In her usual fashion, Louise had ignored her mother's advice and barely slept on the fifteen hour train ride from Nashville to Montgomery. It wasn't like she didn't try, she just found something about sleeping while traveling unfavorable. Instead, she sat there, forcing her eyes open as she looked down at the copy of The Importance of Being Earnest that she took from Jack when he wasn't looking. However, her exhaustion got the best of her at times, and she spent most of the trip sitting there with her eyes closed, barely able to open them.
She hardly remembered getting off of the train and meeting her mother, and she certainly didn't remember the car ride from the train station to Edith's home. The next thing she knew she was waking up in the room Charlotte and Jean used to share. It was exactly the same as it had been when they moved. As she opened her eyes, she squinted as the bright sun streamed through the windows. How long had she been there?
Slowly, she let her feet hit the floorboards and she looked around the room. She couldn't help but feel uneasy, laying in Jean's bed long after she had gone. Jean and Charlotte's trinkets and belongings were still immaculately displayed on shelves. When she opened their dresser, there was still clothes in it. She wondered if Edie ever went back in here after her daughters died.
Tiredly, Louise exited the room and looked around the hallway. The door to the room that she and her sister Harriet once shared was closed and she realized that Clara and Libby probably slept there now. When Louise determined that Edie was not upstairs, she slowly made her way to the parlor.
Immediately, she was greeted by the smell of cigarette smoke and the sound of classical music. Her mother was sitting in an old armchair, her back facing the staircase, reading a book and smoking while the radio played. Still standing on the stairway, Louise coughed.
Abruptly, Edie turned around and examined her third daughter. "Did I wake you?" She asked.
"No ma'am." Louise said as she sprawled herself out on the sofa across from her mother.
"You look awful." She said.
"Gimme a smoke, please."
"You shouldn't be smoking." Edie responded.
"I shouldn't be doin' many things."
Hesitantly, Edie tossed her daughter the pack of cigarettes and the book of matches. "Sit up when you do that, I don't want you lightin' the sofa on fire." Obediently, she sat up and lit her cigarette. Taking a drag, she looked around the parlor.
"Where are the girls?"
"Clara is out with some scoundrel," Edith replied, scrunching her nose. "Libby's upstairs reading."
Louise laughed. "How does it feel? Havin' young broads again?"
"I reckon it's alright."
Louise sighed as she laid back down on the sofa. She wasn't sure how long she had slept, but she knew she was quite certain that she could sleep for at least another day. "How're you feelin'?" Edie asked as she put her book down on the end table next to her.
"Dreadful."
"You should go back to sleep."
"I'm fine."
"If you think so."
"Where's Harriet?"
"I suppose she's at home," Edith said. Harriet had gotten herself married shortly after Jean passed (Louise never knew that a miserable wedding reception could exist), and nobody in the family was surprised when she and her husband decided to move within the same neighborhood as Edie and the aunts. "She's gotten a job, you know."
"She mentioned that in a letter," Louise responded. "What is it she's doin'?"
"It's nothin' much, she's a secretary for her husband." Edie responded as she delicately pressed her cigarette in the ashtray next to her. Hastily, she extended the tray to her daughter. "She's excited you're here."
Louise took a long drag from her cigarette and looked around the parlor. It was exactly how it was the last time she had been there. "Edie?" She asked, not looking at her mother.
"Hmm?"
"Does Scout ever ask you about Jean?" She asked slowly.
Edie coughed. Louise wondered if it was hard for her to talk about her dead daughters. "She does."
"What do you tell her?"
"I tell her about when she was little." Edie responded. "She started askin' the last time she came to visit."
Louise finally looked over at her mother. "What did you tell her?" She asked again.
Edie laughed to herself. "I told her how she tried to bury you in the back yard when you were two."
Louise burst into laughter. "I bet she liked that an awful lot."
"Said she wished Jem was smaller so she could do it to him."
"She's a trip."
"She sure is."
Edie picked her book up again and began leafing through the pages. Finishing her cigarette, Louise looked up at the ceiling, laying completely still. As a child, Edie always hated how fidgety she and Jean had been. Once she reached adulthood, Louise was surprised to discover how perfectly content she was being completely still.
"What did you tell her?" Edie asked.
"What?"
"What did you tell Scout," she continued slowly. "About Eugenia?"
"She asked what Jean smelled like and what her favorite color was and if she liked to play in the rain so I answered her."
"She always got so dirty in the rain." Edie reminisced.
Louise wondered if Edie ever suspected that she would lose her husband, grandson, two daughters and a son-in-law before she would even be close to dying. Maybe she did, and that was why she had always been so stern and almost resigned for Louise's entire life. Maybe Edie approached life so seriously because she knew what was coming. She seemed to spend her entire life preparing for this, as if she was born knowing her fate. Louise couldn't help but to wonder if Edie would outlive not only all of her sisters, but her children as well. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, Louise tried to focus on other things.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothin'."
"You look agitated."
"Just tired."
"What did you do while you were away?"
"I ate a lot." Louise responded, giggling softly to herself. "And I just saw everything I could."
"Did you see Versailles?"
"I did. You would've liked it."
"I'm never leavin' Montgomery." Her mother replied. "What else did you see?"
"I spent some time in Monaco. I went to Switzerland and ate a lot of chocolate—I brought some for you. I saw Buckingham Palace and spent some time in England and I went to Italy and saw the Trevi Fountain." Louise said, drowsily listing off the places she had seen in the past two years.
"Where were your favorite places?" Edie asked.
"Spain and France, I spent the most time there."
"What did they think of your accent?"
"They laughed at me." Louise giggled.
"Did you enjoy yourself?"
"I most certainly did."
"Did you get lonely?"
Louise shrugged. "There were people everywhere."
"Not your people."
She couldn't help but to laugh at Edie. For as long as Louise could remember, Edie was always telling her daughters how they were better off staying in Montgomery for the rest of their lives. They were born and bred there, they knew the people and the city and would do quite well in the future. She had been quite pleased when both Charlotte and Harriet had decided to stay there, but wasn't so quiet in voicing her disappointment over Jean and Louise leaving (though she couldn't have been too surprised). Louise figured that her staying in Montgomery while she was married to Phil had to be enough to please her mother. Though, sometimes Louise couldn't help but to wonder whether if there was anything that actually pleased Edie.
"They were fine enough."
"I think you would be so much happier if you just settled." Edie said, shaking her head.
"I tried that once, remember?" Louise rolled her eyes. "That didn't quite work like it was supposed to."
"That just wasn't your time." Her mother said, shaking her head. "Now that you've done your runnin' you should focus on settling. You still have time."
"I wasn't runnin' and I don't want to settle."
Edie sighed. "What do you call that latest excursion, then?"
"A trip."
"A two year long trip?" Edith asked impatiently. "That's simply ridiculous."
"You just don't understand because you've got no business leaving Montgomery." Louise retorted.
"Neither did you."
"I certainly did."
"Eugenia," she started firmly, but then caught herself. Her face turned pink as she huffed a little. "Louise, you don't just solve your problems by runnin' away."
"I wasn't trying to solve anything, I just wanted to go." She said, ignoring the fact that she had just been called Eugenia.
"You gettin' yourself so agitated all the time will give you a heart attack." She said seriously. "That's why you need to settle."
Louise sighed. "Mama, anything can give me a heart attack considerin' my genes." She said hastily. "Jean was settled and…" She stopped, sighing again. "Edie, I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
"I guess I am agitated."
"You always have been, it's no surprise."
"Can I settle while being alone?" Louise asked playfully. "I've found I don't like companionship too much."
"You can do whatever you want as long as you're not that far from your home again. It just isn't natural." Edie said, making Louise chuckle.
"Are you still glad I'm back?"
"Mm hmm."
"Will you still be glad in a week?"
"Ask me then."
Louise chuckled to herself as Edith started reading again. For a few moments the two of them sat there quietly, minding to themselves. Still tired from the excessive traveling she had done the past two days, Louise found herself dozing off as she stared at the ceiling. It wasn't until her mother was standing over her that she began to focus again. "You hungry?" Edie asked.
"I'll just have some bread." Louise said tiredly.
Edie scoffed. "Bread? That's hardly anything. What's the last thing you ate?"
Louise had to think about that. "A ham sandwich." She said.
"When was that?"
"In Nashville."
"Lord Almighty, Louise!" Edie exclaimed. "Get up. You're eatin'. It's nearly five o'clock!"
Louise rolled her eyes. "I don't need anything, I'm not hungry."
"If you do not get up right now I'll skin you," Edie said testily. "I have some chicken in the kitchen."
"Don't want it."
"Charlotte—"she said before sighing in frustration. "Louise get up and eat somethin'."
"If it'll get you to be quiet, then fine." Louise huffed as she got off of the sofa and strode towards the kitchen. She began to rummage around for food when Edie stopped her and forced her to sit at the table while she made her daughter a plate.
"I'm thirty-five I can do this myself." Louise scowled.
"I've learned if I left you to your own devices you won't do what's good for you." Edie responded. "If I want something done my way, I need to do it myself."
"You talk like you're on some sort of secret mission or somethin'." Louise said as Edie shoved a plate in front of her.
"Just eat."
"I can already tell that we are going to have the loveliest week." Louise said, taking a bite of her chicken. It was Edie's turn to roll her eyes.
-o-o-o-
Surprisingly, her initial week in Montgomery had gone by quickly. The entire time Louise found herself irritable because she was doing exactly what she hated to do: being social. When she wasn't with her mother, nieces and aunts she was with her younger sister having teas and brunches with women she used to be friends with when she was a child. They looked at her different. Well, they always had looked at her differently, especially when comparing her to her two older sisters, but it was almost as if she was tainted by the deaths of her sisters and husband. Despite the fact that years had passed since then, her old companions looked at her and mournfully shook their heads while they grasped her hands. It was almost as if she was given a death sentence.
As the days went by, Louise couldn't help but to be excited about her visit with Maudie. For as long as Louise could remember, Maudie was low key. Louise anticipated having to socialize to an extent while she was in Maycomb, but she was quite certain that she and Maudie would laugh their heads off about how ridiculous other women could be. Additionally, by being so close to Atticus, Jem and Scout, she could easily spend most of her free time with them and avoid having to go too far out of her comfort zone.
She wasn't sure how long she'd be in Maycomb. It was the middle of June, almost July really, and both Maudie and Atticus had informed her that she was welcome for as long as she wanted, so she figured that she would just arrive and leave whenever she had the urge. It wasn't like coming and going from Montgomery and Maycomb would be difficult, it wasn't too far of a commute. While she was perfectly content with the ambiguous nature of her plans, Edie was furious. Edie liked things scheduled and set in stone, and the fact that Louise lived so freely got under her mother's skin. Louise didn't care, however. She tried living a regimented life once, and she hated it.
Louise boarded the train towards Maycomb (well really Abbott County) on a Tuesday morning. Edie had seen her off at the station and insisted that Louise call when she arrived. Rolling her eyes, she told her mother that growing old made her worry and it wasn't too attractive, but that she would call all the same. It wasn't until she was halfway to Maycomb, again flipping through The Importance of Being Earnest, that she realized that she hadn't told Maudie or Atticus that this was the day she would be arriving.
Once she arrived at the station, she grabbed her bags and looked around for the phone. Originally, she was going to call Maudie, apologize for being so senseless, and ask if she could be picked up. But she realized that it would make for a much grander entrance if she called Maycomb's only taxi (she always took it whenever she would visit Jean and Atticus) and arrive without anyone knowing. Smiling triumphantly to herself as she picked up the receiver on the public phone, imagining the looks of surprise on Jem and Scouts faces.
The colored man who drove the taxi was the same driver who picked her up from the station whenever she came to visit Maycomb. As she settled herself and her luggage in the back seat, he looked at her, smiling kindly. "You sure do look familiar, ma'am, but I don't know where I know ya from. I'm certain you're not from town."
"I'm not." She replied pleasantly. "I'm Atticus Finch's sister-in-law, I came to visit quite a few times."
The man's eyes lit up when he remembered her. "You're Mrs. Finch's sister," he said, nodding to himself. After a moment, a solemn look appeared on his face. "She was awfully nice."
"She was."
"Are you here to see Mr. Finch and the chil'ren?" He asked as he started the taxi.
"I sure am, thank you very much for takin' me." She responded.
The car ride was quite pleasant, to say the least. Her driver happily talked about Maycomb, how warm the summer had been, and how big Mr. Finch's children were getting. At one point, he shook his head though he was still smiling, and said: "If only Mrs. Finch could see her babies now." Louise felt a little pang in her heart.
"If only." She said, nodding, trying to sound normal.
When he stopped the car in front of Atticus' house, she noticed that nobody was outside. As she fumbled in her pocketbook for some money to give the man, he shook his head and said: "You're Mr. Finch's kin, you don't need to worry 'bout payin' me."
"Don't be silly," she said, handing him extra money. "Take it."
After she grabbed her bags and got out of the taxi, she pleasantly waved goodbye to him as he drove off. Looking around, she decided that she would put her stuff at Maudie's before looking for Jem and Scout. Quietly, she climbed up onto Maudie's porch and put her bags by the door. Louise figured her cousin was inside drinking tea or doing something, and she would come by again once she saw the children.
Hopping off of Maudie's porch steps, Louise quietly made her way towards Atticus' house. When she saw the children weren't in the front yard playing, she slowly made her way to the back, where she found them, playing with their backs to her. Jem and Scout were playing with another small creature who looked like he was even younger than her niece. Animatedly, they were talking and it wasn't until Louise really had a chance to listen to what they were saying that she realized that they all had roles and were playing a game.
She leaned against the fence so it creaked loudly, and when the children jumped she greeted them with a grin and nearly shouted: "Whatcha y'all doin'?"
She felt bad for the poor stranger, who looked confused as Jem and Scout both let out shrieks of: "Aunty!" and ran towards her. Flinging open the fence as hard as she could, she engulfed her niece and nephew in a large hug. Stepping away to observe them, she couldn't help but beam. "Lord Almighty!" She said. "The two of you are nearly tall as me!"
When it came to Jem that really wasn't an exaggeration. Though her nephew was only ten-years-old, he was gaining significant height on his aunt. It didn't help that Louise and all of her sisters had always been so short. "Atticus didn't say you were comin' today!" Scout said as she buried her face in Louise's hip.
"He musta forgot or somethin'," Jem said, smiling. "He always says he's gettin' forgetful."
Louise smirked. "He didn't know I was comin'," She said, almost proudly. "I didn't tell a soul."
"Were you tryna to surprise us?" Jem asked. "'Cause it sure worked."
"Well, I'm sure glad it did." Louise grinned. "What're y'all doin'?" She asked, looking at the scrawny boy who was still watching the scene.
Before any of the children could say anything, the back screen door slammed open. "Why are you makin' such a ruckus?" Cal, the housemaid that worked for Jean and Atticus since Jem was a baby, asked testily as she came outside.
"Oh, Calpurnia!" Louise exclaimed, smiling at the woman. "I'm afraid my arrival has prompted this uproar."
Cal, who previously had a hardened look on her face, gave Louise a small smile though she simultaneously looked embarrassed. "Mrs. Green," she said politely, though Louise hated being called that. "I am mighty sorry, I didn't realize you were comin' today! Would you like somethin' to eat or drink?"
Louise remained smiling. "You don't have to call me Mrs. Green, Cal." She said, trying to sound as polite as she could. "And I'm quite fine, thank you."
Cal smiled at Louise once again before telling her that if she needed anything to call for her, and retreated back into the house. Looking at her niece and nephew, she playfully put her hands on her hips and said: "Well, who's this?" She asked, looking at their friend. The little man (he looked like a grown man stuck in a kid's body) strode up to her and extended his hand out for her.
"The names Charles Baker Harris," he said confidently. "But my friends call me Dill."
"Dill," she repeated, shaking his hand. "I like it. You can call me Louise, I'm Jem and Scout's aunt."
"I didn't know Atticus had sisters," Dill said thoughtfully. Scout kicked him in the shin.
"She's our mama's sister." She said, almost as if Dill should have known that. Louise couldn't help but to think that the boy looked damn well impressed by Scout's brashness.
"What're y'all playin'?" She asked curiously.
"We-ell," Dill started. "We're playin' the Radley's—"
Dill was interrupted by Jem telling him to hush. "I'm sorry!" Dill exclaimed. "I forgot."
"Forgot what?" Louise asked.
"Nothin' ma'am." Jem responded quickly, and all three children stood still as statues.
"What's the Radley's?"
"Nothin'."
"Don't sound like nothin'." Louise said. "Is it somethin' you're not supposed to be playin'?"
Jem, Scout and Dill all exchanged nervous glances. "Well, Aunty." Jem started, and began explaining that this was a game that they had all invented around different speculations about their neighbor, Boo Radley. Atticus had recently discovered what they had been doing and told them it wasn't appropriate, though they still sometimes played it. "We changed all their names, I swear." Jem added quickly after explaining everything to her.
"Well," Louise said. "Is there a role for me? I won't tell Atticus if you don't."
The children beamed. "Well we only have three roles, but you can play Mrs. Radley instead of Scout."
"He-ey!" Scout protested, making Louise realize that her niece probably didn't get much of a chance to play any good roles in the games she played with the boys.
"It's for Aunty!" Jem said.
"How bout we make a new role so Scout can keep hers," Louise said quickly, making her niece smile. "I can pretend to be the cat or somethin' and one of ya'll can stab me."
The kids erupted into giggles. "You really want to play a cat, Miss?" Dill asked.
Louise shrugged. "I met a cat who was a hell of a lady, so I figured I can act like her." She said, making a jab at Rose Aylmer, hoping that Jem and Scout would catch on.
"You talkin' about Uncle Jack's cat—"Jem asked, laughing, as Maudie began calling for her cousin from across the street.
"Louise Cecilia Graham," She said, her voice growing closer. "Did you really have the nerve of leaving your bags on my porch and leaving?"
"Oh, Maudie," Louise said dramatically as her cousin came into view. "I'm sure the look of pure joy on these children's faces could certainly make up for my wrongdoing."
Maudie got closer to her cousin, though she was smiling, she was trying to be mad. "First, you don't even tell me you're coming," she said, waving her finger in the air. "Then, you leave your belongings on my porch for me to trip over."
Louise smirked. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't make a grand entrance?" She asked, trying to sound charming. "I'll come by real quick to put my belongings in a more suitable place, but I did promise them I'd play a game with 'em."
"I should've known this would be the first place you came to," Maudie said as she hugged her cousin. "I'll put your things away for you. Will you be at my place for dinner?"
Scout gasped. "Aunty, can you eat with us? Ple-ease?" She asked.
"Yeah, please!" Jem said. Louise glanced at Maudie and then at the children.
"We'll need to ask your father," Louise said. "He still doesn't know I'm here, after all."
"He won't mind!" Scout insisted. "You can surprise him when he's walkin' home! When we go to meet him you can hide in Mrs. Dubose's flowers and jump out at him and we can ask him!"
Louise and Maudie both laughed. "I think I'll just walk with y'all." She said. "We don't want to scare the daylights outta him."
"He'll say yes, I know it." Scout said.
Maudie laughed and quickly grasped Louise's arms. "I'm just going to make the assumption that I won't be seein' you until after dinner." She said. "We can have some tea when you come back and we can talk about your latest adventure."
"Maudie Atkinson, you are a saint." Louise said.
"Well I had to be, considering who my cousins were." Maudie winked before walking towards her own yard. "You all have fun, don't wear your poor Aunt out on her first day here."
"We're sure glad you're here," Jem said, grinning. "Are you sure you don't mind bein' a cat?"
"Why, I'd play a rug if you needed me to." She said.
In more detail, Jem described to Louise the nature of their game and explained the characters that they would all be playing. While he was talking, she couldn't help but to be genuinely impressed by how creative these children were. However, she soon came to regret offering to be the cat because she was the character that was killed first, and after Jem pretended to stab her, her only responsibilities were to mew pathetically for a short while and look dead. Luckily, she was coming home to Maudie and not Edie, because she managed to get her dress quite dirty from laying on the ground.
After playing the game twice, Dill was beckoned home by his aunt. After biding goodbye to their friend, Jem and Scout both went to their treehouse. "You can come up too, Aunty." Jem offered as she settled herself on the tire swing that hung on the branch below the treehouse.
"That's quite alright, I'm afraid of heights." She explained.
"You flew on a plane, that's much higher than this!" Jem said.
"Yes, but I was petrified the entire time and refused to look anywhere but straight ahead of me." Louise responded, smiling. "What do y'all do after Dill goes home?"
"Usually we keep playin'." Scout said.
"Sometimes we go inside and read or play a game inside." Jem continued.
"We always meet Atticus when he walks home." Scout said as Jem nodded. Rather than going all the way in the treehouse, Jem and Scout sat at the entrance of it so they could still see their aunt.
"Are y'all close? Do you play together all the time?" She asked them.
"I reckon so." Jem said, nodding.
Louise smiled. "Your mama and I played together all the time, we used to make up games too." She told them, they both looked fascinated.
"What kind of games did you play?" Jem asked, curiously. Louise could detect a hint of somberness to him at the mention of his mother.
"Well, we didn't make up games about our neighbors," She winked at them. "But we played lots of things. We made up a game where we would dare each other to do things, and if we didn't do the dare somethin' bad would happen."
"What would happen?" Scout asked in a concerned tone.
Laughing, Louise shrugged. "Well, I don't know the answer to that." She said. "We always did the dare."
"What did you two make each other do?" Jem asked, a smile forming on his face.
"One time when I was fifteen your mama dared me to eat two uncooked eggs." Louise responded seriously, both children erupted into a fit of laughter.
"She dared you to do that?" Jem asked, almost in disbelief.
"She did," Louise confirmed. "And I got real sick from it and when the doctor asked what I had eaten we couldn't tell them about our dares. D'you remember your mama's nose?" She asked.
Jem looked deep in thought, while Scout watched her aunt and brother, still giggling from what she had just told them. "What 'bout it?" He asked.
"Remember how it was bumpy and crooked?"
"I reckon so."
"I don't!" Scout said and Louise smiled gingerly at her niece.
"Growin' up your mama had the cutest little button nose and people would always go up to her and pinch it and tell her about what a doll she looked like," She began, trying to suppress her laughter. "Well, one day, after our daddy died and we were movin' to the house that Edie lives in now, I noticed your granddaddy's gun collection was left in the open. Your nanny told us to mind our business because she had things to do, so naturally I thought of a dare. I took one of his big ole rifles and gave it to your mama, who was about Jem's age at the time, and told her that we were going to play hunters and that she needed to shoot at somethin' in the tree."
Scout gasped with excitement, almost as if she was being read from an adventure book. "What does that have to do with her nose?" Jem asked, looking deeply concentrated.
"I'm gettin' to it," Louise laughed. "Well your mama, never being one to turn down a dare, took the gun and aimed to shoot—she looked like she knew what she was doin' so I was mighty impressed. Turns out, she pressed somethin' wrong so when she tried to shoot it, it backfired in her face and broke her nose. There was blood everywhere and we were both hollerin' so loud y'all would've thought we were bein' killed! Ever since, her nose was crooked and always looked puffy."
For a moment, both Jem and Scout looked at their aunt with wide eyes and looks of astonishment on their faces. Then, almost simultaneously, they both erupted into a fit of laughter that almost caused Jem to fall out of the treehouse. "Mama," Jem said, having to stop to take a deep breath. "Mama shot a gun?"
"That was her one and only experience," Louise laughed. "She wasn't too fond of them after that."
"Did mama wear overalls like me when she was a kid?" Scout asked, a big smile still on her face.
Louise shook her head. "Edie would rather die than let her girls wear pants," she said. "So your mama always wore dresses, but she did like to play outside like you two do so they always looked like mine do now, or worse."
"I bet nanny hated that." Jem said.
"Nothin' made her skin crawl more." Louise said. "I bet if she could've, your mama would've worn overalls."
Scout giggled. "I still can't believe you made her shoot a gun."
Jem smiled to himself. "Now that you say it I can remember what her nose looked like."
As she lazily swung herself back and forth, she threw her arm up in an attempt to tap her nephew's foot as a source of comfort. She didn't quite reach him, but he saw her effort and smiled at her. "I'm glad you're here." He said.
"Me too, baby."
"How long will you be here, Aunty?" Scout asked.
As she opened her mouth to answer, Atticus approached them. "You haven't even been in Maycomb a full day and the children have already roughed you up, it seems." He greeted her with a laugh. Looking away from Jem and Scout, she came to see her brother-in-law standing before them. Quickly, Jem and Scout jumped down from the treehouse to properly greet their father. As they stepped away she slowly slid out of the tire swing and went to hug him before she stopped herself, realizing how dirty she was.
"I don't mind," he told her. "I've raised two children, I've been dirtier."
She smiled at him before hugging him. "It's good to see you, Atticus." She said.
"I'm certainly glad to see you," he said kindly, brushing a spot of dirt off of his suit jacket. "I was beginning to wonder when you would arrive."
"It seems as though I'm awful at lettin' family know when I'll be comin' and goin'." She said with a smile. "If it's any consolation, I didn't tell Edie I was back until the day before I planned on comin' to Montgomery."
"I'm sure she was absolutely tickled by that." He chuckled.
"Atticus!" Jem exclaimed excitedly. "Can Aunty eat dinner with us?"
"Ple-ease, Atticus!" Scout added.
"I don't see any reason why she won't be allowed to." Atticus said. "She can stay only if she wants to, don't pressure her if she says otherwise."
Scout attached herself to Louise's hip again, making her sway a little. Looking down at her niece, Louise wrinkled her nose, making Scout giggle. "Please stay for dinner, Aunty." She said.
"Well, I need to do some washin' up first but you know I'm certainly glad to stay." Louise responded as Scout hugged her hips tighter. Louise laughed, but found herself wishing that Jean would come out through the front door to greet them at any moment.