They fell into a new routine, which involved Lisa Marie spending several hours every day on set. Meanwhile, Priscilla went about her own business. She hadn't even dropped a hint regarding how she spend her afternoons. Sometimes she came back with her hair or nails done but she never bothered to say anything.
Elvis started every day out with a taste of the north pole in the form of her cold gaze greeting him at the kitchen table. Then he went to the studio and smiled at Loretta even though he didn't feel like it. And she smiled back. Sometimes, when the other looked especially tired, a few questions were asked. But more often than not, they held their smiles and spoke about the antics of the Mafia or the children. About their own offspring or the outrageous number of cigars the Colonel smoked.
Something was different today. It hadn't been when he woke in the morning but by the time lunch rolled around, Priscilla was nowhere to be seen. So Elvis ate with Loretta and the kids and spend some time with the Mafia while Loretta put the kids down for the nap that had become a part of their daily routine.
Lisa would nap with them. Elvis took more than one picture of the three of them huddled together on the tiny couch, Clayton on one side and Maybelle on the other with Lisa squeezed somewhere in the middle.
Elvis' break came to an end, but complications with the set held them up. It wasn't as though Elvis really minded. With Loretta's trailer occupied by sleeping children and the Mafia occupied with one thing or another, Elvis ended up inviting Loretta to his trailer to watch whatever was on TV.
They sat side by side on the cramped couch, Loretta's shoes discarded by the door and her feet tucked under her.
"Does it hurt you to have Lisa around?" Elvis blurted out, seemingly out of nowhere.
Loretta's confused gaze snapped toward him. "Why would it hurt me, honey?"
"Cause your kids ain't here."
"They're in school," she reasoned. "Them being here wouldn't work anyhow. Doo would be off with your guys, my boys would wreck those golf cards, my twins would get the kids all riled up..."
"All of that could be real fun."
Loretta shook her head. "Only for you. Hillbrook would have a heart attack, I'm sure."
"Then we wouldn't have to finish the picture."
"I wanna finish the picture."
"I'm not sure what I want," Elvis admitted.
"I don't mind workin' hard but they could be a whole lot nicer to us is what I think."
"Ain't you right," Elvis sighed, throwing his head back against the couch. "All that gettin' up early though, that's gonna be the death of me. I don't function at the butt crack of dawn."
"You wouldn't do good up in the hollers."
"No, ma'am," Elvis agreed, offering her a small grin, which she returned.
"You know what Peggy and Patsy told me? They said that they don't want Clayton and Maybelle callin' me Mommy in the picture. Even if it's just pretend."
A laugh rumbled from Elvis' throat. "I would've been the same when I was a boy. My mama was just mine. I guess they don't understand pretending yet."
"Oh they do understand that TV is pretending. But they don't want their mommy to pretend."
Neither did Priscilla, a woman of twenty five. Elvis didn't mention it though. Instead he said, "I don't think Lisa really understands what we're doing. All she understands is that it keeps me real busy."
"Sometimes you don't know what's better."
Elvis nodded in agreement. "You think you're gonna be in another movie after this?"
"No," Loretta answered without even considering. "I'm busy enough as it is and I'm not much of an actress."
"Told you before that you're better than you think you are."
"Only cause all I gotta do is act like I'm a poor wife and mama and I've been that before. I couldn't act like I'm a lady from high society cause I never knowed how."
"They wouldn't make you play nothin' like that. Least I don't think so."
"I wouldn't wanna do it again either way."
They both watched the television for a while though neither one was paying any attention. Eventually Elvis went to turn it off. "You wasn't watchin' that, were you?"
"I don't have to watch that," Loretta said. A brief silence followed before she spoke again. "You get so attached to each other when you gotta do that, you know?"
"Well, usually when you film together either you become good friends or you never wanna see each other ever again. Spendin' most of your wakin' hours together for a few weeks does that to you."
"It's strange to be goin' home to my husband and my kids and then get back here to my fake husband and my fake kids. It's like I got two lives."
"Don't we do that anyway?" Elvis questioned. "Bein' singers and all?"
The trailer door flew open, causing both of their heads to turn in its direction. The figure of Lamar Fike walked in to proclaim, "Cilla's here with Lisa."
"Little late," Elvis grumbled.
"Do you want me to tell her-"
"No," Elvis cut Lamar off. "Why don't you get her for me? I don't..." he trailed off, thankful that Lamar only nodded his head and took off.
"I guess the guys are gonna watch her again," Elvis groaned, throwing his head back against the couch. "Sometimes I wonder if she goes doing stuff like that on purpose."
"Doo does stuff like that on purpose sometimes. Just cause he can hurt me that way."
"Well, it ain't right when you put the kids in it."
"No it ain't," she agreed. There was a strange tension between them. They had said too much already and Loretta found herself adding even more. "He got that wallpaper, my Doo- the ugliest wallpaper that I ever saw and that's saying something cause at our house in the hollers we had nothing but newspaper-"
When Elvis laughed, Loretta laughed along though it wasn't funny.
"So he put on that wallpaper in our bedroom while I was away and my little twins say to me 'Mommy, did you see the bedroom, we helped Daddy put on the new wallpaper'. So I couldn't even say how ugly I thought it was without hurting their feelings."
For a moment they stared at each other, their gazes hanging together until Elvis said, "Sounds almost like something Cilla would do. He's... that wasn't a nice thing to do."
"Yeah but being at home with the kids is hard. I get how he's frustrated."
"So he shouldn't make himself any extra work then," Elvis blurted out, not realizing what he had said until it was to late. "I'm sorry, Loretta. It's not my place."
"But I can't say it ain't the truth."
The door was opened yet again and Lamar entered, letting go of Lisa Marie's hand to allow her to run up to her father. Elvis wrapped her up in his arms and placed a smacking kiss on her forehead.
"Can you get her somethin' to eat in here?" Elvis asked Lamar, who quickly went off to do the task.
"Hi Lowetta," Lisa said, adding a mile wide grin to her greeting.
"Hi Lisa." Loretta returned the smile. "How are you, baby?"
"Not a baby," Lisa protested with a frown. "Where's them kids?"
"Aww." Elvis ran his fingers through her hair. "You got here late today and they're asleep already."
"No fair," Lisa mumbled. Her head landed on Elvis' shoulder. Lamar returned with the food soon enough. It was fries with ketchup again- the cafeteria didn't exactly have a wide variety of foods available. Lisa didn't mind though; she dug into the meal as if she had been starved. Elvis found himself hoping that he would be able to get her settled before they had to go back to work. But then the door was thrown open and one of the assistants announced that they were to report on set.
Lisa howled in cousin Billy's arms, blue eyes wide and full of betrayal as she stared after Elvis.
Elvis was certain now that Priscilla had done it on purpose. Same as Loretta's husband with the wallpaper.
~*~
Elvis arrived at the California house at past midnight to find Priscilla waiting for him. Dread stole over him like a cloud at the sight. He could hardly keep on his feet, the task of walking into his bedroom and having to strip out of his clothes was almost too much to take.
"You have got some explaining to do," Priscilla said. The look on her face could have melted butter.
"I gotta sleep," Elvis mumbled. The guys, who had been surrounding him moments ago, all skirted off.
"Sleep can wait."
"You go and work sixteen hours a day before you try bein' the judge of that."
"You don't work sixteen hours a day." Priscilla's voice was dangerously calm. "You're just there sixteen hours a day, half of that time you spend doing something else, don't you?"
"And what if I did?" Elvis spat, his tiredness fading as anger set in. His face flickered to rage and he curled a hand into a fist.
"You don't know what this is about, do you?"
"I don't care. I'm gonna go to bed."
"Your daughter can talk now." Priscilla burst out. "Does lying to me even make you feel bad anymore? You told me that woman-"
"I told you that I can't make her go away cause she works there. That's what I told you. I never said that she wasn't gonna see Lisa at all."
"You said you'd eat inside the trailer, with the guys. You said you were gonna tell her-"
"I never said that I would tell her anything."
"Will you stop cutting me off and wait until I'm finished?" Priscilla shrieked.
"No. I'm finished! Done! You hear me? Lisa always had a good time on set"
"Had is right. She won't stay there without me anymore."
"You're banned from the set and I can't meet you anywhere out there."
"That's too bad for you," Priscilla said haughtily. "I can't trust you or the guys with Lisa."
"Oh, bullshit. What did she tell you that was so awful?"
"Maybe nothing happened yet," Priscilla relented. "And maybe nothing would happen at all but you made a promise you didn't keep. You knew exactly what you had to say so I'd let her stay and-"
"If you felt so awful about leavin' her there why did you leave for four or five hours at the time?"
"Because I thought that you were doing what we agreed you would do."
"Well, not everything always goes the way you plan. She wants to play with the kids and they're with Loretta a lot-"
"Those kids are so much older than she is," Priscilla said.
"It's not like I leave the three of em to themselves out there. They're always bein' watched."
"Not always by you."
"No, god forbid not always by me," Elvis snapped. "You just get over yourself and-"
"No, I will not get over myself." Priscilla was on the verge of hysteria.
"You're blowing it out of proportion, Cilla. Keep this up and you're goin' home."
Priscilla's only response was an open mouthed stare. Having succeeded in rendering her speechless, Elvis turned on his heels to exit the room just as Priscilla regained her composure.
"Excuse me?" she screamed. "This is as much my house as it's yours. I get to be where I want-"
"If I say that you're out, you're out. I can't work when you pouch on me the moment I wake up, every night when I get back-"
"Quit exaggerating."
Elvis let out a mirthless laugh. "Funny that you should say that since that's all you're doin'. You act like Loretta is gonna slit Lisa's throat the moment I turn my back."
"Turn your back?" Priscilla repeated, pausing after every word. "You left her alone with that woman?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"If you left her alone with that woman. If you-"
"What then?" Elvis forced out. "You tell me then what?"
"I'll never trust you with Lisa again," Priscilla hissed. "Now go and sleep for all I care."
The problem was that he couldn't possibly sleep anymore now. Priscilla's words rattled in his head. The anger was so overwhelming, he was tempted to kick and scream and throw things until he was ready to collapse.
Perhaps there was no other choice but to follow through with his threat of sending Priscilla back to Memphis.
~*~
Oh oh. Is Priscilla headed back to Memphis?! Or she is going to be sticking around until the bitter end?