Firefly Summer

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

  A moment later, she stepped out of his embrace, her mind reeling. Trey must have sensed it, because he slid his arm around her waist. Together they walked the length of the building’s first floor.

  “Those doors open onto the paddock. Beyond the paddock is a pasture.” He paused. “And on the other side of the pasture—”

  “Is my pasture.”

  He nodded.

  “And the Arabians?”

  “I guess we’ll share custody.” He laughed, and she joined him. “Long as the gate is open between our properties, they won’t know the difference.”

  “Considering what this place looks like in comparison to mine, I think they’ll know.”

  Trey shook his head. “Horses go where the feed is. And the love.” He traced the length of her jaw with his knuckle. “I’d say your place is as good as mine if that’s the measure.” He nudged her toward the door. “Now come on. I’ve got one more thing to show you.”

  She followed him out of the barn and back to the truck. The cab smelled like chicken, and her stomach growled. In all the excitement, she had not yet had a bite of Mabel’s specialty.

  The truck roared to life again, and Trey slid her a sideways glance across the seat. “I have to warn you about something.” He gunned the engine and headed out across open pastureland.

  She grabbed the door handle to keep from being jostled out of her seatbelt.

  “Last time I drove down here, I got stuck.”

  Great. She looked around. “Seems like it’s okay to drive on now, right?”

  “Probably,” he called over the sound of the engine.

  “When did you get stuck?”

  He flashed her a wicked grin. “This afternoon. Jared pulled it out with his tractor.”

  “And that’s why he had your keys?”

  “Yep.” He gestured to a spot just ahead. “We’re here.”

  He helped her from the truck and then grabbed the chicken. “Follow me, but watch your step.”

  She did as he asked, inching her way behind him through the thicket until they reached a clearing. There she spied a gazebo lit with tiny white lights that twinkled and shimmered on the lake beyond.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “Come and sit, Sessa. I want you to see this.”

  He led her forward, now holding her hand until they were inside the gazebo. There she spied a jar on the table.

  Full of fireflies.

  “Oh, Trey,” she whispered.

  He held her hand and then reached over to plunge the gazebo into darkness. “Look, Sessa.”

  She did, and gasped.

  Not only did the jar take on the ethereal glow of the lightning bugs, but the combination of the water and the thicket surrounding it brought out thousands more of the creatures. Trey continued to grip her hand as he dropped down on one knee.

  “Sessa Lee Chambers,” he said gently. “I love you like crazy. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? And will you share all of your somedays with me?”

  “I love you too.” Sessa paused to savor the words she’d finally managed to say. “I love you,” she said again. And again. Finally she came to her senses. Goodness. The man had asked her to marry him!

  “Say something.” He looked up at her with those eyes she loved. With that smile she couldn’t forget. “Say yes.”

  Sessa looked around, took in all of it. Then she grasped for a ragged breath before returning her attention to Trey. “It’s all so beautiful, and as much as I want to say yes, what about Pansie? She’s part of my life, and I have to consider her in any decision …”

  “Say yes, Gwammy,” a sweet little voice called from somewhere on the other side of the thicket.

  “Pansie?” Sessa called.

  “Come on, Auntie Coco. Let’s have an adventure.”

  The sound of footsteps hurrying toward them made Sessa smile. Pansie wore her favorite princess costume along with half of Coco’s many bracelets glittering on her arm. A rope of pearls and glow-in-the-dark scepter completed the ensemble.

  Atop her head was … oh.

  The little girl touched the brim with her scepter. “Auntie Coco said I could wear the red hat, because it’s someday now.”

  The red hat. The one Ross had worn.

  “It’s beautiful.” The image of Ross’s daughter shimmered through her tears. “Absolutely beautiful.”

  The little girl stood by Trey. “Did you ask her yet?”

  “I did,” he told her. “But she hasn’t answered yet.”

  Pansie climbed up into Sessa’s lap and gathered Sessa’s face into her tiny hands. Then she moved in so close that the rim of Ross’s cowboy hat covered them both.

  “Gwammy,” she said in a stage whisper. “We love him.”

  “Yes, sweetheart,” she managed through the tears that were threatening. “We do.”

  “Then say yes. Tell him we love him.”

  Sessa looked around her granddaughter to the man still kneeling before her. “Yes,” she said. “We love you.”

  Coco let out a whistle that her sons’ coaches would have been proud of. “Looks like we’re going to put that third floor event room to good use, Dr. Brown.”

  “Long as she doesn’t elope.”

  “Mama?” Sessa watched her mother and Doctor Easley step out of the thicket.

  “Hi,” Pansie called to her great-grandmother. “I’m having an adventure.”

  “So am I,” Mama called. “You’re not eloping, Sessa Lee Chambers. Do you understand? I’ve got a mother-of-the-bride dress I’ve been hoping to wear and—”

  “Hush woman,” Doc Eisley said. “If that girl wants to elope, let her. In fact …” He clambered down on one knee. “Bonnie Sue, you’re the woman for me. Now marry me, and let’s spend whatever time we’ve got left together? What do you say?”

  Mama actually giggled. “Oh now, you’re teasing me.”

  He held up a ring. “Does this look like I’m joking? Now, go tell your daughter good-bye and let her get properly engaged without us old folks here.”

  To Sessa’s surprise, her mother did exactly as the old doctor said.

  “Carry on, kids,” Doc Easley said. “Bonnie Sue and I are heading for the state line, and I’m not bringing her home until I’ve made an honest woman out of her.”

  They both laughed that time, and Sessa joined them.

  “Well now,” Trey said. “Where were we?”

  “We were planning that wedding at your new event center,” Coco said. “We really need to name that room, Trey. You need to get on that.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now I’m going to get this evening back on track, and there will be no talk of wedding facilities, and nobody else is getting engaged but Sessa and me.” Trey reached for the jar and set it in Pansie’s lap. “Pansie, remember how we practiced it?”

  She wriggled free and carried the jar out of the gazebo and down a few steps toward the lake. “Right here?”

  “Yes, there,” he said.

  While Sessa watched, Pansie began to twirl, her floral dress catching the light as she turned, just like her mama had.

  How had Trey known?

  After a moment, she stopped and then set the jar on the ground. She opened the lid and allowed the fireflies to escape in a shower of light.

  As the last lightning bug left the jar, Pansie reached inside.

  “Bring it to me, please,” Trey said, and she did, slipping something that sparkled into Trey’s palm.

  “Now look under the table, Pansie,” he said. “Uncle Trey has a surprise for you.”

  She climbed under the table and came out with a child-sized net affixed with tiny blue lights around the rim. “Auntie Coco, do you think you could help her fill that jar again?”

  Coco took Pansie by the hand, leaving with a wink in Sessa’s direction. “Let’s go see what we can catch while Uncle Trey finishes what he started.”

  When they had disappeared toward the lake, Trey reached for Sessa’s
hand and placed something in her palm—a ring of sparkling white diamonds centering a yellow diamond the color of fireflies in the summer.

  He took the ring from her hand and placed it on the third finger of her left hand. “Sessa Lee Chambers.” He rose and urged her to stand. “I want as many adventures with you as there are days left between us. We can live on either side of the pasture, downtown, or anywhere on earth just as long as we’re together, all three of us. Will you do me the honor of becoming my Sessa. My wife?”

  The fireflies danced around them to the melody of Sessa’s answer. “Oh yes. Yes, I will.”

  “I’ll be your Pansie, too, Uncle Trey,” came the tiny voice from the edge of the lake. “And I know where we’re gonna live.”

  “Where is that, Pansie-girl?” Trey called.

  “We’re gonna live happy ever after.” She adjusted her red hat and reached for more summer fireflies. “That’s where.”

  And they did.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for visiting the Pies, Books & Jesus Book Club. Is this your first trip to Sugar Pine, Texas? If so, welcome! Of course the ladies’ adventures do not end with this book. Check out Autumn Skye and any of the other tales from the PB&J Book Club series where you’ll see more of Bonnie Sue, Sessa Lee, and the rest of the strong and sassy Southern women who make up the best little book club in Texas.

  And speaking of sassy southern women, I draw heavily on the woman I know to bring the characters of the PB&J Book Club to life. Most of the ladies are combinations of real people, but one is based on someone very dear to me. If you read the dedication, you know that Bonnie Sue is based on the real Bonnie Sue, my mama.

  At this writing, Mom just celebrated reaching the milestone of turning 85 years young. She’s still blonde and sassy, and thanks to cataract surgery a few years ago, she no longer wears those gold-rimmed glasses her alter-ego in the PB&J novels wears. She’s also the one who instilled in me a love of reading that eventually became a love of writing. I’m sure she didn’t expect when she drove me and my siblings to our weekly trip to the library that one day a book—or rather several books—about her would be sitting on the shelves someday.

  So thank you, Mom, for being a reader. And thank you, readers, for picking up my story—this labor of love—and spending time within its pages.

  Updates for this series and all of my other books can be found at my website, www.kathleenybarbo.com. Stay tuned to see what kind of trouble Bonnie Sue and the ladies get in next!

  Happy reading, y’all!

  Kathleen Y’Barbo

  Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee and bestselling author of more than one hundred books with over two million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad. A tenth-generation Texan and certified paralegal, she is a member of the Texas Bar Association Paralegal Division, Texas A&M Association of Former Students and the Texas A&M Women Former Students (Aggie Women), Texas Historical Society, Novelists Inc., and American Christian Fiction Writers. She would also be a member of the Daughters of the American Republic, Daughters of the Republic of Texas and a few other fabulous organizations if she would just remember to fill out the paperwork that Great Aunt Mary Beth has sent her more than once.

  When she’s not spinning modern day tales about her wacky Southern relatives, Kathleen inserts an ancestor or two into her historical and mystery novels as well. Recent book releases include bestselling The Pirate Bride set in 1700s New Orleans and Galveston, its sequel The Alamo Bride set in 1836 Texas, which feature a few well-placed folks from history and a family tale of adventure on the high seas and on the coast of Texas. She also writes (mostly) relative-free cozy mystery novels for Guideposts Books.

  Kathleen and her hero in combat boots husband have their own surprise love story that unfolded on social media a few years back. They make their home just north of Houston, Texas and are the parents and in-laws of a blended family of Texans, Okies, and one very adorable Londoner.

  To find out more about Kathleen or connect with her through social media, check out her website at www.kathleenybarbo.com.