Hope Springs - 05 - Wedding Cake (22 page)

Darlene didn’t respond. She stood up.

“So, let’s go get you some towels and a mop. You have a new life to start!” And Charlotte smiled and headed out the door while Darlene stood waiting. Finally she followed Charlotte, and the two of them left St. Mary’s.

W
ell, what happened to the two of them?” Beatrice had called St. Mary’s after spending only a few hours with Charlotte, who had just come back to Hope Springs. She knew there had been a split but she had been unable to get any details from Charlotte. All Charlotte had said was that she and Donovan just decided to quit seeing each other. “Did he break up with her because she can’t cook, because she’s a minister?”

“Isn’t she there?” Maria asked. She was very uncomfortable talking about this subject with Beatrice. She knew that Charlotte had flown back to North Carolina for her friend’s wedding renewal service. She glanced at the clock and knew that Charlotte should have been back in her hometown for a number of hours. Maria and Gilbert had taken her to Albuquerque to the airport. “Can’t you ask her these questions?”

“Well, of course she’s here, Maria,” Beatrice huffed into the phone. “You know that. How else would I have known they broke up? And
of course I have asked her these questions,” she added. “She’s just not talking.”

“Ah,” Maria responded.
“Charlotte, es la más cuidadita.”

“Yes, she is the silent one but I need to know details,” Beatrice explained. “What happened between her and the policeman?”

“Sister Charlotte should tell you herself,” Maria noted, trying to sound professional. She didn’t want to get in trouble again for telling too much information to Charlotte’s friends in North Carolina.

“Maria Roybal, you know that Charlotte isn’t going to tell us anything. So fill me in, what happened with her and her officer? Was he taking money from the bad guys? Was he running some scam that she found out about?”

Maria sighed into the phone.
“Señor, perdóname,”
she said, and made the sign of the cross on her chest.

“Is it the ex-wife? It’s her, isn’t it? What, did she cause trouble again? Did they become involved?” She paused. “Wait a minute. Wasn’t she supposed to move out on her own last month?”

“I cannot talk about the ex-wife,” Maria answered. She waited.

“Okay, what can you talk about?” Beatrice understood Maria wouldn’t talk about Carla.

“I can talk about a stubborn woman who would rather live her life as a lonely old maid than try to make things work with a responsible, loving man.”

“Charlotte?” Bea responded. “She did this?” she asked. “She broke up with him?”

“Sí’.” Maria answered. “But why?” Beatrice asked. “She is stubborn, I say.”

“But had something happened?” Beatrice wanted to know. “Was
she still upset about his first marriage?” She hesitated and then added, “That first marriage that I know you can’t talk about. Didn’t she think they were doing something together in secret? Did she catch him in a lie?”

“You still watching dirty television movies?” Maria asked.

“No, I am not watching dirty television movies,” Beatrice replied.

There was a pause.

“You get arrested for stealing the cable?” Maria asked. She had heard from Charlotte about Beatrice’s television arrangement. The two of them had laughed about it.

“No, I did not get arrested,” Beatrice responded. There was a pause. “I just got the bill is all,” she added.

“How much was the bill?” Maria asked.

Beatrice cleared her throat. “We are not talking about my utilities at the moment. I want to know what happened with Charlotte and her beau. Did she catch him cheating on her?”

“She didn’t catch him in anything.” Maria answered. “He tried to explain how he and
you know who
were just trying to find her a condo in Arizona and that he didn’t love her, just wanted to protect her. But Sister Charlotte would have none of it, said that they could never make it work because of their too many differences.”

“She said that?” Beatrice asked, sounding very surprised. “Charlotte loves their differences. She made that very clear when she told me about him. Why would she say that?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Maria replied. “But I have my thoughts,” she added.

“Well, let’s hear them,” Beatrice responded. Maria waited, trying to decide if she should talk to Beatrice about her ideas. She knew Gilbert was tired of hearing them. She looked
around to see if anyone else was listening to her conversation. No one was at the shelter. She forged ahead. “All she sees here is bad marriages that end in violence. All she sees is controlling husbands. She thinks she would end up like these girls.”

“But the policeman wouldn’t beat her.” Beatrice paused. “Would he?” She gasped. “He didn’t hit her, did he?” she shouted.

“No, no, no,” Maria yelled into the receiver. “Officer Sanchez would never raise his hand. It’s her. It’s Charlotte. She just doesn’t want to get hurt and all she sees is women who get hurt.” Maria made a clucking noise. “I try to get her to come to church, to the couples’ class with women her age, come to book club, see other people happy and in love, but she spends all her time here. But then, maybe I helped this happen. I said too much to her about Officer Sanchez. I should have minded my own business.”

Beatrice thought about what Maria was saying. “When did this happen?” she asked.

Maria hesitated. “Three weeks ago,” she replied.

“Three weeks?” Beatrice asked, sounding surprised. “And she never said anything to me all these times we’ve talked in three weeks?” Beatrice recalled they had spoken a number of times to discuss the renewal ceremony and Charlotte’s travel itinerary. She was shocked to know that in all those conversations Charlotte had not mentioned the breakup.

“She didn’t tell me until last weekend. I asked her if she was bringing Donovan to a party in town, it’s a carnival at my church for children, and Charlotte always goes and takes the children from the shelter. It’s a lot of fun, with nice foods like those puffs I told you about, one of those big blow-up bouncy houses with all those balloons and balls inside, and face painting and—”

“I get it, Maria, a carnival, I get it,” Beatrice interrupted. “And that was when she said they broke up?”

“Sí,”
Maria answered. “She came to the carnival without him,” she added. “He was there and she would not speak to him.”

“But why would she break up with him now? I really thought she cared for this man.”

“She is afraid, Bea. He was starting to get very serious with Sister Charlotte. He was here all the time. He was giving her flowers, taking her home to meet his family. I was starting really to like him too. And since, well,
you know who
has been gone …”

“Carla,” Beatrice noted, saying her name because she knew Maria wouldn’t.

“Since she has been gone, I thought the two of them were deep in love. I thought he might propose,” Maria added.

“Really? Propose?” Beatrice asked, sounding very surprised. “It was that serious between them?”

“Sí,” Maria answered. “That serious, yes. He was here every day, and then, I don’t know. Something just happened.”

There was a pause.

“She snapped,” Beatrice said.

“Snap?” Maria said in reply, sounding confused. “What is snap?”

“Snapped,” Beatrice corrected her. “You know, her nerves broke, she arrived at a point of no return.”

“You see this before?” Maria asked.

“Lots of times,” Beatrice answered, sounding very smug.

“On your television movies?” Maria asked.

“And in real life,” Beatrice replied.

“You see Sister Charlotte snap?” Maria wanted to know.

“Well, no, not Charlotte. I’ve just seen it happen to women when
they think they’re getting ready to be asked to make a commitment.” She paused. “Although, now that I think about it, it’s usually men.”

“Who snap?” Maria asked, intrigued by Beatrice’s line of thinking.

“Yes, who snap,” Beatrice answered.

The two women waited. They were both considering the notion that Charlotte might have lost her nerve.

“So, Jessie and James get all their stuff fixed?” Maria asked, changing the subject and recalling why Charlotte had returned to North Carolina. She knew about everything that had been going on in Hope Springs because she and Beatrice talked quite often.

“Seems so,” Beatrice replied. “They were meant to be together. Even though they were apart for such a long time, they’re just like any old married couple,” she added.

“And are you still going to your daughter’s wedding next week?” Maria asked. She also knew that Beatrice had mentioned the possibility of missing the destination wedding, and in all their conversations, she hadn’t been updated about Robin’s visit.

“Dick and I made arrangements to go,” Beatrice replied. “Robin and I worked things out,” she added.

“Ah, God is good,” Maria announced. “You and your daughter needed to talk. I’m glad that happened, Bea.”

“Yes, well, what are you going to do, right?” Bea asked. She sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Maria asked.

“I just don’t think it’s going to work out between them,” she replied. “He’s got children and an ex-wife, and I don’t know, I just don’t think he’s been honest with Robin,” she added. “It all happened too fast.”

“Did you tell her about your concerns?” Maria asked.

“I tried, but it took her so long just to tell me about the wedding,
I decided not to say anything.” Beatrice paused. “I was trying not to meddle,” she added.

“El dolor de las madres,”
Maria said, and then translated into English, “The burden of mothers.”

“You can say that again,” Beatrice responded. “I figure they’ll manage things together and she’ll find out sooner or later about this guy.”

Maria made a kind of humming noise. “And your friend Louise,” she asked. “Is her husband dead?”

“Died last week,” Beatrice answered. “She should be back in Hope Springs for the renewal service this weekend too.”

“You have missed her, yes?” Maria asked.

“Yes, I have missed her,” Beatrice replied.

The two women paused.

“And I have missed Charlotte,” Beatrice added. “And I’m concerned about her.”

“Yes, so am I,” Maria noted. “But what is there to do?” she asked.

There was another long pause.

“Perhaps we can figure out something to do,” Beatrice said.

“What are you thinking, Bea?” Maria could tell that she was plotting something.

“I’m not sure,” Beatrice replied. “But I will need Officer Tall, Dark, and Handsome’s phone number,” she said.

“Oh no,” Maria responded. “Sister Charlotte would kill me if she knew I gave you Donovan’s number. She would kill me if she knew we were talking about the two of them and that I told you what I know.”

“What have you told me?” Beatrice asked, trying to sound coy. “All you’ve said is that they didn’t go to the church carnival together
and that you’re worried about her. She told me they broke up, and even though I called, you don’t know any of the details either.”

“I cannot give you his telephone number,” Maria stated.

“Maria, come on, I can just get my neighbor’s ten-year-old to find it on the computer if I have to. Or I can call the Gallup police station and ask.” She paused. “Oh, just give me the number. You know I’m going to find it whether you give it to me or not. And you know that somebody needs to step in and do something about this.” She waited. “Maria, who are we if we are not the good friends who keep the flame of love burning?”

Maria made the sign of the cross over herself again. And then she pulled out the phone book and found the number. She read it out and then said, “You must never tell her that I was involved.” She mumbled something in Spanish and closed the phone book. “If Sister Charlotte knows that I was the one who helped you in this, she will fire me and Gilbert will divorce me.”

“Charlotte will not know that I called you and she can’t fire you, you’re a volunteer.” Bea paused as she finished jotting down the number. “And Gilbert will not divorce you because he knows what a lucky man he is.” She waited and then knew what Maria was doing because Charlotte had told her about the volunteer’s habit of crossing herself when she was nervous. “And stop crossing yourself. God likes it when we step in on love’s behalf. I know because I saw it in a movie.”

And Maria shook her head and rolled her eyes while she heard the phone on the other end hang up.

W
ell, fancy meeting you all here!” Louise was passing the cemetery on her way into town when she saw the familiar cars and turned around. She yelled at the women as she was walking toward them.

Jessie, Beatrice, and Charlotte had gone to Margaret’s grave the evening before the ceremony to place flowers and to pay their respects together. They had placed a blanket on the grave and were sitting together enjoying glasses of champagne.

“Preacher Charlotte!” Louise exclaimed as she saw her friend and walked over to her. “What a sight for old eyes you are!”