'Twas the Night

by Sandra Hill

  Yet with the ache came a bubbling joy that made her feel like she could fly from the sheer wonder of it all.

  Maybe, just maybe, when it was Stan Kijewski you were in love with, every good thing you’d ever dreamed of really was possible after all.

  “We gotta talk.” Snow dusted Stan’s head and shoulders and the folds of his Santa suit, but he didn’t seem to notice. His whole face was alight with an eager, joyous light. He leaned down and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of her seat. “Come on.”

  “But—”

  “Later.” Heedless of the wild plunge and bounce as Betty roared through a wall of snow and onto the main road, he dragged her down the aisle toward the back of the bus.

  Halfway there, he halted suddenly, swept her into his arms, and kissed her. Violently. Hungrily.

  Dana kissed him back and came up gasping for air. “Oh, my!”

  He grinned, but refused to let her go. “I love you, Dana Freeman. Will you marry me?”

  “What?”

  “Of course she will!” Maudeen snapped from the row ahead. “What kind of stupid question is that?”

  “Hah! Pay up, Morey!” Dr. Meg crowed. “I told you he’d pop the question before we ever hit the church!”

  “I heard that!” Ethel chirped. “Isn’t that romantic?”

  Stan leaned closer, oblivious to anyone but her. “Will you? Marry me, Dana. Say yes. Yes!”

  “Uh . . . ” Her head was spinning, her heart was pounding, but her lungs had stopped working entirely.

  “Good heavens, girl, say yes!” cried Emma Smith. “It’s a simple enough word! Yes!”

  “Nooo!” howled Morey. “Not until after George and Molly get hitched. Tell him no! I got twenty bucks riding on it!”

  Stan leaned closer still, so close his breath was warm on her mouth and his eyes seemed to fill her vision, ardent, alive, brimming with promise.

  “Yes,” he coaxed.

  “Yes,” she said. It was barely a whisper, but it was enough. His mouth crushed down on hers, robbing her of the last bit of breath in her lungs.

  A cheer went up, almost loud enough to bury Morey’s anguished groan.

  Stan let her go so abruptly she staggered and had to grab for the nearest seat back to keep from falling. “Now that’s settled . . . ”

  “Stan!”

  He dragged her all the way back to where Reba and Slick and Callie and JD had claimed two rows of seats.

  “Stanley! Stanley!” JD chanted, pounding on the seat in front of him and grinning like a fool. The others, laughing, instantly took it up. “Stanley! Stanley! Stanley!”

  Stan just grinned and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and dragged her hard against him. They didn’t quite fit side-by-side in the narrow aisle, but Dana didn’t care. She was soaring, anyway.

  “Shut up, you guys,” he said without heat. “I got an idea.”

  “You’ve already had that idea,” Slick teased. Since his arm was around Reba’s shoulder, holding her close against his heart, nobody paid him any attention.

  “This one’s almost as good, but it needs all of you to make it work.” Stan looked around the circle of his friends, then straight into Dana’s heart. She didn’t know where he was going, but she had a feeling it was going to be quite a ride. She’d always liked interesting rides.

  “What would you say to turning Moose Lodge into a center to help kids like we were? Kids and their families?” Dana could feel the excitement surging through him and into her. The other four sat up, faces alight with sudden interest.

  “I’ve already talked to the Parkers,” he continued, “and they’re all for it. They’ll run the place. I’ve got some money that can get the ball rolling, cover some of the repairs the place will need.”

  “And buy new beds!” everyone chorused.

  Stan grinned. “And definitely buy new beds. I figure I can manage investments and the team sports programs.” He glanced down at her. “I thought you could develop an outdoor skills program, maybe one of those life challenges things like folks pay thousands to take for a week. That is, if you’d be willing,” he added anxiously. “And if you can get time off from your work.”

  “I’d be willing!” Her head spun at the possibilities rushing through it. George had introduced her to the wilderness, and saved her soul in the process. The thought of sharing the wild world she loved with others who might find the same solace and salvation she had made her breath catch in sheer excitement.

  “I can handle the legal side!” JD offered. “And the juvenile delinquents that want to take after Stan.”

  “Hah!” said Stan, and swung a punch that JD easily ducked.

  “Mr. Merrick here can do the fundraising,” Reba volunteered, grinning up at her husband-to-be.

  “And Reba can boss us all,” Slick said, grinning down at her with proprietary pride.

  “A whole lodge full of people won’t be half the problem you’ll be, all on your own!” she shot back.

  “You got that right, sweetheart,” Slick drawled. “And I intend to keep you on your toes.”

  Dana would swear that Reba added “and on my back,” in a delighted whisper, but she might have been mistaken because an instant later Slick silenced her with a kiss.

  Callie eagerly jumped to her feet. “I’ll handle team uniforms. We can give classes for the women, too. Dress for success, building a working wardrobe on a budget, that sort of thing.” Her eyes lit. “We might even start our own design studio!”

  “What about the men?” JD demanded, dragging her back down beside him.

  “The men?” Callie grinned and punched his shoulder. “We’ll keep them as naked love slaves.”

  “I’ll go for that,” JD murmured. He would have kissed her, but Callie tickled him in the ribs and distracted him.

  “Don’t think you’re leaving us out!” Emma Smith called from the front of the bus. “Those children will need help catching up with their schooling!”

  “They’ll need haircuts!” Maudeen said.

  “And someone to drive ’em!” Betty added.

  “Count us in!” Dr. Meg and Dr. Maggie chorused.

  “And me!”

  “And me!”

  “And me!”

  “Dang tootin!” Morey said, and snapped his suspenders loud enough for everyone to hear.

  “And I know just the kid to start it off,” Slick added. The usual teasing glint in his eyes was missing. His jaw was set rock hard with sudden determination. “We’ll start it off with Richie.”

  He glanced around their circle as if daring anyone to disagree.

  “And Richie’s mother,” Reba urged, lacing her fingers with his and squeezing hard.

  Slick’s gaze snapped back to her. Reba met it unflinchingly. For a moment they simply stared into each other’s eyes, their silent communication so intense and powerful that the rest of the world might not have existed. Slick was the first to yield. Slowly the hardness faded from his handsome face, replaced by a dawning wonder.

  “And Richie’s mother,” he said softly, his gaze still locked on Reba. And then he smiled, and lifted her hand and kissed it. “Definitely his mother.”

  Reba laughed and blinked back tears, then dragged him to her for a kiss that had real fire in it.

  “I know a great treatment program to help her kick the drugs,” JD offered.

  “I know of a great scholarship program for single mothers,” Dana added.

  “We’ll deck her out in some great clothes.” Callie gave JD a teasing wink. “A woman always feels more confident when she knows that she’s well dressed.”

  Slick reluctantly abandoned Reba’s mouth. “So what are we gonna call this thing?”

  Stan blinked. “I don’t know. I didn’t even think about that part of it.”

  “Moose Lodge Maniacs,” JD suggested.

  Slick waved a dismissive hand. “That’s for the managerial staff, dummy. Stan’s talking about a name for the program here.”

  “Oh, yea
h?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good Chance Ranch?” Reba suggested.

  “In New Hampshire?” JD, Slick, and Callie chorused in disbelief.

  “It’s got a nice ring to it!”

  “I know!” Dana cried. The five turned to her expectantly. “We’ll call it George’s Place.”

  The vote was unanimously in favor. Further discussion was postponed, however, for at that moment Betty pulled the bus to a flourishing halt in front of the church.

  “All out for a wedding!” she called, shoving the door open so the Brigade could pour out.

  Snowdon Church had been built of stone and native timber almost two hundred years before, but it still served its people well. Some families had twelve generations listed in the church records, all baptized, married, and, in their turn, buried here.

  Stan leaned across Dana to peer out the window. Fresh snow blanketed the church and the trees around it, softening the golden light that poured out of the high arched windows. Despite the cold and the snow, George and his bride stood at the top of the stone steps, welcoming their guests. It wasn’t the way most weddings were run, but it was exactly the sort of thing Stan would have expected from a man who had taken three troubled young boys to his heart all those years ago.

  Something at George’s side moved. Stan leaned closer, squinting against the light. “Is that really George’s old St. Bernard, Mammoth?”

  Dana nodded. She was making a last, desperate attempt to comb her hair and rub out the punch stain a little boy at the shelter had added to her Santa suit.

  “George insisted on including all his dogs, and Molly was too smart to argue. Mammoth is there, and Screwball and Oedipus Tex and Jingleberry and Mutt Man and Fudge.” She grinned. “Doodlebug, however, is not. He was cut from the guest list when he peed on the minister at practice last week. George says being stuck at home with three cats, a parrot, and a half dozen ferrets will teach him a lesson, but Molly’s of the opinion the old mutt just wanted to have the sofa all to himself for a change.”

  “I don’t think I’ve met Screwball or Mutt Man.”

  “You will.”

  “You two coming?” JD hovered at the top of the steps.

  “You bet.” But when Dana slid into the aisle, Stan pulled her back.

  She came into his arms easily, willingly. In the dim light her face looked like an angel’s, delicate and incredibly beautiful.

  “I love you, Dana.” The words came out in a hoarse whisper. His throat was suddenly too tight for normal speech.

  “And I love you, Stanley Kijewski,” Dana whispered back, an instant before she kissed him.

  “Kijewski!”

  “Coming!”

  They were the very last arrivals. The six of them—Stan and Dana, Slick and Reba, JD and Callie—walked toward the golden light spilling out of the church’s open door, toward the man and woman who waited, hands linked, at the top of the steps.

  As Stan mounted the steps with Dana at his side, peace settled over him like a blanket. This was what he’d wanted, what he’d always wanted—friends, family, a wonderful woman who loved him, a place where he belonged.

  He glanced at his friends and saw that same peace, that same contentment in their faces. Slick grinned and gave a cheery thumbs-up, then stole a quick kiss from a willing Reba. JD laughed and drew his Callie closer. Stan glanced down at Dana, tucked so close and tight against him, and saw a miracle in her eyes.

  “Welcome home, boys,” George called. “We’ve been waiting for you a long time, so you all had better hurry up and come in out of the cold. We’ve got a wedding to get on with!”

  EPILOGUE

  You are cordially invited to join in our celebration

  of the weddings of

  Samuel Merrick to Rebecca Anderson,

  Kevin Wilder to Cassandra Brandt,

  and

  Stanley Kijewski to Dana Freeman.

  June 1st, 2011, 1:00 PM.

  George’s Place

  Moose Lodge, New Hampshire

  Reception immediately following, at which we shall be celebrating the grand opening of George’s Place and welcoming our first summer guests.

  Transportation, food and lodging provided.

  Please join us on this joyous occasion.