I’m at your house and you’re not here. Mrs. Cole next door said you left town.
Ella wasn’t sure what to make of Martha coming by her house. She wondered if this meant Dad and Elijah had changed their minds about letting her see Mom and Martha. Ella hated the hope that flourished, because she’d had that emotion snuffed out enough that she should know better.
I’m out of town for work.
Ella had learned early on to use the word “work” instead of “writing,” because the latter opened the door to Martha’s condemnation regarding Ella’s chosen genre—which she referred to as porn—and was always followed up with her sister’s classic parting shot of “I’ll pray for you.”
Oh. Found artichoke and jalapeño dip at Trader Joes. Know you love it. Thought I’d bring it by.
Ella was a big fan of the dip, which was frequently sold out, so she was touched by her sister’s kind gesture. Her hope grew bigger.
Thanks so much.
How long will you be gone?
Another week or so. Flying home July 3.
Martha’s reply came quickly.
That’s a long trip. Where are you?
Ella had purposely been vague in her first response to that question, though she wasn’t sure why. It didn’t matter if her family knew where she was. In fact, if Martha hadn’t stopped talking to her, she would have known about this trip prior to Ella leaving town.
Gracemont. Edith Millholland invited me to stay with her and speak to her book club.
Clearly that reply had taken Martha by surprise. Ella watched as the three dots appeared and disappeared several times. Enough time passed that she was just about to put her phone away when her sister’s reply came through.
Call when you get back.
She was tempted to call Martha now, simply because she was thrilled that her sister was reaching out, but she decided against it. This trip was all about taking a break from the shit at home, and while it seemed like Martha was extending an olive branch, there was also a very good chance she might pick up the fight begun by Dad six months ago…after learning about who got what in Gigi’s will.
Dad had expected Mom to inherit Gigi’s house, so when he discovered Gigi had skipped over her daughter and left the house to her granddaughter instead, the shit had royally hit the fan. Ella had zero interest in going ten more rounds on that topic, regardless of who she was sparring with.
In the end, she kept her response simple.
Ok
“Everything alright?” Edith asked, when Ella stashed her phone back in her purse.
“Just a text from my sister.”
Edith smiled. “You know, I’m still trying to imagine little Martha all grown up and the mother to three boys.”
Edith had asked about Ella’s family the first night she was in town. She’d given her wide brushstrokes in terms of how everyone was doing, leaving out a lot of the finer, more exhausting and painful details.
For example, Ella didn’t mention to Edith that the sex of Martha’s children had been another mark in her sister’s favor, as far as Elijah was concerned. Sadly, the man was determined to see the boys raised in his image, and so far, he was successful in that endeavor. The boys were entitled and spoiled and extremely disrespectful to women.
The first time she’d heard the oldest boy, Peter—who’d only been six at the time—telling Martha she was stupid and to shut up, Ella had called him to task for his rude behavior. Given the shocked expression on not only Peter’s face but Martha’s, it was obvious neither of them had viewed his comments or tone as wrong.
While Elijah considered Ella a bad influence, he had no problem with her babysitting whenever he and Martha needed a night out or took the occasional weekend away.
Since Ella didn’t see Elijah very often, it was fairly easy to ignore his existence. She’d lived with Gigi from the time she graduated from high school until six months ago, when her beloved grandmother passed away. The two of them playfully referred to themselves as the outcasts, neither overly upset atoccasionally being left out of various events because “they might embarrass the family in front of their friends.”
“Do you see the boys much?” Edith asked. “They’re fortunate to have such a cool aunt.”
Ella wasn’t the type to spill the family tea. She’d learned at a young age to play her cards close to her chest, her father drumming into her head that what happened in the home stayed in the home. As an adult, she’d come to understand that a lot of what her father had subjected her and Martha to was abuse, so it was no wonder he’d wanted her to remain silent.
One time, when she failed to remember to hold her tongue, telling Gigi about Dad taking the belt to her when she forgot to say her nighttime prayers, Ella inadvertently set off World War Three. A war that she lost, because it ended with Dad uprooting the family and moving them two thousand miles away from Gigi. Because apparently, like Ella with her nephews, Gigi was a bad influence on her granddaughters.