Riverbend Reunion(17)

“So, you’re choosing your low-life friends over me?” Stella crossed her arms over her chest and gritted her teeth. “After all I’ve done for you—giving you a home and putting food in your mouths all these weeks—you are going to leave me alone?”

“Mother, you are the one who is making me choose. I’m going to take the girls over to Haley’s house and stay there, and I will be working for Jessica and Wade. I don’t have many skills outside of cleaning a trailer house and cooking, so it’s a good job for me. It’s your decision as to whether you want me and the girls to be part of your life. When you get over your fit, call me if you want to see us.” Risa started out of the kitchen.

“Don’t hold your breath until you get that call, girl,” Stella yelled at Risa.

“Are you serious, Mama? Do we really get to go live with Haley?” Daisy whispered.

“Yes, I am,” Risa said around the lump in her throat. When she had been thrown out of Kentucky, she had called her mother to ask if she could bring the girls to Riverbend for a few weeks. Stella hadn’t sounded happy about the idea, but she hadn’t refused. At that point Risa should have listened to Haley and driven down to Alabama to stay with her until she could get on her feet. But Risa couldn’t impose on Haley like that when she was living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment.

Lily took her sister by the hand and tugged to get her moving. “Let’s go before she changes her mind. I’ll have my things in the truck before you know it, Mama. Is Granny Stella going to inspect our bags to be sure we didn’t take anything that doesn’t belong to us?”

“Of course not!” Stella gasped.

“Good,” Daisy said, “but I wouldn’t take anything that wasn’t mine, anyway. She’s going to have to apologize to you before I want to see her again.”

“I don’t owe anyone an apology”—Stella’s voice got even louder—“and if you leave, don’t expect to ever be welcome in my house again. Not ever.”

The girls disappeared down the hallway to the room they shared, and Risa turned around at the door to face her mother. “Are you sure you don’t want see the girls every once in a while? They won’t be working in a bar, and they’re your only grandchildren.”

“Not if you’re working at a bar. Good grief, Risa Sue, the whole town is already talking about the sacrilege of turning a church into a bar. Whatever gave y’all the idea to do such a horrible thing?” Stella fumed.

“Location, building, and there’s already too many churches in Riverbend as it is,” Risa answered. “The place has been on the market for years, and from what I understand, there hasn’t been one bit of interest from anyone in buying it. It sits in a prime location with Fort Hood just over the border and lots of dry counties around Burnet County. I don’t know why someone hasn’t latched on to the idea before now. And, Mama, you go into places to eat that serve liquor. What’s the difference?”

“I go into restaurants, not bars,” Stella shot back at her. “I cannot and will not have someone living in my house that works in a place like that. I have held up a Christian example in this town for years, and I will not tarnish it this late in life.” Stella took two loaves of bread from the oven. “And being the Christian woman that I’ve always been, I can’t have someone in my house who is working there. I’m going to take a loaf of this bread over to Lulu, my neighbor and my sister in Christ. I will let you have lunch if you want to eat before you go, but I expect you’ll be gone when I get back?”

“It’s just a building, Mama,” Risa said. “Like Sparky’s Service Station. It was once a place to get gas, candy bars, and soda pop, and then it was a church, and now it’s an empty building again.”

“You can’t say anything that will make me change my mind,” Stella said.

“Thank you for giving me and the girls a place to come to when we had to leave Kentucky,” Risa said with a sigh, “and know that I love you even if you are kicking me out.”

“If you did, you’d choose me.” Stella dumped a beautiful loaf onto a plate and removed her bibbed apron. “And I love you because Jesus says I have to love you, but right now, I don’t like you, and I’ll be glad you and the girls are out of my house.”

Risa took the first step out of the kitchen. “I’m sorry I’ve upset your life.”

“Then why do this?” Stella asked.

“Because when I left Kentucky, I made myself a promise that no one, no matter how much I loved them, was ever going to tell me how to live my life again. That includes you, Mama. It’s been a bad example for my girls, and I don’t want them to grow up thinking that anyone has that kind of power over them,” Risa answered. “Paul had his antlers and deer heads all over our trailer, even in our bedroom. I was supposed to keep them spotlessly clean, but he was the king of our double-wide. He and his mother made the decisions, and I was supposed to be the submissive wife.”

“Why did he kick you out? Were you having an affair?” Stella eyed her carefully.

“I wasn’t, but after the twins were born, I decided I didn’t want more children. My body belongs to me, not Paul, so I took birth control pills. That’s a no-no in the Jackson family. Kids are blessings from God. Mother Martha had half a dozen sons, and each of those, other than Paul, are still producing kids every year or two. According to her, I cheated Paul out of a son, and was an abomination to God for using birth control. When Paul found my pills, he took them to his mother. They made a family decision to excommunicate me,” Risa said.