Page 34 of Nashville Cowboy
Thirty minutes later, after sweet tea and sugar cookies, Beulah led Sadie into the center of a circle. The five members of SORROW surrounded her, Eve on the outside as a special guest. A special silent guest, if she was to go by the members’ puckered, red-painted lips.
Clementine Rogers read from the mission statement which was boiled down to one sentence: find good women for the men of Stone Ridge. Whatever it takes. Eve listened to twenty minutes of “advice” from the members, which included admitting a man is always right, and never to be challenged.
“But what do I do when I knowI’mright?” Sadie dared to ask.
Eve muffled a laugh.
“Oh, honey, you arealwaysright,” Beulah said.
“Uh-huh. That’s right,” said Clementine.
“But I don’t understand,” Sadie said, honestly sounding confused.
“Well, now, there really isn’t any trick to this. You are always right, but he has tothinkhe’s always right,” Beulah said, shaking her head. “Even if you have to leave the house, honey, just to keep your composure.”
“Sometimes I write in my secret diary,” Magnolia Smith offered. “I keep it under my side of the mattress. It’s got little letters that I write to the insufferable fool. Explaining how he’s so wrong about…well, everything. Oh, he’ll never see them. I’ve been married forty years and no one can say I chasedmyman out of town.”
With that, all biddies sent a significant look in Eve’s direction. She snorted and looked away.
“This doesn’t sound healthy,” Sadie dared to say. “I think I should tell him when I’m mad.”
This brought about a general tittering from the circle of “bless her heart,” “oh my,” “she’s just a baby,” and “these young’uns don’t know a thing, do they?”
“Want to know what’s healthy?” Beulah said. “Having a town with an equal amount of men and women. Then we can all enjoy the fruits of our labor. Until that time, I’m afraid we’re all going to have to swallow our pride. And be wrong. In theory.”
Shortly after that, the meeting was concluded, and Sadie was showered with presents: A print copy of the bound book,The Men of Stone Ridge, created by their founding member, Wimbreth Williams; a pink knit baby blanket; a beautiful quilt with the date of their wedding embroidered on it; and a carved wooden sign which read “The Carvers: Established June 16th.”
By the end of the meeting, Sadie was crying real tears. The presents were packed up in Eve’s truck for the ride back to her home.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Sadie said, buckling her seat belt. “I can ignore the stupid stuff.”
“Guess you’re right. I’d forgotten it’s like another wedding shower.”
“With heartfelt gifts.” Sadie clutched the quilt. “Did you get one of these?”
“I did,” Eve said, the pebble sliding its way over her throat again. “It’s either still at your cabin or packed in a box, now in Mima’s house…somewhere.”
“You’ve moved a few times, but you kept the quilt.”
“Who else could use a quilt with mine and Jackson’s names and our wedding date?”
“You kept it,” Sadie said, with a wistful sound in her voice.
“Don’t read too much into that. It’s a beautiful quilt. It would be silly to give it away.” But Eve’s hands were tightening around the steering wheel to the point where her knuckles turned white.
All her life she’d wanted a quilt like the one she’d seen other brides receive. Her mother owned one, too, and she’d kept it. Mima still had hers. It wasn’t something you gave away.
Chalk it up to yet another memory brought about by Sadie’s wedding.
Another sentiment, another buried emotion that she just couldn’t afford to take out and reexamine.
Chapter 13
The next morning, Jackson woke before Winston even stirred. He’d been getting up every morning to let Winston outside, then mainlining the coffee to get on with his day. But today, his eyes popped open before the first rays of dawn filtered through the shutters.
And his first thoughts were of Eve.
He clasped his hands behind his neck and stretched under the sheets. He felt as if someone let all the hot air out of him. The anger that he’d carried for the past few years had stoked his fire far too often. Revenge kept him going when times were tough. When he wanted to give up. Revenge might have been the reason he’d agreed to marry Winona when he’d known it was a bad idea. But he wanted Eve to hear about it and see that he’d moved on.
