love with him. Or maybe I never did love him. Maybe he was just an escape from bawling babies and a husband who didn’t make enough money to get me what I wanted.” Her tone was as flat as if she’d just said that it was raining outside.
Graham shook his head emphatically. “You didn’t like bawling babies and not having money when we first met. What’s changed?”
“I’ve changed a lot, Graham. Now I want to be married for the right reasons. I’ll make someone a good wife, and I’ll be a good mother this time,” she answered. “Give that some thought when you get into a cold bed alone tonight.”
He motioned toward the door. “Goodbye, Rita.”
“Never hurts to ask and test the waters, does it?” She tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek. “My biological clock is ticking. Bye, Graham.”
He shut the door behind her and slumped down into the nearest chair. She’d been there less than fifteen minutes but it had seemed like hours. He knuckled his eyes to ease the pain in his head, but it didn’t work. Maybe it was the smoke on her breath when she kissed him that caused his headache. He went to the cabinet, took out some air freshener, and gave the room a thorough spraying.
Had she changed? Could they be a family at this point? Should he give her one more chance? Questions floated through his mind, but there didn’t seem to be any answers. Pulling out a drawer, he took out a bottle of Advil and checked the date. They’d expired two years ago, but he swallowed two with a sip of cold coffee anyway.
“No!” he said. “Never.”
“Never say never,” he thought he heard Vivien’s voice say in his head.
“This time I can say it because I’d rather be dead than go back to Rita,” he swore out loud.
“Good for you. I’m leaving now. You’re on your own for the rest of the day,” Vivien said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I’d left the line open. Did you hear that whole thing?”
“I did, and Rita doesn’t seem to have changed a bit. She’s always been a bulldog when she wants something, so be careful, and if there’s anything I can do, let me know,” Vivien said.
“Just keep her out of my office,” Graham told her.
“With extreme prejudice,” Vivien laughed.
“If necessary,” Graham chuckled.
Mitzi glanced at herself in the foyer mirror as she passed by on Saturday morning—red hair wild enough to scare little children, no makeup, and eyes swollen with sleep.
“Is it too early for a shot of bourbon?” she muttered as she headed across the kitchen floor.
“Yes, it is, and you look like the last rose of summer a hound dog hiked his leg on,” Jody said.
“I feel like she looks,” Paula said. “If we weren’t pressed for time, I’d suggest we all go back to bed and forget that we need to go Greenville today to get everything we’ll need for the bridal fair next Saturday. We have to get napkins imprinted with our logo, a couple of cases of champagne, and those little plastic flutes. If we’re not too late to get it done, let’s get the flutes stamped with the logo, too.”
“And maybe we should buy one of those tall banners that you pull up from the bottom and hook at the top. We could put pictures of several of the dresses we’ve designed on it, and set it up at the end of our table,” Jody said.
“All good ideas. Give me an hour to wake up and throw on some clothes.” Mitzi slumped down in a chair at the table. “What are y’all’s plans for tomorrow afternoon?”
“Well, I’m going to church in the morning with y’all,” Jody said. “I thought about what you said about showing my mama and everyone in Celeste that I’m a strong woman. Besides, we both need to be there to support Paula, since it’s all over town by now that she’s pregnant. But after we get some lunch, I don’t have any plans. What’d you have in mind?”
Paula brought the leftover cake and a stack of paper plates to the table. “I’ll have to set an example for the twins later, but today I want cake for breakfast. After church, I’m going to measure the nursery and probably spend a million hours on Pinterest.”
“Graham and I are going to build the arch for the bridal fair. He offered to buy the materials for it, and I started to protest, but then he said