The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady

“Oh, Mama,” Lizzy sighed. “There you go again. I wish you wouldn’t—”

“I am just sayin’ that—no matter how many good things everybody says that camp is doing for Darling—it’s not all one hundred percent positive. Those boys are flirty. I’ve heard ’em whistling at girls on the square, and who knows what else they’re getting up to. Why, the very idea of a Yankee taking a married lady for a motorcycle ride after dark. It’s sinful, is what it is.”

Lizzy wondered whether the greater sin lay in being a Yankee or giving a motorcycle ride to a married lady. “Lucy manages the kitchen at Camp Briarwood,” she said evenly. “Maybe she had to work late and somebody gave her a lift home.”

“Maybe, and maybe not,” Mrs. Lacy said, pulling her eyebrows together. “You’re too trusting, Elizabeth. Too na?ve. If you ask me, it was one of those CCC boys that got Rona Jean Hancock pregnant, although she herself wasn’t any better than she should be. It could have been one of them that killed her, too, especially considering who it was that Adele Hart says she saw out there behind the diner.”

“I wonder if the sheriff knows about that,” Lizzy said thoughtfully.

“Not unless he’s been at the laundry in the last hour or so. Adele told me when I took in my damask tablecloth to be washed and ironed.” She made a face. “For things like that tablecloth, I surely miss my Sally-Lou. Catsup and mustard stains never did faze her.”

Sally-Lou had been Mrs. Lacy’s maid ever since Lizzy was a girl, but when the money was gone and Mrs. Lacy had to go to work, she’d had to let Sally-Lou go. Now, for the first time in her adult life, Mrs. Lacy had to do her own housework, which Lizzy thought might turn out to be a good thing. It gave her something to do in the evenings, at least—something other than walk across the street and pester Lizzy.

There was a silence. Mrs. Lacy seemed to be waiting for something. At last, she put her cup down. “Well, do you want to hear my news or not?”

“What?” Lizzy had been thinking that maybe she’d call the sheriff’s office and tell him what she saw at the movie show and also suggest that he drop in and have a talk with Adele Hart. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mama. You did say that you had something important to tell me. Yes, of course I want to hear your news. What is it?”

Mrs. Lacy smiled smugly. “Mr. Dunlap has asked me to marry him. And I’ve said yes.”

Lizzy gasped, feeling as if she’d been socked in the stomach and the air had just been knocked out of her. “Marry Mr. Dunlap?” she repeated stupidly. “Mr. Dunlap at the Five and Dime?”

“Well, yes.” Mrs. Lacy narrowed her eyes. “Is there anything wrong with that?”

Lizzy wanted to leap up and cry, No, nothing wrong! The Almighty has just answered my prayers, that’s all. Now you’ll be Mr. Dunlap’s problem!

But she couldn’t, so she said, as calmly as she could, “Of course not, Mama, if that’s what you want to do. It’s just . . . it’s just a little sudden, that’s all. I need a minute to catch my breath.”

“Not sudden at all,” Mrs. Lacy said smartly. “Of course, we were church friends before I went to work for him at the Five and Dime. I’ve always enjoyed hearing him sing in the choir—he has such a lovely tenor voice. After I began working at the store, we got friendlier and friendlier and . . . well, things just developed, that’s all.”

“And you kept it a secret,” Lizzy marveled. That by itself was a huge surprise, since her mother had never before demonstrated any ability to keep a secret. The minute she heard anything interesting, she ran right over to tell Ouida Bennett. And this was certainly interesting.