Left Behind, page 32
Then they heard Ava coming back up the hall.
“Somebody’s getting hungry,” Linette said. “I think it’s time to start supper.”
Ava appeared in the doorway, saw that company was gone, and ran to where they were sitting. “Are we going to eat tonight?”
Wiley grinned at Linette. “You sure have her number, and by the way, what is for supper?”
Linette grinned. “S’gettie with meat sauce.”
“Yum!” Ava said. “S’gettie is my favorite.”
“It’s my favorite, too!” Wiley said. “And you’re my favorite little sister. I think we should help Linnie, don’t you?” Then he swooped her up in his arms and began dancing her out of the room.
Linette sighed. Just when I think I can’t love him more, he does something like that, she thought, and followed them to the kitchen.
***
It was two days later before Linette and Wiley had another day off together. They took Ava with them and headed up the mountain.
“Where are we going, Bubba? Are we going to Grammy’s house?” Ava asked.
“No. We’re going to a different house. You’ll see when we get there.”
“Will there be kids there?” she asked.
“You’re a kid. You’ll be there,” Wiley said. “You and Pinky talk it over.”
Ava leaned back and pulled Pinky up beneath her chin and closed her eyes. The next time Wiley glanced up in the rearview mirror to check on her, she was fast asleep.
“I’m timing the drive for future reference,” Linette said, eyeing the scenery as they passed. “It’s so beautiful up here. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to grow up here.”
“Me neither. When it comes to peace and quiet, the mountain is it. Usually, the loudest thing at night will be someone’s hound baying on a trail in a far-off holler.”
Linette frowned “Holler?”
“Mountain talk for a hollow. There are hollers all over the Cumberlands, places drastically smaller and more secluded than a valley. Jubilee used to be a valley before our ancestor, Brendan Pope, came here and started a trading post. The town grew out of that, and then turning it into a tourist attraction turned it into something else yet again.”
“What’s the cell service like?” she asked.
“The higher up you go, the better,” Wiley said. “But Sean can fix us up. He runs his entire computer business from the house. Whatever we need to stay connected to our jobs, he can make happen.” Then he pointed to a red mailbox on the road ahead. “See the red mailbox? That’s where we turn.”
She shivered. “I’m full of excitement and anticipation.”
“Besides the house, the land around it is beautiful. A big open pasture at the back. Outbuildings, probably also in need of repair, but they’re built of logs that were trees on this mountain and have been standing for well over a century.”
“I can’t wait,” Linette said.
When Wiley began to slow down to take the turn, Ava stirred, opened her eyes, and then looked around.
“Is this where we’re going?” she asked.
“Yes. To the house at the end of this gravel road,” Wiley said.
“Who lives there?” Ava asked.
“Nobody now, but we’re going to. We’ll fix it up, then move your playhouse and swing set and all of our furniture to this house. You’ll have a big fenced-in yard to play in, and lots of shade trees with birds everywhere. You and Linnie can feed birds here, and we’ll get a cat who will live in the barn and catch mice, and you will have kitties to play with.”
“And we can grow a garden,” Linette said. “One for flowers, and one for vegetables, and when we go to bed at night, you can look out your window and see stars and moonlight. You will feel safe knowing there will never be cars driving by or people who would shoot into windows.”
Ava’s eyes filled with tears. “Never?”
“Never,” Wiley said.
“I will like it,” Ava whispered.
“And there it is,” Wiley said, pointing to a white two-story house with a porch that ran the length of the house. Grass had grown up in the yard, and the house looked lonesome.
“Do I get to sleep upstairs?” Ava asked.
“All of the bedrooms are upstairs,” Wiley said.
Ava heard, but said nothing, still absorbing this news, while Linette was already picturing their life there.
They walked up the rock path to the porch, then up the steps. Wiley unlocked the door and led the way, with Linette and Ava holding hands behind him.
He stopped to flip on the lights and, for a moment, felt as if he’d just been hugged.
“We’re here, Aunt Ella. Thank you for the gift. We’ll fill this house with so much love and laughter, and keep the home fires burning. I promise you.”
***
School began before the remodeling, and it was just as well. Too many new things could have been a problem, but Ava soon found out that being Mrs. Pope’s little sister was all the cachet she needed to fit in at her new school. And once Mikey informed all of the cousins at school that Ava was Uncle Wiley’s little sister, she had her own built-in security squad without even knowing it, and she thrived.
Her giggle became commonplace. Her fears about everything began to recede. She hadn’t known there was a world like this, with people like this. Bubba and Linnie were her touchstones to sanity, and school was her safe place to be, but she still feared night in the city and had worn out two questions. “When will we move to the mountain?” and “When are you getting married?”
And then finally the day arrived.
***
It was the first week of October, and Linette’s parents arrived two days prior to the wedding. They had been taken aback by the news of the location of the venue, and then finding out Wiley and Linette were moving to the mountain.
And then they saw the locations.
They were in awe of the ancient Church in the Wildwood.
And even more so by the remodeled house Wiley had been bequeathed.
After that, they settled in at their hotel and, on the day of the wedding, drove up the mountain to the church, where the entire bridal party was getting dressed. The mountain was ablaze in color. The sun was bright, but this high up, the day was cold.
Wiley, who was usually wired and bordering on tense, was calm to the point of placid. It was the first time in his life that he knew this was exactly what he was supposed to do, and he wore what he’d been told to wear—a black suit, a white shirt, and a bolo tie with a large turquoise stone in the setting. His black boots had silver tips on the toes, and as always, his hair was brushing the edge of his collar.
His brothers were all getting ready to stand with him at the altar. Aaron as best man, and Sean and B.J. as his groomsmen. Cameron was in the room with them getting Mikey dressed, but this time his son was old enough to be trusted not to bolt down the aisle, and Ghost wasn’t needed to keep him in line.
“Be still a minute, Son,” Cameron said as he was fastening Mikey’s tie.
Mikey stilled, but his gaze was focused on his daddy’s face, and he was full of questions.
“Daddy?”
“Hmm?”
“How old do you have to be to get married?” he asked.
Cameron paused. “Old enough to have a job and money enough to take care of the woman you marry.”
“How old is that?” Mikey asked.
“Older than twenty-one, for sure,” Cameron glanced up. “Why?”
Mikey was counting on his fingers. “Then in fourteen more years, I can marry Ava.”
Cameron stared, shocked that his son had that grasp of numbers, and that, at the age of seven, he’d already picked a girl.
“You can’t just pick someone out and marry them. They have to agree to marry you. They have to love you and want to spend the rest of their life with you, too.”
Mikey frowned. “Daddy. It will be fine.”
Cameron frowned back. “And how do you know that?”
Mikey shrugged. “I just do. Sometimes you just know stuff, right?”
“Right,” Cameron muttered, but he was bothered. Mikey was starting to sound like Aunt Ella.
“It’s time. Is everyone ready?” Aaron asked, and when they nodded, he motioned to Wiley to get in line. The moment the pianist began playing music, they filed out in order and walked to the altar, then looked up the aisle.
Moments later, Dani, the maid of honor, came down the aisle, followed by Amalie and Amy, a nurse who was one of Linette’s oldest friends from work. They took their places at the altar and then looked up the aisle.
Ava appeared in the doorway—a tiny blond in floor-length pink tulle, walking beside the little boy with black hair who was sedately carrying the ring fastened to a white satin pillow. He had one eye on the little blond scattering flowers beside him and the other on their progression.
But Ava wasn’t ignoring anything. She was aware of herself in a way she’d never felt. She felt pretty, and important, and most of all, she felt loved, and her best friend, Mikey, was walking with her, whispering as they went, “You’re doing good.”
***
Wiley saw it all as if watching it all through a veil, because he was waiting for Linette, the woman who made his life matter.
And then the music changed, and when it did, everyone in the congregation stood and turned to look up the aisle.
The bride and her father appeared in the doorway.
Wiley took a deep breath and found himself blinking back tears. They were moving toward him, and it was all he could do to wait. The rest of the ceremony was a blur of words and rituals and flowers and a ring, and the vow of promising to love her forever and beyond.
And then it was over.
He heard Brother Farley pronouncing them husband and wife, and then he kissed her.
And in that brief moment of silence, as they were turning toward the congregation, Ava spoke her delight.
“You’re married!” she cried. “No more almost wife.”
The congregation erupted in laughter, and Linette and Wiley laughed along with them.
“I’ve got Ava,” Aaron whispered. “You two head into the dining hall. You have a cake to cut and a first dance waiting to happen.”
The cake and punch happened, and then the band began to play an old Willie Nelson song, “Always on My Mind,” as Wiley led Linette out onto the floor. His arms went around her. Her hand was on his shoulder. Their eyes locked into each other’s gaze. And as the music swelled around them, he swung her into a waltz and whispered in her ear.
“The family has a secret. Only spouses are allowed to know, and it can never be told to outsiders. All of us on the mountain—the Pope, the Cauley, and the Glass families—own Jubilee, lock, stock, and barrel, and the mountain on which we’re standing. PCG Incorporated, the company you pay rent to, the company that owns the hospital and every building in the valley, is all of us, and Cameron is the CEO. We make a buttload of money and get quarterly dividends that will keep us solvent for the rest of our lives. So, mum’s the word, my love. Mum’s the word.”
Linette gasped. “Talk about classified material and a need to know! Holy crap, Batman!”
Wiley threw back his head and laughed, then kicked into high gear and spun her around the floor, dipping and swaying, until others joined in. He looked once to make sure Ava wasn’t feeling left out and saw her sitting with Dani.
Then the brothers began cutting in, and he reluctantly gave Linette up and went to get Ava. He bowed at where she was sitting and then held out his hand.
“Miss Ava, would you like to dance?”
She giggled. It was all Wiley needed to hear. Moments later she was in his arms, and he was swirling her across the floor.
“We got married today, didn’t we, Bubba?”
He grinned. “Yes, we did, honey. Yes, we did.”
“Am I gonna sleep in my new room soon?”
“Yes, but not tonight. You’re spending the night with Grammy and Sean and Amalie, remember? We move in two more days, and then we’ll all be sleeping in our new house.”
Her voice segued back to the whisper she’d come with as she tucked her head beneath his chin. “Corina can’t find us there, right?”
He hugged her closer. “Honey, don’t ever worry about her again. Corina is gone forever, understand?”
Ava blinked. “Did she drop dead like Miss Mattie?”
“What would you think if that happened?” he asked.
“I’d think I was safe.”
“You’re safe, Ava. Forever and ever.”
Ava sighed and laid her head on Wiley’s shoulder. “Nobody can hurt me now. Nobody can shoot at me through the windows. You and Linnie keep me safe.”
“Yes, baby, Linnie and I keep you safe.”
“Safe, just like at Grammy’s house.”
He grinned. “Yes, and I better dance you back to Grammy.”
Watching her slide into his mother’s lap was a blessing in itself. Shirley could have resented the child, and instead she’d welcomed her with open arms. Then he turned to look out across the dance floor, located his wife, and went to reclaim her.
***
They snuck out of the dancing, changed out of their wedding stuff, packed it up and dressed in street clothes, and left the church, only to drive down the mountain in a car with a Just Married banner across the trunk.
They arrived at the Serenity Inn, went straight up to the bridal suite, and hung a Do Not Disturb sign on the outside of the door.
Then they stood for a few moments, looking out at the valley and the town below and then turned and looked at each other.
“You really own that?”
“Me and every other Pope, Cauley, and Glass.”
“What is my role in that world?”
“The same as mine—to stay silent.”
“Do you think Ava is okay?” Linette asked.
He nodded. “She likes being at Mom’s house.” Then he took her by the hand and led her to the sofa. “Tonight she asked if when we moved, could Corina find her. I said no. That Corina was gone forever.”
“Bless her heart. Even when we think she’s forgetting, it’s all still in her head. What did she say?” Linette asked.
“She gave me a look and then asked, ‘Did she drop dead like Miss Mattie?’ Then I asked her what she would think if that happened? And she said she’d feel safe. So, I told her she was safe forever.”
“Oh, Wiley, was she sad?”
“Not even a little bit. All she said was when we move, no one can drive by our house and shoot in the windows.”
Linette put her arms around Wiley’s neck and tucked her cheek against his shoulder. “You make Ava feel safe. You make me feel safe. Where does that come from? How did you get to be this knight in shining armor?”
“I’m no hero, sweetheart. I’m just a man who wants nothing more than to make love to his wife.”
Then he got up and turned off the lights, but left the curtains open to the inky-black sky and the stars scattered across the heavens. When he turned around, she had pulled back the covers and was lying on the bed waiting for him, naked to the world.
He moved to the foot of the bed, watching her watching him, and slowly began taking off his clothes. Moments later, he slid into the bed beside her. Kissed the ring on her hand, and then her lips as he moved over her, then into her.
He was hard, and she was ready.
After that, it was nothing but fireworks.
***
The movers had packed up everything from the house Wiley and Linette had been renting and were on their way up the mountain with Sean leading the way for the van.
The rest of the family was already at their new house. It had been painted inside and out in a fresh coat of white, except for the pale-pink walls in Ava’s room. They’d added a new bathroom attached to her room and remodeled the one in the master bedroom. Appliances in the kitchen had been replaced, the huge propane tank outside refilled, the porch patched, and the chimney cleaned. They’d kept all of Ella’s antiques. The sideboard and pie safe in the kitchen. The grandfather clock in the hall. The old long-barrel rifle hanging over the fireplace. The handmade oak dining table with twelve chairs. Family things. Irreplaceable things. Things to cherish.
Ava had been up and down the stairs so many times that she’d worn herself out and fallen asleep in Shirley’s lap.
Wiley was standing at the kitchen window, looking out across the open pasture beyond the fencing, when he noticed something along the hedgerow.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he whispered.
Linette walked up behind him. “What?”
“Aunt Ella’s old cat is back. They said she disappeared the day Ella died. Ray and Betty kept coming up to look for her and left out food, but they never saw her. I guess she was waiting for the new people to arrive.”
“Ava will be so happy,” Linette said. “She’s talked about the barn cat you promised for weeks.”
Then they heard the screen door bang at the front door. “The movers are here!” he said. “Cameron and Marcus just drove up, and Ray and Betty are on the porch. Let’s do this!” Aaron said.
The shout woke Ava. “Is it happening, Grammy?”
Shirley laughed. “Honey, right now, everything’s happening at once, but you’ll be sleeping in your own bed again tonight. Are you excited?”
Ava nodded. “I won’t be afraid anymore.”
There was nothing to say that could follow the poignancy of that comment, so Shirley just hugged her.
The movers began unloading, and Linette and Wiley began indicating where to put the boxes they brought in, and then furniture came in, some downstairs, some up. Once they had the beds put back together and the mattresses in their places, the movers left.
And that’s when the family got busy.
The women began putting up dishes where Linette wanted them to go, and unpacked pots and pans to add to Ella’s cast-iron skillets and Dutch ovens that they’d kept, and slowly the house began to look like a home.
Sean hooked up all their tech equipment and put a booster on their Wi-Fi, then looked up as Wiley walked in.
“The signal is good up here,” he said. “I’ve got your televisions hooked up to the satellite dish, so you’ll have cartoons at the ready, and your Wi-Fi signal is good. Just plug in your laptops and sign on, and you should be good to go.”
