by Jordan Bell
“Then why are you marrying my ex-fiancé? Why are you moving into my house? Why did you have to take mom and dad and Jason?”
“Why’d you have to get it all in the first place? I mean, god Cassidy, you lose one guy and go out and snag his more successful older brother. Grandma left her house to you to take care of until one of us got married. Why you? What’s so great about you?”
“Bailey! You didn’t get the house because you wanted to live in town. And Jason? Had nothing to do with you. I know you think it was some way for me to get back in with Jonathan, but I can assure you I want nothing to do with him. He cheated on me, Bailey, with my little sister. I don’t even know how you can trust him not to do the same to you.”
“Because he loves me.”
We both went quiet as the weight of her last words hit us. He cheated on me because he didn’t love me. Ouch. If I could hurt any more, it might have bled me out, but there wasn’t anything left to bruise and I was too exhausted to fight her any more.
“Fine, Bailey. You win. He loves you. Go, ride off into the sunset.”
“I didn’t come here to pick a fight with you, Cass. I don’t know why whenever I try to talk to you we descend into bickering and name calling. It’s always been like that, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it has.”
“The truth is, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t know I loved him until I just…did. And it was too late. We should have done it differently. We didn’t want to be villains, we only wanted to be in love. There seemed no good way to get there.”
She meant it. Her words felt like a salve on all the open wounds. I rested my head back and stared into the trees. “Thank you. For saying so.”
“I’m sorry, Cass.”
We quieted and listened to the birds, the insects, a bullfrog down the hill where a stream fed through rocks near the parking lot. It felt like we sat there together for so long that I could no longer hear her from all the other sounds that filtered between us.
“I should go. I’ve got a final dress fitting and we’re putting up the last of the decorations this afternoon.” Bailey climbed to her feet and came to stand near me. I wasn’t in any hurry, but it felt ok having her here.
“Good luck.”
“Jason will be there, I mean, if you’d like to come.”
I flushed. “We’re not…that’s over.”
“Oh.” Bailey blushed and sunk her hands into her pockets. “It shouldn’t be, though. He really cares about you. I could tell. And he doesn’t seem very happy these last couple of days.”
“This heart to heart has been nice, Bail, but I don’t think I’m ready to start taking relationship advice from you yet.”
She smiled and nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll see you?”
“We’re sisters, aren’t we? I suspect mom won’t give us a choice.”
“Ok then.”
“Ok.”
She turned and headed back down the hill. I watched her go, so very different from me, but, maybe not entirely.
14
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The day of the wedding brought a sky the color of spilled ink that ran and soaked through grey cloud stuff, rolling and angry in every direction. It hadn’t rained yet, but we all kept our eyes to the skies.
The thunder, even without rain, kept Bailey on edge. Everything it cracked she was on her feet lunging for the open window to see if there were drops. Umbrellas were collected and fathers and uncles swore they’d get us all to the church in one, dry piece.
The King’s farmhouse was turned into a pink tulle utopia. Every mirror in the house was transported to Garton’s wife’s sitting room where bridesmaids curled their hair and fastened their bodices. No one mentioned the night of the bar or Jason or the unfortunate reality of Jonathan and Bailey and my past. The girls were oddly upbeat and complimented me on my dress, on my hair. I tried to blow it off like it didn’t matter, but inside I was kind of relieved.
While all the bridesmaids wore long yellow and antique white dresses, I was fitted for a pink gown with a corset bodice and soft waves of blush pink satin. The laces on the corset were black and secretly I thought I looked amazing. The dress accented my wide hips, made they curvy and lovely instead of awkward and bulky. And forget how great the corset made my breasts. Thank god for the straps and a panel of modesty lace or the wedding was one jiggle away from an R rating.
I managed to avoid all mention of Jason except for one moment when my mother commented on hoping she’d get to see me dance that night. She winked, Bailey blushed and shrugged my way, and I didn’t answer. All I wanted to do was get through the ceremony and reception in one piece without any drunken comments from aunt Kathy or anyone else about my failed trip down the aisle.
I did not, however, manage to avoid Jason. I went searching for a safety pin when one of the bridesmaids thought her cleavage might be a little too cleavagy, and when I turned into a guest bedroom, there he was.
In tight jeans and a sweaty t-shirt he was gorgeous, but standing there in his tux, buttoning his cuffs, I felt my whole body react to him. My heart, no longer hollow, jackhammered noisily against my rib cage. He didn’t notice me at first, and so for a moment I had the luxury of just watching him move, his strong body, his eyes reflected in the mirror.
And then those baby blues met mine and he spun around surprised. His mouth opened, his eyes sank down my body, and I felt myself blush all over.
“Cassidy. Wow, you look…”
“Safety pins,” I interrupted. “I’m looking for some.”
“Here.” He stepped aside and motioned for the vanity. It meant I had to cross the room and stand near him, which was nearly impossible, but when he stepped closer I didn’t think I’d be able to keep breathing.
“You look beautiful,” he admitted quietly.
I slid open one little drawer after another until I found a handful of stray safety pins. I squeezed them in my hand and turned to go, but he caught my fingers and held me back.
“Please don’t,” I begged.
“I only wanted to tell you that I took your advice. I told my grandfather what I thought he should do. And he listened. He’s selling the farm and moving in with my mom. Not only that but he’s going to teach some specialized agriculture classes up at the high school on the side.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful news. He’s going to be great at it.” I smiled, or tried to, but him not letting me go didn’t help.
“I also wanted to tell you that I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Death. Slow agonizing death. I looked away so he couldn’t see it happening. I willed myself not to cry. I knew he’d leave after the wedding, but hearing it wasn’t better.
“Good,” I murmured. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“Are you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Look at this.” He reached into his jacket and retrieved something long and narrow from his inner pocket. He handed it to me. It was a plane ticket back to New York.
“So?” I shrugged, but my fingers shook ever so slightly.
“Look at the date.” I did. It was dated for two weeks ago.
“I don’t understand.” I looked up at him, met his eyes.
“I was supposed to go home two weeks ago, but I didn’t. Couldn’t. I wasn’t ready to leave you yet. I thought maybe this was…something.”
“It’s not.” I handed the ticket back to him. “Have a safe flight back home, Jason.”
I turned and fled the room before he could stop me, calling out to the girls who needed safety pins so they could mob me and protect me from him coming after me. I didn’t want to think about the possibilities of what could have been when they weren’t.
###
Outside, the world looked dream-like, muted in some places, Technicolor in others. A bad sign. I gazed into the sky and watched the clouds growing more turbulent by the passing minute. The church was only across the street from the reception hall. If we could hole up inside before it started coming d
own, the wedding might be saved. I didn’t think we’d get that lucky.
“Cassidy, I need you.” Bailey broke through my thoughts to grab me before she got into someone’s car. I frowned and held onto her hands as tightly as she was holding onto mine.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something blue. I was going to get a necklace from grandma’s jewelry box and wear it for my something Blue.” She smiled, though frantic. “Can you take me by the house on our way to the church?”
I glanced at the car my mom and dad were getting into. Jason stood near them and for a moment caught my eye.
“Sure, of course. We’ll take the jeep. Get in.” I motioned her over to my car, made sure it was clean enough not to damage her dress, and helped her in. Fortunately she’d opted for a simple dress with no train or we’d be in real trouble.
“You want me to come with?” my mom asked but I shook my head. I thought I detected a worrying glance between the two of us.
“No, we’ll be fine. Don’t let the wedding start without us!” I waved, threw the jeep in gear, and revved it down the road toward my house. If we were quick we could be in and out before it started raining. I prayed.
She ran inside and quickly sorted the necklaces for the one she wanted. I helped her put it on and as I was clasping the necklace behind her neck, a clap of thunder so strong and so close rattled the house and all the lights died with it.
“Holy shit.” Bailey jumped up and grabbed my hand. “What was that?”
“Our cue to go. Come on before the rain starts. We’re going to be cutting it close, I think.”
Too late. We got to the porch and the sky opened up and dropped a torrent of rain almost instantly blinding. We jerked back under cover before we were both ruined, panic destroying Bailey’s calm.
“No, oh no. Not today. Please not today.”
“It’s fine, Bailey, everything is fine. I’ll get the jeep and pull it up close. I’ll get you some rain boots. You take the umbrella and make a run for it.”
“But you’ll get all wet.”
“No one will care if my hair gets messed up.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek, surprising us both. “We’ll call ahead and tell the girls to have curling irons and blow dryers at the ready, just in case.”
I went back inside for my boots, helped her into them, and dove out into the rain. My hair fell on impact but it didn’t seem as important as getting Bailey in without ruining her dress and hair. I could get close enough to the stairs that she wouldn’t even have to step on the ground if she was careful.
Bailey, for all her fragile beauty, wasn’t afraid of rain or mud or a thunderstorm. She hiked up her dress around her hips, hooked the umbrella under one arm, and climbed down the steps to the open jeep door. As she maneuvered successfully inside, I glanced in the rearview mirror. Adrenaline and fear flooded my veins at what I saw. I grabbed Bailey’s thin wrist.
“A wall cloud.”
She twisted in her seat, paling at the word and we both stared through the back window at the massive cloud formation lowering its rotating mouth towards the ground. The long flat of it seemed still, rainless, angry, and such a deep, ocean blue.
“Get us out of here, Cassidy.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the cloud formation, the sheer size of it could swallow half of Castle Creek. Gone in an instant, sucked into the Oz. I fumbled for the keys, struggled to turn the ignition.
“Cassidy, GO!”
The roar hit me from behind, knocked the breath right out of me. My ears popped, a violent noise inside my head as the wall cloud dropped the tornado in the middle of the King’s alfalfa field. Bailey screamed and I hit the gas as hard as I could. The jeep lurched into the yard and I knew we’d never outrun the tornado. The cellar doors were on the other side of the house, the side closest to the churning mass of cloud and lightening, so I gunned it for the barn where we had another cellar beneath it. Bailey held on, praying, swearing. We got about halfway across the yard when the tires got stuck in the mud.
“Get out of the car! Get out and make a run for the barn. Bailey go go!”
I shoved my sister into her door and whipped open mine. I could feel the monster behind us sucking at my hair, at my dress. The sensation was nauseating, but I hit the ground running. I stumbled in my heels but Bailey grabbed onto me, mud splattered and rain swept and together we ran for the barn clinging to each other as the tornado ate our screams.
I fell to my knees where the cellar door was hidden and scratched at the latch to free it. I’d no sooner gotten the door open and shoved Bailey awkwardly down the ladder that I heard the barn doors ripped off their frames and tiles scored from the roof like tinder sticks. Bailey grabbed my wrist and yanked me head long into the cellar as the tornado devoured the barn and sunk us unto darkness.
15
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Quiet.
The only sounds I could hear was Bailey’s heartbeat and our breathing, ragged and wet but alive. Everything hurt, every inch of my body.
“You awake?” I whispered. My whisper sounded terribly loud, but she nodded weakly.
“My head…” She ran her fingers across her right eyebrow and flinched. Her fingers came away red.
“You got hit when part of the ceiling collapsed. I dragged you over here.” I nodded across the room where the thin light filtered in between the broken floor boards. I could see where the barn had collapsed and stabbed through the floor, cutting off half the room from the little alcove where we huddled. I tightened my arms around her shoulders and she clung tightly to me.
“My wedding,” she whispered.
“It’ll still be there. They can’t have it without the bride, after all.” I tried to tease, but my voice sounded raw and it hurt to talk.
“I hope they are ok.”
“It went quiet shortly after the barn fell. I bet we were the only ones hit. You’ll see.”
She nodded against my chest. “I bet Jonathan and Jason will come for us.”
I tucked her hair from her face and smiled. “Everyone will come. You’ll see. We just have to wait a little while.”
We waited. And while we waited we talked a little now and then about grandma, about our parents, about Jonathan. It didn’t hurt talking about him like I thought it should. My engagement to him seemed like someone else’s life.
“I really love him,” she said. “I hope he’s safe.”
“I know you do. I’m glad you do. Seeing the way he looks at you, Bails, he never looked at me like that. It isn’t great how it happened, but I think we are all going to be better off for it in the end.”
She tilted her head back to gaze up at me. “Do you mean that?”
I nodded. “I do.”
“There’s something I have to tell you.”
“Because those seven words don’t lead to anything bad ever.”
She laughed, a weak sound I hated to hear. She needed a doctor. I hoped the wedding party would be here soon.
“The farmhouse. Jonathan sold it.”
“What?” I tried to pull away from my sister, shocked at the ease in which she said those terrible words. I was tired, hurt, but not so tired and hurt that I didn’t want to smother her all over again. “How could you? It’s not Jonathan’s to sell!”
“Cassidy, no, he sold it to Jason.”
I stopped my imminent homicidal rage to stare dumbly at her.
“What?”
“Jason bought it from him pending the inheritance. For you. He bought it for you.”
I wrapped my arms around my little sister and buried my face against her hair. “Why would he do that? Why would you sell it?”
She shrugged. “You were right. I didn’t want to live there. I want to move into the city and get out of small town Nebraska. You love that house for than anything and I think, Cass, I think Jason loves you as much as you love that house.”
“That can’t be true.”
“He bought you a house. How much more proof do you n
eed?”
“Ok, fair enough.”
She settled herself back in my arms. “So he’ll be here any minute to make sure his purchase didn’t get sucked up by the tornado. And you either.”
I laughed and she giggled and it was a better sound. A stronger sound.
And then I heard it, faint but I didn’t imagine it. My name. I heard someone screaming it.
We both held our breaths. And then the voice was very close, almost on top of the mess that was once my barn.
“Cassidy! Answer me! Cassidy!”
His voice rumbled, a deep, desperate, growly thing I could feel in my chest. Bailey moved as I shoved to my feet, the aches and bruises not stopping me from grabbing on to one of the fallen rafters and climbing up enough to stick my fingers through the debris. I could feel sunlight and cool air.
“Here!” I called, my hoarse voice barely loud enough. “We’re here! Jason!”
“Over here! I hear them!” The ceiling shook as bodies started moving debris out of the way. I reached as high as I could.
“Cassidy,” he called, desperate but not screaming. His fingers came in contact with mind and intertwined with them. His skin burned hot against mine and I shook with the effort of holding onto him and not collapsing to my knees. “Cass, I’m here. I’m here.”
“We’re hurt,” I called up. “We need an ambulance. Especially Bailey. She hit her head.”
“They’re coming, Cass, hang on.”
I stumbled and slid my fingers out from his. He tried to grab me back but someone up above told him to move, that floor above us was weak. He backed off and I backed into the alcove with my sister.
“Told you,” she said.
“Know it all.”
It took them twenty minutes to clear a hole enough for them to lift Bailey out. I was a little harder, regrettably, but in a few extra minutes they pulled me up. Stranger’s hands had me first, shined lights in my eyes, looked me over, but a commotion at the edge of the barn’s wreckage stole my attention and the paramedics couldn’t hold me long enough. Jason broke away from the firefighters holding him back and I clamored unassisted over the wreckage to meet him.