by Becki Willis
“You are full of yourself, old man,” she snorted.
“Maybe. But I’m also right. You didn’t even give us a chance, Belle.”
“And what if I had?” she challenged. “You still would have left. I knew it then, and I know it now. You were never the sort to stay in one place for very long.”
“So before I could say goodbye, you said it first.” His voice was heavy with sadness.
She lifted a shoulder but made no denial.
“We wasted all those years, Belle.”
Granny Bert turned her head to look around her kitchen. The room had stood the test of time. Weathered family arguments and teething babies. Witnessed the laughter and cries of four rowdy boys. Seen a marriage through good times and bad. Fed her family with love and support, even when times were lean. Welcomed her home, even after her soulmate was gone.
“It wasn’t a waste, Sticker,” she assured him, her voice clear and strong. “I loved my Joe. Loved the life we had together. I don’t regret it for one moment.”
“I envy you that, Belle. Because that was something I never had, not even with all those wives.”
“I’m sorry, Sticker. I wish you had been as happy as I have been these past sixty-something years.”
“It’s not too late, Belle. We could still be happy. Together.”
She looked at him sharply. “What are you saying, old man?”
“You know what I’m saying. I’m tired of living on the road. Tired of seeing one town after another through the windshield.”
“Funny thing is, I’ve discovered I like to travel. I’ve racked up quite a few miles on my motor home out there. I leave again next week for Colorado.”
His hazel eyes lit up. “I could go with you. Be your guide. I have a ranch there, you know. A huge spread with a big house. You could meet my son. He’d get a kick out of you.” Sticker reached out to cover her hand with his. “What do you say, Belle? Take me along with you?”
“What are you doing?” Genny’s voice hissed out raspy and deep, sounding more accusatory than she intended.
Cutter jumped, not realizing she was behind him. He had abandoned the couch in favor of the kitchen door when the voices on the other side dropped to conversational tones. “Uh, listening,” he stammered.
She propped her hands upon her hips. “You mean eavesdropping.”
He shrugged, not bothering to quibble over words.
“Who are you eavesdropping on?”
“No one, with you jabbering so much,” he said in disgust.
“But before?”
“Granny Bert and Sticker.”
“Ooh, let me hear!” she said, sidling up beside him. She pressed her ear to the door. “I don’t hear anything,” she complained.
A crash sounded from the other side of the door.
“I heard that!” she squealed. She beat Cutter back to the couch, but not by much. And just seconds before the door swung open and Sticker stormed through, followed by an angry Granny Bert.
“Get out!” she yelled. “Get out of my kitchen! I don’t know what kind of trollops you’ve been associated with over the last sixty years, but I am not one of them, Sticker Pierce! How dare you suggest a thing such as that!”
“You damn fool woman,” Sticker grumbled. “Throwing a coffee cup at me, and it still full of hot coffee!” He wiped at his shirt in disgust. A dark stain was already spreading down the front of it.
“Quit your bellyaching. You own a whole factory of shirts. Just go get yourself another one. Make sure it has those fancy initials on the pocket, so you can remind all your buckle bunnies just who you are!” Granny Bert sneered.
“I don’t know what bee got in your bonnet, woman. I just offered to be your guide.”
“I haven’t seen you in over sixty years, you old coot. No way am I going away with you, cooped up in my motor home for two weeks. You have lost your ever-loving mind.”
Sticker looked down at his grandson. He and Genny were sitting on the couch, their eyes and their mouths hinged open in amazement.
“Boy, are you done with your courting? I think the weather in here just got a might chilly.”
Cutter did not bother to correct his grandfather on the status of their relationship. He scrambled to his feet. “Genny, I gotta go. Try to stay in bed.” He glanced over his shoulder at Granny Bert. She stood in the doorway like an ancient Amazon warrior. Her sides heaved in anger and fire flashed from her eyes. “And try to do something with her,” he suggested. “I’ll call you later.”
“Text me,” she suggested, hand going to her aching throat.
Cutter tugged on his grandfather’s arm. “Come on, Sticker, I think we should go. See you later, Granny Bert.”
He didn’t wait for an answer, just pulled his grandfather along.
When they got to the other side of the door, Sticker wrenched his arm free and began laughing. He laughed so hard he became winded and had to bend over to catch his breath. He came up with bright eyes.
“Cutter, my boy, you see those two women in there?” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder.
“Yes, sir,” Cutter said slowly, seriously questioning his grandfather’s state of mind. “What about them?”
“I do believe you and me are just going to have to marry those two.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
With Madison and Genny fully recuperated, Granny Bert and Wanda Shanks left for Colorado as planned. Sticker Pierce did not travel with them, but he did meet Granny Bert in the Rockies. He did give her the grand tour of his ranch. He did introduce her to his son. And he did follow her back to Texas.
How long he would stay was anyone’s guess.
As always, the end of summer was a long, drawn-out process. There was little autumn to speak of in this part of the South. Temperatures were known to go from the seventies to the thirties, often in the same day. A favorite saying among locals was, “Fall? I think it was yesterday.”
While the heat often lingered until Thanksgiving, winter could be barren and cold. The days between then and spring could bring sunshine, could bring snow. But for now, before the rollercoaster rise and fall of the Texas thermometer set in, the weather was nice. Warm, sunny days and cool, pleasant nights.
With the project deadline looming closer, work at the Big House picked up pace. A tropical system brewing in the Gulf brought much-needed rain to the area, but the daily downpours hampered progress on the remodel. When the skies cleared and the sun came back out, crews worked overtime to make up for the loss. After Madison made a handful of final decisions and selections, she was promptly banned from the house. The next time she and her family were allowed inside the house, it would be for the final reveal.
The thought was oddly terrifying. After months of having the house overrun with carpenters, designers, and crew members, after wading through the media, the curious sightseers, and all the hoopla that came with filming a television reality show, Maddy and the twins would have the house to themselves. Just the three of them.
“You’re not crazy, Maddy. Of course you’re nervous about it,” Genny reassured her best friend.
“The house is so huge,” she said, sipping on a cup of freshly brewed coffee. “I don’t think I ever stopped to think about just the three of us, rattling around in all those rooms. And can you imagine what my electric bill is going to be?”
“Yes, but you have the energy-efficient version of everything. It probably won’t be as bad as you think.”
Madison turned to stare out the café window, but her hazel eyes were blind to the cars gathered out front. “It’s just that it’s all coming down to the wire now, and they won’t even let me in to see it,” she grumbled. “Plus, there’s so much else going on. We’ve seen a surge in clients—thanks for letting me borrow my old booth, by the way—Murray Archer has me working on this new case, the Centennial Celebration is just around the corner, and, in between it all, my babies turn sixteen.” Emotion pricked at her eyes and her voice turned melancholy. “I
can’t believe it, Gen. Where did the time go?”
Genny’s voice was firm and upbeat. “We agreed. No more of that. This is a happy, exciting time, for all of you. And this party is going to be great.”
“Thanks to you. You’re the one doing all the heavy lifting.”
“Pfft.” Genny made light of all her hard work. “It’s a few hay bales and a few strings of light. How hard is it to throw together a bonfire and weenie roast for a bunch of kids? With Carson loaning us his portable dance floor, all we have to do is add music and kids. Voila. A starlight ballroom.”
Maddy laughed at her friend’s downplay of the upcoming event. “You make it sound like nothing, but I know you, my friend. You will transform it into magic, just like you do with everything you touch. To be honest, I am still in shock that my daughter has agreed to this. I knew Blake would love it, but last year, we had their party at the country club. This year, we’re just having it at the country.” She shook her head in amazement. Their lives had changed drastically in the past twelve months.
Genesis gave her a sassy smile. “I may have pointed out how her new crush, Drew Baines, is into this sort of thing. How all her friends will be jealous that Cutter Montgomery is coming to her birthday party out at the ranch. And how she’ll be known as a trend setter, having a pasture party with a twist.”
“All I know is, Brash loved the idea of having it at the ranch and being a part of the celebration.”
“Now let’s cross our fingers and pray it doesn’t rain.”
***
The weather cooperated and the party was a huge success. Dozens of people, teenagers and adults, alike, streamed out to the deCordova ranch to celebrate Blake and Bethani’s sixteenth birthday. There was no time for Madison to be sad. The evening was full of friends, family, and food.
As the party wound down, only a handful of people remained. The kids mysteriously disappeared as clean-up began, wandering off to the far side of the pond. The few remaining adults had the food and trash put away quickly and stole a few moments of quiet time for themselves. Brash pulled out singles of wine for the women and bottles of beer for the men.
The twinkling lights faded as the generator powered down. The only illumination now came from the fireflies and the starlight, and the fire’s dying embers. Darkness descended, punctuated by peaceful silence.
“This is the life,” Brash mused thoughtfully, taking a long draw on his beer and staring into the fire. “Good food, good friends, good beer.”
Madison begged to differ. “Good wine, you mean.”
“You tell him, sister.” Beside her, Shannon lifted her bottle to clink against Madison’s and grinned.
There was no trace of leftover hostility between the two women. Not even a trace of old hostility between Brash and his former wife. Through the passage of time and through the mutual love for their children, all had overcome the bitterness of the past.
That thought occurred to Madison now. “Who would have ever thought, all those long years ago, that we would ever become friends?”
Shannon Aikman’s laughter was tinged with guilt. “All because of jealousy. You liked Brash, he liked me, I liked Matt, he liked you.” She reached for her husband’s hand and squeezed it. “A mad cycle of teenage rivalry. And poor Genny got sucked into the cycle, just because she was your best friend.”
“What’s that old saying?” Madison murmured. “All’s well that ends well?”
Brash heard the conversation and broke in with a protest. “End? What end? This is just the beginning for us, Maddy sweetheart.” He reached out to take her hand. He literally pulled her and her chair through the sand, so that her chair butted up against his. “That’s more like it,” he said with satisfaction.
Maddy curled her arms around his in a snuggle. Shannon and Matt sat in much the same fashion, their murmurs turned low and intimate. Cutter and Genny sat at the far end of the firelight, slightly apart from the others, lazily tracing the patterns of the overhead stars with their transfixed gaze.
“There goes a shooting star,” Cutter said, pointing out the streak of light. He leaned in her direction to track its path.
“Look! Another. And another!” Fascinated, they counted at least three more.
“It must be some sort of meteor shower,” Genny guessed.
“Hmm. Maybe so.” Cutter settled deeper into his chair and studied the starry heavens. After a few moments, his eyes grew heavy. Without the shooting stars, the peaceful night sky lulled him into a trance.
He looked so content, Genny decided to try it for herself. The night air was perfect, with the barest hint of a breeze. The sky was a velvet canvas, painted with sparkling diamonds. A smile curled her lips as her eyelids drooped. It had been a long time since she slept beneath the stars.
The peaceful chirp of crickets and frogs blended with the pop and sizzle of the fire, creating a beautiful lullaby. Nature’s music. Sounds you could never hear in a city, she mused groggily, drown out by so much traffic and noise. It had been the right decision to come home last year. This was where she belonged.
“Look at those two,” Brash said quietly, keeping his voice low.
“Which two? All four of them are asleep,” Maddy whispered.
“So they are.” His quiet chuckle vibrated her cheek as she lay against his arm.
“Thank you for tonight, Brash. It was a huge success. The kids had so much fun.”
Every so often, they could hear a shout of laughter, or the squeal of happy voices. The sounds floated across the pond, carried on the breeze.
Brash smiled and squeezed her leg where his hand rested. “My pleasure,” he assured her.
“I think Bethani is warming up to you. To us.”
“I hope so, because I plan to be in your life for a very long time.”
“Brash?” she murmured after a few moments of silence. “What you said earlier, about this being just the beginning?”
“Yeah?”
“For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I’m at the beginning of a new chapter in my life. A wonderful, exciting chapter. The one where all my dreams come true. Maybe it’s having the house almost done. Maybe it’s finally being able to admit we’re in love. Maybe it’s having a strong, supportive man in my life, one who wants to grow a life with me, not for me.” She ran her hand along the strong column of his arm. “But I truly feel like I’m starting over. That I have a home again, not just a house. I feel like I’m where I belong.”
“You are where you belong, sweetheart. And you do have a home, here in The Sisters. Here with me.” He brushed a kiss into her hair.
Maddy hugged his arm again. “Here’s to starting over,” she whispered.
So much better than clinking two glasses together, they made their toast by clinking their souls together.
“To starting over,” Brash murmured. “Together.”
Be watching for Genny’s Ballad, coming Spring 2017.
Author’s Note:
I hope you have enjoyed spending time with the characters of The Sisters, Texas. Please feel free to contact me personally at [email protected] or connect with us via Facebook or www.beckiwillis.com. I love visiting with readers and I promise to write you back.
If you liked my story, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. I hate asking for this favor, but it has such a huge impact on placement, visibility, and sales. It is one of those dreaded evils on the business side of my otherwise delightful career.
I hope you’ll join us in the spring, when Genny gets her own story.
About the Author
Becki Willis has been writing since grade school, though her earliest works are best left unpublished. Since November of 2013, Becki has released nine books, been awarded first place awards for Best Mystery Series and Best Suspense Fiction from the Association of Texas Authors, and is living out her dream as an author.
Becki likes to create believable characters in believable situations. Her stories have a healthy dose of roma
nce, but if you're looking for graphic sex scenes, you won't find them here. Like the magic of a good book, Becki believes some things are best left to the imagination. When she’s not writing, Becki enjoys spending time with her family. Other addictions include reading, junking, unraveling a good mystery, and coffee. She loves to travel, but believes coming home to her Texas ranch is the best part of any trip. Becki is a member of the Association of Texas Authors, the National Association of Professional Women, and the Brazos Writers organization.
You can connect with her at www.beckiwillis.com and www.facebook.com/beckiwillis.ccp. Better yet, email her at [email protected]. She loves to hear from readers and encourages feedback!