The Wedding Dress(101)
Emily tossed back her head to laugh. “Happy New Year.” She crushed her cheek into Daniel’s firm back. “I knew you’d come. I love you, Daniel Ludlow.”
Two Tone galloped down the street, gentling around a trolley car, strutting as if he knew what kind of cargo he carried as the church bells began to peal. Then, at the corner of 5th Avenue and 19th Street, Emily saw him.
Mr. Oddfellow. The daring old man with the purple ascot. When their eyes met, he bowed, raising his hat, and cheered her on.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Charlotte
Driving back to Mountain Brook from the retirement center, Charlotte made a decision. The trunk, the dress . . . Tim had opened the door to the dark corridor of her life and she couldn’t duck from the light any longer.
The taped piece of paper with Noelia’s name rested on the car’s console. Charlotte felt bold. Ready. But she didn’t want to venture into the unknown alone.
She auto-dialed Hillary. “Hi, it’s me. Want to go for a ride? Do some investigating?”
“Is it about the dress?” Hillary said, strong and clipped, like she was ready to charge!
“Yes, and me. It’s about me.”
“I’ll be ready when you get here.”
Thirty minutes later, Charlotte and Hillary were on 157-N to Florence, a contemplative silence in the car.
“I don’t know why I’m doing this.”
“Because you want to know.”
“I’ve never wanted to know before.” Charlotte squeezed her hands around the steering wheel.
“This is different. The situation came to you. You bought that trunk and your world, my world, changed.”
“Should I give the dress to Cleo? Even if she can’t get a court order?”
“I think you have a greater court on your side than the one Cleo is using to get her way.”
Charlotte glanced over at Hillary. “What court would that be?”
“The court of heaven.”
“Since when did you become a spiritual person?”
“I’m not.” She shifted in her seat. Hid a smile. “Those are Thomas’s words.”
“Thomas?” Charlotte arched her brow, eyeing her friend.
“I’ve been visiting them. They may be old, but their hearts are young, full of life, and what I imagine might be God.” She laughed low. “Every once in a while, Mary Grace fades away from the conversation and stares at the wall. At first, I thought she was just having a senile moment. She’ll laugh, smile, and her eyes’ll go wide. Then all of a sudden, she’ll start singing ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘How Great Thou Art.’ I’ve been in nursing long enough to know things happen when people get old, close to their time. But, Charlotte, I think she’s seeing things.”
“Gert used to say when the mind of a person starts to go, that’s when their heart is really revealed.”
“Then Mary Grace is all about Jesus. Nothing but Jesus. She’ll mumble too. I thought it was craziness but now . . .” Charlotte hooked a glance at Hillary as the older woman looked at her, hesitating. “I think she’s talking in tongues.”
Charlotte laughed. “You sound like she’s from outer space.”
“Maybe she is.” Hillary laughed. “Or maybe I am.”
Around one, Charlotte pulled into Noelia’s driveway. A Tudor home sat tucked back on a wooded acre.
“Finally.” Charlotte stepped out of her little two-seater. She and Hillary had a terse exchange about which way to go off of County Road 24. Charlotte acquiesced to Hillary and ended up lost, backtracking fifty miles.
“Don’t start. We just got peace between us.” Hillary smacked her car door shut.
“I’m not starting. I just said finally.”
“Yeah, but it was your tone, young lady.” Hillary squared her slacks and fixed her top. “This is a lovely place.” The wind danced with her natural curls.
Charlotte smiled with a side glance at her friend. Her sister of the dress. Yes, this place was lovely.
Leading the way up the front walk, Charlotte slowed as the door opened and Noelia stepped out.
Noelia Ludlow could’ve been Mama’s sister. Lean, with a short, narrow waist and long legs, scouting eyes set above a short nose and high cheeks. Graceful.
“Come on in, girls. Please.” Noelia grasped Charlotte by the arms when she stepped onto the porch. “Well, we meet.”
“Thank you for letting us come on short notice.” Charlotte stepped inside the house and introduced Hillary.
Noelia bustled about, gathering her long, straight hair away from her face with a hair tie. When she sat in her chair, she exhaled. “I am so sorry for what Colby did to you and your mama.”
“Please, I don’t think it was your fault,” Charlotte said. Sitting in the room with Noelia had a surreal, right feel.
“Yeah, baby, it was. It was my fault.” Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. “It was.”
Everything she’d known about her life was paling in the light of all these new revelations. Two days ago she was just Charlotte Malone. Plain. Simple. Nothing fancy. Alone. Except for Dix and Dr. Hotstuff.
Now Charlotte was part of this network. Hillary, Mary Grace, and Thomas. Noelia.