by Liz Isaacson
She slowed her horse. “Okay, so I can’t surprise you. Maybe you could surprise me with something I haven’t seen on the ranch.”
Chapter Nineteen
Dwayne guided Felicity along a path he’d taken many times. Well, at least when he was growing up, and when he’d finally been discharged from the hospital in Virginia. He hadn’t been out to the wishing well for a few years now.
Probably since Serenity left, he thought. He’d made regular trips to the well, tossed in pennies, and asked God to let him know if Serenity was the one for him.
He’d never felt anything one way or the other, and he’d assumed the Lord didn’t have time to worry about Dwayne’s love life. Now, though, Dwayne believed that God did concern Himself with the details of life. Something his mother had told him growing up had really hit home once Dwayne was left with pieces of his heart from here to Austin.
What’s important to you is important to God.
Dwayne did believe that now, though he’d never really seen it at play in his life. “See those trees up there?” He nodded toward the horizon, where the sun shimmered on a line of green. Beyond that, the Bright Star Creek ran right through the ranch.
Several minutes later, he took the lead and ducked under trees he sworn hadn’t been this big last time he’d been out here. The wishing well finally came into view, and dismay tore through him when he saw the disrepair it had fallen into.
He dismounted with, “So this here is a wishing well.” He dug in his back pocket and took out his thin wallet. “I usually have a coin or two in here.” Sure enough, he found a single penny in the corner of the billfold.
“Do you want to do the honors?” He extended the copper coin toward her.
Felicity’s face shone with hope, with a radiant light he’d seen a few times—and loved. She didn’t immediately reach for the penny, but leaned her weight into the top ring of rocks that made up the well.
“My father and I built this,” he said. “When I was about ten. My mother was ill, and Dad needed to get us kids out of the house. He set Heather to raking the leaves and twigs away, and he set me and Thatcher—my brother who lives in Austin? Remember I’ve mentioned him?”
He glanced at her, and she nodded, that soft smile still sitting on her lips.
“Anyway, Thatcher and I set the stones in place, and cemented them to make the well. Dad had already done the plumbing.” Dwayne leaned over the edge of the well and caught the sparkle of sunlight on the water’s surface. “After that, we’d come out here whenever we wanted to…I don’t know.” He exhaled heavily. “When Heather wanted to make the Girl’s Choir League, she came out and threw in entire handfuls of her spare change.” He chuckled at the memory.
“Right before Thatcher broke the news that he didn’t want the ranch, or to stay and work at the ranch, and basically nothing to do with ranching, he camped out here for a solid week.”
Dwayne didn’t want to tell her about the times he’d made the trips out to the creek and the well. The story spilled from his lips anyway, and when he finished, Felicity had snuggled into his side, her cowgirl hat resting on the well.
“I know this is going to sound bad,” she said. “But I’m glad you didn’t marry Serenity.”
A quick whip of pain hit his heart, and then it beat regularly again. “I am too, Felicity.” He pressed his lips to her temple.
She leaned into his touch, kissed the penny, and tossed it into the well without a word. The plink! of the coin disappearing into the water met his ears, and Dwayne felt more content than he had in a long, long time. Maybe ever.
If there could be a more perfect morning, Dwayne didn’t want to know about it.
By the end of September, Felicity had more friends, more fun, and more roots in Grape Seed Falls than she had in Marysville. She’d been in town for three and a half months, and she took a moment each morning to thank the Lord for guiding her here.
The first Sunday in October found her in the backyard, a watering can in her hand. She’d placed potted plants on the patio there, and they were flourishing under her care. Whiskers mewed for breakfast, and she fed him before slipping into the brand new orange dress she’d bought at a boutique in town the day before.
She knotted the leather belt around her waist and put on brown leather cowgirl boots. Though the heat still hovered near summer temperatures, she always marked the arrival of October with new boots. If she acted like it was autumn, maybe Mother Nature would cooperate.
She slid onto the bench next to Dwayne and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before facing the front. The choir stood in their rows, the bright blue robes swaying as they sang and clapped.
When they finished, Pastor Gifford stood behind the mic and said, “Brothers and Sisters, have you felt God’s personal presence in your life?” He leaned forward, something Felicity had seen him do on several occasions when he was trying to make a point. “I know He is there for you. For me. For everyone. Sometimes we might feel abandoned, left alone to weather a storm we think will drown us.” His dark eyes swept the congregation. “But if you think that, you’re wrong.”
His face burst into a wide smile, and Felicity had also heard him say hard things and then soften them with his charm and winning smile.
“God is in the details,” Pastor Gifford said. “And I invite you to search those most trying times of your lives—and some of you are living them right now—and see if you can’t find Him.”
Felicity didn’t want to go back to last fall. The anniversary of her father’s death was in twenty-three days, and she honestly didn’t know how she was going to make it through the hours without a complete breakdown.
Dwayne’s fingers on her shoulder tightened, and he removed his arm from around her and took her hand in his.
With him, she thought. She could survive the no-good day if she had Dwayne at her side.
After church ended, Dwayne followed her back to her house, where she’d promised him a lunch of the best fried chicken she could make. He didn’t come to her house much, but he fit just fine on the couch, and though he hadn’t quite known how to pet Whiskers, he figured it out while she brought oil up to the right temperature and breaded chicken pieces.
“So I got all the stuff you requested for the barbeque sauce,” she said when she dropped the first pieces into the pan.
“Oh, right.” He leapt from the couch and joined her in the kitchen. They worked together, perfecting a dance in the small space. Felicity liked having him so close, liked the ease with which he measured ingredients and heated them on the stove. She enjoyed the scent of him, and the simple presence of him. She imagined this cooking session to be her permanent reality, and her heart pumped out two extra beats.
His sauce finished at the same time she placed the chicken on paper towels to drain. She pulled the potato salad she’d made the previous afternoon from the fridge and declared lunch served.
Felicity watched as Dwayne bit into her chicken, the crispiness of it crackling through the kitchen. He moaned and his eyes rolled back in his head. He dipped his next bite in his barbeque sauce, and grinned at her. He swallowed. “Really good, Felicity.”
He’d said that he was falling in love with her, and she’d said nothing. She wanted to tell him now, that she thought she was definitely falling. Falling as if she’d jumped out of an airplane.
“Dwayne,” she said, bringing his attention to her. “I—well, I wanted you to know I think we’re good together.” She waved her fork toward the kitchen where they’d just worked. “I…liked that.” She ducked her head, having never said anything like this to anyone before.
Dwayne’s fork clicked against the tabletop as he put it down. “I think we’re good together too,” he said, his voice thick and low and filled with emotion.
She nodded, warmth spreading through her. They shared a smile that felt a little different to Felicity. Different, how, she wasn’t sure. More charged.
More love. The thought entered her mind unbidden, and
she basked in the glow of what loving Dwayne might feel like.
Her phone rang, and she jumped up to get it. “It’s my brother,” she said to Dwayne before saying, “Hey, Gordo. What’s goin’ on?”
“Felicity….” His voice trailed off, and it wasn’t because the line wasn’t connected. A muffled sob sounded in her ears, and Felicity spun back to Dwayne. He seemed to scent her panic on the air, because he stood and came toward her.
“Mom’s really sick,” Gordon finally said. “I think you should come home and see her.”
What that meant was come home and see her before she dies.
And while Felicity hadn’t gotten along very well with her mother, the thought of not having a parent on Earth with her anymore was too much to bear. “I’m coming.” She handed the phone to Dwayne and headed down the hall to start packing.
Behind her, his bass voice said words. She pulled out a duffle she’d used on overnight trips out to the far reaches of her family’s ranch, but the tears in her eyes made seeing impossible. She collapsed onto the bed and tipped her head back.
“Please,” she whispered toward the ceiling, hoping the heartfelt plea would reach all the way to heaven. “Please spare her.”
But as Felicity’s tears traced hot paths down her cheeks, she knew that even if God didn’t spare her mother, He still loved her.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Dwayne entered her bedroom and joined her on the bed, pulling her into his chest for safekeeping. “I’ll drive you.”
She shook her head and sniffled. “No, you can’t leave the ranch. I don’t even know when I’ll be back.”
“I’m worried about you making the trip alone.”
“I need you to take care of Linus and Lucy for me,” she said as if he hadn’t expressed concern over anything.
“Of course.” He was so strong, so supportive. She felt like they’d become a good team on the ranch, and she prayed with everything she had that God would let her come back to Grape Seed Falls, back to Dwayne.
“And Whiskers,” he said. “I’ll take ‘im out to Chadwell. He has two cats already.”
Felicity had only met Chadwell a couple of times, but he seemed capable of keeping a cat alive.
“So.” Dwayne stood and drew in a big breath of air. “Let’s get you packed. And I want you to call me when you hit the highway, and when you get to Marysville.”
Felicity got to her feet and tried to focus, tried to find her jeans and her T-shirts. She wasn’t sure what she put in her bag before Dwayne took it to her car.
She turned to face him and he stroked his big hands down the side of her face. “I love you,” he said. “Please, please drive carefully.” He bent down and kissed her so sweetly, Felicity’s eyes teared up again.
It wasn’t until she was seated behind the wheel and driving away from him that she whispered, “I love you, too.”
Chapter Twenty
“I made it,” Felicity said into her phone, the words appearing on the screen so she could text them to Dwayne. She stared at the house, wondering what lay hidden behind that front door her father had hung himself.
She hadn’t dared utter another prayer. She didn’t want to do the same things she’d done the last time she was in crisis. She wanted to have more faith than last time. More power over what she chose to do.
After sending the message, she steeled herself and got out of the car. She could handle whatever sat behind the door. She could.
Parker exited before she could climb the steps. “Felicity.” He gave her a quick hug.
“Just tell me.” Felicity hugged herself and couldn’t quite meet her brother’s eyes.
“No one knows. But she just keeps getting worse and worse.”
“There’s no diagnosis?”
Parker shook her head and sighed as he leaned against the porch railing. “All of her blood work came back normal. She doesn’t have an infection that they can find. But she’s tired all the time, and she’s got a cough she can’t shake.”
The door creaked and Gordon came outside. He embraced Felicity and stuck his hands in his pockets. She hadn’t spent a lot of time with him over the past several months, but she’d seen this tactic before.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Mom has been diagnosed.”
“What?” Parker said at the same time as Felicity.
“I wanted to tell you together.” He removed his hat and ran his hand through his hair. “It’s thyroid cancer.”
Cancer echoed in Felicity’s head.
“When did you find out?”
“Friday afternoon.”
“Two days?” Parker was almost shouting. “You didn’t tell me for two days?”
“I wanted Felicity to be here.”
“You didn’t even call her until an hour ago.” Parker’s anger stained the very air around them.
“Cancer,” Felicity said, hoping to diffuse the situation. “How bad is it?”
“They aren’t sure,” Gordon exhaled, the sound full of defeat. “The oncologist wants to remove the entire thyroid, and then he’ll know more.”
“When will that happen?” Felicity asked.
“Three weeks.” Gordon nodded toward the door. “C’mon. I told her you were here, so she’s probably trying to get out of bed right now.”
Mom lay in bed, the TV on the dresser flickering in front of her. “Mom.” Felicity drank in the gray color of her face, the absolute exhaustion on her face. The curtains had been drawn completely closed, leaving the room mostly dark except for the light from the television.
“Felicity.” Her mother didn’t try to smile, but she did lift her hand. Felicity took it between both of hers. “What are you doing here?”
“Gordon said you were sick.” The room itself smelled like death. “I came to see you.” She glanced up and met her oldest brother’s eyes. The hope there made Felicity’s heart crash against her ribcage “I’m going to…stay for a while to help you…around here.”
She saw the resigned look in Gordon’s eyes, and she couldn’t help the crack that started somewhere in her new cowgirl boots and finished right in the middle of her heart.
A week later, she arrived back in Grape Seed Falls, without makeup and without the opportunity to stay for more than a couple of hours. She packed a much bigger suitcase this time and stopped by Capri’s, though her friend was at work. She’d promised to take care of the yard and go out to the ranch and explain everything to Dwayne.
Felicity couldn’t bear to do it. If she allowed herself to see him again, she wouldn't be able to leave him or the ranch. And her mother needed her. It wouldn’t be forever, and she’d have to hope that there would still be a spot open in Dwayne’s heart for her when she could return.
He wasn’t supposed to be in town this weekend anyway, as the auction in Austin was in full swing. She still couldn’t chance going out to the ranch, not even to see Linus and Lucy. She’d call Levi when he returned from the auction and arrange for him to go get her horses and board them.
She hoped the fact that she hadn’t given up her lease, that she was leaving her horses here, would alert Dwayne to the fact that she would be returning to Grape Seed Falls. Returning to him.
I love you. His words echoed in her mind for the entire drive back to Marysville.
Dwayne climbed into the cab of his truck after securing Levi’s trailer to the hitch. “You ready for this?”
“I’ve got my eye on a horse or two.” Levi rolled down the window and rested his elbow on the doorframe. “What about you?”
“Maybe more than one or two,” Dwayne said, his tone a bit darker than he intended. He’d been missing Felicity like crazy, as she hadn’t answered either of his phone calls that week and had only sent him short sentences about what was going on with her mother.
He was trying not to worry, trying not to stress, trying not to give in to the urge to swing by Marysville on his way to Austin. He’d talked to Heather this week, and she’d advised him to lay low, give Feli
city some time to absorb the bad health news, and let her call when she was ready.
If only it didn’t make him want to abandon everything he’d built over the past fifteen years of working on the ranch. He couldn’t stand the thought of her alone on the ranch, or worse, alone with her mother.
She’s not alone, he told himself for the twelfth time. Her brothers were there. But she didn’t have her horses or her cat, and Dwayne’s heart stuttered in its beat.
Heather had also expressly forbidden him to talk to Levi about Capri, or dating, or women at all. But Dwayne was desperate for something to talk about. So he said, “So, whatever happened with you and Capri?”
“Capri?”
“Yeah, that blonde woman who lives next door to Felicity?” Dwayne glanced at Levi, who seemed genuinely perplexed. “She’s a mechanic?”
“Oh, right. The mechanic.”
“You seriously don’t remember her?”
“We went out a coupla times,” Levi said. “She’s nice, but….” He shrugged. “I don’t know. There wasn’t a spark.”
Dwayne would’ve normally left the conversation at that. Heck, he normally would have never started a conversation like this one. But the word vomit was coming up and he was going to have to ask.
“So what does cause a spark for you?”
Thankfully, Levi didn’t seem to know Dwayne was probing on behalf of his sister. “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess I like blondes. I don’t know. There’s just no one in town that’s interesting.”
“Where are you lookin’?”
“Oh, I’m not lookin’.” He waved his hand like such a notion was ridiculous. “The horses keep me too busy, and running a ranch is a lot different than just workin’ on one.”
“You’re not kidding.” Dwayne had weathered that as well, and he ended his line of questioning. He glanced down the road that would take him to Marysville as he passed, his knuckles tightening on the steering wheel.