Doll took down a shoebox and counted out ten hundred-dollar bills, wondering how much Vidrine would need to live out the rest of her days in some semblance of comfort. She counted out another five hundred just for good measure, then stuffed the wad of cash into the pocket of her apron and headed back into the hall.
Queenie saw her coming out of Fannie’s bedroom. “Doll, what you doing in Miss Fannie’s room?”
Doll waved her off. “Just getting some cash to pay Omar the Pie Man.” She hurried toward the door. When she got outside, Vidrine was gone. Doll panicked, then heard rustling in the azalea bushes below the front steps.
“Miss Vidrine, that you?” Doll hurried down the steps.
She found two eyes peeping out from the bushes.
“I fell off the steps,” Vidrine whispered.
“You about scared the living daylights out of me.” Doll helped Vidrine up, brushed her off, and tried to hand her the money.
Vidrine stared at it but didn’t take it. “Does Fannie know?”
“No, and let’s keep it that way,” Doll said. “Now go on, take it.”
Vidrine stashed the cash under her clothing. “How is my baby girl?”
Her eyes were so pitiful, it almost made Doll want to cry. “Miss Ibby has turned into a fine young lady. You’d be right proud of her.”
“Fannie taking good care of her?” she asked.
“Yes, Miss Vidrine,” Doll said. “I can promise you that. She’s taking real good care of Miss Ibby. Real good care.”
Vidrine dropped her head. “When the time comes, tell Ibby I loved her. Will you do that for me?”
“When the time comes, I’ll tell her.” Doll’s words caught in her throat.
Vidrine pulled her wedding ring off her finger. “Here. Give her this. It’s all I have. Tell her I’m sorry.” She pushed herself up and started down the brick walkway toward the street.
Doll put the ring into the pocket of her uniform. “Peace be with you, you hear?”
Vidrine shuffled down the sidewalk like an old woman. As she disappeared around the corner, Doll wondered when was the last time she’d eaten.
“Vidrine, wait!” Doll cried out, wishing she’d made a basket of food for Vidrine to take along with her.
But Vidrine just kept walking as if she didn’t hear.
For a brief second, Doll wondered if she’d done the right thing. It’s what Miss Vidrine wanted, she reassured herself as a crack of thunder rattled the air.
“Too late for that, Lawd.” She shook her head. “Now, I know I said a lot of nasty things about Miss Vidrine over the years, and I’m sorry for that. Sure am. But what’s done is done.”
She went up to her sewing room, closed the door, and sat down behind her sewing machine. She picked up the doll she was making Ibby for her birthday and looked it in the eyes: “I sure hope I done the right thing.” When she felt for the ring in her pocket, it wasn’t there. “Lawd, what I done with it?” She emptied her pockets. “Well, I’ll be,” Doll said as she stuck her finger through a hole in one of her pockets.
She ran down the stairs and out the front door and began searching the front steps for the ring.
“Got to be out here somewhere.” Doll squinted, the rain blurring her vision. She scrambled around on her hands and knees for several minutes and was about to give up when she saw the ring sticking up sideways through a crack in one of the bricks. “Thank you, Jesus.” She stuffed the ring in her bra for safekeeping and was about to get up when Queenie appeared at the front door.
“What in the devil’s name is going on? Why you crawling around out in the rain like that?”
Doll scrambled to her feet and brushed off her wet uniform. “I slipped on the steps.”
“Uh-huh. Where the pies? Didn’t you say you were buying pies from Omar?” She pointed down the street. “And lookey there. Here come Miss Ibby. She all wet, too.”
Ibby stopped at the gate. “Doll, why are you standing there in the rain?”
“Well, Miss Ibby,” Doll said, “I could ask you the same thing.”
Chapter Thirty
When the day of her party arrived, Ibby sat in Doll’s sewing room all morning as Doll fussed with her hair, pinning and unpinning a hairpiece to her head.
“Why do I have to wear one of these? Can’t you just tease and spray my hair like everybody else?”
“Needs to be just right,” Doll said.
“But I feel so silly,” Ibby said, looking at herself in the handheld mirror.
“You gone look beautiful—now hold still. After I finish with you, I got to go take care of Miss Fannie, and believe me, that’s gone take up the rest of the day.”
A branch of the oak tree rubbed against the window, making a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Doll winced. “Daddy was supposed to trim that tree for the party. Guess he didn’t make it to the branches up top. Hope he cleared the front walkway, or the guests ain’t gone be able to get in the front door. I don’t know why Miss Fannie won’t hire a tree man to come shape up that tree. It’s like she’s afraid to mess with it.”