Cass. We been waiting for you.”
Cass laughed at the excitement in the little girl’s voice and reached down to give her a hug. But a hug wasn’t going to be enough for Delia. She launched herself into Cass’s arms and hung on to her shoulders like they were some sort of lifeline.
For a moment the bitter taste of regret and wasted wishes overpowered the lingering sweetness of the Icee she’d stopped for just outside of town. Cass willed it away.
“We missed you bunches, Auntie. Gran won’t get outa bed. And Justine’s always doing homework, homework, homework, even though it’s Friday. And Momma’s mad all the time. Where’s Uncle John? He didn’t go to jail did he?”
Cass held Delia tight as the innocent words sliced into her heart. She forced herself to keep her smile in place and ran a hand over the little girl’s soft brown hair.
“No silly. Uncle John’s not in jail. He’s taking care of the church. Let’s go find your mother.” She wouldn’t talk about Momma not getting out of bed. This little girl certainly wouldn’t know the cause of her Grandmother’s deep depression.
Delia wiggled free of her aunt’s arms and then grabbed her hand to lead her inside.
“Momma didn’t believe you’d come, but me an’ Justine said you would. Are you really Wonder Woman? That’s what Momma said. But she didn’t sound all that happy about it. I like your lipstick. It smells like strawberries.”
Cass wouldn’t let her niece’s truth-filled ramblings hurt her. Where was Anna anyway? A four-year-old little girl shouldn’t be running around the front yard by herself.
As if the thought had conjured her, Anna appeared. Standing in the doorway with baby Dani on her hip, Anna looked tired and aggravated and not exactly welcoming.
What she looked was hardened. All the soft edges that had always made Anna more feminine, more exotic almost, were erased by the last few years. Years Cass knew little of, and what she did know made her heart hurt for her sister.
But Anna wouldn’t want to know that. God forbid anyone feel sorry for Anna Deason-Jackson-Fite-Turner. So Cass did what she’d become quite an expert at. She buried those feelings somewhere Anna wouldn’t see and then hugged her sister tight. “I got here as fast as I could.”
Anna hugged her close but fast and then stepped away. “I’m glad you’re here, Cass.” Then her eyes turned down to where Delia stood, smiling so big it hurt Cass’s heart and made her smile back at the same time.
“Delia, I told you not to go out front without me. Don’t do it again.”
Delia’s bottom lip turned out, and the little girl looked completely crushed at her mother’s reprimand. Cass wanted to tell Anna it was okay, but what did she know about parenting?
“Delia, did you hear me?”
Delia gave a long-suffering sigh and nodded. “Yes ma’am. I won’t go in the front yard without you.”
The baby in Anna’s arms threw herself forward with a laugh at the same time, and Cass grabbed her before she fell. The baby’s weight in Cass’s arms expanded the ache in her heart, but she bit it away. She wasn’t going to let regret rule her emotions. Not here. Not where she was needed.
The baby, Dani, was trying to tell her something about a nose, but Cass wasn’t quite sure what it was.
She was sure, however, that Anna had lost way too much weight lately. Her hipbones were jutting out above the waistline of her worn blue jeans. Her eyes were shadowed with dark smudges of sleeplessness and who knew what else.
Holding the baby in one arm and Delia’s hand with hers, Cass followed her sister in through the front hall, their mother’s doll collection staring down eerily from cabinets hanging on the walls.
And even though she couldn’t understand what Dani was trying to tell her about noses, Cass couldn’t help but hear Delia’s whispered words.
“Momma, I don’t think Auntie Cass is Wonder Woman. She’s wearing too many clothes.”
“Go on into the kitchen, Delia. Your sister’s got the plates ready.”
As Delia walked away, Anna turned to Cass and mouthed I’m sorry then took the baby back. Cass’s heart clenched as she watched her sister place a kiss on the little girl’s forehead.
Anna wasn’t sorry. Not really. Cass knew that. She could tell in the tiny lines of disapproval around her sister’s mouth.
“I hope you don’t mind macaroni and cheese. That’s supper tonight.”
Cass followed Anna into the kitchen and saw Justine spooning the creamy noodles onto plates. Her