Page 59 of The Deadly Candies

“But he ain’t,” Brenda cried. “Now he’s talking about visiting Kathy instead of bringing her home!” Her voice cracked, and she wept openly.

Claudia reached for her again, pulling her close. “Listen, men are stubborn. I told you. It’ll take time. Stay sweet on him. The sweeter you are, the softer he’ll be.”

“I can’t do it!” Brenda snapped, wrenching herself away. “He’s my husband, Claudia, and I miss him. It’s killing me inside to pull away from him. But what else am I supposed to do? Now he thinks I can live with my baby gone. And I’m telling you, I can’t. He won’t give me more children. She’s all I got. I have to have her back here with me. Ihaveto!”

Claudia nodded, her eyes filled with understanding. “The Freeman boys come from tough stock. You know how Big Mama raised them. Mean as snakes. He loves your baby too. He thinks he’s healing her from that Italian. He thinks he’s healing you, too. You can’t fight him with anger and demands. You’ve got to do it with love, Brenda. I know it’s hard. Being Pete’s wife is hard. He beat my baby girl so bad because of those Italians, I had to mend her for weeks. Trust and believe, I know what it is to hold your tongue and your vengeance. But what else are we gonna do? You gonna force Henry to bring her back?”

Brenda paced the room, her breathing labored. “My sister, Izzie, called me last night. Janey’s headed to Butts.”

Claudia’s eyes widened. “She al’ight?”

“Who knows with Janey. But if she gets next to my baby, ain’t no telling what Janey’s gonna fill her head with. I cain’t let her stay in the Delta. She ain’t got a fighting chance without me.”

“Then there’s one thing youcando. One thing that’ll force Henry to hear you. But if you do it, it could drive a big wedge between you,” Claudia said, her voice low and serious.

“What?” Brenda asked, stopping in her tracks.

“Leave him. Go back to Mississippi and be with her. Leave him here to face Bumpy and these stupid turf wars with the Italians alone. Leave him here for the whores and church ushers to ease into your man’s bed and take your place. Leave him behind and tell him you choose her over him. You prepared to do that? To walk away, Brenda? Possibly for good?”

Brenda stood frozen, the weight of Claudia’s words were heavy on her heart. The choice should have been simple. She was a mother. It was her sole purpose in life to be a good mother and wife. But Henry was as much a part of her soul as Kathy was. She couldn’t walk away from either of them. He’d saved her life that night. Saved her sister Janey and risked a lynching for it. He’d busted his ass for those white men down at the ports, taken beatings and cheating in stride. He’d gotten them a house, made her respectable—something she could never have been as an Elliot bastard in Butts.

“I can’t leave him,” Brenda whispered. “I can never leave him. It ain’t in me. Only death can make us part.”

Claudia smiled softly. She walked over to her sister-in-law, her sister in Christ, and threw her arms around her. They embraced tightly, a shared connection as wives to the Freeman men. No one knew their joy or their suffering more than each other.

Claudia cupped Brenda’s face in her hands. “You listen here. You’re a good woman, and Henry worships you. Use that. You know how. You’re your mama’s daughter.”

Brenda nodded, a small smile breaking through her tears. “I’m my mama’s daughter.”

Butts, Mississippi – 1949

“Hey, hey there, Ely! Whatcha?—?”

Doogie paused mid-sentence; his sharp eyes focused as he peered into the truck. For a second, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him. But no—when he blinked, she was still there.

“Janey?” His voice pitched high with disbelief.

Janey didn’t bother removing her sunglasses. She merely tilted her head, her lips parted in mild disinterest.

“You know it is,” she said flatly.

Doogie let out a low whistle, shaking his head as he looked over at Ely.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he muttered. “What you bringin’ them here for, boy?”

Ely kept his hands firm on the wheel and his voice steady. “The cabin still here?”

Doogie’s smirk faded. His gaze volleyed toward the overgrown path ahead, where the remains of the old cabin sat hidden behind a thicket of wild grass and creeping vines.

“Yeah,” he said after a beat. “Docker boys won’t tear it down for some strange reason.Scared to, if you ask me.” He scratched the back of his neck. “They say it’s cursed.”

At that, Kathy saw her aunt’s head turn sharply, despite the veil of her sunglasses.

Ely ignored the comment. “She wants to see it. Can you get me permission?”

Doogie chuckled. “Ain’t nobody gonna stopher,” he said, nodding toward Janey. “Ain’tnobodygoes out there, neither. You just come back this way when y’all done, so I can get you outta here.”

His eyes flicked toward Janey one last time.

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