“How dare you!” Aunt Bett’s voice was low, almost like a growl.
“Bett, please,” Roy-Ellis’s voice was hoarse. “Please listen. She ain’t no har-let.”
“Harlot!” Aunt Bett corrected him, her voice rising. Darlene and I glanced at each other and shrugged our shoulders.
“Okay—she ain’t no harlot, Bett. She’s my wife.”
I guess in all this world there has never been such a silence as that one. It just went on and on, with Roy-Ellis standing with his hands held out, palms up, and Aunt Bett with her face as white as those beaten-up potatoes, and her eyes and hanging-open mouth just three dark circles in her face. Darlene and I were frozen in place, and we couldn’t even shut that little crack in the door because I guess we both felt that the least little thing could make the whole picture of what was happening begin to crack and crumble, and finally it—and we—would be nothing but a pile of dust. Finally, after ever so long, Aunt Bett let out her breath and turned her face away.
“Your wife?” she breathed.
Roy-Ellis let his hands drop to his side.
“Yes.”
“But what about . . .?”
“I loved her with all my heart. You know that. But . . .”
“But what?” Aunt Bett whispered.
“Until death do us part. Even in your church, Bett, a man can take another wife when he’s lost the one he had.”
“But . . . so soon?”
“Bett, I’ve tried to show proper respect.” Roy-Ellis looked down at his boots. “I will always show the proper respect,” he added. Then he brightened. “Bett, why don’t you and the children come on and meet her,” he said. “You’ll like her. She’s young, but she’s the sweetest little thing you’ve ever seen.”
“I . . .” Aunt Bett didn’t seem to know what to say.
“Come on, Bett,” Roy-Ellis coaxed. “Come on and see for yourself.”
Aunt Bett was struggling with herself, I could tell. Because she’d start to stand up and then plop right back down in her chair. Maybe the struggle was between being mad at Roy-Ellis and wanting to check out his new wife for herself.
“You need to talk to your children first,” she said at last. So Darlene and I closed the door without a sound and ran and sat on the beds beside the children. Aunt Bett opened the door.
“My children come on out here. Roy-Ellis’s children, stay put.”
As Aunt Bett’s children filed out of the room, she said, “Darlene, you and Cassandra get into the kitchen and help me clean up. It’s a mess, and I won’t have that.”
“But . . .” Darlene started to say something, probably about how Aunt Bett herself was the one who had made the mess.
“Don’t you talk back to me,” Aunt Bett warned. So Darlene closed her mouth and followed Aunt Bett into the kitchen. Roy-Ellis came into the bedroom where Molly and Little Ellis and I were waiting and stood before us, with his hands deep in his pockets. He cleared his throat.
“I loved you all’s mama more than anything in this world,” he started and cleared his throat again. “And when she started getting so sick, she made me promise I’d take good care of you. And I always will.”
Molly said, “Mama go to Jesus.”
“Yeah, honey. I know.” Once again, Roy-Ellis cleared his throat.
“I met Crystal at Across the Line, and I fell in love with her. And I talked to your mama about her.”
“You did what?” My voice sounded a lot like Aunt Bett’s. “You met her while Mama was still alive?”
“No, Dove. No, honey. I know your mama’s gone, but I still talk to her because I still love her. I always will.”
“Oh.”
“But seems to me your mama would say that if she wasn’t around to take care of you all and me and to love us all, she would want some kind, loving person to do that for her. That’s Crystal.”
“That’s her name?” I asked.
“Yes,” Roy-Ellis said in the softest voice I ever heard him use. “And I want you all to come home with me now and meet her. You’ll like her. I promise.”
“Okay!” Molly hopped down off the bed and took Roy-Ellis’s hand. I got Little Ellis and we followed them out of the bedroom.
“Bett? You ready?” Roy-Ellis called, and Aunt Bett came out of the kitchen, taking off her apron and pausing before the mirror in the dining room to pat her hair into place.
“I still don’t know how I feel about all this, Roy-Ellis,” she said. “I just don’t know how I feel. You and this . . . woman . . . get married in a church?”
“Justice of the Peace,” Roy-Ellis admitted. “But it’s legal, Bett.”
“I know. I know,” she muttered. So we rode with Aunt Bett and followed Roy-Ellis’s truck down the road to our very own house. A house with a strange woman in it.
When we went into the house, everything felt completely different. Even though it all looked the same, except for those two mugs I expected were still sitting on the kitchen table. But it all felt so different. Aunt Bett stood by the front door, like maybe she would need to leave in a hurry. Roy-Ellis grinned and motioned to us to stay where we were. Still grinning, he backed into the hallway and hollered over his shoulder, “Crystal? Sugar? Come on out here for a little minute.”
Well, at least he hadn’t called her darling. That was my mama’s word, and I didn’t like him using it for anybody else.
“Come on, sugar,” he called again. Then he looked toward the bedroom, and his face broke into the biggest grin of all.
“Here she comes!” he announced joyously.
A slender, short girl with long blond hair came out, tying the belt of a pink terry cloth robe. Yes, just a girl! About my height and my size, but a little bit older than me. With electric blue eyes and a soft mouth. Roy-Ellis clamped his strong arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. Her head bounced against him, right about at the level of his heart.
“Bett, this here is Crystal. Sugar, this is Bett.”
“Hi,” Crystal said, smiling shyly and waving her fingers at Aunt Bett.
“How do you do,” Aunt Bett said in a flat voice, separating the words like beads on a string. And she didn’t make it a question at all. Just words you say to be polite but that you don’t mean. But Aunt Bett wasn’t a lady who meant to lose all her manners—at least not in front of a stranger—so she smiled. But only a tight little upturn at the corners of her mouth. Not a real smile, one that would have come from her eyes as well. And she held her nostrils kind of pinched together, like something smelled a little bit bad. But then, all of a sudden, Aunt Bett couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“My Lord, Roy-Ellis! She’s a child!” Her voice sounded like a hissing cat.
“Well, I told you she was young,” Roy-Ellis tried to defend himself, grinning even more.
“How old are you?” Aunt Bett asked Crystal point-blank. Squinting her eyes and tilting her head to the side.
“I’m eighteen,” Crystal answered, glancing up at Roy-Ellis.
“And, Crystal,” Roy-Ellis said, “these are my children.”
Crystal’s eyes grew wide and that soft little mouth fell open.
“Your children?”
“Yeah, sugar.”
“Roy-Ellis! You didn’t tell me you had children!”
Aunt Bett’s eyebrows shot up almost to the top of her head.
“Well, everything between us happened so fast, sugar.” Roy-Ellis tried to make an excuse. And I don’t think Roy-Ellis meant to fool Crystal at all. I think that maybe once he got to looking into those electric blue eyes, he forgot he had children at all.
But Crystal broke into a big laugh and her eyes sparkled.
“Children!” she laughed, and her delight was right there for all of us to see.
“Well, introduce us, sweetie,” she said, taking Roy-Ellis’s hand and coming toward us. Molly ducked behind me.
“This is Dove.”
The blue eyes were almost level with my own.
“What
a beautiful name,” she breathed. “Hello, Dove.” The small hand with perfectly manicured nails reached out, and I took that hand in mine. It was surprisingly warm and soft.
“And hiding behind Dove is Molly.”
“Hi, Molly,” Crystal cooed, but she didn’t try to make Molly come out.
“And this is Little Ellis.” Roy-Ellis’s voice took on a prideful sound.
Crystal kneeled down in front of Little Ellis and cupped one of those small, warm hands under his chin.
“Hi, sweet baby.”
Aunt Bett cleared her throat. “I better get on home,” she said. “The children made a terrible mess of my kitchen tonight.” Aunt Bett shot a glance at me that said: Not a word! And I nodded a silent yes’m.
“Thanks for coming,” Crystal said, standing up and holding out her hand. Aunt Bett took hold of the tips of Crystal’s fingers.
“I’m just down the road, if you all need me,” Aunt Bett said. Then she shot a final, fierce glance at me as she left.
The rest of that unusual evening was strangely usual. I bathed Molly and Little Ellis and put them to bed. Then I sat at the kitchen table, writing in my notebooks, while Roy-Ellis and Crystal sat on the couch in the living room, watching TV and holding hands. Sometimes they said things to each other, but I didn’t hear what they said. When I was done with my writing, I went out onto the back porch and put a load of clothes into the washing machine, like I usually did.
“P-s-s-t!”
The sound came from the bushes along the side of the porch, and I saw Savannah’s face wreathed in a big smile.
“I’m glad Roy-Ellis got home safe and sound,” she said. And when I went to answer her, she suddenly disappeared. Behind me, Crystal had come out on the porch.
“Thanks, Dove,” she said. “I’ll put the clothes in the dryer first thing in the morning and fold them when they’re done.”
“Sheets get dried on the clothesline,” I said. And then I looked at her, at that pretty girl, and I wondered how on earth I could ever—in a million years—think of her as my new mama. But she must have been able to see what I was thinking, because she said, “I won’t try to take your mama’s place. I know how much you all loved her. And still do. But I’ll tell you this: All my life, what I wanted most in this world was sisters and brothers, and I never had any. Until now. So maybe if you all just think of me as a big sister, it will feel better.”
“Thanks, Crystal,” I managed to mumble. “We all just need some time, I guess.” But what she said about being a big sister certainly did make me feel better. I glanced once again into those lovely eyes. “It’ll be okay.”
Several times during that night, I heard Crystal giggle, far down the hall and behind the closed door of Roy-Ellis’s room. After awhile, I decided that Crystal must be the most ticklish person who ever lived.
And I smiled and went back to sleep.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, as soon as I went into the kitchen, I heard Savannah’s p-s-s-t! from the bushes. I went out onto the back porch.
“What are you doing here so early?” I whispered.
“I wanta know what’s going on around here,” Savannah answered. “Where was Roy-Ellis all that time you were worried about him, and most of all, who’s that strange girl I saw in you all’s kitchen yesterday evening?”
“You aren’t going to believe it!” I whispered back. Then I reached around and closed the kitchen door so nobody could hear us. Savannah came up onto the back steps and I went out and sat down beside her.
“So who is she?” Savannah insisted.
“She’s Roy-Ellis’s new wife!”
“What?”
“Yes. He’s gone and gotten married.”
“His wife?” Seemed like now it was Savannah’s turn to sound like Aunt Bett. “But she doesn’t look any older than you!”
“She’s a little bit older, but not much,” I agreed. “But you know, she seems right nice. I hope you’ll come over on Saturday and meet her.”
“I don’t know about that,” Savannah whispered.
“Please, Savannah!”
“I’ll try,” she said. And then she added, “Do you have to call her ‘Mama’?”
“No. She said we could be more like sisters to each other.”
“Well, that’s good. I wouldn’t ever want to call any other woman ‘Mama’ except for my real one. It’s a special word.”
“Yes.”
We both stood up and just looked at each other for a long moment.
“You just never do know what’s going to happen, do you?” Savannah’s question didn’t seem to need an answer. She waved her hand at me and walked off under the pecan trees, and I went back into the kitchen to fix Molly and Little Ellis’s breakfast. But after they had eaten and we’d all gotten dressed, I wasn’t sure about whether I should wake Crystal up or not. I mean, maybe she had a job she should be going to. I’d heard Roy-Ellis leave for work before good daylight, and I just didn’t know what to do. So I called Aunt Bett.
“I’m wondering if I should wake Crystal up,” I said.
“Why, I really don’t know what to tell you, Dove,” she said finally. “Does Crystal have a job?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe I should wake her up and ask.”
“Roy-Ellis has already gone to work, and she’s still in bed?” I could hear a slight note of disapproval in Aunt Bett’s question.
“Yes’m.”
“Well, since we don’t really know what to do, let’s just stick with how we’ve been doing things before she ever came around.” Again, a note of disapproval.
“Yes’m.”
“Besides,” she added. “The children don’t even know her, so I wouldn’t be in a hurry to wake her up.” Aunt Bett added a little humph. Definitely disapproval this time.
“Yes’m.”
“Why don’t you get Molly and Little Ellis and come on down to my house for a little while?”
“Yes’m.”
“But leave her a note so she’ll know you all are all right.”
“Yes’m.”
While Molly and Little Ellis ate their cereal, I wrote a note to Crystal.
“Dear Crystal,” I started, in my very best handwriting. “I don’t know if you work, so I hope it’s okay for you to sleep late. I have taken Molly and Little Ellis down to visit with Aunt Bett.” I added the phone number and started to sign it, “Love, Dove.” But I didn’t. For one thing, I hate the way those words rhyme. Makes it sound like a silly joke. And too, I didn’t love Crystal. I didn’t even know her, even though she seemed to be nice. But no matter how nice she turned out to be, I wasn’t going to love her—ever! Finally, I just signed my name. While Molly and Little Ellis got themselves dressed, I washed the dishes and wiped off the table. Still no Crystal. So if she did have a job to go to, she was going to be late, sure enough. Still, I didn’t think it was my place to wake her up.
When we came walking up to Aunt Bett’s, she was standing out on the porch, waiting for us.
“Take the children inside and then you come back out here,” she ordered. I wondered if maybe she was going to tell me she was sorry for blaming the mess in her kitchen last night on her own children like she did in front of Roy-Ellis and Crystal. But when I came back out on the porch, she was leaning against the porch post, looking out across the empty field and with her arms crossed over each other. Nothing in that to say she was sorry.
“You learn anything else about her?” she asked. I thought for a long moment.
“She’s going to put the clothes in the dryer this morning,” I said. “And she says she wants to be more like a big sister than a mama.”
“Humph!” Aunt Bett muttered. “Might as well be, since she’s only a few years older than you all.” I didn’t say anything, but I was thinking that Crystal was about fifteen or so years older than Little Ellis, and I didn’t think that was just “a few.”
“And I hope to Heavens she doesn’t dry those clothe
s on high heat,” Aunt Bett added. “That will wear them out faster than anything.”
“Oh,” I suddenly remembered. “She’s awful ticklish.”
“Ticklish?” Aunt Bett asked, surprised.
“Yes’m.”
“How do you know that? Did she tell you?”
“No ma’am. Just I heard her doing a lot of giggling. After we all went to bed.”
“Lord have mercy!” Aunt Bett put her hand over her heart.
Then, “Lord have mercy!” she said again.
It was almost eleven o’clock when Crystal finally called.
With a frosty voice, Aunt Bett told her how to find her house, and Crystal said she would come down just as soon as she had a shower. When Aunt Bett hung up the phone, she muttered “Sleeping half the day away!” under her breath.
When Crystal finally came, she was wearing a pink T-shirt and the shortest shorts I’ve ever seen anybody wear. She was all pink and good-smelling, and she had her long, blond hair in a ponytail and tied with a ribbon. Aunt Bett surveyed the short shorts, and her nostrils flared out a bit, but she held her tongue.
After Crystal had been introduced to all Aunt Bett’s children, we went into the kitchen and Aunt Bett poured coffee for herself and Crystal. She didn’t pour anything for me, so I took that to mean Aunt Bett wanted some private time with Crystal. I hoped Aunt Bett would try to be polite, because I was thinking about how Crystal hadn’t tried to coax Molly out from behind me and how she had cupped Little Ellis’s chin, and her little, warm hand.
After a long, long time, they came out of the kitchen, and Aunt Bett’s mouth looked a little more relaxed, or something like that. When Crystal was ready to leave, she said to Molly and Little Ellis, “You all want to come on home with me?” Molly and Little Ellis looked at me.
“It’s okay,” I assured them. Then Aunt Bett said, “Dove, honey, why don’t you stay here for a while and help me and Darlene with some big loads of laundry?”
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