Clara took a deep breath and shoved food in her mouth to keep from arguing with her.
***
“Why don’t you girls give Clara a tour of the house, and y’all have a visit. I’ll help Mary Jane take care of cleanup,” Bernie said in an attempt to run the cousins out of the kitchen when everyone had finished lunch. Clara could use a therapy session with someone who had essentially been through similar experiences. From what Endora had said, she could definitely benefit from comparing notes with her cousin. And besides all that, Bernie wanted time to talk to Mary Jane without all the girls around.
“I don’t mind helping,” Clara said.
“We only have so much time before we have to start back. You girls need to make the most of it,” Bernie said.
“No argument from me,” Luna agreed, and led the way out of the kitchen.
Mary Jane pushed her plate back and refilled both her and Bernie’s tea glasses. “Now, tell me about thisfellow who is willing to work for free to get a chance at buying your bar.”
“I’ve known his grandparents for years. Hoot, that’s his grandpa, comes in the bar every week when his wife is at her quilting meeting at the church. Nash is their grandson, and he seems to be a good fit for the bar.” Bernie pulled her phone from her shirt pocket and scrolled down through it. “Here’s a photo I shot of him and Clara on Monday night.”
“Good-lookin’ fellow,” Mary Jane said, “but isn’t he a lot older than Clara?”
“Nope, only about five years. Seems that he got premature gray hair. Downright sexy, don’t you think?”
“Oh, yeah,” Mary Jane answered, “and Clara looks happy. I feel bad that I’ve missed so much of her life.”
Bernie cut a brownie in half and ate it with her fingers. “That’s not on you. Maybe someday Marsha will grow up and realize how much family means to a person.”
“It’s been more than twenty years since I moved into the Paradise,” Mary Jane said with a long sigh. “It’s just a house that quit being a brothel over a hundred years ago. I can’t understand why they were all so against me living here. Or writing romance books, either. It’s what I do, not who I am.”
“Add that to the anger they have at you for not throwing me out with the trash and continuing to let me be a part of your life, and you might have an inkling of their excuses and reasons for the way they treated you,”Bernie told her. “Changing the subject here. I’m worried about all three of those girls. Clara and Endora have been through tough times, but something is off with Luna. She seems happy and sad at the same time.”
“She and Endora are the kind of twins that share each other’s emotions,” Mary Jane explained. “Luna feels guilty if she’s happy because Endora can’t get over the betrayal. Her fiancé snowed us all. We thought he hung the moon and stars, but all that was fake.”
Bernie nodded the whole time Mary Jane was speaking and thought of another fellow by the name of Kent who was pretty much the same, even if he was an abuser in a different way. “Sounds an awful lot like the story Clara told me about the fellow she was living with up until a year ago. Too bad Marsha didn’t stand up for her like you have done for Endora.” She went on to tell Mary Jane about the controlling relationship Clara had gotten out of. “I think all three of them need to find a man who would walk a mile over hot coals and through a tornado to bring them a bouquet of wildflowers.”
“You got that right, but I think the last man who would do that might have been Joe Clay Carter, and I married him more than twenty years ago,” Mary Jane said.
“I’m a pretty good reader of people, and I think Nash might be one of the few.” An idea floated through Bernie’s mind that she could possibly be a matchmaker for all of her great-nieces. She could practice on Clara,and then move on to all seven of Mary Jane’s girls once she had moved to Spanish Fort. Of course, Ursula and Luna would be first on the list. Endora would need to see that her sisters could have a happy-ever-after, and that all men weren’t like that sorry sucker who did her so dirty.
“What are you thinking about?” Mary Jane asked. “You look like you are about to chew up railroad ties and spit out Tinker Toys.”
“Endora,” Bernie admitted. “I could take that fool that caused her pain into the woods behind my bar and leave his carcass there for the coyotes.”
“I’d help you drag him,” Mary Jane said. “Maybe we could make it double fun and do the same with Clara’s ex.”
“Now you are talking,” Bernie agreed.
***
On one hand, Clara hated to see the afternoon end. On the other, she couldn’t wait to talk to Bernie about her twin cousins on the trip back across the Red River. Bernie had driven down the long, tree-lined lane and was back on the road leading out of town when she finally spoke.
“What do you think of the Paradise now that you’ve visited your cousins and aunt?”
Clara gazed out at the pale-blue sky without a single cloud in sight. “It’s kind of like that,” she answered.
“Like what?” Bernie frowned.
“The sky. No dark clouds. No bad omens. Just peace and a beautiful day. But I got to admit I’m worriedabout the twins. We talked a lot about Endora’s and my exes. It’s been about a year for both of us, but she hasn’t moved on like I have. We both don’t know if we can fully trust another man enough to enter into a relationship again, but I’m willing to try. It will be a very long time before Endora has reached that place,” Clara answered.
After that comment, Bernie figured that she might have a little success fixing Clara up with her happy-ever-after, but she would have to really put forth some effort with Endora. Maybe it would be best to start with Ursula. Seemed fitting since she was the oldest, and it would only be right that she get married and give Mary Jane her first grandbaby.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Clara asked. “We are going to get back in time to open the bar on time, aren’t we?”
