Bodine giggled.
Dee shut the door. “He’s a wise man.”
“Well, Hell’s bells, Dee. I would have brought you some lures today if that makes a man wise,” Jack grinned.
“He’s a good man. I had him investigated,” Roxie said.
“Roxie!” Dee and Jack both said at the same time.
“Don’t either of you Roxie me. I’m too old to raise another child, so if Tally was letting her hormones control her and this fellow was selling drugs to the students, or gambling away every dollar he made, I needed to know early on in the game. He’s forty years old, stable as a judge, drinks socially only, has been a professor at Murray for fifteen years, and is well respected. He doesn’t have Tally in his classes, so that’s why they can date without problems with the school. He was married once. It lasted five years, and his wife didn’t look like Tally. She was short, dark-haired, and Hispanic. So he’s not on the rebound and hooking up with Tally because she reminds him of his dead wife. Now, take that ham to the table, Jack. Start taking up the beans and corn, Dee. Tally, you take the rolls out of the oven and put them in the basket.” Roxie never missed a beat when Tally pushed her way into the kitchen. “Oh, and you look much better, by the way. That burgundy makes your eyes shine and your hair look even lighter. If Ken doesn’t fall for you today, he’s either nearsighted or dumb.”
Mimosa and Fred appeared just as Jack carried the perfectly browned turkey and set it in the middle of the table. Hurried introductions were made. Roxie told everyone where to sit and bowed her head. “Lord, I’m grateful for this day and for everyone gathered around our table. Grant us your blessin’s and overlook our bellyachin’s. Amen.”
“Amen,” Bodine said. “Now let’s eat. I’m starving. But leave room for dessert. Roxie’s got pumpkin pie, pecan pie, banana nut cake, and she even made banana pudding.”
“Jack, would you do the honors with the turkey?” Roxie asked.
“You sure, Roxie?”
“I’m sure. As excited as I am to have all these folks, I’d let that knife slip and cut my finger for sure. Now Fred, tell me, where are you two coming from today and where are you headed to?” Roxie turned her attention to the silver-haired man sitting beside Mimosa. His face was all angles and his nose sharp, his hazel eyes set in a bed or wrinkles.
“Left a load in Omaha and picked up one to take to Houston. This is one fantastic dinner. I can’t remember the last time I set up to a table like this on Thanksgiving. Thank you for having me.” He scooped up a double portion of cornbread dressing and topped it off with giblet gravy.
“How’s it going, Mimosa?” Dee asked from across the table.
“Wonderful.”
Dee believed her. She looked better than she had in years. Her hair had been stylishly cut into layers, frosted blond. She wore a tailored navy-blue pantsuit with gold buttons and navy pumps. Fred had forgone a tie but had on a white Western shirt with pearl snaps which was tailored to fit his tall, lanky frame, navy Western-cut dress slacks, and ostrich boots. They really looked like Bodine’s grandparents.
“So you are Bodine? I brought you a prize out in the truck for after dinner,” Fred said.
Bodine’s eyes lit up.
Jack finished carving a portion of turkey for everyone and sat down at the other end of the table. Dee was on his left with Mimosa and Jack beside her, Bodine on his right, and Tally and then Ken on down the table. So the men were courting Bodine. At least they weren’t stupid. If she liked them, they’d have stomachs full of turkey and not lungs full of water.
“I didn’t even help pick out your prize.” Mimosa looked across the table at her granddaughter.
“What is it, Mimosa?” Bodine eyed Fred from her peripheral vision. He looked like what she’d always thought a grandpa should look like and wondered if she should call him Fred or what.
“May I ask a question?” Ken said. “Why does everyone call everyone else by their name and not Mother or Grandma?”
Tally giggled. “Because . . . help me out here, everyone.”
They all chimed in at the same time as if singing a hymn in church. “Because, only God and General Lee have titles. The rest of us have names.”
“I see.” Ken grinned.
He wasn’t what a person would call handsome by any means. His face was round and rather babyish. He carried twenty extra pounds all in a roll around his waist, but his eyes were full of life and they softened whenever he looked at Tally or Bodine.
“So you’ll be Ken forever in this house,” Bodine told him. “Now pass me that cranberry sauce.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded.
Dee ate slowly, listening to the conversation, watching everyone, afraid to blink for fear she would miss something. For the past seven years, Thanksgiving had been a formal business affair catered at the Suddeth home served at six thirty after half an hour of cocktails. She didn’t even realize she’d missed the family fellowship until that moment, and suddenly she guarded each word and moment jealously.
“What are you daydreaming about?” Jack whispered in Dee’s ear.
Mimosa was filling everyone in on her new husband. Fred had been married once, back when he was young, but the marriage hadn’t endured a trucker’s schedule. He had one son who was a career military man and was presently in Iraq, two grandchildren in Boston, and a lovely daughter-in-law.
“Just taking it all in. I love this,” Dee answered his question simply.
“Missed it, did you?”
She nodded.
“Miss me?”
She patted his knee under the table.
“I’m not a puppy dog.”
“I refuse to let you rile me today. It’s too perfect. Don’t Mimosa and Fred look happy? She’s a changed woman. I think she’s given up her hippie ways.”
“I could make you mad in five minutes, but I’ll let you have your perfect day,” he said. “As far as Mimosa goes, don’t put all the love beads in the attic just yet. It might be a phase.”
After dinner Dee and Jack served coffee and dessert. Roxie kept the conversation flowing. Bodine wiggled and watched the clock. Darkness came early, and the adults just kept talking. She’d never get to use her new fishing lures if they didn’t wind it down soon.
“Bodine, sit still,” Roxie finally said. “It’s too dark to be fishing tonight. You can take Ken first thing in the morning and stay all day if you want, but today is mine.”
“But . . .” Bodine started to argue.
“What’s the rule?” Tally pushed an errant strand of Bodine’s hair back behind her ear.
“What you say is important and I have to listen to Dee and Mimosa, but Roxie is the queen and her word is the law,” Bodine intoned in a monologue.
“That’s right,” Roxie said. “Ken is staying the night as well as Fred and Mimosa. This old bed and breakfast has rooms aplenty and there’ll be lots of time for fishing tomorrow.”
“Shucks,” Jack muttered. “I thought I was going to steal Dee after cleanup. We were going to sneak off to the lake.”
“Can I go?” Bodine piped up.
“No, you cannot. You’ve got a surprise from Fred in the truck and it’ll keep you busy all evening,” Mimosa said. “I’m finished with my pie, so I’ll go fetch it so you can get your mind off the new lures.”
“You two are on cleanup duty.” Roxie looked down the table at Jack and Dee. “When you get finished, you can join us for lemonade on the back porch. The sun sets early these days. We’ll have a bit of conversation, then you can go fishing.”
“Too late after that,” Jack said. “But we might go for a drive.”
“That will be fine,” Roxie gave her approval.
“What is it?” Bodine danced around when Mimosa came back into the room. “Did Fred really pick it all out? Oh, oh . . . look, Momma, it’s that new computer game I’ve been wanting. How did you know? Oh, thank you,” Bodine ran around the table to hug Fred tightly.
His face beamed. “My grands
on is eleven and he loves this game. I figured if you were ever going to meet him that you’d better get good at it so he won’t beat you too bad.”
“He won’t beat me,” Bodine narrowed her eyes. “Can I go play it now, Roxie?”
“You don’t want to join us for the sunset?”
“I’d rather play,” Bodine said.
“Then you can play. No cussin’. No tears. No throwing the joystick when it doesn’t suit you. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am. When y’all adults get done, who wants to play with me?”
“Not me. That game gave me fits when I was making it. I’m sick of it,” Jack said.
“You made that game?” Ken said.
“I did. It was the toughest one I ever designed,” Jack admitted.
“I’ve been trying to get to level three of that game for a week,” Ken said.
“Then you are brilliant. It’s a tough one.”
Tally slapped Ken’s arm. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No, I’m not. I’m addicted to that particular game and I’m not joking,” he said seriously.
“You don’t have to do this,” Tally whispered when Bodine left the room.
“Have to! You’re the one who’s kidding. I’ve finally got someone to play against.”
“I think I’m taking a back seat to my daughter,” Tally said.
“Jealous?”
“As hell, but pleased as punch.”
“Good, because I want to talk to you about something really important in the morning. Meet me on the porch, and we’ll watch the sun come up all by ourselves. I’ll bring the coffee and toast.”
Jack moaned and patted his full stomach. He was slouched down in the corner of his sofa, his feet propped up on an oversized hassock. Dee had taken time to change into sweats before she followed him to the trailer. She’d taken off her Clifford the Big Red Dog house shoes at the door, fell onto the couch, and stretched her legs out until she shared the hassock with Jack.
“I’ll have to pray extra hard tonight for forgiveness,” he groaned.
“For gluttony?”
“That’s right. Want to watch a ballgame?”
“Who’s playing?”
“Cowboys.”
“Then bring it on. Do you think they’re playing on a full stomach?”
He flipped through the channels. “If they ate dinner, they’re idiots. Well, dang it all, anyway, the game is over. I got my times all mixed up.”
“Then bring on a movie. Not anything . . . ohhh, is that Patrick Swayze?”
“Dirty Dancing,” he said.
“That’ll do. Haven’t seen this one in years.”
In fifteen minutes Jack had settled down into the cushions and was sleeping soundly. Near the end of the movie, Swayze’s character was telling the leading lady that he’d never be sorry for what they’d shared that summer. That’s when Dee began to cry. Not weeping or sobbing but silent, streaming tears.
I’m not sorry either. I’m going to let it go, let it go like that dust settling behind Swayze’s old car. How could I be sorry for the past seven years when it brought me back to the place I am now? If I’d have stayed in Buckhorn Corner I could never appreciate what’s here. It took that seven-year speed bump on life’s highway to slow me down enough to make me see what I’ve got. Good Lord, what have I done? I love this sleeping man. Why have I been running from him?
The movie ended with an upbeat musical number. All the ends wrapped up neatly. The father wasn’t so angry. The sister had come to terms with things. Swayze was still leaving, but there was hope that he might come back sometime in the future. When it ended, Jack awoke with a start.
“What’d I miss?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Who won? Cowboys or . . . who were they playing?”
“It was Dirty Dancing, and I think I won.”
“Oh, yeah, it was a movie, not a game. Sorry I fell asleep. Not very good company after a meal like that. Let’s go raid the kitchen and have some more pecan pie.”
Ray would have never raided the kitchen or let me watch an old movie while he slept on the sofa. But that’s wrong . . . I should not compare Jack with Ray . . . but why not? Jack will come out on the positive end every time.
Dee held out her hand to pull him up from the sofa. “Let’s go. I wonder how Roxie is doing with two men in the house.”
“Don’t I count?”
“No, you’re family.”
“Oh, yeah. Here we go with the brother thing again.” He grumbled and refused to stand up.
She slapped him with a throw pillow. “I told you I’m not fighting today.”
A cocky grin covered his face. He covered the space between them in one easy jump and wrapped her in his arms, tilted her head back, and lowered his head to kiss her. She wrapped both arms around his neck. Multicolored sparks swirled around them, sending them twirling in the middle of a high-powered kaleidoscope. She felt secure, happy, content, electrified, mushy inside. She wanted the kiss to go on forever. Pecan pie could wait.
“Tell me you didn’t feel what I did,” he breathed into her ear when the kiss ended.
“I don’t know what you felt.”
“Oh, yes you do. Now are we going to fight about that or are we going to go eat?”
“Eat if those are my two choices.” She pushed him back and headed for the door.
“What other choice do you want?” He slipped his feet into his shoes.
“I’ll tell you when I figure it out,” she said and disappeared out the into the night, leaving him sitting there wondering what had changed while he was sleeping because something dang sure had. She’d kissed him back like she meant it and had hugged him tightly. What on earth had happened during that movie?
Chapter Thirteen
A cold, blustery north wind whipped across the full church parking lot. Women held their skirt tails down; men held their hats on. The few children who were there that Saturday afternoon were subdued. Skies were dressed in a solid sheet of gray, as if the earth was in mourning. Roxie wore ruffles but they were black, matching her shoes, veiled hat, and kid leather gloves. Her red hair had been subdued into a pristine bun at the nape of her neck. She entered the church and was ushered into the family waiting room.
Dee, Jack, Bodine, Tally, and Ken waited in line to sign their names to the guest list before being led to their reserved seats. Dee took a deep breath at the sight of the mauve-colored casket covered from one end to the other with roses: yellow, red, white, pink, coral, every color in the rainbow. She wondered where on earth the florist had found so many roses in the middle of December.
Soft organ music filled the church, but she tuned it out, instead going over a mental list of everything back at Roxie’s B&B where the dinner after the funeral was planned for the family and Molly’s closest friends. The church had provided lunch, but the evening meal would be much more private. Ham was already sliced and in the refrigerator. Baked beans bubbled in two crock pots. Plates were stacked on the end of the dining room table, cutlery arranged in a caddy. Dee stiffened slightly when she remembered what she’d forgotten.
“What?” Jack leaned over and whispered softly.
“Ice. We’ll need more ice.”
“I’ll take care of it. There’s lots over at the store.”
The preacher appeared from a side door, stood quietly behind the lectern, and raised his arms. “Please stand for the family,” he said.
Roxie led the way with Etta Cahill right beside her. They sat on the front pew together. Then Lucy, Molly’s daughter-in-law, followed by the grandchildren and their families, Crystal, her husband and daughter, Katy; Maggie, her husband and daughter, Lauren; Hudson and his two sons, Jim and Bob; Stella, bringing up the rear with her father, Wes, his second wife, Sandy, and their daughter, Holly.
Etta’s family sat across from Jack and the Hoopers, her son, Bob, his wife, Joann, and their two daughters, Jodie and Roseanna, all in a row. Dee leaned forward enough t
o see Roseanna. She glanced over and gave Dee the hint of a smile. Her eyes were dull. Dee could see what Jodie had been talking about. Evidently, Ray had been right when he’d told her you could take the gutter out of the woman, but not the woman out of the gutter. Turn it around to say, you could take the woman away from the country but you couldn’t take the country out of the woman. Roseanna wasn’t happy.
“Please be seated.” The preacher lowered his arms.
By the time the funeral was over and they’d made the trip across Sulphur to the cemetery, it had begun to sleet. Jack drew Dee close, keeping his arm around her for physical warmth as well as spiritual comfort. He knew what she was thinking without asking. The first of the great bed and breakfast queens had folded up her tent. Would Etta be next? Or Roxie? The thought of losing Roxie was enough to depress Jack; he couldn’t imagine how Dee would handle it.
People scattered as soon as possible to their cars after the graveside service. Roxie joined her family in the van and led the way to Buckhorn Corner. She took off her hat, took off her gloves, removed hair pins, and fluffed up her hair, using a small compact mirror from her purse to check her makeup.
“We should have taken that trip last year, but Molly was in chemo and we couldn’t. Now it’s too late.” Roxie dabbed black mascara from under her eyes and brushed powder across her red nose.
“Roxie, darlin’, you and Molly and Etta took that trip every year. You didn’t have to actually get on a cruise ship. You shared your lives, competed, laughed, cried . . . all of it, you did together. It was the same as taking the trip. Don’t go whipping yourself at this point.” Jack stopped at the stop sign just outside Chickasaw National Recreational Area and made a right-hand turn.
“You are right. How did you get to be so wise in such a short lifetime?”
“I had a good teacher. She lives right next door to me.”
“Don’t you go flattering me today. And can’t you drive faster? We’re going to be overrun in a few minutes and I want to have everything ready.” Roxie’s smile and eyes said she’d appreciated what he had said.
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