Just as she said that, the door opened . . . and in walked Simon Jackson.
For a couple of seconds, Jasmine was covered by the shouts that still filled the center. But once they quieted down, her silence became evident.
Rachel frowned and followed Jasmine’s gaze, her eyes widening. Quickly, she stepped away from the podium and rushed to the door as Jasmine stood, frozen, with her eyes locked on the door.
Hosea moved to his wife’s side. “As you can see,” he began, “this is really emotional for my wife.”
“That’s all right!” someone shouted.
As more words of encouragement came from the crowd, Jasmine watched as Rachel dragged her father out the door. But even though Simon was gone, he’d taken the joy of the afternoon with him.
Why had he shown up? Why did he have to ruin this day for her?
As Hosea spoke to the crowd and closed out the speech, Jasmine prayed that Simon would be gone by the time this was over. That all she had to do was make it from the center to the car. Then from the car to the hotel. And once in the hotel, she’d be safe. Because now she was sure. She didn’t care what Hosea had to say.
The Bushes would be leaving Smackover, Arkansas.
Chapter
26
Rachel
Rachel had never moved so fast. She’d darted across the room and whisked her father out the front door. She didn’t want to ruin Jasmine’s mood and from the look on Jasmine’s face the afternoon was about to quickly spiral downhill.
“Daddy, we talked about this,” Rachel said as soon as they were outside. “You were supposed to meet us at the church.”
At that moment, both Ruby and Minnie walked up.
“We told him to come on,” Minnie said, shifting her handbag to her other arm as she defiantly placed her hands on her hips.
“Aunt Minnie . . .”
“No. That little girl doesn’t need to come around here and start running things,” Minnie said.
“She’s not a little girl. She’s like almost sixty,” Rachel replied. She knew Jasmine wasn’t really that old and made a mental note to scale back the disparaging remarks.
Minnie waved off her comment. “My brother wants to see his other daughter and we think she should see him.”
Ruby nodded in agreement.
Rachel didn’t have the energy to deal with her aunts so she focused all her attention on her father. “Daddy, I understand your sisters want what’s best for you. I want what’s best for you. But I’m telling you, I know Jasmine. She’s not going to let you force anything.”
Stress lines covered Simon’s face. “What do you want me to do, baby girl? Just sit at the house? I’m going crazy. I need to talk to Jasmine.”
Minnie shook her head. “And poor Brenda. Your daddy been snapping at her so, had her in tears.”
Simon lowered his head in shame. “I have to apologize to my wife.” He turned to Rachel. “This all just has me so stressed out. I don’t understand why she won’t give me a chance.”
“I’m working on that, Dad. I want you all to sit down and talk, but at the church. I’m going to bring her over to the tree where you met her mother and maybe she’ll feel some type of connection and open up to you.”
“Hmph,” Minnie muttered as she jabbed her finger in the direction of the building. “She can open up right now. All those folks in there, she’s not going to act a fool.”
“Maybe not, but she will leave,” Rachel said. She let out a heavy sigh. “Dad, just please go on to the church, get things ready for the dinner, and we’ll be there in a little while.”
Simon looked unsure, but Rachel could tell she was getting through to him. “This is all going to work out. I just need you to trust me.”
He finally nodded then took her hands and squeezed them. “I trust you, Rachel. And I’m sorry if I’ve been insensitive to you. You will always be my number one girl.”
For the first time, Rachel believed that. “Aunt Ruby,” Rachel said, “can you please take Daddy on to the church? I know you all have a lot of work to do and really the only reason you’re even here is to be nosy.”
“You know your aunt,” Ruby replied.
“Can’t I just go peek inside?” Minnie asked.
“Bye, Aunt Minnie.”
Minnie huffed. “Fine. But I’m telling you now, if that girl gets over to the church acting out, I’m gonna tell her about herself.”
Rachel made a mental note to keep Jasmine away from Minnie.
Crisis averted, Rachel thought as she watched them climb back into Ruby’s 1980 Buick. She waited until they drove off before she turned to go back inside.
Rachel could feel Jasmine’s eyes on her as soon as she walked back in. She gave her a reassuring nod to let her know everything was taken care of. When Rachel closed the door behind her, Jasmine seemed to relax.
Rachel eased into a corner until the last person finished speaking. When she saw Jasmine deep into an interview with a newspaper reporter, Rachel pulled Serena and Mae Frances aside.
“What is wrong with you?” Mae Frances asked, her eyes going to the grip Rachel had on her arm. “You obviously don’t want that hand.”
“Sorry,” Rachel said, dropping Mae Frances’s arm. “I’m just trying to hurry up before Jasmine finishes her interview.”
“Hurry up for what?” Serena asked.
“Look, I know both of you have done a lot to get Jasmine here, but this is only half the journey,” Rachel began.
“What in the world are you talking about?” Mae Frances snapped.
“I mean, I know she doesn’t want to, but Jasmine needs to talk to my . . . to our father. If for nothing else, to get some closure on all the questions I’m sure she has.”
“I agree,” Serena said.
“Good, then that means you’ll help me get her to the church.”
“What’s happening at the church?” Serena asked.
“We have a family dinner there. It’s like the culmination of our family reunion. We don’t even have to tell Jasmine the real reason we’re going to the church. We just need to get her there.”
“Is that old geezer going to be there?” Mae Frances asked.
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Uncle Bubba? Umm, yeah, I’m sure. But I promise I’ll make him stay away from you.”
Rachel couldn’t be sure, but it almost seemed like a light flickered in Mae Frances’s eyes, but she quickly said, “Good.”
“Does that mean you’ll help me convince Jasmine to go?”
“Nope. I never said that,” Mae Frances said. “I’m not in the trickin’ folks business.”
“Since when?” Rachel asked.
“No, Rachel, I think Mae Frances is right,” Serena interjected. “I want to be honest and up-front with my sister.”
“But being up-front with our sister right now isn’t the best thing,” Rachel countered. “Please?”
Both Serena and Mae Frances turned and looked at Jasmine laughing as she talked to the reporter. “It is nice to see her smiling with all the crying she’s been doing lately,” Serena said.
“She ain’t gon’ be smiling if we trick her,” Mae Frances said.
“I’m not asking you to trick her, or lie. Just go along and when we get to the church, make sure she gets out.”
Mae Frances stood like she was thinking for a moment. Finally, she said, “Okay, fine. I’ll do what I can.”
Serena sighed. “Me, too. But I’ll be honest. I don’t know if it’s going to work.”
“It might not. But we have to try.” Rachel squeezed both of their hands. “Thank you so much.” She looked over as the newspaper reporter walked away and Mayor Bruce walked up to Jasmine. “Let me go rescue Jasmine because the mayor will run his mouth all day.”
Rachel made her way over to the corner where the mayor had Jasmine hemmed up
“Mayor Bruce, the stoplight looks good,” Rachel said. “If you don’t mind, though, I have someone else I want Jasmine to meet.”
> “Sure,” he said and laughed. “Lady Jasmine, please know that our door is open anytime you want to come here. Me and the missus have plenty of room, so you can stay with us.”
Rachel flashed a smile as she took Jasmine’s hand and led her away, leaning in and whispering as they walked off, “Yeah, that’s one place you don’t want to stay, since he lives in the same plantation house where his grandfather owned slaves.”
“Yeah, I won’t be staying in the big house,” Jasmine replied. Once they’d gotten over to the refreshment table, Jasmine asked, “Where’s . . .”
“Daddy? I sent him on.”
Jasmine’s shoulders dipped in relief. “Thank you.”
“No problem. You just worry about Jacqueline’s Hope. I told you, that’s what this afternoon is about. Oh, here comes the lady from the El Dorado newspaper. I’m going to let you do this interview.”
“What? You’re not going to try and steal my shine?” Jasmine said, finally smiling.
“This ain’t Oprah.” Rachel winked as she walked off.
Twenty minutes later, the crowd had cleared, Hosea, Lester, and all the children had left, and Rachel knew she couldn’t avoid the inevitable. It was time.
“Rachel, this ended up being really nice. I mean, did you get the whole town of Smackover to come out?” Jasmine said after the last of the guests had gone.
“Just about. And folks from the surrounding towns, Norphlet, Louann, El Dorado, Camden. The churches helped me spread the word.”
“Wow, well, thank you.”
“No, thank you. I think this is a great charity and I’m happy you brought it to my hometown.”
They stood in an awkward silence for a minute. Under normal circumstances, two people sharing such a meaningful moment might hug, but Rachel didn’t know if she and Jasmine were there. Yet.
“Can we go now or are we going to shut the joint down?” Mae Frances asked.
“I’m ready. Hosea and the children should be back at the hotel by now,” Jasmine replied.
Rachel, Serena, and Mae Frances exchanged glances. “Well, let’s go,” Mae Frances said. “I can’t wait to get back to that luxury hotel and take a nap.”
Rachel shot her a sideways glance as they headed to the parking lot. Of course, she would have to try to go overboard.
As they were driving, Rachel pointed out a few more landmarks. “Not that you all will ever need to know this, but that’s the Greyhound bus stop.”
“Stop? So you don’t have a bus station?” Serena asked.
“Nope, the bus slows down just long enough for you to hop on.” They chatted some more until Rachel turned down an unpaved road. As dust flew up on both sides of the truck, Jasmine finally spoke up. “Where are we?” she asked as they pulled into the church’s parking lot.
“This is my home church,” Rachel said, looking up at Jasmine in the rearview mirror. “I wanted to take you guys on the tour of our cemetery.”
“Cemetery?” Mae Frances asked. “Why we need to go see dead folks?”
Rachel parked the car and got out. She walked around and opened the passenger door. “Come on, Mae Frances. It’s part of our tradition.”
“Your tradition. It ain’t part of mine,” she said, pulling the passenger door back closed. “You didn’t say nothing about a cemetery. I’ll be at one soon enough. In the meantime, I’m good.”
“And I’m going to sit right here with Mae Frances,” Jasmine said. “I mean, why do you even have a cemetery in the back of a church? Do you even have a license to bury bodies back there?”
“A license? Seriously?” Rachel asked.
“If you bury bodies in the backyard in New York, CSI will be knocking on your door.”
“Well, you’re not in New York,” Rachel said.
It was at that moment that Jasmine peered out the window. “Wait a minute, why are all these cars here?”
Serena looked away and quickly stepped out of the truck.
“Serena!” Jasmine called out. Then she must’ve noted the expression on Rachel’s face because she said, “What. Is. Going. On?”
Mae Frances went ahead and stepped out of the truck. “Jasmine Larson, I’m sorry, but I didn’t come all the way here to sit in a rinky-dink hotel. And you might not want to admit it, but there’s a reason that you’re here in this town.”
“What’s happening here?” Jasmine asked, glaring at Rachel.
After a moment’s silence, Rachel inhaled deeply and said, “It’s our family dinner, Jasmine.”
Jasmine’s gaze was piercing, like if she hadn’t been standing on holy ground, she would’ve strangled Rachel right then and there. “I don’t know why I ever trusted you. You always have been a conniving backstabber. You knew what you were doing all along.”
Rachel let her rant. “I wasn’t trying to be deceptive, but I—”
“Take me back to the hotel,” Jasmine demanded, cutting Rachel off.
“I’m not going to do that,” Rachel said. “You have to at least try.”
Jasmine slammed the door shut. The window was still partially cracked, so Mae Frances stuck her face in. “You don’t think you’re being a little dramatic?”
“I want to go back to the hotel,” Jasmine repeated.
Mae Frances turned back to Rachel, shrugged, then said, “Oh well, I did my part.”
Before Rachel could reply, the front door of the church opened and people started pouring out.
“Oh, no, here comes my family,” Rachel said. She could see Jasmine’s eyes grow big.
“Come on, Jasmine,” Serena pleaded through the cracked window. “We’re here now. Let’s just make the best of it.”
Jasmine ignored her and kept staring forward, pouting like a teenage girl. Rachel knew she was stubborn, but was she that set against meeting the Jackson family?
Several relatives from last night and some new ones from today surrounded Rachel’s truck, peering in at Jasmine.
“Is this my new cousin?”
Rachel shook her head as her scrawny thirty-year-old cousin leaned in the window. Rachel stepped up next to him. “Jasmine, this is my cousin Magic Mike,” she said.
“Why do they call him Magic Mike?” Serena whispered.
“Because if you lay your purse down, he can make it disappear,” Rachel replied.
“You steal a few purses over the years and your family never lets you live it down.” Magic Mike laughed, then stuck his hand in the window of the truck.
Jasmine refused to shake it, but Mike didn’t seem fazed as he started calling relatives one by one up to the window to say hi to Jasmine.
“Jasmine, this is ridiculous,” Serena whispered in between relatives. “Do you know how crazy it looks you refusing to talk to these people?”
“I don’t care. I’m not getting out of this truck.”
Just then, Uncle Bubba walked up, ignoring everyone as he came face-to-face with Mae Frances. “I knew I should’ve been coming to church more often. Nobody told me angels were making personal appearances.”
Mae Frances waved him off. “You need to go somewhere else with those tired 1970 pickup lines.”
“Come on, pretty lady. Why won’t you give me the time of day?”
Mae Frances’s eyes roamed up and down his body, taking in his dusty overalls, his tattered T-shirt, and his bald spot. “Was that a rhetorical question?”
“Sweet thang, ol’ Bubba never made it past the third grade, so I don’t know what all those big words mean, but I meant what I said.” He wiggled his hips. “Try it, you’ll like it.”
“I don’t do dirty ol’ men, number one,” Mae Frances replied. “Number two, I’ve dated prominent politicians, superstars, and civil rights activists.”
“But you ain’t neva had nobody like me.” He tugged on the buckles of his overalls to emphasize his point. “Ask the ladies, Bubba ain’t got no stubba.”
Mae Frances laughed as she shook her head. “Rachel, get your people.” She slapped a mosquito as it landed on he
r arm. “Oh, I’m not about to get the Zika virus. Jasmine Larson, you can sit out here if you want to. I’m going inside.”
“Come in, Jasmine. Just for a little bit,” Rachel pleaded.
“Rachel, take me back to the hotel, please,” Jasmine said. She no longer seemed mad. She just seemed desperate. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
The sound of screaming caused every head to turn. Jacqueline came bolting from around the side of the church, crying hysterically. Every ounce of stubbornness that was keeping Jasmine in the truck disappeared and she jumped out.
“Jacqueline, are you okay?” Jasmine said, racing to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“They killed it,” Jacqueline cried, wrapping her arm around her mother and pointing in the direction she’d just come from.
Jasmine, Rachel, and several others raced around to the side of the church and stopped cold in their tracks. Big Junior was standing in front of an old swing set, wearing an apron covered in blood. Hanging upside down from the swing, and dripping with blood, was some type of bare animal.
“Oh my God,” Jasmine said, pulling Jacqueline close to her. “What is that?”
Rachel couldn’t answer because she had no clue.
“Dang. You city girls kill me,” Big Junior said.
“Big Junior, what are you doing?” Rachel asked.
“Skinnin’ a deer for dinner. What does it look like?”
“And on that note, we are out of here.” Jasmine snatched Jacqueline’s hand and pulled her back around to the front.
“But, Mommy, I’m okay. We can’t leave. Daddy and Grandpa went into town and they’re gonna bring us snow cones,” Jacqueline said, trying to dry her eyes.
“He’s not your grandpa!” Jasmine screamed, causing Jacqueline to flinch.
“Jasmine, your hysteria is only getting Jacqueline more worked up,” Serena said calmly.
It took fifteen minutes for Serena and Rachel to settle Jasmine down once she realized Jacqueline wasn’t seriously traumatized. But she made it clear to Rachel that she was done. “As soon as Hosea gets back, we’re leaving,” Jasmine said.
“Fine, but for now, let’s just go inside to the dining center. It’s cool back there and you can get something to drink,” Rachel said.
A Blessing & a Curse Page 18