"I don't know, Mommy. It's certainly beautiful here."
"And look at what would be our rooms, and there are servants and no more money worries. She wants to take me shopping the day after tomorrow," Mammy continued excitedly. "She says I must have what she calls 'decent clothes' to wear because she does a great deal of socializing and I must be part of all that now. I must say, my head is whirling. Parties, dinners, dances, trips to Atlanta to the theater, and she will pay for everything. Such generosity."
"Did she indicate any more specifically what she expects from you, Mommy?" I asked
suspiciously.
Mommy shook her head.
"Just to be here, to help create a feeling of family, to help her cope. I suppose. It doesn't sound very difficult. She's looking for a companion, someone her own age, I think."
"Why would a woman with all this need to draft a companion, Mommy?"
"I don't know all the answers. Rose, but should we look a gift horse in the mouth?" she asked.
"I guess not."
"Did you get along with Evan?"
"He's a very sensitive and angry person," I said.
"Who needs someone like you," Mommy insisted. I could see Charlotte had done a wonderful sales job, not that she needed all that many different ways to persuade. The house, the grounds, all of it was enough for anyone to give up her life without a second thought.
"Maybe," I said cautiously.
"So shall we say yes, Rose?" Mommy asked me.
I took a deep breath. We were going to move again. Even Daddy's death didn't stop that now. Mammy looked so excited about it, so enthusiastic. How could I even think of putting up any obstacles at this terrible time in her life?
I nodded.
"Okay, Mammy," I said. "Let's move in."
She clapped her hands and then reached out to hug me.
Charlotte must have been watching us from inside that patio door because she was out just as we embraced.
"Does that mean yes?" she asked Mommy.
"It does." Mommy said.
Charlotte smiled.
"Welcome then, you two. My home is now yours as well." She turned to me and added, "Evan will be so pleased. Come upstairs, Monica. I must show you this new outfit I bought at Saks last week. I think we're almost the same size," she added,
"Her closet is like a department store. She has clothing with the tags still hanging off," Mammy whispered and then she leaped to her feet and started toward her. Just before she entered the house she looked back at me and beamed a smile as she raised her arms.
"We're due for a little luck," she called back to me and disappeared. I looked out over the grounds toward the shadows in the forest.
A little luck, yes, but is it good luck or bad? I wondered.
Time keeps all the secrets buried under weeks and days, hours and minutes, and we poor unfortunate souls have to pluck them away second by second, searching for our discoveries, our great moments of pleasure and happiness, and our great moments of terrible disappointments and sadness, I thought.
How soon would we know what secrets awaited us here? I felt confident there would be more than one.
Mommy was so eager to go home and start our packing, she was downstairs and ready to leave as soon as possible. Charlotte offered to hire people to help, but Mommy explained that we had so little of real value to bring with us, it wasn't necessary.
"We'll donate our pathetic furniture to the Salvation Army," she told Charlotte. "Not a piece of it would belong here anyway."