by Sharon Sala
“All of a sudden I’m nervous,” Melissa said.
“Don’t be. We’ve got this for you. One of the girls will be at a table at the door with your guest book. We have two ladies who will be serving punch. The bakery said they’re staying to cut and serve the cake, that it’s part of their service. All you have to do is calm down, get dressed, and go get married.”
Melissa sighed. “I’ve already said ‘I do’ a thousand times in my heart, but today will make it official.”
While the women were helping her, Sully and Marc had been taken to a room at the end of the adjoining wing.
Marc knew Sully was wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt, so he’d brought a gray suit and tie to go with his white shirt, and now they were mostly pacing the room, waiting.
“Thank you again for being my best man,” Sully said.
“Are you nervous, Son?”
“Not a bit. Why should I question the fate that threw us all together like this?”
They sat, waiting in companionable silence until the pastor came into the room and hurried them down to the place where they would enter the nave. Myra Franklin had arrived and was waiting to pin a small boutonniere on each of their suit coats.
“You both look very handsome,” Myra said, and hurried away.
Sully could hear people filing into the church and down the aisles, talking quietly as they took their seats.
* * *
Melissa was still in her dressing room when Lovey came in. She’d made one last run to the Unique Boutique and, in honor of her son’s wedding, had broken down and bought a dress—a pale-blue chiffon with a scoop neck, long sleeves, and a slightly flared skirt. Her necklace was her only jewelry, and the heels she was wearing were pearl gray and comfortable. She felt good, even pretty, and then she saw Melissa and stopped.
“Oh, honey. You are stunning. Your hair. Your dress. That sweetheart neckline is beautiful, and the slight flare in the skirt is perfect. I love that there’s not a trace of lace anywhere on you except for your veil. I love it. Turn around. I want to see the back.”
Lovey nodded her approval at a bit of bare expanse, and then the door opened and Myra was standing in the door.
“It’s time, ladies,” she said, and handed a bouquet to Lovey as she walked out, then gave the bridal bouquet to Melissa, who followed behind.
Melissa clutched the flowers in front of her, barely glancing at the white calla lilies with their stems bound tightly in green ribbon, as they walked all the way to the vestibule, bringing her closer and closer to Sully.
They stopped just out of sight, waiting for the music to begin. Melissa got a quick glimpse of Sully and Marc walking out with the pastor as they took their places in front of the altar.
At that point, the organist struck a chord, the signal for the congregation to rise. And as they did, they also turned toward the entrance. When the organist began the traditional wedding march Melissa had chosen, Lovey appeared in the doorway with her shoulders back and her chin up, just as she’d done the night she left her baby behind, and started slowly down the aisle. Only this time she wasn’t crying. She looked neither to the right nor to the left, but to the two men standing at the pulpit as peace flowed through her.
And then Melissa appeared, pausing in the doorway until Sully saw her. Only then did she take her first step toward him, then had to fight the urge to run into his arms.
Sully remembered her arrival at the altar, then taking her hand and turning toward her. After that, everything faded except her and those bright-green eyes looking straight into his soul.
The rest of their lives had just begun.
Not ready to leave Blessings, Georgia? Read on for a peek at
Once in a Blue Moon
Coming August 2020 from Sourcebooks Casablanca!
Chapter 1
Streaks of moonlight slipped between the blinds in Cathy Terry’s bedroom, painting silver-white stripes across the dark hardwood floor. The lights of a passing patrol car swept across the wall where she lay sleeping, but all she saw was the man coming at her in her dream.
Blaine Wagner’s face was twisted in rage—his fists doubled, ready to strike a blow.
“You’re not going anywhere, dammit! Nobody walks out on me!”
Cathy was scared of him, but she’d had enough, and the luxury of their lifestyle was no longer the draw it had once been.
“I’m not nobody! I am your wife, not one of your whores, and I’ve had enough! You have cheated on me for the last time. I’ve already contacted a lawyer, and I’ll be staying in the Luxor here in Vegas until I can find an apartment.”
“Like hell!” Blaine roared, and swung at her.
Cathy ducked and ran, locking herself into their en-suite. Then she called the police, crying and begging them to hurry as Blaine pounded on the door in continuing rage.
It was the sirens and the flashing lights pulling up to the house that gave her the reprieve she needed. The moment she heard him leave the room to answer the door, she flew out of the bathroom, grabbed from their closet the bag that she’d already packed, and followed him down the stairs.
He was already playing the part of surprised spouse and telling the police it was all a misunderstanding when Cathy appeared. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her fear was unmistakable.
“Help me! I’ve filed for divorce and he won’t let me leave!” she said, and was trying to push past him when he grabbed her by the arm.
In the dream, she was struggling to get free, just like she had that night. The police had come into their house at that point, yelling at Blaine to let her go, and he was screaming in her ear.
“I’ll make you sorry. You’ll never have another moment’s peace as long as you live!”
Her heart was pounding when she heard a voice from her childhood.
Wake up! Wake up, Mary Cathleen! Wake up now!
She gasped, then sat up straight in bed and turned on the lamp. The hundred-watt bulb put a whole new light on the moment, helping pull her out of the dream, but she couldn’t deny what she’d heard. That was her mother’s voice, and she hadn’t heard it in more than eight years.
“Oh, Mama, you’re still on my side, even from the grave.” She glanced at the clock.
It was twenty minutes to four, and going back to sleep after that wasn’t happening, so she turned on the television, plumped up her pillows, and began scanning the available movies. She didn’t much care what it was. Anything to get her mind off her ex would suffice.
She was thinking about going to the kitchen for something to snack on when she saw actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s face flash on the screen, and she stopped and upped the volume. He was one of her favorites, and being tall, dark, and handsome was the antithesis of Blaine Wagner’s stocky build and blonde hair.
“That actor is one pretty man. I don’t care what this movie is about. I can mute the whole thing and just sit and look at him. That should get my ex-husband’s face out of my head.”
But she didn’t mute it after all and wound up watching almost two hours of the movie. It wasn’t a happily-ever-after movie, but she didn’t live in a happily-ever-after world, and she was fine with that.
Cathy ran to the kitchen during a commercial and made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then brought it and a glass of milk back to bed.
By the time the movie was over, the memory of the dream had mostly passed and morning was imminent. She turned off the television and took her dirty dishes back to the kitchen, started a pot of coffee to brewing, then headed back to her room to get dressed.
A short while later she was in the kitchen having coffee, contemplating her day of doing little to nothing here in Blessings, and remembering her old life in Vegas.
* * *
The divorce had taken six months to finalize, ending with a lump sum payment of thirty milli
on dollars to her bank account. It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it. He was a billionaire…a fourth generation Wagner—a name famous in Nevada. In early days, it was silver mines, and during the past fifty something years, it had become casinos.
After the divorce was final, she thought that would be the end of it. But she’d been wrong, and it was what he did on the courthouse steps as they were leaving that scared her.
When both lawyers walked off, Blaine stayed behind. Cathy thought it was for a final parting of the ways, until he grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear.
“You do understand I now view you as a threat. You know things about me and my life that aren’t healthy for you anymore.”
Cathy tried to pull away. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“This isn’t a joke, Cathy. I’m just giving you fair warning. I don’t trust you anymore, and I have no intention of spending the rest of my life looking over my shoulder for the Feds to come knocking. Your days are numbered.”
Cathy’s heart skipped. Oh my God. He’s serious!
“I don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about. Our world consisted of your country club, our personal friends, and hosting dinner parties for your business associates now and then.”
His eyes narrowed. “Exactly.”
“I still don’t get it,” Cathy said, pretending total oblivion, when she was beginning to remember that some of those associates had dubious reputations, even though she knew nothing incriminating about any of them. “Go away, Blaine. Just leave me alone.”
She twisted out of his grasp and walked away, resisting the urge to run. This was a shock. She’d never seen this coming, but she needed to disappear, and she was going to have to be smart about doing it.
By the time she got home, she had a plan. The first thing she did was fill out papers online to change back to her maiden name. After two tense months of waiting, it was done, and that was when she amped up the plan. She was setting up a new life with a renewed driver’s license, a new phone plan, and a new credit card.
She knew Blaine was having her followed. She didn’t know if it was just intimidation, but leaving town with him knowing where she was going wouldn’t assure her safety. He’d just have her tailed to other places, and if he was still in the mindset to get rid of her, it would be all too easy to make a death look like an accident.
But she already knew how to disappear. She’d spent the first twelve years of her life living off the grid in Alaska. The last thing Blaine Wagner would ever expect of her was to take to the back roads of America on foot.
Cathy ordered everything she needed online so he wouldn’t know what she was buying. Thanks to him, every friend she’d ever had in Vegas had shut her out. No more lunch dates with girlfriends. No more girlfriends. So she holed up in her apartment and quit going anywhere, and when she got hungry, she ordered in.
The last thing she did was disperse the money from her divorce settlement into three different banks across the country.
And early one morning she walked out the back door of her apartment, caught the Uber she’d called to take her to the bus station, and caught a bus to Colorado.
She got off in Colorado Springs and rented a motel room. She stayed long enough to buy a handgun and ammunition, and one morning just after sunrise, she shouldered her hiking gear and left the motel heading east.
She hiked along highways, sidestepping cities for the more rural areas, and the weeks went by until she finally reached Springer Mountain, Georgia—the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. It was at once a place she recognized for what it was, and one in which she felt comfortable.
She knew how to forage, and how to fish from the rivers and streams teeming with fish. But the trail went north from there, and it was getting too close to winter to hike north, so she started hiking south. She made it all the way to a little out of the way place called Blessings, Georgia before something about it spoke to her, and here is where she stopped. And now here she was, in something of a holding pattern. Not really participating in life. Just hiding from it.
* * *
Cathy set aside the memories, finished her morning coffee, and got ready to go for her morning run.
It was mid-November, but it promised to be a nice day in the high fifties. She was wearing her running shoes, sweatpants, and a long-sleeved T-shirt, so she pocketed her phone and left the house, pausing beneath the porch light to scan the area for signs of things that didn’t belong.
The streetlights were already fading with the growing light of a new day. The morning was still, the sky cloudless. She walked to the edge of the porch and waited for the car coming up the street to pass, and then waved when she recognized the boy who delivered the morning papers. He saw her and waved back. She still didn’t know his name, but this town was friendly like that.
She came off the porch, pausing in the driveway to stretch a few times, and then took off down the sidewalk at a jog, relishing the impact of foot to surface. The rhythm of her stride soon caught up with the thump of her heartbeat, and by the time she was making her second pass by the City Park, she’d been running for an hour.
The fat raccoon scurrying through the green space was heading for the trees, and the creek that ran through the park.
On the other side of the street, a young woman came running out of her house toward the old car parked in the drive. Cathy recognized her as one of the waitresses from Granny’s Country Kitchen. From the way she was moving, she was likely late for work.
The thought of Granny’s led Cathy to wanting some of the gravy and biscuits she’d had there before, but she couldn’t go there all hot and sweaty, and was wishing she’d pulled her hair up in a ponytail before leaving the house. Even though the morning was cool, the weight of the curls was hot against the back of her neck. She turned toward Main Street as she reached the end of the block, thinking to make one last sweep through Blessings, and then home.
Traffic was picking up on Main, and even though she’d been running every morning since her arrival, people still stared. No one jogged in Blessings, although she had seen some kids running at the high school track field, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t here to fit in.
She ran past the florist, then the quirky little hair salon called the Curl Up and Dye, and was moving past Phillips’ Pharmacy as a huge black pickup pulled up to the curb.
It had been months since she’d been behind the wheel of any kind of vehicle; she was toying with the idea of leasing one for the winter. She didn’t know she’d caught the driver’s notice, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. She just kept running without noticing how far she’d gone until she saw the gas station at the far end of town, and the City Limits sign just down the road.
“Well, shoot,” Cathy muttered. She made a quick turn on the sidewalk and was heading back into Blessings when she came down wrong on her foot, and before she knew it, her ankle rolled and she was falling.
The pain was instantaneous and excruciating, and as she was reaching out to break her fall, she jammed her hand against the concrete and then landed on her side with a thud.
“Oh my lord,” she moaned, then slowly turned over onto her back, only vaguely aware of screeching brakes and then the sound of running feet.
* * *
It was just after 8:00 a.m. when Duke Talbot drove into Blessings and pulled up to the curb in front of Phillips Pharmacy. He was reaching for the list he’d put in the console when he caught movement from the corner of his eye and looked up just as a young woman in long-sleeved T-shirt and sweatpants ran past the store. She was gone before he got a good look at her face, but all that curly red hair bouncing down her back was impossible to miss.
He couldn’t remember seeing anyone jogging here before and was curious as to who might have taken it up. He also didn’t know any woman with hair that color, either, but considering the Curl Up and Dye was just down the
street, Ruby or one of the girls could be responsible for that. He watched her until she turned a corner and disappeared, before he got out.
The bell over the door jingled as he entered the pharmacy. LilyAnn Dalton looked up from behind the register and smiled.
“Good morning, Duke. You’re out early,” she said.
“Morning, LilyAnn. Just getting an early start on a long day,” he said. He picked up a basket from the end of the counter and started down the aisle where the shampoo and conditioners were shelved, then stopped and turned around. “Hey, LilyAnn, I just saw a red-headed woman with long curly hair jogging past the store. I don’t think I ever knew anyone to take up jogging here in Blessings. Who is she?”
“Oh, that’s Cathy Terry. She’s new here. She’s living in one of Dan Amos’s rent houses.”
“What’s she do?” he asked.
LilyAnn shrugged. “I don’t know. She comes in here now and again. Really nice lady, but she sort of keeps to herself.”
Curiosity satisfied, Duke began picking up the items he’d come for. It didn’t take long for him to get everything on the list, and then he was back in his truck.
He stopped at the bank and used the ATM drive-thru at the bank for cash, and then realized he was still a little early for his haircut appointment, so he headed to the gas station to get his oil checked.
He was thinking about the day ahead when he realized the redhead he’d seen earlier was on the sidewalk running toward him. He had a clear view of her face, and despite the pink flush on her cheeks, his first thought was how pretty she was.
Then all of a sudden, she was falling, and he groaned aloud at how hard she hit the ground. He stomped the brakes, slammed it into park, and got out at a run.
He was down on his knees beside her in seconds. When he saw the blood on the palm of her hand, he knew that was going to burn later. Then he saw her ankle and was shocked by how much it was already swelling.
