Two weeks ago, Loretta Lynn packed her bags, overcome with uncertainty and a sickening anticipation for what was going to come. She didn't feel much different now, as she once again packed her bags- this time to depart from the Presley home.
The bedroom door was pushed open, revealing the smiling face of Little Elvis. "What you doin'?" he asked. "Go way?"
"It's time for me to go home now, baby."
He tilted his head to the side. "No. Here. Live here." Little Elvis shuffled across the room, grabbing hold of the shirt Loretta was about to put in her bag. "No, pwease?"
Loretta swallowed hard when his face crumpled. Two weeks had been enough to convince him that she lived with them now. Elvis had been right- their children were the ones who would be hurting thanks to this crazy experiment they allowed themselves to take part in. She had spoken to Roxanne last night, gave her both her number and address and promised once again that there would be visits. There would be no way to make Little Elvis understand though.
"Me too?" Little Elvis asked, reaching his arms up toward Loretta. "Wif you?"
"You gotta stay here with your family, baby."
"You too."
"You can visit me at my house," Loretta told him, trying to sound enthusiastic. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"No."
It was like she was leaving her children when she was really returning to them. "But I want my little Elvis to visit me." She tugged down his shirt over his stomach as it had gotten bunched up. "Then we can have some more fun and you can play with my little girls."
He blinked, looking as if he could not fathom the concept of her having any children of her own. "Wif you?"
"You'll get to play with me there too."
"Stay?"
Elvis Presley's form pushed through the still open door. "We just about ready to go?"
"Almost," Loretta said. Elvis swung his pouting son up in his arms. They would be meeting up with Doolittle and Priscilla in Jackson, Tennessee, which was located roughly in between Memphis and Nashville.
"Me too," Little Elvis moaned, sounding on the verge of tears.
"But you're gonna have fun with your grandpa today," Elvis told him. "And Mary and Alberta are makin' you cookies."
Little Elvis perked up somewhat. "Yeah?"
"Oh yeah." Elvis placed his son back on his own feet. "You wanna check?"
Little Elvis hesitated. Stuffing his fingers in his mouth, he looked from Elvis to Loretta to the door before walking slowly toward the threshold.
"Roxy say goodbye yet?" Elvis questioned once his son was out of the room.
"No," Loretta said. "I ain't seen her all day. I got the feelin' that I'm gonna cry today."
"Well, don't you cry." Elvis added a smile to his statement, but it didn't make the occasion any more joyous.
Loretta zipped up her suitcase. She was just about to haul it off the bed when Elvis placed a hand on her arm. "You leave that be. The guys are gonna get it. You're too tiny to be carrying that thing."
"Why thank you."
"I wouldn't want you any other way Miss Loretta." Elvis turned on his heel. "I'm gonna get the guys to carry that down to the car." He waited for Loretta to say 'Okay' before going downstairs to do so. Once the task was done, he went to Roxanne's bedroom.
"Buttercup," he sang. "Where are you?"
Roxanne was laying on her bed with her new favorite album 'Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' playing in the background. Elvis perched on the edge of the bed and rested a hand on his daughter's back. "Aren't you gonna say goodbye to Loretta?"
"No," Roxanne mumbled into her pillow.
"I thought that the two of you were great friends."
"She's not my friend anymore."
"That ain't true."
"Well, I don't wanna say goodbye to her. She'll wanna hug and kiss me and I don't want to."
"Then you tell her that you don't want that. I still want you to say goodbye." Roxanne responded with a grunt, but Elvis didn't let up. "Now look, Loretta's been here with us, showing you stuff on the guitar, taking you places and singing to you and listing to you- she cares about you a great bit now so it'll hurt her feelings if you won't even come and say goodbye to her."
"I don't want to," Roxanne protested.
"Either you're gonna come out and say goodbye to Loretta or I'll send her in."
"No, you won't." Roxanne pulled her blanket over her face.
Elvis expelled a sigh as he left the room, pulling the door shut behind him. He found Loretta in the hall.
"Is someone pacing?" Elvis asked.
"No."
"Roxanne don't wanna say goodbye but I know that she had a real good time with you." He twisted the doorknob of Roxanne's room and called through the half open door. "Are you gonna say goodbye now?" He heard the stomping of her feet followed by the appearance of a sullen looking little blonde.
"Bye, Loretta," Roxanne murmured.
"Bye, honey," Loretta said. "Do I get a hug?"
"No."
"Well, I love you and I'll miss you, alright? Did you save my number and my address?"
"Yeah." Roxanne slipped back into her room and slammed the door.
"Roxanne!" Elvis thundered. Turning toward Loretta, he said, "I'm sorry."
"It's alright. We better get goin' now if we wanna get there on time."
"Did the guys take your stuff down?"
"Sure did."
The door to Roxanne's room was opened yet again. She looked down at the ground as she mumbled something.
"What?" Elvis and Loretta said in unison.
"I can't read what you wrote down," Roxanne admitted, " I mean...I can but not all of it cause you don't write that nice."
Loretta managed a small smile in response. "Well, that's what happens when you gotta sign a lot of things. Maybe your daddy can read it?"
Roxanne scampered back into her room and returned with the paper, which she thrust at Elvis. "Can you, Daddy?" she thrilled.
Elvis squinted at the paper, a laugh escaping him. "That looks kinda like my handwriting only that mine might be better."
"I can't read yours neither," Roxanne protested.
"I can read it fine, honey," Elvis assured her. "So just save that and you can write to Loretta and talk to her on the phone, okay?"
"Kay," Roxanne mumbled before going back inside her bedroom.
Before too long they were on the way to Jackson. Part of the reason why this departure was as difficult as it was hit Loretta then- it had actually felt as though Elvis and the kids wanted her around. Sometimes, being at home felt as though nobody needed or wanted her. At times she'd wonder why she had returned home at all only to fight with Doolittle and have her children ignore her. Elvis showered her with words of appreciation when Doolittle complained, Roxanne looked up to her while she could do nothing right in her children's eyes, Little Elvis gave her too tight hugs and slobbery kisses every day when Peggy and Patsy ran from her half the time- a woman could get used to that.
Both Elvis and Loretta spend the car ride lost in their own thoughts.
~*~
Priscilla stood in the backyard of the building designated for the two couples to meet and discuss the experiment. She had long debated about showing up at all. She had no desire to ever see Mooney Lynn again, but she had more than a few words to say to his wife and Elvis. She took a long drag of her cigarette, hoping that it would soothe her nerves. She knew for a fact that Mooney was here already though he was thankfully avoiding her as well.
Priscilla nearly choked on her cigarette when she heard the rumbling of an engine. She put out her smoke and sauntered toward the front of the house, stopping in her tracks when she saw that Mooney was already there.
Priscilla cringed as she took in the figure of his wife, who looked shorter than she did on photographs. Mooney planted a brief kiss on her lips, then grunted something at Elvis before pointing in her direction.
Elvis approached Priscilla's slowly, seemingly not at all in a hurry to welcome her. "Are you gonna come over?" he asked when he reached her.
"I won't be around Mooney," Priscilla said. "I'll talk to her but I am done with that man." She spat out the last word.
"So you want me to talk to him separate and you talk to her?"
"I don't care how you wanna do it but I won't sit at the same table with Mooney."
"Right," Elvis grumbled, once again taking off toward where Loretta and Mooney stood. "She won't talk to Mooney she says," Elvis said.
"What is there to talk about with that woman," Mooney spat.
"She wants to talk to you," Elvis went on, paying no mind to Mooney.
Loretta frowned, but nodded her head. "I reckon we came for that."
"What a damn waste of time," Mooney complained. "Two weeks and you ain't done nothin'"
Elvis' gaze snapped toward the man. "She did more than nothin' at my house."
"That's strange cause your woman does nothin'."
As much as he would have liked to deny that, Elvis couldn't.
"And he ain't sayin' nothin' about it," Mooney snorted. "I ain't wanna do this dagum shit anyway. I done said everything I got to say to her already, I'll tell my woman what I wanna tell her when we're at home and there's nothing I got to say to that poor fool other than run." Mooney strode away, walking like a cowboy who had just gotten off a horse after hours of riding.
"Guess we got that settled," Elvis said, blinking after the man, unsure whether this scene had really transpired. He placed a hand on Loretta's back and led her over to where Priscilla stood. "He won't be there so we can talk."
The expression on Priscilla's face was sour and uncertain but she did respond with a cool, "Yes, alright." Turning toward Loretta she said, "So, you're Mrs. Lynn?"
"Loretta."
"Loretta," Priscilla repeated, the name feeling strange on her tongue. "I'm Priscilla Beaulieu, as you should already know..."
Loretta responded with a mere nod. Elvis looked from one woman to the other, somewhat unnerved by the friendly yet cool interaction between them. Elvis wasn't a fool, he knew very well that this could potentially cause a big blow up he did not want to be in the middle of.
The room Elvis assumed to be the dining room contained a table with four chairs, as if it had been set up just for the occasion. Elvis sat on one side and Loretta on the other while Priscilla automatically sat down next to Elvis.
"Well." Priscilla was the first to speak. "I couldn't stand it there the whole two weeks. I was...the first day I was there- I didn't feel like I was welcome. Mooney was...he was..."
"He ain't like Elvis."
"Oh no he isn't. I don't...I had to get out of there. He would drink every day, go to the bar at noon on a Sunday- is that what he does?"
"He does like his drinkin' and I reckon he ain't as gentle with his words as Elvis is."
"That is an understatement. I was there a day and he was cursing at me. He was..." Priscilla trailed off. "I don't even want to think of it and you don't seem to have any issues with it since you lived with him that long so..." Priscilla waved her hand in Loretta's direction.
"You wanna know about my time with Elvis and the kids?" Loretta asked.
"Yes. I mean your children they were...we did not get along. They didn't like me or listen to me and I don't know how they are with you but I'm sure you'd have a higher tolerance for it since they're yours."
"Well, they're not that bad really."
"I'm not used to anything that...crazy. And that house-"
"We just moved in April this year and I hardly got to be there. There's some things my husband was gonna do himself-"
"He didn't do a thing," Priscilla cut her off. "He was too busy at the bar. But enough of that...I mean this wasn't working for you either, was it?"
Loretta hesitated before saying, "That depends on what you mean by workin'. I do feel like I made me friends in a way I would've never had otherwise."
"So you didn't have any problems with Elvis or the kids at all?" Priscilla asked incredulously.
"No."
"But you do realize that the way Elvis treated you is not the way he treats me every day. He probably made it very easy for you when he wouldn't do that for me."
"I was 'pposed to go by your list though."
"Yours was just a little ambitious, wasn't it?" Priscilla asked in a falsely fine tone.
"You just end up doin' what you end up doin'."
"Well, I was being honest with mine. I do all of that and I don't get to leave and go on tour or to record or to any meetings. I have to be with those children all day long. I have to get them up, get Roxanne off to school, look after Little Elvis all day, then that little girl comes home from school in the worst mood. It's 2.45 by then and Elvis is still asleep."
"Yeah, that's how it was," Loretta said.
"You did that for two weeks and maybe it was fine and well but I had to do it for two years and it wears you down."
"Cilla." Elvis finally spoke up, sounding properly embarrassed. He rubbed at his forehead. "Cilla, she had kids before she was out on the road too so I'm sure she knows how it wears you down."
"But those are her kids! That's what I'm taking about. It's different."
"You don't got any kids of your own," Elvis pointed out. "So I got no idea how you're supposed to be knowing that."
Priscilla sighed. Not even bothering to look at Elvis, she focused on Loretta. "You can't tell me that Roxanne has been good for two whole weeks?"
"She started out givin' me to cold shoulder but I told her that we could be friends and have a real good time or have a real bad time mopin' around. So she went tryin' to keep that up a few days till one day she let me sing her to sleep and then after that we would get along real good. She'd wanna do everything with me all the time in the end."
"That's nice," Priscilla said, not at all sounding as though she meant it. "That is just great. You know, this just makes me feel like I'm the one who does everything wrong and you're both flawless and wonderful. And Elvis, now you let that woman sit here and say that she's better with your kids than I am-"
"She was," Elvis forced out. "She actually treated them like they're real people."
"They're children. What exactly am I doing wrong by treating them like children? I went through hell with Mooney and now I'm being picked on by the both of you. I'm not-" Priscilla got to her feet. "We don't have to do this, do we? Let's just go home and-"
"And go back to how everything was before?" Elvis cut her off.
"Yes," Priscilla snapped.
"Well, I can't do that Cilla. I can't."
Priscilla's mouth fell open. She spend several moments staring at Elvis before turning toward Loretta. "You put that stuff into his head, didn't you?"
"Cilla," Elvis exclaimed while Loretta said, "And what would that do for me?"
Priscilla let out a hysterical laugh. "I met your husband, remember? I'd do anything to get away from him and those little-"
Loretta jumped to her feet and pointed a finger in Priscilla's direction. "You watch out."
"Once you teach your children some manners I will," Priscilla snapped. "I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that you got along with Roxanne because your kids are about ten times worse. You'd think that she's a little angel."
"Maybe you just don't know how to deal with em," Loretta shot back.
"I don't!" Priscilla shrieked. "And I don't want to either."
"And that's the problem," Elvis found himself saying.
"I wanna be with you, not with the kids."
"They're a part of me," Elvis bellowed, grabbing her by the shoulders as he was overcome with the desire to shake her, lest that make her understand.
"Those kids won't be with you forever. One day they're gonna leave and you'll be on your own because all you wanted was a babysitter, not a wife, a babysitter."
"What I want is a family."
"I want that too," Priscilla hissed.
"You just don't want my kids bein' part of it."
"I-" Priscilla began, then stopped. "Do we have to do this in front of her?" She gestured toward Loretta. "Our relationship is none of her business. Now she convinced you that I don't care about your kids because they don't love me. They wouldn't like her if you dated her. There is no pleasing you, Elvis, is there?"
"You're the one that I can't please."
"That is your perception of things!" Priscilla screamed. "And there I was looking forward to seeing you again just to be treated like this. Now let's go home."
"Cilla, I don't..." Before Elvis could finish his sentence Priscilla's shrill voice overpowered his. "You don't want me to come home?"
"I-"
"You don't?"
"Are you gonna let me finish? What we're doin' is not workin'. Never did. It didn't work the first time you moved in-"
"Oh, you wanna get upset about things that happened four years ago? I already told you that I was young and I was wrong, didn't I?"
"The thing is that you're not much different now."
"Everything was fine until we did this," Priscilla wailed. "You never complained."
"Just because I didn't complain doesn't mean that everything is fine," Elvis pointed out. "Cause it isn't and now that we had some time away from each other-"
"It's just like I said, isn't it? She is putting all of that in your head. This isn't you."
"This is me." Elvis turned from Priscilla to Loretta. "I guess we better call this quits."
Loretta nodded. "I'll call."
"You won't," Priscilla said bitterly, earning herself a glare from Elvis.
"Since when do you decide who gets to call me? Loretta and I are friends now just so you know."
"Because you can be friends with a woman," Priscilla snorted. "I don't wanna know what you did."
"I'll see you," Elvis said to Loretta, paying no attention to Priscilla and her complaints. He gave Loretta a kiss on the cheek, which resulted in Priscilla stalking away in a huff.
All he could think about was that he couldn't possibly go home with her. His eyes had been opened and there was no way that he could go back now. His mind was made up and he was surer about it than he had been about anything in a long time.
~*~
I'm not sure if this works because it didn't turn out how I did want it but...I hope it does? My apologies to Priscilla's fans.