Read Pawleys Island-lowcountry 5 for Free Online

sound, but the tears spilled over her eyelids in a flood, washing right down her face and neck. My heart just sank. I felt like crying too. It was inconceivable that this talented, soft-spoken, genteel woman before me was an unfit mother. She was a precious girl and that man of hers had done her dirty. And why had I made her reveal herself? Oh! Sometimes I was so nosy. There I had been thinking that she was going to swindle my Huey and the fact was that she had been swindled out of her own home and children. I reached in my purse and handed her my handkerchief.
    “Thank you. I’m so sorry. I just don’t know why or how it even happened. I never saw it coming. One day I was sewing name tags in my children’s socks and the next day I was…my whole life was gone.”
    She took a long breath and I wondered what in the world I could say to her. There had to be more to the story. I knew that much. I felt perfectly wretched.
    “Rebecca. Dear child. You must say that you will forgive me. I am so deeply sorry that I pried into your personal life. I had no right to do it. And I had no idea you had suffered such a tragedy. I just wanted to know who you were . Now, you go wash your face and let’s just forget about our discussion for the rest of the night.”
    The gallery was beginning to fill with guests. That considered, it seemed to me that the best solution was to sweep the whole business under the rug for the night and deal with it in the light of day. She went to the powder room and to help that bossy boots, Byron, and I went to find my Huey. He was easy to spot. After all, he had been shopping in the husky boys department at Belk’s since he was twelve years old, bless his heart.
    “Mother! Come say hello to Sallie Anne Wood!”
    It was small comfort that her mother had not named her Sandy. Or Sandal. Or Cherry.
    “Hello, my dear,” I said and extended my hand to her, which was a peculiar habit of the younger generation. In my day, a lady never shook hands. To begin with, we wore gloves, thank you. “Congratulations on your beautiful show!”
    “Oh, thank you, Miss Olivia, and it’s lovely to see you again.”
    “And to see you also…” No sooner did the words tumble from my lips than she began to scout the room, her eyes drawn to Rebecca’s paintings in the very rear of the gallery. There was going to be the devil to pay, I thought, and then decided to keep an eye on her. She released Huey’s arm and began to work her way toward Rebecca’s work. I took my boy’s arm and pulled him down so I could whisper in his ear.
    “I have to…I have to speak with you, son,” I said. Well, he could tell that I was upset, and so we slipped into his office for a moment, closing the door behind us.
    “Mother? What ever is the matter? The gallery is filled with…”
    “Huey? Don’t reprimand me! I know exactly what is and what is not occuring on the other side of that door! This is of the utmost importance or else I would never have asked you…”
    “Oh, I’m sorry, Mother! Of course! Tell me what it is. Please.”
    He took a deep breath and I looked up at him and thought here is my unmarried son, who, for his own reasons we do not discuss, will never give me grandchildren. Would he possibly be sympathetic to Rebecca’s woes? But when I told him the story as I knew it, he reacted as I hoped he would.
    “Miss Olivia?”
    I loved it when he called me that because it meant we were in it together, whatever the it happened to be at the moment.
    “Yes?”
    “Here is what I think. I think we don’t have all the facts. And most importantly, I refuse to allow you to become all upset over this until we know what has happened to her. But I agree with you. It doesn’t sound right or seem right. Rebecca? Unfit? No, no. Can’t be. When this evening is over, we will have Rebecca out to the house for dinner. Maybe tomorrow night. And then we will speak to her without all these distractions. If what you say is true, it is time