Chapter Eight

Jessie waited in the driveway for Teddy’s arrival. She checked her watch. Running a little late, but she didn’t worry. He seemed utterly trustworthy, not like her fiancé Troy, often late and never apologetic. She’d learned about his cheating with a Dallas girl from the merciless tabloids not long before the accident. He asked her forgiveness, claiming the affair to be a brief one. She’d given it, but the niggling doubt remained. The wedding date had been set, the church and hall reserved, the cake on order, and her dress purchased. Jessie decided to go through with the ceremony. Not a problem now.

Once in high school, she’d ditched her boyfriend for carrying on with a fellow cheerleader behind her back, the word being that the other girl put out and Jessie did not. She’d broken up with him just before the prom. Another lovely dress hung in her closet unused until her father invited one of his freshmen players to be her escort. Not wanting to disappoint her dad, she put on the sparkling blue gown and her best game face. Troy Gilbert, handsome and beefy in a way that made most of the boys seem scrawny, was a college man and every cheerleader’s dream. Her social stock on the high school exchange rose higher and higher. Honestly, she wished she’d stayed home and escaped seeing her old flame dancing with his new girl while she’d laughed and smiled at her date, a guy she barely knew.

The red van swung around the corner, down the street, and into her drive. Jessie rolled forward to the front door of the vehicle and discovered the passenger seat to be occupied. A pale but pretty face surrounded by wispy blonde hair peered out at her. The window slid down, and the girl put out her arm as if to shake hands, drew it back as she realized she sat too high up. “I’m Ella Sue. I guess you’re this person Teddy told me he had to pick up.”

“Yes, Jessica Minvielle. We went to high school together.”

“That so. Were you both in special ed?”

“Ah, no. My injury is recent.”

“That’s right. Teddy mentioned you once before when we was talking to his mother. Anyhow, we need to get going. You’re making him late.” The window slid shut.

This morning, having convinced her mother to go and get her classroom in order for the start of public school next week and allowing Jessie to wait alone, she’d felt as if she’d made a small move toward independence. Was she a burden for Teddy? Evidently, his passenger thought so. Why did she simply assume he had no other life than the gym and his job? They’d both been out of college for a while. Why shouldn’t he have a jealous girlfriend? Jessie had to admit to herself she’d assumed being handicapped also crippled his social life. It certainly ended hers.

Teddy opened the side door, lowered the wheelchair ramp, and made sure he settled Jessie carefully in the rear of the van with her chair secured. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Ella Sue got bored at the apartment.”

More likely, Ella Sue didn’t want to share Teddy’s attention. At the rehab facility when he came around to help her down, the girl, much younger than Teddy, opened her door and held out a hand for his assistance. Perhaps, she had a physical problem, too? Jessie noted immediately what it was—an almost obscenely pregnant belly about ready to pop. Even a trendy pair of distressed maternity jeans and a cute navy blue top edged in bright yellow appliqued daises did little to minimize her bulk.

“Oh, you’re expecting!” Jessie said, as soon as Teddy extricated her from the van.

“Pretty obvious unless you’re blind as well as crippled,” Ella Sue snapped.

Teddy winced. “If you can’t be polite, I won’t bring you along again.” He said that like he meant it, and the girl backed down.

“I’m sorry. You’re so pretty, and I’m all fat and ugly right now. The heat gets to me even this early in the morning. Don’t it ever get cold around here?”

“Not until the end of October, if then. Let’s get into the air conditioning.” Embarrassed for both of them, Jessie wheeled away.

A fairly new relationship, then, less than a year if she didn’t know when Louisiana weather cooled. Teddy didn’t wear a ring, nor did Ella Sue. Maybe they co-habited. He did strike her as the kind of guy who would stand by the mother of his child no matter how crude or bitchy. Ella Sue trundled along behind her still making conversation to Jessie’s back.

“Won’t be long until I’m shut of this load. Teddy signed us up for childbirth classes at the hospital, but I told him I want drugs, lots of drugs, just put me out and wake me when it’s over.”

“I told you they won’t give you anything until you are five centimeters dilated, and they won’t knock you out either. It’s best to know how to cope with the pain. Didn’t you read the pamphlets the doctor gave you?” Teddy’s voice frayed with frustration.

“You’re the brains in the family. I guess you got it figured for the both of us.”

Teddy deserved better, so much better. How had a nice guy like him ended up with an Ella Sue? Too nice maybe, easily taken in by a woman willing to have sex with him, perhaps unaware he could get a girl pregnant. Why did this make her so sad?

Troy made it clear he didn’t want children right away. First, he needed to gain free agency before marrying in case his career dictated a move away from Dallas. Though they’d gotten engaged right out of college, he wanted the marriage postponed for those three years in order to concentrate on his game. She agreed, maybe wondering if their relationship would last that long.

After the prom, she’d been surprised when he called again for another date. Troy, a Lafayette native, hung around the Minvielle home that summer, eating the coach’s barbecue and getting pointers for his sophomore year, hoping to be a starter. He took her crabbing, boating, and to the movies, made no sexual demands. Her dad watched his every move. They’d stayed together all through college, eventually climbing into bed, Troy always using a condom, she never forgetting her pills.

A swat of cool air as the automatic doors opened and the slight bump as Jessie wheeled across the threshold brought her back to the present. Ella Sue still whined behind her like the mosquitoes at Cypremort Point and puffed as if she’d trekked from the far reaches of a Walmart lot instead of the short distance from the handicap parking.

In a voice brusquer than usual, Teddy handed the girl a ten and pointed the way to the juice bar. “Wait for us there.” Once she was out of earshot, he said, “I apologize for Ella Sue. She’s kind of rough. Her family drifted around, and she didn’t get much education. Smart enough since she passed her GED. Right now, I’m all she has.”

“How long have you been together?” Curiosity and pity made Jessie ask.

“A week or so. Seems longer.” The red rose in his cheeks. “That sounds ugly. I guess all pregnant women are difficult.”

“She’s not your—girlfriend?” Somehow the term baby mama seemed wrong when it came to Teddy.

“Oh, no, no! Ella Sue is my sister, half-sister actually. She showed up at the ranch recently looking for me. We’d never met before, but my birth mother died and my stepfather isn’t a good guy. He tossed her out when she got…did you think it was mine? Because it could be—if she weren’t my sister. I mean, I don’t know what I mean. Forget I said anything.” His tongue tangled like crisscrossed crutches. He blushed and studied his toes. “You’d better sign in since we are late, Ella Sue’s fault. She couldn’t decide what to wear because she wanted to look cute. Xochi gave her a big sack of new clothes since she didn’t arrive with much. And you don’t need to know all this.”

“I don’t mind listening. I’d help if I could.” Jessie meant that when she said it, but regret came on fast. Whatever could she do in her condition?

Teddy’s baby blue eyes brightened, worry washing away as if an autumn rain just passed. “You could be her friend. Maybe offer her some pointers on how to act that would give her a better chance to find a decent job in the future. Talk to her about girl stuff.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” Jessie’s therapist appeared and summoned her to the hell of her exercises. The whole time she wondered what she might have in common with Ella Sue. Watching Teddy flex his muscles lifting weights barely distracted her from the task ahead. For a change the workout passed quickly, too quickly, and they were off to the juice bar to join his newfound sister who sat having a smoothie and watching the TV tuned into a game show.

“Melungeons!” Ella Sue shouted. “That’s what they call these mixed-race people in the Tennessee mountains. Can you believe they put up Melon Heads as another answer? That’s really insulting. I know a few Melungeons, and some are a real nice people,” she explained as Teddy and Jessie joined her. “I coulda won five-thousand dollars. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Yes, it would. You’re from Tennessee then?” Jessie tried for general conversation while Teddy got bottles of water for both of them.

“Born there, ended up there, but traveled around in between, and now I’m here. Pineapple-mango.” Ella Sue slurped the very last of her smoothie from the cup. “I could drink another one.”

Teddy handed Jessie her water and sat down. “One is enough. We’ll be having lunch soon.” He sounded more like her parent than a brother.

Ella Sue studied Jessie’s hands. “I sure like your fingernails. That hard to do?”

“Not too difficult. I do them myself instead of spending money on an expensive mani-pedi. Lots of time to kill now and no income.” Hard to accept she had to rely on her parents again for spending money, another reason to stay home and avoid going out.

Ella Sue mulled that over. “Sounds exactly like me. A mani-pedi. The stars are always getting those. I’d love to have one before the baby comes so my hands and feet would look all nice in those childbirth classes.” She glanced sidelong at her brother, waiting for him to take the hint.

Before Teddy opened his mouth, Jessie dove in to save him. “I could do that for you for free. I have everything we need. When I was a cheerleader, the girls would get together and do each other’s nails. We had fun.”

“I could use some fun. Teddy?”

“That would be great. When and where?”

“I really need to go home, clean up, and get some lunch.” If she’d told the complete truth, PT took a lot out of her, and she wanted to rest. “No PT tomorrow. Why don’t I come over to your place, and we will beautify your hands and feet?”

“I’d like that. Teddy?”

“I’d like that, too. I’ll pick you up at one, okay?”

“It’s a date.” There, she could be a help to Teddy in his predicament and not simply a burden, a bundle in a wheelchair to be transported to and fro.