“What? Roy really did kill…your mom? But you said—” Caro said.
Kasey filled her in as quickly as she could.
“Obviously, we weren’t going to let anything like that happen again. Ever,” Rosemarie said when Kasey was finished.
“For right now, the less you know, the better. Whenever they come around asking questions, tell them the truth. That Trey came up here to see you and that’s the last time you saw him. Tell them again how he said he’d kill you. He never knew about the baby, right?” Ada said in between nervous glances at the door.
Caroline shook her head even though it ached. She’d been so scared a nurse would come in and blurt it out when Trey was there to visit her, but it hadn’t happened. She cried in relief when he was gone. We’ll get you back home and get you the help you need, he’d said, and she said, No, Trey, you’re the one who needs help. He was quiet, touched her arm. That was when she scratched him. He told Mimi she was acting out of her mind again and it was probably the medicine. Or maybe she was having a total mental breakdown. He said he’d ask for a psychological evaluation. Grandma Mimi couldn’t stop him from coming up there, but she told him to leave because Caroline needed to get her rest.
“So, the Foxberrys will never know the baby is Trey’s. Beau’s here. Say it’s Beau’s. You aren’t obligated to have anything to do with that family ever again,” Rosemarie said.
“Say it’s Beau’s baby?” Caroline coughed out. Her mouth was dry. Rosemarie poured her a cup of water and held the straw to her lips; Caroline drank and thanked her.
“Say it’s Beau’s baby,” Kasey repeated. “Tell Beau to go along with it. He’ll do it. He’ll do anything for you.”
“That baby will look just like you, so it won’t matter anyway. You know she’s gonna have your hair, Caro,” Rosemarie said. “Her name’s gonna be Rosy Magnolia, so you know she’s gonna be a Reds.”
“Her name is Rosy Magnolia?” Ada cooed.
“Rosy Magnolia. Oh God, I love it,” Kasey said.
“Rosy Magnolia,” Caroline said with her hand on her stomach.
“She’ll be here when the early spring magnolias bloom again,” Rosemarie said, putting her hand on Caroline’s.
“Did he hurt you?” Caroline asked Kasey. They didn’t have to tell her that Kasey had been the one to get close to Trey. The one to do what needed to be done. Caroline knew it’d been her. The thought of what Trey could’ve or might’ve done to Kasey sent ice-cold needles down her back. Her arms, her legs.
“No,” Kasey said, shaking her head. “I promise.”
“How did you—” Caro stopped when Rosemarie looked at her.
“We can’t tell you now. Not until we get past this part. We’re almost past this part,” Rosemarie said.
“Are you hungry? These are vanilla orange cream. They’re not as good as yours, but I tried,” Ada said, reaching for a cupcake to hand to her.
*
Beau came to visit Caroline right as Mimi and Myrtle were walking out. She’d gotten a little sleep after Rosemarie, Ada, and Kasey left, and she thought maybe she’d want to get some more until she saw Beau standing there holding a big bouquet of daisies wrapped in Plum Florals paper.
He asked her if Trey had been there again and Caroline told him no. She told him what Mimi told her, that there was a cop in the parking lot keeping an eye out for him.
Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead.
After they chatted a bit and watched the TV together, Caroline turned it off.
Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead.
Kasey’s words were on a loop in Caro’s head, and there was a heavy weight inside of her—a hot, glowing orb of worry and anxiety she couldn’t sort out, because she didn’t know anything. Grandma Mimi and Myrtle hadn’t mentioned Trey being missing, and the girls had told her no one else knew about their plan. But everyone always found out about everything in Goldie, didn’t they? When would she find out what happened to Trey?
Her shoulder throbbed; the tender space under her swollen eye did too. My whole body is an exposed heart, painfully beating. The word beating sent her right back to those steps. Right back to Trey’s face pressed against hers, his gritting teeth and the hate in his eyes although she’d done nothing to deserve it except exist.
She kept waiting to feel sad when she heard Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead spinning in her mind, but she didn’t. She felt a lot of things, but none of them were sad.
Many times—only after their big fights, when she felt the most like a small, caged animal—she’d imagined Trey dying in a horrible freak accident at the distillery so she could have a new beginning. She’d imagined someone killing him in a road-rage incident or him getting hit by a truck as he crossed the street.
Trey dying only meant she was free. It didn’t mean anything else to her. He’d stopped being a person she could muster up compassion for. It was either him or her. He tried to kill her. He said it with his own mouth; he couldn’t gaslight her out of knowing that. He couldn’t do anything anymore, because he was dead, and most importantly, he couldn’t hurt the baby.
One day she’d tell the baby the truth—she would. She’d have to.
Right now, she needed Beau to do something for her. Something that made her feel crazy for asking, but the pain medicine helped get her there. She closed her eyes and pictured her and Beau sitting outside somewhere by the water. Instead of beeping machines, there were birds. Instead of that hospital bed, grass. Instead of the white ceiling, nothing but blue sky and fluffy clouds. She’d make a Beau Bramford Pie for him and he’d make his grilled cheese, and nothing else in the world would matter.
“Beau, can I ask you a wild favor? Before I even say what it is, I want you to know that I know it’s crazy. Everything is crazy right now. When Kasey told me you were out in the parking lot the other day, the floor opened beneath me. I…I couldn’t believe you’d come all the way to Goldie just to see me. I still can’t believe I’m looking at you. It’s—” She stopped, trying not to cry. She was so tired of crying.
“Hey. I’ll do anything for you, Muffin Mix. You know that. You’ve always known that,” Beau said.
“I’m pregnant. And because of that and everything…could you…if it comes up, act like…this baby is yours? It’s part of my plan to get away from Trey. You don’t have to do anything. I’m gonna say it and I would just need you…to go along with it,” Caro said, watching his eyes.
“Done,” Beau said plainly. “It’d be my pleasure.”
“Well, only if—”
“Done,” Beau said again.
“Her name is Rosy Magnolia,” Caro heard herself say. She was so sleepy, and her body felt like it was soaring cloud-high.
“That’s a real good name and I know you’ll be an amazing mama to her.”
Caroline reached for his hand and Beau took hers, squeezed it.