"Did you think I was teasing? I'm packing my suitcases and we're leaving Texas Tuesday morning. Tomorrow we're going to Wichita Falls to look at rings. Alvie has talked a jewelry store owner into opening up in the afternoon even though it's Christmas Day. I have no idea what he's paying the man to do that. Then Tuesday we're going by the Montague County Courthouse to get married. We'd do it tomorrow, but the courthouse is closed on Christmas Day. You and Griffin want to go along and witness for us?"
"Sally, this is insane. You've only known him a few days."
"I love him and I'm going to marry him, so get used to it."
"So soon?"
"That's right."
"Can I say anything to talk you out of it? Wait six months. Live here six months and if it's still real, you can marry him then. We'll have this huge thing right here on the ranch. Caterers. Barn wedding. Or we can have it in Wyoming. Just wait, sister, please," Julie begged.
"No. I've never been more sure of anything in my whole life. Be happy for me."
"You're just doing this to keep from telling Momma you quit your job, aren't you?" Julie said.
"I'm doing it because I love Alvie. Did the minute you dragged him over to the barn door. I never did believe in love at first sight or fate. I do now. And I'm not going to fight it like you're doing."
"I'm not fighting anything. It's just too sudden and too fast and…"
Sally put her finger over Julie's lips. "And it's my life. Alvie is everything I ever wanted. It's going to happen. Are you going with me?"
Tears streamed down Julie's face for the second time that day. "I wouldn't let you do that by yourself. You know I'm going with you. School doesn't start until Thursday and Elsie can watch the children for us."
Sally hugged her again. "Don't cry. You'll make me cry. And bring the kids with you."
"If you are so sure, then call Momma and tell her the truth. Then I'll believe you," Julie said.
Sally picked up the phone from off the countertop and poked in the numbers. "Momma, are you sitting down?" she said when she heard her mother's voice.
"I am now. Are you all right? I've been trying to call you for a week. I even called the school and they said you'd quit your job. They're really mad at you because you didn't give them any kind of notice," Deborah said.
"I'm putting us on speaker phone so Julie can hear everything. This may take a while," Sally said.
"Why is Julie at your apartment? Is Annie all right? Why did she leave the ranch? I knew I should go up there and kick that Luckadeau woman's ass."
Sally got a case of giggles. "Momma said
ass
."
"Yes, I did. Does yours need kicking?" Deborah said.
"Hopefully not. I can't believe you said that word. But Julie is fine. I'm at the ranch with her, not at my apartment. Here's the deal," Sally said and went on to tell her mother everything truthfully from the time she started to have bad feelings about going back to school until that moment.
Julie listened.
Sally told it all and ended with, "All I could think was 'go home to your sister.' I did and this is where I am, Momma. Julie made me call."
"Julie, you did the right thing. What do you think? Is this Alvie a good man?"
"Every report I've had is that he is and he's so hand some it hurts your eyes to look at him, so they'll make you lots of pretty grandbabies," Julie said.
"As handsome as Griffin Luckadeau?" Deborah asked.
"I wouldn't go that far," Julie laughed. "But he's real pretty."
"Call me when you get to Wyoming, and I'll expect an invitation to the ranch real soon?" Deborah said.
"Anytime you want to visit, there's a room waiting with your name on it," Sally all but breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're letting her off that easy? You'd have had me drawn and quartered for a stunt like this," Julie said.
"I've just got one word to that little temper fit and it's Annie," Deborah said.
"Yes, ma'am," Julie said.
Good-byes were said and Sally sank back down in the chair. "I can't believe she accepted it without a fight."
"Look at it from her standpoint. She doesn't have to pay for or plan a wedding, and she's getting a rich son in-law and a new place to go visit," Julie said.
"I'm going up to pack my things. Oh, I won't need my little truck anymore. You want it? It's paid for and I'll sign the title over to you if you want it," Sally said.
"Thank you and that answer would definitely be yes. You'll be taking Alvie's truck back to Wyoming?"
"Oh, no. Alvie sent it on back with the hired hands he brought with him. He came prepared to buy some cattle and they're already on the road back with them. We will fly from Dallas Wednesday morning. That big truck he's driving is a rental. We have reservations at a hotel on Tuesday night and Alvie will turn the truck in at the airport."
"So, a one-night honeymoon in Dallas. That doesn't seem so romantic. Is this the same girl who was going to Paris for her honeymoon or she'd never get married?" Julie asked.
"It is, but I'd rather live in a tent on the banks of the Red River with Alvie than go to Paris with anyone else in the world. Wyoming for the rest of my life will be a fairly nice little honeymoon," Sally said.
And that's when Julie believed her.
"Are you going with him again this evening or are you having Christmas Eve with us?" Julie asked.
"Please forgive me. I just came home to get a quick shower. I'm going with Alvie. I can't stand being away from him. Tell them I love them all and I'll see you Tuesday morning at nine o'clock at the courthouse. I've got to go upstairs and throw everything into a suitcase," Sally said.
"I understand. I really do," Julie hugged her.
"Alvie is picking me up in another twenty minutes," Sally said.
Griffin barely made it back into the house when three kids hit the stairs in a dead run and grabbed him around the legs begging to open presents. He'd spent a couple of hours in the barn putting bicycles together for the next morning. A red one for Chuck, and two hot pink ones for the girls, so he was already in the Christmas mood and it took very little persuasion.
Lizzy opened new clothes and a Barbie castle. Annie opened new clothing and two Barbie vehicles: the sports car and the minivan. Chuck opened his packages much more slowly than either of the girls, relishing each piece of paper and each gift as if they were gold. He had new jeans and shirts and a basketball hoop that Griffin would hang on the pecan tree in the backyard.
"And now it's Momma's turn." Annie handed her a present.
"For me?" Julie asked.
"From Griffin," Annie said.
Julie carefully opened the package, which contained a small velvet box. It came from a jewelry store but was long and skinny. Inside was a charm bracelet with each charm representing something that had happened in her life since she'd moved to Saint Jo. A small house for the one she'd bought. An apple for her teacher job. A head silhouette of each child with their first name engraved on it.
She could scarcely believe that Griffin had put so much thought and care into her present. "Thank you," she said softly.
"I'll add one for the sale night later on," he said.
"And what would that be?" she asked.
"A cow, because we sold cows," Annie said.
The
we
didn't escape Julie.
"I was thinking about a bolt of lightning or a flash of fire," he said with a grin.
Julie blushed. "How about a moon and some stars? Seems like I saw them."
"I think we both saw them," he said.
Lizzy pulled the last present out from under the tree. "And here's one for Daddy."
"For me?"
"It's a big 'prize and we had to be very nice and not tell," Chuck said.
He tore into the paper to find an eight-by-ten silver frame with a professional portrait of all three kids together.
The lump in his throat was as big as a watermelon but he managed to get out a weak, "Thank you," before the kids hopped in his lap, telling him all about how they'd gone with Julie to Gainesville and had the picture made for him.
"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever had," he said.
"I knowed you would like it," Lizzy beamed. "Now would you please put my Barbie castle together so we can play before we have to go to bed?"
"Back to fatherhood," he grinned. "Seriously, thank you."
The only way it could have been better is if you'd
been in it with them
, he thought.
"Seriously, thank you," she held up her bracelet for him to fasten it around her wrist.
The only way it could have been better is if it had had
a tiny wedding ring on it,
she thought.
On Tuesday morning Julie was up early and had the kids dressed by eight o'clock. She wore an emerald green silk dress with a matching jacket. Griffin wore his standard Sunday outfit: black Wranglers, boots, a white shirt, and a sports coat.
They waited in the judge's chambers for ten minutes before Alvie and Sally came sauntering in. Sally looked ravishing in an ivory silk dress that hugged her body and barely touched her shoulders. Alvie wore the same outfit he'd worn to the sale party. The judge told them where to stand and the short civil ceremony began. Julie and Griffin didn't hear the vows they exchanged because they were too busy stealing glances at each other. Alvie put a wide gold band with a diamond half as big as an ice rink on Sally's finger. Julie and Griffin signed the marriage license as witnesses. And it was done. Sally was Mrs. Vernon Marlon and on her way to Wyoming.
A cold north wind blasted across the courthouse lawn when they walked outside. Sally hugged Julie. Griffin kissed the bride. Alvie hugged his new sister-in-law. Sally stooped down and gave all three kids a hug and told them they could come spend all the time they wanted with her during the summertime.
"I almost made a mistake and took the wrong sister home with me. You made a mistake when you hooked up with Graham instead of Griffin. I corrected mine. Call me when you take care of yours," Alvie whispered in Julie's ear.
Julie was speechless.
Alvie started to drive away and then the truck stopped with a squeal of the tires. The driver's side window rolled down and Alvie yelled, "Julie!"
She looked up to see her sister's arm throwing a single red rose tied with a white ribbon at her. She caught it without even thinking.
"You're next!" Sally yelled as the truck sped away.
"How 'bout that?" Griffin said.
"It's bullshit," Julie said.
"No, it's a rose. It looks like a rose. It smells like a rose. It has thorns like a rose. I believe it's a rose," he said.
"This day has been too much," she said. "I thought I was moving into quiet country life and just look at what I've gotten myself into."
"It is normally pretty routine around these parts. You just got here during a busy time. Won't be long until summer is here and you'll be whining about being bored."
"I'll believe it when I see it. Let's go home." She carried the rose carefully. Tomorrow she'd hang it upside down and let it dry, then preserve the petals forever. Maybe when Annie or Lizzy got married she'd incorporate them with the ones the flower girls would strew down the aisle at the church.
Good grief, she'd just realized that she planned on staying around to see Lizzy get married. It really was a crazy, mixed up day.
Chapter 17
WITH THE BEGINNING OF SPRING AROUND THE CORNER, Griffin hired extra help. One day he was coming home at a decent hour in the evening. The next it was well past dark and he got there in time to tuck the children into bed, take a shower, and snore in front of the television for a while before he went to bed.
Mamie came to visit every few days and the romance between her and Eli was growing. They both came for Sunday dinner once but after that various members of the congregation invited them to dinner every Sunday. Sally and Alvie were still on an extended working honeymoon. Sally sounded happy when she talked about new baby calves, kittens in the barn, and the beauty of Wyoming. Julie hoped her sister kept those rose-colored glasses on forever.
And she was jealous as hell of both her brother and sister. Granted, she should love them enough to be happy for them, but it wasn't fair. They'd both found their happily-ever-after and Griffin Luckadeau was dragging his cowboy feet. It was enough to drive a sane woman to drinking.
Winter months on the ranch were busy but Julie found out quickly that all months were busy; some just more than others. Griffin had breakfast, gave the kids each a kiss, and went to work. Julie dressed them, took them to school, and came home after school to her normal routine. He'd said things could and would get boring. She'd begun to believe him and think more seriously about her own place. She'd almost decided on a double wide trailer using the foundation and basement that was still there.
One day drifted into the next and that one made its way through the pages of history until several weeks had escaped. Griffin hadn't kissed her again. He left early and came home late and she wondered if the love they'd shared had been a figment of her imagination.
There was just barely the hint of a spring smell in the air one evening in the first week in February when she slipped out the front door to sit on the porch. It wasn't real and there'd be lots of cold days still, but that evening she could smell the promise of what was to come. Crickets and frogs were singing and a coyote lent its howl to the mixture.