“Brynn!”

Gordon Prescott stood.

“Now hold on.”

Eleanor turned toward him.

Paige pointed at Eleanor.

“Do you know what I’m worth, old woman?”

Her father grabbed her arm.

“Paige.”

“My lawyers will—”

Eleanor laughed.

Not cruelly.

Almost sadly.

“Mr. Prescott.”

She looked at Paige.

“I wore that ragged coat this week.”

Then touched the pearls at her neck.

“I’m wearing these pearls today.”

She smiled.

“Your money didn’t scare me in either one.”

The garden erupted in whispers.

Then another voice came from the rear.

“Mrs. Whitlow.”

A uniformed sergeant approached.

“Noon, like you said.”

Eleanor nodded.

“Exactly.”

The sergeant turned toward Paige.

“Miss Prescott.”

Paige stepped backward.

“About the complaint you signed yesterday.”

He held up a folder.

“Come with me, please.”

“Daddy!”

Gordon immediately said:

“Don’t say a word.”

“I’m calling my lawyers.”

She looked toward Julian.

“Tell them.”

Julian stared at her.

“No.”

“Julian!”

He removed the wedding ring from his pocket.

Placed it on the table.

“There is no wedding.”

Paige’s expression cracked.

She was escorted away.

Nobody applauded.

Eleanor would not have allowed it.

This was not entertainment.

It was the end of a lie.

After Paige left, Julian walked toward Delia.

Four hundred guests watched.

He stopped.

“I called you a thief in my house.”

Delia looked at him.

“I didn’t stop it soon enough.”

He swallowed.

“I was wrong.”

Delia nodded.

“Thank you.”

He looked toward the old sewing bag beside her chair.

“I’d like to start over.”

Delia almost smiled.

“As what?”

Julian thought.

Then:

“A customer.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“With a shirt to mend.”

This time she did smile.

“The shop opens at nine.”

From the front row, Eleanor whispered to Earl:

“That boy is slower than syrup.”

Earl tried not to laugh.

Odessa Alterations reopened six weeks later.

Not because Eleanor bought it.

Delia refused.

“I won’t take a shop.”

So Eleanor did something more annoying.

She bought the building.

Then gave Delia a twenty-year lease for one dollar annually.

Delia called it charity.

Eleanor called it “a very bad real-estate investment.”

They argued for three days.

Delia finally signed.

The old sign was restored.

ODESSA BANKS ALTERATIONS

The broken sewing machine was repaired by a seventy-two-year-old technician who stared at it for twenty minutes and said:

“Good machine.”

Delia cried when it ran again.

Her mother cried harder.

Eleanor began spending mornings at the shop.

Nobody asked why.

She had board meetings.

Properties.

Investments.

Dozens of places where she could drink tea.

She preferred Delia’s.

“Earl.”

“This tea is weak as dishwater.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Same as last Saturday.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Delia, baby, come teach this man to boil water.”