"Oh," Mammy said, looking to me to see if I knew any more. I shook my head slightly, "Well, how can I help you?" Mammy asked.
"I have come here to tell you exactly how you can help me. Mrs. Wallace," Charlotte Alden Curtis said. "May we sit and talk someplace? I am not accustomed to holding court in a hallway."
Mammy just stared at her a moment and then snapped her head to the right, realizing the woman was waiting for a reply.
"Oh, yes, of course. Right this way," Mammy said, leading her to our living room. She nodded at the sofa where I had left a magazine and I hurried ahead to get it and pick up the glass of lemonade I had left an the center table. "Please," Mammy said nodding at the chair across from the sofa.
Charlotte Alden Curtis considered it as if she might turn dawn the suggestion and then sat slowly, leaning back and looking up at us. I realized we were both gaping. Mommy nudged me and we both sat on the settee.
"What is this about?" Mommy quickly inquired.
"Your husband," Charlotte replied with gunshot speed.
"My husband? Oh." Mommy's body relaxed in a slight slump. "Does he owe you money?"
Charlotte Alden Curtis lifted her eyebrows and pressed her shapely lips together so firmly, her otherwise narrow cheeks bubbled.
"I am hardly a bill collector," she said. "Are you accustomed to bill collectors in designer clothes?"
"'Well, who are you? What do you want?" Mommy demanded somewhat more firmly.
"I am Angelica Alden's older sister, and what I want is justice, not money," she answered, "It has taken me some time to locate y'all. Your husband moved you people so often, apparently. Of course. I understand why.
"My nephew Evan is something of a computer wiz these days. The computer is actually a godsend when it comes to Evan. He's confined to a wheelchair as a result of a spinal deformity that affected his legs. It was Evan who finally tracked y'all after I pleaded with him to do so. He never wanted to find your husband. I'm sure he could have done it way before this," she added. She paused and looked around the living room with the same expression of utter contempt.
"I understand he's
dead," she added.
"My husband passed away recently, yes," Mammy said. "Why did you want to locate him if it has nothing to do with money?"
"Passed away," Charlotte muttered instead of answering. "He passed away some time ago, as far as I am concerned."
"What is it you want. Miss-- or is it Mrs. Curtis?" Mammy asked, her voice now ringing with annoyance as well as impatience.
"It's Mrs. Curtis. I am a widow. I lost my husband ten years ago. Congestive heart failure. He was pounds and pounds overweight, a heavy smoker and drinker, and stubborn as the proverbial mule. He had other self-destructive habits as well, but I won't get into that now.
"Suffice it to say he left me well-to-do, wealthy enough to care for my wayward sister and her child all these years. My sister and I raised her boy. You can just imagine what a burden that has been. It's hard enough to raise teenagers these days," she said, looking at me, "much less a teenager with special needs."
Mammy said nothing. She and I just stared and waited.
"A little over a year ago, my sister Angelica passed away, too. She was in a brutal car accident, a head-on collision caused by a drunken redneck who still walks the earth and. I am sure, still overindulges himself in every way possible. One of those nephews of a judge with some influence. You know how those things can be," she added.
"Her death had a very heavy impact on Evan, of course, but an even heavier one on me."
Mommy nodded in sympathy, but still waited tensely to understand the point of this visit.
"Well, what exactly can we do for you, Mrs. Curtis? At the moment we can barely do enough for ourselves." Mommy said.
"I know just how tale that is. What I would like, what I'm proposing, is that you and your daughter come live with me and help me take care of Evan," Charlotte Alden Curtis finally said.
Mommy smiled with confusion. "Pardon me?"
"I can't bear the burden any longer and I shouldn't have to bear it alone," Charlotte continued. "It's aging me faster than I would like, to say the least."
"I'm sorry for you, Mrs. Curtis. However...'"
"I know you're in financial turmoil. Mrs. Wallace. Once I learned where y'all had gone this time. I had my attorneys make inquiries. You can't keep up the rent even for a house like this," she added. looking about our home as if it was nothing more than a tent.