The town of Mary’s Point, always a quiet place, but so full of life. At least, to Marie, it seemed so. Her ancestors had lived here over 200 years ago, they’d made their lives here, and now Marie and her mother Ruby were the last of her family. There were others, spread out all over the state, and the country, but only Marie and Ruby had stayed put. Well, Ruby left for a while, and Marie had tried to escape the place but hadn’t quite accomplished it.
She drove past the small library, the two small banks that were always in competition, over the small drawbridge over the bayou, and pulled to a stop to turn in at the grocery store. On her right was a gas station/fast food restaurant, and to her left was the store. A little further down the road were more houses, an apartment building, and a few other offices and boutiques. There was even a café that sold café au lait and beignets, but Marie didn’t get to go there too often.
She wouldn’t get to do today either, she had to pick up groceries, her mother’s medicine, see Ruby’s doctor about a form the government insurance wanted him to fill out, and then get home before the nurse’s hour was up. It was a real blessing to have the woman come for an hour every day, but sometimes it just wasn’t long enough. Marie knew she had to make do, though, it was all she’d ever done.
She could smell the water of the bayou as she stepped out of the old car she’d inherited from her mother. The old Ford had been bought new, but that was back when Marie was still a baby. It had been cared for, though, and still ran. Most of the time. She carefully shut the door, locked it, and went into the cool air of the store. It was always a relief, that first moment when she walked into the brightly lit building.
The store was locally owned and stocked furniture, clothing, groceries, and just about anything else anybody would need, stuck out here in the sticks. Marie took a shopping cart and began to walk through the store. She saw a new display over in the furniture section, new sofas, and decorations for a bedroom. She saw a white and black comforter on a new bed display too, that she really liked. Black filigree on a white background, so Louisiana, but so out of her budget, too.
Marie looked away without even so much as a sigh. She’d learned long ago, things like that just weren’t for her. She sped along into the grocery department and began to fill the basket with the small amounts of food she’d need for the week. Her mother sometimes had trouble swallowing now so Marie had learned to make soft foods for her. Being in bed all the time meant her mother didn’t require a lot of food anyway, but the dietitian that came showed her what to feed her mother and how much. If her mother asked, she’d give her more, but usually getting her to eat one meal could be a huge challenge.
She made quick work of the task and was soon outside again in the damp heat. Her green t-shirt stuck to her and her thighs began to stick together below the legs of her shorts. At least she had on flip flops today. Socks and shoes would have been all but unbearable in a car with no air conditioning.
A slight boom in the air and the sound of a very powerful engine drew her attention as she put the groceries in the trunk of the old white car. What should have been a glance up, turned into a look of shock at what she saw. A black Lamborghini, probably from some time in the 1960s, was parked at the gas station. The car was unlike anything she’d ever seen before and screamed expensive luxury. That wasn’t what shocked her though.
It was the handsome, well-built man with a mop of black hair that pumped gas into the car that shocked her. He glanced around vacantly as if nothing about the surrounding area mattered to him and he couldn’t be more bored. That look didn’t take away from the beauty of his face though. Even from this distance, Marie could tell the man would stop heartbeats all over the world.
He had the smoldering looks of the Italian models she’d seen in magazines in the pharmacy as she waited to be served. Usually, ads for underwear or cologne that she’d always speed past. His nose wasn’t too big, or too curved, it was just right on a face with high cheekbones, full lips, and a jawline that looked as if an artist had sculpted it.
The expensive clothes he wore showed off an equally sculpted body, and she wondered how many hours he spent in a gym to get that built. He glanced in her direction as if he felt her stare, and Marie quickly looked away. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and pushed her cheap sunglasses down on her face. Hopefully, he hadn’t seen her gawping at him.
She pushed the cart back to the stand, in a daze as she berated herself for her childishness. She’d never had a boyfriend, her mother hadn’t allowed it, and she’d never really been accepted at school. As the illegitimate child of a failed starlet, she was an outcast even before she’d started school. In this rural part of Louisiana, Catholicism reigned and her mother had sinned. Sinned so much she’d been excommunicated.
Marie’s cheeks flamed as she remembered it all over again, how her mother had screamed profanities in the middle of mass, drunk and angry because her latest lover had gone back to his wife. The church spent years trying to aid her mother, in trying to get her to change her ways, but when she’d screamed there was no God, and that she’d do those awful things to the holy family, well, she’d left the church little choice. That was all before Marie had even started school. It only got worse after that.
Ruby had time to go the bar before Marie came home from school, once she’d shipped her daughter off to the local elementary school. Sometimes, those trips out for a few hours became days. Ruby would leave Marie to fend for herself while she spent her evenings at the dance halls, trying to find a man that would help her forget her woes. Marie had learned early on to watch what she said, how she dressed, and how often she bathed.
Somebody had called social services on Ruby when Marie was in the first grade. After Ruby had played the perfect mother to get the social worker off her back, Marie had been beaten with a belt until she was black and blue. She’d also gone three days without food. That part hadn’t bothered her as much as the bruises hidden beneath her clothes.
She was used to her mother not bringing home food or taking her out to eat. Hunger was familiar, the pain wasn’t something she could forget, though. It had all come together to create a quiet child, one that observed, but rarely spoke. Now an adult, Marie wasn’t much different to the child that had always been on the lookout for trouble that might come her mother’s way.
The drinking had hidden Ruby’s condition for a long time, but eventually, it had caught up with her. Marie was almost glad about the disease slowly taking her mother away from her. At least her mother didn’t come home battered and used up now. Which was another disloyal thought, Marie reminded herself.
She wasn’t overly religious, she couldn’t be with her mother there to disillusion her, but she was a firm believer in karma and all that entailed. She knew she’d pay for every disloyal, unkind thought she had about her mother, in one way or another. Her mother couldn’t help it, after all, she’d had a really hard life since she’d had Marie.
That’s the line Ruby drilled into her, over the years, every time she did something that made her life a little bit harder. Marie had to sacrifice her own happiness because Ruby deserved the little pleasures she gained from the life of her own making. Marie took a deep breath, realized she’d been standing at the cart stand way too long, and quickly turned around.