Returned to me

Chapter One

It had been nearly a decade since the last time she set foot in this town. It seemed not much had changed although everything had changed. Her heels clicked against the concrete stone as she headed towards the church in the center of downtown. She clutched her bag in one hand and her daughter's hand in another. "Now," She breathes in sharply at the thought of seeing old friends and family. She had not seen anyone since she left. "When we walk in and see everyone we will smile, and act naturally." She said this more to herself than to her two-year-old daughter.

"Act nadurally?" Her daughter asks while looking up at her. She laughs at her daughter's pronunciation. It was a work in progress.

"Yes, naturally." She corrects her pronunciation as they enter the large white doors. She could feel all the eyes on her as they made their way into the sanctuary. They sat down on one of the wooden pews in the back. She anticipated everyone would swarm them soon enough.

"Now do my eyes deceive me?" Her blood churned at the thick southern-accented woman behind her. She stands to her feet to greet the lady. "My word, it is you. I haven't seen you since you were a girl. You have surely blossomed."

"Thank you." She said quite prim and proper for being back home. "This is my daughter. She is two."

"Well, she does look like you. She has your blonde hair and blue eyes." She gets down on her daughter's level, but she hides behind her. "Oh, she is a shy thing."

"Yes much like her daddy." She says confidently.

"Bless her heart." She says with a double-edged tongue. Bless her heart is not a term that is used kindly in the South. Her daughter's timidity was not something that was welcomed in the South either. No, every girl and woman should be extraverted and well-liked. Sadly, her daughter was more on the introverted side of things. Her blue eyes she may have inherited from her mother, but everything else was her daddy. "Speaking of the devil, where is your husband?"

"He is working." She answers shortly and to the point. She wouldn't tell them the truth. No, the truth would be scandalous and gossipworthy. Truth be, she and her husband were divorcing. As it was, he decided that she was not satisfying him, and off he went to find someone else. She was back to her roots as it is said. Her mother convinced her to return home from New York City.

"Is that little Jo, I see?" Her Uncle's voice is heard from miles away. He was a big Southern man. He was a stereotypical Southern man. His belly was huge and his accent was thick. That is not an insult. In some ways, it is a compliment.

"Yes, it is me." She dreaded every person that would come up and say hello. Before her uncle could say anything her mother came to her rescue.

"Now, you get on and git." She says shooshing away every onlooker. "You'll see her after church at the church potluck. It is the lord's Day, so we need to respect that." Her mother was in her mid-late fifties, but a hard life can make anyone look older than they are. She taps her daughter's leg. "It is nice to see you at church again. It has been a while, and your husband has kept y'all away for too long." Her mother also was not shy at all. She said everything that came to the woman's brain. Let's say Joanna was not happy to be home.

"Mother," She starts as quietly as possible. "I will not be attending the church's potluck. You are lucky I agreed to come here. I have already had one person ask where Jim is at. I don't need the whole town asking."

"Well darling eventually the town will know." Her mother surprisingly whispered back. "It's just a matter of time."

"Well, I am still not going."

That was an absolute lie after service Joanna could not escape the swarm of people that came to talk to her. She had not been to this town for nearly a decade every person came out to see how little Jo was doing. They all heard she had married an affluent man from New York. He was wealthy from old money. Little Jo, as it was rumored, had captured the man with her beauty and seduced him to marry her. No, that's not what happened at all. Jim did come from money, but he in his own right was smart. He was a businessman and knew everything it was to know about business. He had met her during the war when she was a nurse. He was an officer who met her on base, and they quickly fell in love. It only took five years for that love to turn into resentment. Soon her love-filled marriage became loveless. They both had grown unhappy with each other and sought to fill that in other ways. Joanna had turned into a woman who escaped from her trouble with her child and her friends. While Jim had turned into a man who escaped from his trouble in his work and his secretary.