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.
"What are you doing out here?" Griffin asked from the doorway.
"Thinking."
"About what?"
"Life."
He yawned.
"Sleepy?" she asked.
"Tired to the bone."
"Good night, then."
He opened the door and stepped outside. The night air wasn't bad. Looked like maybe winter had done most of its damage but he couldn't be sure. It was a long time until it was really spring. He sat down beside her.
"Marita just called."
"And?"
"They'll be here on Friday to move their things out of the house. Paul will be moving in after that," he said.
"Tell me about Paul. I know Elsie pretty good and she's a sweetheart."
"Paul is fift
y-five and Elsie is a little younger. Kids are already grown and gone. They are both hard workers, quiet and laid back folks."
"It'll be good to see Marita again. I know Lizzy misses her," Julie said. "You know what I feel like right now?"
"I've got a feeling you are about to tell me," he said.
"Damn straight I am. I feel like I'm in a rut. I feel like I don't know where I stand in the grand scheme of things around here."
A broken record inside Julie's head said, "Run, run, run," and wouldn't be quieted.
"I told you there would come a time when you'd get bored," he said.
"Not bored. Oh hell, you don't understand a thing I'm saying," she said.
"You got that right."
Pickup lights turned down the lane. Julie watched them as if they were lights sent just to get her out of the doldrums. She was surprised to see Milli and Beau step out of the truck.
Beau called out as he crossed the yard. "Hey, it's late but we were in the neighborhood. Got any coffee?"
"Sure. Come on in," Julie said.
"I'll just sit out here with Griff. Got a problem with a bull I want to talk to him about," Beau said.
Milli followed Julie into the house. "Date night. We went to Gainesville to dinner and a little shopping. Beau had ulterior motives. So here we are, making the big loop and going back home through the country."
"Come on inside. Elsie left cookies. The kids are in bed already," Julie said.
Julie arranged a tray with brownies and two cups of coffee and carried it out to the porch. When she returned, Milli had poured two cups of coffee and set the pan of brownies on the table.
"I've got a confession to make. I was determined not to like you. I got this idea that you were out to take Griffin for a ride, since Graham wasn't around for you to hoodwink. I was wrong. Nellie and Ellen got me and Jane told in a hurry when they heard that we'd been catty. I'm sorry," Milli said.
"Forgiven. Had I been in your shoes, I would have felt the same way," Julie said.
"So how are things goin' around here since the dance? Seemed like you and Griffin were getting along fairly well then," Milli asked.
"Tonight, honestly, all I want to do is run. Things were going pretty good and then slam, the brakes were put on the whole thing."
"Been there. Done it. Runnin' don't help."
"Griffin told me how you and Beau got together. I think of it as a fate miracle."
"A what?" Milli asked.
"I've doubted the existence of fate. You know my sister met and married Alvie Marlon in less than a week?"
"I heard about it. Cinderella story, ain't it?" Milli said.
"She had this theory that my moving to Saint Jo was all tangled up with fate and how that because I moved here she had this uncontrollable urge to quit her job and come to see me. Then because she succumbed to the voices in her head, she met Alvie and it was all fate."
Milli sipped coffee and nodded.
"So," Julie continued, "I asked Griffin if he believed in fate and he told me about you and Beau and how you ran back to west Texas after you'd had the fling with Beau in the trailer."
"Oh, honey, I just went home that time. The time that I ran was another thing altogether," Milli said.
"Well, you know how men are. Bare bones only. When did you really run away?"
"After the afternoon in the hay barn. A storm was on the horizon and Poppy John left his tractor out. He wanted it put in the barn, so I rode my horse out to the pasture to take care of it. Fate is a hussy and has to be female. Only a woman could plan something so intricate. Anyway, here comes fate again. Beau was out getting his prize bull away from a pecan tree in a lightning storm and we wound up in the same barn. One thing led to another and we damn near set the barn on fire ourselves."
"Milli!"
"Well, we did and let me tell you the sex was every bit as good as it was the night he was dog drunk in the trailer. It scared the liver out of me. The only thing I could hear was this booming voice inside my head that kept screaming at me to take Katy Scarlett and get the hell out of Dodge."
"What happened?" Julie asked.
"I got the hell out of Dodge. Made it all the way to the north side of Oklahoma and that old song by Trisha Yearwood came on the radio."
"Which one?"
"It's the one from the movie Con Air. 'How Do I Live.' Remember it?"
"Yes, I do. But what made that one so special?"
"It talks about getting through a night without him and asks how could she live without him. She says he's the world, her heart, her soul, and that everything good in her life is him."
The song began to play in Julie's head.
"So I called Beau and turned the truck around and came back home. Learned a hard lesson that day. I couldn't run from my problems or my heart. My mind might say that I had to run, but my heart refused to go. And I couldn't live without it. I stopped the truck and cried my eyes out. I was scared to death Beau wouldn't have me back and that he'd tell me to take my sorry ass back to Hereford and never come around him again."
"I think I'm a believer," Julie said.
"Just because I told you about my life?" Milli questioned.
"No, because of what you said about fate being female," Julie answered.
Milli picked up another brownie. "I love these. Be nice to Elsie or I'll steal her. Now tell me truthfully if you believe in fate."
Julie sipped coffee. "I do and it is because of the timing. If I'd moved to Saint Jo before you came to Oklahoma, then you wouldn't be here to help me understand these feelings tonight. Only a woman could get lives organized in such a way that one woman could help another through a crisis. Besides, what were the chances that I'd have the feelings I had tonight, the same ones that told you to get the hell out of Dodge, on the very night that Beau needs to talk to Griffin about a bull?"
"You got a point there," Milli said.
"Hey, you women through gossipin' in there?" Beau called from the door.
Milli leaned across the distance and hugged Julie. "That's my cue. Hang in there. It'll work out. Maybe not as fast as your sister got hers solved, but Miss Fate will take care of it."
"I'll take your word for it."
"And make a trip to the barn. You'll be surprised how it helps every now and then," Milli winked.
"Griffin is six years younger than I am," Julie said.
"So what? You are both adults," Milli said.
The truck's taillights left Julie and Griffin sitting on the porch again. Her mood was only slightly better. At least the record inside her head had stopped. Now there was a very different song than what Milli had heard when she turned her truck around. It was by Trisha Yearwood, though. An older song called, "Thinkin' About You." She began to hum it without thinking.
Griffin recognized the tune and the words ran through his head. It was the gospel truth set to music, for sure. He had been thinking about Julie and he was ready to admit his life, his heart, and his soul weren't worth shit without her in them.
"Tell me a fate story. You promised me another one and we've never had the time for it," she said.
"It'll have to be short. I'm sleepy and it's getting late," he said.
"Give me the bare bones. I'll get Jane to fill in the details later," she said.
"Okay. I've got to go back to dirt, though."
"Why?" Julie said.
"Because that's where it starts. There were five little girls who grew up together south of Bowie. I guess they were hellions. Granny Nellie says they were the very ones that they used for that Ya-Ya movie. She was one of them and her sister, Ellen, was one and there were three others. One of those five married and moved to Arkansas. The others stayed pretty close. The one who moved away came home once a year and they holed up in an old house and had a big time. Then that one died, so they had their own personal little funeral. Put her picture on a raft made of Popsicle sticks or something like that and floated it out into the pond where they'd all five almost got caught skinny-di
pping as teenagers. Set it on fire and gave her a private ceremony with a bottle of Jack Daniels."
"What's that got to do with Jane and Slade?" Julie asked.
"I told you it would have to start at dirt. Anyway that one that moved away, I can't ever remember all the names, had a daughter who had a daughter. Jane is the granddaughter and she'd heard of the five little girls but had no idea who the others were. So remember that while I tell this part of the story. Jane is living in Greenville, Mississippi. She's pretty close to her twenty-fifth birthday and when it arrives, she'll inherit her own oil company. She already owns a horse ranch. Her mother and father are both dead and her stepfather is the CEO of the oil company. But if she's dead before she's twenty-five, he inherits everything. So he puts a contract out on her."
Getting Lucky Page 29
