Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood

The photograph of Vivi and Jack was taken by Teensy’s mother, who saw Vivi as the perfect partner for Jack. Vivi and Jack fell deeply in love, and Jack made Vivi believe she could be loved in a true and permanent way.

Sidda replies to Connor’s letter, hinting at the way that his words aroused her.

Sidda finds a piece of paper in the scrapbook that contains one of many lessons from the charm and beauty school that Vivi attended when she was 14. The lesson was titled “DO NOT CRY!” and instructs girls never to cry in order to always look pretty and bright for men (128); it says that if they do cry, they must treat their eyes with a multi-step process to avoid any alterations to their complexion.

Sidda reacts to reading this with both laughter and sadness. She thinks back to when Lizzie Mitchell, a friend of Vivi’s, first came into their lives in 1963. Lizzie arrived at their door selling makeup during a low point in Vivi’s life in which she did not want to get out of bed. Lizzie was awkward and nervous, and Vivi let her in despite not being prepared for guests. Lizzie attempted to sell Vivi makeup, but Vivi just ended up correcting her grammar, which led Lizzie to tears. Lizzie admitted that her husband recently died and she had two young sons to look after, one of whom was not coping well. Vivi listened to Lizzie and the women cried together.

Then, Vivi blotted her face and pointed out how all of her mascara came off, and she asked Lizzie if she had any mascara that would stay put. Lizzie became animated and hopeful in that moment and sold Vivi mascara. Lizzie and Vivi became friends and Vivi seemed happier, too, when she helped Lizzie improve her sales skills and advertised Lizzie’s makeup line to everyone she knew. Vivi was proud to see a woman trying to make something of her life in the wake of such immense loss, and Lizzie was inspired by Vivi’s openness and desire to help. Sidda learned a great deal as she watched all this unfold; she was still a girl then and she saw her mother as an example of true femininity. Vivi was never ashamed to cry.

Sidda goes for a walk by the lake and sees a woman with four girls who are joyfully playing in the water. She feels jealous of the woman, and Sidda wonders why she doesn’t feel the desire to have a family. She wonders, too, if she should give up her theater life and go start a family with Connor. Sidda tells herself she does not need a family to have meaning in her life or feel complete, but she cannot banish the thought. Back at the cabin, Sidda looks at a photo of her mother with all of her children on a picnic blanket. Sidda imagines the day; she thinks how her mother might have fed everyone and scratched Sidda’s back.

In the scrapbook, Sidda finds a newspaper article detailing the Ya-Yas’ arrest in high school. After Jack announced he was going off to war in August of 1942, he and Vivi spent an evening together and Vivi tried to convince Jack to stay. Jack explained that he felt it was his duty to go, and he admitted that he was also hoping to impress his father. He promised to come back and start a life with Vivi, proposing marriage; Jack and Vivi seemed to come to an understanding. That night, Vivi sought the comfort of her friends and they decided to go for a soak in the town’s water tower. They sat in the water together, underneath the moon, and Vivi prayed to the moon goddess to keep Jack safe. While they were up there, a policeman caught them and arrested them. The girls’ fathers agreed it would be best to let them spend the night in jail, and the girls enjoyed the break from the summer heat.

Sidda takes her dog for a walk and looks up at the moon. She feels engulfed and captivated by it, and for the first time in years, she feels the urge to sing. She sings “Blue Moon” and “Moon River,” songs that both she and her mother love. Sidda thinks about how her mother used to love to sing. In the scrapbook, Sidda finds a birthday invitation for Vivi’s 16th birthday ball. She feels the need to know more about it and calls Caro from a payphone. Caro’s emphysema leaves her coughing for half the conversation, worrying Sidda. When Sidda asks Caro about the invitation, Caro warns Sidda to either ask Vivi or leave it alone. When Sidda admits to Caro that she thinks her mother might be part of the reason she is hesitant about marrying Connor, Caro reminds Sidda that she is an adult and that her mother did everything she knew to raise her. Caro tells Sidda that Vivi’s 16th birthday was not a good one; Vivi’s father gave her a diamond ring, which shook the family. It was also the last party they had before Jack died.

Sidda thinks about what Caro said and wonders if she unfairly blames her mother for her life. She calls Connor and leaves a message, telling him she loves him. While walking her dog, Sidda thinks about how her mother used to sing to her on her birthday; as Vivi’s mental health declined, the singing became more of a painful chore, but Vivi always tried. Sidda wonders whether Vivi’s mother was jealous of her, and whether Vivi might be jealous of Sidda, as well. When Sidda’s first play opened, she invited Vivi, and Vivi drank too much and made a scene after the play. She told Sidda she didn’t deserve to be a director, and it was Sidda’s friend Wade who managed to coax Vivi away from the scene. Sidda thinks about how theater and drama run in her family.

Caro thinks back to Vivi’s 16th birthday. The party itself was far too lavish, which already made Vivi uncomfortable; and after years of her father neglecting her, it made Caro suspicious, as well. Vivi’s parents fought for weeks over the ball, and the fighting did not cease at the party. When Vivi’s father gifted her a diamond ring, she confusedly accepted it as her mother glared and called her lucky. Vivi and Jack got to dance to one of their favorite songs, which became the highlight of the party. Later, when the girls were in bed, Vivi’s mother stormed in and took the ring off Vivi’s finger. She called Vivi a sinner for “whatever she did” to deserve it. After she left, a loud and violent fight broke out between Vivi’s parents. Vivi’s father stormed into her bedroom, pushing Vivi’s mother and demanding she give the ring back to Vivi. In stunned silence, Vivi’s mother threw the ring onto the bed. All the while, Vivi hid under the covers, unable to bear the violence and anger. Vivi’s father put the ring back on her finger and then told the girls to go to sleep. The girls huddled around Vivi and held her all night.