Heart of Texas

by Mary Alfort

  All of us were so spellbound by what Stan had said that none of us noticed Higgie standing in the door until he stepped forward.

  “Stan DeBeers, you’re under arrest.”

  Stan bowed his head. “I understand.”

  “Hands behind your back.” Higgie had started to cuff Stan when Evelyn came back inside, tears streaming down her face.

  “Well, I’ll be,” Selma blurted out.

  “Shh...I can’t hear.” Thelma batted at her sister’s arm to silence her.

  “Evelyn, I love you. I’ve changed. Since I left Down, I started attending a little church a couple of counties over. I found God, and the pastor there encouraged me to come back home and face up to my sins. I know I don’t have the right to ask, but if you’ll wait for me, I promise I’ll be the man you need me to be.”

  To everyone’s surprise, including Stan’s, Evelyn broke into a smile and threw her arms around Stan.

  Reasons why I’m thankful I came home to Down:

  1: To help my aunts stay out of jail.

  2: To stop feeling sorry for myself.

  3: Never to have to see Tom Winters’s face again.

  4: To learn how to really write again.

  5: To be there for my aunts when they ask for my help.

  6: To free myself of the doubts tying me to my past.

  7: To start believing in the God of second chances again.

  8: To witness Stan’s confession with my own eyes.

  16

  Giving advice is as important as getting it.

  For a little while, Stan and Evelyn were the talk of the town, but Evelyn was standing tall in the face of the storm. She refused to let the town’s gossips drive her from the place where she’d grown up. In the end, she earned the respect of just about everyone.

  Soon, the talk moved on to something new.

  The impending arrival of Ava Elizabeth.

  I had reached the end of my eighth month of pregnancy, and I felt like a big rig truck waddling down the road. My doctor was predicting the chance of a Christmas baby, which meant the birth was less than a month away. While I was anxious to meet my new daughter and to have the whole pregnancy over and done with, I was also growing more nervous with each passing day. It seemed that everyone in Down had made sure they shared their birth horror stories with me. If it hadn’t been for Jake’s reassurances, I probably would have gone into labor by now.

  Several months after my divorce became final I received a call from Elise, Tom’s first ex-wife. “Laney, dear, how are you feeling? How’s the pregnancy going?”

  Elise and I had become very good friends by this time. I knew her well enough to know this was not simply a social call.

  “I’m OK. Good, actually. And you?”

  “Wonderful. Just wonderful. How are those darling aunts of yours?”

  Great, she was trying to soften me up. This had to be bad. “Fine. What’s up?”

  The length of her pause was enough to send my imagination into overdrive. “Laney, dear, there really is no easy way of telling you this, so I’ll just come right out and say it. Tom is getting remarried.”

  “To Miss Manning.”

  “Yes.” She acknowledged quietly.

  “When?”

  “In a few weeks. The announcement was in the paper last weekend. Are you OK? Do you want me to come down there? We could plan a nice little surprise for Tom’s reception.”

  I wasn’t really sure what I’d been expecting to feel. I remembered all the tears I’d shed upon discovering Tom’s affair. It didn’t really surprise me that he’d chosen to marry so soon after our divorce. Even before the divorce papers were filed, he’d told me they were engaged. I found myself smiling. “No, I’m OK.”

  “I’m glad. When I first found out about you and Tom, I fell to pieces. I cried and cried until I thought I’d never stop. And then I realized that Tom had actually done me a favor. Being Mrs. Tom Winters was exhausting. He was such a sponge. He was practically sucking the life from me with his rules and demands. After I got through the tears, I realized I was actually happy to be done with him.”

  She’d just summed up my feelings to a T. “Yes, that’s exactly how I felt. You know, we should start a support group for survivors of Tom Winters.”

  Elise laughed. “I think we may need to. At the rate he’s going, he’ll have several more ex-wives before he’s done.”

  By the time I ended the call to Elise with the promise that I’d call her the moment the baby was born, I was laughing so hard I wondered if a woman could actually laugh herself into labor.

  And the only thing I felt about Tom’s upcoming marriage was closure.

  ****

  For weeks now, the entire town of Down had been preparing for one of the biggest events of the year—the annual Christmas Festival. The event took place the first weekend after Thanksgiving at the community center. It was the town’s way of kicking off the holiday season. The Festival was an old fashioned county fair, with booths set up by all of the town’s churches and organizations. A huge dinner was always a crowd pleaser. The evening would be capped off by a dance that featured the local country bands.

  As usual, the Pine Street Diner would cater the dinner, which meant we were working overtime to prepare Aunt Selma’s famous barbeque. By late Saturday afternoon, we had trays filled with ribs, sausages, and brisket, along with all the fixings, ready for delivery to the center. It had taken a lot of convincing, but finally Selma had agreed to hire additional servers so that she, Thelma, and I would be free to enjoy the evening.

  We closed the diner early and loaded the food into the catering truck the aunts and I had hired. We piled inside and drove to the center to set up the meal before taking in the fair. When Thelma and I left the kitchen, Selma was still fussing over getting just the right presentation for her barbeque. I tried to talk her into coming with us, but she refused.

  “Leave her be, Laney. She loves this stuff.” Thelma took my arm and led me away.

  Booths surrounding the community center displayed arts and crafts along with homemade foods, jams, and candy. It took hours to make our way through all the exhibits.

  By the time, Thelma and I made it back inside the center and found Ramie and his wife Louisa, the band was in full swing and the place was packed.

  The youth group from our church was hosting a cakewalk, and Thelma roped Ramie and me into participating. After almost an hour of trying, we finally hit pay dirt. Ramie carried his mother’s hard-earned prize, a three-layer chocolate cake, out to the truck, while Thelma, Louisa, and I stopped to chat with one of the ladies in Thelma’s Sunday school class.

  I had been watching for Jake. He had a couple of patients to see at the hospital, but said he would get to the fair around 7:00 PM.

  “How’s the prettiest lady in Down doing tonight?” Jake whispered close to my ear a few minutes later.

  “Hi, there.” I smiled at him and caught my breath.

  Jake and I had been playing phone tag for few days. He had been busy at work, and I’d been helping the aunts prepare for the fair. It had been nearly a week since I’d actually seen him and in that time, I’d had plenty of time to examine my feelings. I’d known since the church picnic that we had moved beyond friendship. I was crazy about him.

  “How’ve you been?” I asked.

  “Better now.”

  His smile did wonders for my ego. I found myself imagining what that smile would look like under more intimate circumstances. Suddenly, I couldn’t quite look him in the eye.

  “Are you OK?” he asked. “Not too tired? You’ve been working really hard.”

  Clearly, he’d misread my sudden shyness as a baby-related condition. “Fine. I’m fine. Just...I’m fine.”

  “I’m glad I came tonight, Laney. I’ve missed you. Come on.” He took my hand and led me through the crowd, until we stood at the edge of the busy dance floor.

  I looked up at him in confusion. “You want to dance? With me?” A very pregnan
t woman?

  “Just relax, Laney...I promise you it won’t hurt.” His arms closed the distance between us as the band started to play another song, tailor-made for slow dancing.

  What I saw in his gaze shook me, making my fantasies pale in comparison.

  He held me close—carefully guiding me around the floor and magically keeping me from stepping on his toes or bumping into anyone else.

  I was so shaken by the warmth in his blue eyes that I stepped on his foot.

  When I look him straight in the eye again, something unnamed made me catch my breath. His fingers threaded through my hair and the gentle pressure against my head left me with no choice but to lean against him.

  “Relax, Laney.” Jake whispered again, close to my ear, and I felt the weight of the past few months, like a heavy burden, slowly lift and then disappear completely. The soft sound of the singer’s voice was gentle as we moved slowly in a circle to the music.

  It took being in Jake’s arms to bring me peace. I wasn’t drifting aimlessly anymore. And for the first time in a long time, I let go of all my fears and uncertainties and simply listened to a song and the soft steady beat of Jake’s heart beneath my ear.

  The music had stopped. How long ago, I wasn’t sure, but I now stood perfectly still in Jake’s arms, and I didn’t want to leave them. Didn’t want to let go of the peace I’d found.

  He pulled away from me. The questions in his eyes mirrored mine.

  I closed my eyes. Suddenly the room was too crowded, and I felt faint.

  “Are you sure you’re OK?” he asked me softly.

  “I need some air.”

  I hated to break the comfort that enveloped me.

  We made our way across the dance floor and Jake opened the door. A rush of sharp, clean air stole my breath for a moment and helped to clear my head. I strode across the porch to the far end, away from the lights. Wrapped in the shadows, I closed my eyes and took several deep, steadying breaths.

  “Laney?”

  The nausea in the pit of my stomach subsided. “I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath. It was too hot in there, but I’m OK now.”

  “Come sit down.” Jake took my hand and led me to one of the wooden benches around the side of the building.

  I fought to regain my equilibrium. Jake still held my hand, and in the shadows around us, I tried to make out his expression.

  “Better?” he asked softly, his breath feathering across my face. He was watching me closely in the darkness. “I should have realized it was too crowded in there. Are you sure you’re OK?”

  I was overwhelmed by the gentle concern in his voice. I tried to find the words to reassure him.

  Jake reached out to touch my cheek.

  “Yes, I think so.” I closed my eyes. “At least, I will be.”

  “What’s got you worried? I know you have feelings for me. You can’t hide them. And we’ve been dancing around this discussion for a long time. I don’t want to put it off any longer.” Jake was now touching my face, drawing me to him. “And I’ve wanted to do this since I first saw you tonight.” His lips brushed against mine. Warm. Gentle.

  Promising.

  I’d been holding myself in check.

  He kissed me again, and it felt as if a dam burst inside me, setting me free of my emotional bondage.

  I returned his second kiss with all the passion I once thought I’d lost. I would have been content to go on kissing him forever had he not been the one to end it.

  “You’re shivering. We need to get you out of this cold.”

  My disappointment must have been easy to read.

  “Laney, you’re heading into your ninth month of pregnancy and you could go into labor at any time. As much as I desperately want nothing more than to take you in my arms and kiss you, I don’t think that’s a good idea. But rest assured, you’re the most beautiful woman I know, and I want you like crazy.”

  “Really? Pregnant and all?”

  “Pregnant and all.”

  He got to his feet and took my hand. “Come on. I’ll buy you some hot chocolate, and we can see how long it takes before Selma makes someone mad. I’m betting...five minutes.”

  Reasons why I’m thankful I came home to Down:

  1: To help my aunts stay out of jail.

  2: To stop feeling sorry for myself.

  3: Never to have to see Tom Winters’s face again.

  4: To learn how to really write again.

  5: To be there for my aunts when they ask for my help.

  6: To free myself of the doubts tying me to my past.

  7: To start believing in the God of second chances again

  8: To witness Stan’s confession with my own eyes.

  9: To learn how to wait on love.

  16

  Love and babies appear at the most unusual times.

  “I read the story...”

  This was the moment of reckoning for me. If Tippy loved it, I’d have her support. If she hated it, I was probably over as a writer. “And?” I breathed.

  “And...I love it. Laney, I love it.”

  I jumped to my feet and did a little jig around my office at the diner, which at almost full term, amounted to me managing to lift my feet only an inch off the floor. The euphoria subsided a little. There had been a ‘but’ in Tippy’s tone.

  “OK, give me the bad news. The publisher hated it.”

  Her pregnant pause was disheartening. “Not exactly.”

  I closed my eyes. “What exactly does ‘not exactly’ mean?”

  “It means there’s a lot you and I need to talk about.”

  “Such as?” Why didn’t Tippy just get to the point? She was always good at cutting through the bull before now.

  “Such as, since you signed your contract, there have been some major shake-ups over at the publishing house. Which means your editor is gone.”

  “Gone. That’s not good.” I could all but see my contract disappearing before my eyes. Danielle Jones was the best editor I’d ever worked with.

  “Yes, I know you loved Danielle. Anyway, I showed the new book to her replacement, who was quick to point out the story was not what they were expecting, and certainly not right for their category romance line of books, since the story is more inspirational. No big surprise there.” She added in her usual Tippy way. “But she loved the book so much that she’s recommending it to the editor who took her place for the new, longer Christian romance line they’re opening.”

  “Christian romance?” I repeated in amazement.

  “Christian romance. She thinks it will be perfect for their new Christian romance line. In fact, she wants you to launch the line.” Tippy gushed with enthusiasm. “Can you believe it, Laney? This is big. No, this is huge for you.”

  I thought about doing another happy dance, but decided I’d done enough exercise for today, and I really didn’t want the baby to be born there in the diner if I could help it.

  “Laney? Are you as excited as I am?” Apparently, Tippy had taken my silence for uncertainty.

  “I’m thrilled. No, more than thrilled. And I owe it all to you.” While Tippy and I might not ever be close friends, she’d gone to bat for me when I’d needed her the most.

  “It was nothing. And I’d say it’s all because of you. You wrote the brilliant book, not me. There is one thing...”

  “What?” I closed my eyes again and tried to shelve my enthusiasm.

  “Since the last Tim and Lois story was assigned to their series romance line, obviously you’ll need to change a few things up in this one. Mainly the names, because this new story isn’t category romance—thank goodness.”

  “I thought you liked the series stuff.”

  “Correction, I like your series stuff, but to tell the truth, I’d rather read about characters who aren’t always hopping into bed. Characters whose romance is grounded in faith. And when have you ever heard of real life ending as nicely as those fairytale books?”

  I was inclined to agree. Life certain
ly hadn’t dealt me a fairytale. “Pretty much never. Certainly not for me.”

  “Me, either,” she admitted in a way that made me wonder what hard knocks she’d had to endure.

  “By the way, I love the Devon character. Wherever did you come up with him?”

  It’s been said that writers leave little bits of themselves in their characters. And if one looked really hard one can see the events of that writer’s life in the characters and situations they invented. I’d always found this to be true. After all, I’d designed Tim’s character after Tom. I couldn’t tell her, but Lois’s latest love interest was the spitting image of Jake. Everything about Devon personified Jake Montgomery.

  “Just my vivid writer’s imagination, I guess.”

  “Well, you really stretched yourself on this story. I’m proud of you. After what happened between you and Tom and the divorce, I was worried about you.”

  I could only imagine the things she’d thought. “I’m fine. More than fine. I’m happy.”

  “Well, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll work out the details of the contract with the editor. You get started on the edits.”

  ****

  “How are you feeling today?”

  The attractive sound of Jake’s voice reminded me of the last scene I’d written between Lois and Devon. It was filled with all the pent up passion I felt for Jake. I was just glad he wasn’t standing in front of me, reading my wayward thoughts.

  Since that night at the fair, and maybe because he knew I was getting more nervous about the baby with each passing day, he’d made it a point to call me each night. We’d talk for hours about nothing and everything. I shared my fears about raising Ava alone. He reminded me I’d never be alone. I had Selma, Thelma, and him to count on. I couldn’t remember ever sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings with anyone the way I did so easily with Jake.

  I didn’t really think it odd that I hadn’t seen Jake since the night of the dance. I think he was avoiding any more physical contact with me until my hormones settled down. Not that it mattered. I looked forward to these conversations with him more each day.

  “Good, in fact, better than good. I heard from my agent today. I sold another book. And I found I’m really a Christian romance writer.”