Julia 03 - Miss Julia Throws a Wedding (28 page)

“Well, that makes me feel some better, I guess. Maybe that’s why a television station sent their truck. Human interest, you know. Well, far be it from me to interfere with somebody’s way of worship. Even though it wouldn’t be mine.”

After hanging up, I reassured Little Lloyd that the sheriff’s department had the sidewalk congregation well in hand. I kept Coleman’s announcement that he might not show up for his wedding to myself. If I didn’t bring it up, I wouldn’t have to think about it.

Little Lloyd, unaware of my increasingly troubled mind, still had his on the sidewalk gathering. And he’d come up with some reassurance on his own. “One good thing, Miss Julia,” he said. “As long as they’re out there, that ole Dixon Hightower won’t be sneaking around, will he?”

“Highly unlikely, I’d say. He’ll stay away from crowds where somebody might recognize him.” Then looking at my watch, I said, “Are your mother and Mr. Pickens still in the backyard?”

“Yessum. I just came in because I was worried about you.”

“Bless your little heart. But as you can see, I’m fine. Now, let’s get some lights on in here to remind them that it’s close to bedtime. Why don’t you go up and start your bath?”

When he left, I stood in the empty kitchen realizing that I could’ve shaken Coleman until his teeth rattled. What was he doing going on duty when he should’ve been romancing Binkie? And what was he doing even thinking of giving up when she was wearing his ring? I had a good mind to call him back and tell him to drop what he was doing and take care of what was important.

But as far as telling him
how
to take care of it, well, I’d
reached the end of my rope in the romance department. But that rope hadn’t been very long in the first place.

“Well,” I said to the empty kitchen, propping my hands on my hips. “Maybe everything that could be done
hasn’t
been done yet. So I guess I’d better get to it.”

Chapter 28

“Hey, Miss Julia,” Hazel Marie said as she came in from the yard. She blinked her eyes in the light of the kitchen, a little smile on her face. I noticed that her mouth looked soft and smeary, but decided not to dwell on it. “Somebody called J.D. on his cell phone and he had to leave. We thought you’d already gone upstairs, so he said to say good night for him.”

“Very polite of him, I’m sure,” I said. “But I wish he’d stayed. Hazel Marie, that crowd out there has grown by leaps and bounds, and now the Asheville television station has sent a van to put it on the news. And the more I think about it, the more it worries me. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about already. I’ll tell you this, I don’t want to see my house or my church, including that nightmare of a Family Life Center, on the news for everybody to stare at.”

“Well, my goodness,” Hazel Marie said, going to the kitchen window to look out. “Wonder which reporter they sent? I like Kenny Kane, wonder if it’s him?”

“I don’t care who it is. Don’t get carried away with television personalities, Hazel Marie. Now, listen,” I went on, “not only do we have a problem with Binkie and whether or not she’s going to be here tomorrow, we have a problem with Coleman. He’s decided he doesn’t want to risk being embarrassed if Binkie doesn’t show. He’s thinking of staying away himself.”

“Oh, no,” Hazel Marie cried, turning to me with a stricken
face. “He can’t do that! Oh, Miss Julia, they’re dropping away like flies!”

“I know, I know,” I said, my hand at my throat. “But
we
haven’t dropped away and we’re certainly not giving up. Now, Hazel Marie, first things first. We have to straighten out that problem outside. It’s turning into a public nuisance.

“I checked with Coleman a few minutes ago, and would you believe he’s on duty when his on-again, off-again wedding’s less than twenty-four hours away? Anyway, he said those people milling around out there are on some kind of religious vigil, which was news to me. Well,” I said after a pause, “I guess it’s news to everybody, or they wouldn’t be putting it on the air.”

Hazel Marie craned her neck trying to see out the side window. “I’d kinda like to go out there. I’ve never seen a television camera in action.”

“I’d recommend against it,” I said, reaching for my purse. “Little Lloyd’s upstairs, and I’m going over to Binkie’s again.”

She turned around, surprised. “Why, Miss Julia, it’s after ten o’clock! You can’t be going over there now.”

“I don’t see why not. Hazel Marie,” I said, pressing my hand against my forehead. “I have to talk to her again before Coleman gets over there. If he tells her he’s going to bow out, then there’ll be no hope at all. And I can’t just stand by and let that happen. According to Coleman, she’s still thinking about it, so if there’s anything I can do, I have to do it.”

“I guess so,” she said, “but I hope you have better luck than I did.” She reached for a sweater that was hanging behind the door. “Better take this; it’s gotten cool out there.”

I stopped. “When did you talk to her?”

“I called her after you said I could tell her better than anyone how hard it is to raise a child alone. She just said that our situations weren’t at all alike, since, with her job, she wouldn’t be without resources the way I was.”

I gasped at Binkie’s effrontery. “Finances aren’t the only consideration in raising a child, doesn’t she know that?”

“I tried to tell her, but you know, Miss Julia, I think Binkie thinks she can do anything she sets her mind on.”

“Yes, but she’s past due for a comeuppance. If it wasn’t for that unborn child, I’d just sit back and let her learn her lesson. But I can’t, so I’m going over there again.” I started for the door. “No telling when I’ll be back. Be sure and lock up before you go to bed.”

“I wish you wouldn’t go by yourself. Let me get Little Lloyd and we’ll go with you.”

“No,” I said, holding up my hand. “No, I can manage better by myself. I’m going to let Binkie have it in no uncertain terms, and neither you nor that child need to witness the knockdown, drag-out that it’ll probably turn into. She’s either going to marry her baby’s father tomorrow or . . . or, I don’t know what.”

Little Lloyd, in his pajamas and robe, pushed through the kitchen door. His wet hair was slicked down, except for the cowlick that had dried enough to spring up. “They’ve got a spotlight out there now!” he said, his eyes as round as his glasses. “And a whole bunch of people everywhere.”

“Well,” I said, walking out on the back stoop. “They’d better get out of my way. I’m heading out.”

But when I got to the side yard, I was brought up short by the mass of people on the sidewalk and the street. To say nothing of the television van that blocked my driveway as pretty as you please. The spotlight that Little Lloyd had mentioned was focused on the side of the Family Life Center, making me blink in the glare. The camera light swept across the crowd, and then centered on the blond reporter as she interviewed a member of the congregation, if that’s what it was.

“Hazel Marie!” I called. “I’m going to need some help getting out of here.”

When she walked out into the yard, Little Lloyd trailing along behind her, I pointed and said, “Would you look at that? The television van’s blocking the driveway! If that’s not the most inconsiderate thing I’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is. And illegal, too, if I’m not mistaken.”

Little Lloyd said, “I’ll go ask them to move it.” And off he went down the driveway in his pajamas, bedroom slippers and robe. Hazel Marie followed him halfway, while I stood by the car, fuming at the hindrance to my mission.

I saw the child go up to the cameraman and point toward the van. An action that brought no response, so Little Lloyd walked over to the one operating the spotlight. I could see the man shrug his shoulders and shake his head.

By that time, I’d joined Hazel Marie nearer the end of the driveway.

“They didn’t send Kenny,” Hazel Marie said with a twinge of disappointment. “It’s Tiffany Hill reporting. She’s all right, but I like him better.”

I couldn’t tell a nickel’s worth of difference, except for the obvious, between one announcer and another, so I didn’t express a preference.

As we watched and waited for the van to move, Little Lloyd came running back to us.

Catching his breath, he said, “They said they’d be through in a little while, but they can’t interrupt a live broadcast right now. They said you’ll have to wait.”

“Wait!” I demanded. “Who do they think they are, telling me to wait? Hazel Marie, where’d Mr. Pickens go? Can we get him back here? Go call the sheriff, Little Lloyd. I am not going to put up with such high-handed arrogance.”

“I was hoping J.D. might still be here,” Hazel Marie said, standing on her tiptoes. “He left in a hurry through the back gate, but I thought he might’ve stopped and investigated this. He’s so curious, you know.”

“Oh, my goodness.” I moaned. “I’ve got to get out of here before Coleman talks to Binkie. What’re we going to do, Hazel Marie? It might be that I could say just the right thing that would change Binkie’s mind, and here I am,
thwarted
from saying it!”

I began marching toward the center of the action, determined to have that van moved and moved immediately.

“Wait,” Hazel Marie said, plucking at my sleeve. “It’s television. You can’t just walk into a broadcast.”

“I most certainly can. There’s not a thing sacred about television.”

And I walked up to the cameraman and said, “You’ll have to move that van. It’s blocking my driveway.”

He didn’t even have the courtesy to look at me, just kept his eye pinned to his shoulder-held camera that was aimed at the talking blonde, who was lit up like she was on a stage. “Sorry, ma’am,” he said. “Can’t do it now, we’re taping.”

“Well, you can just
un
tape! This is an emergency, and I have to get my car out.”

The man who was operating the spotlight and managing the wires and cables came over. “Lady,” he said, “you’re going to have to stay out of the way. We’re taping some crowd and background shots, then we’ll do a live feed for the eleven o’clock news. We’ll move the van then.” He grasped my arm, almost lifting me off the ground, and walked me firmly away, all without a by-your-leave.

I was speechless with outrage. But before I could react, Hazel Marie was on him like a wildcat. “Get your hands off her! Don’t you dare push her around like that!” Then she pointed down at my asphalt driveway where we were all standing. “You are on private property, and in danger of imminent arrest!”

My word, Hazel Marie, I thought, you are certainly well-spoken.

The man stepped back onto the sidewalk, off private property. Then he said, “We can’t move the van until Tiffany gets through.” He cocked his head toward the blonde, who was smiling and talking into a microphone and pointing behind her at the crowd and at the brick wall of the Family Life building. And all the while never taking her eyes away from the camera that was focused on her like the star reporter she was.

“And when will that be?” Hazel Marie demanded, her hands clenched in fists by her sides.

“Tiffany doesn’t like to be cut short,” he said, not the least perturbed that we were for all intents and purposes prevented from leaving our own home. “It’s up to her and the director. Not you,” he said, pointing at me, then at Hazel Marie, “or you. We’ll film as long as it takes.”

“We’ll just see about that,” Hazel Marie said, turning on her heel and heading toward the house. I’d seen that look on her face a time or two before, and I knew it boded ill for whoever got in her way.

Just then, Little Lloyd came running from the house, slamming the screen door behind him. He dashed up to us, his bathrobe flapping around his knees. I’d been so taken up with the rudeness of those who work in television I’d not noticed that the child had been gone.

“Mama!” he said, gasping and almost out of breath. “Miss Julia! I called Coleman and he’s coming, and they’re sending some more squad cars, too.”

“Well, thank goodness,” I said. “That was quick thinking, Little Lloyd.” Then, seeing Hazel Marie stomping on toward the house, I called, “Hazel Marie, wait. Where’re you going?”

She didn’t answer, so the boy and I followed her, stopping halfway as we saw her squat down by the side of the house.

“What’s she doing?” Little Lloyd asked, peering into the shadows where his mother now stood with a coil of hose in her hands.