Five Years Later
“Are you ready, Maggie love?” I ask my beautiful girl. She might not be mine by blood, but these last five years have just made these kids and Ida Sue mine in every way that matters.
“I’m scared, Jansen,” she admits quietly.
“You don’t have to do this, Maggie. You know that, right? Your Momma and I are right here for you to lean on. There’s no reason for you to go through with this marriage.”
“I’m pregnant, Jansen. My child deserves to grow up with both of his or her parents in the same home,” she says and it’s an old argument. Ida Sue and I both have tried to talk her out of this marriage, but we haven’t gotten anywhere. If there’s one thing I know about the Lucas women it’s that they’re headstrong and independent.
“That baby deserves to have a mommy that’s happy. That’s all that matters, little one. If you’re not happy there’s no way the baby is going to be.”
“Bryant will be good to me and the baby. He loves us,” she says and I have to wonder if she’s trying to convince herself more than she is me.
“You’re only twenty-one—”
“Mom had me by that age, and had White and Gray. She was a great mom and I’m going to be too, Jansen. I swear I will be.”
“You’ll be an amazing momma, Maggie May, but you don’t have to be married to be that mom.”
“You sound like my mother,” she laughs.
“I never told you, not once since you came to the ranch, Jansen.”
“What’s that, Sweetheart?”
“I had one man I thought of as my dad, but God blessed me with a second one when he brought you into my life.”
Emotion chokes me up and I’m not ashamed one damn bit that tears fall from my eyes.
“I never told any of you, either, that I may not have been able to father kids, but if I had, I would have wanted them to be just like you. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I love you like you were mine, Maggie—all of you. Never doubt that, Magnolia Tree Marie Lucas.”
“Ew, Jansen, you didn’t have to use my full name,” she laughs through her tears as I hug her, holding her close, if only for another couple of minutes.
“Well, okay, maybe I would have changed your names slightly,” I laugh, giving her one final squeeze.
“If only,” she says, laying her head on my shoulder.
Outside in the yard I can hear the bridal music begin to play.
“There’s still time, Maggie,” I murmur in her ear.
“I’m ready,” she answers and my heart hurts. She’s not ready, and not because she won’t make some man a great wife. It’s because the man she picked won’t make her a good husband, but her mother and I have both tried to get her to see that. The thing I’m learning most with kids is that you can love them, but when it comes down to it, you have to let them make their own mistakes. All you can do is be around to cushion the blow when they fall.
“Then we better get going,” I murmur kissing the top of her head one more time, wishing I could do more than just watch her make a mistake…
“You okay, Lovey?”
It’s after the wedding. And Ida Sue and I are out on the front porch in the swing, looking at the stars. All the guests have left. Blue is still suffering from a bad breakup with Meadow and Cyan is mooning over some girl at school, so they went off together—God only knows what they are up to. Cyan is wild as a mink and Blue has the same streak, he’s just quieter about it. Green and his fiancé, Marissa took Petal with them to the movies, and Black… I have no idea what girl he’s out with this week, and sweet little Mary is out like a light.
All of that means the house is quiet and my woman and I should be making the most of it all… but, she’s been quiet since Maggie and Bryant drove off with the just married sign hanging off the bumper of their car.
“She’s making a mistake, Jan.”
“She probably is.”
“He’s going to hurt my baby…”
“He probably is.”
“Will you stop being so calm!?!?”
“Lovey, what do you want me to do? If you can think of one damn thing I can do to make any of this better, I’ll do it. But, she’s as headstrong as you are and she wouldn’t listen to either one of us.”
“I know,” she finally sighs, falling back into me.
“I love you, Honey Girl.”
“I love you, too, Jan.”
I reach down in my pocket and pull out the ring box that I’ve kept close the last five years.
“You going to marry me yet, Lovey?”
“In Texas, technically we’re already married,” she murmurs, closing the lid on the box.
“You’re a hard woman,” I laugh, I already knew her answer, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. This is who she is, and eventually she’ll know that I’m not going anywhere.
“Haven’t you heard that old saying about, not rocking the boat? Besides, I’ve told you and told you a million times over—”
“Ida Sue, don’t say it.”
“But it’s true. There’s no need to buy the cow, when you’re already getting the milk for free.”
I stand up, putting the ring back in my pocket. I’ll ask her when one of the kids get married again. Might as well make it a tradition. I bend down and scoop Ida Sue in my arms. She squeals and wraps her arms around me.
“What are you doing?”
“I figure if we’re going to live in sin, we might as well get to sinning.”
“I do like the sound of that, but we’ll have to be quiet. Mary is sleeping.”
“Grab that monitor,” I order her, leaning down so she can.
Ida Sue still keeps a monitor in Mary’s room, because she’s been sleepwalking.
“What’s in that deliciously wicked mind of yours, Cowboy?”
“We haven’t worshipped each other’s bodies in the old playhouse in a while. There’s a table in it. It might not be our table, but it is solid…” I tell her with a wink.
“Worshipped?” she giggles.
“Every time with you, Ida Sue, is close to a religious experience.” I smirk as I open the door and let us inside.
Once there, I let her slide to the floor, she puts the monitor down on the floor and I lock the door on the playhouse.
“I guess it’s my job to take you to church then, Jan,” she says pulling her shirt off.
“I like the way you think, Honey Girl.”
“You’ll like it even more when you see what I do when I get on my knees and give thanks…”