Muriel speared me with a look. “It’s seven thousand dollars. We do not know why you were working at that club, but I can only imagine you have dire straits.”
“Will you stop being so prim, Muriel!” Rita sighed. She propped a hip on my bed and grabbed my hand. “It’s hard when people pass unexpectedly. I should have spent more time and found out what was going on with you.”
I shook my head. “I can’t take this money, Rita.”
Muriel leaned forward. “You aren’t taking money, Savannah. You’re taking the donuts… and the box they came in. It’s almost reminiscent ofThe Godfather. There is no gun—”
“There’s also no cannoli,” Rita muttered.
Muriel rolled her eyes. “I said ‘almost’.” She turned to me and squeezed my hand. “You take the money and do what you need to do.”
I closed my eyes, wondering if my blooming headache had to do with the blows to my head, or if it was the stress of how to pay off Frank. If only I could multiply that envelope five times.
No.
I couldn’t possibly ask these women for that much money.
Not only was that wrong, but I had a niggling feeling that even if I paid the entire debt, Frank would find some way to cheat me or force me to pay more.
After all, it wasn’t like this was a traditional debt.
I took a deep breath and blinked back my tears. “Thank you, both of you. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“Don’t,” Muriel said in a firm tone. “I mean it. Don’t even think about payingusback. One day, a while from now, you’ll find yourself in a better place. And when some other woman - it might be your sister or it might be a woman young enough to be your granddaughter - whoever she is, once you know she’s in a bad place or hard up,thenyou repay it, to her, Savannah. We women have to stick together. Always have.”
My eyes slid to Rita and, even through the film of unshed tears, I saw she was nodding vehemently. Finally, something they agreed on, even if I felt guilty as hell about it.
“Thank you,” I croaked around the lump in my throat.
Muriel let go of my hand and patted it twice. “That’s all you need to say. Now, hand me a Boston Cream.”
Not one minute after I tucked the envelope in the drawer of my bedside table, Lucy and Desiree led Heaven, Monique, and Sapphire into the room.
Desiree’s head moved on a swivel, her ash blonde hair swinging with her movement. “Girl! How’d you get such a fancy room?”
I opened my mouth to tell them about Muriel, but I was too slow to speak.
Lucy swatted a hand at Desiree. “Who cares? She’s gettin’ out of here today, right?”
I nodded. “That’s what they tell me. What are you all doing here?”
Desiree, Heaven, Monique, and Sapphire crowded together on a nearby couch.
Lucy sat in the chair Muriel had pulled close to my bed. “It could have been any of us that got beaten like that. We’re here to celebrate you gettin’ out of here, and the fact that you’re still alive.”
“Lucy, you weren’t supposed to say it like that,” Heaven said.
Lucy swung her gaze to Heaven. “It’s better to be direct with this kind of shit. Hell, I’m surprised they didn’t target me again.”
“Again?” I asked.
Desiree came to the other side of my bed, waving her hand as she walked. “Don’t worry about that. We wanted to get somemoney together for you, but the brothers said they’re footing your medical bills.”
I nodded. “That’s what Puncture tells me.”
Lucy wagged a finger at me. “One day, you’re gonna tell us more about how you know him.”
I grimaced. “Well, today is not that day.”
