October slipped quietly into November.
Tansy’d taken down the Halloween witches and goblins and replaced them with red, white, and blue for Veterans Day. Normally, she’d have stuck with the whole fall thing because Thanksgiving was quickly creeping up on them. But because the town had planned such a big event this year to honor their veterans, it seemed only right to play it up in Sweet Dreams, too.
Since Veterans Day landed in the middle of the week, they’d decided to hold the unveiling ceremony at six, after most were done with work. It turned out to be a spectacular chamber-of-commerce day: the weather couldn’t have been more perfect, all the shops flew the Stars and Stripes proudly, and red, white, and blue balloons bobbed from light poles up and down the street.
After a small parade featuring the county’s veterans along with some from neighboring counties, everybody converged at the grassy park area dedicated to honoring those who’d paid the ultimate price for their country.
The high school band played the national anthem, and everyone sang along. Sawyer Liddell moved among the crowd, snapping pictures for tomorrow’s newspaper. When the post chaplain of the local American Legion moved to the podium, the crowd hushed. Somewhere toward the back of the group, a baby cried, then even it stilled as though understanding the solemnity of the occasion.
Jenni Beth, her parents, Lem and Lyda Mae, along with their niece’s parents and brothers moved to the front. The chaplain spoke about the courage and valor of the men and women who put their lives on the line and about Wes Beaumont and Melissa Gilmore.
Then he stepped back, saluted, and signaled for the parents to come forward.
The two sets of parents, the Beaumonts and the Gilmores, moved slowly to either side of the granite marker. Together they lifted the cover to unveil the monument, tears filling all four sets of eyes as their children’s names were revealed.
Mrs. Beaumont addressed the crowd. “I want to thank y’all for coming out this evenin’ to honor Wes and Melissa and all the others who have fought for our freedom.” She reached out to hold hands with Mrs. Gilmore. “This is a moment we will never forget.”
The parents in the crowd nodded and held their children a little more tightly.
The band played a final song, and people began dispersing, most of them back to their homes for dinner and bed.
After Jenni Beth dried her tears and saw her parents off, she stood arm in arm with Cricket and Tansy. Beck, Cole, and Sam stood off to one side.
“I can’t begin to tell you what this means to me and my parents.” A few more tears leaked, and Cole wrapped his arms around her from the back. She sighed and leaned into him. “I know it means every bit as much to Melissa’s family.”
Then she looked up and down the street. “The town looks good, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” Sam said.
“Misty Bottoms is comin’ back to life.”
Tansy had to agree. A few short months ago, the street looked like a ghost town. Empty buildings nearly outweighed the barely-making-it businesses. Since the opening of Magnolia Brides, new shops had opened in the now-bustling town.
“You did it, Jenni Beth,” she said. “You had a dream, and you made it come true.”
“With your help.”
Cricket shook her head. “You took the leap first. Without your dream, I doubt the Enchanted Florist would have made it. I know for sure it wouldn’t be blooming the way it is.”
The others groaned.
“Okay, okay.” Cricket grinned. “Bad pun.”
“A really bad pun,” Beck said.
“You know what we need to do now?” Jenni Beth’s eyes sparkled.
Tansy checked down the street, where her mother waited with Gracie. “I need to rescue my mother. She has plans tonight.”
“Okay, but give me one minute before you get her. We need to decide on decorations for our class reunion.”
“Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming,” Tansy moaned.
Cricket shook her head. “I’m not involved in this. I graduated from Blue Ridge, remember?”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t help. We’ll need flowers.” Tansy threaded her arm through Cricket’s. “You’re an honorary class member.”
“Oh, no. I’ve got plenty on my plate with the weddings coming up. Including yours,” she reminded Jenni Beth.
“Actually, I’ve been thinking about this in all my downtime.” Tansy laughed and rolled her eyes. “I think we should recreate the senior prom.”
“Perfect! Tanz, you’re a genius.”
“I am, aren’t I? There’re a lot of pictures floatin’ around to pull from.”
“Get Gracie, then come over to our place,” Cricket said. “We’ll have an impromptu wiener roast. What do you say?”
“Sounds good to me,” Sam said. “I think we’ve even cleaned once or twice this month.”
Cricket elbowed him. “Ha-ha!”
* * *
An hour later, Gracie curled up in Beck’s lap. Marshmallow coated her bottom lip from the s’more she’d just devoured. The talk circled back to last-minute wedding plans for Cole and Jenni Beth.
“I honestly think we’re ready to go,” Cricket said.
“We’d better be because ready or not, Cole and I are getting married Saturday! Three days from now!” Jenni Beth dropped a long, hot kiss on her fiancé.
He sent her a smoldering look. “I, for one, am totally ready!”
“Bet you are,” Beck said.
“Can I have a kitty or a puppy, Mama?”
Tansy shot Beck a glare.
He threw his hands up. “I didn’t say anything about a pet. I swear. I’m an innocent man.”
“Maddie brought her puppy to school for show-and-tell.”
“See?” Beck said. “Not my fault.”
Tansy shot him a look, then addressed Gracie. “We’ve talked about this before, baby. We can’t have an animal right now, not with the bakery downstairs. The health department would have a conniption.”
“What’s a ’niption?”
Sam laughed and leaned over to tweak her nose. “It’s what you’d have if I stole that cute little nose of yours.”
Her hand flew up to cover her nose. “It means somebody without a nose? I don’t want to be a ’niption. How could I breathe?”
Everybody laughed.
“Now you’ve done it, Sam.” Cricket punched his shoulder.
Sam blew out a huge breath. “Very literal, this child of yours, Tansy.”
“Sometimes.” She leaned toward her daughter. “He was using that as an example, sweetheart. A conniption is when somebody gets mad or angry.”
“Like my daddy when I played and he wanted to watch TV?”
Everybody went quiet.
Beck’s eyes met Tansy’s. She looked shattered.
“Or,” he jumped in, “the way you’d get if I started to tickle you, and I wouldn’t stop.” He moved his hand to the little girl’s stomach and gave her a tickle.
She giggled, then laid a hand on his cheek. “But I wouldn’t have a ’niption, Daddy Beck, ’cause you’d stop if I wanted you to.”
Slowly, he became aware of the silence, like being in a vacuum-packed canister.
No one said a word, but all eyes were trained on him and Gracie.
“What?” he asked.
Cricket swiped at a tear. He turned toward Jenni Beth and saw her do the same. Well, shit!
“Daddy Beck?” Jenni Beth asked quietly.
“It’s…a long story.”
“He went to school with me. For daddy/daughter day,” Gracie said. She twisted a button on his shirt. “Daddy Beck.”
“I…” Tansy, wide-eyed, held her hands out, palms up.
“I think it’s beautiful,” Cricket said. “And I love you for doin’ that, Daddy Beck.”
“Me too.” Gracie rested her head on Beck’s shoulder. “So can I, Mama?”
“Can you what?”
“Have a kitty or a doggy?”
Everybody laughed.
“Oh, she’s good,” Cole said. “Very good.”
Gracie smiled.
Sam grinned. “She’s gonna wrap some poor sucker around that little finger and have him dancing to her tune.”
“But I want a puppy.”
“I know you do, honey. Maybe someday, but not now.”
The sweet little girl looked like she was about to transform into something ugly.
“Tell you what,” Beck said. “I’ve got a couple animals at my place. The cat’s about to have a litter…um, babies…any day now. Why don’t you pick one out, name it, but leave it with me? You don’t want to take it away from its mama, do you?”
“No, but—”
“Anytime you want, you can come play with it. At my house.”
“Beck—” Tansy said.
Gracie, however, threw her arms around Daddy Beck and hugged him hard.
Tansy nailed Beck with the evil eye over her daughter’s head.
“What? It’s a good solution.”
“You can’t give in to her all the time.”
“I don’t. Thing is, she’s her mama’s daughter, and that’s pretty darned powerful.”
By the time they were ready to leave, Gracie had fallen asleep. Since they’d ridden together to Sam and Cricket’s, Beck drove them back to where they’d left Tansy’s SUV and carried Gracie to the car.
As they walked side by side along the sidewalk, greeting friends and neighbors who were still out, Beck cleared his throat. “About the Daddy Beck thing. I didn’t… I honestly don’t know where it came from. She just said it. While we were at school. I would never—”
Tansy rubbed a hand down his back. “I know. Gracie, well, she gets these ideas. If you don’t want her to call you that, I’ll talk to her.”
“No!” he said quickly. “I don’t have a problem with it. I’m good with Daddy Beck if you are.”
“She goes through phases, and this one shouldn’t last too long, Beck. She’ll move on to something else.”
He sure as heck hoped not. He liked being Daddy Beck.