The phone rang, and Hannah answered it on the third ring.
“Hello, Gina. Is something wrong?”
“Yes! Arabella’s grandmother called again. Things moved faster than they thought and they will be at your house any time now. Tell her to be ready to go right then. Martin Ellis showed up here ten minutes ago and said that he knew for a fact that the cab let Arabella off here, because he watched it through the cab webcam thing. I put him off by saying that a lady did show up here, a tall redhead in a wedding gown, but there was no room at Patchwork, so she called another cab,” Gina said.
“And?” Hannah held her breath.
“He left to go talk to the local cab companies. He asked what color cab picked her up and I told him I wasn’t sure,” Gina said. “I’m so glad that her transport is on the way.”
“Me, too,” Hannah said.
After she hung up the receiver, she turned around to find Arabella so close that she almost ran into her. “You will be leaving as soon as possible. Martin has been to the shelter, so he knows you were there.”
“I’m ready. I don’t even need to take anything with me. We’ll be out of Dallas and in Mexico by supper time.”
“Why didn’t your grandmother come to the wedding?” Hannah asked.
Arabella went back to the door to watch but stood far enough back that she couldn’t be seen. “She did some digging into his family and she said they were dishonest and if I was marrying into that mess, she didn’t want to witness it. They are here. Oh, she’s sent Rodney. He’s my favorite of the bodyguards,” Arabella said. “Good-bye, Hannah, and thank you one more time.”
She walked out of the house with her head held high and got into the black vehicle. One burly black-suited man walked a step behind her and two waited beside the car. They made sure she was inside, and then she was gone, just like that, with no pomp or fanfare.
Hannah waved from the door, but the windows of the SUV were tinted so she couldn’t tell if Arabella waved back or not. She waited until they were out of sight and then went back to the bedroom to strip the sheets off the bed. Unless the next visitor couldn’t climb steps, she’d give the next folks one of the upstairs bedrooms.
The extra clothing that Miss Rosie and Aunt Birdie had brought had been carefully laid on the bottom of the bed. Beside the stack was a sticky note:
This is to buy something special for Sophie.
A hundred-dollar bill was attached to it with a paper clip.
Hannah sat down on the bed and sighed. Sophie would have a precious sister that she could never know. Maybe, like Arabella said, they could get acquainted later in life.
Travis sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms. “What’s the matter? Where is Arabella?”
Hannah wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. “She’s gone home to Mexico. They came for her earlier than expected, which is good, because Marty tracked her to the shelter after all.” Hannah laid her head on Travis’s chest and drew comfort from the steady beat of his heart. “Sophie will have a sister, and she’ll never know it. It’s painful knowing how much she wants one and I can’t even tell her.”
“Some things are what they are, darlin’. Let’s drive down to the bait store and get some minnows and take some sandwiches to the river. We can fish or just lie back under that big old willow tree and watch the water flow by. I’ll text Aunt Birdie and tell her to bring Sophie to us when she gets out of church.”
Hannah sighed. “You always fix everything. I love you for that, Travis.”
He flashed a brilliant smile. “So you do love me.”
“Always have,” she said.
“That’s a step in the right direction.”
“What does that mean?”
“You think about it and you’ll figure it out.” He hugged her gently.
Hannah hated cryptic messages. She was still analyzing everything Travis said when Sophie showed up on the beach. Aunt Birdie had walked her down to the river and waved at them before she disappeared back into the willow trees.
Hannah watched the red-and-white bobber dance around on the top of the slow-moving, clay-colored water. With the fishing rod in her hand, she kept a close eye on Sophie, sitting right beside her with her own line out in the water. It wasn’t long until Sophie grew tired of the monotony of waiting for a fish to bite and started to fuss that they weren’t biting.
“Well, then why don’t you and I take a walk up the river a little ways and throw rocks in the water,” Travis said. “I bet that would scare them down this way and they’ll bite one of our lines. Then your mama can reel him in for our supper. I’ll prop my line and yours up on a stick so she can watch them.”
“Yes!” Sophie pumped her fist in the air.
“Y’all have fun.” Hannah adjusted her wide-brimmed fishing hat and began watching all three bobbers.
What’s the difference? She asked herself as Sophie ran along beside Travis, each of them throwing stones into the river. He’s taking over a spot in my life just like Marty did, and I’m comfortable with him. Would things change with Travis if we got into a serious relationship? And what did he mean this morning when he said for me to figure it out? I do love him. I’ve always loved him.
But, that niggling voice inside her head said, there is a difference in loving someone and being in love with someone. You love Aunt Birdie and Darcy and even Cal, but you are not in love with them. Travis wants you to go to the next level someday in the future and be in love with him. He’s left bread crumbs. Follow them if you want to see where it leads. Kick them off to the side if you don’t want to trust him with your heart. Simple as that and up to you.
She shook her head to get rid of the voice, but it came back in the form of her mother’s soft southern drawl.
“Need some help managing these poles?”
She frowned. Although she couldn’t control the inner voice and it often sounded like her mother, this was the first time it was that loud or clear or that it brought a presence with it.
Her first thought was that Travis and Sophie had managed to sneak upon her, but then she glanced over that way and her mother was sitting right there, almost touching her.
“Mama?” She blinked half a dozen times in rapid succession.
“Surprise!”
She threw the rod on the sand and hugged her mother in a fierce embrace. “How did you get here?”
“Darcy and Cal picked me up in Dallas. I decided to stay two weeks instead of one.” Patsy hugged her daughter and held on for a long time before she finally pushed back and really looked at her from head to toe. “You look good, my child. There’s life in your eyes again. And I think you’ve put on a few pounds. They look good on you.”
“There’s life in my heart, Mama. And Aunt Birdie and Miss Rosie have been popping in and out with food ever since that day in court.” Hannah hugged her mother again. “I’m so glad you are here. How’s Granny?” Hannah picked up the fishing rod but kept a hand on her mother’s knee.
“She’s doing great and said I needed a break, that she would be fine in the new assisted-care center. She actually thinks she’s on vacation, too,” Patsy said.
“I wish you could stay longer,” Hannah said.
“Me, too, but not this time,” Patsy told her.
“I’ll take what I can get, but if she’s happy there, then that means you can come back more often, right?”
“Or you can come to Virginia anytime and bring Sophie to see her. I was thinking maybe Thanksgiving would be a good time. Sophie will have a week out of school and our house has extra bedrooms, so bring whatever friends want to tag along with you,” Patsy said.
“Freedom.” Hannah sighed. “It’s a beautiful thing, Mama.”
“Yes, it is!” Patsy agreed as she reached for Travis’s fishing rod and quickly reeled in a five-pound catfish. Together, she and Hannah removed the hook and put the fish on a bed of ice in the cooler Travis had brought along for that purpose.
“Supper in the m
aking,” Patsy said. “I haven’t been fishing since I moved away from here.” She baited the empty hook and tossed it back out into the water. “If we catch enough, Travis can clean them and we’ll have fish and fried potatoes for supper tonight.”
“Hey,” Darcy yelled as she and Cal made their way down the steep bank and to the river. “Did we surprise her, Patsy?”
“Yes, you did. How did you keep this a secret?” Hannah asked.
“Cal and I had to stay away from you or we would have told for sure. Did you tell your mama about Arabella yet?”
“Give me that spare fishing rod and I’ll hold it for you,” Cal said. “Where’s Travis and Sophie?”
“Look down the river and you can see two tiny dots right at the bend. They’re on their way back now, I think, but they’ve been throwing rocks in the river to scare the fish this way,” Hannah said.
“It must be working.” Patsy slipped the lid off the cooler and pointed. “Supper.”
“I love your fried fish,” Darcy said. “Got an extra rod and reel? I’ll help.”
“Arabella?” Patsy asked.
“It’s a long story, which I’ll tell you over a big fish fry tonight,” Hannah said.
“Granny!” Sophie squealed when she was close enough to recognize the woman sitting beside Hannah. She churned up the dust behind her as she left Travis behind. When she was close enough, she made a dive and landed in Patsy’s arms.
Cal grabbed the fishing rod that hit the ground and settled in between Hannah and Darcy. Sophie kept squealing the whole time that she planted kisses on her grandmother.
“Mama, Granny is here!” she finally said. “Is she still staying at our house? I want her to meet Lullaby and see my new pretty room and did Mama tell you that our house has a name? It’s Lullaby Sky now and we get company and sometimes they have a little girl like Laurel and she can play with me. Oh, Granny, I love you!” Sophie settled into her grandmother’s lap.
“Not as much as I love you,” Patsy teased. “You scared up a fish and I caught it on your rod and reel. Think me and you should take a walk up the river again and see if we can make another one swim down here?”
“Yes, yes!” Sophie clapped her hands. “And I can show you the big old tree that just fell over. Now we can use it for a bench to sit on when we get tired. Only I didn’t get tired. I found more rocks and threw them in the river while Uncle Travis talked on the phone.”
Travis slipped in between Cal and Hannah, his bare knee touching hers. “Surprised?” he asked.
She nudged him on the shoulder. “You rat. You knew, didn’t you?”
“I did, and I don’t ever want to know another secret that I’m not allowed to tell you about.” He grinned. “It wasn’t easy. I didn’t like keeping things from you.”
Patsy stood up and took Sophie’s hand in hers. Hannah could see a few more gray hairs around her mother’s temples, but she still did not look sixty. Patsy’s brown eyes sparkled when Sophie tugged at her hand to get her moving.
“Y’all have fun and send a lot of fish this way,” Travis said. “Did she really surprise you?”
“She really did. And you are all forgiven for keeping the secret, because I’m so glad to see her,” Hannah answered.
Her line tightened, and she reeled it in a bit. The end of the rod bent forward and started to slip from her hands. Travis quickly moved behind her, one leg on each side of hers, and closed his big hands over hers. “Give him some slack and then reel him in a little at a time. It’s either a big fish or a rotten old gar.”
“It had better be a fish or the rest of you are going hungry. I haven’t had Mama’s fried fish in years, and I’ll eat that five-pounder all by myself,” Hannah said as she reeled in the line, just like Travis said.
It wasn’t easy to think about a fish, no matter what kind or how big, with Travis’s bare skin against hers, his hands covering hers, and his warm breath on her neck. She wanted to throw the rod and reel out in the river and flip around and kiss him right there.
“That reminds me of fishing for blue marlin,” Cal said.
“Only a marlin would be mounted, and this one is supper.” Hannah could see the tip of the fish’s head, and it was a catfish, a nice big one that would feed the whole family. She couldn’t let it get away.
Finally, she and Travis together brought the fifteen-pound specimen to shore. It was too big to fit in the cooler, so Travis and Cal immediately set about cleaning both fish, filleting them and putting the pieces on ice while Darcy and Hannah manned the poles again.
“Hey, y’all.” Liz gingerly made her way down the pathway. “I figured I’d find you right here, and I see that Patsy made it all right.”
“You knew, too?” Hannah yelled back over her shoulder.
“We all did. I see you have an extra pole there. I’ll use it if the guys are going to clean fish on the banks,” Liz said.
“You sure you feel like fishing?” Darcy asked.
“If I catch something bigger than the palm of my hand, there are two strong men who can haul it in for me. What’s Patsy and Sophie doing?” Liz pointed upstream.
“They are throwing rocks in the river to scare the fish down this way so we can catch them. It’s working,” Travis answered.
“Looks like it.” Liz grinned. “So Arabella left this morning?”
“She did, and I’m glad for her visit. It made me face the fact that it wasn’t my fault that Marty treated me like he did. It wouldn’t have mattered if I was rich as Midas or had the manners of a queen,” Hannah said.
“Well, halle-damn-lujah!” Darcy exclaimed. “We’ve been telling you that for years. Why couldn’t you listen to us?”
“Because, darlin’s, you all love me. Arabella and I were not friends, at least not at first, and, well, crap, I can’t explain it. But it brought more closure than anything else. I hope you can get to this point, Liz.”
“My Arabella will come along someday,” Liz said. “Right now I’m just glad for sunshine on my face, the promise of a fish fry for supper, to see you happy and Darcy getting her wildest dreams fulfilled. And I’m real glad that I get to go back to work after the Fourth. I’m about to go stark raving stir-crazy.”
“Do we need to quilt some more?” Darcy asked.
“No, but I do intend to spend lots of time at Hannah’s while Patsy is there, so get ready for it. You have to share her,” Liz said.
“You are all welcome anytime.” She looked back over her shoulder and caught Travis staring at her.
He would move out that very day since there were no shelter guests, and the house would be empty without his presence. Her full heart suddenly had a hole in it. She didn’t want him to go, and right now was the time to say so. “Travis, you don’t have to move in and out all the time.”
“Thank you. I’ve got stuff spread out everywhere, and I hate to move.” He used the tip of one finger to push his glasses up on his nose. “Besides, this is going to be a very busy week for me and Cal. We’ll be working from sunup to sundown. Some of our hired hands are only available this week. Family vacations and all. So I won’t interfere with your visit.”
“Mama will pout if you don’t interfere some of the time.” Hannah smiled.
“I’m planning on doing my fair share of getting in the way,” Darcy declared. “I’m staying at Aunt Birdie’s this week. I’ll commute. It’s not fair for y’all to get to be together every day and me to be left out. Save the good stuff for when I get there.”
“I feel like we’re back in high school,” Cal said.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could hit a ‘Delete’ button and get a redo?” Liz said wistfully.
Hannah considered what Liz had said and decided that she didn’t want a redo. It was all the experiences, tough as they were at the time, that brought her to this day and made her appreciate her place in the universe. Her friends had proven that they could help her through anything. Her mother was there, and she had Sophie. Life was pretty damned good.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
A falling star. Make a wish,” Travis said from the shadows.
“We both saw it, so we each get a wish.” Hannah smiled up at him as he padded across the wooden porch in his bare feet and sat down beside her. She handed him her glass of tea, and he took a long drink before handing it back.
Patsy had been dragged into Sophie’s room to read her a bedtime story. Liz had gone home after supper to Aunt Birdie’s place, and Darcy was down at the hangar with Cal.
“Remember that song about a falling star by Jim Reeves? I think Aunt Birdie still has it over there on vinyl,” he said.
“The title was ‘A Fallen Star.’”
He stood to his feet and held out his hand. “Yes, it was. Dance with me, Hannah.”
She put her hand in his. “Where’s the music?”
He started to hum the tune to the old country song as he guided her hands around his neck and looped his around her waist. The words played through her mind as they moved over the green grass in their bare feet.
The world disappeared, and they were the only two people on Earth. Hannah wished that the song could go on forever and that she never had to leave the warm feeling that she had in Travis’s arms.
“I got my wish,” he drawled. “I’ve wanted to dance with you for months.”
“I got mine earlier, so I’m saving my fallen star for later.”
“Want to share?” he asked.
“Maybe later. Right now I just want to dance one more time with you out here.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He began to hum another old country tune, “I’d Love to Lay You Down.”
She pushed back and looked up into his eyes. “I know that song from Aunt Birdie’s old vinyls, too.”
“I’ll hum, then, and you fill in the words. It’s the way I feel about you. Do you remember all the lyrics?”
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