Chapter 38: Annie

Annie returns to Lulabelle’s in a flashy stolen Cadillac with Babydoll driving, dreading the story she must tell. The women on the property notice, including Delia, who is surprised Annie arrived without her man. A briefly disguised Lulabelle appears alongside her twin, Lurelia, and after a prickly exchange, recognizes Annie and insists they talk in the rose garden.

In the winter-still garden, Lulabelle and Lurelia arm themselves with pruning tools and enlist Annie and Babydoll to clean the gazebo and help prune the thorny, dormant roses. As they work in the cold, the twins banter about Mississippi and their limited travels, while Babydoll spars with them but ultimately falls quiet to avoid jeopardizing Annie’s request.

Resting in the gazebo, Lulabelle probes their situation, guesses their purpose, and critiques Clyde’s prospects. When Lurelia suggests adoption or family help, Annie rejects it, saying the worst feeling is knowing your mother didn’t want you. Lulabelle scolds both women for second-guessing Annie, recognizing that no one travels this far in a stolen car without certainty.

Lulabelle explains the garden honors their mother, Hortense, and recounts their family’s past of cane fields now abandoned. She claims the shack near the roses is haunted by Hortense’s spirit—the same apparition Bobo once saw—though Lurelia doubts it, attributing such visions to the devil. The sisters’ grief underlies their bickering on their mother’s birthday.

When Annie asks directly for help, Lulabelle acknowledges the danger but agrees to call a doctor. She frames the stakes by sharing that their mother died giving birth to twin sons—brothers who later died themselves—underscoring that childbirth, like abortion, carries peril. The scene closes with the women quietly contemplating mothers, death, and the difficult choice ahead.