The Potluck Club—Takes the Cake (26 page)

That just tore it. Wasn’t it enough that my privacy had been exposed on national television with Mr. Hollywood himself and that I was being sued in the baby Long case? Now this?

If I could have stepped outside of myself to view this fiasco from a different perspective—like maybe as someone from Mars—I might have found it somewhat amusing. But there was my mother, the mother who had abandoned me to raise yet another daughter, singing me a song. I blinked then stared at my sister. She appeared to be a younger, kinder version of myself. This was not what I
needed.

If Vonnie hadn’t put her arm around me when she did, I think I would have sunk to the floor in a puddle of humiliation.

I pulled my eyes from the horrific vision before me and looked at Vonnie.

“My mother?” I mouthed again.

Vonnie leaned to whisper in my ear. “I’m afraid so, dear. I only realized moments ago that she was in town.”

Somewhere in the background, I could hear a voice crying above the strains of the Christmas song that seemed to hold the women of Grace Church captive.

The voice sounded like Vonnie’s mother. “Vonnie! Come get me now!”

Vonnie gave me one last squeeze. “Donna, I’ve got to get Mother out of the bathroom. But I don’t want to leave you like this.”

“Go,” I said, my focus on the apparition before me.

I’d known that old woman from the Gold Rush Tavern was up to something, but I’d never have guessed this. How dare she make a mockery of how she’d rejected me and my dad, all to music, no less?

The last strains of the song faded, yet the women in the room sat as if they were held in a trance. That is, all except Evie, who was craning her neck at me as if she was afraid she’d lost her mind and I knew where she’d put it.

Dee Dee, or I guess I should say, my mother—or at least the woman who had given birth to me—spoke into the microphone again, her eyes still holding me prisoner. “Donna, I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re here so I can tell you how sorry I am. Could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me? To let me be your mother again?”

Suddenly, the women of the room shifted and turned, all eyes on me, waiting for my response.

They wouldn’t get one.

I slowly turned and walked back toward the outside doors, my steps echoing across the foyer.

“Donna?” Dee Dee called out after me.

I didn’t turn around. After all, what did she expect? For me to run to her as if in a slow-motion moment of ecstasy, butterflies fluttering as I leap through flowering gardens while violins crescendo in joy?
Oh, Mother dear, thanks for coming home after thirty years of
abandonment. Wanna bake cookies?

I snorted. That kind of reconciliation would never happen. Not here, not now, not ever.

I pushed open the double doors and felt the stinging cold slap me in the face. I swatted at a stray tear, disgusted by my emotional response. I wanted to feel nothing. But instead, my stomach flipped as the stars overhead blinked out of focus. I reached for my keys from my pocket. Was my hand shaking?

Vonnie’s Taurus turned into the parking lot and pulled up next to me. David Harris powered down his window.

“Is the party over already?”

When I didn’t respond, he stared at me. “You’re certainly a quick change artist,” he said. “Weren’t you just wearing red?”

I stopped dead in my tracks. He’d thought my sister, what was her name—Velvet?—was me. Actually, that explained a lot of the strange comments I’d gotten in the past few weeks. I stared through David and kept walking. He parked, then popped out of the car. “Donna? Is everything okay?”

I shook my head. “Later,” I said before climbing into my Bronco. He walked in my direction. In response, I turned on the motor and prepared to steer out of the parking lot.

The lights of a Jeep sliced through the darkness.

Clay. Had he been inside to witness yet another humiliation? Sure he had. He’d probably even recorded the whole thing with his trusty camera. Hey, with my luck, this could make front page news in the morning. “Deputy Publicly Spurns Apology from Mother.” Maybe even
Hollywood Nightly
would pick it up.

Hey, maybe Baby Bailey Ann’s mother would even see it and add it to her “Why I should sue Donna’s pants off ” file.

Perfect.

I pulled out of the parking lot, as did Clay’s Jeep. I guess he had to hurry back to the paper if he was going to make tomorrow’s edition with his scoop.

Me? I’d drown my sorrows in a cup of joe at Sally’s. It should be quiet there.

Moments later, I pushed through the jangling door and sat down at my usual table. I signaled Sally for a cup then slid into a chair,
not bothering to look up when the door jangled again.

“Donna? Are you okay?” Clay dropped into a chair across from me.

“Nope.”

“You mean you didn’t know Dee Dee was your mother?”

“No!” I blurted. “Did you?”

“Well, I’d hoped your dad or Miss Evie would have told you
by now.”

I felt my jaw set. “So, the three of you were just going to keep this a secret? Or were you all in on the great revelation tonight?”

Clay reached for my hand. “I swear, Donna, I didn’t know about that. I don’t think anyone did.”

“Well, I for one can’t wait to see it in the paper.”

“I wouldn’t!”

“Your publisher’s wife was there. I saw her sitting near the back. I’d wager this will make the paper whether you write it up or not. Don’t you think?”

Clay blanched. “Um, I don’t know. I’ll see what I can do.”

“You’ve certainly done a lot, Clay. You leaked the story about David Harris to the national media, and now you’re going to paint me as the bitter woman I’m fast becoming.”

“Bitter? No, Donna, that’s not how I see you.”

I stared at his hand over mine, then looked him in the eye. “Aren’t you afraid your girlfriend is going to see us together?”

“I... uh...” He stood up. “I gotta go. I’m going to call my publisher to see what I can do about the story I have to file tonight.”

“You do that, Clay.”

He leaned over and hugged me. “Donna, you know I care about you. I’ll see what I can do to make this all go away. Who knows? Maybe I can turn this around to paint you in a positive light.”

He turned to leave, but I called out to him. “Clay, I appreciate you trying, anyway. With the depositions starting, tonight’s little show is the last thing I need. As it stands now, the judge and jury are going to see me as a high profile fiancée of a Hollywood prince and a spoiled woman who hates her mother. You just can’t get better publicity than that, at least not when you’re being sued in the death of a baby.”

Clay seemed to shrink into his jacket. “So, it’s official, you and Harris are engaged?”

I stared at him before I answered, “I’m just quoting
Hollywood
Nightly
, so it must be true, right?”

Sally arrived with my coffee just as Clay nodded his good-bye
then stepped into the evening.

Sally scurried back behind the counter, and I sat there watching the steam rise from my cup. I was alone, truly alone. My best pal Clay had a girlfriend, and my entire family had in one way or another betrayed me. Sure, there were a couple of other guys I could count as wannabe boyfriends, but who was I fooling? No one was going to want me, not now anyway. If they didn’t realize it already, they soon would. I was nothing but a reject, rejected by my own mother, by Clay, and soon, the world.

I closed my eyes.
God, even if I could believe in you, I could never
trust you. Life’s been nothing but one big joke, and the joke’s on me. I
hope you’re amused.

I looked up as Larry stepped out of the kitchen and made a beeline for me. He looked like a man who was gloating over a terrible secret. Word must travel fast. The tea hadn’t even broken up yet, and here came my first so-called friend to rub in my humiliation.
I took a long sip of my coffee and averted my eyes.

“Why, what a pleasure to have you drop in to see me,” Larry said.

I groused over my hot coffee. “Yeah. You’re the big attraction, all right.”

He rumbled a purr like a sexy kitten and winked as he handed me a plate. “I love a girl in uniform, and I want you to be the first to try my new recipe for fudge bars, on the house.”

I stood up. “Larry, what’s wrong with you?”

He set the platter on the table. “Well, I’m on break. I thought we’d have a little moment to ourselves, just you and me.”

“Yeah, sure. You, me, and a nasty little migraine.” I averted my eyes and hunkered back over my coffee in an effort to end this weird conversation.

Larry looked confused. “Why, Donna, you’ve been waving and
winking at me all week, ever since our national TV debut.”

I felt my face burn as I slapped my payment down on the table and stood up. “I have not been flirting with you, and after your TV stunt, well, you’re lucky to be alive.” I let my hand rest on my holster. “Understand?”

Larry stepped back and watched as I slammed through the front door and stalked back to my truck, shivering at the thought of Larry
and me as a couple. “Ewww!”

Then it hit me.
Velvet. He’d mistaken my sister for me. That’s probably
what happened that night when I thought he’d seen me in my pj’s.

It all made sense. I hesitated before I swung open my door. This was a disaster.

As I slid into the seat, my cell rang. I picked it up without looking at my caller ID.

“Donna, thank God I’ve reached you.”

I could hear Lisa Leann auctioning off a basket of books and scented soaps and candles in the background. “Going, going, gone!” she whooped.

“Evangeline? Is that you? You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

“I do. The auction has just started, and I’m making my way to the parking lot. Can you meet me back over here? I want to talk
to you.”

I pulled my Bronco onto the street. “This ought to be good,” I said, heading back to the church.

Evie was standing at the door of the activities center when I arrived; she hurried to my truck and slipped in. She reached out to hug me. “Oh Donna!” she cried. “Oh, I’m so horribly embarrassed about this, for you, for all of us.”

I accepted her quick hug but didn’t return it. I pulled back to watch her dab her eyes with a soggy tissue.

Was she hoping I’d forgive her for this? I folded my arms. “I’ve got a few questions. For starters, you knew? You knew that Dee Dee was my mother and you didn’t tell me? Plus, you gave her the microphone at your tea? Why would you do that?”

I looked out my side window and waited for an answer.

Evie’s voice sounded tired. “I deserve that, Donna, I know I do. But you’ve got to believe me when I tell you I didn’t know that Dee Dee and Velvet were coming tonight, and I certainly didn’t know that they had arranged with the choir director and Lisa Leann to sing. It was an innocent mistake, I assure you. No one meant to hurt you. You’ve got to believe that.”

I turned and looked at her. “But why didn’t you tell me who Dee Dee was?”

“Your father wanted to do it.”

I stared back out the window. “How long has he known?”

“A while now. But with all you’ve gone through of late, he didn’t have the heart to tell you. Then, when he discovered what kind of person your mother had become...”

I felt myself stiffen. “Okay, I get the picture. But it would have been nice if one of you had told me. Can you imagine how I felt to be surprised like that?”

I looked back at Evie who was staring at the back of her hands, her head down. “I saw it on your face. Oh Donna! I’m so, so sorry.”

Was she genuinely repentant? I narrowed my eyes.

Evie looked up at me. “Don’t you see what she was doing?”

“What’s that?”

“Both your father and I had told her to leave you alone. She laughed at us. So, she’s taken her revenge out on you and us, trying to create a scandal such a short time before the wedding.” Evie dabbed the tissue at her eyes again. “How could she?”

“Ah, so this turns out to be all about you and your many
grudges.”

“Donna, no. Why would you say a thing like that to me?”

“Simply an observation.”

“Donna, we’ll talk about it later, when you’re not so upset. Why don’t we meet over at your father’s house? Let him know what happened.” She pushed the door open and slid out. “I’ll meet you over there, okay?”

I looked at her bundled in her beige wool coat, her mascara smudged at the corners of her eyes. Since when did she start wearing
makeup?

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I’m on duty, you know.”

“Okay, but before we meet at Lisa Leann’s shop next week for my shower and fitting for the bridesmaids’ gowns, okay?”

I nodded.

The door of the church opened, and Dee Dee and Velvet scurried out, with Velvet lugging her guitar, which she slid into the backseat
of a red, older-model Toyota.

Evie called out to the women. “Doreen, Velvet, may I have a word with you?”

I called after her. “Evie, just walk away.”

Evie turned and flashed her eyes in my direction. “This is for our honor, our family.”

“As an officer of the peace, Evie, I’m telling you this is not the time.”

Evie ignored me and made her approach. My two blood relatives looked up as if ready for battle. “What do you want, Evangeline?” Dee Dee hissed between clenched teeth.

Uh-oh. Looks like I could have a catfight on my hands.
Quietly, I slipped out of the Bronco and walked toward my so-called family. As I was still on duty, I tried to act official.

“Ladies, is there a problem?” I asked.

Velvet turned and looked at me. “Why, if it isn’t Miss High and Mighty herself.”

I folded my arms. “Pardon me, but I don’t even know you.”

“Well, I know you,” Velvet charged. “You’re all the men in this town ever talk about.”

I sighed slowly but deeply. Was this sister-intruder jealous of me? I tried not to smirk.

Suddenly, Dee Dee McGurk turned on me, full of rage. “Your father certainly did a poor job of raising you, I’d say.”