by Sharon Sala
It was the opportunity Holly had been waiting for.
“It’s going to take some planning to make this happen in such a short time,” Holly said.
Savannah laughed. “I know, but Judd and I don’t want a fuss. We just want to be legal.”
“Have you talked to Maria?” Holly asked.
“Not in a couple of days, but I do know that her detective proposed.”
Holly squealed. “Oh, my gosh! Do you think she’s planning on getting married here, too?”
“We’ll have to find out,” Savannah said. “Wouldn’t it be great if we had a double wedding?”
“It would be even better if we made it a triple,” Holly said.
There was a moment of dead silence, and then Savannah was sputtering.
“What’s happened? What’s been going on that I don’t know about?
“Bud and I are engaged.”
Another moment of silence, and then an ear-shattering scream.
“Are you serious? This is awfully sudden. Why didn’t we know?”
“It isn’t sudden for me or Bud. I’ve loved him for a long time, and according to him, he’s been in love with me since I turned eighteen.”
“You never said a word.”
“I know.”
“Why would you keep that a secret from us?” Savannah muttered. “Because you can’t keep a secret.”
Savannah managed a snort. “Whatever. Just wait until Maria finds out.”
“If you talk to her in the near future, tell her that if she wants in on the family wedding, she better let me know now.”
“I will.” Then Savannah started to cry. “I am so happy this is happening for all of us. Daddy would have been so proud to walk us down the aisle. Oh, Holly, who will walk us down the aisle?”
Bud walked in just then, and Holly turned toward him as a slow smile spread across her face.
“Bud will.”
Bud didn’t know what Holly had just volunteered him for, but she was smiling, so it had to be good.
“What will I do?”
Holly pointed to the phone. “Savannah’s crying because she and Judd are coming home in two weeks to get married and there’s no one to walk her down the aisle. I told her you would.”
Bud took the phone out of Holly’s hand. “Damn straight I’ll be walking you down the aisle—and Maria, too, when it comes time to do it.”
Savannah was laughing and crying and just the tiniest bit irked that they’d kept such a secret from everyone.
“So who’s going to walk Holly down the aisle, Mr. Keeper-of-big-secrets.”
Bud grinned. “She finally told you.”
“Yes, she finally told me, and you’re going to catch it again when I tell Maria about you two.”
“Tell anyone who’ll listen,” Bud said, as he pulled Holly up against him and gave her a quick squeeze. “I’m so happy I’ve been strutting like a rooster ever since I got back.”
“But you didn’t answer my question,” Savannah said. “Who’s going to walk Holly down the aisle?”
“Me. I’ve been wrangling the three of you a good part of my life. This will be my last shot, and I’m going to give it all I’ve got.”
“Okay, then,” Savannah said. “I’m calling Maria. She doesn’t know it yet, but there’s going to be a triple wedding at the Triple S. That even sounds right, doesn’t it? Tell Holly I’ll call her with more details later.”
The line went dead.
Bud blinked. “Sorry. She hung up before I could stop her.”
Holly shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. She just wants to be the one to tell Maria first. Hope you don’t mind, but you and I are getting married in a couple of weeks.”
“Mind? No, darlin’, I don’t mind a bit.”
Ten days later, in the midst of a flurry of wedding plans, Holly got the call that her mother’s remains would be arriving at the airport the next day. It rattled the shell she’d built around herself, leaving her to deal with a whole new set of raw emotions.
She and Bud had already planned the actual steps that would need to be taken to get the casket from the airport to the family cemetery at the ranch. She’d contacted both of her sisters to make sure they had no issues with burying her mother there and gotten total support.
Now all she had to do was call the man to come dig the grave, and let the minister and funeral home know. After twenty years of darkness, Twila Mackey was going to be laid to rest beneath the blue Montana skies.
Earlier that morning Bud had driven over to the west side of the ranch to check the grass, to see if it had grown tall enough for him to run some cattle on it. She hadn’t been able to slow him down much since his physical therapy had begun. According to him, the therapist’s best prescription for regaining full use of the muscles in his back and arm was to use them, which he did every day, and with more and more agility every night when he took her to bed.
When she called, Bud answered quickly.
“Hey, darlin’, what’s up?”
“I got a call from St. Louis. Mother’s remains will arrive at six-thirty tomorrow evening.”
His demeanor shifted immediately. “Okay. This is what you’ve been waiting for. So this is all good, right?”
Holly sighed. She knew Bud was waiting for her to come undone. In the back of her mind, she knew it was bound to happen. But today wasn’t the day.
“Yes, it’s all good, and so am I. So you’re still okay to call Chet Wheatley to come dig the grave?”
“Sure am. I’ve got his number in the truck.”
“Then I’ll call our pastor and the funeral home.”
“See you at noon,” Bud said. “What are we having?”
“Fried chicken.”
“Outstanding,” he said. “Love you most.”
“Love you more.”
Holly called the funeral home, alerting them to the time that a hearse needed to be at the airport, then called their pastor with an update. He promised to be out at the ranch before dark the next evening. They would be burying Twila Mackey at sundown.
She went through the morning with a somber heart. She had the triple wedding event running on schedule. Flowers had been ordered. The pastor had been notified, and the church was reserved. A local bakery was doing all three of the wedding cakes, as well as the grooms’ cakes. Measurements had flown fast and furiously between the three sisters until the tuxes had been ordered, but they were picking out their own gowns.
Holly had already chosen hers. It was being altered and would be ready in plenty of time for the wedding.
But this phone call had thrown everything out of sync. Once again there were things left undone. Not until the final shovel of dirt had covered her mother’s grave would Holly feel complete.
She hadn’t dreamed about her past since she’d come home from St. Louis. But that night, lying within the safety of Bud’s embrace, her subconscious brought her one last gift.
Harriet was panicked. Mother was crying as she packed Harriet’s clothes in a suitcase, and she was certain it was her fault. She’d done a bad thing, making Daddy and Mother mad. She’d been begging for hours, promising she wouldn’t tell anyone else, that she would make her bed every day forever without complaining, that she would always pick up her toys. She would do anything if Mother just wouldn’t send her away.
Finally the bag was packed and Mama turned.
“Come here, my pretty baby,” she said, and got down on her knees and took Harriet into her arms. “This isn’t because you did something bad. It’s because Daddy did something bad. It’s his fault, not yours. Not ever yours! You were a brave little girl to tell the truth. You were taught to tell the truth, and you did the right thing, okay?”
Harriet nodded, but she was bothered by the fact that there was only one suitcase.
“Are you coming with me?” she asked.
“No. But I will come and get you—and soon. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die, pinky-swear promise…Mother will come get you
.”
Harriet didn’t want to go away with strangers. She didn’t know where they lived. What if Mother couldn’t find her again?
“But we don’t know where preacher’s house is. What if you can’t find me? What if you never see me again?”
“Look at me, Harriet! Hear my words! I don’t know exactly how long this will take, but I promise on my life…one day we will be together again.”
Someone was shaking her, and then she heard Bud’s voice.
“Wake up, Holly. Wake up.”
She opened her eyes and then looked toward the window. It was still dark.
“What’s wrong? Why did you wake me?” she mumbled.
Bud swept his hand across her cheek. “Sweetheart…you were crying in your sleep.”
Holly felt her face, then her pillow. Both were wet from tears. “Oh. I was dreaming about the night Mother was packing my bag to take me to meet Andrew. I thought she was sending me away because I’d told on Daddy…because I’d been bad.”
“Oh, honey.” Bud slid his arm beneath her neck and pulled her close against him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“I know, but in a way it’s okay, because I also remembered the last thing she said. ‘I promise on my life…one day we will be together again.’ Oh, Bud, this breaks my heart.”
“Don’t cry, baby. She did what she had to do to keep her child safe. That makes her the most amazing mother ever, and you’re just like her. You’re always loving and giving and thinking of everyone but yourself. Close your eyes and rest. Tomorrow is a big day. No more bad dreams, just me holding you safe while you sleep.”
The sun was sliding toward the western horizon when the plane Bud and Holly had been waiting for finally landed in Missoula. Instead of immediately taxiing toward the terminal, it rolled to a stop a short distance away, coming to a halt a few yards from the waiting hearse.
“She’s here,” Bud said, and took Holly by the hand. “Come on, honey. Let’s walk her home.”
They got out of the hearse and moved toward the casket being lowered from the cargo hold. It had taken twenty years for her to be found, but Twila Mackey was no longer alone.
A few minutes later, with the casket secure, they headed back to the Triple S. Holly leaned against Bud’s shoulder, calmer that she’d imagined she would be. She’d cried so many tears since this journey began, but today was the true journey’s end.
By the time they got to the ranch, it was less than thirty minutes to sundown. The pastor was waiting. The ranch hands stood as pallbearers, honored to be asked. And then the casket was unloaded and placed above the grave.
Bud took Holly’s hand as they walked to the side of the grave, standing arm in arm as the pastor began.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”
Holly looked up as the preacher continued to read. The sun was sitting on the edge of the world, backlit by a most radiant display of pink and gold.
“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.”
She shivered. A fitting verse. Twila Mackey had conquered her fear and faced the greatest of evils.
The preacher’s voice faded into the background as Holly stared into the west, watching as the sun disappeared below the horizon, leaving an explosion of heavenly color to mark its passing.
“And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.”
“Amen,” they echoed, as the casket was lowered into the ground. Like the sun, it was disappearing below the surface of the earth, but Twila’s rest would be complete.
Holly tossed the first handful of dirt into the grave. It scattered silently onto the surface of the casket, as symbolic as the site she’d chosen for her mother’s final resting place.
Holly looked toward the tombstone to the right of Twila’s grave as the workers began filling the hole with dirt.
Andrew and Hannah Slade—his grave still bearing the mark of recently turned earth, while Hannah’s was smooth from the passing years.
Twila Mackey had entrusted her daughter, her most precious possession, to a preacher named Andrew Slade. Now Holly was laying her mother to rest at his side.
“Daddy…you took such good care of me, if you don’t mind, I would appreciate it if you’d do the same for my mother. She’s been alone for a very long time, but I think you and Hannah will like her. She’s a lot like me.”
Once the grave was covered, they laid a single wreath of roses at the foot, then walked arm in arm back through the dusk to the brightly lit ranch house. It was symbolic of new beginnings as they walked out of the dark into the light.
Epilogue
“Bud! Bud! They’re here!” Holly cried, as two cars pulled up in front of the house.
Without waiting, she burst out of the house and then leaped off the porch. Her sisters were home!
Maria got out first, accompanied by a tall, lanky man wearing jeans and a sport coat, but it was the Stetson and the cowboy boots that made Holly smile.
Of course Maria had fallen for a cowboy. Just because he wore a badge, it didn’t change the facts.
“Maria! Maria! Welcome home!” Holly cried, and then hugged her sister fiercely before stepping back to give her a once-over. “Are you healed?”
“In body, yes. In spirit…I’m getting there,” Maria said, then grabbed her fiancé, Bodie, and pulled him forward. “Honey, now is not the time to stand on ceremony. Come meet the heart of our home, my sister Holly. Holly, this is Bodie Scott.”
Holly held out her hand. Bodie grinned, then bypassed the hand and swept her off her feet with a big hug and kiss. By the time he put her down, Bud was coming out of the house and smiling.
That was when the doors of the second car opened.
Savannah was squealing and waving even before she got out of the car. Both sisters headed toward her on the run.
“Be prepared,” Bud told Bodie. “These three are bonded like glue. You may as well meet the baby of the family now, so we can get back inside.”
Back in the house, Maria and Savannah cornered Bud, giving him grief for keeping his feelings for Holly hidden for so long.
“I can’t believe all this happened behind my back,” Savannah said. “I’m so happy about these weddings I could die.”
All of a sudden there was a hush in the room.
“Seriously poor choice of words, baby sister,” Maria said.
Everyone laughed, grateful for the break in the tension, and then Holly began organizing the crowd.
“Since your flights landed so late, you do realize there’s not going to be a wedding rehearsal, right?”
“I don’t need to practice saying ‘I do,’” Bud drawled. “I’ve been saying it in my heart for years.”
“For that you win a prize,” Holly said, and kissed him soundly. “So now that that’s settled, we’ll talk details while we eat. I’ve been cooking for days.”
They bypassed the dining room, gathering instead in the big warm kitchen, filling their plates from the casseroles and platters lining the sideboard, and then sitting down to eat at the long wooden table that had held many a meal.
It had been decided that the men would all spend the night at Judd’s ranch, giving the sisters their last night together alone.
Later, after the food had been eaten and the dishes washed and put away, they went into the living room to trade horror stories about what they had gone through. Savannah was holding court with a harrowing story when the phone began to ring.
Maria was closest and answered it without thought.
“Triple S.”
“Is this Holly?”
“No, I’m her sister Maria. May I ask who’s calling?”
“Tell her it’s Detective Carver from St. Louis. I need to speak to her.”
Maria put her hand over the mouthpiece. “Hey! Holly. There’s a Detective Carver on the phone for you.”
Suddenly Holly looked nervous. “I’ll take it in the other room,” she said, and bolted before Bu
d could stop her.
As soon as Maria heard her pick up, she replaced the receiver, but she could tell by the look on Bud’s face that all had not been revealed.
“What’s going on?”
Bud put a finger to his lips, indicating silence. The room went quiet. In the distance, they could hear the faint murmur of Holly’s voice, although they couldn’t hear what was being said. Then they heard a sharp cry. Bud got to his feet, but Holly was already coming back into the room.
Her step was light, and there was a smile on her face that went all the way to her soul.
“I just got the best wedding present ever,” she said. “The DNA results just came back. There’s a 99.99 percent certainty that Harold Mackey is not my father. Oh, my God! Oh, my God!”
She started to laugh—a high-pitched crazy kind of laugh that, once started, had no place to stop. Bud flinched. Here it comes. He had known this moment would happen. The wall she’d built around her was coming down. By the time he reached her, she was sobbing.
It was evident to everyone what the news meant to her: no more fear of tainted blood being passed through her to generations to come.
Judd and Bodie left the room, giving her the space she needed to both grieve and rejoice. Holly was prostrate, her legs too weak to stand. Bud got her to her feet and into a chair, then knelt beside her.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said softly. “It’s okay. You go ahead and cry. It’s about time you let go.”
Maria and Savannah pushed past him and surrounded her chair, touching her hands, her face, reminding her that the family she really belonged to was already here and surrounding her with love.
Holly couldn’t quit crying. Even when she tried, a fresh set of tears would well back up. It was killing Bud, and she knew it, but she couldn’t stop.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and started kissing his face and neck and lips, over and over.
“I’m fine, Bud, I swear. I’ll quit when all the bad stuff is washed from my soul. It’s late. You take Judd and Bodie and go. We’ll see you tomorrow morning at the church, and I promise I’ll have the happiest face of all.”
