“Billy’s in Los Angeles,” the lawyer said. “He won’t be back till the end of the year. He has a few more clients out there. He’s working on cutting all ties with Nashville.”
Stella’s mouth went dry. “Sally has to be here to sign the contract, too.”
“Not legally,” the lawyer said, reminding her of how they’d set up the contract from the get-go. Stella was in charge.
“But I can sing by myself,” Stella told him, raising her chin. “I’ve written many of our songs myself. I’ll perform those. I’ll write more!”
“You can write as many songs as you want to.” The lawyer shrugged. “I can’t help you with that. And neither can my client, Billy Long.”
It felt like a smack. But Stella reminded herself it wasn’t over. She was still young.
When it was clear that Sally was going to take her sweet time calling to tell Stella where she’d run off to, Stella went to Boo’s Country Western Bar and asked if she could perform solo. Boo took one look at her and grimaced. “Can I talk to you?” he asked,pulling her into the back room, the same room where she and Sally had hid out during their father and Harvey’s attack.
“This is not easy,” Boo said, clasping his hands. “But Stella, are you by chance pregnant?”
Stella crossed her arms over her stomach. Shame made her face go hot. Boo sat down and put his face in his hands. “I should have protected you from all this,” he muttered.
Stella didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t need to be protected,” she said. But around her, her life crumbled to nothing.
The thing was, nobody wanted to see a single McGee sister sing on stage, not without the other one by her side. More than that, they didn’t want to see a pregnant McGee sister, raising a child out of wedlock. It was 1980 and the South. Everyone would give her a hard time.
Stella returned home, dumbfounded. In one fell swoop, she’d lost everything.
By chance, she considered Greta Vanberg and wondered if she was still in Nashville. She’d said she was leaving just as soon as she saw that man, but maybe Stella was lucky. Maybe she was still around. She called the hotel where Greta was staying and was pleased to hear she was still in Nashville. Greta invited her to dinner at the hotel. “I’m driving away tomorrow,” she explained.
Stella dressed in a simple, loose-fitting black dress and drove herself to Greta’s hotel, where Greta waited for her in the empty dining room. When Stella entered, Greta looked at her with more tenderness than Stella had felt from anyone in the previous days. Stella burst into tears, and Greta wrapped her arms around her and consoled her as best as she could, using some German words and some English. For the first time in her life, Stella felt properly mothered. She couldn’t get enough, not now that Sally was gone, and she was more alone than she ever had been.
When Greta suggested that Stella come to Martha’s Vineyard for a little while, Stella leaped at the chance. “I’ll leave your number with people in Nashville so Sally can get ahold of me,” she said, knowing that Sally would one day change her mind, that she would one day remember Stella and want to apologize and fix their friendship. “She’s hiding, and she’s scared, but that won’t be forever,” Stella said. “She’ll come to the Vineyard.”
“She’ll be welcome there,” Greta agreed, although Stella could see from her face that Greta wasn’t entirely sure if Sally would come after all.
Stella packed only a few things into two suitcases, plus all the money she and Sally had made. She sold the house and her car for cash, then leaped into Greta’s vehicle and watched Nashville melt into the backdrop. Greta and Stella kept the country radio station on as long as they could, although eventually, tragically, it faded out, and they found themselves in the north.
The music was different here. Stella would have to find a way to understand it.
23
Present Day: Nashville, Tennessee
The man who owned the country-western bar introduced himself as Matthew. “Boo’s nephew,” he added a bit wistfully, as though Candice and Lindsey had ever heard Boo’s name. He continued to look at them as though they were ghosts, floating right there on the other side of his bar. And then he said, “I think we have a lot to talk about. Why don’t you come by my place tomorrow? My wife cooks the best fried chicken and cornbread around.”
Candice smiled. “That would be nice,” she said.
“You must know about Southern hospitality from your mama,” Matthew said.
Candice and Lindsey exchanged glances. How could they explain to Matthew that their mother had done everything she could to get rid of her Southern accent? Everything she’d done had been to deepen her Martha’s Vineyard reality. She’d run as fast and as far from this place. But why? What had happened? Candice’s heart dropped.
That night back at the hotel, Candice and Lindsey stayed up late. Neither of them had much to say, maybe because their heads were swirling. They considered calling Henry to give him an update, but decided to wait until after their dinner with Matthew and his wife. Only then would they have more details about their mother’s life. Maybe they’d even figure out where Sally was now.
“I wonder if Sally even knows our mother died,” Lindsey said. She lay back on Candice’s bed and put a pillow over her face.
Candice wondered what it would feel like to hear about Lindsey’s death many months after it had happened. Her stomach twisted.
“Do you remember how angry Mom used to get when we fought?” Candice said. “She always really wanted us to get along.”
“She said, ‘That’s your sister. That’s your built-in best friend. You have to love her above everyone else.’” Lindsey threw the pillow aside and sat up. “It makes a lot more sense now. I thought she was just mothering us.”
“It was personal,” Candice said gently. “Sally was her everything. And…” Candice trailed off, feeling a lump in her throat. “You’ve become so important to me this summer, Lindsey. This trip to Nashville has been exhilarating. And painful. I’ve loved it. I know we weren’t always very good at keeping in touch over the years. But I hope, even if the Harbor House becomes a women’s home, we still find ways to spend time together.”
