Cowboy, Stay with Me

Chapter Twenty-Three: True Love

On Sunday morning, the entire town of Canyon Creek donned their best black outfit and headed to the Southern Baptist church for Fenton's funeral.

Lucy hadn't been to a funeral since her mother's and she spent a good deal of the service shedding tears over more than just poor Fenton.

After the beautiful burial ritual, Lucy stepped away briefly to take a moment to visit the twin graves at the far side of the cemetery.

Sunday Anne Davenport and Rose Marie Davenport, deceased a little less than one year apart.

After little Rose had been hit and killed by a drunken truck driver, Sunday had fallen into a deep, irreversible depression. That following winter, Sunday had contracted pneumonia and had passed away in her sleep.

It was very much as if she had died of heartbreak.

And the kicker? It was the ten-year-old Lucy who was supposed to be watching little Rosie that day. Rose had just been starting to toddle around at that point.

Lucy had been out in the orchard, picking apples. She'd been watching Rose chase butterflies when she had looked away for a minute, just for a single minute.

When she turned back, her little sister Rose had vanished; toddling off into the tall grass. Chasing butterflies.

Lucy blinked up at the overcast sky, letting the tears stream down her face. It still hurt so bad, all these years later.

Amanda appeared at her side, winding her arm supportively around her trembling shoulders. "Hey, you okay, hun?" Her older sister asked caringly.

Lucy met her sister's kind blue eyes, eyes that reminded her so much of their mother's. "Yeah, I just miss them. And I miss the girl Rose could've grown up to be, do you know what I mean?"

Amanda shed a few tears herself and nodded. "I know, I do, too." They stood there gazing down at the graves together for a few moments. Lucy had kept a few white roses from Fenton's funeral and had placed one on each of her loved ones' graves.

"It's not your fault, you know." Amanda said softly and Lucy closed her eyes as more silent tears began to fall. "I know we've all told you that, so many times. Mom told you that, before she passed, I know she did, and the therapists all tried...but really, Lucy, you were just a kid yourself. You've gotta learn to eventually forgive yourself."

Sometimes Lucy wished her older sister didn't know her so darn well.

Just then Sean Kallaghan approached her other side. He met Amanda's gaze as he gained Lucy's side and then slid his own arm around her. The message that passed between them was clear enough; Sean was ready to take over.

Amanda's lips thinned, but she stepped back slightly from them.

The choice was Lucy's to make, after all.

Lucy turned into Sean's chest and let him hold her, as simple and easy as that.

This surprised Amanda, but it also made her glad to see.

Sean and Lucy clearly still loved each other, very deeply. Maybe it was finally time that they got it together and got back together.

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As Sean turned away with his arm around Lucy's shoulders, to lead her gently back up to the church, Lucy noticed Jake Miller watching them from across the cemetery.

She recognized the look of raw heartbreak and jealousy on his face and her heart ached for him. She had never meant to hurt him.

She could tell that Jake wanted to come to her to physically remove her from Sean's grasp. But she turned with Sean and let him lead her away. As angry as she was with Sean, right then all that really mattered was how good it felt to be able to lean on him this way again.

###

Lucy adjusted her casserole dish of blueberry cobbler on the gingham altar of food. The table was laden with just about every cobbler and pie known to man; southwestern mac n' cheese, green bean casserole, peach cobbler, a whole vat of cheesy chili, apple pie, cherry pie, pecan pie, strawberry and rhubarb pie, and a spicy black bean salad, just to name a few dishes.

"Oh, sweet girl, you made blueberry cobbler!" Mary-Lou was suddenly at Lucy's elbow and Lucy gave the grieving widow a small smile. "That was Fenton's favorite, you know."

"Was it really?" Lucy said. She honestly hadn't known.

"Yes, I used to call him a bear because he just loved blueberries, in anything. Honey and salmon, too, not that my Fenton was a picky eater, mind you." Mary-Lou patted her bun of white hair absently, looking around her crowded house in a distracted fashion. "He had his flaws, of course, and sometimes he annoyed me half to death, tell ya the truth, but I sure am gonna miss him now."

Lucy put her hand on the woman's slightly plump arm. "I am so, so sorry for your loss, Mrs. McDale."

Mary-Lou met her eyes then. "You were there that night, weren't you, poor duckling? I'm so sorry that you had to witness such a terrible thing. And after you've already been through so much.

"Lucy, dear, would you mind indulging a sad old woman by listening to a story I have to tell you? I think it's something that you need to hear, sweetheart." Mary-Lou took Lucy's hand with her very old, soft, weathered hand and led her quite firmly out of the main room into a private side parlor.

Lucy gave Mary-Lou a polite but bemused smile. "What is it, Mrs. McDale?"

The woman scoffed, setting aside her black lace shawl as she poured herself a hefty glass of brandy. "Please, just call me Mary-Lou, dear. Brandy?"

"No, thank you, ma'am." Lucy resisted the powerful urge to settle her hands on her lower abdomen right then.

"You know, when I first met Fenton, I wanted nothing to do with him, believe it or not." Mary-Lou confessed with a little laugh, as she began to drift down memory lane.

Lucy's eyebrows lifted. "Really?"

"Oh yes, I thought he was such an arrogant, immature, rowdy troublemaker, and he was, I assure you! But...somehow, someway, that boy convinced me to give him a chance, maybe a couple of chances. I almost gave up; I thought about leaving him, more than once, I'll admit.

"And now that he's gone, I've lost him, and it hurts so bad, I guess it stands to reason to ask, did I make the right decision?

"I know that most people in this community thought he wasn't always the best husband to me-" Mary-Lou held up her hand when Lucy began to protest. "It's alright, dear, it's the truth. I know you felt that way, too, now and then, and it was true. Fenton was far from perfect, he made mistakes, he let me down...but now that it's all said and done, I know that if I could go back now and change how my story goes, I wouldn't change a thing."

Mary-Lou finished her drink and smacked her lips in shameless satisfaction. "Right! Well, I had better get back to comforting my grieving guests." The old woman draped her shawl around herself again and patted Lucy on the shoulder as she made to depart the room.

"Why did you tell me all this?" Lucy asked.

Mary-Lou paused and gave her a small, wise smile. "Because, my dear, you needed to hear it."

~ ~ ~

Hope ya'll enjoyed this romantic Valentine's Day chapter! And I hope that everyone has a wonderful day of pampering and love, no matter if you're single, casually dating, or in a deeply committed relationship.

Everyone deserves love!

HRH