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Lettie's mother, "Wild and Wicked Wanda," played a key role in the first version, but was eventually cut from the book. Wanda cast a negative light on things, so my editor recommended she make a hasty exit. While Lettie's mother is mentioned as an MIA parent in the final version, she was actually quite the character in the original manuscript.
Since Wanda made sporadic appearances throughout the book, this isn't a continuous scene. It's merely a composition of several scenes that depict the wild, wicked and willing tendencies of Lettie's mother...
First Mention of Wild Wanda…
"What did you say your name was again? Collette?"
Oh boy, she'd dug herself right into a hole. A big wide black one. With sure enough no end in sight. She plopped on the opposite end of the couch from Amy. If she kept standing, she'd crumple to a pile of mush on the floor.
Bill Brannon.
Have mercy.
"Collette," she said then swallowed. Maybe he wouldn't remember.
And maybe her mother would become a nun.
"Collette Campbell," she completed.
"Lettie?" Recognition slammed through both syllables. "Is that you?"
She hadn't heard that name in seven years, since the night she graduated from Sheldon High as the eighteen-year-old daughter of Wild-and-Wicked Wanda. The chip off the old block, destined to follow her mother's footsteps as the future small town tramp.
Lettie. Why couldn't she remember the name without all of its additional descriptions?
Leggie Lettie.
Loose Lettie.
Loves-it-Lettie.
But to Bill, she'd simply been...Lettie.
Amy and Lettie Talk About Mom…
"I know who's right for Bill Brannon. Deep down you know it too. But just in case he needs a little help seeing how well the two of you fit," she withdrew a healthy supply of edible panties, three bottles of massage oil and a pair of red furry handcuffs, "In the words of our mother, good sex doesn't hurt."
"Which is why she ended up so blissful." Collette handed the items back to her sister.
Amy frowned. "You got me there. Although she called me last week from New York. Said she planned to hang there for a while with her new love. She swears this time she's found the one."
Collette rolled her eyes. Their mother had called her too, with the same usual piece of information. She'd found the one. Wanda Campbell had been searching for the elusive "one" for as long as Collette could remember. So much that their tiny house in Sheldon should've had a revolving door for the men traipsing in and out of Wanda's overused bed.
Bill Remembers the Campbell Girls…
Folks didn't move to Sheldon, Georgia. Hell, the people who'd been born there spent most their lives trying to get out.
But the Campbell girls, as they were known, sure moved in. And flat took the small town by storm. Wanda, Lettie and Amy. All of them the prettiest things any male in Sheldon had ever laid eyes on, other than in movies or on television.
Wanda, the spittin' image of Farrah Fawcett in Charlie's Angels, complete with feathery blond mane, big wide smile and a blatant lack of bras in her wardrobe. Amy, a tiny little pixie, with dark brown hair and big green eyes. Not to mention the full mouth that was merely one of the mesmerizing Campbell traits.
And Lettie. Prancing into that fifth grade class like she owned it, with her white hair gleaming, her full lips smiling and her I'm-all-that attitude fully in place, in spite of her ten-year-old status.
Wanda Comes Through…
As a little girl, Lettie had tapped in on this personal method of healing when her mother had purchased a used Hasbro Fashion Plates from the Sheldon Five and Dime. Some of the thin plastic panels were missing, but there were enough to convert Lettie's spark of imagination to a flame. With the help of that toy, she'd mixed and matched tops and pants, blouses and skirts, combining the plates to produce amazing wardrobe sketches. Creating her own masterpieces, totally befitting a runway model, in a six-year-old's opinion.
Wanda Campbell hadn't had a tremendous amount of motherly instincts, but every now and then, she'd come through with flying colors. That trip to the Five and Dime was undoubtedly one of those times.
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