Forever

by Jeff Holmes

  “Roni Rae McIntyre, will you marry me?” he asked. He opened the box to reveal a quarter-carat solitaire diamond he had picked out at the Fort Sam Houston Main PX just before flying home.

  “Forever?” Roni asked, tears coming down her face.

  “Forever,” Scott said, his eyes welling up.

  Loud enough to be picked up by the mic, she said, “You bet your ass I will. Yes!”

  The crowd exploded. Scott lifted her up off the ground with his arms wrapped below her butt. She leaned down, took his face in her hands and kissed him. He put her down and held her. Everyone was cheering. The band came running out to hug them. Amy, Kimmy and Rick all charged in from off-stage and Maggie literally leaped on from the front. Everyone was hugging and laughing and crying.

  As things finally started to calm down, Scott picked up his Stratocaster, walked to a mike then looked back at the rest of the band.

  “Did I fill long enough?” he asked. Another cheer went up as Scott played the first notes of “Sweet Home Alabama.”

  It was a 45-minute all-Lynyrd Skynyrd set, with Scott on lead vocals all the way. Through “Tuesday’s Gone,” “Gimme Three Steps,” “Whiskey Rock-And-Roller,” “Call Me The Breeze,” “Simple Man,” and “Crossroads,” the crowd sang and danced and cheered and raised their long-necked Coors to the sky.

  The band waved and went backstage as the cheering grew louder. Joanie huddled them all up. “Ready for the last song?” she asked.

  “Let’s do it!” said Mark. “Let’s blow them out.”

  To a sea of lighters and a couple of early sky rockets, Snakebite took the stage one last time. Scott stepped to the mike as the crowd screamed the obvious last number.

  “FREEEEEEBIRD!!!”

  “What was that?” Scott hollered.

  “FREEEEEEBIRD!!!”

  “Damn right, Wild Horse!” Scott shouted back.

  Joanie sat down at the piano and began playing the dramatic chords starting the song. With the opening lines, Scott stated Snakebite’s good-bye.

  By the time the vocals and everyone’s solos ended, the song stretched over 15 minutes. Nobody wanted it to end, but finally it did. The song ended, and with it, Snakebite. Donnie, Teal, Kevin, Betsy, Scott, Joanie and Mark all held hands and took a bow. Then, they raised their arms and bowed again. Mark took the mike one last time.

  “Thank you Wild Horse, thank you Cheyenne County, we’re Snakebite and we thank you!”

  The crowd cheered one last time then turned around to watch the fireworks. The gang in the band and their friends all took a seat on the stage. Roni was sitting between Scott’s legs and just kept staring at the diamond on her hand.

  “You should probably ask my dad for my hand in marriage,” Roni said, half-joking.

  “I already did,” he said.

  She turned around and looked had him, puzzled. “You’re serious. When?”

  “Yesterday. When we went in to sign everything, I decided I would go ahead and do it,” he said.

  “What did he say?” she asked.

  “He approved,” Scott said.

  “My parents love you,” Roni said. “I don’t think they’d be surprised.”

  “Oh no,” Scott said. “I don’t think he was surprised at all.”

  “When did you decide this?” she asked.

  “That morning in St. Robert,” he said. “I looked at you laying there asleep. You looked so beautiful and so happy. I knew then I wanted to wake up to that every day for the rest of my life.”

  “Scott McIntyre,” Roni said. “It has a nice ring to it.”

  “Uh-huh. You just keep thinkin’ that there hon,” Scott said, throwing in a little dopey drawl.

  Scott wrapped his arms around her. If forever hadn’t started before, it had now.

  ****

  CHAPTER 15

  Monday was a blur. By the time Scott and Roni reached the ranch Sunday night, it was nearly 1 a.m. After a few hours of sleep, they were back in town for the pancake breakfast at the library.

  Roni rode with the Trail Club in the parade, while Scott was on the fire truck with the wrestling team. They smiled and waved, but as Scott told Coach Connel, even that was exhausting.

  Thankfully, after the parade, there was a lot of down time. Roni and Scott loaded Satch into his trailer, hooked it up to the Sarge and hauled him back to the farm. After four days at the Fairgrounds, the dark gray stallion seemed overjoyed to exit the back of the stable and into the pasture to run.

  Around 1 p.m., after Scott backed the trailer into space next to the stable, he and Roni both felt exhaustion just wash over them. It had been three of the greatest days of his life, but he was physically and mentally exhausted.

  They trudged up to Roni’s room and Scott kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the bed. Roni did the same. Within a minute they were both sound asleep.

  Scott’s eyes popped open again about 5:30. Roni was already up and he could hear her talking to somebody downstairs. He got out of bed and went to see what was happening.

  Rick and Maggie were sitting on the couch as Roni sat in the big chair opposite them. He could hear Brooke talking on the phone in the kitchen.

  “About time, Footer,” Maggie said as he sat down on the floor in front of Roni and she draped a leg over his shoulder.

  “That didn’t feel like four hours,” Scott said, yawning.

  “I’ve been up for an hour,” Roni said. “Brooke came home, then Rick and Maggie got here about an half-hour ago.”

  “I was just going to come up and get you,” Rick said. “You can sleep when you’re dead, bud.”

  “We’ve been talking about wedding stuff,” Roni said, playfully patting his head.

  “Which one?” Scott asked.

  “Both!” said Maggie with a big smile.

  “What do you think about New Year’s Eve?” Roni asked Scott.

  “I’ve always enjoyed New Year’s Eve, Cowgirl,” Scott said.

  “To get married on,” she said.

  “Really?” Scott asked. “Well, we’d always know there’d be a party somewhere.”

  Brooke laughed as she walked into the room. “That’s exactly what I said, Scott,” she said. “Wherever you go, everyone would be having a kick-ass party.”

  Roni leaned over and hugged him around the neck. “We have a wedding date!” she said.

  Scott went home to sleep after the fireworks. Tuesday would be a family day for him. Sarge was in the shop getting a tonneau cover installed.

  His 10-day leave was now halfway over, and he’d barely spent any time with his family, and the next day he and Roni were taking off on their trip.

  He took Kimmy to the batting cage at the high school after breakfast. She had a terrible undercut at times, constantly trying to hit everything out to left field. Mark and Amy met them there later and he hit her about 100 ground balls while Mark filled in at first base and Amy shagged for him.

  After a rare lunch with the whole family, Scott and Donna went to the store to pick up supplies for the trip. On every vacation or car trip Scott could remember, his mother packed the vehicle as if they were the Joad family headed west. It was as if she kept forgetting Howard Johnson’s existed.

  “Mom, seriously, we don’t need all this.”

  “No, honey, it’s fine. I want you guys to have enough. You’ll be on the road for three days.”

  “In Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, not Mongolia, Mom.”

  “You’re taking the food.”

  It wasn’t health food, either. Summer sausage, cold cuts, wedges of Swiss and Cheddar cheese, dip, a 12-pack of Coke and tiny six-pack of orange juice for the cooler. The food bag in the cab of the truck was filled with chips and candy. Donna was making three dozen chocolate chip cookies to send along.

  For dinner, the Mitchells and Mark met the McIntyres at Dooley’s Steak House out on the highway. Over T-bones, shrimp and Dooley’s famous onion rings, they discussed the Stampede and wedding plans.

  After di
nner, Kat pulled Scott aside for a moment.

  “I’m so happy for you guys,” she said. “Ever since everything happened, you’ve always been there for her, even when she pushed you away. I’m sorry you lost so much time.’

  “It’s OK Kat,” Scott said. “I love your daughter very much.”

  Kat hugged him. “You guys will have very pretty babies.”

  “One thing at a time, Kat!”

  “This,” Donna said, “is why a car would have been better.”

  “Mom, not now,” Scott said.

  “I think I’ve got this,” Wayne said.

  The Mitchell men were securing the cooler and Scott’s duffle bag up against the front of Sarge’s box with packing straps. Donna had been fussing all morning about the stuff sliding all over the back of the truck.

  “Where are you going to put your suitcases?” she asked.

  “They’ll fit right here next to the cooler, Mom.”

  “What if you need a pop while you’re driving?”

  “We’ll stop.”

  Donna sighed. “OK, fine. I guess you don’t need me out here.” She turned and went back through the garage into the house.

  “She’s fine, Scott,” Wayne said. “She’s trying to process everything. You came home, you’re leaving, you’re getting married. You know how she is.”

  Amy came out with the food bag. “Yes Dad, we all know. I’ll get it next month when I leave for Fort Collins. Where do you want the munchies, Scotty?”

  “You can just put them on the seat,” Scott said.

  “I’m going to go check on your mother,” Wayne said.

  Amy shut the passenger door and turned to face her big brother. “Off on another adventure?”

  “Guess so,” Scott said.

  “I wish I was as brave as you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You go out for football at UNC. You join the Army. Now you’re getting married and you and Roni are going on a 1,500-mile trip. You have adventures. I have to have sure things. Sometimes I think I’m kind of boring.”

  Scott chuckled. “You’re not boring little sister. Of the three of us, you’re the grown-up. Shit, I wish I was as grounded as you are. You’re damn right it’s scary; sometimes I scare the shit out of myself.

  “This isn’t just an adventure. It’s life. You’ll have adventures. And life.”

  Amy hugged him. “I’m the grown-up, huh?”

  “Yep. Somebody had to be. That’s why I’m getting married.”

  They were about to walk inside when McIntyre’s big blue Jimmy turned up Princeton, then into the driveway.

  “Good morning kids!” Ray said.

  “I’ll grab Roni’s stuff,” Scott said, going to the back of the truck.

  Kat climbed out of the passenger seat, as Roni and Brooke climbed out of the back seat. Scott had Roni’s suitcase and overnight bag, while she carried her pillow and blanket.

  “Good morning sweetheart,” Scott said as he reached the McIntyre ladies. He leaned over and kissed Brooke on the cheek.

  “Damn,” he said. “Wrong sister.” He laughed as he walked to Sarge.

  Roni ran up and jumped on his back. “Wrong sister? Let’s make sure we keep that straight, bud.”

  He set the suitcase in the back of the truck, then reached back and pulled Roni around in front. “No problem,” he said, smiling.

  Scott secured the suitcase in back along with his guitar case then snapped down the tonneau, and set the overnight case, pillow and blanket in the front seat. Roni set her purse in there too. The food was already packed. Scott looked through the window.

  “Good thing it’s a big seat,” Scott said. “There’s barely enough room for us.”

  “How much do we need, Footer?” Roni said, smiling.

  “True.”

  They all went in the house. Donna was making French toast and bacon. An hour later it was time to leave.

  “Drive carefully, son,” Wayne said, as he shook hands with Scott. Then hugged him.

  “We will, Dad.”

  Donna was crying, of course. “Sure you can’t stay a couple of more days?”

  “Not this trip, Mom.” He hugged her tight.

  “OK, Big Bro, see ya,” said Amy with a hug.

  “See ya. Off on another adventure.”

  Kimmy stood, pouting, against the fender of Sarge.

  “What’s up with you, Junior?” Scott asked.

  “Nothing. Get going.”

  She started to cry.

  “Hey, don’t you start,” Scott said. “I’ll be back in a few weeks.”

  “I liked it better when you were here all the time.”

  “Yeah, me too. Love you, Rag Doll.”

  “Love you too.” She climbed in his arms and hugged him tightly.

  Roni slid in through Sarge’s driver’s side door and parked herself in the middle of the seat. Scott climbed in next to her.

  “Roni Rae,” Kat said. “You need a seat belt.”

  “There’s one in the middle, Mom.”

  “Don’t make any babies!” Brooke yelled.

  “Brooke Anna McIntyre!” Kat shouted.

  Scott and Roni both burst into laughter and waved, as Scott threw Sarge into reverse and backed out of the driveway.

  Roni stuck Heart into the tape deck, then snuggled into Scott, humming along to “Dreamboat Annie,” as they headed off into the sun.

  ****

  CHAPTER 16

  “No, just keep going straight. It’s up there.”

  Roni was pointing ahead toward a stoplight two blocks up in Oakley, Kansas. Scott guided Sarge to the intersection of U.S. 40 and 83 and spotted the signs that pointed to “I-70 EAST” and within three blocks, they were on the interstate and halfway through their trip. Scott locked the cruise control at 68 miles per hour and leaned back in the seat.

  “How are you going to get home from Texas without me, Footer?” Roni said, reclining against the far door on her pillow.

  “I’ll just turn on my Roni-homing device,” he said. “That will get me there.”

  This was going to an interesting few days. The 1,500 miles they’d be driving together would be the longest stretch they’d ever been alone together.

  The subject went to football. Scott had discovered something in the NCAA called the “five-year rule.” It said an athlete had five years from the first time they entered college to complete their four years of competition. Since he wouldn’t be getting out of the Army until 1980, that was out.

  But, he’d also discovered he could play at an NAIA school if he wanted to. The small college organization did not care about NCAA participation; all you needed was a good GPA and the willingness to go to a small school.

  “Well, there’s Mesa and Adams State in Colorado,” Roni said, reading off a list she’d made. “A bunch in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa. We’d have a lot to choose from.”

  Scott sighed. “I really wish I could have tried D-I,” he said. “Or even gone to a D-II school. But any port in a storm.”

  “You,” Roni said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, “will be a star wherever you go, baby. It’s the NCAA’s loss.”

  After a 15-mile round trip to the little town of Ellsworth, Kan., to find a bathroom, Scott pulled Sarge back onto I-70 for the last 100 miles to Manhattan.

  “I’ll drive some more, Footer,” Roni said. “I don’t want you to get too tired out for ravaging purposes.”

  “Oh, we’re almost there. And knowing you, me being too tired won’t stop you.”

  “OK, so here’s a question,” Roni asked. “All the times we could have hooked up, I mean all the way back, do you wish we had? Before now?”

  “Uh…I don’t know. I mean, yeah, but would we have had all of this?”

  “You mean what we have now? What we’ve had since Christmas? I don’t know. We’ve both lived so much life over the years. We might have always been in love, but I don’t know if we were ready for each other yet.”


  “Ready for each other?”

  “I figured out not too long ago I was afraid of you. I realized I always at least liked you, and most of the time I did love you. But you scared me.”

  “How did I scare you?”

  “OK, this is probably going come out wrong,” Roni said, turning in the seat to face him. “You were my ‘sure thing,’ Footer. And that scared me.

  “I used to sleep around because of the thrill. But there was never any love to it. After a while, I started to wonder if I was just some slut who didn’t deserve a sure thing. That’s why I stayed away from you sometimes.”

  “God, that’s ironic,” Scott said. “When you got there this morning, Amy had just told me I was her hero because I was the adventurous one; she needed a sure thing.”

  “Really? I mean, you’re adventurous, but you were always more, I don’t know, grounded than me.”

  Scott shook his head and smiled as they hit the I-70/I-135 interchange on the west edge of Salina.

  “Know what?” Roni said. “I really did know in December that I was in love with you. I knew it when we spent the night together. I knew it when I saw you in the hall in your towel. I came back because I loved you; well that and the fact that I didn’t want to sleep in the lounge.”

  “Well, I already loved you. And I needed you so much that night. I was so amazed you came back; it was absolutely the one thing I needed at that moment. When you opened the door, standing there in your little hat and mittens…God, Roni. It was like a dream.”

  “I almost woke you in the morning. I was standing there naked, and I was hoping, oh GOD was I hoping, that you’d wake up. I wanted to make love to you so much.

  “But you had so much on your plate and you had so many demons right then that I thought if we had made love it just would have made a complicated situation worse.”

  “I absolutely can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad we didn’t make love that morning. Having you there and falling asleep with you that night was exactly what I needed. I wasn’t ready for the rest of it then.”

  “So anyway, I don’t know about you, but I’m glad it happened the way it did. I needed to be ready for my sure thing, Footer. And I am.”