“The curse.” Miss Shaw’s lips tightened.
Mrs. Rojas pulled her hand back, made the sign of the cross, then lifted and kissed the crucifix necklace that hung around her neck.
“What curse?” I asked.
“The Comfort Curse,” the trio chorused.
Comfort?As in Jimmy and Cheyenne Comfort?
“A few generations back, Lucille Abernathy was betrothed to a longshoreman named Phillip Comfort,” Mrs. Rojas began. “He was beneath her station, but she was madly in love and chose him over her family, giving up her wealth and inheritance. So her family disowned her.”
“And that was just the beginning of Lucille’s heartaches,” Mrs. Birch cut in. “After she was shunned, Phillip Comfort called off their union and married a maid that worked for the Abernathys. Lucille went back to her family, tail between her legs, but they weren’t having it. They turned her away.”
Damn. Apparently I’m not the only one with a controlling parent!
“The next day,” Mrs. Rojas took the story back over, leaning across the table. “The family woke to discover a window broken in the parlor. Upon further investigation, Lucille’s lifeless body was discovered in her childhood bed.”
Mrs. Birch tagged in. “She left a note explaining that she’d poisoned herself, but not before putting a curse on Phillip Comfort and all of his male heirs. It doomed them to a lifetime of the same heartache that she had faced. Her curse damned each of them to fall madly in love, only to have it end in tragedy. Either they, or their one true love, would be destined to die young.”
“That’s the Comfort Curse.” Mrs. Rojas made the sign of the cross and kissed her necklace once more. “Caroline’s dear Henry Comfort died in a plane crash a month before they were set to get married.”
“I’m so sorry.” I felt horrible that that had happened to her, of course, but I couldn’t help but wonder if people actually believed it was a result of a curse.
“That Jimmy sure is the spittin’ image of your Henry, Caroline.” Mrs. Birch took a sip of the drink in front of her.
Jimmy.That man just kept popping up. I blushed. That phrasing put a very X-rated picture in my mind: when he’d popped out of his shorts.
“Are we talking about Jimmy Comfort?” Mrs. B brought out a plate of pigs in a blanket and set it down in the center of the table.
“We are,” Mrs. Birch confirmed.
“That boy has heartbreaker written all over him, but I love him to pieces.” Miss Shaw was clearly fond of Jimmy and I didn’t think it necessarily had to do with his resemblance to her late fiancé.
“Do you think he’ll ever settle down, or do you think the curse will keep him from committing?” Mrs. Rojas pulled the mahjong case out from her oversized tote.
“I don’t think it’s the curse that’s keepin’ him single. I just think that boy is spoilt for choice.” Miss Shaw started dispersing the tiles.
“Why eat the same steak every night when you have a free ticket to the buffet?” Mrs. B grinned as she examined the tiles in front of her.
All the women chuckled before getting down to business.
As I sat and watched them laughing, playing, drinking, eating, I wondered if I would ever make it to be their age. And if I did, would I have the friendships that they had? I was already behind the eight ball on that one. They’d all known one another since primary school.
I also couldn’t help thinking about Jimmy and his free ticket to the proverbial buffet. It made me a little bit sad thinking of him never settling down with someone. I didn’t know why. He was obviously living the dream. But for some reason, thinking of him still a bachelor his entire life, just hooking up with random women…it sounded lonely.
I hated thinking of him that way. Almost as much as I hated thinking of him at the buffet, sampling all the other women.