"
And why am I just now hearing all of this?"
Burke laughed. "It never
came up before, I guess."
"
Is there more to the story?"
He nodded. "Like I said,
until then, you were just Belle. Very cool, mind you, but more like
one of the guys. But the day we skated together, and your hand
slipped into mine, I realized for first time that you were a soft,
beautiful girl. I fell in love, right then and there."
"My heart pounded so fast
I couldn't hear the music. The entire scene is one
blur."
The delicate mid-night
chime of the mantle clock tolled and interrupted their
conversation. Belle bolted from the chair. "I didn't know it'd
gotten so late. I should go."
He walked her to the door.
"We didn't get to eat any ice cream."
She smiled. "Maybe another
time."
"
Another time." He liked the idea, and the sound of her
voice making the suggestion.
She started down the porch
steps, then stopped when she reached the front walk. "I had a
lovely evening."
Burke propped his muscular
frame against the porch beam. "We've said many things over the past
few weeks, and that day in the chapel covered a lot of difficult
territory," he started, "but there's one more thing."
"
What's that?" Moonlight haloed her silky brown
head.
"
I've never asked you to forgive me."
She sunk down to the
bottom step. "I've forgiven you."
He detected the emotion in
her voice and moved next to her on the steps. "I know, but I need
to look into your eyes and ask." Delicately he touched her chin and
tilted her face toward him. Their eyes met, her face lit with the
light from the porch. "Forgive me, Belle. Please forgive
me."
She fell against him,
crying.
Tears smarted in his eyes, and
quietly he prayed for both of them.
After a time, she lifted
her head, wiping the tear stains from her face. "I waited twelve
years to hear those words."
"
Twelve years too long, I'm afraid."
"
I forgive you, Burke."
"
The day after I left, I desperately wanted to call you, but
shame, embarrassment, and pride kept me from doing what was right.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into years. After awhile, I couldn't
bring myself to even think about it."
Belle dug in her purse for
a tissue. "You know the worst part?"
"
No," he said softly.
"
Losing my very best friend."
He stroked her hair
absently, not wanting the moment to end. "I've missed
you."
They sat in the moonlight for a
long time, silent and at peace, the shadow of the past fading in
the dawning light of forgiveness.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon,
Belle sat in a chair at the Shape-Up salon, coloring cap on her
head, allowing Mary Beth to pull strands of her hair through tiny
holes with something that looked like a crochet hook.
"
Ouch," she said, wincing when Mary Beth dug too deep and
scraped her scalp.
"
Sorry, girl, but it's been so long since you've been in
here. You're a mess." Mary Beth's long red fingernails clicked
against the steel needle.
Belle leaned away from the
hook, her face pinched. "I've been busy."
Mary Beth's large brown
eyes narrowed. With a mischievous glint, she regarded Belle through
the mirror. "So I hear," she said.
Understanding her
hairdresser's innuendo, Belle ignored the subtle hint and casually
went on about day-to-day news. "I brought Daddy home from the
hospital this week. He's in a cast up to his hip, but he can hobble
around some on crutches. I have a wheelchair to use when we go to
church."
"
Good, good," Mary Beth responded as if by rote. "Give your
Daddy a kiss for me, hear? He's one of my favorite
people."
Belle winced again as Mary
Beth hooked another strand. "I will, I will."
"
What else is going on, hmm?"
Still ignoring her
prodding, Belle continued. "We bought another Brahman bull this
spring to breed with our Angus cows. That crossbreed works well for
us. We're getting back good animal data."
Mary Beth made a face,
rolling her upper lip toward her freckled nose. "You know I don't
give a flip about animal data. What else ya got?"
"We fenced in land for a
new grazing pasture. Back breaking work, planting a
fence."
Mary Beth whirled Belle's
chair around to face her. "Now, you know I didn't go to beauty
school to hear about breeding cows and planting fences." She
whirled her back around again to face the mirror.
Belle grinned. She wondered how
far the gregarious, pretty hairstylist would fish for the
information she wanted.
"
I hear your front porch got damaged by one of those
twisters."
"
One of our front cottonwoods fell onto it."
"
Land, I hate twisters."
"
No kidding."
"
My Shane's garage took some damage. We waited three weeks
just to get an estimate. The work still ain't done. How 'bout
you?"
Ooo, she's good, Belle
thought.
"
We got it fixed last week, better than before."
"
Who'd you get to do the work?" Mary Beth snapped her gum
between her teeth, feigning wonder at Belle's good fortune. "Maybe
Shane can hire him."
"
Okay, Mary Beth, cut the pretense. You know Burke did the
work with some of the boys from the football team. There, you
happy?"
Mary Beth mixed the
chemicals for Belle's highlights and started painting the short
protruding strands. "Not near enough, Belle. Details friend,
details."
At that moment, the crisp
ring of the bells dangling by the front door sang out and Mary Beth
called, "Meg, get in here and work with me. I can't get a thing out
of her."
"
No fair double teaming," Belle protested, as Meg plopped
into the empty salon chair next to her.
She brushed a wild curl
from her eye. "Okay," she said, breathless, resting her hand on her
expanding middle, her china doll complexion flushed with the summer
heat. "I dropped Stan and the kids at Wal-Mart, Mom at the fabric
store. I have an entire half hour to myself, and I want the whole
story, Belle. You've been holding out on me."
"
There's nothing to tell," she insisted, glancing askance at
her friend.
Mary Beth and Meg protested with
one voice.
"
I'm going to let your hair burn bleach blonde for not
telling the truth," Mary Beth threatened, shaking the color brush
at Belle.
"
Gates said she and Paul ran into you two at the movies in
Tulsa the other night," Meg began.
"
I saw you two at Charlie's one night, eatin' burgers," Mary
Beth said.
Meg added, "Spencer said
he hadn't seen you or talked to you in weeks."
Belle put her hands up
against the barrage. "Okay, okay. Burke and I have spent some time
together, big deal."
"
It is a big deal, Belle," Mary Beth countered, setting a
portable dryer over her head for the color to dry. "You're gonna
have to speak up now so we can hear you."
"
Look," she began, speaking above the dyer's low hum, "you
guys know the story, so I'm not going to rehash the past. But Burke
and I are merely getting reacquainted, working through the healing
process, sharing what our lives have been about in the last twelve
years. It doesn't mean that we are a couple." She paused and
pointed at the two women. "And I know that's what you're
thinking."
"
But you were the greatest couple of all time," Mary Beth
lamented, fluffing her own carrot top with a pick.
"
You know you still love him, Belle," Meg argued.
Belle flared, feeling
defensive. "Don't put assumptions on me, Meg. Have you forgotten
the beautiful Grace Peterson? As far as I know, Burke and Grace are
still an item."
"
Posh," Mary Beth harrumphed with a flit of her hand. "He
doesn't want that skinny girl."
Belle looked up at her
from under the dryer cap. "I suppose he told you that?"
"
No, but if I were him, I'd pick you."
Belle laughed,
appreciating her old friend's sentiments. "I'll tell him to check
with you before he makes his next move."
"
You do that," she said with full conviction, now idly
filing her nails.
Meg interrupted the banter
with a pointed question. "So, why? Why did he leave
you?"
Belle shifted in her seat;
the humiliation of being left at the altar still stung a bit. Yet,
she understood Meg's desire to know the answer to the age-old
question of why Burke deserted her on their wedding day. Meg had
shared in her devastation and needed to close the door on the past
as much as Belle did. Taking a deep breath, Belle said, "He got
cold feet."
Meg sat back in the chair,
and Mary Beth gaped at her through the mirror. "Cold feet?" she
repeated.
Belle nodded her capped
head. "There's a little more to it, but yeah, that's the bottom
line."
"
Why didn't he tell you?" Meg asked.
"
Never could find the words," Belle explained.
"
But to leave you at the altar?" Meg said, her tone full of
questions.
Belle shared Burke's
story. "He planned to go through with the wedding until he realized
how unfair it was to me if he had any doubts. So, he
ran."
"
Hmm, hmm," Mary Beth crooned. "Why did it take twelve years
for him to confess?"
"
It just did, Mary Beth. Can we change the
subject?"
"
Paul told Stan that Burke's helping out at the ranch," Meg
said.
Mary Beth pulled the dryer
off of Belle's head. Her ears were hot, glowing red. "Thanks, Mary
Beth. Yes, he's been covering for Daddy."
"
How's that working out?"
Belle tried to hide it,
but her cheeks blushed, matching her ears. Dropping her gaze, she
said, "We get along great. We laugh a lot, race the horses. Jake
and Cole are in heaven working with him. They love asking him about
his football career and what it's like to be on a
sitcom."
"
You're in love," Mary Beth said, flat out, leading her to
the sink to rise before pulling off the coloring cap.
"
I'm not," she objected fiercely.
Meg kept the conversation
on an even keel. "What's Duke think of all of this?"
"
Speak up, I'm running the water," Mary Beth told her over
her shoulder.
"
He's got his surrogate son back. He happy as a pig in
slop," Belle explained. "When I brought Daddy home, the two of them
talked for a couple of hours, Burke telling Daddy about how he and
the boys fixed the porch, and how the new bull is fitting in with
the cows."
"
He's being a real friend."
Her heart fluttered at Meg's
words, and she realized that the Lord's amazing grace was forming
something beautiful out of the ashes of her past, just as Duke
predicted.
"
Six weeks ago I never wanted to hear his name. Yesterday we
worked the ranch side by side and had a picnic with Dad by the
pond."
"
I'm gonna cry," Mary Beth said, waving one hand in front of
her face, towel drying Belle's hair with the other.
Mary Beth raked a comb through
her wet hair, as Meg talked about the baby, but Belle's thoughts
eventually wondered away from the small shoptalk and down a path
toward Burke.
She found comfort in the safety
of just being friends. All the talk about Burke unveiled hidden
feelings of love that demanded recognition. But the idea of falling
in love with him again rattled her. She yielded to the idea of
becoming friends, but romantic love still drifted away from the
shore of her heart.
Besides, Burke's intentions
toward her were purely platonic. He reveled in her friendship but
seemed content to leave the love they once shared as a relic of the
past.
***
Dean handed Burke the last of
the stereo wire and hopped off the ladder.
"
Thanks," Burke said, grateful to finally have his brother's
help in rewiring the house for his new speakers. The movers had
finally arrived with his belongings from Colorado, and the house
felt more and more like his own.
"
No problem, little brother. You have the best stereo system
in the whole county, maybe the whole state."