving on to practical matters. "Everybody thinks our husbands died of natural causes, but Jolie's is a different story."

  Jolie knew that going to the police would probably be the right thing to do, but she couldn't bring herself to suggest it. Bitsy was dead and buried—they couldn't do anything to her. Furthermore, going to the police would involve outing the FWC, and Bitsy had worked too hard to protect it and to protect them, specifically. She gazed out the window, not really looking at anything, trying to think.

  Then the barbeque pit seemed to swell before her eyes and she smiled and looked back at Sophia and Meredith. "How about a bonfire?" Jolie suggested. "It's a chilly night, after all."

  Instantly taking the hint, Sophia and Meredith and Sadie shared a smile and five minutes later a big fire burned in the pit. Smiling, they each held a petite four in honor of Bitsy's favorite dessert, then lifted them up for a toast of sorts.

  "Our un-dearly departed…" Sophia said softly.

  "…may he never rest in peace."

  THE END