by Karen White
“Can we wait until Mr. Kimball gets here to pick you up?” Lily asked.
“No,” Sugar and Michael replied in unison, the only thing Merilee could ever imagine them agreeing on.
“Let’s not keep Daddy waiting,” Merilee said. “I know there will be lots of pictures taken so you can see us all dressed up and earning money for your school.”
“Y’all ready?” Michael asked, shouldering Colin’s hefty bag. “Say good-bye to your mother.”
“Don’t touch her dress,” Lily shouted, pulling on Colin’s arm midrun. “And she can only blow you a kiss.”
Colin looked at his sister as if she’d lost her mind. “She’s my mom, too.”
Merilee squatted in front of her children and blew them both kisses, then gave them gentle squeezes on their shoulders. “There—that should preserve my dress and makeup and last until I see you Sunday, and I’ll give you extra hugs and kisses to make up for these. All right?”
Colin grinned and nodded and Lily let go of his arm. Merilee stood, not an easy feat considering her four-inch heels. “Y’all behave, all right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Colin said.
Lily frowned. “It’s not like we can misbehave in front of Miss Garv—I mean Tammy. I still think she’s my teacher.”
Michael raised his eyebrows, then ushered them both toward the door. “Good-bye, Merilee. Have fun tonight.”
She smiled. “I will. Thanks.”
He turned to Sugar. “Good night, Miss Sugar. Always a pleasure.”
“Humph,” she said before turning toward the children with a wide smile. “Let me know if you see any new birds, Colin. Most of the migrating birds should be here by now. And when you get back, I think it will be time to make us some pumpkin bread.”
“Yay,” they shouted as they rushed to Sugar and gave her hugs while she pretended to be annoyed and pushed slightly off-balance by their exuberance.
When they were gone, Sugar turned to Merilee with an appraising eye. “I suppose that beats those yoga pants you usually wear on weekends.” She studied Merilee’s ears, where she’d put in the tiny diamond stud earrings that Michael had given her when they were still dating. They were the only sparkly earrings she owned.
“I brought these on the hunch that you didn’t have anything appropriate to wear.” She opened her palm. “It seems I was right.”
Merilee looked down at Sugar’s outstretched hand. A pair of large clip-on earrings in the shape of starbursts and encrusted with tiny sparkling clear stones winked up at her. “They’re beautiful,” she said, her hand reaching for them, then drawing back, afraid she’d misunderstood Sugar’s intentions.
“They’re costume, but good costume. They were made back when people still cared about quality and workmanship. Willa Faye and her mother bought these at Rich’s department store in downtown Atlanta for me to wear on my wedding day. I figured they weren’t much use sitting in my jewelry box, so you might as well wear them.”
“I’d hug you if I weren’t wearing this dress.”
Sugar simply looked at her. “Well, are you going to try them on?”
Merilee was already pulling out the studs from her ears and placing them on an end table by the sofa. Then she carefully took the earrings from Sugar’s palm and stood in front of the small hall table by the door and snapped them in place. Moving her head from side to side to admire the effect, she smiled. “I think these might be the most beautiful earrings I’ve ever seen. And I work in a jewelry store, so that says a lot.” She faced Sugar. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough.”
“You can start by not losing them.”
Merilee studied Sugar, seeing the young bride with the sparkling earrings on her wedding day, how happy she’d looked in the photo. And tried not to think of all that had happened since to change her. “That night—after you got married and Tom drove you home and you saw smoke in the chimney of the old farmhouse. Did you ever find out who it was?”
They both turned toward the door at the sound of another car pulling up. “That must be Wade,” Sugar said, and Merilee wondered if that was relief she saw in the old woman’s face.
Merilee felt that zing that was becoming much too familiar start in her toes and shoot its way to her brain before turning around and zipping back through her body. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she might be having a hot flash.
Because she was standing near the door, she opened it before Wade could knock.
“Well,” he said, eyeing her appreciatively. “Who’d have thought you could clean up so nice?”
“Thank you, Wade,” she said, moving back so he could enter. “I think.”
He smiled down at her. “Maybe I should try that again. Hello, Merilee. I do say that you look good enough to eat.”
The zinging was now bouncing between them like a rubber ball, and she wondered if they turned off the lights if it would leave an electric trail.
“You don’t look so bad yourself,” Merilee said, her voice unexpectedly husky as she admired his broad shoulders and long limbs inside his black tuxedo.
“Do I need to chaperone you two or can I go home now and watch my shows?” Sugar interjected.
Merilee stepped back, wondering why she was so out of breath. “I think I’m safe with Wade, but thank you, Sugar. May we drive you back since we’re heading that way?”
Sugar frowned. “Only because you need something for your shoulders besides that old wool coat that’s two sizes too big for you and I happen to have an evening wrap. Otherwise I’m afraid you’re going to get new-monia and old-monia before the night is through.”
She headed outside, followed by Merilee and Wade, who took Merilee’s key and locked the door behind them. “I have no idea why I’m doing this, since all anybody needs to do to get inside is look under the flowerpot.”
“Wrong,” Merilee said. “I’ve moved it to beneath the front mat.”
“That makes me feel so much better,” he said, placing his tuxedo jacket around her shoulders. “Don’t want you to catch old-monia,” he said, and they both shared a giggle that earned them a glare from Sugar.
Merilee stopped short in the drive, staring at a sporty Audi sedan. “Where’s your truck?”
“That’s for business. This is for pleasure.” He sent her an evil grin.
“I just hope none of my friends see me driving around in this foreign show-off car,” Sugar said as she waited for Wade to open the passenger door.
“Since we’re just going to your house, I don’t think that will be a problem, Sugar,” Wade said. “But I must say you look mighty sexy sitting in the front seat.”
“Harrumph,” was all Sugar said in reply.
Wade caught Merilee’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Remember my friend Bill West? You met him when you came to my construction site.”
Merilee kept her face passive. “Of course. Your friend with the grandparents from Sandersville.”
“That’s right. He says he thinks he knows why we both find you look familiar.”
“Really?” She was glad she was sitting in the backseat, where she could hide in the shadows.
“Yeah. He thinks you were in the news or something some time ago. Like your picture was in the papers a lot. Bill thought maybe you won a beauty pageant or something.”
“No. I’ve never won a beauty pageant.”
She felt him watching her, so she smiled and let her gaze slide away.
They’d reached Sugar’s porch and Wade opened both her door and Sugar’s, then led Sugar inside to retrieve the wrap. Merilee closed the back door, then waited for him to return, welcoming the frigid air as she breathed it into her lungs, then exhaled in white puffs. By the time Wade got back to the car, Merilee’s equilibrium had returned and she’d made a promise to herself that she’d forget about everything and just enjoy h
erself tonight.
Although Sugar’s mink wrap smelled vaguely of mothballs, Merilee was glad for its warmth and for the fact that the head and paws were no longer attached. Sitting back in the plush leather seat, she allowed herself to truly relax for the first time since that awful night at the Tybee beach house.
On the way up to the Blackfords’ Lake Lanier house, Wade drove them through downtown Sweet Apple, where scarecrows sporting different themes—provided by local schools and businesses—were attached to all the lampposts lining the road, giving Main Street a festive fall air and filling Merilee with a sense of contentment and possibility. She turned her head toward Wade. “I hope you don’t mind getting there a little early. Heather said I didn’t need to, that she had plenty of people to help, but I just want to make sure that all the auction bidding forms are filled out accurately and everything’s in place.”
“Not a problem. Although with Heather in charge, I don’t think you need to worry about everything not being perfect.”
“True.” She continued to look at him, admiring the way the streetlights traveled across the strong planes of his face, accentuating a shadow on his nose where he’d broken it playing football in high school. It did nothing to detract from his appearance. If asked, Merilee would probably say it only enhanced it. “I know you already said it wouldn’t, but are you sure this won’t be too awkward for you?”
“I wouldn’t have said yes if I thought it would be. We’re all adults now. Heather and I aren’t the same people we were, and all those feelings we had are long gone. She’s moved on, and so have I. Old history. Besides, it’s a little too late to change my mind now, isn’t it?”
“True,” Merilee said, allowing herself a secret smile as she snuggled into the mink stole. Even the traffic jam on Highway 400 that took forty minutes to get through didn’t faze her. After ten minutes, she stopped looking at her watch, enjoying the sense of having no cares or responsibilities for at least another half hour. She turned to Wade again. “The maps look great—thanks so much for the frames and for hanging them.”
“You’re welcome. And they do look nice there, don’t they?” He frowned, studying the line of cars at a standstill in front of him. “I can’t believe I didn’t know about that cemetery until now—either from her or my grandmother. Sugar swears that’s not the reason she won’t sell the property, though.”
“I think I understand. She’s the last holdout. I respect that. If I’d lived here all my life and seen all these changes, I wouldn’t want anything else to change, either—especially if I could control it.”
Wade drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. “I’m pretty sure that’s part of it. Except . . .”
“Except what?” Merilee asked, but she thought she knew. Thought she could hear the sound of running feet in the dark woods and the scent of pine straw filling her nostrils. She didn’t know how much Sugar had told Wade about her past, and it wasn’t Merilee’s place to tell him.
“Except there’s more to it. There was an old farm with a family cemetery on it near the Forsyth County line that used to belong to the Prescotts. When it was developed, they kept the cemetery there on the little hill and planted trees around it to protect it. Even Sugar said it didn’t look half bad, which, as you know, is a huge compliment. So she knows it can be done and done well.
“And it’s not even about not putting up another neighborhood—although Sugar doesn’t hide how much she hates the idea, which probably has more to do with her hatred of developers than with preserving her land. But when we used to discuss it, she would get an almost feral gleam in her eye, so I stopped bringing it up, just for self-preservation. It just left me with a feeling that . . . there’s something else.”
Merilee settled back in her seat without saying anything, thinking of all the bad memories Sugar might have of the woods—of Dixie. And Curtis. But wouldn’t that make her want to see them razed?
The traffic eased up and Wade maneuvered his car into the fast lane, and soon they were barreling down the highway. Merilee closed her eyes, enjoying the hum of the engine and the steady rumble of the road, determined to enjoy the evening and forget the past, despite all the warning bells sounding in her head telling her otherwise.
Twenty-seven
When Wade and Merilee reached the neighborhood at Lake Lanier, the line of valeted cars started long before they were near enough to see the house. They were immediately met by a young man dressed like a nineteenth-century butler, wearing a white tie and tails, who greeted them and happily took the key to Wade’s car.
Wade leaned toward Merilee and whispered, “I feel underdressed.”
Merilee whispered back, “Me, too. I somehow don’t think a corset and hoop skirt would be out of place.”
The decorating committee—its plans tightly guarded—had outdone themselves, as evidenced by the golf cart disguised as a carriage that quickly appeared to take them up to the house. Merilee was pretty confident that Heather had probably tried to get real horses and carriages so it would be more authentic, but the logistics would have been impossible, even for her.
The theme music from Gone with the Wind played loudly on hidden outdoor speakers as their golf cart/carriage approached the front door and the line of people waiting to go up the front stairs. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Wade asked. “Because that looks like a receiving line at a wedding.”
“No, we’re definitely at the right place, and that’s definitely a receiving line, because that’s Heather greeting all the guests. I bet Dan is probably hiding somewhere.”
“Can’t say I’d blame him,” Wade said as he helped her from the golf cart and guided her toward the stairs and the growing line of people.
When Heather spotted them, a look of sheer relief passed over her face and she beckoned them to cut the line. Excusing themselves, they rushed to join Heather.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Heather said, seeming genuinely surprised and relieved and pressing her hand with the giant diamond ring against her heart, as if she’d truly believed Merilee would skip the gala on which she’d been working more hours over the last two months than she’d dedicated to her actual paying job.
“Of course we’re here. I meant to get here earlier, but there was an accident on 400. Is everything all right?”
Heather smiled brightly. “It is now.” Her face seemed flushed, and Merilee assumed it was from the space heaters placed strategically along the steps and the threshold of the house. Or maybe it was just the excitement of the night. “You look lovely,” Heather said, taking in Merilee’s dress and then kissing her on each cheek. “Except for that hideous stole.” She wrinkled her nose. “Is that mothballs I smell?”
“You look beautiful, Heather,” Wade said, interrupting before Merilee had to think of an appropriate response.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling deeply, so that a hidden dimple appeared in her right cheek.
And she did, Merilee admitted to herself. Of course, Heather Blackford always looked gorgeous, and especially tonight, with her hair piled on top of her head, hidden crystals sparkling from the intricate curls, and the amazing column dress that hugged her perfect figure, the side gathered in elegant waves and clasped with a giant diamond brooch at her tiny waist.
Still, there was something missing. Nothing obvious, but . . . something. Merilee wondered if it could be the color of Heather’s gown, which was a pale yellow, definitely a color made for blending in instead of standing out. Merilee had assumed Heather’s gown would be red or fire orange, or something that would make her a beacon in a crowd of sparkling beautiful people. If Heather had wanted to find a gown in a color that would make her blend in unnoticed, then she’d found the perfect one. She wondered if Heather had simply not wanted to compete with the elaborate theme decorations for the party. Lindi had already warned her that they were over-the-top and to prepare herself.
“Where’s Daniel?” Merilee asked.
Heather shook her head. “I sent him down to the wine cellar to bring up a few special bottles for our table, but that was a while ago. He’s probably hiding.” She grabbed Wade’s arm and brought him to stand next to her. Addressing Merilee, she said, “Would you mind checking the wine cellar for me to see if he’s still there? And if he is, please tell him he’s neglecting his duties as host. Just be careful on those steps—you should probably take off your shoes. I’ll just borrow Wade to fill in until Daniel returns, if you don’t mind.”
Wade shot Merilee an amused glance.
“Of course not,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
“One more thing,” Heather said, indicating that Merilee should step closer. She leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Can you please hold on to this for me? It’s too big and I don’t want to lose it, and I have no place to put it right now.” Merilee felt Heather tug on her hand and then place something against her palm before closing her fist over it. Heather stepped back. “And please put that stole somewhere—anywhere. I’m quite sure that’s mothballs I’m smelling.”
Wade raised his eyebrows at Merilee as she smiled and backed out of the receiving line on her mission to find Dan. After escaping the crowd on the front steps, she paused in the foyer that opened up into the great room. It had been transformed into a banquet hall that closely resembled the Twelve Oaks barbecue in one of the opening scenes of Gone with the Wind.
Long dark green velvet drapes with gold trim now hung from the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the back of the room. Perfect replicas of live oak tree limbs festooned the walls, one of them even sporting a wooden rope swing dangling from it. A large screen had been hung on the wall, and the actual movie was playing, the sound off, but the theme song clearly audible from the speakers outside. It was the scene with Scarlett in her white dress and green sash sitting down surrounded by her suitors. Merilee looked away. She’d always hated the movie, mostly because her mother had been nicknamed Scarlett when she was younger. So much more meaningful than “Tallie,” she’d always been happy to point out to Merilee.