Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sarah
A BUG LANDED on her daughter’s shoulder, and Helena screamed for dear life.
“Mom! C’mon!” Sarah yelled as she stood in front of the little gazebo at church. The white gazebo had pieces of chipped paint falling off, but purple and white flowers surrounded the area like strokes of paint from an artist’s masterpiece. The air was alive with fresh flavor, and the sky was a pearly shade of blue, so that it seemed to be unreal.
A swarm of young kids, mostly around fifteen, were dressed in formalwear to the nines, as this was their first big dance. For nineteen-year-old Sarah, it was also her first formal dance—at least not on a college campus—and she stood in an awkward throng of Joey and his friends.
Her mother continued to fiddle with her dress and hair, along with spotless makeup that somehow seemed lacking to Helena. Joey stood by, smiling and winking at some of his other friends, because even though he didn’t attend the Baptist church, he’d gotten the prettiest girl in Georgia to come with him. Nearby, Zach and his date stood, Eliana a good foot taller than him.
Eventually, Helena gave up with her daughter and moved on to prepping Zach, who cried out in embarrassment when she started to fiddle with his inherited cowlick. Sarah smoothed out her dress, a sparkly midnight blue thing that spanned to the floor. It looked like the dress Kate Middleton wore to be married, except in a dark ombré. It was modest and gorgeous at the same time, and had taken nearly four hours to find in the depths of Savannah’s most expensive chichi shops.
After placing the long gown over her shoulders, Sarah endured twenty minutes of perfecting her curled hair, along with another thirty minutes for dramatic makeup. Helena was hell-bent on offering her angel as a beautiful, single woman to whom Tom Boomington could make his advances.
As soon as she arrived on church property, Sarah was hounded by women and men alike, complimenting her outfit and how beautiful she was. These were people she’d known forever, and a lot were over the hill. Mother Elsie was roaming around the kids, complimenting, and nearby, Mrs. Trantridge held a camera, snapping awful photos with a cheap camera from a grocery store. A teenage girl who was known in the local area for her stellar photography had set up a place under bougainvillea for portraits, and Joey tugged on Sarah to follow him there.
During Helena’s distraction, Sarah and Joey walked to the line, where her little date looked up at her in appreciation. “I don’t know if this is the most socially appropriate thing I’ve ever done,” Joey said, snarky, “but I know this is going to be a memory impossible to forget.”
The photographer acted like nothing was amiss as she captured their photos. Nervous, Sarah wondered if Joel and Chloe were actually going to show up for the festivities. Joey pulled Sarah close to him, and her eyes widened in confusion. Eventually, the two were apprehended by a gaggle of mothers, including Joey’s mom Kris Raspoli, who pulled Sarah into a hug, acting as if they were long-lost sisters. “What courage you have to take my Joey to this dance!”
Sarah smiled and took the following compliments in stride until she looked down at her date. He grimaced. She turned around to find Joel standing above her, and she jumped a bit. She grabbed her heart, forgetting just for a moment how nice he looked in formal clothes. She’d seen photos of him at proms from the high school years, but she’d never seen him like this in person.
“Joel!”
“Joel is all right,” Joey mumbled. A girl from his school pulled him aside for a moment, and Joel pulled on her arm.
“Follow me.”
Sarah turned to see a gaggle of women watching, openmouthed. She almost hesitated, but found her hand slipping into his as the two rushed away. It was obvious, but their hasty exit caused her to laugh like nothing was awry. They said nothing as they passed the church steps leading into the grand sanctuary; they said nothing even as they rushed past Mr. Josh Conrey’s Antebellum house from pre-Civil War days.
It was only until they reached Ransom Park that Joel and Sarah caught their breath and fell down onto a park bench, looking extremely overdressed at a place where little kids were screaming and falling over things.
“Why did we just do that?” Sarah asked, out of breath. “I probably just ruined my makeup.”
“Trust me, you didn’t.”
“But seriously, why did we just do that? We basically admitted—to the entire world—that we’re friends.”
“C’mon, Sarah. We’re always constrained somehow, but not tonight, okay?”
“Did you abandon Chloe?”
“All she cared about was a ride to the dance, and as soon as we got here, she ran off to join her friends. The actual dance dance doesn’t even start until…” He glanced at his watch. “We’ve got twenty minutes.”
“Joey’s going to be confused.”
“Let him be. I may not have asked you, but I am allowed to steal you.” Joel’s eyes sparkled in the afternoon glow. It was almost sunset, but the pair didn’t care about the prettiness of the approaching evening, and how pink the sky would become. Instead, they stared at each other in speculation. “Let me tell you, Sarah Towson, you are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in the world.”
“Don’t lie,” Sarah said, shifting. She looked down at some sequins on the bodice of her dress.
An elderly couple passed them and smiled. They clutched to each other in a welcome embrace, but the old woman said good-heartedly, “Why, look at them! You two are the handsomest couple I ever did see in so long. Don’t you think, Randy?”
Her husband smiled and tipped his hat. “Come on, dear. Let them have their space—just like we had back in the day.”
The two ambled on along the path, and Joel and Sarah broke out into laughter. When they became serious again, Sarah said, “You look good, Joel.”
“Only good? Come on! I worked on my tan for this.”
She nudged him and said, “What do you think they’ll say if we walk back together? My mom’s there. She’ll scalp us as we enter the church.”
“And dispose of the bodies in the baptistery? Sarah, I promise, we will elicit stares and whatnot—just because you look so beautiful—but…”
“But what?”
Joel stood up, looking out into the park. Up ahead, in the fading light, a woman was tending to her little girl. Sarah flinched, knowing immediately that the mother was Misty Temprend, and the child beside her was Sofia, Joel’s half-sister.
Before Sarah could stop him, he was pacing across the grassy earth, dirtying his clean shoes as he lurched forward. Sarah tried to keep up with him, but his strides were too long. She lifted her skirt and rushed around to a nearby gravel path so she could eventually intersect him. Joel was on a mission, a mission Sarah was afraid would crush him to the core.
Misty Temprend did not notice the teenagers approach. She was busy tending to a cut on Sofia’s little knee. She sprayed the affected area with antiseptic and placed a Hello Kitty band-aid on the wound. She reached out and kissed her little girl on the nose, and Sofia wrapped an arm around her mother.
“How about we go for yogurt to make you feel better?”
Sofia nodded, cuddling into her mother’s warm, tawny skin. When the woman looked up, she was face-to-face with an extremely tall teenage boy, who looked down at her with a mixture of hatred, disbelief, and confusion. Then his eyes shifted to the girl in her arms, and those two irises dimmed, filled now with belief and fear. Misty began shaking so bad she had to place Sofia on the ground, and the little girl sensed her mother’s apprehension. She held onto her legs.
“Joel,” Misty said quietly.
His lips parted, as he wanted to say something, but he ended up saying nothing to them.
Misty watched as a beautiful girl who was way overdressed for the park neared. The boy beside her was almost a man. He said something to his date, and the girl turned around and headed away. Recognition dawned in Misty’s mind. She had never seen Sarah Towson in person, and in pictures, Sarah was a Plain J
ane. Now, however, she looked stunning. Sarah Towson… And Joel Sealet? She’d told him. Sarah had told him, when her other family members refused.
Misty turned her attention back to Joel, and she gathered more courage to clear her throat. “Hi, Joel.”
“How do you know my name?”
Misty sighed. “Your father talked a lot about you when…”
“When you were together. Please don’t censor your talk.”
“You know?” asked a hopeful Misty.
“Of course I know. I was skeptical at first, but seeing your daughter now, I see more familiarities between her and me than with my full-blooded sister.”
Misty smiled. “I don’t know what to say, or how to say it.”
“You were my father’s lover, and you two had an illegitimate child.”
Misty shook her head. “Sofia is as legitimate to me as Sarah is to you.”
Joel looked over his shoulder to see Sarah standing by a giant oak, looking at them with trepidation. He turned back to face his sister, who stared at him in fright. He squatted and reached out a hand. “Hi, Sofia.”
“It’s okay, honey,” Misty said, falling to her knees also. “Remember the brother I told you about?”
“Joel?” Sofia asked, her curly hair shining in the light. She looked at Joel and her eyes widened. “You’re Joel? You’re a tall Joel!”
Joel smiled as Sofia’s little hand touched his.
“She knows about me?” Joel asked. “Why didn’t you ever come to our house?”
“Fear. Your father made it very clear there would be repercussions if you or your mother found out prematurely.”
“That doesn’t sound like my dad,” Joel protested, blinking back wetness. “He’s not a terrible person.”
Misty nodded. “Trust me, I know that. Even after all these years, I still love your dad. I’m sorry, that was inappropriate.”
“I wish you told me. I… Things would have been different.”
“That’s true. But like I teach Sofia, we Temprends keep our promises.”
Joel glanced at his watch. He and Sarah needed to make it back to the church soon, although he knew Sofia and Misty Temprend were much more important than a church dance. He stood up and said, “Do you have a piece of paper?”
Misty reached back to grab a slip and a pen from her purse. Joel wrote down his phone number and tried to smile. He hoped it did not look too rehearsed. “Please call me. Not tonight, but please, call me.”
Misty nodded as Sofia waved good-bye.