A Peach of a Pair Read online

  Her plan had been to pick one of her many suitors and get out of Mama’s rule and out from under the pall that had hung over the house. She’d narrowed it down to a half dozen men over the summer and had planned to choose one before school started next September, but then John Young moved to town and took a big job at the plant Mama worked at.

  He was a good bit older than Emily and a challenge. He did not fawn. He did not fight. He didn’t even notice Emily. And God, she’d never wanted anyone or anything like she’d wanted that man. Even after he’d fallen for Lurleen, Emily believed she had a chance. He was beautiful, Lurleen was not; sooner or later he’d see Emily the way the rest of the world did.

  She was daydreaming on schemes to catch his attention that day when she went out back to feed the cat and happened upon John and Lurleen by the carriage house. John had Sister pushed up against the wall, kissing her, one hand in Lurleen’s bonny brown hair, the other sliding into the front of those horrid hunting khakis she insisted on wearing that made her look like a man. When Emily made her presence known, Lurleen jerked away from him and looked both relieved Mama hadn’t caught her and horrified that Emily had.

  Much to Emily’s surprise, Lurleen’s hair was down and she’d actually put on rouge to go hunting. John didn’t so much as look at Emily. Right then and there, she decided she’d fix both John and Lurleen good.

  It was Lurleen’s turn to watch Teddy; Mama was working at the mill and her daughters were certainly old enough to look after their fourteen-year-old brother. Lurleen had begged Emily to trade with her so she could go hunting with John the opening day of deer season, and Emily had agreed at first, until she’d seen them by the carriage house. John didn’t even apologize, just gave Lurleen a crooked smile that said he would finish what he started later. Worse yet, Lurleen blushed and returned the sentiment with another kiss, right on his lips.

  Emily couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, until the two of them separated and started for John’s truck with their arms around each other. Teddy ran out of the house and said hey to John, who kept walking and just waved over his shoulder like he didn’t have time for the boy. Nor the inclination for Emily.

  “It’s your day to watch Brother, Lurleen.” Emily’s voice came out harsh and dripping with envy.

  “Emily, no. You said—” Lurleen pulled away from John, but he grabbed her hand and didn’t let go.

  “It’s your day, Sister.”

  “Can I go with John and Lurleen?” Teddy begged. “Please, Emily. I wanna bring home a big buck like him. A state record.”

  Lurleen shook her head. “No, Teddy, you can’t go. Opening day is too dangerous for a novice.”

  “But I’m good, aren’t I, John? You said so yourself.”

  Lurleen was a regular at the shooting range; sometimes she drug Brother along. When John learned of her penchant for guns, he became a regular too and started to teach Teddy how to shoot, something Mama had forbidden. When Teddy blurted out the secret at dinner one night, Emily was sure Mama would ban Lurleen from the shooting range and from John, but Mama thought it was wonderful that John was spending time with Teddy. Apparently because he was a man it was okay for John to teach him, but it was also okay because anyone could see Mama’s fatherless son adored John.

  “Yeah, kid, you’re good, but Lurleen’s right. There’ll be more hunters than deer looking for that big buck. It’s not safe, buddy.”

  “Emily,” Brother whined. “I wanna go. Please let me. Lurleen was supposed to watch me; she can watch me just as good in the woods as she can here.”

  Emily knew what she was doing. A third wheel would take the enchantment right out of Lurleen’s little rendezvous. A little brother would definitely kill the romance, even if it was just for a little while. And John deserved at least that for slighting Emily, for not coming under her spell like every other man in Kershaw County. “Of course you can go, Teddy,” she said, looking straight at Lurleen.

  “Never mind. I’ll stay,” Lurleen said, looking longingly at John. “It is my turn to keep him.”

  “I’ll stay with you,” John said.

  “No, I’d hate for you two deer aficionados to miss opening day,” Emily said. “I insist you go and take Brother with you.”

  “Great,” Brother yelled, and tore into the house. He came out with the rifle John had given him and joined the happy couple.

  “This isn’t a good idea, Emily,” Lurleen said.

  “It’ll be all right, sweetheart. We’ll do our best, keep him close,” John said to Lurleen. Which was exactly Emily’s plan; Brother would stay so close, there would be no breathless kisses for Lurleen, and John certainly wouldn’t try to get into her pants with Teddy around.

  Emily was so proud of herself, after they left, she celebrated with a long bubble bath and then fixed her hair for her date that night. She didn’t even hear the police car when it pulled up out front, but when she floated from her room to the kitchen to get a glass of sweet tea, she saw a policeman ushering Lurleen into the house; she was covered in blood.

  “Lurleen.” Emily flew to sister; her face was blank and ghostly pale. “Lurleen.”

  “She’s okay,” the policeman said.

  “My brother. Teddy. Where’s my brother?” Emily screamed. She ran to the screen door but didn’t see anybody in the squad car. “Oh, my God. Please. Where’s my brother?” Emily flung herself at the officer, pummeling his chest. “Where’s Teddy?”

  “He’s at the hospital,” the policeman said. “Someone at the station called your mama; she’s on her way there from work.”

  “Has he been shot?” Emily sobbed. “Dear God, is he dead? Please, no.”

  “He’s in shock.” Lurleen’s voice was flat; she looked like she was in shock too.

  Grateful, Emily threw her arms around Lurleen, but she peeled Emily off and backed away from her. “You took him from me,” she gritted out through tears. “Don’t touch me.”

  “But Lurleen, Brother’s fine.” Sobbing uncontrollably, Emily reached for her, but Lurleen let out an inhuman yowl. She slapped Emily hard across the face, snatched a handful of her hair out, and went back for more. The policeman grabbed her but not before Lurleen got Emily in a headlock and started pummeling her face. Emily screamed, the taste of her own blood filling her mouth.

  The policeman pulled Lurleen off of Emily. “That’s enough. It was horrible what happened,” he shouted, “but she’s your sister; you’re going to need her.”

  “I hate her.” Lurleen glared at Emily, spittle flying like a rabid dog. “She’s dead to me,” she screamed. She pulled away from the policeman, went to her room, and did not emerge until three days later, just before John’s body was taken to the train station in Columbia to be shipped home to Iowa. Mama took Lurleen to the funeral home and she sat alone with his closed casket for hours until they loaded it in the hearse.

  By that time, Brother had felt the full weight of what he’d done. Somehow he’d managed to slip away from John and Lurleen to try to shoot that g.d. deer that was folklore. Alarmed, John and Lurleen split up to look for him. Lurleen heard a shot and then Brother screamed. The policeman said it was a wonder when she threw her gun down and ran in the direction of the scream that she didn’t get shot. When she got there, Brother’s body was draped over John’s torso, his face covering John’s or what was left of it. It was an accident. That’s what the game warden and the police had said, nobody’s fault, but that wasn’t true. It was Emily’s fault.

  Emily told the police her part in John’s death, but she never told Mama or anyone else for that matter, and neither had Lurleen or Brother. Emily’s part in ruining Teddy, in John’s death, was both her cross and her secret to bear. A secret that drove Brother mad, a secret that turned out to be Lurleen’s revenge because she knew Emily could never tell Mama what had happened. Years passed, Emily’s guilt gnawed at her from the inside out, and by time
Lurleen did speak to her again, Mama had passed away and Teddy had been gone for four years.

  Was he alive? Was he dead? Would she ever know one way or the other?

  “Emily?” Lurleen’s voice pierced the nightmare Emily had lived and relived for so much of her life, sometimes it seemed it was her life. “Are you crying?”

  Emily didn’t answer. Just concentrated on breathing, which was next to impossible. She squeezed her eyes shut for one last covetous moment and wished to God she’d been able to outrun her secret like Nettie Gilbert had outrun hers. But it was so deep, so potent, even in the bosom of her sister’s forgiveness, it was still there.

  23

  LURLEEN

  Much to Lurleen’s shock, she was up early, just before six. Emily was snoring away, like she usually did when she first went to sleep, which made Lurleen wonder if Emily had gotten any sleep at all last night. While Lurleen hadn’t really wanted to come on this trip, she had to admit, aside from the physical trials, their little jaunt had been, well, fun so far.

  She felt relatively good and wondered if she could get one of the waiters to sneak her a ham biscuit for the road at breakfast, but maybe that was pushing things a bit. Grudgingly she washed down her digitalis and her water pill with a swig of water Emily must have put beside the bed last night.

  She dressed, slipped out of the room quietly, and knocked softly on Nettie’s door. A few seconds later, the door opened. Nettie was gathering her hair into a long ponytail. She was dressed in the lovely yellow skirt she’d worn her first day of work and a frilly white blouse. “I’m going to let Emily sleep a bit; I was headed down to the dining room to get some breakfast and wondered if you were up and wanted to join me.”

  The sweet girl blushed. “I don’t think Miss Emily would like that, and I really don’t want to get off on the wrong foot today.”

  “All right then. I’ll get a bite to eat, and you all join me when you’re ready. What time do we have to be at the bus station?”

  “The bus for Shreveport leaves around ten,” Nettie said.

  “That’ll give me plenty of time to drink coffee and have a fine breakfast.”

  “But,” Nettie said hesitantly.

  “I know, no ham.”

  She nodded, lips pursed. “I should walk you down.”

  Lurleen started to protest, but she didn’t for Nettie’s sake. Nettie ushered her to the elevator; even with the prospect of being on a bus all day, Lurleen felt a little better today. Not that she was better, but she’d figured out a thing or two since they left Camden yesterday. Staying in bed all the time was not good for her, and not just because of her heart. Every minute of every day was about waiting to die when she should have been focused on making the most of the time she had left.

  Over a year ago, after she got sick, if you’d asked Lurleen where her last outing would have been, she would have said the library. Just to walk in and smell the books, walk along the shelves running her fingers across the spines of classics that stole her heart, a good mystery or a romance that took her breath away. To take a young child who swears they hate to read to the stacks and find that one book that unlocks their heart and makes them fall in love with reading.

  Never in a million years would she have opted to be held captive on a bus with Emily and a young woman she didn’t know well, headed to Texas to see a faith healer who probably was a hoax. But lo and behold if she wasn’t excited, even hopeful that there really was a miracle at the end of this snipe hunt.

  She passed over the ham again but did have a bowl of grits that hardly had any salt at all in them, some scrambled eggs. Toast. She was on her third cup of coffee when Nettie and Emily joined her in the dining room. Sister looked a wreck, although for Emily, that meant slightly less than perfect. While breakfast was lovely, Nettie still seemed on edge, much like she was yesterday. But they were soon off to the bus station.

  Lurleen was dying for a book to read and bought a paperback romance she’d read recently at the newsstand. Pickings were slim and it was either that or a western, which she had no interest in. Emily was almost subdued, quiet. Lurleen tried to poke fun at her a few times, but she barely responded, and when they got on the crowded bus, Emily went right to sleep with her head leaned against the window.

  “Is your book good?” Nettie asked.

  “Yes. I’m not sure if this woman is a very good writer or if it’s just good to read again. Of course I could have read to myself back home, but it was nice having you do it. There’s just something about hearing the written word aloud.”

  “I agree.” With her long red hair scraped back, her features looked even more tense than when Emily was on the prowl. Lurleen suspected it had everything to do with Nettie’s proximity to her homeplace. Of course, Thomas Wolfe was posthumously credited with suggesting you can’t go home again, and although Nettie seemed to be living proof of that, Lurleen disagreed. While the protagonist in Wolfe’s story had in his hometown’s view besmirched them, Nettie was the one who had been wronged. She should be able to do whatever she pleased after what she’d been through.

  Lurleen knew absolutely nothing about Satsuma or Alabamians as a whole, but it seemed to her someone owed that sweet girl a heartfelt apology. Not that it would change what had happened, but Lurleen suspected it would help Nettie heal. Of course Remmy would be only too happy to help mend her heart, and why not? He was good and handsome and caring. If Lurleen thought hard on every boy she’d known over her years living in Camden, she couldn’t pick a better one for Nettie.

  “As a nosy old woman I’m entitled to ask, was it Remmy you called yesterday?” She blushed and nodded. “And how is he?”

  “He’s fine. Concerned about you.”

  “And you as well, I suspect.”

  “Yes.”

  “Of course I’ve known Remmy since before he was born, Katie too. Knew his parents well. It was a shame what happened to them.”

  “He mentioned the accident, but never really said much other than it put Katie in the wheelchair.”

  “It was quite tragic; one minute Remmy was driving his family to a restaurant to celebrate his graduation, and the next a truck crossed the yellow line. Remmy swerved but couldn’t avoid the truck and ended up being plowed into the concrete pylon of the bridge, crushed the passenger side of the car into a perfect triangle. His parents died instantly. Katie was on their side of the car; her legs were ruined. Remmy and Katie’s beau were barely hurt. Physically.

  “The accident changed their lives; after Katie was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life, her fiancé promptly jilted her. Remmy was supposed to take a big job in Charleston, but he ended up moving back home to Camden to take over his father’s practice.”

  Emily snored softly as Lurleen changed the subject to a happier time. She shared stories about Remmy growing up, his mother pulling him into the library by his ear to return the books he had stolen. The Sword in the Stone and The Boy’s Book of Adventure, a collection of stories that was quite popular back then, mostly because there weren’t a lot of books written specifically for boys.

  Lurleen watched the road signs fly past and finished telling the reptile stories Emily still held against Remmy. She was tired, but her work was done; she let out a tired, satisfied sigh and smiled.

  Nettie’s brow furrowed. “What?” she said tentatively.

  “You can relax now, dear. We’re in Mississippi.”

  NETTIE

  After talking me out of Alabama, Miss Lurleen fell sound asleep between Miss Emily and me. The sisters snored softly while I studied the map I’d bought at the bus station in Camden. It was worse for wear from being unfolded and refolded often, like somehow that could make the thousand or so miles pass quicker. The sisters had traveled so well yesterday, I’d hoped we could make it all the way to Shreveport, leaving just a short ride to Palestine the following day, but no such luck.

&nbs
p; Even with healthy doses of sweet tea and bananas along with her daily medications, Miss Lurleen’s legs were swollen so tight, when I poked my finger against her ankles, the skin didn’t give at all. And she was pained; it was evident in her face. Miss Emily must have been worn out too, because she barely said two words the whole day.

  When the bus pulled into Monroe, Louisiana, I spoke to the woman in the ticket office and about nearby hotels.

  “There ain’t much in the way of hotels. Hotel Frances used to be a real nice place, but not since the motels out on Highway 80 opened up. I hear them motels are real swanky. Hear they got all kind of modern conveniences, though I ain’t quite sure what those would be.”

  There were either no cabs in town or none available. We paid the woman’s sister to shuttle us back out to the highway to the Magnolia Motel. She thanked us all over the place for the two dollars we gave her and promised she’d be around to collect us in the morning and get us to the bus station on time.

  The sisters went on about the motel’s diner being crowded; they couldn’t wait for suppertime. I was still full from when Miss Emily and I had gotten hotdogs in Meridian. It was hard eating mine since Miss Lurleen was still relegated to bananas and sweets, but Miss Emily gobbled hers down in surprisingly unladylike fashion. I wasn’t sure if it had something to do with the sisters being old, but one thing I noticed about them was their world seemed to revolve around their next meal.

  Miss Lurleen asked for two rooms again, and the desk clerk said he had a room with two twins and a Murphy bed. “One room is just fine,” I said.

  Three shiny new phone booths stood across from the office. The man carried the sisters’ luggage to our room; I set my suitcase by the space on the wall, claiming the Murphy bed, and went back out to use the phone. The operator put the call through. Katie’s voice on the other end made the bottom drop out of my stomach.