Reinventing Leona Read Online Free Page B

licking those beady pupils.
    “Mother, I’m sure you remember some of the folks from the church.” Leona started the introductions with the wide-eyed Maxine parked on the far end of the couch, working her way around the room. As she neared the Storys, her mother held up a flattened hand.
    “I’m an agnostic, Leona, not an Alzheimer’s invalid. What I remember is that I never liked any of these country do-gooders.”
    Despite their congregation’s uncanny ability to try the limits of brotherly love, Leona cringed at her own mother’s blatant rejection of God and the extended family that came with knowing him. Years of praying had affected no thaw in her mother’s hardened heart.
    Roxie cut through the tension, clamping an arm around Roberta’s shoulder. “How about I help Bertie find a cup of coffee and a few kind words?” She flashed her don’t-mess-with-me smile, the one she reserved for crotchety old geezers who complained about the scourge of foreign cars upon the American automobile industry while frequenting her auto parts store.
    Raising a perfectly penciled-in brow, Leona’s mother steadied her aim on Roxie. “A cup of coffee would be nice.”
    Releasing her grip, Roxie mumbled something Leona guessed was better not repeated. She stomped off to the kitchen, where Leona suspected her next-door neighbor would regroup, then return with a vengeance. Squirming under her mother’s sizing gaze, Leona prayed that Roxie would not dally. She hoped that petition got better results than her pleas to change her mother.
    Concentrating on each Italian-leathered tip of her gloved fingers, Leona’s mother seemed to relish the mental stress her restrained quiet added to the room’s general discomfort. “After my driver deposited me here, I sent him to the airport to get the children.” She extracted a manicured hand from the cashmere lining, then repeated the yanking process on the other hand.
    “Mother, I wish you had asked me before you made poor Melvin drive back to the city. Cotton has gone to fetch Maddie. And David plans to take a taxi because his flight is getting in so late.” Leona pinched the throbbing place between her eyes. Any moment she expected the pain to explode into a full-fledged migraine.
    “Well, as usual, you have everything under control. Obviously, you don’t need your mother.” She paired the gloves and dropped them into her oversized Gucci handbag.
    “That’s not true.” Leona put her arms around her stiffened mother and gave her a quick hug. “I’m glad you’re here. Really I am.” Surely the Lord would forgive this tiny fib considering the dire circumstances.
    Her mother took a small step back. “It’s just that I hate to think of my granddaughter climbing into that rattletrap vehicle your church janitor calls a truck. But you’ve always allowed Madison more freedom than I would have.”
    Leona felt her blood pressure rise. “Mother, this is not the time—”
    Her mother flashed the flattened palm again, the unarguable signal that nothing Leona said would penetrate that rigid wall. “No matter our differences on child-rearing, it’s ridiculous for you to spend what little money you have on taxi fare. I can ring my chauffeur, tell him to pull into the airport parking garage, and wait for David.” She handed her purse to Maxine.
    “Mother, you don’t need to do that.”
    She slipped out of her fur coat. “Nonsense. My driver can sleep in the limo. He does anyway. He thinks I don’t know his habits, but I can tell when someone’s been dozing on my nickel.”
    Leona’s mother dropped her coat in Maxine’s lap. The weight of full-length ermine nearly knocked the elder’s wife off the couch. Sinful thoughts of Maxine flat on her back and smothered in weasel hide momentarily relieved the pressure building between Leona’s eyes.
    Parker Kemp cleared his throat. Leona’s mother turned her salon-coiffed head. “Do I know you?”
    “Uh . . . excuse me, Mrs.