Son of a Preacher Man - By Arianna Hart Page 0,20
turnoff to Mary Ellen’s neighborhood was just up School Street, so Nadya kept driving. She’d be early, but there really wasn’t anywhere else to go. Quite purposely, she’d avoided driving down Main Street in front of the police station and Hornblower’s office.
Tears came to Nadya’s eyes as she pulled into Mary Ellen’s driveway. She’d spent a lot of time at this house as a kid and had some wonderful memories. Mrs. Farley had taken plenty of flak for allowing her daughter to be friends with gypsy trash.
If the Farleys hadn’t owned the only grocery store for miles, Mrs. Farley could have been ostracized by the good ladies of the church. The hypocrisy of the so-called God-fearing ladies was something she and her mama argued about. Growing up a gypsy, Talaitha had seen her fair share of “God-fearing” churchgoers asking for curses to be put on their neighbors or blaming the gypsies for perceived curses. To her, it was to be expected from the gadzé.
Nadya wasn’t quite as understanding. She’d longed to publicly call out women like Orleane Campbell who would sniff and make comments like, “You better count your change drawer with this one working for you,” when she came into the store. Yet, on Sunday she’d be out in front of the church selling baked goods to raise money for the “less fortunate”.
Even with the cushion of time and maturity, thinking about the last day at the cabin with Pansy and Orleane still pissed her off. She figured they were still in Dale, although neither Mary Ellen nor J.T. had mentioned them. Somehow she didn’t think the Campbells would move somewhere they wouldn’t be the big fish in a small pond.
She parked her car behind a green minivan with a Plant a Tree bumper sticker and left the spot next to it open, assuming it was for Bill. As she unloaded the packages out of her trunk, she saw a towheaded boy with the biggest blue eyes she’d ever seen staring at her from the screen door. A shorter version, wearing only a diaper and a Batman cape, ran into him and laughed as they both bounced off the screen.
“Hunter William Michaels! You get over here and get dressed this instant!” Mary Ellen marched to the door holding a pair of pint-sized shorts and a T-shirt. Her hands fluttered around her face when she saw Nadya standing on the walk with bags in her arms.
“Oh. Hi, Nad. Since when do you show up early for anything? You were always ten minutes late.”
The younger boy, who Nadya figured was Hunter, clung to Mary Ellen’s leg and popped a thumb into his mouth. The older boy, who must be Billy, continued to look at her like she was an alien species.
“It must be the influence of those New Yorkers. Time is money and all that.”
“I was hoping for an extra few minutes to make it look like a bomb hadn’t gone off in the house. Well, come on in out of the heat before you melt. What were you thinking wearing white to a house with two boys? Although it is darling. I saw the perfect necklace to go with it. A gal sells her jewelry on consignment at the store—remind me tomorrow and I’ll show you.”
Nadya juggled the bags in her arms and wheeled her suitcase up the wide porch steps. The swing looked newly painted, and a fan spun lazily over a wicker loveseat and table set. Geraniums wilted a bit in window boxes and pots but added a splash of color and welcome to the white porch.
“God, it’s like nothing’s changed. I keep expecting your mom to yell for me to close the door before the flies get in.”
“We’ve redone some of the inside, but I couldn’t improve on Mama’s gardens, so I left them as they were. Sometimes she takes pity on me and weeds the beds when she comes on Sundays. Oh! I was just on the phone with her, and I told her about you coming for a visit. She said if you leave before Sunday you’d better stop in and see her or she’ll follow you to New York and tan your hide.”
“I will absolutely make sure I see her before I go back to New York. I owe your mama an awful lot. I don’t think I ever thanked her for standing up to everyone so we could be friends. That wasn’t an easy thing to do.”
Mary Ellen wiped tears from under her