Lacy’s eyes darted from Bella to Anton to his mother.
Patty gave Lacy a quick pat on the arm. “I knew you wouldn’t want Bella left at The Rose all night, even if it is a fancy little hotel.”
Somehow this woman was managing to insult my ancestral home as well as my best friend. I kind of hated her.
Then I thought about the alternative to having Bellajoin our party tonight. Having her with us was probably best. I could keep a close eye on her.
“Of course,” Lacy managed to say to Patty and Bella, clenching her jaw as she smiled.
Bella waved her long fingers, reminding me of spider’s legs, before she gave Patty and the cousins a quick wink and turned away. As Momma would have said, this lady was trouble with a capital T.
FIVE
Those who couldn’t read my friend would never know the effort it took for Lacy to keep herself in check as she stood in the Winter Garden. We had no need of the heaters any longer, what with the rising temperature of the situation we were finding ourselves in. I was proud of her for remaining cool and collected, but a part of me wanted her to explode, to put these people in their place.
Anton was avoiding Lacy’s gaze, which was probably a good idea since, as the seconds passed, her stare was growing sharper.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Anton said, turning back to his mother and trying to find his conversational footing. “But where is Dad?”
“Oh, you know, entangled in some new business opportunity.” Patty waved as if such things didn’t concern her before placing a possessive hand on the priest’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “I told Todd that he would definitely want to be with you, get to know you, tonight.”
“And I told her that would be terribly inappropriate,” Reverend Todd responded, with a tight smile that was difficult to read. I couldn’t tell if he didn’t want to attend the bachelor party or if he was waiting for Anton to extend an actual invitation.
Either way, Anton wasn’t having it. His eyes flicked between the priest, his mother, his cousins, and Lacy, but Anton decided todeal with the instigator first. “Can I speak with you alone, Mother?”
Patty let him lead her to the farthest edges of the Winter Garden and onto the back lawn, toward the rose hedge maze.
Lacy and I stood awkwardly, with Anton’s watchful cousins and the priest, who was only a couple of years older than us. Would this man become Lacy’s father-in-law? Would he expect Anton to call him “Dad”? If so, I could hardly imagine the level of awkwardness that would permeate their future holiday gatherings.
Lacy shot me a look that said she needed me to jump in.
I turned to the collared man still standing with us. “So, how did you two… you and Mrs. Swanson… meet?”
“At Sully’s,” he said, before catching himself, seeming to remember that I was an outsider and thus had no knowledge of their Texas town. “It’s a… a homeless organization that I—and the church, of course—run. In downtown Swanson.”
Lacy saw my confusion. “The Swansons founded and live in the town of Swanson,” she clarified, her raised eyebrows telling me that she realized how pretentious this fact sounded. “Three brothers were running everything for the past few decades, but now Anton’s father is the only one alive.”
“That’s right. My dad and Myrtis’s father died a few years ago, but we carry on their legacy,” Cousin Charlotte interjected, obviously proud of her roots. “Great-great-grandfather Swanson worked his way up from cattle hand to land owner, and every generation since then has improved our little corner of the world.”
“With a little help from a wealthy widow who took a liking to him,” Myrtis added, causing Charlotte to frown at her. Myrtis’s shoulders slumped under her cousin’s gaze.
I thought of a documentary I’d watched during one of my agricultural animal science classes about King Ranch, a Texas cattle ranch in the southern part of the state. Larger than the state of Rhode Island, and while not incorporated as a city, it generated revenue of more than $600 million a year. Were the Swansons thislevel of rich? And was this young priest dating the matriarch of the family?
Several things clicked into place at once as I realized that Anton had grown up in the same kind of town as Aubergine, but there, he’d been the royalty. He was already familiar with how small towns worked, how outsiders were always and forever “the other.”
Charlie had dealt with this issue a lot over the past year: citizens who asked to speak with officers instead of the sheriff because they didn’t trust him yet; drunks who yelled profanities punctuated with “You ain’t even from around here” when he hauled them into the station to sleep it off in a cell. Aunt DeeDee and I told him to just give it time, but Charlie was often frustrated by his inability to make inroads with the people of Aubergine. At least Anton had known what he was getting into by deciding to settle down here with Lacy.
As I processed all of this, I took a step back and bumped into a tall planter filled with winter jasmine. I hit it just right, and the table wobbled, the pot falling too quickly for me to catch it. As it broke, dirt flew around us, causing Myrtis and Charlotte to scowl and scoot away as a staff member hurried over to assess the damage.
“Are you all right, Ms. Green?” a young man in the standard black-and-burgundy Rose uniform asked as he knelt to swipe at the dirt on my dressiest white boots. I wasn’t used to being called “Ms.” anything, and I certainly wasn’t familiar with being fawned over by an employee, particularly one who was technicallymyemployee, since half of my inheritance funded the maintenance of this estate.
“I’m fine,” I said, stomping the dirt off my boots.
Lacy, in her fancy heels, jumped back and, startlingly, Reverend Todd began to curse, his calm expression twisting into irritation.
“Watch it. Shit!” he muttered, stomping his feet before bending to wipe at his shoes before remembering he had an audience and putting out a hand apologetically. “Forgive me. They’re suede,” he said, pointing at his shoes and composing hisfeatures into a more neutral expression as he addressed the young man. “Boy, do you have a suede brush?”
The worker glanced behind him to see if the priest might be addressing someone else as “boy.” He was not.
