by M. Allen
“Magnolia, he’s a good man, and he loves you. Now, he ain’t perfect, but not many of us are.”
Magnolia leaned over the railing and kissed her father’s cheek. “To me, Dad, you are perfect.”
A light red tinge colored his cheeks, and he cleared his throat. “I mean it, Magnolia. You got to hear that man out.”
“I know. But for now, I just want a shower and my bed. Like you said before—let’s just end the day.” She patted her father’s hand.
“Yeah, let’s end the day.” He pressed his hand to his shoulder and rolled his neck. “Just promise me you’ll talk things out with him. I’d hate for you to miss out on something.”
Magnolia gazed down at him. His skin was a few shades lighter than she was used to and dark circles hung below his eyes. “I promise.” She tilted her head to the side. “Are you feeling okay?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’d be feeling a lot better if y’all would let me sleep.” He swatted her playfully across the backside. “To bed now.”
“Hey, Dad, do me a favor?” He followed her up the stairs. “Next time, use something else other than water to get your point across. Winter is gonna be here before you know it.”
A light chuckle escaped his lips. “All right, darlin’.”
When they reached the top of the stairs, she turned to face him. He looked more haggard than she’d ever seen him. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I got a lot on my mind with the Triple R, and those corporate ranchers have had some interesting things to say lately.”
“Anything you want to talk out with me? I can help, you know.” It would be nice for Maggie to have to worry about something else other than her life.
“Tomorrow, darlin’. For right now, I just want to catch a couple more hours of sleep before I get goin’.”
“Okay.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I love you, Dad.”
He touched her on the chin. “Not as much as I love you, baby girl.”
Chapter 23
“How could you not have told me?” Magnolia crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Calla who sat on the porch swing facing her and then at Zinnia who was perched on the railing leaning against one of the posts of the porch.
Calla shrugged. “It wasn’t our place to tell.”
“Not your place to tell? Y’all are supposed to be my friends. A little warning would’ve been nice.” She threw up her arms.
Zinnia held her hands up. “Don’t look at me. I was mad at you up until last week.”
“And I did warn you. I told ya to stay away from him.” Calla Lily shrugged, then winked.
“When has someone ever tellin’ me not to do something stopped me?” Magnolia sucked in a deep breath. “I mean, he’s married… to Lulu Griffin,” she moaned.
An ear to ear smile spread across Zinnia’s face. “Remember that time at Homecoming when she was all over Dax, and Magnolia locked her in the janitor’s closet for an hour until she apologized?”
Calla hunched over, laughing. “Oh, yeah. I had to talk Maggie into givin’ me the key.”
Fighting her own smile, Magnolia admitted, “It was mean, but when I came out of the ladies’ room, she was practically giving him a lap dance while he was waiting for me.”
“Hey, I’m not sayin’ she didn’t deserve it. But that woman has always been waitin’ for you to step out of the way so she could make her move. It just so happened that she got him drunk first and got it done in a quickie ceremony two towns over.” Calla waved it away as if this was nothing.
“Still doesn’t change the fact he lied to me about it.” Magnolia crossed her arms.
Zinnia shifted in her seat and scoffed. “Oh, please. You know what my momma used to say?”
It was very rare that Zinnia ever mentioned her mother, but when she did, Magnolia listened. “What’s that?”
“People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” She glared at Magnolia with those piercing sapphire eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Calla examined her nails. “It means you shouldn’t hold it against him, when he didn’t hold it against you for still being married.”
She hated it when they had a point. Were they right? Probably. But would she forgive Dax? In her heart, she knew she could. But she wasn’t through being annoyed with him. “Well, I don’t know.” She worried at her bottom lip. “But, still, can you believe the nerve of that man?”
*****
“Can you believe the nerve of that woman?” Dax drove his shovel down into the dirt, lifting a spade of muck away from the busted drain pipe.
“I mean, she is my daughter, so ya, I can.” Thomas pulled his hat from his head and wiped his forearm over his sweat-soaked forehead.
Dax had barely broken a sweat. It was a cool day, and he was the one doing all the digging. Adam was perched behind the wheel of the back hoe as Thomas stood over them, looking on. Dax peeked up at him. He noticed Thomas’ skin was a sickly pale color. “You all right?”
“Just fine. Keep diggin’.” He motioned to the hole.
Dax turned and slammed the shovel down once more. “I mean, hell, she’s not even divorced yet, and she’s mad at me for not being divorced.”
“Difference is, you knew her situation and kept yours a secret.” Thomas sighed.
Dax paused with his shovel held high. “I get that, but you would think I get at least one conversation.”
“Keep diggin’, boy,” Thomas commanded, his voice sounding strained. When Dax lifted another shovelful of dirt, Thomas continued, “You know Maggie. Ya gotta give her some time. She’ll come ’round. Let her fire burn down some.”
“I gotta tell ya, Thomas. I love that fire in your daughter. But, sometimes, a man would like a way to put it out right quick.” Dax paused, resting his hands on the end of the shovel. He turned and faced Thomas. “I love her, you know?”
“I—” Thomas’ eyes went wide and round, while all the color leached from his face.
“Thomas?” Dax dropped the shovel. “Thomas, are you all right?”
Thomas’ knees buckled beneath him and he tipped back, falling to the ground. Dax scrambled from the hole, calling to Adam, “Call 9-1-1!”
Without hesitation, Adam leapt from the cab of the back hoe and took off running toward the nearest building only a hundred yards away. Dax dropped down beside Thomas. His face was a sickly pale, all but the flaming red in his cheeks, and sweat poured off him. He sucked in labored breaths. Dax touched his shoulder. “Is it your chest, Thomas?”
Thomas’ eyes rolled around in his head, and he nodded. With his heart in his throat, Dax pulled Thomas’ head into his lap. “It’s gonna be okay.” Where the hell is Adam? “Just try to relax and breathe.”
Thomas opened his mouth, barely sucking in the tiniest of gasps. “Take.” Gasp. “C-care of her.”
His body fell limp in Dax’s arms. “Oh, God, no! Thomas! Thomas!” Dax shook his shoulders lightly.
Adrenaline pumped through Dax’s veins as he placed Thomas’ head down and turned to kneel beside him. Tears streamed from his eyes as he kneeled on the ground beside the man who’d been a father to him for the past ten years. “Don’t you dare go anywhere.” He ripped open Thomas’ shirt, folded one hand over the other and started pressing down on Thomas’ lifeless body.
“One, two, three, four….” He kept pressing all the way to twenty. Then tilted his head back, pinched Thomas’ nose and breathed into his mouth. “Come on!”
With each pump of his hands, he felt Thomas slipping away. His breath hitched in his chest. Dax fought against the tears, fought against the ball in his throat, to start compressions again. Adam ran to his side, sliding down on the ground beside him. “Let me take over.”
Dax gritted his teeth. “No, I have to do this.”
“Dax, you’re not getting enough breath. Move.” Adam elbowed his way in, taking over the compressions. “One, two, three…”
The numbers faded away from Dax’s mi
nd, and he swiped at his face. In the distance, the roar of an ambulance echoed over the fields. But all he could do was stare at Thomas’ motionless face. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he sucked in a pained gasp. Oh, God, no…
****
A chill went up Magnolia’s spine, and goosebumps broke out over her skin. She looked at Calla. “Have you seen Hayden?”
“I saw him heading to the barn with your uncle a second ago.” She reached over and grabbed Magnolia’s hand. “You okay? You have this weird look on your face.”
Pulling her hand free, she wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing them. “I don’t know. I just got this feeling, like something is wrong.”
In the distance, the sound of sirens echoed. Magnolia froze, listening to them steadily getting closer, flying up the drive. Magnolia shot to her feet and leapt off the porch, watching as the ambulance sped by the main house and headed out back toward the fields. “Y’all watch Hayden.” She took off running, following the ambulance, a feeling of dread sitting in the pit of her stomach.
“Magnolia, wait!” Calla called from behind her, but she couldn’t stop now.
Magnolia pumped her arms, running over the uneven fields, out past the barn, past the supply house. As she came over a rise, she saw the back hoe sitting idle and the ambulance right in front of it. The paramedics leapt from the cab and disappeared behind it. Panic shot through her chest, and she pushed even harder. They pulled a gurney from the back of the truck. Dax stumbled into view, his back toward her. She could see his shoulders hunched and shaking. “Dax!” she screamed.
When he spun around, his face was stained with tears and red marks. He ran toward her, opening his arms, to stop her? No, Magnolia had to know what was happening. Her pulse hammered in her chest. She ran past him, to the other side of the ambulance.
“Magnolia, stop!”
But she couldn’t. There, lying on the ground with his shirt wide open and white patches on his chest, was her strong-as-an-ox father. A paramedic called, “Clear.”
His chest bowed up with the shock from the AED machine, then fell lifelessly back to the ground. The man who’d only the night before kissed her on the cheek and told her everything would be okay, who always look so indomitable, now looked so small, frail even. “Daddy, no!”
She flung herself forward, landing on her knees beside him. “Dad! Oh, my God, Dad!”
He didn’t move. Didn’t budge. The paramedics pressed a mask over his face and squeezed the blue bag, pumping air into him. With each squeeze of the bag, his chest rose and fell, but there was nothing in between those rises. Where was his spark, his life? The man had turned a hose on her the night before. This couldn’t be happening. Not to him, not to Thomas Reed.
“No! No! Dad.” She scrambled to get closer. Dax wound his arm around her waist, holding her back. She smacked at his hands. “I have to get closer to him. Let me go.”
He held fast, pulling her tightly into his chest. “Let them work, Maggie.”
She sagged against him as hot, wet tears ran down her cheeks. This wasn’t the end; this couldn’t possibly be happening. They’d take him to the hospital. He’d be okay! But when she reached out to her father, this time he didn’t reach back for her. “Daddy, please.” She clung to Dax’s arm like it was a lifeline. “Don’t go.”
When he didn’t respond, Magnolia knew… Things were not going to be okay.
Chapter 24
The overwhelming floral scent seeped into her nose, causing the unending pounding behind her eyes to continue. Magnolia pressed her hand to her forehead, rubbing at the spot of tension. Her body ached from her shoulders down to her toes. After days of crying, the skin around her eyes felt stiff, and utter exhaustion nearly drove her to her breaking point. But now here she stood, in her black pencil skirt, black sweater and heels. The people around her spoke in hushed tones, whispering to each other, but to her they might as well have been yelling.
“They call it a widow maker…”
“Massive heart attack…”
“So unexpected…”
“He was a hell of a man…”
On and on it went, so many whispers it was beginning to drive her to madness. Her father would’ve hated this—the whole town turning out, a line out the door of the funeral home. He would’ve said, “Magnolia, put me in a pine box and bury me out in the field somewhere. Never mind all this hub-bub.”
A new round of tears stained her eyes, and she dabbed at the them with the tissue she’d been given by the funeral director. At the front of the room lay her father in a beautiful ornate coffin she’d taken hours to pick. This was her father, and she felt the need to make sure he would be as comfortable as possible in his final resting place. It was silly though, really. The man lying in the front of the room looked so fragile, not the powerful guy who’d raised her. Even so, she bought the cushiest one, with beautiful satin, then spent hours in his closet picking his favorite outfit, an outfit only Thomas Reed, her wonderful father, would wear. A red plaid button down and his favorite pair of worn jeans.
But no matter how much preparing she’d done, nothing would ever make her ready to see him lying in that damn box at the front of a beige room covered in flowers. Thinking about it now, heaving breaths left her body, and she shook from head to toe. She’d been standing next to him for hours, yet the aching in her chest hadn’t subsided for a single second. Folding chairs were lined up in front of it, like his death was a spectacle.
The walls began to close in on her. People surrounded her, hugging her, every two seconds, giving them her condolences. Even the plush carpet felt like it was rising up under her. This wasn’t real; this wasn’t happening. Any moment she’d wake up, and he’d be here to guide her and comfort her through the roughest part of her life. A ball rose in her throat, she couldn’t breathe, the air was stuck in her chest.
“Magnolia, drink this.” Dax shoved a plastic cup into her shaking hands. Water sloshed over the sides, coating her fingers. “Are you okay?”
Her eyes darted around the room. Wordlessly, she shook her head, never meeting his direct gaze. Over the past few days, she’d grown so used to saying she was okay she didn’t even know what the meant anymore. Dax took the cup from her, threaded his fingers between hers and began to pull her from the room, leaving a line of people waiting to pay their respects to her father.
Magnolia dug in her heels. “I have to stay.”
“You need to breathe for a minute,” he whispered over his shoulder, giving her hand a small tug.
She had no fight left in her. As she walked through the room, people tried to stop her, tried to talk to her, tried to hug her, all to no avail. Dax kept them moving at a clip. When they hit the hallway outside the room, the sickly floral scent eased a fraction. Determined to keep going, he looked to his left then his right and pulled her right out the back door of the funeral home. The moment those glass doors flung open, a cool fall mist hit her face. The gray sky seemed to be mourning the loss of her father as much as she was.
As she sucked in a tight breath, a sob broke past her lips. “Oh, God, I can’t breathe, Dax. I can’t go back in there.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach and began to pace back and forth. Her heels clicked over the pavement with each step she took. “I’m suffocating in there.”
He came up beside her and rubbed his hand up and down her back, stopping her wild pacing. She leaned into his side. So tired of holding in her tears for everyone else, she let them fall. Gasping sobs wracked her body, but she didn’t try to fight them this time. “I didn’t have enough time with him. I wasted years away. Oh, God, Dax—years!”
He wrapped his other arm around her so they faced each other. She pressed her forehead into his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso. Hot streams of tears dripped off her eyelashes, falling onto his shirt. He didn’t back away, didn’t shy away from the ugly cry she was allowing herself to have. Instead, he squeezed her tighter. “Magnolia, look at me.”
He tucked his fi
nger under her chin and raised her face to meet his eyes. Magnolia pried her gaze from the buttons on his shirt to meet his maple eyes. Within them, she saw a mirror of how she felt—unending sadness, a hurt so deep he might never come out of it. But most of all she saw him fighting the tears he wanted to shed. He was being the strength she needed in a moment when she had none. He placed his hands on her cheeks, cupping her face ever so gently. “He knew you loved him, and he loved you. That is all that matters in this world, Maggie. You mattered to him and he forgave you before you even needed him to. Don’t you ever forget the way that man felt about you.”
The intensity in his eyes made her take a small step back. Regret like she’d never known wrapped around her stomach. Squeezing it, she shook her head. “I will never forgive myself for being away from him for so long.”
“But you came back, and you got to spend the last days of his life with him. I know Thomas, and darlin’, he was happy you were here with Hayden.” He ran his thumb over her cheeks, brushing away her tears. He leaned in, about to press his lips to hers, then he tilted his head and kissed her cheek.
“What do we have here?”
Magnolia turned her head just enough to see Eric walking through the back door. He was all put together with his black suit, crisp white shirt and shining shoes. He stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at the two of them.
She took a step back from Dax—this was all too much. She held out her hand while shaking her head. “Not today, Eric. Just not today.” Pieces of her hair fell from the bun she’d carefully constructed before the service. She blew one strand out of her eye but didn’t try to fix it.
“Magnolia, I’m here for you. I know you have no place to go.” He held out his hand to her. “You can come home now.”
“Are you serious? This is my father’s funeral, do you realize that?” She crossed her arms over her chest.