Star (Wildflowers 2)

"As you can tell, I was never fond of Aaron. I never could understand what Momma saw in him and when I said so once, she just laughed and said, 'When you start being with a man, you'll understand what matters most about him.'

"I wasn't stupid. I understood she meant sex.

"Anyway, I stood there, gazing at the two of them, both wearing these big fat grins that put little drops of ice down my back and around my heart. I reached out and pulled Rodney closer to me and he held on to my leg.

" 'Well, there she is, my little cook,' Momma cried. `Or our little cook.'

" 'What are you talking about, Momma? What's going on?'

"Aaron laughed and went to the cabinet below the sink where Momma stored her vodka, gin and bourbon. He took out the bourbon and said it was time for another celebration.

" 'Right you are about that,' Momma cried.

"I watched him pour them each half a glass of bourbon and then toast and drink. Rodney didn't fully understand what booze was, but he hated the smell and the taste and just knew that whenever Momma drank some, she was usually unpleasant and often frightening, so he clung tighter to me.

" 'Why are you celebrating, Momma?' I finally asked.

"The two of them looked at each other and laughed as if I had asked the silliest question.

" `Momma?'

"'Cause Aaron and I just got married,' she said. "Naturally, I grimaced and shook my head.

" 'You can't marry Aaron, Momma. You're already married,' I told her.

"The smile flew off her face like a frightened sparrow and she slammed her glass down on the counter so hard, it almost shattered.

"'A man just walks out of here one day and never calls,' she said pointing at the door, 'never comes back, never sends a note, and goes off with another woman and I'm still supposed to be married to him' No ma'am, I'm not.'

"'Don't you have to go to a court, though?' I asked.

"'Courts mean lawyers and lawyers are just crooks who hang out a shingle off their doors,' she said. 'Aaron and I talked it over and I declared, officially declared that is,' she added pulling up her shoulders and standing as straight as she could, 'that I ain't married to Kenny Fisher no more. I declared it this afternoon and then we went over to Preacher Longstreet down in South Central and he married us right and proper with a Bible and all. I even got a ring,' she bragged and stuck out her hand. It didn't look like much of a ring, but I didn't say so.

"'Don't you have to get a license and stuff?' I asked.

"'Will you stop with all those questions. Just say hello to your new daddy,' she ordered.

"I turned back to the potatoes.

"'Star, you hear me? You show your new daddy respect, hear?'

"'He's not my daddy,' I said.

"'What? What did you say?'

"She started for me, but Aaron held her back.

"'Hold on now, Aretha,' he said. 'We don't want any unpleasantries tonight on our wedding night. Our honeymoon,' he added and she stopped fighting him and smiled.

"'You're right, Aaron.' She looked at me, her eyes shooting darts across the kitchen. 'We'll talk about this later. Aaron and I are going out for a celebration dinner. I just want to freshen up a bit,' she said and went to the bathroom.

"I continued to work on Rodney's dinner and he held on to me the whole time. It was difficult to breathe, not to be drowned by everything that was happening so fast.

"'That boy looks like a sissy holding on to you like that,' Aaron said. A terrible anger washed over me. I felt the heat rise into my face.

"I turned and glared at him, gave him my coldest look and said, 'He'll grow up to be easily twice the man you are, not that it would be hard to do.'

"He stared at me for a moment and I saw rage start to build in his eyes, but suddenly he stopped it as if he knew he might lose control of himself if he didn't. He laughed, but it was one of those soft, unsure laughs, a laugh to cover up his own discomfort.