Lilac Wedding in Dry Creek

by Janet Tronstad

  Jake froze where he stood. “She what?”

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Wade turned around. “Our mother gets impressions these days. I think it’s from her time away. She also looks for signs from God, so don’t leave any baby bottles around.”

  Jake didn’t answer his brother. Wade definitely hadn’t told him any of that. He wondered what other secrets his mother saw.

  Lord, if I were a praying man, today would be the day. Jake felt the words flit through his mind without him giving them permission. He wondered if it counted as praying if he hadn’t intended to say any of it. Finally, he decided it couldn’t. He was more comfortable being angry with God than he was asking Him for help.

  He did have a sudden urge to go back and check on Cat. He needed some reinforcements if he was going to spend much time with his brother and mother. It wasn’t far from dinnertime.

  He looked in the bedroom and saw her sleeping soundly, though, so he closed the door and left. She needed her rest.

  Cat woke up when the sun was low in the sky and shadows were starting to form in the corners of the room. She had a moment’s panic when she wondered where she was and then she remembered Lara. It finally came to her that Jake was with Lara and they were all together at his family’s ranch in Montana.

  Feeling relieved, she turned to look at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was five o’clock. She was feeling pretty good. The pill had calmed her heart and she’d slept well.

  Still, she shouldn’t sleep any longer. She sat up in the bed and looked across at the dresser mirror. Her hair was a disaster and most of it had worked its way loose from the band she’d pulled it back with earlier. Fortunately, she kept a few hair items in her purse.

  She swung her legs around to the side of the bed and made the effort to stand. She stepped over to the mirror and used her brush to tuck her hair back up into a casual knot on the back of her head. Her green sweater looked as if she’d slept in it, but there wasn’t much she could do about that until she had her suitcase. Before she left the room, she walked back and fluffed up the pillows on the bed and smoothed out the quilt. Then she picked up her purse and turned to leave.

  The living room was in shadows, but she knew from the strip of light shining under the door to the kitchen that everyone would likely be gathered there. It was quieter than she expected, though, and she could smell something cooking. Maybe they had all gone somewhere.

  When she pushed the door open, she saw that Gracie was sitting at the table with an open Bible in front of her and her head bowed in prayer. A bare lightbulb hung over the table but it was not turned on.

  “Oh, don’t let me disturb you,” Cat whispered as she started to back out of the room. Now that she read the Bible herself, she counted the time as holy when anyone was reading it. She hadn’t opened the door before Gracie lifted her head and smiled.

  “Please, come sit with me,” the other woman said. “Supper’s in the oven and I’m waiting for the boys and Lara to get back from their drive down to the coulee behind the barn. They waited for a bit so you could go with them if you woke up, but then they needed to go or it would have grown dark.”

  “Is it far?”

  “It’s halfway between our ranch and the Mitchell place where Wade’s fiancée, Amy, was raised. You can walk it in five minutes, but Wade wanted to pull a piece of old decking down so he needed the tractor. He’s setting up a place to build an outdoor fireplace there for evening picnics this summer.”

  “That sounds lovely,” Cat said as she walked over to the table.

  “A man will do most anything to please his wife,” Gracie said with a nod as Cat sat down. “Amy has always been partial to sitting outside on a starry night.”

  Cat nodded as though she knew what that would be like. “The only fires I’ve seen at night were the ones we had on the streets in Fargo during the winter. Sometimes people would get together and burn some trash in a barrel. We didn’t cook anything but hot water, but once someone had a can of cocoa and we made up as many cups as we could.”

  She wondered if she should have shared any of that when she saw Gracie’s face.

  “It was nice,” Cat added and folded her hands in front of her. She’d said too much but there was no taking it back. It was silent enough that she could hear the clock ticking on the wall by the refrigerator.

  “Life hasn’t been easy for you, has it?” the other woman finally said as she put a bookmark in her Bible and closed it.

  “Please, don’t stop because of me.” Cat gestured to the book.

  “But I might not have another chance to visit with you,” Gracie said. “And I want to know that you have enough help.”

  “I get by.” Cat didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her. “I have a job as a receptionist. The best job I’ve ever had. And then there’s Lara. She makes up for a lot.”

  The sun was setting and pink filled the sky. Shadows were starting to form in the corners of the kitchen.

  Gracie nodded. “A daughter like Lara would make up for a lot. She’s a delightful child. I had my three boys, but there’s something about a little girl that is special.”

  Cat shifted in the chair. “She believes in fairy tales, you know.”

  “And she doesn’t like peas,” Gracie added with a smile. “And she’s trying to convince herself she’s a princess.”

  “She told you?” Cat asked. Her daughter didn’t confide her fantasies to many people and she was glad Lara felt comfortable enough to tell Jake’s mother. “I do try to make her eat just a few peas if that’s what’s served. I haven’t figured out how to handle the princess thing yet, though.”

  “Your little one also informed me that she’s four years and three months old.”

  Cat didn’t know how to answer. “She’s been in preschool, but she starts kindergarten next year.”

  Gracie just looked at her then as though she was waiting for something. Finally, the woman said, “I figure she must have been born shortly after you left the home where you met Jake.”

  Cat nodded. She could hardly deny that much, but she wasn’t going to say anything more. She told herself she was being foolish, that Jake’s mother could not possibly suspect that Lara was his child. The hair coloring and eyes were too different. But she didn’t want to rouse the woman’s curiosity.

  “You must have met someone then,” Gracie said. “After you left the home? You would have been a child bride.”

  Cat willed herself not to squirm. “I wasn’t a bride. But it’s all in the past.”

  Just then the sound of a dog barking came through the window. It was followed by the rumble of an engine and a squeal that could only belong to Lara.

  “You had to do it alone, then?” Gracie asked. “Giving birth and raising your child.”

  “Other women do the same,” Cat said with a shrug.

  At that moment, the door to the kitchen opened and it seemed as if everyone came inside at the same time. Wade reached against the wall and turned the light on as Jake and Lara slid in around him.

  Cat blinked in the brightness.

  “Supper’s ready,” Gracie said as she started to stand. “The lasagna’s heated and I have a salad in the refrigerator.”

  “You just sit down,” Jake said as he walked over and put his hand on his mother’s shoulder. “Wade and I can set the table.”

  “There’s more lemonade in the refrigerator, too,” the older woman said as she sank back into the chair. “My foot starts to hurt more toward evening.”

  “Well, you need to stay off of it,” Wade said. “We want you to be comfortable for the wedding. And Amy said to tell you she’ll be able to come over later. About eight or so. She’s got things to do to get ready.”

  Then Wade looked at Cat. “I’m pleased to meet you. I’m
Jake’s brother.”

  “I know.” Cat smiled. “If there’s anything I can do to help you get ready for the wedding, let me know. Anything.”

  “You can convince this guy here that it’s okay to be happy at a wedding,” Wade said as he chuckled and nodded his head toward Jake. “People are going to wonder what’s wrong if he goes around with that dour look on his face.”

  “I’m not dour,” Jake protested. “And, even if I was, it would add some dignity to the day.”

  “It’s a wedding,” Wade said. “It’s not supposed to be dignified. You have it confused with a funeral.”

  Cat envied the brothers’ back-and-forth bantering. She looked down and saw that Lara was watching them with a fascinated look on her face, too.

  “What’s a funeral?” Lara asked in the silence that followed.

  The question hung in the air as all traces of laughter disappeared. Cat was speechless. She hadn’t realized until that moment how little she had prepared Lara for the possibility of her death. She had worried about who was going to raise her daughter if she couldn’t. She had debated about writing her a series of letters for her to read on her birthdays, just in case. But she hadn’t thought to explain to her that sometimes parents needed to go away. And that, even when they did, they still loved their little girls.

  “Well, a funeral is when people get all dressed up in their church clothes and go say goodbye to someone who has died,” Jake said.

  He looked toward Cat for approval. “Did I miss anything?”

  Cat looked at her daughter. “Just that we don’t need to be afraid of death. God is in control of that as much as He is of our lives.”

  Lara nodded. “Do doggies have funerals, too?”

  “Sometimes,” Cat answered.

  “Do they have food at funerals?” Lara asked another question. “I’m hungry.”

  Cat gave the nod to Jake on this one.

  “They do often have food.” Jake squatted down so he was eye level with Lara. “But it’s not nearly as good as the cooking you’ll get right here tonight.”

  By the time Jake had finished with all of Lara’s questions, his brother had brought the dinner plates and silverware over to the table.

  “Just tell me where,” Cat said as she lifted up the first plate. The other woman pointed to the places where she wanted people to sit.

  “I’ll get the salad,” Jake said as he turned around and stepped closer to the refrigerator.

  Wade opened a cabinet drawer and pulled out a pot holder. “I’m going to pull the lasagna out so it can set,” he said.

  “It smells wonderful,” Cat said as Wade opened the oven door.

  Cat vowed then and there that she was going to learn how to cook. There was something so right about this family as they prepared to eat together. Even if it was just her and Lara, they would enjoy something cooked at home instead of pulled out of a deli carton.

  Wade removed the large pan of lasagna from the oven and Cat’s mouth watered as she saw the cheese bubbling on the top.

  “Does the doggie get some?” Lara asked as she stared at the pan of lasagna, too.

  It suddenly occurred to her that Lara had never seen a family dinner with this much food.

  “I have some dog biscuits you can give Honey,” Gracie said as she stood up.

  “We’ll get it, Mom,” Jake said as he motioned for her to return to her chair. “Just tell me where.”

  By this time, both of the brothers had tied white dishtowels around their arms.

  “Their father used to do that.” Gracie leaned over to whisper to Cat. “He certainly had his faults, but sometimes he helped in the kitchen. Bless his heart.”

  Cat nodded. She supposed there had to have been some good in the man or he wouldn’t have been able to help raise such nice sons. “Do the boys look like him?”

  Gracie shook her head. “No, they take after me. All three of them.”

  Cat didn’t know what she’d said, but Gracie’s eyes got big for a second.

  “Are you okay?” Cat asked the other woman.

  She nodded. “I think I just swallowed wrong.”

  Cat didn’t point out that the woman hadn’t been drinking or eating anything. She seemed to be doing okay, though. Maybe memories didn’t settle too well with her. Cat could appreciate that. She felt as if she had too few memories one minute and too many the next. Mostly, though, when she saw Jake do something like clown around with his brother, she felt as though she’d never have enough scenes imprinted in her mind. She loved to see him happy.

  Chapter Nine

  Jake pushed back his chair after supper. Night had fallen and the kitchen window opened to darkness in the space between the two red curtains that didn’t quite meet. The chatter had finally slowed down, along with the clanking of the silverware, so he could hear the soft sounds of the clock that had hung on the wall since before he’d been born.

  He sighed in contentment at being home. The smell of the baked lasagna lingered. The old faucet on the sink, made of that dull metal that wasn’t used anymore, had the same slight drip when the handle wasn’t turned hard enough. Which explained the old pliers lying on the windowsill. And, there was the dent in the side of the refrigerator where he had hit it with a hammer because Wade had dared him to do it, saying he didn’t think Jake had enough power in his swing to make much of an impression. He’d been four years old. Wade almost seven.

  The refrigerator hadn’t worked at first when his mother moved back in recently, but Wade said she’d had someone come out to fix it—except for the dent, of course, which would stay there until the appliance finally died for good.

  He looked around at the people still sitting at the table. The light above shone down on Lara’s golden curls, as her head drooped from exhaustion. He glanced up and met Cat’s eyes. She smiled and he believed it was because she liked that he kept track of their daughter. He felt like some invisible force watching over Lara even if she didn’t know who he really was. He might not be a prince, but he liked taking care of her.

  “This is the best meal ever,” he said and turned to his mother. “Thank you.”

  Of course, he wasn’t overlooking the fact that it was so pleasant because his father wasn’t sitting there with them. Jake just didn’t want to ruin the evening by thinking about the man.

  “You outdid yourself,” he complimented his mother again when he noticed she hadn’t responded.

  She nodded at that, but still looked at him a little strangely. Come to think of it, she had been quiet during the whole meal. And, now that he noticed, she had half of her food left on her plate.

  “Something wrong?” he asked her. “Your foot’s not bothering you, is it?”

  “I guess I’m just too excited to eat,” she said and he had to admit it was not pain that shone from her eyes. She looked like a little kid waiting for Christmas to come even though the Thanksgiving wreath wasn’t off the door yet.

  “I know you’re happy about Wade and Amy getting married,” he guessed.

  “Yes, that, too.” His mother nodded.

  Well, he thought, it obviously wasn’t the wedding, but his mother didn’t say what it was and everyone was silent for a moment.

  “Well, who’s going to help me wash the dishes?” Wade finally asked as he pushed back his chair. “I think I can get anyone who volunteers a bowl of ice cream after we finish.”

  Lara squealed and raised her hand. “What kind of ice cream?”

  “Mango,” his brother said with a grin as he walked over to the sink.

  Lara screwed up her face as if she was debating the question. “Manga what?”

  “We have vanilla, too. With nuts and chocolate sauce if you’d rather.” Wade turned around to add, “I might even b
e able to find some sprinkles for the top.”

  “Okay,” she agreed and then grinned up at him in pure adoration.

  His brother liked his daughter, Jake noted to himself in approval. She seemed to like him, too. Maybe her time with them wouldn’t scar her forever.

  “I’ll help, too,” Cat offered as she pushed her plate farther back on the table and put her hands on the table in preparation for standing.

  “Count me in, as well,” Jake said as he started to rise.

  “No.” The single word came from his mother’s mouth and it stopped them all. Even Wade turned back to stare.

  Jake looked at his mother and sat back down. “I’ll be careful with the plates if that’s what you’re worried about. I know I broke that pitcher once, but that was because I was messing around trying to catch a lemon with it.”

  That had been after the hammer incident and he had been trying to be careful.

  His mother shook her head. “I just want to talk to you. And I can’t wait much longer.”

  “Sure,” Jake said, wondering what his mother could need to talk about that had her so obviously agitated. Maybe his father’s memory was here to ruin the evening, after all. “Is it all the talk of funerals earlier? I know we haven’t finished up the headstone for dad’s grave yet, but we’ll do it soon. We just need to find the right words to put on it.”

  Jake wasn’t sure there were any right words, but he didn’t see the need to share that. Maybe they’d think of something.

  “Have you stopped by there yet? The cemetery?” Wade asked from his place by the sink, most likely deciding that was their mother’s problem, as well. He turned the water on and then glanced back at Jake. “I went by the other day and it needs to have some weeds pulled.”

  “I’ll go over tomorrow,” Jake offered. If it upset his mother to see the grave with weeds all around, he’d do what he could for her. His father would not have cared, but then he wasn’t much for neat borders in life, either.

  “That’s not it,” his mother said as she reached down for the cane that she’d let fall to the floor earlier. “I want to show you something important.”