One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(94)

“Touchy, are we? Well, darlin’ sister, I wouldn’t have that man, mostly because I’d have to put up with Violet.” Marty giggled.

“Shhh, no fighting. It’ll upset Mamma.” Trixie rapped gently on the frame of the open door and poked her head inside a room. “Anyone at home?”

Janie Matthews clapped her hands and her eyes lit up. She and Trixie were mirror images of each other—short, slim built, light brown hair, milk-chocolate-colored eyes, and delicate features. Trixie wore her hair in a chin-length bob, and Janie’s was long, braided, and wrapped around her head in a crown. Other than that and a few wrinkles around Janie’s eyes, they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter.

“Why, Clawdy Burton, you’ve come to visit. Sit down, darlin’, and let’s talk. You aren’t still mad at me, are you?”

Marty crossed the room and sat down beside Janie on the bed, leaving the two chairs in the room for Cathy and Trixie. It wasn’t the first time Janie had mistaken her for Claudia, the twins’ mother, or the first time that she’d remembered Claudia by her maiden name, either.

“I brought some friends,” Marty said.

“Any friend of Clawdy’s is a friend of mine. Come right in here. You look familiar. Did you go to school with me and Clawdy?” Janie looked right at her daughter.

“I did,” Trixie said.

Janie’s brow furrowed. “I can’t put a name with your face.”

“I’m Trixie.”

Janie shook her head. “Sorry, honey, I don’t remember you. And you?” She looked into Cathy’s eyes.

“She’s my sister, Cathy, remember?” Marty asked.

“Well, ain’t that funny. I never knew Clawdy to have a sister. You must be older than we are, but I can see the resemblance.”

“Yes, ma’am, I didn’t know you as well as”—Cathy paused—“my little sister did, but I remember coming to your house.”

“Did Mamma make fried chicken for you?”

“Oh, honey, I’ve eaten fried chicken more than once at your house,” Cathy said.

“Good. Mamma makes the best fried chicken in the whole world. She and Clawdy’s mamma know how to do it just right. Now, Clawdy, tell me you aren’t mad at me. I made a mistake runnin’ off with Rusty like that, but we can be friends now, can’t we?”

Marty patted her on the arm. “You know I could never stay mad at you.”

“I’m just so glad you got my letter and came to visit.” Janie looked at Trixie and drew her eyes down. “You look just like a girl I used to know. It’s right there on the edge of my mind, but I’ve got this remembering disease. That’s why I’m in here, so they can help me.” She turned her attention back to Marty. “You really aren’t mad at me anymore?”

“Of course not. You were in love with Rusty or you wouldn’t have run off with him,” Marty said. They had this conversation often so she knew exactly what to say.

“I did love him, but he found someone new, so I had to bring my baby girl and come on back home. How are your girls?” She jumped at least five years from thinking she and Claudia were in school to the time when they were new mothers.

“They’re fine. Let’s talk about you,” Marty said.

Janie yawned. “Clawdy, darlin’, I’m so sorry, but I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.”

It was always the same. On Wednesday nights, Trixie visited with Janie. Sometimes, when they had time between closing the café and their other Wednesday evening plans, Marty and Cathy went with her. And always after fifteen or twenty minutes, on a good night, she was sleepy.

“That’s okay, Janie. We’ll come see you again soon,” Marty said.

Trixie stopped at the doorway and waved.

Janie frowned. “I’m sorry I can’t remember you. You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago, but I can’t recall your name. Were you the Jalape?o Jubilee queen this year? Maybe that’s where I saw you.”

“No, ma’am. They don’t crown queens anymore. But it’s okay. I remember you real well,” Trixie said.

*

Less than half an hour later, Trixie parked beside a big two-story house sitting on the corner of Main and Fourth in Cadillac, Texas. The sign outside the house said Miss Clawdy’s Café in fancy lettering. Above it were the words: Red Beans and Turnip Greens.

It had started as a joke after Cathy and Marty’s mamma, Claudia, died and the three of them were going through her recipes. They’d actually been searching for “the secret,” but evidently Claudia took it to the grave with her.

More than forty years ago, Grayson County and Fannin County women were having a heated argument over who could grow the hottest jalape?os in North Texas. Idalou Thomas, over in Fannin County, had won the contest for her jalape?o corn bread and her jalape?o pepper jelly so many years that most people dropped plumb out of the running. But that year, Claudia’s mamma decided to try a little something different, and she watered her pepper plants with the water she used to rinse out her unmentionables. That was the very year that Fannin County lost their title in all of the jalape?o categories to Grayson County at the Texas State Fair. They brought home a blue ribbon in every category that had anything to do with growing or cooking with jalape?o peppers. That was also the year that Violet Prescott and several other women formed the Blue-Ribbon Jalape?o Society. The next fall, they held their First Annual Blue-Ribbon Jalape?o Society Jubilee in Cadillac, Texas.