“Martha Ann! Where are you?”
“I’m in the basement, roller-skating. Come on down, Evelyn.”
Martha Ann stuck out her arms for balance and tried to stop. It didn’t work. The skates kept on rolling. She probably would have rolled straight through the wall if she hadn’t run into the sofa. She banged her shins against the sofa frame and landed bottom up on the cushions.
That’s how her sister found her when she came down the basement stairs.
“For goodness sakes, Martha Ann. What in the world are you up to now?”
Martha Ann righted herself, smoothing down her dark hair and her white shorts at the same time.
“I’m learning to roller-skate. I never did get the hang of it when we were kids.” She patted the seat beside her. “Come sit down.”
Heaving a great sigh, Evelyn sat beside her older sister. “Next thing I know you’ll be taking up something dangerous, like race car driving.”
“Not yet. But I’m only thirty-seven. There’s still plenty of time.”
Evelyn let out another big sigh. It wasn’t lost on Martha Ann. She’d watched Evelyn struggle through four years of a nightmare married to a man who gambled away every penny they had, working like a Trojan at her little clothing store in Pontotoc, trying to pay the rent and keep food on the table. And now Evelyn was pregnant.
The Riley girls never did have any sense when it came to men.
Martha Ann leaned down and took off her roller skates. Putting variety into her life could wait. Her sister needed her. “Tell me about it, Evelyn.”
“Lucky’s gone again. I found this note when I got up this morning.”
She held a small scrap of paper toward her sister. “Sweetie Pie,” it said, “I hear the big one calling my name. Be back when I win a pot full.”
Martha Ann folded the note and handed it back to her sister.
“Where do you think he’s gone this time?”
“I have no idea. All I know is that I love him.”
Martha Ann stood up and began to pace. “Well, gambling’s not legal in Mississippi, so that means he’s either found an illegal game or he’s out of the state. The last time he went to Florida. Of course, the racing season is over, but still there’s the lottery and jai alai.” She stopped pacing and looked down at her sister. “How much money did he take?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t had time to check.”
“You can do that this afternoon, and while you’re at it, see if he called any travel agencies.”
Evelyn pushed off the sofa, using the arm for support. Folding her hands over her protruding abdomen, she faced her sister.
“What are you thinking?” she asked Martha Ann.
“I’m going to find that husband of yours. Then I’m going to bring him back and hog-tie him to his bed. He’s going to be around when he becomes a father, and furthermore, he’s going to enroll in Gamblers Anonymous.”
For the first time that day, Evelyn smiled. Martha Ann knew her sister thought she was brilliant and intrepid and resourceful. And although sleuthing was about as far from teaching history at a junior college as you could get, her sister’s faith in her never wavered. Evelyn trusted her to find Lucky and bring him home.
The Riley girls had one thing in common—they never gave up.
“What about school, Martha Ann?”
“I have two weeks before I start teaching the summer session. Don’t worry.”
“But I do. I can’t help myself.” Evelyn snapped open her purse and took out her car keys. “Tell me one thing before I go. How do you propose to find my husband?”
“I’ll think of something.”