I blinked and allowed the feeling to pass. My tears dried up. I wanted to destroy something. I could have torn the pulpit down with my bare hands and then started on the oak pews. Forget about killing the messengers, Betsy and Marty. I'd deal with them later. Drew Williams was a different matter. He had vowed to be faithful right there in a church house in front of my parents, God, and even Great-aunt Gert. I could see him telling a lie to my parents and maybe even God, but he was a fool of the worst kind for lying to Aunt Gert. She'd get even, and she had a heck of a lot more power now that she was on the other side. He'd best be getting his affairs in order, because there was a good chance he'd be standing on a street corner with an empty Campbell's soup can begging for pennies before it was all said and done.

Was Miss Charity keeping him company on his business trip, or was she at the bank that day? I was definitely going to wipe out those two accounts. Wouldn't it be a hoot if she waited on me? She'd do just fine for a taste of my anger until Drew got home.

"Excuse me. Are you all right?" a masculine voice said right at my elbow.

My cheeks burned scarlet, and I hoped none of my thoughts had been whispered aloud.

The voice was deep and faintly familiar. I jerked my head up to look into Billy Lee Tucker's crystal blue eyes.

"I'm fine," I said.

"Well, I was sitting back there thinking about Gert when you came in, and I just wondered if you were all right. It looked like you were crying," he said.

Billy Lee Tucker was a nerd with a capital N back when we were in school, and afterward he became Tishomingo's oddball. We had all started school together-Billy Lee always wearing his overalls and thick glasses. My friends and I largely ignored him, and he quietly found a corner to be alone, usually with a book in his hands.

He didn't grow out of it. He just got taller, and his glasses got thicker. The other boys wore tight jeans, and he continued to wear bibbed overalls-always clean and starched, right along with his chambray shirts. He didn't play football, so that was another strike against him in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. He didn't play basketball. Strike three. He didn't drink or smoke or chase around town on Saturday night in a pickup truck. Strikes four, five, and six.

His voice was a whisper of respect. "Mind if I join you?"

I didn't answer, but he sat down in the corner of the pew. "It just don't seem right. Everyone is in there eating and laughing. How can they act so happy, like it's a normal day?"

Billy Lee hadn't changed all that much. His angular face had a few wrinkles, but he was my age, and wrinkles come along at about that time. He was still thin, but the thing that almost took my mind off Drew was the suit he wore. If it wasn't Armani, I would eat my hat-tulle, fake black rose, and all.

"What way do you think it should be?" I asked.

"Gert was a lady. They should be sitting quietly and thinking about her and the way she brought happiness into the world."

Gert, a lady? What rock had he been hiding under all these years? Poor Billy Lee was several bricks short of a wagonload, bless his heart. And Gert bringing happiness into the world? Was the man crazy? She had brought lots of things into the world. Opinions. Bossiness. Bitterness. But happiness?

"They should be in here with us, not out there carrying on like they're glad she's gone," he said.

Maybe he didn't have any bricks in his wagon. They were glad she was gone.

"She was the wisest woman I knew and the best neighbor a man could ask for." Billy Lee kept talking.

They say birds of a feather flock together. He and Gert were both slightly odd.

"I didn't realize you still lived in your grandparents' house" "Nice" wasn't difficult for me. Conflict was, and I was wondering how to get out of the sanctuary without being rude.

He shrugged. "I was born in that house and have lived there my whole life."

"I see. Then you knew Gert very well?"

"Of course. She was my next-door neighbor and my best friend."

Even though I'd had my head in the sand and my big bubble butt stuck up in the sky, I knew what had happened to almost every kid in my graduating class all those years ago-where they lived, where they worked, how many kids they had or if they had divorced, how many had had affairs and how many times-most everything Marty and Betsy knew. Or I thought I had until that morning. Evidently I didn't know Drew Williams at all. Or Billy Lee Tucker.

My husband's name on the edge of my conscience jerked me right back into the present. I absolutely hated conflict. How would I ever psych myself up enough to confront him?

"I guess I should go on back into the dinner," I said.

"I'm staying right here"

"Trudy? You in here?" Betsy whispered loudly.

"I'm right here."

What would Betsy tell Marty about poor, pitiful Trudy sitting with Billy Lee Tucker in a semidark, quiet church? I didn't need to wait to take action. There was a pulpit in front of me and a congregation in the fellowship hall. Maybe I'd call them all in and preach them a sermon on two-timin' husbands.

She talked too fast and too loud as she walked toward the pew. "We are gathering in the children's Sunday school room for the reading of the will. The lawyer is some fancy-pants out of Dallas. Don't know why Gert couldn't use Drew for her business."

"Guess she knew too much about him," I sniped.

"Hello, Betsy," Billy said.

"Do I know you?"

"Probably not. I'm Gert's next-door neighbor."

"Oh, I thought she lived next door to Billy Lee Tucker."

"That's right."

"Well, I'll be danged. Didn't recognize you with a suit on, Billy Lee. Sorry about that. It's time for the judgment, Trudy. Have you been prayin' that she doesn't leave you that eyesore of a house? If I hadn't been starvin', I would have joined you, and I haven't prayed in years" Betsy was trying to be amusing.

"I was not.

Betsy shot me a mean look. "You have been horrid all day long. You are acting just like Gert"

Anger replaced the sadness in Billy Lee's blue eyes.

I looked up at Betsy, standing there with her hands on her hips in defiance, and said, "You're right. I have been praying, and I really don't see a change coming anytime soon. Let's go hear the will. Billy, would you like to join us?"

"I would love to"

Betsy shot me another hateful look. "Why would he want to be there?"

"Who knows? Maybe she left her house to him, and he gets to decide whether to burn it down or not"

"I hope she left it to you, Trudy. I hope you get all hot and sweaty cleaning out that mess," Betsy said. "You've really been horrible today."

`And just think, my dear cousin. Today is the first day of the rest of my life, and I may never change." I led the way out of the sanctuary and into the room where the lawyer and Marty waited.

This is ridiculous," Marty said.

Betsy folded her arms over her chest and snarled at the sight of the tiny chairs and tables. Billy Lee pulled one out and sat down, his knees drawn up practically to his chin.

"Let's go into the sanctuary or the adult Sunday school room," Betsy said.

The lawyer ignored her, opened his briefcase, and took out a single sheet of paper. "I am Steven McRae. Gertrude asked that her last will and testament be read in this room. It won't take long to take care of the business."