1 Chapter 1

“You owe me fifty dollars,” Faith said before taking a sip of wine. She and her future sister-in-law were spending part of a sweltering Thursday afternoon among an abundance of silk, satins, taffetas, and other materials not suitable for daily life. The two had put their lives on hold to gather in a Durham bridal salon to day drink and give their opinions. For the past thirty minutes, they had shared work woes, family achievements, and agreed about how this had to be the hottest summer they could remember. After those conversation streams dried up, Faith decided it was the perfect time to bring up a two-year-old bet about two former Wake County jail inmates.

“They aren’t married yet, so forgive me if I’m not ready to part with my hard-earned money.” Kenly checked her watch for the third time in fifteen minutes. She could think of so many other places she would rather be but, a promise was a promise. “Charlotte and Sedalia seem to have a knack for finding causes to support and loudly express their opposition. My gut tells me they won’t make it to the altar without someone getting arrested for something. All I can say it’s a good thing they each have their own business. I have lost track of how many times those two have been in someone’s courtroom for trespassing or something else. I know for sure Charlotte has seen the inside of at least four county jails and that’s not including that time in high school. I can’t put the blame on your sister for that foolishness. I’m all for social justice but you don’t have to always get arrested for your beliefs.”

“I happen to believe, like our respective sisters, that sometimes you have to be willing to put your freedom on the line to raise awareness about an issue. But I can see your point. For a while, it seems like they were appearing in court more times than I did, and I’m a partner in a law firm,” Faith said. “But neither one of them has been before a magistrate for civil disobedience since last year. Charlotte completed her community service hours last month, so that is out of the way and Dalia is this close to getting her wedding dress. To me, that is suitable evidence they are actually going to do it. Face it, in less than ninety days our sisters will be united in matrimony, and you will have lost the bet that the two of them would never settle down and make it official.”

Kenly popped a complimentary mint in her mouth and deposited a fistful in her purse. “I admire your optimism but, I’m not holding my breath. A lot can happen between now and October 21. Hell, the two of them haven’t even got the marriage license yet.”

Faith pointed out the reason for that was since the license was only good for sixty days the couple planned to wait until they were closer to the date to avoid the license expiring. Kenly retorted that, when they get their marriage license, they won’t know how to act because it would be the first time in a while they are going to be in a courthouse without a bail bondsman being involved.

“Hi lovelies, sorry I’m late. My last client didn’t want to get out of the chair after we finished. I felt it would have been horribly rude to rush a woman commiserating about her marriage going to hell because I have a bridal dress appointment.” Sedalia’s enthusiastic voice and the tinkling of her metal cylinder earrings announced her arrival. Faith hugged her sister and inhaled the coconut scent of the hairdressing she used to keep her coal colored mane moisturized. The scent mingled with the vanilla body scrub Sedalia used to maintain her smooth skin. Faith smiled at the realization her sister’s smell perfectly captured her sweet nature. Sedalia had attempted to harness the walking advertisement of her skill as a hairdresser into a bun, but a few strands had managed to break free. Her warm sepia skin glowed with exuberance and her wide-set eyes shone with enthusiasm and positivity. Even though her days of playing college tennis were long past, Sedalia retained her solid frame and strong arms that let the hugged know they were being grasped with affection.

“You wouldn’t think Thursday would be so busy but, it seems everyone needed to get their hair done for the weekend. I really shouldn’t complain since my business has been jumping like a double Dutch competition since the feature Dallas did on the shop on her blog two months ago but sometimes this forty-five-year-old gets tired of making sure everyone’s hair is done.” Sedalia turned her smile toward the woman with the hair the color of oyster shells. “Kenly I’m so glad you could make it. I know when I texted you last week about driving up you weren’t sure if you could get the day off. It really made my day when you confirmed this morning. I figured since Faith was planning to be in town today, it would be gravy biscuits if my maid of honor and my soon to be wife’s best person could show up and help me pick out a dress. You know how much I love both of you and value your opinion.”

Kenly smiled at Sedalia’s words of appreciation and gave her a hug. It took a while for the two to warm up to each other but after six years of the activist/cosmetologist being her sister’s constant companion, Kenly had grown to love and appreciate the role she played in Charlotte’s life.