Wedding Ring (46 page)

But both of them could pick up the pieces of their lives, even as they dragged the burden of Kayley’s death behind them.

If they chose to.

She was not flooded with remorse. She was not flooded with forgiveness. She was not sure she could or would
ever
forgive Robert Owens for what he had done. But for the first time she could see that he was not the monster she had believed him to be. He was struggling to be something more than he had been, to begin to reach whatever potential he had, to be a good and loyal son, to move beyond the accident to a better life.

She felt a shiver of sympathy. In this last, too, they were companions.

“Tessa, there’s nothing we can do here.” Mack put his arm around her.

She knew that wasn’t true. There was something she
could
do, something she couldn’t leave the hospital without trying to do. “Just a moment,” she told him.

The cops were still talking, and she moved closer. She waited until they stopped to acknowledge her again.

“He had a good reason for driving this one time,” she said softly. “Both of you can see that, can’t you?”

“He should have called 911,” the younger cop said.

She was clasping her hands to keep them still, but it wasn’t working. They twisted with every word she spoke. “Maybe he did and he was afraid they’d take too long. Or maybe he just panicked. We called you because we thought Robert was drunk, but he wasn’t. He deserves another chance. He was trying to save his mother’s life. He shouldn’t go back to prison for that.”

Diana’s friend shook his head. “That’s not our call, ma’am. We have to report the incident. His probation officer and the judge will take it from there.”

“What if my husband and I make a statement in his favor?”

The cop shrugged. “Can’t say for sure, but it’s likely to make a difference. You being…”

“Kayley’s mother,” she said. “The way that woman lying in that bed inside is his mother and deserves to have her son in her life if she can.”

Mack took her hand, and she knew it was time to leave. “You’ll put what I said in the report?” she asked them. “That his victim’s parents don’t want him sent back to prison?”

“I’ll make sure the word gets out.”

She nodded to both of them. She avoided looking at Robert as she and Mack left the building. She hoped she never had to see him again.

At the car Mack turned to her. “Want me to drive?”

“Please.”

She handed him her keys, and he got behind the wheel. She leaned back and closed her eyes as he wound his way through the streets and back to Robert’s house, where his own car was parked.

Once he had pulled into a space at the curb, he turned off the engine, but neither of them got out. She spoke at last. “You’ll find somebody to represent Robert if he needs it?”

“I’ll talk to the judge again. I’ll tell him what happened and what we want. I think it’ll be okay. The prisons are too crowded to add somebody who really doesn’t need to be there. For now, at least, Robert should be free to see what he can accomplish. But there’s no way to know if he’ll make it to a better life, Tessa. He has a hard road ahead of him.”

She hoped Robert made it. The world already had too many people who hadn’t been able to. In a different way, she had nearly been one of them, and if Mack hadn’t remained beside her, she probably would never have started the journey back.

But it was a hard road
and
a long one, and she had covered only part of the distance this summer. There was farther to go.

“I’m going to see a therapist,” she said. “I’ve needed to for a long time.”

He covered her hand with his.

“There are a lot of reasons why I haven’t been able to move on,” she said. “But most of all I’ve been afraid if I let go of the pain and fury, I’d lose Kayley for good. That was all I had to give her. The only thing I could still do for her was seek revenge.”

“Understanding that’s a big step, Tessa.”

She still didn’t, couldn’t, look at him. “I was wrong. Revenge didn’t bring her closer. Maybe there will be room for the good feelings some day now.”

“Do you want me to come with you to the sessions?”

“Eventually.” She finally turned so she could see his face. “We have a lot of things to work out, Mack. And I know we can. But first, let me work on myself a little. Can you be patient a little longer? Can you wait?”

“I’ll wait as long as I need to.”

Love had been moving through her life all summer, nudging and prompting, forgiving her shortcomings. But she knew the love she still shared with the father of her beloved daughter was the key to her recovery.

“I want a long and happy life with you,” she said. “I’m…I’m just so sorry.”

He reached for her then. She knew he had been giving her time to say everything she needed to. But what more could she say? In the end, love had brought her to this terrible time in her life.

And love had saved her.

F
all came reluctantly, and with it, just as reluctantly, enough rain to ensure more years of life for the twin maples at the farm. The pond rose by inches; bluebirds checked out the new boxes along the fence line; Helen’s chickens preened their rain-beaded feathers and stretched their glorious necks in anticipation of more.

Kayley’s Room was dedicated in late September, and the Sunbonnet Sue quilt was installed in the story corner. Mack spoke, and Tessa shook hands and thanked everyone for coming. Her supporters from MADD were there, and his from Compassionate Friends. Erin had called the week before to say goodbye, because she was moving back to her home state to take a job at the University of Minnesota.

Now it was late October, and they were in the midst of another transition.

“Nobody ought to get married looking like this.” Cissy gazed at herself in the wavery glass of a mirror that had been in the bride’s room of the Shenandoah Community Church since Delilah and Cuddy’s day.

“Nobody ought
not
to get married looking like that,” Helen said dryly. “You nearly didn’t make it to the altar in time.”

“The day’s not over yet.” Cissy rested her hands on the huge mound that would exist in a different environment very soon.

Tessa put the final touches on a circlet of fresh flowers that Cissy would wear instead of a veil. She had opted for a long white dress, but the style was, from necessity, more Hawaiian muumuu than traditional wedding gown. Still, there was no mistaking the advanced state of her pregnancy.

“Sit,” Tessa told her. “Let me pin this in place.”

Cissy’s hair curled softly over her shoulders. The gardenias, orange blossoms and baby’s breath looked lovely, but with the loose, long dress, Cissy looked more akin to the Woodstock generation than a bride of the new century.

“When I was a little girl, I dreamed of a wedding like this.” Cissy rubbed her belly. “Maybe not quite like this, but close enough.”

Tessa fussed with the circlet, fixing it so the pins didn’t show in Cissy’s fair hair. In the past weeks she had taken on the role of mother of the bride. Nancy had tracked down Cissy’s real mother, but the woman hadn’t shown any interest in coming today. When Nancy gently broke that news, Cissy had not been surprised or even visibly disappointed, which was even sadder.

The Claiborne side of the match was well represented today, however, and it seemed that everyone else who knew the young couple was there, as well. Tessa had met a dozen of Zeke and Cissy’s friends yesterday as she supervised the moving of the couple’s worldly goods from the mobile home into Helen’s house.

Cissy and Zeke were going to live with Helen after a weekend at the inn in Woodstock that Nancy loved so well. No one was sure who was taking care of whom. No one cared. The arrangement, engineered by Nancy, suited everyone. Cissy and Zeke would be independent of his parents. Helen would have companionship and help if she needed it, while she could keep a close eye on the baby and make sure the young parents were providing the care an infant needed.

Although no one was unduly worried.

A knock sounded on the bride’s room door, and Helen, who had installed herself as security guard, went to answer it. “It’s Mack,” she said, opening the door just a crack.

Tessa handed the hairpins to her mother, who was teasing the ribbons on Cissy’s bouquet into perfect form. “Will you finish up?”

Nancy, in an aqua silk suit, took the pins with enthusiasm. There was no chance now that the circlet would slip even a sixteenth of an inch. “Whatever it is, hurry him along. It’s nearly time.”

Tessa slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her. The bride’s room was located near the pastor’s study. That door was ajar, and she glimpsed Sam Kinkade in a dark robe, along with Zeke and his two brothers in dark suits. Zeke looked refreshingly pale. She was glad he was taking this step seriously.

Mack pulled Tessa to him for a quick kiss. She relaxed against him, glad to be in his arms. He was an oasis in the wedding storm.

In the months that had passed, she had moved back home and begun therapy to cope with her grief and anger. Most of the time, when she thought about Robert Owens, it was with hope that he would continue his recovery and never harm another living soul. The last she had heard, his mother was recuperating and he had not been returned to prison. If she couldn’t wish him well, at least she no longer wished him harm.

She wasn’t finished dealing with her anger, and she knew the grief would never disappear. But she was making steps, not the least of which was a return of the trust and pleasure in her relationship with Mack. She was learning that she had no right to hold on to her own pain to insulate herself against more. She and Mack had a future to look forward to. She thought they were going to make it.

“Did you bring the box?” she asked.

“You asked me to, didn’t you?”

She touched his cheek. “I did.”

“You look lovely.”

She was glad he thought so. Her mother had discovered the spruce-green dress on a shopping trip with Helen, and it was perfect for the occasion.

“You’re sure you want to give this away?” he asked, stooping to lift the gift box at his feet.

“Sure,” she said. The gift was from her grandmother and mother, too. They had planned to give it to Cissy at the reception, but when Tessa had arrived and seen how many guests had actually come, she’d changed her mind. They wouldn’t have any personal time with Cissy again today. Now was better, since it was a very personal present.

“I’ll wait with your father on the bride’s side,” he said.

“We’ll have a good time at the reception,” she promised. Zeke’s band was the entertainment. There was no question Mack would enjoy himself.

He kissed her again, and she watched him wend his way past the pastor’s study, stopping for a moment to offer his congratulations to a nervous Zeke. Then she took the gift box inside the bride’s room and waited for a moment until she could get Cissy’s attention.

The girl stood, took one more look at herself in the mirror, and turned. Helen, in the sage-colored suit she and Nancy had chosen, caught sight of the box and nodded. Nancy stopped fussing with the bouquet and laid it carefully on a table.

“We have something for you. The three of us.” Tessa held it out.

Cissy smiled brightly. Tessa knew there had been too few gifts in the young woman’s life, and that she would appreciate this one immeasurably.

“Should I open it now?”

“We’d be disappointed if you didn’t. But you don’t have much time.”

That was all the permission Cissy needed. She tore into the wrapping paper like a child at her birthday party. Tessa felt a lump forming in her throat at the joy Cissy radiated. Tessa would never have this moment with Kayley, but that no longer spoiled every good moment she
was
able to experience. This moment was special in a different way. Very special.

Cissy took the top off the box and stared at the restored wedding ring quilt. For a moment she froze; then she looked up, tears filling her eyes. “Oh, I couldn’t!”

“You most certainly can and will,” Helen said, taking charge. “It’s our quilt. We made it. We get to say where it goes next.”

“You want me to have it?” Cissy might be young, but she fully appreciated the meaning of this.

“We know you’ll take care of it, maybe even add your own touches,” Tessa said. “We think you’re next in line.”

Cissy threw herself into Tessa’s arms, and Tessa stroked her hair. Her own eyes filled, and when she looked up, she saw she was not alone.