Deleted

by Tess Thompson

  When Lance and Honor were in place at the altar, the string quartet began to play the traditional wedding march. From behind the temporary partition, Kara and Zane appeared. The guests all let out a collective sigh of appreciation. Kara was breathtaking. Her wedding dress was sleeveless with a heart shaped neckline combined with illusion material that reached her neck. The skirt’s underlayers were chiffon, but several layers of tulle made the skirt seem like a crown. The same tulle created a modest train. A rose gold crown sat upon her shiny brown hair which she wore in a low bun at the base of her long, slender neck. Her bouquet was a mass of pale pink and white anemones and roses that dangled from her hands.

  On Zane’s arm, Kara floated down the aisle and past them.

  Maggie turned back to look at the groom. Tears streamed from his eyes as his bride made her way to him, their gazes locked.

  When she reached the arch, Kara handed her bouquet to Honor and the women embraced. Kara turned to Brody, who had managed to compose himself. The pastor smiled. “We gather here today to celebrate the love and marriage of Brody and Kara. They have written their own vows.”

  Kara reached up to wipe a tear from Brody’s cheek before she began. Her voice was remarkably steady. “Brody, I was in a dark and lonely place when I arrived in your little town. My life as I knew it had vanished. I was more frightened than I’d ever been and sure I’d never be happy again. That is, until I walked into this house. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I felt an instant connection, even though I spent years cursing at you on television.”

  Everyone laughed, including the groom.

  “As the days unfolded, I began to truly understand the extraordinary man you are. You’re a faithful son, loyal friend, and loving brother. You’re generous and caring to those in your circle and beyond. There’s no finer man on this earth. I fell so completely in love with you, I didn’t know what to do with myself. You’re the only man who’s ever made me tongue-tied, jealous, and infuriated. No one makes me laugh harder or challenges me more or makes me happier to be alive. I love you more than you could ever know.”

  Brody took in a shaky breath before he spoke. “I do know how much you love me because I love you that much if not more. I heard once that the way to know if you’re truly in love is by gauging how you feel about yourself when you’re with them. Kara, you make me feel like a superhero. Until I met you, I never felt that special or talented or worthy of all the phenomenal things that had happened in my life. I was just an ordinary man with an extraordinary job who worked harder than anyone else and happened to be blessed with the best family in the world. But now, with you at my side, I feel like the man you think I am. You make me feel extraordinary. You make me want to be better. I’ll do my best to give you as much joy as you give me and to be the man you think I am. I don’t deserve you. I get that. But I’ll die trying.” Brody let out a shaky breath. Kara once again wiped his cheeks.

  Maggie rose from her chair walked up to the microphone. The bride had asked for “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts.

  Please, God, let my voice be worthy of this couple.

  She walked up to the microphone and picked up her guitar. For a second, she simply breathed in and out, conjuring the muse that hovered so near these days. She strummed the first chord. Sing from your heart. Her first voice teacher at college had given this instruction before they performed. The inane direction had made them laugh. What other way was there, after all? But tonight, gathered with this group of people to celebrate a great love between two people, she understood the sentiment in a way she never had before. Music was not only about conquering vocal technique. To sing well was an extraction and expression of the soul’s deepest longings. Every note and lyric should arise from the human heart’s immense capacity for love. Without the willingness to sing from the deepest part of your soul, it remained a craft instead of art.

  She was ready now to be an artist. How it happened that of all the people in the world, she was blessed with the gift of song, she could not guess. She knew, only, that she was grateful. Not only for her voice, but for every moment that had come before this. Yes, even for the ways the world had broken her. Without that brokenness, she could not heal others with her song.

  I was given this gift for this night. A bird’s throat. A poet’s tongue.

  Her own broken road had led her to this exact moment. These were her people. Her tribe.

  And so, as she opened her throat and let her heart ring out into the open air, she watched as the notes washed over her people in waves as powerful as the ocean itself.

  When the last note echoed into the still of the evening, even Kyle wiped the corners of his eyes.

  Mission accomplished.

  “And now for the rings, please,” the pastor said as Maggie returned to her seat.

  Lance and Honor handed the rings to the bride and groom.

  Kara slipped the ring on Brody’s finger. “I pledge to be your partner, best friend, loyal wife, and greatest love from this day forward, through all the joys and trials that will come our way. I promise to love you all the days of my life.”

  Brody took her hand in his. The band’s diamonds sparkled in the sunlight as he slid it onto her finger. “I promise to always take care of you, to consider you above all else. I promise to keep you safe from harm and to love and cherish you for all the days of my life.”

  “Do you, Brody Mullen, take Kara Eaton to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

  “I do.”

  “Kara Eaton, do you take Brody Mullen to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

  “I do.”

  The pastor turned his gaze to the guests. “Brody and Kara shared with me how important it is to them that their friends be an active part of this ceremony. They, even more so than most couples, will need their friends and families support in the years to come. They are asking you now on this sacred day to pledge to always be there for them, to protect them from harm, and to be the family Kara has always wanted. If you agree, say I do.”

  The chorus of I do’s filled the evening air.

  “Well, then, without further ado, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now seal your promise with a kiss.”

  Everyone cheered as they kissed.

  The pool deck had been transformed into a dance floor. Paper lanterns and tiny white lights hung from invisible strings. Music came through speakers set up by the hired DJ.

  As twilight gave way to a purple sky, Maggie followed Jackson out to the dance floor. “May I have this dance?” he asked.

  She smiled up at him and softened into his embrace.

  “What kind of wedding do you want?” he asked.

  “Smallish. Only at the church like we always said we would,” Maggie said.

  “What about the reception?”

  “At our house?”

  “Our house. That just gave me butterflies.”

  “Good ones?” she asked.

  “Good. Very good. Even though I’m still nervous if we made the right decision.”

  “Kyle wouldn’t have let us buy it without feeling confident it was a good move,” she said.

  “I still can’t believe it’s really ours,” he said. “The Arnoult house.”

  “Soon to be the Waller house,” she said.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “I’d given up on dreams coming true,” she said.

  “What about now?”

  “Coming home made them all come true,” she said. Monday, they would begin recording her first collection of songs. It was heady and beguiling. “I’m scared out of my mind. Everything I ever wanted is starting to happen. Is it weird to feel this way?”

  “You’re asking the biggest worrier on the planet if it’s weird?” He chuckled. “I’m going to say no, it’s not weird. It’s perfectly normal to be frightened. But, Bird, you’re going to kill it. I know.”

  “If I don’t, you’ll still be here.” She didn’t phrase it as a question. “And that’s more than enough
. Even if I’m a dismal failure.”

  “You’re not going to be, but yes, I’ll be here no matter what.”

  They danced in silence for a few minutes. “I want to get married sooner rather than later,” he said.

  “Like how soon?”

  “After we move into the house. Early October?”

  “When the weather’s still nice, but crisp,” she said.

  “We can have a reception and an open house on the same day.”

  She grinned up at him. “Won’t that be something?”

  “Yes. Yes, it will.”

  “I want your dad to give me away,” she said.

  “Ah, Bird.”

  “It has to be him,” she said. “Will you ask Zane to be your best man?”

  “It has to be him.”

  “I want Lisa and Pepper for bridesmaids. And Kara and Honor.” Two bookends. Her east coast sisters and her west coast sisters. “And my sister.”

  “We don’t have enough Dogs for them all,” Jackson said. “Your sister will have to be a flower girl.”

  Maggie laughed. “Sure, she’ll love that. The world’s oldest flower girl.”

  “Whatever you want, you shall have,” he said.

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I want you to have the world,” he said.

  “Ranunculus?”

  “I’ll talk to Clayton.”

  As Jackson turned her, she noticed that Zane and Honor danced together on the other side of the dance floor. They’re dancing together. It’s about time. They looked good together, so blond and gorgeous, like they were made from sunshine.

  Zane had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He whispered something in Honor’s ear. She threw her head back and laughed like she wanted to savor every succulent second of this sweet night.

  Honor and Zane were right together, if only they could be brave enough to let themselves be vulnerable, to let themselves love without fear. Maggie wanted for them what she had with Jackson. Every person deserves to be loved like this.

  Please God, help them shed their jaded pasts and find refuge in each other.

  “Honor and Zane are dancing. Do you see them?” Maggie asked.

  “I mostly have eyes for you, but yes, I do.”

  “It won’t be long before we’re at their wedding.”

  “You really think so?” Jackson asked.

  “After our wedding, of course. We have to take turns.”

  Jackson chuckled. “They have to actually have a date first.”

  “They will. I have faith.”

  Jackson and Maggie danced together without much movement, swaying as softly as the scent of roses in the night air. No need for fancy footwork when you’re resting in your soulmate’s arms.

  The moon appeared in the purple sky, full and fat and made for lovers. Maggie sighed with happiness and rested her cheek against Jackson’s hard chest. She closed her eyes and let the music enter through her pores and penetrate the center of her heart. Home. She was home at last. It was not just the sea air and the small, familiar town, but the people in it that made it so. Mostly, Jackson.

  Jackson was her home and always would be.

  “Do you remember much about our trip to Italy?” Jackson asked.

  She nodded against his chest. “Yes. I think I remember every moment of it. When I close my eyes, I see the view from our apartment as clearly as if it were right in front of me.”

  “I want to take you there for our honeymoon. To the same apartment we stayed in if I can find it.”

  “Oh, Jackson, really?”

  “Where else could we go that would mean as much?”

  “It was one of the happiest two weeks of my life. Your mom’s too. Did she ever tell you that?”

  “She didn’t have to.” He tightened his grip around her waist. “We’re going to have so many more, Bird. So many more happy times. Moments to hang on the walls of our home.”

  “And behind my eyes,” she said.

  “Yes, behind your eyes.”

  She didn’t have to explain what she meant to Jackson. He knew the passages and paths of her heart. He knew the cost of her losses and who and what she loved and wished for and despaired over. Since the day he held her muddy hand on the way home from school, he’d seen her like no one else had. Really seen her. Was this love, then? A familiarity with another’s secrets and longings and missteps? Or was love simply too mysterious to assign words? Even in a song?

  Maggie breathed in the scent of the sea and Jackson’s neck and looked around at the glow of candlelight on their friends’ faces. This would all too soon be a memory—one to hang on the walls and carry behind her eyes. Time stopped for no one, not even lovers.

  An image of her mother and Lily flashed before her. In the kitchen of the Waller’s home, laughing over some shared joke. Now, their voices, as clear as a recording from Micky’s expensive equipment, echoed through her mind.

  First her mother. Don’t miss one precious moment of your life, my Maggie.

  Then, Lily. Gobble every succulent second of this sweet world.

  I promise, I will.

  She wrapped her arms tighter around Jackson’s neck and looked up to the purple sky. Two stars hovered near the moon twinkled down at her. She raised her left hand from Jackson’s neck and let Lily’s diamond twinkle in return.

  I’ll take care of your boy, Lily. I’ll love him with all my heart.

  I got the truth, Mama. We found Sophie.

  She’d come home to get the truth. That truth had not led her to vindication, but to redemption. Love, not hate, had redeemed her. She was strong now, like the earth and sky. Her strength, built from the ashes of hardship and loss, had readied her for the most courageous act of all—to love without reservation. Because to love as she loved Jackson exposed her heart to the devastating possibility of loss. She knew how loss hurt. For twelve years she’d lived without him. Knowing this and choosing to love him anyway was the most courageous choice she would ever make. But what else was there that mattered as much? What else had there ever been but this man who saved the last dance for her? Jackson Waller. The man she’d loved all her life. The man with whom she would make a lifetime of memories.

  She moved her gaze to Jackson’s face and fought the urge to hold him tighter, to protect him from harm. But no, this was not the way. Fearful was not the path with which to relish life and love. No, she must let go and breathe as if no harm would ever come to them.

  “Jackson,” she whispered.

  “What is it, Bird?” he asked.

  “Did you ever notice the sky’s purple this time of night?”

  “Only because you showed me,” he said.

  “There’s never going to be enough time. I’ll always want one more day with you.”

  “Me too.”

  “But we have right now,” she said.

  “Yes. We have this one perfect moment. Nothing can ever take that from us. Not even time.”

  “Us. My favorite word.”

  “Now, shush, so I can kiss you and make it a little more perfect,” he said.

  And so she did.

  * * *

  The end.

  About the Author

  Tess Thompson writes small-town romances and historical fiction. Her female protagonists are strong women who face challenges with courage and dignity. Her heroes are loyal, smart and funny, even if a bit misguided at times. While her stories are character driven, she weaves suspenseful plots that keep readers turning pages long into the night.

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  Her desire is to inspire readers on their journey toward their best life, just as her characters are on the way to theirs. In her fiction, she celebrates friendships, community, motherhood, family, and how love can change the world. If you like happy endings that leave you with the glow of possibility, her books are for you.

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  Like her characters in the River Valley Collection, Tess Thompson hails from a small town in southern Oregon, and will a
lways feel like a small town girl, despite the fact she’s lived in Seattle for over twenty-five years. She loves music and dancing, books and bubble baths, cooking and wine, movies and snuggling. She cries at sappy commercials and thinks kissing in the rain should be done whenever possible. Although she tries to act like a lady, there may or may not have been a few times in the last several years when she’s gotten slightly carried away watching the Seattle Seahawks play, but that could also just be a nasty rumor.

  Her historical fiction novel, Duet for Three Hands won the first runner-up in the 2016 RONE awards. Miller's Secret, her second historical, was released in 2017, as were the fourth and fifth River Valley Series books: Riversnow and Riverstorm. The sixth River Valley book will (hopefully) release in the latter part of 2018.

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  Traded: Brody and Kara, the first in her new contemporary, small town romance series, Cliffside Bay, released on February 15th, 2018. The second in the series, Deleted: Jackson and Maggie releases May 7th. The subsequent three Cliffside Bay books will release every couple months in 2018.

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  She currently lives in a suburb of Seattle, Washington with her recent groom, the hero of her own love story, and their Brady Bunch clan of two sons, two daughters and five cats, all of whom keep her too busy, often confused, but always amazed. Yes, that’s four kids, three of whom are teenagers, and five cats. Pray for her.

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  Tess loves to hear from you. You can visit her website http://tesswrites.weebly.com/ or find her on social media:

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