by Jenna Brandt
As June watched Daniel walk away, she wondered if she should have just forced herself to tell him she was ready to set a date. The truth was, though she was busy, she was holding back because she wanted to make sure he wouldn’t bolt on her again. She knew he was different now, but part of her was still scared. If he left her again, she wasn’t sure she would ever recover.
Pushing her fears out of her mind, June set about the task of helping with the final touches for the picnic. An hour later, everything was ready and the townspeople started to arrive.
The band began to play music, the women placed their special potluck dishes on the two tables, one for savory and one for sweet dishes, and the children were forming lines for the games.
From across the grassy area, June saw Ben pulling Daniel towards the three-legged race. She walked over to watch them try to tie their legs together. The difference in size between them was so humorous, June had to hide her amusement. There was no way they were going to win with such a disadvantage. She hoped Ben wouldn’t be too disappointed.
They were the second group to race, and June clapped her hands together and yelled, “Go, Ben and Daniel, you can do it!” as they worked their way down the race area. They were in third place, only beating Paps Johnson and one of the local girls by a small margin.
Suddenly, the first group tripped and fell to the ground, placing her boys in second place.
“Go, Ben and Daniel, you’re almost winning!” June encouraged.
Just as the other team was about to cross the finish line in first place, a bee came out of nowhere and made the brunette sisters shriek in fear. They stopped running, and started swatting at the bee. Ben and Daniel crossed the line ahead of them, causing them to win the race.
“We did it, we did it!” Ben shouted in glee.
“No fair, we would have won if it wasn’t for that bee,” the smaller of the two girls cried, pulling her leg free from the tie and running off in hysterics.
“Wait, Sally, I’m sorry. I can give you my ribbon,” Ben shouted out as he chased after her.
Daniel came over to June with a wry smile on his face. “I think Ben might have a crush on Sally.”
“I think you might be right,” June agreed.
“I know I have a crush on a pretty brunette myself,” Daniel said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “She was my childhood crush, too, and it never went away.”
Before June could respond, Uncle William came up beside them. “You’re looking lovely today, June. I see being home is treating you well.”
“It is indeed, Uncle.”
“I think it also has a lot to do with Daniel,” Mabel pointed out with a wink. “Having the love of a good man makes all the difference,” she said, patting Uncle William’s arm with her hand affectionately.
“I heard you’re going to enter the pie-eating contest, Uncle William. Are you sure you’re up for that?” June inquired.
“I’m retired now. It’s time to take a few risks,” he said with a chuckle. “If I win the whole thing, Mabel promised me that she would finally marry me.”
“I said I would consider it,” Mabel corrected tersely. “There were no promises.”
“Really? I swore I heard a promise in there somewhere.”
“I can assure you, there was not,” she objected with indignation. “Stop poking fun at me this instant, William, or you’re going to have to find yourself a different date for the dance later tonight.”
Uncle William’s eyes grew wide with shock as he nodded his head up and down vigorously. “You’re the only woman I ever want to dance with, Mabel.”
Someone waved the older couple over to talk to them, leaving June and Daniel alone again.
“You know, I’ve come to realize, there’s only one woman I ever want to dance with too,” Daniel confessed.
“Really? And whom might that be?” June teased with a smile.
“You know it’s you,” Daniel said, pulling her into his arms. “You and only you, June, are the one for me.”
She could tell he wanted to kiss her, but she knew he was thinking the same thing. It wouldn’t be appropriate in front of all these people. It would just have to wait until they were alone. June couldn’t wait until that happened and she could feel his lips on hers again.
Chapter Ten
The rest of the picnic went by with more games, lots of food and punch, and the pie-eating contest. June’s uncle finished in fourth place to his regret.
As dusk approached, two of the elderly widows offered to take all the young children to one of their houses so the adults could enjoy the remainder of the night dancing under the stars.
The band started to play music to encourage couples to take to the cleared area. June looked over at Daniel expectantly, and he took his cue to pull her into his embrace for the first song.
“You know, June, I can’t decide if you look more beautiful during the day or night. I mean, you look so pretty when the sun shines around your face, but with the moonlight shining on you like it is now, you look downright enchanting. I can’t keep my eyes off of you.”
“Stop it, you’re making me blush.”
“See, right there, that added pink to your cheeks makes you even more beautiful. I’m halfway tempted to keep you embarrassed all the time, to keep your cheeks flushed like that.”
Leaning into his embrace, she whispered, “There’s other ways to make my cheeks flushed.”
“My, my, June, are you insinuating you wish for me to kiss you again? You shouldn’t tempt me like that. I might very well take you up on it, despite all the people around us.”
Before he could follow through; however, someone asked June to dance. Daniel didn’t like it, but at least it wasn’t Mark or Jason. He didn’t want either of them putting their hands on June.
Daniel made his way over to the punch bowl and poured a glass full for him and June, knowing that once she was done, she would be thirsty. He headed back to the edge of the dance area and watched as she finished the dance with the other man.
He brought June back to Daniel, thanked her for the dance, and moved on to find another woman to dance with. Daniel handed her a drink, then said, “You know, I hate watching you dance with someone else. I know it’s proper for you to accept, but I still don’t like it.”
“I can understand that. I would hate it if some other woman asked you to dance,” June admitted.
Almost as if on cue, a young woman came up and asked Daniel to dance. He could see June wanted to object, but she refrained. Instead, she took his glass and watched as he went to dance with the other woman.
Daniel listened politely, responded when he needed to, but all he could do was think about getting back to June. The song ended, causing Daniel to feel relief once he was able to free himself from the other woman and make his way back to the woman he loved.
As the truth settled into his heart and mind, Daniel realized he needed to tell June how he felt. It had been true for a long time, but he had been foolish in never telling her. Though he had been crazy about her when they were children, he’d never uttered the words out loud that he loved her. It was high time he rectified the mistake.
“You’re right, that was dreadful,” June confirmed. “I hated every minute of watching you dance with that other woman. Let’s promise not to do that the rest of the night.”
Daniel let out a chuckle, taking the glasses from her and putting them on a nearby table. “Deal. We’ll run away any time we see someone else coming towards us.”
The next song started and Daniel guided June back to the dance area. He gathered her into his arms, happy that this song was a slower one. It gave him a chance to keep her close. He mustered up the courage to proclaim his love, but before the words could cross his lips, the crack of thunder filled the air, causing Daniel and June to look up at the sky.
“Are those clouds starting to form over us?” June inquired, trepidation in her voice.
“Yes, but don’t worry, at the most it will sp
rinkle a bit and then go away.”
“You sound pretty optimistic, Daniel. I swear I heard thunder.”
Daniel did too, but he didn’t want to scare June. The bigger part of the storm could pass to the side of Belle, and they would just get some rain. At least that’s what he told himself, but he also knew storms could be awful and unpredictable this time of year.
“Maybe we should go get Ben and head home,” June suggested, a shiver causing her skin to prickle under Daniel’s touch as a gust of wind hit them.
“Maybe you’re right,” he agreed when a second clap of thunder echoed through the air, much closer than the first one.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, then guided her towards the edge of the picnic area. Before they could get very far, hail started to slam down on them and everyone at the celebration.
As Daniel tried to guide them through the crowd, people started to scream and shriek around them, running to and fro.
“Ben is going to be so scared,” June yelled, trying to shout over the thunder that was now continuously filling the night air. “He hates storms.”
Just as they reached the edge of the grassy area, a giant bolt of lightning struck only a few yards away, causing June to scream in fright.
“We need to get to cover. This is really dangerous being out here,” Daniel hollered to June. “We should go to your house and wait this out since it’s closer.”
He could tell June didn’t like the idea of not going to Ben, but she must have also known it was a possibility they wouldn’t make it to the other house safely, because she nodded her head in acceptance.
Just as they made it to Main Street, the worst thing that could possibly happen did. A giant bolt of lightning struck the top of June’s uncle’s house, instantly catching the building on fire. Like a box of matchsticks, it lit up like a powder keg. Daniel realized it was because of all the medicines inside the apothecary.
June lifted her skirts and rushed towards her home. “We have to do something! Everything I own is in that place.”
Daniel didn’t want to say anything, but he could tell from how quickly it was burning, it was going to be a complete loss. Right now, they needed to get help in order to keep the rest of the town from burning along with the apothecary.
“June, we need to get help,” Daniel said, trying to get her to hear reason. “We can’t put this out ourselves.”
“I can’t, I don’t…” June stammered out, her eyes filling with tears as her lips trembled.
He could tell she was about to lose it. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her down.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Paps Johnson run by. “Paps, you need to grab the sheriff and as many men as you can to help us put the fire out at Doc’s place before it spreads anywhere else.”
Paps looked from June to Daniel, then over at her house. “I’ll gather help,” he shouted as he rushed off towards the picnic area.
In short order, people started to arrive with buckets and started forming lines to put out the fire. At first, Daniel was worried they wouldn’t be able to contain it. Luck; however, was on the side of the other Belle residents. Shortly after the hail stopped, rain started, preventing the spread of the fire to other buildings.
Though no one else’s homes or businesses were affected, it was quite clear that June’s uncle’s place was ruined beyond repair. Smoldering piles of burnt wood were all that lingered.
The smell of charred timber filled the night air that was finally still. Though the storm had ended, the destruction it left in its wake was overwhelming for June. She stood in front of the burnt remains of everything she owned, a look of devastation on her face as she clutched the edge of her dress on both sides. She continued to stare at the scorched rubble in disbelief.
“What am I going to do?” June cried out in destitution. “I have nothing now.”
“That’s not true, you have me,” Daniel said soothingly, wrapping his arms around her.
“And you have us,” her uncle said, coming up with Mabel beside him. “We can rebuild.”
“I can’t ask you to do that for me. You were kind enough to give me a place to live once before, I can’t ask you to do it a second time,” June lamented. “Besides, it’s all my fault. It burnt so badly because of the medicines I kept in there. If I hadn’t, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad.”
“Nonsense, my dear. I kept medicines in there as well when I was working out of the place. It could have just as easily happened because of me if I had been there.”
Several of June’s friends came up, offering help and support, but he could tell June was still in shock. She wasn’t listening to anything they were saying.
Ruth Winslow, the boarding house owner, came forward, offering to let June stay for free while she got back on her feet. “You and Ben can stay as long as you need.”
“Thank you,” June whispered, allowing Daniel to guide her away from the tragic remains of her home and down the street to the boarding house.
Someone had picked up Ben and brought him over to join his mother. He was crying and saying he didn’t understand why they couldn’t go back to their house.
June was so out of it, she didn’t even bother to explain it further, leaving it to someone else to do. Daniel decided he would explain what was going on to Ben.
He patted the spot next to him on the couch. “Why don’t you come over here, Ben?”
The boy did as he was requested, but he looked confused and scared. “What’s going on, Daniel? I don’t understand.”
“You’re a big boy, Ben, so I’m going to treat you that way. You heard the storm tonight, right?”
Ben nodded.
“Well, it turns out, there was lightning, too. One of the bolts hit your house and it caught fire.”
“But everyone put it out, right? I heard people talking, but the fire’s out, right?” Ben asked with hopefulness in his voice.
“Everyone tried, and the rain helped, but by the time the fire was out, the house was gone. Ben, I’m so sorry.”
The little boy sat there for several seconds just staring at Daniel, then all of a sudden, he burst into tears. Not small, quiet tears, but gut-wrenching, full body sobs that made Daniel feel like the worst person in the world having to be the one to tell him.
Without thinking, Daniel reached out and pulled the little boy into his arms. “I promise you, Ben, it’s going to be all right. No matter what I have to do, I’m going to make this right for your mother and you.”
As Daniel made Ben the promise, he realized there was only one way to do it. He needed to marry June as soon as possible.
Chapter Eleven
Three days had passed since June lost everything in the fire. Her friends and family in Belle had been amazing, most of all Daniel. He supported her through the tears, the anger, the silence, and even the weirdly misplaced laughter.
Ruth had kept her promise, allowing June to stay at the boarding house, and even when June offered to help by cleaning or cooking to offset the cost, Ruth refused.
“Don’t you concern yourself with that, June. You just need to find a way to support you and your boy,” Ruth insisted every time.
Her uncle offered for her to stay out at the cabin, but June didn’t want to impose. The place was barely big enough for her uncle and Mabel. She knew Ben and she would just get under foot.
The problem was, she had no idea what she was going to do. She had no money to start over, and no credit for the bank over in Glenda to give her a loan. Was this how women ended up working in saloons? Left with no other option. Could she bring herself to do that? If it had just been her, she wouldn’t do it, but if it meant keeping Ben fed, she would do whatever it took.
Daniel arrived at the boarding house, ready to take her somewhere he ensured would raise her spirits. She didn’t want to argue, but she knew there was no way that was going to happen. Her mood was permanently melancholy, and she didn’t see that changing any time soon.
They arrived at the church, causing June to turn to Daniel with a curious look. “Why are we here? Do you want Pastor Elkins to pray for my poor attitude? I know I should be glad that Ben and I weren’t in the house when it burned down, but I can’t seem to see past all I lost to be grateful for what was saved.”
“I think this will help,” Daniel said, opening the doors to the church. Inside, the place was decorated with flowers and tulle everywhere. All of their friends and family were gathered, including Ben, who was standing at the front next to the pastor in a crisp new pair of brown pants and white shirt.
“What’s going on?” June asked in confusion.
“You’re getting married, that’s what’s going on,” Becky answered with excitement as she came up beside her, carrying a white dress in her hands. “This is the dress I was going to wear for my wedding, and before you say it, it’s not bad luck if the wedding never happened. I know we’re slightly different sizes, but we can tie it in with a sash.”
June didn’t want to argue with her friend. Becky had been through enough and found a way to put her painful past behind her. The least June could do was be grateful her friend was willing to give her the dress she would have worn if Garrett hadn’t gone missing just weeks before their wedding. When he never returned, Becky had been heartbroken, assuming he had jilted her and was too embarrassed to return to Belle.
“I brought a pair of shoes and jewelry you can borrow,” Kate said with a warm smile, bringing June’s attention back to the present.
“And I have hairpins and a comb,” Carrie Elizabeth added.
“I can’t believe you all did this,” June marveled, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “I’ve been so focused on self-pity, I didn’t even notice.”
“It worked out for us,” Becky jested with a shrug. “Much easier to pull the wool over your eyes that way.”
June turned to Daniel, still not sure what to make of what was happening. A new fear took hold in the pit of her stomach, causing her to ask, “Are you doing this simply because of the fire? Do you think I can’t take care of Ben and myself now?”