Forever & A Day

by Donalyn Maurer

  “Never,” I respond emphatically, and she smiles.

  “Why do you think that is, sissy?” she inquires.

  “Because I love you. I could never be jealous of you,” I assure her.

  “Back at you,” she promises, and reaches out and touches my hair. “Since you’ve been in the sun your hair is getting lighter. You have blonde streaks along with your auburn. Your freckles are popping out everywhere, and your skin is glowing. I can’t wait to see you in your dress all done up. You’re going to be insanely beautiful. I bet you five dollars Blue faints.” She grins when I begin laughing.

  “I’m probably going to be the one to faint when I see him,” I admit, and grin.

  “You’re right. What was I thinking? That was a sucker’s bet. I need to make this bet with Blue, not you,” she teases. “Both of you are going to be beautiful,” she confides softly. “And you’ll finally have your happily ever after.”

  “You really think so?” I lean down and pull up a bluebonnet, and place in my coffee can.

  “I know.” She nods, and then leans down and begins picking flowers as well.

  34

  Abigail and I spend the next little while picking bluebonnets and talking about our skiing adventure. We laugh so hard, especially when she tells me she thought she was going to kill both of us when the boat turned, and she was speeding at me.

  “You could have just let go of the rope,” I tell her, and her head falls forward and her shoulders slump.

  “Oh, my God, yes, I could have done that.” She shakes her head at herself, then leans down and continues picking flowers, laughing. Once our cans are full, we start back to the cabin. Before we go in we both take a moment to stare out at the sea of blue. We didn’t even make a dent. Good, I think.

  Before we step into the cabin my eyes go to the garage. “These are to go in the garage if you don’t mind. It could use some prettiness don’t you think?” Grandpa’s words flash through my memory.

  “Here.” I hand Abigail one of the cans, but keep the other. “I’ll be right in.” Abigail gives me a soft smile as she takes my can and heads inside so that I can have my moment.

  I walk into the garage and see his work table set up at the back, and shelves of his tools are on both sides of the back wall. I glance up at the roof’s rafter, where boogie boards and some of our older skis are stored. Along each wall of the garage, racks and racks of fishing poles are lined up. I slowly step in and carefully peek under the bottom shelf, where we use to find all types of animals as they thought it a perfect spot for nesting. I see movement, gasp and jump back. Nothing is barreling out to attack me, so I step around the work table and peek again. Then I catch the twitching nose and long white ears. Bunnies. They burrow deep underneath there, so no other animals can get the babies when the momma has to go get food.

  “I’m not going to bother you.” I whisper to the bunny, and like she understands me she goes back into the shadows and disappears. “Okay. I hope they don’t get freaked out Saturday with all the people here making noise,” I mutter to myself. I glimpse down at the work table and there are few a nails and screws scattered along the top, with a couple of jars of bolts and screws.

  “You were always at this table working on something,” I whisper to no one. No one has touched these things since my grandpa was in here, so I know he placed them there and that does something crazy to my heart. I set the coffee can of bluebonnets down in the center of the table, then reach out and touch the nails and bolts like they’re the most precious gems in the world. I pick up one of the screws and fist it in my hand for a few moments, before I slip it in the pocket of my cutoff blue jean shorts that I wore this morning with my bikini. I stand and stare at the coffee can of bluebonnets a few more seconds before I whisper, “Some prettiness for your garage,” then turn and slowly exit, and head for the cabin. I’m not at all surprised to see Max standing against the side of the garage waiting for me.

  “You okay?” he probes as he pushes off and comes over to me.

  “Yes.” I allow my gaze to skim the property again, before going back into the cabin and cleaning up.

  Not long after Grandma, Aunt Savannah and Uncle Duke get back, we unload all the groceries while Uncle Duke gets the smoker. Max and Nick hang out with him, while inside the cabin Grandma, Aunt Savannah, Abigail and I begin an assembly line of sandwich making. From ham and cheese, tuna and chicken salad, bologna and cheese, pimento cheese and egg salad, dozens of sandwiches are made, along with setting out bags and bags of chips.

  “Finish these up, girls,” she orders, and starts making pitchers of tea and lemonade, while Aunt Savannah sets out some fresh watermelon she’s cut up.

  I place the platters of sandwiches on the table, while Abigail lines up some paper plates, napkins, and cups. No sooner do we wipe our hands, does the door to the cabin open and in comes the family. We sit around the cabin, chatting and laughing, while sharing stories of the last couple of days, while eating. There are only a few chairs, so a few of us are scattered about, sitting on the beds Indian style, and others have climbed on the top bunk to relax with their legs hanging off. A few are laid back, enjoying a rest, after spending hours in the heat. When everyone is done, Abigail and I take the lead and clean up, because in just a few hours we’ll be gearing up for dinner.

  “There are some old tubes in the garage and Grandpa’s compressor is still in there. Won’t take long to blow some of them and some floats up. Anyone want to just go down to the shore? Do some swimming?” Jake asks.

  “Sounds good,” I reply and smile at Max, who appears pleased with the idea. Soon everyone, except the old folks, is standing up. It’s then I notice Nash isn’t here. “Hey, where’s Nash?”

  Everyone that was out on the boats with him breaks down in laughter. “He got a call from Raleigh and took off. Had to make a special trip to bring him in. Thought he was going to jump out of the boat and swim to shore if we didn’t,” Chase shares, grinning.

  “No way.” This makes me so happy, but then I realize Victoria isn’t here either. “I thought Victoria was coming up.”

  “She is. Should be here by dinner. The emergency she had, it was a family. Car wreck. The kids were okay because of they were secured in their car seats, but the mom and dad were brought in unconscious. She was the first person they saw when they were brought in, and they latched onto her. The parents finally regained consciousness and are going to be okay. Only when she was sure they were okay, did she head up,” he shares concerned, but also proud.

  “Wow, she’s so sweet,” Violet responds softly.

  “She is,” Chase agrees, and smiles at his mom.

  “And Nash?” I inquire, and give my attention back to Chase.

  “He should be back by dinner, with Raleigh. Bella and Garrett, are heading up in the morning, and she said she would catch a ride with them, but he insisted on getting her. Man, he’s got it bad.” He chuckles.

  “Hope she makes him work for it, after the way he pushed her away over and over,” Grandma tosses in, surprising us all.

  “Grandma.” Jake laughs.

  “Nothing wrong with a little work,” she scolds, and he bites back his smile and nods.

  “Okay, then. Let’s head down to the beach,” Chase throws out, and we all stand.

  I’m still in my pink bikini and blue jean shorts, so I slip on my flip flops and I’m ready to go. Our towels and sun block are still in Nick’s Jeep. Before we head out, we all go into the garage and help Jake blow up all the tubes and floats. By the time we’re done, everyone has their own, and a few extra in case Nash gets back early with Raleigh, or for when Victoria gets here.

  We pull up at the beach, and I’m happy to find it deserted just like the dock. Jesse brought a cooler full of water, beer and sodas, so everyone grabs one and heads down to the beach, dragging their float or tube. Jesse finds a piece of wood, and with some rope from Nick’s Jeep, he rigs one of the tubes to carry the ice chest and ties it to his. It’s exactly
what we do when we float down the Guadalupe River. Jesse then ties Allie’s tube to his. Jesse has been protective over Allie since the moment he met her, but now that she’s pregnant his protectiveness has reached a higher level. Allie has never complained once about him being protective, though. I’m sure she welcomes it. After she lost her brother, Cody, to suicide she was lost and alone, until Jesse. He managed to reunite her with her family and now we are all so close, it seems unreal there was a time we didn’t know each other.

  Chase drops his tube near the shore, then takes off his shirt, kicks off his flip flops, downs his beer, crushes the can, drops it with his flip flops, then takes off in the water. He swims out a bit, before coming back in and grabbing his tube. He’s the first one on and he leans back soaking up the sun.

  “Jesse,” he calls out. Jesse, obviously knowing what he wants, reaches in the cooler, grabs a beer, and tosses it to him.

  We all settle into our floats with our drinks and relax, letting the tiny waves carry us back and forth. When we begin floating out a bit too far, Max hooks his feet on my tube and drags us closer in. About then, a boat comes by and slows to an idle. We didn’t realize how far out we were, until the driver calls out to us.

  “Need some help getting back in?” The driver is an older guy, and a woman about his age is with him.

  “Much obliged. Didn’t realize we drifted out this far. Too relaxed,” Chase explains.

  “Oh, I understand. It’s a perfect day for floating, but let’s get you back in a little, just in case some nutty driver isn’t watching where he’s going. Don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” he shares, and tips his baseball cap.

  On that he pulls off then circles back around kicking up large wakes. When they reach us, we slowly get pushed back towards the shore. The man does this few times, before giving his boat’s horn a honk and driving off. Keeping better sight of where we are now, we float around for a little while longer before giving our tubes and floats a rest and swimming. This gives me the opportunity to get Jesse back for pushing me off the boat and into the lake yesterday. I swim up behind him as stealthy as I can and try to dunk him, but my attempts are thwarted when he turns around and dunks me instead, before picking me up and tossing me over to Max. When I resurface, laughing and sputtering out water, again, Max tugs me to him while laughing.

  “Jayc, your brother is a Cav Scout. Really?”

  “It was worth a try,” I reply, while laughing a coughing a little.

  “Hey, man, it’s getting late,” Jake calls out. “We better head back. If Grandma has to send Dad down for us, it won’t be good.”

  “Good idea,” Jesse calls back.

  We all drag ourselves from the lake and dry off, then begin packing up for the short trip to the cabin. While everyone is loading up, I find myself drawn back to the shore. I stand at the edge and observe the sun beginning to set. I glance at the rock pier, the dam, then the lighthouse and the happiness I feel is still in place. Maybe somewhere deep inside a ping of pain is happening. As a matter-of-fact, I’m sure of it. But as I stare out at the water, all I remember is our fun day. I inhale a long breath, before turning and heading back to everyone with the smile still on my face.

  35

  We arrive at the cabin, and I see Uncle Duke loading meats from the smoker onto a giant platter. Before we can offer to help, headlights coming down the road catch our attention. A black Audi SUV pulls up and Chase begins walking towards it. It must be Victoria. Sure enough, Chase waits for her to park, then opens the door. He leans in and kisses her before helping her out. Again, that’s sweet and all, but I can go my entire life without witnessing my brothers’ kiss anyone. It’s just gross. Nothing I can do about that though. When Victoria clears the door of her SUV and closes it, Chase takes her hand in his, and they begin walking towards us. As much as I want to make a big deal out of this, I won’t because I know this is huge for him, and I don’t want him to regret opening up to us.

  “Hi Victoria,” I greet when she gets close.

  “Hey Jaycee, thank you so much for having me,” she replies, then smiles up at Chase.

  “There’s a test,” Abigail pops into our conversation aiming her remark and guarded stare at Victoria. “Kore has to take it too. I’ve been out of town too much. When Raleigh gets her, she’ll take it as well.”

  “A test?” Victoria responds concerned, and glances between all of us, then stares at Chase worried.

  “He can’t help you,” Abigail warns, and both Chase and Victoria turn and stare at her.

  “Runt,” he now warns after a moment.

  “Allie took the test,” Abigail blurts out loud enough to get her attention, as she’s standing next to Jesse just a few feet away. “And failed horribly,” she calls out loud, again, and I see Allie smile.

  “I did fail horribly, but that test was rigged. They’re all trick questions. Anyway, I got the bonus question right.” Allie laughs, and so do I. The bonus question being, “Do you love our brother?” Her response, “Yes.”

  “Oh no, Mr-you-hurt-my-sister-you’ll-be-the-bull,” Abigail turns and snaps at Chase. She’s referencing the text he sent Max.

  Chase is now he’s grinning from ear to ear. Max is not grinning. And this makes me laugh.

  Victoria glances between us all again, then Abigail, “Fair enough. I’ll be happy to take your test.” She smiles sweetly.

  “Hurrump,” Abigail grunts and turns around, but peeks back at me and winks. Oh, boy.

  The sound of a motorcycle rumbles through the air, and it’s getting closer and closer. Nash. I know the sound of Max’s bike, like his voice and touch. But long before Max, Nash and Chase both rode, and I knew their bikes as well. Nash’s has the deepest rumble of them all. It sounds menacing and eerie. Like, whoever is riding that bike you do not want to mess with.

  Nash is my brother, and I’ve never witnessed anything too scary from him, but after I got a front row show to calm-non-violent Jake, taking down thirteen guys at DJ’s in Lubbock, all without breaking a sweat, I know now that they all have secret sides to them that I’ve yet to see. Like Jesse, when they all traveled to Divor to rescue Garrett and Raleigh’s dad, RJ, from being tortured by the KKK.

  Jesse is a Cavalry Scout and deployed to the desert seven times, before he asked for a hardship assignment back home. Before anyone went in to get RJ, Jesse went in alone. His specialty is reconnaissance. Max said he returned with the vital information they needed to go in and get him out quick and not get hurt. I shudder at the memory of all that family has been through. Nash’s bike comes into view when he rides down the street. He pulls up next to us and cuts the engine. He and Raleigh both hop off the bike, and take off their helmets. Nash sets them on the bike, then takes Raleigh’s hand.

  “Hi y’all,” she offers sweetly.

  “Hi Raleigh, Nash,” I respond, again holding back my elation and remain calm.

  This took a lot for both of them. Plus, Abigail is going to irritate Nash and possibly frighten Raleigh with the test thing, although I know Abigail administering this test is nothing more than a fun initiation and welcome to our family. Abigail is about as harmless as a butterfly. She’s beautiful and stunning when she’s fluttering around, but if she flutters around your face; she’s still beautiful, but now annoying. Either way, she’s going to rock the boat and I need to save my strength to rescue her, or my brothers. Only time will tell which one.

  “Just in time for dinner. Hope you’re hungry.”

  “It smells amazing,” Raleigh praises.

  “It really does. My Uncle Duke is a master when it comes to the grill and smoker. Come on, let’s all get something to drink.” I turn around and with Max leading us, we all make our way into the cabin.

  36

  We’ve been sitting around the last hour, showering Uncle Duke and Grandma with compliments on the amazing dinner, when all of a sudden, Abigail stands up and walks into the kitchen, and places her plate and glass in the sink. She turns around and glances at m
e, before turning her gaze on Raleigh, then Victoria, and finally, Kore.

  “Men, out! I have a test to administer,” she orders the room and points to the door. But no one moves.

  “Not missing this,” Max jokes, and Chase scowls at him. Victoria smiles, and her body shakes with unheard laughter, while she leans into Chase, running a hand down his chest and arm in attempt to sooth him and tamper his annoyance.

  “Kore, Victoria and Raleigh, I’ll need you to come and sit at the table, please,” Abigail requests sweetly. Chase, Nash and now even Jake are scowling at her, but she’s completely unaffected as this was goal to begin with, to annoy our brothers. I mean she really does want to know how they feel about them, but we know our brothers, and we trust them, so if they have brought these beautiful women to meet everyone, we know they’re good people. Good to the soul.

  “Abigail...” Nash begins in an annoyed tone, but Raleigh stops him.

  “I’ll be fine,” she insists. He stares deep into her eyes, and then yes, he growls. It’s official. Between Nash’s constant growls and grunts, he’s become a caveman. Total caveman.

  “Allie warned me about this. I’ve been waiting for my turn.” Kore stands, leans down gives Jake a kiss, and strolls calmly to the table, pulls out a chair and sits down. Jake chuckles as he stands and walks over to the fridge and grabs a beer, then leans against the wall to observe the shenanigans. I watch all this unfold from the comfort of Max’s arms. I giggle to myself when Abigail narrows her eyes at Kore. This means challenge accepted. She will stump her.

  Victoria follows Kore’s lead, and walks over and sits down. She folds her hands in front of herself on the table top, then slants her eyes up at Abigail.

  “Brrriiiing it,” Victoria taunts, and everyone burst into laughter.

  Abigail smiles huge and giggles, before straightening her features and glaring at Victoria.