On a Sunday afternoon in late spring, the skies filled with dark clouds and rain drenched the tulips as thunder echoed through the hillsides. The Blackberry River gushed over Whisper Falls and like a silver, curling ribbon circled past the town of the same name.
The people gathered in the fellowship hall of New Life Christian Church were accustomed to stormy springs and so they’d come anyway to share in the day’s festivities.
Despite the damp outdoors, the interior of the hall was cozy, if humid, and thick with the scent of barbecued ribs from the newest restaurant in their growing town, Tony’s Pig Stand. Haley’s whimsical fairy vases centered each pink-clothed table with flowers from her garden. Annalisa and Lana had outdone themselves on the baby table. A pink and dark chocolate cake surrounded by chocolate-covered strawberries sat in the middle of tablecloth caught up with a bow. Above the table a printed banner proclaimed, “It’s a girl!”
Children dashed through the building in a game of tag regardless of their mothers’ efforts to calm them. Voices chattered and laughter boomed in harmony with the thunder.
Cassie felt as if she was living in a dream as her friends and customers and family milled around the large hall in celebration of the child she’d never expected to have. They’d invited everyone they knew, and she was gratified for Heath’s sake that the men had come, too.
“The guys will probably end up at the game tables in back,” she said, smiling up at her husband of eighteen months.
“Not till they get their fill of these ribs.” Heath pumped his eyebrows. “Gotta make up for not giving them a big wedding when we got married.”
“True.” They’d waited six months before exchanging vows. Heath claimed they were the longest six months of his life, but they’d gotten to know each other better and had time to fall deeper in love. When the day came, they’d promised “until death do us part” with a lifetime of conviction. The wedding had been small and spiritual with only family and closest friends in attendance, but this baby shower was huge!
“Do you think we ordered enough ribs and potato salad?”
“If we didn’t, you can always call the Pizza Pan and order out thick pan pepperoni. You still have them on speed dial, don’t you?”
Cassie grinned. “Don’t torture me. I’m trying to eat healthy.”
Heath placed a hand on her belly. At six months along, the baby wasn’t yet huge but was more than the speed bump of a couple months ago.
“Proud of you.” He kissed her on the cheek. He knew she’d become an unlikely champion of healthy eating and exercise and had even given up her highest heels for the sake of their unborn child. “Now, I’d better mingle with the guys or they’ll call me a sissy.”
She laughed and gave him a push. “Go. I want to talk babies with the girls anyway.”
She went to the clutch of friends stacking baby gifts and keeping track of who brought what. Haley, Annalisa, Lana Davis and Louise directed the party, and all she had to do was enjoy.
“You’ll have a ton of thank-you notes to send.”
“Lucky me.” And she meant that. Her life was blessed. Many friends and a wonderful family.
“Is that Heath’s brother he’s talking to?” Haley asked.
Cassie turned to look. “That one is Heston. Holt is with his mom, the dark-haired lady talking to my parents. They’re with Miss Evelyn and Uncle Digger. See them over there?”
“Gorgeous men,” Haley said.
Cassie bumped her shoulder. “You have a gorgeous man, too.”
“Don’t I know it? Look at how handsome he looks juggling the baby in one arm with Rose on his back.”
“He’s a good dad. How does Rose feel about having a brother?” Creed and Haley had a new baby boy, adopted two months ago.
“At four, she likes to play the big-sister role. But she might be a little jealous. We’re working on that.” Her auburn-haired friend gazed at her husband and children with such love, Cassie teared up. But then, everything made her tear up since she’d gotten pregnant.
She’d even cried when Lana had sung the national anthem at Pumpkin Fest last fall, her first clue that she was expecting a baby.
She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with the balls of her hands. “I am the happiest woman in the world.”
“Oh, honey.” Lana gave her a quick hug. The tough girl had turned to a sugar cookie since her marriage to Davis Turner. She still wrote articles for the newspaper but her songwriting had found success in Nashville and she made frequent trips there for business. Cassie knew she grieved for the twin sister who’d never come home. They were still praying and believing that someday she would. “I’m happy for you.”
“When are you and Davis going to have a baby?”
Since having Levi, now a toddler cowboy, Annalisa wanted all her friends to have a baby.
Lana blushed at Annalisa’s question and reflexively touched her stomach. Four pairs of eyes followed the gesture.
“Are you pregnant, too?” Cassie asked.
“Shh. Don’t say anything.” Lana, unable to hide the grin, put a finger to her lips. “We’re not ready to announce yet, and today is your day. But yes, I am.”
The four women squealed and Cassie grabbed her friend in a hug, her belly bumping into Lana. “This only makes today more precious.”
Lana fanned her flaming face with both hands. “I can’t believe it. Sydney and Paige are twelve and Nathan’s ten. Davis and I thought we might not have any more, but God had different ideas. I really, really wanted a baby, and Davis is over the moon.” She laughed. “And a little shell-shocked.”
“This is wonderful. I’ll save all my baby things for you,” Haley said. “Cassie can save hers, too. That way, whether you have a boy or a girl, you’re covered.”
“Speaking of baby things,” Lana said, obviously to take the attention from her thrilling announcement. “Let’s open presents!”
And so they did. Though they couldn’t corral the gleeful children who were running on a sugar high from the cupcakes, the men and woman gathered around the mile-high gift table. The men, with good-natured machismo, rolled their eyes at the frilly, lacy clothes and needled their assistant police chief about the overdose of pink.
“The only thing keeping them inside is the storm,” Cassie joked.
Standing behind her, Heath leaned down to whisper, “And the fact that I carry a gun.”
Cassie giggled. From that wonderful day at the ranch, he’d never looked back. JoEtta had been thrilled at Heath’s decision to remain on the force, and he’d become a terrific assistant police chief, a role he seemed to relish.
Cassie knew he’d rather be on the golf course today or at home watching baseball. The fact that he was at a baby shower, with her, made her love him more. This was, as he’d told her, his baby, too, and he didn’t plan to miss a moment.
By the time the baby shower ended and people drifted away, amidst good wishes and promises of cookouts and dinners and haircuts, the storm outside had passed.
“You’re tired, babe. We’ll load the truck. You take it easy.” Heath hoisted a new car seat while his brothers and their wives each gathered up boxes and bags.
Cassie paid him no mind. If her husband had his way, she’d stay in the recliner for nine months and knit. Her hunky man was a doting husband. “I’ll bring the light stuff.”
Arms loaded with diapers, she followed her husband out into the rain-washed evening. A glow gilded the cool, fresh atmosphere.
“There you go,” Heath’s brother Holt, whom she’d come to adore for his easy, teasing manner, slammed the truck’s back door. “Everything is loaded.”
“You guys go on,” Cassie said. “I want to make one more pass through the hall and make sure everything is restored to order.”
Heath’s mother took Cassie by the shoulders and kissed her cheek. “We’ll meet you at the house. You look beautiful, dear.”
Those pesky tears sprang to Cassie’s eyes. She laughed to cover her embarrassment. “Thank you, Kate, for everything, especially for your son.”
Kate gazed fondly at Heath who had circled around the car to chat with his brothers and Austin. “You’re good for him, Cassie. He’s happy now. Finally.”
“He’s made me happy, too. I can’t begin to explain.”
“You don’t have to.” Kate patted her arm. “See you at the house.”
With a slam of car doors and engines, the last of the shower guests drove away, leaving Cassie and Heath alone. Cassie hugged herself, heart full, as her husband came toward her.
“I have something for you, but I wanted to give it to you when we’re alone. With our families at the house, this may be our only moment today.”
“Another present?”
“No, not exactly a gift, but closure.” He tugged her hands free and held them, facing her. “Louis Carmichael was arrested last week in Arizona, trying to cross the border. Holt knew what this meant to us, Cassie, so he flew down there and spoke with Carmichael. Don’t ask me how, but my brother has a way of getting people to talk.”
“For which I will ever be thankful,” Cassie said, knowing Holt was responsible for their reunion.
“Yes, well, Carmichael spilled some interesting beans. He blamed Darrell for ruining a good operation because of some woman.”
“Me?”
“Apparently Darrell wanted out of the operation after he met you. Carmichael insisted he finish what he started or he’d tell you everything.”
“And that last trip cost Darrell his life.”
“Carmichael says he tried a double cross. Not smart and he paid for it. The man wasn’t perfect, but he loved you, Cassie. You can stop kicking yourself for being fooled by him. He cared for you.”
She laid her head on his shoulder and considered this latest revelation. Everything that had happened brought them to this moment. “He still used our honeymoon as a cover.”
“Perhaps he did. But it’s over now. You can be at peace with that part of your past.”
“Yes.” She’d long ago moved beyond the heartache and shame but Heath’s news brought her peace and a much needed sense of closure. Carmichael was in jail and Darrell was not quite the villain she’d thought. She leaned back a little to meet her husband’s gaze. “Thank you for telling me.”
“My pleasure.” He kissed her ear and sighed softly. “We’ve weathered some storms, haven’t we, sweetheart?”
“Yes, we have. And we’ve come through stronger because of them.”
She thought back to that stormy night when they’d met on a rain-slicked county road. To the tornado that ripped past town and opened up the can of worms left by Darrell and Louis. To the storm within from the hurt and heartache and confusion in the aftermath. Now, today, on the day of their baby shower another storm had rattled the windows and shook the skies. And as Heath said, they’d weathered them all.
“Look,” he said, pointing over her shoulder.
Cassie spun in his arms, as much as a pregnant woman can spin, to see a glorious rainbow arching above the little town of Whisper Falls.
“God’s promise,” she breathed, awed. “So beautiful.”
“It reminds me of us.” Heath slipped his arms around her from the back, his hands resting on their baby. “Life brings storms but there’s always a rainbow. You’re my rainbow, Cassie.”
She leaned back against her man, resting in his strength and reveling in his love. Indeed, she thought as she looked at the glorious bow of color against the blue sky, they’d faced their share of storms, but the aftermath had been the most beautiful rainbow of all. A never-ending rainbow called love.
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