You're Busting My Nuptials (Tizzy/Ridge Trilogy Book 2) (9 page)

Eldora pointed at Jinx and Synola. “You two be sucking all the energy out of this room. Rayann, trade places with Jinx.”

They made the switch, joined hands again, and the old woman resumed. The thunder moved closer. Lightning split the sky. Flashes pierced the room. Tizzy’s heart pounded harder. The rings heated against her skin.

The candles flamed up and hissed. Tizzy focused on the woman’s face, her black skin shining like patent leather shoes on Sunday morning.

Eldora’s voice swelled and changed to a tune Tizzy didn’t recognize. The old woman became rigid, her hand tightened around Tizzy’s, pinching off the flow of blood. She rocked back and forth, her hum getting louder, her movements more pronounced until she screamed out a series of jumbled words.

The bulky woman relaxed back in the chair and loosened her hands. Beads of sweat rolled down from her head onto her cheeks. She pulled a handkerchief from between her bosom and mopped her face.

Tizzy gasped. “Did you see something?”

“A name come to me, Tizzy. Edward . . . Edmond . . . Eddy . . . any of them mean summin’ to you?”

Tizzy shook her head. “Ridge’s father. His middle name was Edward, but he’s been dead a long time. What could he have to do with Ridge’s disappearance?”

“I don’t know, child, but that’s what I got and there was one more thang. You ain’t gonna like it.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, child. But I seen death. Cold death.”

Once they gave Ridge’s cell phone to Bubba, it didn’t take him long to check the calls. Within an hour, he’d gotten back to her with the results. Nothing suspicious. All the calls and text messages, both sent and received, were concerning business, friends or Tizzy.

She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news. A random call would have least given them a clue.

She wanted her life back. She wanted to bake and tend bar. The simple movement of taking a glass off the shelf and pouring a drink, or measuring a cup of sugar and creaming it with butter, would take her mind off Eldora’s words. She didn’t want her brain spinning out of control trying to decide which way to go or what to believe. She didn’t want to think about death. Cold death. Certainly not Ridge’s death, but if this Edward or Edmond or Eddy died, so be it.

Eldora could be wrong, she told herself. The old soothsayer’s track record for removing warts was unparalleled and her talent for making a cheating man impotent put fear into many a local man’s heart. But as far as Tizzy knew, the old woman’s history with death predictions hadn’t been reviewed or rated.

Tizzy closed her eyes and thought about Ridge. The warmth of him. His arms wrapped firmly around her, his hands sliding over her body leaving lust and desire in their path.

Her breath caught. She needed rest. She needed comfort. She needed to be with someone who loved him as much as she did. She needed
Gracie.

Once her mind cleared, she found herself sitting in her car, motor running, still in her driveway.

She didn’t remember telling Rayann, Synola, or Jinx goodbye, but they were gone, so she must have. She put the car in reverse and slowly backed out to the street.

Fifteen minutes later, she turned down the long road leading to her parents’ house. When she pushed open the door, she saw her dad surfing channels.

“Hey Sweetie, I thought I heard a car. Are you okay? Any news about Ridge?”

“No. I mean, yeah, I’m okay, but no news about my missing groom.”

“Baby girl, you look terrible. Are you sleeping and eating? We’ve got leftover meatloaf, why don’t you re-heat you some.”

“No, Daddy, I’m fine. Where are Momma and Gracie?”

“They’re in the bathroom.”

Tizzy heard the giggles and screams before she reached the door and when she pushed it open, she saw Gracie sitting waist deep in water, holding a bottle of bubbles, blowing them into the air, while Patticake tried to catch them.

“Momma!” Gracie squealed. “Watch, I’m going to blow a BIG bubble and you try to catch it.” She dipped her wand, puckered her lips, and blew the scrawniest bubble Tizzy had ever seen. Tizzy ran her fingertips across a bar of soap, then stuck her index finger out and caught the iridescent orb on the tip.

“You did it!” Gracie yelled.

“Yes I did, and now, I’m going to do this.” Tizzy transferred the baby bubble to Gracie’s nose. “Now you have a bubble on your nose! Gracie has a bubble on her nose, Gracie has a bubble on her nose,” Tizzy sang and Gracie giggled.

“Momma, are you spending the night?”

“Uh-huh, and I’m going to snuggle with you.”

“Did you find Trooper Cooper?”

Tizzy cut her eyes over to her mother and then back to Gracie. “Not yet. But I’m going to keep looking. C’mon, let’s dry you off and get you ready for bed. I can’t believe you’re still up this late.”

A half-hour later, after two stories and a silly song, Gracie snuggled close to her mother. Cuddles curled at her side, purring. For the first time since the wedding, Tizzy felt a sense of peace. She’d find Ridge and he’d be alive. She didn’t know how. She just knew she would. God wouldn’t bring him into her life only to take him away. He wouldn’t. With that final thought, she drifted off to sleep.

By the time she woke the next morning, she could hear Annie Mae softly singing in the kitchen. She gave a long stretch, and Cuddles mimicked with one of her own.

The scent of pancakes floated down the hall and Tizzy thought of melted butter and warm maple syrup. Her stomach growled. She pulled Gracie close again, kissed her and reminded herself about what she needed to do today.

First, she’d round up the crew and they would visit Dairy ‘ere Queens Strip Club in Athens. If they did have pictures of all the dancers, as the barmaid suggested, Jinx would be able to recognize the stripper. If they were lucky, one of the other girls would know where the woman lived.

Next, she wanted to make a connection between Ridge and the names Eldora mentioned. All the case files in Ridge’s makeshift office would need to be searched to find a suspect or victim named Edward, Edmond, or Eddy. She wanted to concentrate on that and push the
cold death
part out of her mind.

She shivered. Last night after the front moved in, the temperature dropped twenty degrees. Outside the wind whipped and howled against the window. The weather man said the chill factor would be sixteen degrees today.

Wherever you are, Ridge, I hope you’re warm.
She shook the thought out of her head, got up, and walked into the bathroom.

Thankful she kept clothes and cosmetics at her mom
’s house, she pulled on pale pink sweats and ankle boots. Cuddles pushed the door open far enough to make an entrance, jumped up and settled on the toilet lid and began to wash her face.

“My daddy’s right, I don’t look so good,” she said to the cat. “I really need to pay more attention to personal hygiene.” Tizzy splashed warm water on her face and ran her fingers across the dark circles under her eyes. She opened a drawer and took a tube of makeup out and squeezed some into her palm. Once she was done applying it, she inspected the results. “That’s much better. When I find Ridge, I need to look my best,” she said, still talking to Cuddles as if the cat understood. She ran a brush through her hair and pulled the long strands into a ponytail.

She looked down at the cat for approval. “What do you think? Better?”

Cuddles meowed, jumped down from the toilet and ran out of the room.

“I guess not,” Tizzy said.

A few minutes later, she walked down the hall into the kitchen, and Cuddles trailed behind her.

“Good morning, Tizzy,” Annie Mae said.

“Good morning. Did you find my note about Jinx and Synola coming for breakfast?”

“Umm-hmm, and I got plenty.”

“They smell wonderful.”

“Sit down, Sugar, and I’ll fix you some.”

Someone tapped on door. Synola opened it and stepped inside. “Lord, I can smell those heavenly pancakes a mile away.”

“Well pull up a chair. They’re coming right up,” Annie Mae said.

“Make that two, please,” Jinx said from the doorway.

Annie Mae’s face lit up. “Come in here, Jinx.”

He crossed the room, took her in his arms and dipped her as if finishing a dance. Then he lifted her back up and planted a big kiss on her cheek. “I’ll still marry you, if you’ll have me.”

Annie Mae giggled like a little girl. “You’ve been trying to get me to marry you ever since you were a boy. Don’t seem right, since I changed your diapers!” She broke into a full laugh.

Jinx kissed her again and took a seat next to Synola.

Annie Mae forked pancakes onto their plates. “Y’all gonna go looking for Mr. Ridge again today?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Jinx said.

Cuddles ran under the table.

Jinx flashed Synola a wicked grin. “Are you playing footsie with me?”

“That’s the cat, you idiot.”

Jinx laughed.

Synola craned her neck toward Annie Mae. “Has he always been this obnoxious or did he just get this way after he grew up?”

Annie Mae put her hands on her hips.
“Synola, I don’t believe for a minute you think Jinx is obnoxious.”

Synola sat up straight. “Oh yes I do!”

“You know what they say. A hit dog hollers,” Annie Mae teased.

Jinx leaned over and gave Synola a pinch on the cheek. “Annie Mae’s right. You like me. You just won’t admit it.”

Synola stabbed her pancakes with such a vengeance, her fork clinked against the plate. “I do not
like
you. I
tolerate
you for Tizzy’s sake.”

Jinx layered butter between each flap-jack. “Deny it all you want, Honey Bun, everybody in this room knows the truth.”

Synola held her fork in mid-air. “Shut-up.”

Annie Mae walked to the table, coffee pot in hand. “Well, it’s sure nuf cold out there. Y’all need to wrap up good.”

Tizzy drenched her stack in warm syrup. Annie Mae’s mention of cold weather brought Eldora’s prediction back to mind. Tizzy stared into blank space, and drowned out the conversation for a minute, then turned her attention back to the group.

Annie Mae added to Jinx’s cup. “Lawd, I hope this weather warms up before the weekend. If not, that lake’s gonna be cold. We got all them people coming for the church celebration, even my oldest, Lonzie, will be here.”

“When’s the last time he visited?” Synola asked.

Annie Mae shook her head. “Over two years ago and this’ll probably be the first thing he’s had to do with religion since then.”

“I take it Lonzie didn’t keep his upbringing,” Jinx said.

“Naw, he opens his Bible and coughs from the dust flying out.”

Tizzy forked the last bite from her plate and mopped up the extra syrup with it. “What celebration?”

“My church,
Jesus the Son of the Living God Spiritual Tabernacle of the Apostle Faith,
joins with our sister church,
Touch Not My Divine Anointed Holiness, and
has the big fish fry down on the Eddy.”

Tizzy choked. “What did you say?”

“We’re having a fish fry down on Lake Palestine, at the Big Eddy.”

Tizzy never considered Edward, Edmond,
Eddy
as a place and not a person, but the minute Annie Mae said the words, a chill washed over her. The Big Eddy had to be the connection to Eldora’s vision. Tizzy’s bones felt like ice as she recalled the other half of the revelation.
Cold death.

Her stomach churned twice, and gave her only enough time to dash to the bathroom and lose the pancakes she
’d eaten. She moved to the sink and caught water in her hand. She rinsed her mouth, then brushed her teeth again. She didn’t want to think it possible, but she had to find out. Slumping down onto the side of the tub, she rested her head in her hands. If he were dead, how would she explain it to Gracie? How would a little girl ever be able to understand why her daddies kept dying? No, Ridge couldn’t be dead.
She wouldn’t accept it.

With new resolve, she ran back into the kitchen. “It’s the Big Eddy!” She rushed around the room like hunting Easter eggs, gathering her purse, checking her phone, and locating her keys. “We need to go to the lake! C’mon, we can’t waste time!”

Jinx stood by the doorway. He grabbed her by the arms, and stopped her motion. “Calm down, Tizzy. What’s this about the Big Eddy?”

Synola crammed the last few bites of pancake in her mouth. She slung her purse over her shoulder and went to stand by Tizzy.

Tizzy shrugged away from Jinx. “Don’t you understand? Eldora got the name Eddy. It’s not a person, it’s a place. The Big Eddy down on Lake Palestine.” She shrugged on her jacket. “We need to go. Ridge is there somewhere.”

“Take a breath, Tizzy. The Eddy has been underwater for years. Not a whole lot of people even remember the location.”

Annie Mae came from the kitchen. “He’s right. The Eddy was just a small body of water swallowed up when the lake came in.”