Two weeks is a lifetime in a teenager’s life, but it wasn’t enough time to get ready for the opening of Mags’ store, especially for two people who were new at the whole entrepreneurship thing. Mags actually went with the name I picked out, why I don’t know, and we had a large sign created that we hung on the front of the building. Another smaller, but just as vivid sign read “GRAND OPENING” and listed the date. We had purchased advertising in the local newspapers and printed postcards to place in neighborhood mailboxes. With any luck, we’d actually get a little business.
When the date rolled around, Mr. Peet and a few other reenactors, including Lizzy, Hunter, Mike, and Daniel, dressed up in their blues and grays and showed off for the stream of customers that made their way in and out of the store. Jason and I were there too, him in his dingy gray and me in my ball gown. Yes, people referred to me as Scarlett O’Hara a few times, and more than that, took our picture together, telling us what a beautiful couple we were. So I guess overall, I couldn’t complain. I was mostly happy to see that people were actually attending the opening of the store and was even more ecstatic to know that we wouldn’t be putting up an “Out of Business” sign on the door any time soon. My expectations were already surpassed. After all these years, Dad’s final investment in his sister might just be the one that paid off.
Mr. Peet, Hunter, and Lizzy joined Mags, Jason and I back at home after the big day. We were all foot-sore, but happy that things had gone so well and ready to get back into some regular clothing. Mags found a package addressed to me sitting by the door as we entered. It was from Richard and I immediately opened it, finding a note from him and a DVD inside. The note read:
Dear Hope,
I hope Texas is treating you well. I’m sorry this is the wrong time, because I really don’t know how you’ll take it so soon after the accident, but your father was videotaping Tyler’s game the night he died and I feel strongly that you should have it. Much of the original footage was distorted in the crash, but I felt it was right for you to see the part we were able to retrieve from the camera. Hope, as always, if you need anything from me, please do not hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Richard
Kilpatrick, Sneed, and Scott Attorneys at Law
I looked at Mags and Jason after reading the note, handing it to them, but not sure what I should do. In my hand, I held the last few precious moments of my family’s lives. I could feel my heart vaulting to my throat and tears begin to sting my eyes. Seeing their happy, jovial selves one last time was all I’d ever wanted. But now that the sudden chance had come true, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Mags spoke first in the nicest voice possible, but all she could muster was, “Oh, honey.” A few more moments passed before anyone spoke. This time it was Jason, who grabbed my hand and held it tightly.
“Hope, I can’t make this decision for you, but whatever you want to do, I’m going to be right beside you the entire time.” I looked at him as the first tear began to stream down my face. Everyone else in the room gave me reassuring smiles.
“Would y’all like to meet my family?” I finally said, handing the DVD to Mags, who popped it into the player. She sat down on the other side of me and also gripped my hand.
At first, there were some grainy scenes of the basketball game with a few cheers from the crowd, but nothing you could make out distinctively. Everything went dark for a moment until a clear shot of the empty gym floor showed what we all waited silently to see. The camera wheeled around quickly to Tyler’s smiling face as he stood there in his jersey, but it was my dad’s voice behind the camera that I heard first.
“Hey, Tyler, tell Hope how many points you scored.”
“Eighteen, Sis, with a double-double in rebounds, just like you asked for.”
“And where are you going tomorrow?”
Tyler rolled his eyes. “To your Christmas musical thing.”
Dad chuckled. “Alright, tell her bye.”
“Bye, Sis. Tigers rule!” He got close to the camera and held up one finger with a silly grin on his face, which made me smile through the tears.
“Alright,” Dad said as the camera strolled around and found my Mom, sitting in the bleachers, but looking away. “And here is your beautiful mother in all her shyness.” She smiled, but I could tell she was miffed.
“John, put that away,” she said and looked up.
“Okay, but say hi to your daughter before you do.”
“Hi, Hope. I hoped you enjoyed having the house to yourself tonight,” she quipped. “We will see you soon as your dad gets done playing with his toy.” The camera whipped around quickly, back to Tyler for a second, who struck a pose that made us all laugh for a moment. Then it spun around again, now directly looking at my father, his eyes bearing into mine as they had done so many times before. He gave a quick smile to the camera as I felt Mags’ hand tighten around mine. This was her brother, my father, the man who was the epitome of all that was great, all that was right with the world, and this would be the last time I ever saw him.
“Hope, we’ve had a pretty good time tonight, but missed you here, baby girl. We’re all rooting for you to do well at your recital tomorrow. I’ll be filming there, too.” His face grew solemn and I knew some fatherly advice was about to come my way. “Remember, sweetie, always practice hard in whatever you are doing. Like Tyler has, you’ve made us very proud and I know you will do your very best, not just tomorrow, but forever. I...We love you very much.”
“Love you, Hope,” I heard Mom say.
“Me, too, Sis,” repeated Tyler.
“Alright, sweetie. We’ll see you in the morning.” The camera flipped around again, back to the empty basketball court and then went off.
It was if everything went numb in me for a moment, or maybe there were so many emotions I didn’t know how to read them all. I could hear Mags trying to hold back tears next to me, the first time I had seen her shed tears for our family, her hand still tightly wound around mine. I stared back at the fuzz that was the TV screen and then caught the eyes of Jason on my opposite side. He looked as if he was waiting for me to say something, to have some reaction, but I just stared at him, looking for anything to get me through this, as he had done before. He had a tear in the corner of his eye and gulped before he opened his mouth to speak.
“I was right,” he muttered.
“About what?” I weakly asked. He smiled that ever-so-handsome smile.
“They were lucky to have you. I could see it in your dad’s eyes. You meant the world to him. He was happy. They were happy.”
I finally took a breath, giving a fragile smile through my tears as Jason circled his arm around me, allowing me to find solace against his shoulder. Ever since that night we sat around the fire, he had turned into my rock and was what held me together. After a moment, I looked up.
“They were happy people. They made me happy, just like you do. Just like all of you do.” I looked around at the room at the people who were strangers to me mere weeks ago, but accepted me in so many ways. Whether it was giving me a new home, a place to sit in a crowded lunchroom, a class that actually tested my academic capabilities, or a love that I never knew existed, I owned them so much more than I ever felt I could give back. I had once believed that the move to Texas was the worst mistake I had ever made, but here, here is where I found hope again. This is what I needed. I had found myself again.
* * * *
Weeks passed and our store stayed in business. I could hardly believe that we had been so lucky. Overall, I had spent nearly forty-five thousand dollars on the place and gave the last five to Mags to have as a money roll. My help didn’t stop there, as most days after school I manned the store until closing. Mags always joked that working would keep me out of trouble from that rebel of a boyfriend of mine, and for the most part, she was probably right. Of course I could’ve said the same thing about her and Mr. Peet, who I caught on more than one occasion, necking in the back office. Gross!
The Texas winter made its last hurrah the second week of March, right before spring break, and provided crisp, cool air close to freezing for a couple days. By that weekend, however, it was like we had been transplanted to the Sahara as the Gulf Stream brought the temperature up to the mid-eighties without warning. Only in Texas did you need a heavy coat one day and a pair of shorts the next. I guess I would need to get used to its volatility. Still, it was perfect timing, since Mr. Peet, Lizzy, and I talked Mags into going to her first reenactment down in Mexia. Still, Mags only went by getting herself a motel room in town. I’m not sure she appreciated the whole event or even understood why someone would want to join in the hobby, but she did tell me that Mr. Peet was handsome in his captain’s uniform. Ick! And although she didn’t want to, by Saturday evening we had talked her into wearing a hoopskirt and going to the dance with the rest of us. How could she turn down a fake captain, anyway?
“Now remember your gentlemanly etiquette, Mr. Peet,” I reminded him.
“Miss Kilpatrick,” he reached around and slapped Mags’ backside with his hand, which caused all of our eyes to widen, “is that enough etiquette for you?” Jeez, middle-aged men, what can you do?
My weekend was spent with Jason, of course. His leg didn’t bother him as much as it did at Madisonville. At the dance that evening, he led in so many waltzes and reels that we lost count. God, can he dance. He said if it weren’t for me, he probably wouldn’t have had the energy, not that I took that so seriously. He had to be getting better physically, and I knew that was helping him deal with the emotional pain of war as well. Watching him being so strong, his limp barely noticeable, him flashing his pearly whites at jokes, at me, it just made me so happy. He was coming back to life right before my eyes, and in the same regard, he was bringing me back with him. My Tom Sawyer and I were making it out of the cave, and there were no killer Indians in sight.
Mags was acting, maybe not as a mother, but at least as an adult, working with her store harder than I’d ever known her to work before and making sure I kept my nose to the grindstone in school. She began to use business and management skills that I never knew existed in her. There was a passion in her eye, a glimpse of accomplishment, even after the hardest days with the smallest of sales. Maybe, for the first time, I was feeling respect for her as an aunt and as someone who was giving far more effort than what she was receiving from some horrible man she was stalking across the country. Dad would have been so proud to see her like this. It made me smile every time I thought about it. I knew he would have been proud of me, too, for not giving up on her like everyone else had done.
Thank you, Daddy, for caring for your sister so that she would be there for me when I needed her.
Mr. Peet, well, continued to be Mr. Peet in class. The sarcasm never let up when he lectured over all the hypocrisy in history. Still, he continued to make it interesting, which was no easy task. It was probably easier for him because his first name wasn’t Coach. Okay, so maybe his class had made me more sardonic, as well. But as he and Mags got to know each other, he also began to change in my eyes, too, from the shutoff, abrasive reenactor, to someone whose emotions were deeper than a thimble. It was nearly funny to watch them kiss on the front porch like teenagers again. It didn’t even bother me when he’d try to give me advice in life. That’s what teachers are supposed to do, right? Mr. Peet was finding himself again, lost after so many years in his grief. Lizzy noticed it as well, commenting on how her father sang around the house, something she had never heard him do before. He even gave a heated lecture at the Jefferson reenactment on slavery in the Civil War to some states’ rights reenactors. Go, Mr. Peet! At that same reenactment, he proposed to Mags and she said, “Yes!”
They were planning for a traditional wedding the next fall. Mom always told me there was good in all people; you just had to find it. Mom, you were right! I’m glad Mr. Peet found his again.
Lizzy was quickly becoming the sister I never had, which having a sister is interesting, to say the least. We planned on moving in with her and Mr. Peet after the wedding. Still, I didn’t know how much of a gossip I was until I became close with another girl my age. We told each other everything—what teachers were good, which ones weren’t, where we were looking to go to college and how our lives would’ve never come together if not for her inviting some sad, lonely girl to sit down with her at the loser’s table. Plus, it was always fun playing our dueling cornet and violin making great music together. Tyler’s place in my heart was never refilled, but Lizzy’s presence always gave me the satisfaction of knowing that there were young people just as great as he was. Thank you, Tyler, for being my brother. Thank you, Lizzy, for being my sister.
Jason took me to prom as promised, dancing the night away and looking so striking in his tuxedo. We actually did get the limo with Jody and Brad, and over time she became a friend as well. It was better than wanting me dead! Jason began talking about using his GI Bill educational benefit and enrolled in a technical school, working to be the mechanic that he’d always wanted to be. He and Mike have been asked to serve as Mr. Peet’s best men during the wedding, and he has continued to be my best man.
I am so looking forward to the summer, though, so we can spend all of our extra time together. We were still each other’s rock. When one of us began to dwell on our past, the other would pull the backslider back from the brink. I loved my family so much that their loss had nearly destroyed me and if it wasn’t for him, it probably would have. I never made it to the point of staring at a gun like Mr. Peet had done, but I hadn’t been too far away, either. Jason’s love, his understanding, has given me the power to survive, to live for them like they would’ve wanted me to. I love him for that, for helping me find my way back from despair. Thank you, Jason. Thank you for loving me, a love I never thought I would have again in my life.
I knew that next year I’d miss Mr. Peet’s class once I got Coach Muscles for government, but I figured I’d get enough of him once we moved in. My family could never be replaced, but the people that had made me part of their lives were some of the most loving people I had ever known. I did plan on going back to New York occasionally, dragging Jason along with me as support. Over time, the memories there would become simply that, memories of a former life, but my home was in Texas now. It was where all my loved ones were, the ones that would be there for my ups and downs through the coming years. They would be there when I graduated next year, when I learned where I’d be going to college, and when I entered law school someday. I could only hope that Jason would be there to love me forever, making me the happiest woman on earth. No, I couldn’t replace my family and I would miss them for the rest of my life, but I could live for them; I could tell my future children how great their family was.
Jason, my Tom Sawyer, had found me, scared and lonely in the cave, but he had brought me back into the light. He’d shown me that there was a place for me, Hope, in Texas, and he’d showed me how to love again.