Hand-Me-Down Love (2 page)

In the shop
kitchen, Marla made a pot of coffee. She wandered through the shop,
taking inventory. One side was devoted to high-end antiques that
could be pricey. Mobile society mavens checked her store out
frequently to furnish their homes in the city and their vacation
homes on the bay. They didn’t mind paying the hefty prices, didn’t
think twice about it. But, Marla reasoned, the prices were still good
for what they were getting.

The other side
of the shop featured vintage items, mostly from the turn of the
twentieth century through the fifties or sixties. Marla loved the
vintage side. She loved the customers, who weren’t rich usually but
had a feeling for vintage. They wanted tablecloths printed with roses
and strawberries. They collected McCoy pottery pieces that were
colorful and sometimes whimsical. Once, Marla had a chandelier with
white flowers and golden leaves and two women had argued over it.
Each said they had spotted it first, had put their hand on it first.
Marla didn’t know what to do, and other customers were staring.
“That’s not on the market right now,” she had said to the
women. “It’s broken and needs to be repaired before it can be
sold. It shouldn’t have been out here.” She took the chandelier
and moved it to the back. She knew she would probably lose the
customers’ business, but she didn’t know what else to do.

At nine, Jada
came through the front door using her key.

“
Hey,” she
said when she saw Marla sitting at her desk. “Did you go to the
jubilee?”

“
No,” Marla
said. “I was too tired.”

“
Aww, that’s
too bad,” Jada said. “It was a shrimp jubilee. But I got some
flounder and a few crabs too.”

Marla never got
the crabs at a jubilee. She just didn’t have the stomach for
throwing them in a pot of boiling water. She never had. She could
deal with the shrimp and fish, though. And, she did love crab, but
only if someone else did the dirty work.

“
I think
we’re going to get a big crowd today because of the dough bowls,”
Marla said. “You did a good job getting that message out.”

“
Thanks,”
Jada said. “I’m thinking we need to start a Twitter account, too.
Can I bring you a cup of coffee?”

Marla nodded.
“I think that’s just what I need right now,” she said.

Marla sat at
her desk staring at the walls and ceiling. She was having a hard time
getting herself together for the business day ahead. A few minutes
later, Jada returned with a cup of coffee with cream and set it on
the desk.

“
I’m going
to go through the shop and make sure everything’s in place,” Jada
said, taking her cup of coffee with her as she went through the door
to the vintage side.

Marla unlocked
the door close to ten and it wasn’t long before customers started
streaming in. The dough bowls drew them, but they would end up buying
more than that. Vintage was hard to resist. One customer bought a
Hoosier cabinet made in the forties that still had the flour bin.
That was rare. The original white paint was chipped and worn. Marla
offered to paint the piece for the customer, in any color she chose,
but the customer wanted the original finish with all of its dings and
worn spots.

Right before
noon, when Marla was going to call Meredith, Meredith called her.

“
I didn’t
see you at the jubilee,” she said. “It was a shrimp one.”
Meredith sounded excited. Marla hated to bring up the brain cancer.
The word was too harsh, too real.

“
I was too
tired to go,” Marla said. Then, hesitating, she said, “Did you
talk to Sean?”

Meredith didn’t
say anything right away. Finally, she said, “Yes, I told him. He’s
upset. But when we heard the jubilee I made him get up and go. He
didn’t want to, but I made him. I just want things to be normal,”
she finished with a sigh.

“
I know,”
Marla said.

“
So, I’m
going to make some gumbo with some of the shrimp and freeze the rest
for a shrimp boil. Do you want to come over for some gumbo tonight?”

Meredith made
the best gumbo. She had learned the recipe and secrets of the roux
when she worked at a seafood restaurant in Mobile while she was in
college. “I’ll show you how to do it,” she had told Marla when
they were in college. But Marla was too busy dating and partying to
pay attention to gumbo. She had never learned how to make it.

“
Okay,”
Marla said. “I’d love to have some of your gumbo. What time?”

“
I’d say
about eight,” Meredith said.

“
Are you sure
it’s a good night for me to come over?” Marla asked her sister.

“
Of course,”
Meredith said. “You’ve got to have gumbo! It’s way too much for
me and Sean.”

Everyone who
came in the shop was talking about the jubilee. Did you go? How many
buckets did you get? What are you going to make? Marla felt a little
left out. As the afternoon wore on, the customers dwindled in the
shop. By closing time at six, all of the dough bowls had been sold
and Marla had a waiting list for the next batch she got. She also
sold an antique dining set that was huge and fit for people who had a
lot of dinner parties, which the customer did. A few pieces of
jadeite, the milky green glass that was popular in the thirties and
forties, were sold to a woman who was decorating her kitchen in green
and white.

At six, Marla
locked the door and said goodbye to Jada. “See you Monday,” Jada
said as she left through the back door. Marla walked to the back door
and looked at the courtyard. Lucy was sunning herself near a planter.
“Come on, girl,” Marla said to the calico. “Time to eat.”
Lucy followed Marla up the stairs to the apartment, where Marla
filled her bowl.

After sitting
on the couch and watching television for a while, Marla got up and
changed into a long sundress with a pattern of pink roses scattered
on a white background. After the jubilee, the weather had turned
decidedly humid. She drove the five blocks to her sister’s house
that overlooked the bay. Marla pulled up next to the carport where
her sister’s gray SUV was parked next to Sean’s silver BMW. She
walked between the cars to the kitchen door and knocked.

Meredith opened
the door and Marla could see she had been crying. “Come in,” she
said, trying to smile.

Marla stepped
into the kitchen that had been refurbished with black granite
countertops, the highest-end appliances including a Viking gas stove,
a travertine floor, and maple cabinets. A big pot was on the stove
and Marla could smell the rich fragrance of the gumbo.

“
Ummm, smells
good,” Marla said, pretending she didn’t see Meredith’s tears.
Sean walked in from the den and he looked just as upset as Meredith.
Marla felt like she definitely shouldn’t be there as they dealt
with Meredith’s illness, just hours after the diagnosis. She wanted
to leave but didn’t know how to do that gracefully.

“
I’m just
getting a beer,” Sean said opening the refrigerator. He stood for a
long moment staring into the cold refrigerator.

“
Well, here’s
the beer,” Meredith said. “Here you go.” She took a bottle of
beer out of the refrigerator and opened it for Sean.

“
Thanks,”
he said with a strained smile before walking out of the room.

Meredith filled
a measuring cup with water and poured it into a stainless steel pot
on the stove. “Everything should be ready in about thirty minutes
when the rice is done,” she said. She poured wine into two glasses
and brought them to the table where Marla was sitting.

“
I did some
research last night on what you have,” Marla told her sister. She
couldn’t use the word “cancer” or “tumor” yet. “It looks
like there are successful treatments.”

“
Yeah, I did
some research too. But let’s not talk about that tonight. I just
want to enjoy having my sister here for gumbo. There’ll be plenty
of time for all that later.”

“
Okay,”
Marla said feeling bad for bringing it up.

Meredith talked
for a few minutes about the jubilee. Marla talked about her day at
the shop. The sisters talked about everything but the elephant in the
room, Meredith’s illness.

“
I’d better
check the rice,” Meredith said getting up.

“
I’ll take
this opportunity to visit the little girl’s room,” Marla said,
also getting up. “Can I do anything to help you?”

Meredith waved
Marla away as she took another sip of her wine. “I’ve got it,”
she said.

On her way back
down the hall, Marla heard Meredith and Sean talking in the kitchen.
She waited a moment, then as she was going back through the door, she
stopped. Sean was holding Meredith as she sobbed into his shoulder.
Marla felt again how intrusive she felt her presence was there in her
sister’s house that night, only hours after the couple had learned
that their world was threatened. She turned to leave, but Sean saw
her as he looked over Meredith’s head. He held out his arm and
motioned for her. Marla walked over to them and Sean drew her in.
Marla put her arm around Meredith and let her tears fall silently as
her sister wept.

Chapter
Three

The next day, Marla
drove to Mobile to visit her parents. She was going to have to tell
them about Meredith, and she was filled with anxiety about it. She
drove into their neighborhood with new houses and small yards. It was
nothing like the house she had grown up in. She parked in the
driveway and got out of her car, taking a deep breath. Her mother
opened the door before she could knock.

“
Hey, honey.
I’m so glad to see you,” her mother said.

Marla followed
her through the foyer and into the living room where her father sat
in his chair, reading the paper. Marla looked around at the
unfamiliar surroundings and wished she could tell her parents the bad
news in her childhood home in Oak Point.

“
Hey, Dad,”
Marla said.

“
Hey,” he
said back. “What brings you out this way today?”

Marla sat on
the couch. Her mother brought her a glass of wine and some nuts in a
bowl. She put some in her mouth, munching down but not tasting them.
She took a sip of the white wine.

“
I’ve got
to tell you something. Meredith asked me to.”

“
Meredith?”
her mother said. “What would she want you to tell us? Is she all
right?”

Marla didn’t
know any other way to tell her parents except straight out.

“
She’s got
a brain tumor. She’s having surgery next week to remove it and do a
biopsy.”

“
No!” her
mother said as she fell back into the couch.

Her father
looked at her with no expression. He never had been one to show
emotions, but Marla knew he was taking the news hard. She knew her
father.

“
What type of
tumor is it?” he asked. “Where is it located?”

“
It’s
behind her right eye. They’ll know more after the surgery.”

Marla’s
mother started to cry. “How long has she known about this?” she
asked in a broken voice.

“
She just
found out. She didn’t think she could hold herself together to tell
y’all about it. She asked me to. I hope that’s okay. I know she
probably should have told you herself, but. . .” Her voice trailed
off.

“
It doesn’t
matter who tells us this news,” her father said. “It’s
devastating.”

“
I know, Dad.
I’m devastated too. But I’ve done research and there are
treatments. Plus, Meredith is young so that makes her chances a lot
better.”

Marla sat with
her parents for a while longer. She told them that the surgery would
take place next Thursday at South Mobile Hospital. Then she got up to
leave. She knew her parents needed time alone to absorb the news
about their oldest daughter. As a couple, they had always had an
inner relationship and they would be relying on each other now more
than ever.

Marla stood to
leave, her wine unfinished. As she walked to the door, her mother
said, “We’re going to call Meredith right away. She needs our
support.”

“
Yes, she
most definitely does,” Marla said, hugging her mother, then her
father.

By the time
Marla got home, Meredith was calling.

“
I talked to
Mom and Dad,” she said. “That was hard. I started crying and so
did Mom. Dad sounded choked up, and that was weird.”