* * *

Barb Holland’s life of indulgence was coming to an end.

Men from the club who had played golf with Niles were already speculating among themselves about what caused him to drive so recklessly. She knew this because Retta Durrett, one of her friends from the club, had come calling this evening and felt it her job to inform Barb that Niles was becoming a topic of gossip among their circle.

The comment struck Barb to the core, especially after seeing the glitter of satisfaction in Retta’s eyes when she’d said it.

Barb lifted her chin, her own eyes brimming with tears, and fired back.

“So, Retta, you said people are gossiping about my husband. Do you mean the same kind of gossip that you felt the need to share with me just now?”

Retta Durrett’s face turned red. “Now, Barb, I didn’t—”

Barb interrupted. “Yes, you did. So just hush your mouth, because you’ve said enough already. Surely you don’t expect me to throw my hands up in dismay, as if I didn’t already know my own husband’s strengths and weaknesses. However, since he just died in the wreck he caused, I hardly see the need for you to speak of this at all—unless, of course, your intention was to hurt me?”

“No way, Barb, I only wanted to warn—”

“Consider me warned. Now I suggest you take your Spanx-bound ass out of my house. I’m glad I’ve already made the decision to move back home to Dallas after the funeral. I don’t need my husband’s name to belong to country clubs anywhere there. I am a Texan by birth and a direct descendant of Stephen A. Austin and Sam Houston. We come from two of the first families in Texas, and I am already accepted and valued. See yourself out. I’m busy,” Barb said, then turned her back on Retta, leaving the woman with no option but to leave.

Barb waited until she heard the door open and close, and then the sound of Retta’s car as she drove away, before she lost it. The conversation had been crushing, and Barb was still in a funk hours later. The later it became, the more her phone continued to ring. She let the calls all go to voicemail and took herself off to bed.

Chapter 4

Melissa ached in every muscle and was becoming stiffer by the hour. Hope had arrived as promised, and Ruby went home. At that point, Hope began moving Melissa’s things to the downstairs bed and bathroom, per doctor’s orders, then began to care for her as if she’d never left the hospital.

As soon as Melissa was comfortable in bed, Hope called her sister, Mercy, and asked her to bring food from Granny’s by the house before she went home.

An hour or so later, Mercy was at the door.

“You are a lifesaver,” Hope said as she took the big sack of food Mercy gave her.

“It was no problem. And just so Melissa knows, your supper is on Lovey,” Mercy said.