The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(26)

“What on earth could Agnes do? It’s your party at your aunt’s house,” Nancy asked.

Heather giggled and waved her fingernail around excitedly. “You are so right. It’s going to be a grand debut, my first big event in Cadillac. I’m so glad that you put Stella on the prayer list and helped me to realize my true service is in creating happy marriages.”

A feeling akin to icy water being trickled down Nancy’s back chilled her to the bone. All she’d wanted was a few prayers and God’s help to get her a son-in-law so she could have a grandbaby. She really hadn’t realized she’d fire the first shot for another war in Cadillac when she marched into the Angels’ meeting four days before. But the battle had started and there was nothing left to do but see it to the end. She’d just have to trust Agnes to help her throw a wrench in the barbecue ball.



If it had been for anything other than to get her married off, Stella would have stopped by the bake sale and bought a loaf of her mother’s banana bread to nibble on as she cleaned the shop. But there was no way she’d help finance that endeavor, not in a million years.

She, Charlotte, and Piper rotated turns cleaning the shop. It wasn’t set in stone. If Piper had something she had to do with her boys, then Stella or Charlotte traded with her. If Charlotte had to go to a bridal fair, then someone swapped with her. It all worked out in the end and they managed to keep from having to hire extra help.

She’d just finished folding the last load of towels when the front door opened and her father, Everett, waltzed in with two cold bottles of beer, dripping with water where he’d just taken them out of the cooler.

“Thought you might need something to cool you off,” Everett said.

“Have a seat, and thank you, Daddy! I just finished getting this place in order and a beer is just what I need. What are you out doing today?”

“Tryin’ to stay away from my gun safe so I’m not tempted to shoot a bunch of angels. Don’t know why they’d call them meddling women angels.” Everett sat down in one of the chairs around the table and twisted the top off the beer bottle before he handed it to her.

Stella pulled out a chair and settled in across from him. She took several long gulps before she came up for air. “Tastes better than I thought it would. You can’t shoot them, Daddy. That would be too easy. Agnes and I will take care of it, I promise.”

“I just get so damned mad at the way your mama does all the work for everything. Used to be if Violet Prescott wanted some glory she called on your mama to be part of a committee of some damn kind, and now it’s that new woman, Heather. I hear she’s Violet’s niece and is just as bossy as that old bitch.”

“Have you told Mama how you feel?”

“Honey, we wore this fight threadbare when you was just a little girl. We’d fight and it’d be hell to pay around the house for a few days and then we’d get over it until Violet wanted your mother to work her ass off on another project that Violet would take credit for doing,” Everett said.

“But Mama has always been better friends with Agnes than she is with Violet. She can’t stand Violet,” Stella said.

“I know that, but if it’s something for the church like dyein’ Easter eggs or servin’ dinner for anything from funerals to Sunday school meetings, it was your mama who did the work. She’d tell me that it was for the church and she couldn’t say no to something for the church.” Everett finished his beer and tossed the bottle into the metal trash can. It rattled around, the sound echoing off the walls for several seconds before it settled to the bottom. “I’m going fishin’ with Jed. Maybe floatin’ down the river with a preacher will keep me from doin’ something that ain’t right. I kind of like that feller. He’s all right for a preacher. He ain’t all pompous and holier-than-thou and he don’t preach at me when we’re talkin’. He’s just a good old regular feller.”

Stella swallowed fast to keep from spitting beer across the room. “I’m glad you’ve found a new friend. Don’t worry about the Angels, Daddy. When they all learn that their barbecue ball is just a party and not a matchmaking club, it’ll blow over and maybe Mama will see what you’ve been tryin’ to tell her all along. Agnes says it’s not going to be an annual affair, that she’ll make sure of it. So all we got to do is weather this storm. You know there’s sunshine back in behind most storms.”

Everett chuckled as he hoisted himself out of the chair. “Who are you preachin’ at, darlin’, me or you?”

Stella held out her hand and he pulled her up. “Mostly to myself, if I’m honest.”

“Well, it’s a damn good thing that you know that, and don’t you say that matchmaking club idea out loud ever again. They’ll start drawing up the constitution and bylaws for one and invite Nancy to be the chairman of the board or some such shit. Them old women need to leave you young girls alone and let y’all decide what to do with your lives. Hell, both your grandmas would roll over in their graves if they knew what was going on here. They fought like pit bulls for women’s rights and now this bunch thinks they can go back to the caveman days and do them prearranged marriage things with a side order of brisket. Dammit! I’m goin’ fishin’ before I get riled up.” Everett started for the door but then turned around and came back to hug his daughter. At well over six feet tall, he had to bend to wrap her up in a bear hug. “I ain’t about to let your mama’s doin’s keep me from seein’ you, kiddo. I’ll pop in and out and bring you a beer.”