It took her a second to understand, and then she quickly put the woman’s mind at ease. “Of course. We’re all fine. I just wanted to stop by and say hi.”
The way the woman looked at her made Laura wonder, was the friendly gesture such a shock?
She went around to the passenger side and grabbed the bouquet of flowers she’d brought. There wasn’t a florist around for miles, so the daisy-carnation mix from the Raley’s in Silver City would have to do. “You and Pearl were so sweet, and I was such a crazy woman when I came to see you at the hall.”
Pearl appeared behind her sister. “Is that Edith?” She adjusted her glasses.
“Laura Bailey’s come to pay us a visit.” Ruby gave her sister a weighty look.
She kept the smile pasted on her face. This was getting ridiculous. Really, it couldn’t have been so very shocking to see her pay a friendly visit, could it?
“Flowers?” Pearl stepped forward, and the screen door slammed behind her.
“For us?” asked Ruby.
“Of course. I wanted to thank you for helping me with the building stuff.”
“Oh, dear,” Pearl exclaimed.
Ruby looked too nervous to accept. “But you shouldn’t have.”
“Well, I did.” When neither sister took the flowers, Laura simply walked inside and brought them to the kitchen to snip the stems and put them in water.
Sunlight shone through the curtains, and though the yellow gingham was faded with age, it was no less cheery. She let go a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “It’s good to be here.”
“You’re just in time,” Pearl told her as she led them into the sunroom.
“Just in time,” Ruby repeated. “We were sitting down to tea.” She pointed to the side table, which bore a plate of sweets and a teapot that probably contained the same Lipton they’d been serving since she was a kid. “Pearl even made a plate of fancies.”
“You made these?” She studied the homemade petit fours, momentarily tempted. There were several of them, each a tiny little cake with a hard frosting shell in pale pink or white. They were a bit lumpy and uneven but looked yummy nonetheless.
“Pearl did.”
“How?” She took one for her plate to be polite, choosing a white one with an uneven pink bow.
“It’s a simple pound cake,” Pearl said proudly.
Ruby beamed. “But it looks like more, doesn’t it?”
“I used to use almond cake.”
“But the taste was too much.”
“Almonds are a flavor best reserved for liqueur,” Pearl finished, and the ladies tittered.
It was the Kidd sisters in a new light. She made a note to bring a bottle of Amaretto instead of flowers next time.
As Ruby poured their tea, Pearl leaned forward and put her hand on Laura’s knee. “You tell us. That old Wexler ranch still giving you trouble?”
She plucked a few packets of Sweet’N Low from a decorative dish. “How’d you guess?”
“Your brows.” Ruby offered her the cup. “You keep frowning like that and you’ll get wrinkles.”
“You’ve got to mind the elevens,” Pearl said, rubbing between her eyebrows to explain. She turned to her sister. “Remember how Emerald used to use those things at night?”
“Frownies,” Ruby exclaimed. “Our Laura could use some Frownies.”
Pearl nodded. “Look into it, dear.”
“I will.” She consciously tried to smooth her brow and relax as she blew on her tea.
“You need another.” Pearl plucked a pink petit four and put it on Laura’s plate. “Nothing like a little sugar to soothe the soul.”
“Try it,” Ruby urged. “You’ve got to have fancies for your tea.”
“I’ve asked it once, I’ve asked a thousand times, how do you women not weigh a thousand pounds?” She let herself take the tiniest nibble and for a moment was transported to another place, one that was sweet and innocent, that allowed time for cakes and tea. Her next breath was deeper, her shoulders easing just a bit. “Oh, that is good.”
They were light and sweet and airy, and she wanted more. A lot like Eddie’s smiles.
She scrunched her face against the sudden and treasonous thought.
The sisters nodded as though witnessing some essential truth coming to light. “You see?”
“Now tell us what’s wrong.”
“Is our Eddie still giving you trouble?”
“What’s that boy done now?”
She decided another bite wouldn’t hurt. “It’s what he hasn’t done,” she said, swallowing. “Namely, he hasn’t told those Fairview people where they can…” She stopped herself, hearing Sorrow’s warning in her head. Language. “Where they can build their ridiculous resort instead of Sierra Falls.”
The women hmm’ed thoughtfully. Ruby dunked a corner of her petit four into her teacup and took a delicate bite. “Did you check the work permits like we said?”
“And have him remeasure the property?” chimed Pearl.
“I’ve got it.” Ruby snapped her fingers. “Conservancy land.”
“You’re right,” Pearl said with widened eyes. “That property backs up onto conservancy land, I’ll bet.”
But Laura didn’t get excited. “Nope, I looked into that. I looked into all of it. There’s no stopping them.”
“But I heard television people were coming out,” Ruby said. “That’s something.”
“That’s what he says. But it’s not enough.”
“Maybe you’re not looking at the big picture.”
“Now you sound like him.” Eddie, Eddie, Eddie…she heard his voice everywhere.
She’d gone in there having sworn to avoid their sweets but decided this particular topic called for another. Besides, chewing gave her extra time to think.
The sisters exchanged a look that wasn’t lost on Laura.
She swallowed. “What?”
“Well…” Pearl began, and Ruby finished, “Why don’t you tell us what our nephew said.”
“He told me I don’t see things how they really are. Can you believe it?” She took another petit four and popped the whole thing in her mouth.
“Maybe he has a point, dear,” Pearl said kindly.
What? Sudden emotion clutched her throat, and she had to swallow twice to get the little cake down. “I know how things really are.”
The sisters nodded knowingly. Ruby said, “There was a day when I thought so, too.”
“Both of us,” added Pearl.
“We were real firecrackers.”
“Knew better than anyone.”
Ruby clucked. “How to do things. How not to do things.”
“Not Emmy, though.”
They sighed in unison, remembering their sister, who’d recently passed. “Emerald was never afraid to be soft,” Ruby said. “To be…what’s the word?”
“Vulnerable,” Pearl said.
Ruby nodded. “Vulnerable. Emerald let herself need people. And look. Of the three of us, she’s the only one who found love.”
Laura refused to accept that she was destined to live a loveless life. “Yeah, but then Emerald was alone.”
“That’s a different story,” Pearl said. “She knew love, though. Once.”
“And what we wouldn’t give to say the same.”
Pearl reached out and took her sister’s trembling hand. “To have a child like she had. Emerald had Marlene. Had four strapping grandsons.”
She focused on her tea. “I’m not interested in men right now.”
“If you’re not careful, you’ll wake up one day and find that you’re eighty years old.”
“Trust us,” Pearl said. “It happens.”
“I just can’t seem to…balance it all.”
“Oh dear.” Ruby spotted it instantly.
She blinked hard. She never cried in public, and now she’d been caught twice in one week. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what my problem is.”
“There, there.” Pearl leaned over to pat her knee. “The problem is, you’re too much like that petit four.”
A disbelieving laugh burst from her. “What?”
Cute pink teacakes with bows pretty much summed up everything she wasn’t. She was strong and in control of her destiny…not fluffy and crumbly.
“It’s true,” Ruby insisted. “Hard and pretty on the outside, but soft on the inside.”
“Surprisingly sweet, too,” Pearl added with a smile.
“I don’t know about that.” She felt the tears burn and blinked hard to stop them. Dammit.
“You work so hard,” Ruby said.
Pearl interjected, “But you have to take care not to become hard.”
“I have to act hard to do what I do.” She’d let herself go soft before, and it’d only brought hurt.
Ruby handed her a clean but rumpled handkerchief. “Don’t let our boy make you cry.”
“Eddie? Eddie is not making me cry.”
Pearl gave a decisive nod and turned to her sister. “Sparks.”
Ruby hummed. “Definitely sparks.”
“Sparks?” Laura’s voice came out a sharp squeak. She blotted her eyes, the tears gone as fast as they’d come. “Please tell me you’re referring to the ranch’s electrical system.”
“You silly goose,” Ruby said. “Sparks between you two kids.”
When he’d touched her, there sure had been sparks. Forget poison oak, the way his strong hands had moved surely along her thighs, she’d have overlooked a case of leprosy. She blushed, remembering it.
“See!” Pearl exclaimed. “I told you.”
“You did. Sister, you always see.”