Bad Girls Don't (21 page)

“Is it an animal you share characteristics with?”

“Yes. We’re both cute.”

“What animal are you thinking of?”

“A toy poodle.”

Angel choked on her tea, which required Skye to pound her on the back.

“I’m surprised you didn’t already know that.” Sue Ellen sent them both a reprimanding look. “Didn’t the tarot cards or something give you the answer?”

“My horoscope did say that today would be a very challenging day,” Skye noted ruefully.

They all turned at the sound of someone knocking on the door. “Is that a surprise for me? A toy poodle, maybe?” Sue Ellen leapt to her feet and followed Skye to the door.

Skye opened it to find a Betty White clone standing there, complete with poodle-cut white hair, a floral dress, a string of pearls around her neck, and gold button earrings on her ears.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” the woman said. “Aren’t you going to invite your grandmother inside?”

Chapter Eleven

Who
was this crazy woman?
Skye was not impressed by her wild claim. “I don’t have a grandmother.”

“Of course you do,” the woman replied. “You’re looking at her.”

“What kind of con is this?” Skye said.

The Betty White clone looked over Skye’s shoulder, her attention focused on Angel. “Aren’t you going to tell her the truth, Ethel?”

“Ethel?” Skye said. “Listen, you’ve definitely got the wrong place, lady. There’s no Ethel living here.”

“Yes, there is. I’m looking at her.” The strange woman pointed at Angel.

“Angel,” Skye began, “tell her . . .”

“Angel?” The older woman raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “What kind of name is that? A bit presumptuous, don’t you think, Ethel?”

“Angel is my chosen name.”

“It sounds silly to me. I’m going to call you Ethel. It’s what I named you.”

“It’s not my name anymore!”

Skye stared at her mother in astonishment. “What are you saying?”

“She’s trying to tell you that she’s my daughter, that I’m her mother. That you’re my granddaughter and I’m your grandmother. My name is Violet Wright, by the way.”

Skye shook her head. “No way.”

“I assure you, my name is Violet Wright. Do you want to see my driver’s license?”

“How did you find us?” Angel looked stunned.

“I saw a report on the news about a million-dollar lottery winner in Rock Creek, Pennsylvania. There was a picture of Skye.”

“There’s no way you could have recognized her,” Angel said. “You haven’t seen a picture of her since she was a child.”

“You were standing beside her,” Violet said. “I recognized
you
, Ethel.”

Angel’s face turned red. “Don’t call me that.”

Violet just shrugged. “As I said, it’s your name.”

“Why are you here?” Angel demanded. “Why did you leave California? You swore you’d never leave Bakersfield.”

“Wait a second here.” Skye held out her hands as if demanding a time-out. “Angel, are you saying this woman really is your mother?”

“Of course I’m her mother,” Violet stated. “And her name is Ethel, not Angel.”

“Who names their kid Ethel?” Skye said.

“A mother who wants to torture her child and have her spend her entire childhood ostracized,” Angel replied.

“Oh, stop being such a drama queen,” Violet said. “I named you after my beloved mother. Unlike you, Ethel, I know how to be a good daughter.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I came for a visit.” Violet pointed to the wheelie suitcase behind her.

“This really isn’t a good time.” Angel sounded a bit frantic.

“I can’t wait for a good time,” Violet retorted. “I might die tomorrow.”

Angel’s face reflected her concern. “Are you ill?”

“I’m old. Who knows how much time I have left.”

“You’re only seventy.”

“Let’s see how you feel when you reach the big seven-oh,” Violet said. “Then we’ll talk. Until then, you should ask me to sit down and offer me some tea. Or have you forgotten all the manners I tried to teach you?”

“I’m sorry.” Angel seemed to crumble under the weight of her mother’s obvious disapproval. “Come in. Let me help you.” She took charge of the suitcase. “Skye, lead her to the couch so she can sit down.”

“I don’t need leading.” Now Violet sounded cranky. She paused as she realized there were other people in the room.

“Hi there. I’m Sue Ellen and we were celebrating my birthday.”

“Is that why you’re wearing that silly outfit? And who is this?” Violet turned her laser gaze on Lulu.

“Your worst nightmare,” Lulu drawled with a snap of her gum.

“Now, Lulu, don’t pick on her,” Sue Ellen said. “She’s just a little old lady. She can’t help it if she’s crabby. She probably has bowel issues.”

“That’s one of the stupidest comments I’ve ever heard. And that is definitely the stupidest couch I ever saw,” Violet declared, pointing at it in disdain.

Leaving Sue Ellen to handle Violet, Skye took Angel into the kitchen for a little one-on-one talk. “Why didn’t you ever tell me I had a grandmother?”

“You’ve met her.” Angel shot a nervous look in Violet’s direction while putting the tea kettle on to boil. “I think you can see why.”

“Yeah, but still . . .”

“She makes me crazy,” Angel quietly wailed. “I let her know when Julia and you were born, sent her pictures. She never acknowledged the letters I sent.”

“Well, we did move around a lot.”

“She never wrote back. My father disowned me when I left at seventeen. Said his daughter was dead. She’d never go against his wishes.”

“He sounds like a real winner.”

“The man was radioactive.” Angel paused to take a few cleansing breaths.

Skye hugged her. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

“Not with her around.”

“Then I’ll get rid of her.”

“No, wait . . .”

“What are you two whispering about in there?” Violet called out. “It’s not polite, you know, whispering behind my back that way. Come in here and face me.”

“Why didn’t you ever answer my letters?” The words poured out of Angel as she gathered the courage to confront her mother. “Why didn’t you even acknowledge the birth of my daughters?”

“You know how your father felt about things.”

Angel waved her hands dismissively. “Forget him. What about you?”

“He died a year ago,” Violet said.

Angel paled.

“Of lung cancer,” Violet calmly continued. “You know how he loved his cigarettes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Angel whispered.

Violet shrugged. “The last address I had for you was in Alaska. The envelope came back marked ‘addressee unknown.’ ”

“I meant when you got here. Why didn’t you tell me right away?”

“I had to prove who I was to your daughter first. Anyway, as time went on, I got to thinking that maybe I should contact you. But I didn’t know how. Then I saw the story on the TV.”

“And suddenly contacting your family looked a lot more appealing now that a million dollars was involved, huh?” Skye said.

“You’ve raised a cynical daughter,” Violet told Angel. “She also has questionable taste in her decorating choices.” She shot another disapproving look at the couch before gingerly perching on the very edge.

Leave it to Toni to march right up to Violet and demand, “Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

“Toni. I bite. Skye is my mommy.”

Violet blinked. “Ethel, you have a granddaughter?”

“Who’s Ethel?” Toni asked, looking around. “Is she an invisible friend?”

“Of course not. She’s your grandmother.”

Toni narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?” she repeated.

Violet sat up straight. “I’m your great-grandmother.”

Toni eyed her suspiciously. “What’s so
great
about you?”

“Everything,” Violet stated proudly. “As you’ll find out for yourself soon enough.”

“I don’t think you’re great. You’ve got mean eyes,” Toni declared.

“Nonsense. You really should teach this child some manners, Ethel. She should show more respect when addressing her elders.”

“A word of warning . . . ,” Skye began.

“I should hope so.”

“To you, not to Toni. You
really
don’t want to insult my child.”

The older woman sniffed her disapproval. “No offense intended, but . . .”

Sue Ellen shook her head and interrupted her. “Trust me on this. You don’t want to insult Skye’s kid. She gets very upset about that. I’m just trying to be helpful here.”

“And who are you again?” Violet asked.

“The birthday girl. I’m also about to become a realtor, should you be interested in looking at a double-wide trailer. I could get you a really good deal—”

“Sue Ellen!” Skye grabbed her arm.

“What?”

“She’s not moving here.”

“I haven’t made that decision yet,” Violet said. “I feel a headache coming on. A nice cup of Darjeeling tea would be lovely.”

Angel hurried into the kitchen. Skye followed her, while Sue Ellen engaged Violet in conversation. Toni and Lulu remained cautious observers.

“She’ll have to stay with me at Julia’s house.” Angel spoke in a distracted undertone as she turned off the heat under the teakettle.

“Not if you don’t want her there.”

“Well, she can’t stay here. There’s no room, and Toni would end up biting her for sure. Not that I’d blame her.”

“Don’t let Violet force you into doing something you don’t want to do.”

“She’s my mother. I don’t know how to say no.”

“Well, I sure do,” Skye assured her. “I know how to say whatever I want, including
no
when the situation warrants it. And it seems like this situation warrants it.”

Angel took a deep, cleansing breath. “Everything happens for a reason. Including her traveling here. Maybe the time has finally come for us to reach some kind of peaceful understanding.” Seeing Skye’s skeptical look, she added, “It could happen.”

“Any other relatives you haven’t told me about?”

“No. I’m an only child.”

“No ‘good girl’ sister to egg you on, huh?”

“No. And you know Julia doesn’t mean to—”

“Yeah, yeah. Forget about Julia and me. You’re going to have your hands full as it is with Violet.”

 

 

“I’ll take it.” Skye pointed to the ratty floral couch against the back wall in the thrift shop. She’d come shopping first thing Monday morning, to rid herself of the bad feeling left over from Violet’s unexpected appearance the day before. Toni had come with her and was seated in a child’s plastic chair, setting up a tea party for the toy animals.

“Are you sure?” Sister Mary eyed her dubiously.

“Positive. It’s got good lines. Angel will make it look great in the front row of the theater.”

“If you say so. I heard that Angel’s mother is visiting from California. That must be nice for her,” Sister Mary said.

“Not really. They haven’t been . . . close.”

“That’s too bad. Well, perhaps this visit will make up for that.”

“That’s the stupidest couch I ever saw.” Skye was startled by Toni’s emphatic statement, until she realized her daughter was speaking to a plastic monkey, repeating Violet’s words from the night before.

“She picked that up from Angel’s mother, Violet,” Skye told Sister Mary.

“So this Violet has definite ideas about decorating, hmm?”

“She has definitely
wrong
ideas about almost everything, from what I could tell.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Yeah. Listen . . .” Skye looked around to make sure no one was near enough to overhear them. The shop had appeared empty when she’d walked in, but she remembered how she’d thought Cosmic Comics was safe, only to find Nathan lurking inside. “Nathan’s not in here someplace, is he?” “Better safe than sorry” had never been her mantra, but just this once she figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“No.” Sister Mary was clearly surprised by her question. “Why?”

“You know how I never wanted to hear about Nathan’s past? Well, now I do.”

“I didn’t realize you didn’t want to know before.”

“A bunch of people tried to tell me about him—Sue Ellen, your sister . . .”

“So, why not go to one of them? Why come to me?”

“Because I figured you’d give me the most accurate answer.”

“I’ll try to, but the most accurate information would come from Nathan himself.”

“I already tried to talk to him about it.”

“And?”

“And all he told me was that he loved his wife and that she meant everything to him.”

“She died in a car crash back in Nebraska. Before Nathan moved here.”

“Was Nathan driving?”

“I don’t believe so, no. He was working and heard the information about a crash come over the police radio. He never dreamed that his wife was involved at first, but he quickly found out when they listed the car’s license number. He was at the scene shortly thereafter.”

“He’s still grieving for her.”

“Grief is a unique thing, affecting every human being a little differently. Some people are able to pick up the pieces faster than others. And some never allow their emotions to come out, so they never really heal.”

“Is that what you think is going on with Nathan?”

“I know he was devastated. My nephew Cole is Nathan’s best friend and was rooming with him in college when he first met Annie. Cole was here when the accident occurred, but he flew out to Nebraska for the funeral. He’s the one who convinced Nathan to come to Rock Creek and apply for the position of sheriff.”

“Did they have any kids? Nathan and his wife?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

Skye didn’t answer, not wanting to confess to the feelings she had about Nathan. And those feelings weren’t just observations about the pain he carried within him. Something was going on there.