by Joy Redmond
She and Gill unloaded the truck and Abbie sat by the food bowl and waited for Fluffy. By the time the truck was empty, Fluffy came back, rubbed against Abbie, then ate. As soon as he finished eating, Abbie tried to pick him up, but he hissed and ran up a tree that was in front of Abbie’s bedroom.
“Mama, it’s like he’s going to make his home in the tree so he can looked through the window and keep an eye on me. How does he know that’s my bedroom?”
“Beats me,” Mandy said. “But eventually he’ll want to come inside. He’s not a yard cat. Just give him time. And you didn’t say much when I gave you a tour of the house and showed you your bedroom. Isn’t the house lovely?”
“Yeah, it’s okay,” Abbie said, but there was no enthusiasm in her voice.
For the next week, Mandy arranged and rearranged furniture, but there was no way all of her things were going to fit. Gill came home from work and Mandy was in despair. “I can’t fit all my stuff in. I don’t know what to do.”
“No problem,” Gill said. “We can store things in the metal storage shed behind the shop. It’ll be safe there.”
Mandy hated to store her furniture and other items, but she had no choice. And though the house had two full bathrooms, there were only two bedrooms, and she really didn’t like that. However, she did love the sunroom and she planned on filling it with plants and flowers. I sure miss my screened-in back porch, but I guess a sunroom will have to do. It is nice to sit out there and look at the lake.
The week before school started, Gill took them to Savannah and they bought Abbie’s school uniforms. Mandy kept telling herself that Abbie would adjust and once more be the happy child she’d always been.
A month passed and Mandy became a full-time housewife. She enjoyed her time in the afternoons watching soap operas; something she’d never done. But she and Abbie were in despair about Fluffy. He refused to come inside. A couple times Abbie managed to hold on to him long enough to get him across the threshold, then he’d scratch and fight until she dropped him on the floor. The minute his paws touched the floor, he’d arch his back, hiss, and run for the door. Once he was back outside, he’d run up the tree and stare into Abbie’s bedroom window.
One morning, Gill and Abbie had just pulled out of the driveway to take Abbie to school before going to the shop, when the phone rang. Mandy hurried to the wall phone in the kitchen, her heart pounding, hoping it was one of her children. “Hello.”
“Mama!” Kati cried, and she could barely talk as she continued, “Tim left me and Tina. He went back to Florida. I’m stuck here with a baby, no job, no money, no car, no nothing! You’ve got to come get me and Tina.”
Mandy pulled out a chair and sat down. “Well, honey. Why on earth did Tim leave?”
“We had a big fight. I don’t want to talk about him. Just come get me and Tina!”
“Honey, I have no place to put you. We’ve only got two bedrooms. I—”
Before Mandy could finish explaining, Kati yelled, “So I guess you’re just going to leave me and Tina here to starve and be homeless!”
“Kati, calm down. Let me talk to Gill and we’ll see what we can work out. I know you don’t have a phone, but can you give me the number of the neighbor where you’re calling from?”
“No. I’ll just call back tonight. But you better be on your way to get us by tomorrow! I mean it!” Kati hung up.
Mandy put the receiver on the hook. After she had collected her wits, she drove into Hinesville and pulled into the parking lot of the motorcycle shop. Gill, please help me figure out what to do.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Mandy went inside the shop and saw Gill behind the front counter talking to a customer. She waited until the man left, then she stepped up and said, “Gill, I really need to talk with you. Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure, come on back to my office. But make it fast. Customers will be coming in as fast as I can keep up with them.”
Mandy explained the situation. Gill reared back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. “Well, she can’t move in with us. We don’t have room and I don’t want a baby running through the house. Babies make me nervous. So, this is your problem. You figure it out.” With that he left the office and went back to the front counter.
“Well, thanks a lot!” Mandy mumbled. She went back to her car, dumbstruck. What the hell am I supposed to do? I can’t believe how cold and uncaring he was. She drove out of the parking lot, wiping tears, feeling like she had never been so let down before.
As she was driving back home, she passed a trailer park. Maybe I can find a trailer to rent, she thought, as she pulled into the park. She drove around, carefully looking at the trailers. She didn’t see a For Rent sign in front of any of them, but she noticed one that looked empty and the grass hadn’t been mowed. She parked the car, then looked into the windows. It was completely empty but it seemed to be in good condition from what she could see.
She got back into her car and drove to the entrance where she had seen a sign that read Office. She tapped on the door and a heavy-set woman with a cigarette dangling from her mouth dropping ashes on the front of an old bathrobe, opened it. “Can I help ya?” she asked.
“Yes. I was wondering about the empty trailer on lot thirty-nine. Is it for rent?”
“Nah. But it’s for sale. Are ya interested in buyin’? I don’t rent no trailers. I just rent lots to people. That one belongs to my son, but he’s in prison, so ahma gonna sell it. I bought the damn thang. I reckon I can sell it if’n I wanna.”
Mandy stood for a few minutes as the woman shifted her heavy weight from foot to foot. Give me a second to think, you sow. “I’d like to see the inside of it, if you don’t mind.”
“Nah, I don’t mind. Gimme a few minutes and let me find the keys. Then I’ll meet ya down there.”
Mandy drove back to the lot, and Sow pulled in behind her. She waited until the woman had unlocked it, then she got out of the car. The woman stood outside while Mandy went through all the rooms, checking for mold and any signs of roaches or mice, then she turned on the water at the kitchen sink. The sink held water. She tried the sink in the bathroom. It held water. She flushed the commode. It worked. She turned on the shower. It worked.
She walked back outside. “How much are you asking for it?”
“I gotta have eight-thousand.”
“I’ll give you six-thousand. Take it or leave it,” Mandy said.
“I reckon that’ll be ‘nuff. C’mon on back to the office and we’ll get the paperwork done. Are ya gonna need financin’? I know the man at the bank and I’ll put in a good word—”
“No, I’ll pay for it. Let’s get things finalized. I need to move my daughter in as soon as possible. And I’d like for the yard to be mowed.”
“Fine. I can git my other son to mow fer ya, but that’ll be an extra ten-dollar. You’ll have lot rent and electric and water bills every month. But ya can pay it all at the same time.”
Ah, shit! I wasn’t thinking about lot rent, Mandy thought, and felt sick to her stomach. How am I going to keep it all paid? I’m pretty sure Gill isn’t going to help.
Soon the paper work was done, and Mandy wrote a check, including lot rent for the first month. And there goes a few more eggs out of my nest. But I’ve got to do what I have to do for my children, she thought, as she signed her name to the check.
“Here be yer keys,” the lady said, as she twisted two keys off a large key ring. “It be all youren. Nize doin’ bidness wit ya.”
That weekend, Mandy and Abbie were off to Tennessee. For the third time, Mandy rented a U-Hail trailer and hitched it to the station wagon. It took over six hours to make the trip, but Mandy felt happiness flow through her as she saw the awesome mountains.
The next day, they were loaded and headed back to Georgia.
Kati was happy with the trailer and Mandy was happy that her oldest daughter and grandbaby were close by again. As for Tony, her heart had finally adjusted to him being
gone, as much as a mother could.
Abbie had adjusted, she liked her school and she easily made new friends and a special girlfriend, Liz. Abbie had also accepted the fact that Fluffy was now an outside cat, running the yards and chasing squirrels. When it got dark, Fluffy climbed the tree and kept an eye on her.
The week before Thanksgiving, Mandy saw a black Mazda pulled into the driveway. Her heart pounded so hard it was beating against her eardrums. Her legs trembled as she opened the front door and managed to run to the car, just as Tony, Kati, and Tina climbed out. “Oh, my God!” she cried with glee. “You always show up around Thanksgiving. I’m so happy to see you. And I see you had no trouble finding your sister and niece. You two had this planned, didn’t you?”
“Only for three days,” Tony said. “We wanted to surprise you.”
“Surprise me, you did. Come on in. I was making my grocery list for Thanksgiving dinner. I guess I need to add to it.”
They went inside and Tony flopped down on the couch in the family room. “I’m worn out. I got here early this morning and I really need a nap. Do you have a beer?”
“No, Son. You know I don’t keep booze in my house. I never have and I never will. Tony yawned and Mandy wondered if he had heard a word she said. “Before you fall asleep, how long can you stay?”
“I’m going to be living with Kati. I’ll find work and I’ll help her with the bills. That little check she gets from Public Assistance doesn’t go far. She and Tina need things and I’m going to take care of them.”
“So, I guess school is still out of the question,” Mandy said.
“For the time being,” Tony answered just before he closed his eyes, and within a minute he was snoring.
Tony slept for the rest of the day, and Kati and Tina visited with Mandy. Together, they had a big meal cooked by the time Gill and Abbie came home. Every day Abbie complained about having to stay at the shop for two hours after Gill picked her up after school. They came inside and as soon as Abbie saw Tony, she forgot about her misery and she pounced on him, kissing his face until he woke up.
Mandy introduced Tony to Gill, and they shook hands, but Mandy noticed that Gill was cold toward Tony and he left the room quickly, giving Mandy a strange look. Mandy went out on the sun porch where Gill was sitting and reading the newspaper. “Tony is living with Kati, so you don’t have to be so rude. He won’t be in your house!” She tried to be calm, but her insides were knotting. She had always been nice to his children and she had made them feel welcome when they had come for a visit.
Gill merely nodded.
When Mandy announced that supper was ready, everybody gathered around the table, and Gill carried on a conversation with Tony, and Mandy relaxed. I guess he was just tired when he first came home, she thought, as she passed the bowl of mashed potatoes.
Thanksgiving Day, Mandy looked around the table at her three children, grandbaby, Gills three children, and his daughter-in-law, and she felt great joy. Now this is a big happy family, she thought, and her heart thumped with happiness. A big, happy family and a house full of love and laughter is what I’ve longed for, for years. I finally have it.
Christmas was a repeat of all the children being together for a big meal. Gill had given Mandy five-hundred dollars and told her to go crazy. She did. It was the biggest Christmas she and her children had ever had.
New Year’s Eve, Abbie spent the night with Liz. Tony and Kati went to a party, and Mandy and Gill kept Tina. Gill actually rocked Tina to sleep. At the stroke of midnight, Gill gathered Mandy in his arms and kissed her deeply. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I hope we get to bring in another hundred years together.”
“Me too,” Mandy said. She was so happy she felt as if she would burst open like a pumpkin falling off a wagon.
Gill headed upstairs. “I’ll be waiting for you as soon as Kati comes after Tina,” he said with a sexy wink.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she answered.
It was a warm night and Mandy stepped outside and gazed up at the stars. They were twinkling and it was as if they were blowing her kisses. She blew a kiss and said, “Happy New Year!”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Mandy finally got around to rearranging the closet in the upstairs bedroom. Things were strewn all over the closet floor, and she pushed then aside with her foot until she had all the clothes hung the way she wanted them.
Using her foot, she pushed the last stack of magazines out of her way. Then she heard the sound of rustling paper. She cocked her head and listened closely. The sound became louder and it was coming from the far back corner. She pushed back Gill’s clothes, looked down and watched in amazement as the top of a brown paper bag seemed to be folding and unfolding.
“Fluffy?” she said. “How did you get in there? I thought you were an outside cat. You haven’t come into this house since we’ve been here.”
She picked up the sack, ready to dump Fluffy, but the sack was too light for a cat to be inside. She opened the sack and all she saw was some loose papers in the bottom. Her curiosity was roused, so she carried the sack over to the bed and dumped the contents. She started picking up the papers and sucked in a deep breath when saw they were divorce decrees. Four of them!
“What?” she said and she felt faint as she began to read them. Gill had told her had only been married once, and that wife was the mother of his three children. She read all the divorce decrees and saw there was one for a woman, Susan, who she knew was Gill’s first wife. She continued to sift through the rest of them. One was for a woman, Judy, and one for Marie, and another one for Susan.
“He married and divorced Susan, twice?” She looked at the date on Gill and Susan’s last papers where they had filed for divorce. It was three months ago. She went through all the papers, looking for the final divorce decree. She found it and felt sick at her stomach. She had married Gill before the divorce had been finalized.
My God. I’m a bigamist! She wiped her brow. Well, the divorce is final. Maybe our marriage is legal now. I don’t know how the law stands on something like this.
She walked over to the nightstand on Gill’s side of the bed, took a pack of cigarettes from the carton, picked up a lighter and the ashtray. She sat in the middle of the bed and lit a cigarette. Then she picked up all the divorce papers one by one and carefully looked at the dates. He had married Judy four weeks after his first divorce was final from Susan. He married Marie six weeks after his divorce was final from Judy. Then he had remarried Susan three months after his divorce was final from Marie. And the little fart married me before his last divorce was final from Susan!
As she read through the papers, she chain-smoked. She was feeling sick at her stomach from what she was reading, and from smoking. She ran into the bathroom and heaved, throwing up what was left of her breakfast. She wiped her face with a cold washcloth.
I can’t believe this shit! It’s going to be interesting when I confront him and then listen to the silk-tongued fool as he explains things. She shook her head.
She went back into the bedroom. If I confront him, he’ll know I’ve been snooping in his personal stuff. She picked up the papers, stuffed them back into the paper bag, then put the bag back into the corner. I’ll deal with this later. She glanced to her right and spotted a metal box which looked like what Iris used to call a strongbox. She tried to lift the lid but it was locked. She picked it up and shook it. She could hear something moving but it didn’t sound like coins. She put it back in the corner.
She went back downstairs and she wondered if Gill hadn’t told her about all his wives because he was embarrassed about his failed marriages. She decided to dismiss it from her mind. There’s no crime in being married several times. And he’s my third husband. I’m not proud of that fact either.
She went outside and started puttering around in the yard, hoping the mosquitos wouldn’t carry her off. She had never seen swarms of mosquitos the likes of which she had to fight her way throu
gh every time she went outside. They were unbearable no matter how much repellant she sprayed on. She finally gave up and went back inside.
She made a fresh pot of coffee and impatiently waited for it to brew. She poured a cup, picked up a pack of smokes that Gill had left on the table, and went into the family room. Just as she had settled into the soft cushions of the couch and lit a cigarette, she heard the sound of car doors slamming. She went to the front door and saw Kati, Tina, and Tony walking toward the house. She opened the door. “Well, what a surprise! Come on in, kids. I just made a fresh pot of coffee.”
They all went inside. The children passed on the coffee offer. They just sat down on the couch, and Mandy thought they looked grim. What the hell has happened now? And why is Tony not at work?
Mandy sat down in the recliner. “What’s up, kids? I know that look.” She held her breath.
Kati burst into tears.
Mandy walked over and put her arms around her. “Tell Mama what’s wrong, honey.”
Kati blurted, “I’m pregnant! I just got back from the doctor. I’m fourteen weeks. I was pregnant when I left Tennessee, I just didn’t know it. You know my periods have never been regular and I haven’t had any sickness, so I just thought I was late. But,” she said as he rubbed her tummy, “this bump told me to go to the doctor. So, in September, you’ll be a grandma, again.”
“No! Oh, No!” Mandy cried.
“I figured that would be your reaction. You’re always so happy about my pregnancies. Well, the timing sucks and I don’t have a husband, but I love and want this baby.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to react that way. It just caught me off guard. Like the divorce papers that I just found, she thought, as all the folded papers danced before her eyes.
“Is that why you’re not at work, Tony? I would have taken her to the doctor.”
“Yes and no. I got fired. And Kati didn’t want to mention it to you before she was sure. And before you go berserk, I got fired because another orderly kept making passes at me. I warned him several times, but he grabbed my ass and made an inappropriate remark. So I decked him. Knocked him out cold.”