On the third Saturday in October, Evie stood before the mirror that hung on the closet door in Erik’s bedroom. She was dressed all in white.
Her sisters flanked her on either side. Faith had arrived a few hours before from Sausalito. Nevada, who’d flown from Phoenix to Sacramento and rented a car to drive the rest of the way, had just walked in the door.
The ceremony was minutes away. Downstairs in Erik’s living room, a small group of guests sipped champagne and anticipated the appearance of the bride. Evie could hear Regina’s piano, wheeled over from next door for the occasion. Regina was playing “Chances Are.”
“You are the beauty of the family, no doubt about it,” Nevada declared as she admired the simple sheath of floorlength silk that Evie had chosen for this special day.
“Yes,” Faith’s softer voice chimed in. She made a tiny adjustment to the Juliet cap of satin and pearls that adorned Evie’s sleekly pinned-up hair, then stood back a little to admire the effect. “You look…like a bride.”
The sisters laughed at that, then fell silent as a gust of wind flung a sheet of rain against the panes of the bow window behind them.
Nevada turned briefly toward the window and remarked with some irony, “Beautiful day for a wedding.”
“Sorry.” Evie pretended to look rueful. “I put in an order for sunshine. But God must have thought we needed rain more.”
Faith suggested in that soothing voice of hers, “Does it matter, really?”
Evie slowly smiled. “Uh-uh. It doesn’t. Not one teeny bit.”
Nevada was grinning, too—and shaking her curly head, the thin gold hoops in her ears swinging and glinting with the movement. “I don’t believe it’s really happening. One of us is getting hitched.”
Faith made a gentle noise of agreement. “Yes. If one of us can marry, I suppose anything is possible.”
They were silent again. Evie knew her sisters’ thoughts echoed her own. Each remembered their self-absorbed, heedlessly cruel father, who had never once put his daughters’ needs before his own.
Evie shook herself. Today of all days, she refused to dwell on old hurts. She looked at her wrist, wondering if it was time to go down, and saw only the silk point of her sleeve since she’d taken off her watch when she put on her wedding gown.
Faith read her movements and glanced at her own watch. “One thirty-two. Almost a half an hour to go.”
“Can you sit in that dress?” Nevada wanted to know.
“Sure.”
The three sisters went together to the side of the big bed nearest the bow window—the side that Evie had already come to think of as hers, though she hadn’t actually slept in it since that fateful night two weeks before. They sat down in a row, with Evie in the center.
Once comfortable, they looked out the window at the blustery, wet day. Down in Ebert’s Field, a few saplings, bare of leaves now, bowed to the force of the wind.
“I met your…fiancé—” Nevada stumbled over the word just a little, “—before I came upstairs. A total hunk. In a blue-collar sort of way.”
Evie wrinkled up her nose. “Thanks. I think.”
Nevada gave her youngest sister a teasing nudge with her elbow. “Is this like…true love?”
Evie turned from the storm outside to face her sister. She knew that her expression said it all. “Yes. It is.”
Nevada studied Evie’s face. After a moment, she murmured, “Wow. I believe you.”
“Of course you do. Because I’m telling the truth. This is real love, true love, the best love anyone has ever known.”
Nevada put up a hand and the thin gold bangles on her wrist tinkled like tiny chimes. “I said I believe you.” A teasing light came into her big brown eyes. “But what about this town? Do you still adore the place?”
“To me, it’s the home we always used to dream of in the rough times, back when we were kids.”
“Ahh,” Nevada said. There was no need to say more. Evie read Nevada’s look, then glanced at Faith and knew that they all three shared the same thoughts.
For a suspended moment, they were thrown back in time to the earliest years, when they used to wander from town to town. When there never seemed to be enough to eat and at bedtime they all slept piled up together in the back seat of a decade-old Buick—or, if it was a lucky night, in some rundown motel.
Evie caught herself. She was letting her thoughts get away from her again.
She turned her mind to a brighter subject. “Have you met Uncle Oggie?”
Faith spoke. “I have. He’s quite a character. He looks a lot like Father, only with mischief in his eyes instead of meanness.” As soon as the words were out, Faith seemed to regret them. She looked down at her pale, slim hands, which were folded in her lap.
But Nevada was squaring her shoulders. “Wait a minute. Don’t be glum. It’s no crime to mention dear old Dad. He’s behind us forever, right?”
Now Evie was the one looking down at her hands. Today was the most wonderful day of her life. She really didn’t want to think of their father, and she certainly didn’t want to talk about him. “Actually, I would prefer just to forget about Gideon for today.”
“Of course,” Faith agreed, raising a slim arm to smooth back her tidy brown hair. “Whatever you say. It’s your wedding day.”
But Nevada wasn’t so easily silenced. “Evie. He is behind us all, isn’t he? You’ve been safe from him, since you moved here. Right?” When Evie didn’t look up, Nevada groaned. “Something’s happened. Tell us.”
“No. Please.” Evie’s voice was very small. She despised the weak sound of it. “I’m getting married today. I don’t want to talk about all that.”
“What happened? Tell. Let us help.”
Evie looked from Nevada to Faith, hoping to get some support from the younger of her two sisters. “There’s really nothing you can do about it.”
Faith frowned. “About what?”
Evie knew she was outnumbered now. She sighed.
Nevada gripped her arm. “What happened? Tell us.”
Evie looked out the window once more, at the driving rain and the dark, heavy clouds. She admitted, “All right. Father sent Uncle Oggie a postcard a few months ago.”
“What did it say?”
“Nothing and everything. It was vague. He didn’t even mention me. It was just kind of a ‘hello, how’ve you been all these years?’ type of thing. But the intent was obvious. To let me know that he knew where I was.”
Nevada looked doubtful. “And that’s all?”
“No.”
“Come on, Evie. What else?”
“A couple of weeks ago…”
“Yes?”
“He called me.”
“He what?”
“He called me.”
“You mean, he called you at home?”
“Yes.”
“You’re saying that he knows for sure that you live here?”
“Yes.”
Nevada let out a cry, then grabbed Evie by the shoulders and pulled her close, heedless of the delicate wedding gown. “Oh, honey. I love you.”
Behind Evie, Faith made a sound of agreement and patted Evie’s back.
Then Nevada straightened her arms and looked into Evie’s eyes. “I can’t believe it. This is terrific.”
Evie frowned at her sister. “It doesn’t seem very terrific to me.”
“Come on, honey. Think about it. He called you. There’s no doubt that he knows where you are. And yet you stayed put. You didn’t pack up and run. This is progress. This is one giant step forward for Evie Jones.”
Evie felt herself blushing. She had made progress and she knew that she had. And it was nice to hear her sister’s praise. “You think so?”
“Absolutely. I’ll bet it’s that fella of yours. I’ll bet that with him in your corner, ready to back you up if there’s ever any trouble, you feel safe at last.”
Guilt washed over Evie at those words. Nevada was right, Evie did feel safer than she’d ever felt before. And perhaps she even subconsciously trusted Erik to come to her aid no matter what. However, the secrets of her past still lay untold between them.
Nervously Evie smoothed the folds of her gown over her knees.
Faith immediately sensed her distress and ascertained the cause of it. “He doesn’t know about Father. That’s it, isn’t it? Erik doesn’t know.”
Evie smoothed her gown some more, then muttered, “That’s right. And he’s not going to know. Not for a while, at least, not until we’ve…had some time together, not until I can be sure he’ll understand.”
“But, honey—” Nevada began.
Evie didn’t want to hear. “No. Don’t lecture me. It’s my decision. I don’t want him to have to know right yet.”
Even gentle Faith had to disagree. “But what if he found out somehow, and you hadn’t told him first?”
Evie’s stomach lurched at that thought. It was one she’d been doing her best to avoid pondering. She drew her shoulders up. “No one’s going to tell him. Uncle Oggie’s the only one in town who knows, and he’s sworn never to say a word. And as I said, I will tell Erik. Just not right away, that’s all.”
“What if some reporter shows up asking questions again?” Nevada asked.
“I’ll deal with it if it happens.”
Faith had another point to make. “What if…Father shows up?”
“He won’t,” Evie said through clenched teeth, willing her words to be true. “He said on the phone that he wouldn’t call me anymore.”
“Since when has Gideon Jones ever done what he said he’d do?” Nevada demanded. As if nature itself agreed with her, another powerful gust of wind beat at the house, and rain sluiced against the windowpanes.
“I am not telling Erik all those shameful old stories right now,” Evie said, when the wind had faded to a low, sad whine. “Erik and I need time now, with each other and the children, time to make a family together, time to settle into our life as a couple.”
Nevada groaned. “But, Evie. You can’t just bury your head in the sand about this. Gideon is…” She groped for the word and when she couldn’t quite find it, settled on, “…A problem. He’s gone downhill over the years. You know that. And the way he’s stayed so obsessed with you, it’s not good.”
Evie put up a hand. “Look. He’s never really done anything, not in all these years. Once I was grown-up, he had no real power over me, I’ve realized that at last. For a long time, instead of staying put and dealing with him, I ran every time he found out where I was. Well, I’m not running again. I’m a grown woman and I’ve made my own life. And if Father ever dares to show up here in North Magdalene—”
Nevada stopped her. “Exactly. That’s the point. If he shows up here, what in the world will you do?”
Evie gulped. “I’ll…I’ll tell Erik about him then. And we’ll take it from there.”
“This isn’t wise, Evie.”
But Evie wouldn’t listen to that. She sat tall and looked from one sister to the other. “I love you both. And I know that you saved my life all those years ago.”
“Oh, stop it,” Nevada scoffed. “You saved us, before that. You saved us from a living hell. And we know it. We were vagrants, that’s what we were, until Dad discovered your…talents and started making use of them. After that, because of you, none of us ever went to bed hungry again.”
Evie patiently waited until Nevada was through, then she picked up where she’d left off. “It was all a scam. It was dishonest in the worst kind of way, to make a living off of people’s heartbreak like that.”
“No.” Faith was adamant. “Sometimes you did help people, we all know that you did.”
“Only if it was profitable.” Evie shot back the words, and then realized that if she went any farther, she’d have to go into the part they never talked about, the things Evie sometimes knew that no normal person could know, the way she could sometimes touch a person and seem to soothe all their ills. She returned to the relative safety of her original point. “Look. What I’m saying is, when the time finally came that I couldn’t go on with it anymore, you two took me away. And you loved me and protected me and showed me how to live in the world on my own. I owe you my life.”
Nevada tried to interrupt. “No, you—”
Evie cut in, reiterating, “I owe you my life. And now, well, I’m going to ask for even more.”
“Evie…”
“Wait. Let me finish. I want one more thing from each of you.”
Nevada looked grim, but still she said, “Name it.”
“I want your word that you won’t tell anyone in North Magdalene who I used to be. I want you to promise me you’ll say nothing about Evangeline.”
“Oh, Evie…” Faith murmured sadly.
Nevada just shook her head, the gold hoops in her ears gently swinging.
“Please,” Evie whispered.
After a moment, Nevada spoke for both of them. “It’s your life. We know that. It’ll be the way you want it to be.”
Evie breathed deeply then. Gratitude and fierce love seemed to wash over her in one giant wave. She groped blindly with both hands, and found her sisters’ hands, one on each side. “Thank you. I love you. Thank you so much…“
There was a discreet knock at the door.
Evie squeezed both of the hands she held. “Come in.”
The door swung inward. Amy, hugely pregnant and glowing with excitement, stood on the threshold. “Evie. It’s time.”
“All right.”
The three sisters stood as one, hands still linked.
“We’ll go on down,” Faith said.
One more squeeze and Evie’s hands were empty. Her sisters moved toward Amy at the door.
“I’ve saved you a couple of chairs,” Amy told them.
Nevada murmured, “Thanks.”
Amy ushered the other two out, then turned back to Evie at the last minute. “I just have to tell you. Do you know who’s out there?”
“Uh-uh. Who?”
“Nellie.”
“No kidding?” Evie had made it a point to invite Nellie, but she hadn’t ever imagined she’d come.
Amy went on. “She walked in five minutes ago. Stunned everyone. If the wind hadn’t been howling so loud outside, you could have heard a pin drop. I thought you’d want to know.”
“Yes. I’m glad to hear it. Thanks.”
“And now I’ll get out of here. Shall I close the door?”
“If you would. I’d like a moment.”
“By the way, you look beautiful.”
“Thanks,” Evie said again.
Amy tiptoed out. And then Evie was alone. She breathed deeply, seeking inner peace and true composure, putting away all the old fears, calling up her joy.
Once her mind was entirely focused on what really mattered, Evie went to the bureau in the corner to collect the bouquet of white roses waiting there. Then she left the room and approached the stairs, the sweet music from Regina’s piano growing louder in her ears. Evie smiled as she recognized the melody; it was the country and western ballad the band had been playing on Labor Day, when she and Erik had shared their first dance.
As she descended the stairs, Evie made herself walk slowly. She didn’t want to rush. This moment and the ones soon to follow were each and every one a miracle to her. They were moments to be savored.
She was marrying Erik. The impossible had come to pass. She was becoming what she’d never dared to dream she might be: a wife. And a stepmother. A woman with a family, a woman with…responsibilities for others whom she loved. A normal woman, one who truly belonged in the most important of ways.
Her joyful thoughts filling every corner of her mind, Evie traversed the hall that led to the dining room. And then, before she knew it, she stood in the wide arch that framed the living room.
Her eyes took in every aspect of the gathering before her. For today, the living room furniture had been moved out of the house, stored in the trailer of Brendan Jones’s big rig. Folding chairs, arranged in rows, took up most of the space. Every chair was occupied. An aisle had been left down the middle. It led through the room on a diagonal to the far corner, where Erik and Reverend Johnson stood waiting. Pete—the combination best man and ring bearer—stood on the far side of Erik.
A quick glance at Pete’s face showed Evie nothing new. His hazel eyes gave nothing away and he wore no anticipatory smile. Unlike Becca and Jenny, Pete was less than thrilled at the prospect of having Evie as his stepmom. But he was dealing with it well enough. Over time, Evie was certain, she’d win his love as she had his sisters’.
Reverend Johnson, as always, looked terribly intense and serious. Sometimes Evie wondered if the poor man ever cracked a smile.’
Evie was careful not to look at Erik yet. As soon as she met his eyes, she knew very well she would see nothing but him—and she wanted to see everything else first, to absorb each smallest detail, in order to save it all in her heart.
“Evie? Now?” The childish whisper came from a few feet to her right. It was Jenny, holding her own bouquet of pink roses, wearing a creation of ivory satin and English cotton tulle with a wide powder-blue bow at her waist. Becca, standing beside Jenny and dressed identically to her big sister, carried a basket of rose petals.
“Yes, now,” Evie whispered back, her love for the two of them creating a warm ache in her chest.
“Give me your arm then, gal.” Uncle Oggie stepped up from behind her, dressed in a suit that smelled faintly of mothballs, leaning lightly on a fine new cane, one with a handle of hammered silver and an ebony staff. Evie took the free arm he offered.
At the piano, which was against the far wall to Evie’s right, Regina seized the moment and launched into the wedding march. The guests stood and turned as one to better view the small procession.
At a slight nudge from Jenny, Becca started up the aisle, strewing petals as she went. Jenny soon followed, marching with great dignity, both hands on her bouquet. When they reached the top of the aisle, the two girls moved to the side.
And then it was Evie and Oggie’s turn. In deference to Oggie’s bad foot, they progressed even more slowly than the girls had done, Oggie’s cane tapping the hardwood floor with each step they took.
Though it wasn’t really possible, Evie did her very best to make eye contact with every person there. She traded warm looks with her sisters and Amy. And she saved a special smile for Nellie, who stood so stiff and proud near the front, her very presence at this gathering a minor miracle that spoke more clearly of love and forgiveness than words ever could.
When they reached the top of the short aisle, Reverend Johnson took over. The guests sat once more. Oggie stepped aside and then Erik was there, enfolding her hand in his.
Evie turned, looked into tender gray eyes and knew that after years of wandering, she had truly found the home she sought.
Outside, the wind howled and the rain poured down. Evie hardly heard it. Nothing could touch her or harm her now. The long years of guilt and loneliness were behind her at last and the future was a shining thing, as clean and new as the first day of spring.