Page 33 of Leave It to Us
“You’re the one who cremated our grandmother and had her memorial service without thinking to call to let us know?” Tami asked, and the air around them seemed to shift from stuffy summer night to heat from hell rising up.
Sallie tilted her head slightly as she stared at Tami. “I did what I was told,” she replied. “That’s how we behave around here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lana asked, and Yvonne waited for Sallie’s response. This could only get worse.
“It means, when we get explicit instructions, we follow them,” Sallie said. “Just like I’m sure you plan to do with the rest of Ms.Betty’s wishes.”
“I don’t think it’s any of your business what we do with our house,” Yvonne said, with the sweetest smile she could muster because she—like her sisters, she was sure—didn’t like this chick. “But since you’re talking about following instructions, we expected you at the house earlier today to give us any other information our grandmother may have given you.”
“You didn’t go over to de house to make sure things was straight for dem, Sallie?” Ms.Janie asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I did. I went just as soon as Jeremiah told me they were coming. The food’s in the refrigerator, and all the linen were cleaned. As for anything else your grandmother instructed me to do, there was nothing. The cremation and memorial-service instructions had been in writing for my mother, but since she passed before Ms.Betty, I had to handle it. So I did.”
“I’d like to see those papers,” Yvonne told her. “When you get a moment to bring them over, please do.”
“You want me to fix you a plate, Jeremiah?” Cora asked as she jumped up out of her seat like she had to hurry up and ask that specific question at that exact moment.
And before Jeremiah could get out a reply, the shorter woman looped her arm through his and practically dragged him down the porch steps toward the rows of three tables that were out in the yard.
“I’m going to eat too,” Sallie said, giving Yvonne another curt nod before she left.
Lana mouthed “What the hell?” to Yvonne as they both watched the woman walk away, and Yvonne could only shake her head.
“Don’t pay her no mind,” Ms.Janie said. “You two come on and take a seat next to me. Sallie gets her panties in a bunch over the silliest things. Always has.” Ms.Janie clasped her fingers over her wide girth. “But it’s been a mighty long time since y’all was on the island. I won’t have nobody startin’ no mess between y’all.”
What the hell?played in Yvonne’s mind now. Hadn’t they just come here for a meal? What happened toIt’s just an informal get-together? Thisfelt oddly like an inquisition, or like they’d walked right into a firing squad.
“Betty knows she was wrong for not tellin’ you gurls she was sick. I told her she shoulda said something, but you know how stubborn she was,” Ms.Janie said.
“Grandma was sick?” Lana asked. “She seemed well when we were here back in November—and then I talked to her in May for her birthday, and she sounded just fine then too.”
“Me too,” Yvonne said. But Yvonne had known that her grandmother had a compromised immune system. Freda had mentioned it to her one day when they’d somehow gotten onto the subject of Grandma Betty and Daniel.
It was just another thing that Freda had used against the Butler family, telling Yvonne that neither of them had taken good care of themselves, with some type of ailment befalling them both. Yvonne had told her mother, in as even a tone as she could muster, that people didn’t choose to be sick, but Freda had only sucked her teeth at that, swearing that neither Yvonne’s father nor his mother had done anything to take care of themselves. Karma truly was a bitch, considering Freda’s current medical condition.
Tami, who had pulled up one of the folding chairs to sit closer to Yvonne, leaned over and asked Ms.Janie, “When exactly did she get sick, and how?”
“Oh, she’d had that cough for a while now. Back around Christmas, I think. You know, Cab—he used to go out to the house to check on her all the time, and he used to tell us how she was doing. We’d see her on Sundays at church, but she never stayed long after. Never sat with the ladies like everybody else. But you know, that was how Betty was.”
What Yvonne suspected she meant was that since Betty was a famous singer, she didn’t spend a lot of time wandering around town with everyone else, which wouldn’t be totally wrong. During the summers they were here, Grandma Betty would be off from touring orrecording. She always said it was her family time, and the record company better respect it. But the other nine months out of the year, she traveled all over the world, doing shows, interviews, and most recently making guest appearances on a few of those reality singing competitions. But hanging out at something like this here on Daufuskie wouldn’t have been something Grandma Betty would’ve done.
“Who’s Cab?” Lana asked.
“Oh, he was married to Odessa, Sallie’s daddy, for some years. Then those two just couldn’t get along no more, so they broke up. For a good while, Betty was the only one woman in ’Fuskie still speaking to Cab. Everybody had to help poor Dessa ’cause she was so broken after he left.” The way Ms.Janie twisted her lips and narrowed her eyes said she either hadn’t believed Ms.Odessa was heartbroken or she hadn’t agreed with the woman being heartbroken. Either way, Yvonne continued to be intrigued by the entire conversation.
“Wait, Grandma Betty was the only one speaking to Sallie’s father?” Yvonne asked.
“Yep.” Ms.Janie nodded. “But he and Sallie ain’t nevah got along good either. Cab’s a funny kinda fella. Got an eye for the womens, though.”
“Did he have an eye for Grandma Betty?” Tami asked.
Ms.Janie shook her head. “If he did, Betty put him in his place long ago. She ain’t want no man since her Riley died. Not one to keep, no way. But anyhow, I wanna hear all about what you girls are gonna do to that house. Such a gorgeous house—from the outside, ’cause you know Betty ain’t do no invitin’.”
That was definitely true. For as big as the house was, Yvonne couldn’t remember one time when her grandmother had hosted a party or even just a little get-together—outside of their Thanksgiving dinners. Her father was an only child, and thus, they were the only grandchildren. As far as Yvonne knew, they were the only ones to have everstayed at that house, hence the reason the bedrooms had been decorated specifically for them.
“Just because she was an entertainer by trade,” Yvonne said, more so to herself than as any contribution to the conversation. “Didn’t mean she had to do the entertaining when she was at home.”
Ms.Janie threw her head back and laughed. Her skin was a smooth mahogany tone, and her laugh was a hearty sound. “You got that right,” she told Yvonne. “You got that exactly right.”
