Ibby was studying the photo hard. Doll could see her hands were shaking.
“It’s obvious I’ve upset you, Ibby. I’m sorry. I only mentioned it in case Vidrine shows up unannounced. As I said, we’re not even sure if the woman in the photo is Vidrine.” He looked at his watch. “Oh gosh, look at the time. I’m sorry to have to rush off, but I’m late for another appointment.”
Fannie saw Mr. Rainold to the door.
Doll turned toward her mother. “You don’t think Miss Vidrine’s planning on showing up here, do you, Mama?”
“It’ll break Miss Fannie’s heart if Miss Vidrine comes back and take Miss Ibby away.” Queenie put her face in her hands, then looked over at Doll. “She come back here, she asking for trouble.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
After Emile Rainold left, Fannie came back into the dining room and grabbed Ibby’s hand.
“Come on,” she said. “We’re going for a ride.”
When they got in the car, Fannie tied a scarf around her hair and backed out of the driveway, sending oyster-shell gravel flying in all directions. She turned onto St. Charles Avenue, puffing furiously on a cigarette. Ibby looked over at Fannie, wondering where they were going in such a hurry.
Fannie had kept her hair dyed a soft auburn ever since that day they went to Antoine’s for Ibby’s twelfth birthday, and she’d made a concerted effort to keep up her appearance, wearing smartly tailored dresses that Doll made for her. Today she had on rouge and lipstick. Ibby could tell she was thinking hard about something.
It wasn’t until they got to the river bend, where St. Charles Avenue meets Carrollton, that Fannie finally spoke: “I know you’re probably a little unnerved, hearing your mother might be in town.”
The truth was, Ibby wasn’t sure how she felt about her mother, but she didn’t want to upset Fannie by giving a wrong answer. “I don’t know.”
“Do you like living with me?”
Fannie’s question made Ibby pause. “Of course I do, but . . . wouldn’t I have to go with my mother if she said I had to?”
Fannie flicked her cigarette out onto the street. After a while, she handed Ibby an envelope. “Here. This came for you today.”
Ibby noticed the envelope had been opened.
“I know I had no right to open it, but I was afraid after what Mr. Rainold told me this morning that it might have been from your mother. It’s not.”
Ibby slid the card from the envelope, admiring the blue linen paper with the white embossed lettering. “Oh. It’s an invitation to Winnie Waguespack’s sweet sixteen party. She told me about it on the ride home from school today.”
“You have a birthday coming up, too. That invitation gave me an idea. I’m going to throw you your own sweet sixteen party.”
“A party? For me?”
“Yes, dear. I’ve already arranged for T-Bone to start painting the house.”
T-Bone had just gotten back from Vietnam a few weeks ago and was looking for work. Ibby hadn’t seen him since that day at the True Love Baptist Church all those years ago. She wondered what he looked like now.
“Ibby darling, did you hear what I just said? We need to make a list,” Fannie went on. “I will invite your classmates, of course. And Sister Gertrude.”
Ibby’s head shot around. “Sister Gertrude? Why on earth would we invite Sister Gertrude? She’ll ruin the whole party. No one will come if they know she’s invited.”
“Don’t be silly,” Fannie said.
“It’s true, Fannie. Everyone hates Sister Gertrude.” Ibby crossed her arms and let out a harrumph.
“Now, dear, Sister Gertrude was one of the first people I met when I came to New Orleans. She went out of her way to be nice to me when I didn’t know anybody. It would be rude of me not to invite her.”
“How exactly do you know Sister Gertrude anyway?”
“She taught me how to dance.”
Ibby balked. “Sister Gertrude knows how to dance?”
“She’s quite good at it, or at least she used to be. A lot of things about Sister Gertrude might surprise you. She wasn’t always a nun, you know.” Fannie glanced her way. “Now, how about boys? Do you know any boys?”
“Not really,” Ibby said.
Fannie tapped the steering wheel with her thumb. “That just won’t do.”
“Well, you did send me to an all-girls school. How am I supposed to meet boys?”
“How indeed.” Fannie appeared to be thinking on it. “We’ll have to come up with a list. Winnie Waguespack has a couple of brothers, doesn’t she? I’ll get Doll to see if she can borrow the De La Salle school directory without Winnie’s mother knowing about it.”
“How are you going to manage that?”
“Her maid Bertha comes to the house every morning to place Myrtis Waguespack’s bets. I’m sure we can work something out.”