Between Sisters

“As soon as the church empties out, I’m going to talk to your entourage. They arrived in cars; they can sit in them until it’s time to leave. I’ll protect you from your stampeding fans. ”

“Dang it, Meggy. Who’ll take my picture at the weddin’? A woman my age needs filters. ” Mama reached into her crystal-encrusted evening bag and pulled out a black tube of lipstick. She leaned closer to the mirror.

“Mama,” Meghann said slowly, “Claire has waited a long time for this day. ”

“That’s for sure. I was startin’ to think she and those friends of hers were gay. ” Mama snapped the lipstick shut and smiled at her reflection.

“The point is, we need to focus on her today. Her needs. ”

Mama spun around. “Now, that hurts. When have I ever put my needs ahead of my children’s?”

Meghann was speechless. The most amazing part of this science-fiction moment was that her mother actually believed what she just said. Meghann forced a smile. “Look, Mama, I don’t want to argue with you on this special day. You and I are going to walk over to the reception and tell Claire how happy we are for her. ”

“I am happy for her. Bein’ married is the most wonderful feelin’ in the world. Why I remember when I married her daddy, I felt swept away by him. ”

You get swept away more often than a muddy riverbank. Meghann kept her lips sealed and her smile tacked in place. She didn’t remind Mama that the marriage to Sam had lasted less than six months, or that Mama had run out on him in the middle of the night, after sending him to the store for tampons. For years, Meghann had had a mental picture of Sam, returning to the Chief Sealth Trailer Park in Concrete, Washington, on that rainy night, standing at the empty site, holding a box of tampons. He hadn’t known for almost ten years—until Meghann called—that his marriage had produced a daughter. “That’s the way, Mama. Pour it on. But,” she stepped closer, looked up into her mother’s surgically wrinkle-less face, “you may bring one photographer. One. No bodyguards and no dog. These rules are not negotiable. ”

“You are a pain in the ass, Meghann,” Mama said. Her accent was so thick only a trained ear could understand it. “No wonder you can’t keep a man for long. ”

“This from the woman whose been married what—six times? Pretty soon you and Elizabeth Taylor will have to start swapping husbands or you’ll run out. ”

“You have no romance in your soul. ”

“I can’t imagine why, growing up as I did with so much love. ”

They stood there, inches apart, staring at each other.

Then Mama laughed. The real thing this time, not that sexy kitten-laugh she used in Hollywood, but the deep, tavern sound she’d been born with. “Meggy, darlin’, you always did bust my ass. You flipped me off when you were eight months old—did I ever tell you that?”

Meghann smiled in spite of herself. It was always this way between them. How could you stay angry with a woman as shallow as Mama? In the end, sometimes there was nothing to do but laugh and go on. “I don’t think so, Mama. ”

She put her arm around Meghann and pulled her close. It reminded Meghann of so many childhood and adolescent times. She and Mama had always fought like cats and dogs, and then ended up laughing. Probably because both of them would rather laugh than cry. “No. You looked right up, smiled, and flipped me off. It was the funniest damn thing ever. ”

“I’ve done it a few times since. ”

“I imagine you have. It’s the nature of the beast. You’d know this if you’d had children. ”

“Don’t go there, Mama. ”

“Oh, fiddle-dee-dee. You don’t tell me what to do or say, Missy. It takes guts to be a mother. You just don’t have ’em, that’s all. Look at the way you pawned off your sister. Nothin’ to be ashamed of. ”

“Mama, I don’t think you ought to tell me what it takes to be a mother. I might have to remind you of a few things you pretend to forget. Like how it was your job to raise Claire, not mine. ”

“So, are we goin’ to this reception or not? I have a midnight flight home. But don’t worry, there’s none of that two-hours-ahead stuff for stars like me. I need to be at SeaTac by eleven. ”

“That means you need to leave here about eight-thirty. So let’s go. And I mean it, Mama, best behavior. ”

“Now, darlin’, you know that social etiquette is bred into u

s Southern girls. ”

“Oh, please. You’re as Southern as Tony Soprano. ”

Mama sniffed. “I swear, I should have left you by the side of the road in Wheeling, West Virginia. ”

“You did leave me there. ”

“You always were a hard and unforgiving person. It’s a flaw, Meggy. Truly. So I miscounted my children. It happens. My mistake was in comin’ back for you. ”