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She shoved her shoulder-length hair behind her ear and then just as quickly loosened it when her mother’s voice sounded in her head telling her it would deform her ears and she’d have to have them surgically pinned or else look like Dumbo.
Amazing what years of fussing could do to a grown woman, no matter her age.
Cheryl Dummit was all about appearances, though, and Hadley couldn’t remember a time when her mother hadn’t been put together like a perfectly dressed Barbie and expected Hadley be the same.Even a trip to the beach was expected to be made in full makeup, some kind of flowing coverup that perfectly matched her suit, wedges, floppy hat, and jewelry.All part of portraying the perfect image of a Babe on the beach.
Haddie took another breath and forced herself to climb the remaining steps, heart in her throat as she yanked open the door and forced her foot across the threshold before she could change her mind.
She’d gotten a stress headache on the drive to the coast, and the cloying smell of the many flower arrangements threatened to turn the painful throbbing into a full-blown migraine.
A waiter passed with a tray of champagne, and since she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, she hastily accepted the offer and turned to face the wall while she gulped it down, all in an attempt to brace herself for the moment her mother and the rest of the Babes realized she’d come alone.
Oh, the horror.
Hadley set the now empty flute aside and lingered in the shadowy corner, taking in the many mourners gathered.Only Nan would or could get by with throwing a party in the very conservative funeral parlor.
But then, Nan and her friends, then the Babes, had pretty much always gotten away with whatever they wanted.
The ladies believed there wasn’t much that couldn’t be accomplished with a bright smile, a few compliments, and some well-practiced feminine wiles.And if that didn’t work, throwing some money at the problem usually did the trick—though was rarely necessary.
One wouldn’t think Carolina Cove fancy enough for such an elite group—it wasn’t Wrightsville Beach after all—but the families’ longevity and reputations carried a lot of clout on the little island.More so when all five of the Babes wed into well-to-do families and thereby increased the status quo up until the last twenty years or so, when tourists began buying up all of the island real estate and muddying the waters, so to speak.
The original boardwalk homes were now owned by the Babes, with Hadley’s generation scattered about, away from the Babes’ nosy reach.To spy on their kids, the Babes had to really do some digging more often than not.
Yes, this generation left the Babes shaking their motherly heads.Because of their eleven offspring, onlythreehad married so far, much to their complete disgruntlement, disbelief, and matchmaking efforts.
But out of sight didn’t equate to out of mind, and the Babes made a point of nosing into their children’s lives as often as humanly possible, distance notwithstanding.
Hadley spotted yet another waiter, this one carrying a cheese tray.She really ought to eat something to absorb the bubbly she’d just chugged, but her nerves wouldn’t allow it.
Ever since the phone call informing her of Nan’s death, Hadley had run the gamut of emotions due to the required trip back to Carolina Cove and the grief that continuously sucked the air from her lungs at random moments.
Maybe she should’ve made an excuse?Claimed sickness?
I’m sorry, Nan.You know it’s not you.My life won’t be the same without you.
Hadley spotted the guestbook and slowly moved that way.Pen in hand, she paused.Lah, why did everything about this have to be so difficult?
Pen poised over the paper, she finally signed her name.
Her name, no one else’s.
“Haddie?Is that you?”
The feminine voice belonged to Mary Elizabeth—Allie, Sophia, and Isabel’s mother.
Allie was the only other Babe offspring who had married, and Hadley wondered how things were going with them.The last time she’d seen Allie, the poor girl looked stressed, but then, what mother didn’t?
Smile pinned to her lips, Hadley turned and faced the striking woman.Mary Elizabeth wore black slacks that showcased her slim figure, kitten heels, and a long-sleeved sweater set that mocked the eighty-seven-degree temperature outside.“MeMe, how are you?”
“Oh, honey, how areyou?I’m so sorry about your nan.Your mama will be thrilled to see you.She’s just heartbroken.”
“I’m sure.”Nan’s relationship with her daughter had been as rocky as Hadley’s with her mother, proving generational dysfunction was really a thing.What was it with mothers and daughters?Why did they always butt heads?
Hadley’s relationship with her own daughter oftentimes proved difficult, more so than with Hadley and her son.
“Where’s that handsome husband of yours?Already at the bar?And where are the kids?”Mary Elizabeth asked, looking all around.
The questions brought Hadley back to awareness, and even though she wanted to laugh at the idea of a bar at a funeral, she inhaled and braced herself for the first of many explanations.“The kids started college a few days ago and are over their heads with that, and…Kyle… He… He’s the guest lecturer at a surgical convention,” she said.
