The Perfect Dress(41)

“Name one, please.” Paula could hear the coldness in her own voice.

Gladys tipped up her chin and looked down her nose at Jody. “Young lady, don’t you use that tone with me or Paula’s sister, who was good enough to drive up here. So watch your smart mouth.”

“I’m pregnant,” Paula spit out.

Gladys turned her focus to Paula. “You are what? And you didn’t even invite me to the wedding or tell me that you got married? What kind of daughter are you anyway?”

“I’m not married. I’m not getting married. I will be a single parent. And now that I’ve told you, I’ll be leaving.” Paula’s hands knotted into fists as she glared at her sister.

“I knew it was terrible news.” Selena hopped up and went nose to nose with Paula. “You’re ruining the family name. We’ll never be able to hold our heads up in Celeste again. God almighty, Paula, don’t you even know how to use birth control?”

“Well, I expected it years ago, with the friends you ran with. Do you even know who it belongs to?” Gladys screeched.

“I do, but I’m not marrying him,” Paula said.

“If you’re going to raise up a bastard child, I’d just as soon you didn’t bring it around here,” Gladys snapped. “Matter of fact, why don’t you just stay away from now on. Selena, I’ll need you to sit with me to be sure I don’t have a heart attack over this. Oh, sweet Jesus,” Gladys moaned. “They might even throw me out of my church. Girl, get me an extra nerve pill right now.”

“Look what you’ve done,” Selena spat.

Gladys pointed at the door. “You can go now. And don’t come back. You are dead to me.”

Paula had expected her mother to yell at her, but to disown her completely cut to the center of her heart. “But Mama—”

Gladys sighed dramatically as if it were her last breath. “Just go. Selena will take care of me.”

“If you change your mind, you’ve got my number.” With tears in her eyes, she started outside.

“Just get out,” Selena yelled. “You’ve done enough damage for one day. If Mama dies, this is on you.”

Paula could hear her riffling through the multiple pill bottles on the cabinet. She could have told her what the “nerve pills” were called, but instead she kept walking.

“I won’t change my mind this time. You’ve gone too far. I hope it’s a girl and she deals you nothing but misery,” Gladys screamed after her. “Now I know how poor Wanda has felt all these years. You and Jody are both horrible, mean daughters.”

By the time they were close to the van, tears were flowing down Paula’s cheeks and dripping onto her shirt, leaving big, round wet spots. “Well, that went horrible, but I’m not really surprised at any of it except that”—she broke down into sobs—“that she said I’m dead to her.”

Both Mitzi and Jody drew her into a three-way hug.

Jody wiped the tears away from Paula’s cheeks with her own shirtsleeve. “We love you, and we’ll love this baby so much it’ll never know that its grandmother was so hateful.”

Paula hugged them back. “At least it’s over—now I can move forward.”

Jody was the first one to step back. “And now Selena gets to jump at her every beck and call. I thought my mother was bad, but good Lord, that was brutal,” Jody said.

“A mother should never say things like that to her daughter.” Mitzi crawled into the driver’s seat of her van.

“The way she feels about me, I don’t know why she didn’t drown me at birth.” Paula’s chin quivered. “But at least I don’t have to come over here every evening for a while.”

“Or ever,” Mitzi said. “You never told us that things were that bad at your house.”

“I was too ashamed, and I blamed myself. It wasn’t until I went to college and got some therapy that I came to terms with it,” Paula said. “Jody, will you drive my car? My hands are shaking so bad, I’m . . .”

“Of course.” Jody followed Paula to her vehicle and slid in under the wheel.

Paula handed her the keys and then leaned her head back on the seat. “It’s over. Tell me that I’ve told her and that I’m not having one of my recurring nightmares about it.”

“It’s over,” Jody assured her as she started the engine. Mitzi pulled out onto the street in her van and Jody fell in behind her. “Gladys is downright batshit crazy. If she hated both of you, it would be one thing, but to despise one just means she’s got problems that go beyond sleeping pills. Why did you even agree to move back here?”

Paula grabbed a tissue from the console and blew her nose loudly. “I’m so damned emotional right now. Thank God I’ve got you and Mitzi to help me get through it.”

“This shouldn’t be happening to you.” Jody drove the rest of the way to the shop and parked behind Mitzi’s van. Paula couldn’t make herself get out of the car—not yet.

“Give me a minute. Just one all by myself. You and Mitzi can go on inside. I’ll be there in a little bit.” Paula needed a little time to settle her nerves. A fast-beating heart, a racing pulse, and a brain that was about to explode couldn’t be good for the baby.