***
At Millie’s insistence, they stripped the sagging mattress from the bed and turned it over. Then they all took turns sponging the salt spray off themselves in the bathroom’s claw-foot bathtub.
When Josephine returned from her makeshift bath, she found that Millie had managed to find a broom, sweep the floor, and remake the bed using the coverlet as a bottom sheet and their blanket as a bedspread.
“Well, Millie, you really are going to make somebody a wonderful wife someday,” Josephine said.
“Just not that bastard Russell Strickland,” Ruth added.
The four of them crowded onto the bed, and Josephine switched off the flashlight.
“This isn’t so bad,” Millie said after a long yawn. “Remember, we used to do this all the time when we were at boarding school and I was so afraid of the thunderstorms.”
“What I remember is that Jo snores worse than my grandpa,” Ruth said drowsily.
“And you had terrible gas,” Josephine retorted. “And Millie likes to talk in her sleep.”
Varina giggled in the darkness.
“This’ll probably be the last time we get to do something like this,” Millie said, sounding wistful. “Once I’m married…”
“You are not marrying him,” Jo said. “And we would never forget about you.”
“I ain’t ever getting married,” Varina said.
“Sure you will,” Millie answered. “Not right away, of course. But someday you’ll find some nice boy and get married and have the sweetest babies ever.”
“No, ma’am,” Varina said forcefully. “I ain’t ever gonna let some bad man beat up on me or drink too much or tell me what to do. Someday, I’m gonna get off this island, and I’m gonna get me a job and have me a house of my very own.”
She expected an argument from the others, but after a moment, all she heard was a low rumbling snore emanating from Josephine on the far side of the bed. Varina closed her eyes tightly and turned on her side, toward the wall. She felt Millie’s slight body, spooning into her back, heard her mutter something incoherent.
She heard the rain pelting the tin roof and saw flashes of lightning through the windows. The wind picked up and the curtains danced. She pulled the edge of the quilt over her eyes and burrowed deeper into the lumpy mattress.
The last thing Varina heard before drifting off to sleep herself was a faintphhhhhhtcoming from Ruth, who was stretched out between Josephine and Millie. She giggled softly.
27
Marie whipped her head around to stare at Lizzie. “What do you mean? Are you saying my mother was engaged to marry this man who just vanished?”
“According to the old newspaper accounts my grandmother saved, yes,” Lizzie said calmly.
“That’s impossible.” Marie shook her head. “I’ve never even heard of this Russell… what did you say his name was?”
“Strickland. I can’t believe this is news to you. It was a really big story back in the day.”
Brooke reached over and touched her mother’s hand. “That must be the man Josephine told me about. She said his name was Russell. Granny never said anything at all? About being engaged to somebody before she married Pops?”
“Never,” Marie said. “In fact, after Pops died, I teased her once, saying she should find another husband. She was so young to be a widow, only in her forties, and so pretty too. She got really angry at me for even suggesting such a thing. I can still remember what she said. ‘I had one true love—and he’s gone. That’s enough for one woman.’”
“So… is it possible she was talking about Russell Strickland and not Pops?” Brooke asked.
Marie didn’t hesitate. “No. Mama was devoted to Pops. As he was to her.”
“Maybe your mother just felt uncomfortable talking about this guy,” Lizzie suggested. “That generation—your mother’s and my grandmother’s—could be pretty stoic. Or in denial. Or both. Take my dad. It was clear to anybody who met him that he had issues. I mean, he once set fire to my grandma’s Cadillac when she wouldn’t give him the keys—this after he showed up at her house, at nine in the morning, stoned out of his gourd. But she never once admitted that he might be an addict.”
“Well, this certainly puts a whole intriguing new light on our trip to Talisa,” Marie said.
***
