Construction was underway on the new house and consumed Pete as much as wedding plans had taken over Nelle’s attention. Her graduation from the veterinary program was an understated affair but celebrated with huge pride by the six other people who had been through the rigors of the program with her. The final exams had been grueling. Passing was tremendous relief. Nelle was ready to live forward.

She was surprised by how much effort even a small wedding required. Reverend Dunn expected to officiate, never asked, and generously offered the church hall at no cost for their reception. Nelle had to reign in his expectation of guests, reminding him that it was her wedding and not his church party. He insisted he just didn’t want folks to feel left out and didn’t hide his disappointment by the restricted numbers.

Nelle thought his disappointment had more to do with his limited audience for a rousing sermon on the sanctity of marriage. “Promise me you will keep it short, Reverend Dunn. That’s what we want, please. No lectures on the sins of being together outside marriage. I couldn’t stand any blemishes on our wedding day.”

“I know the purity of your love for each other,” he answered and would say no more on the topic. His sermons on the evils of the so-called sexual revolution and the dangers inherent in “free love” were legendary. “You have nothing to worry about, Nelle.”

Nelle put her worry to rest and concentrated on the guest list. After she sent out the fifteen store bought cards that she had purchased and handwritten the note of invitation for her late June wedding, her grasp of connection to her community grew. Ernie insisted on providing the food and Hawk offered to decorate the hall, simply, but “befitting” a wedding. Emmie would make the wedding cake. Miss Ruby would give six pots of her finest English red roses to beautify the altar suitable for planting at the new house. Sarge volunteered to care for the farm animals during the honeymoon. These were the priceless gifts that created her perfect day.

Chief Boudreaux drove her and her bridesmaid Christine to the church in his patrol car, lights flashing, siren off. Mr. Parker had trouble holding back tears as he walked her down the aisle. Nelle was stunning in her simple white dress with lace at the collar. She wore her headdress of baby breath flowers like a crown. Pete wondered how he deserved such an angel and his beaming face lighted the church outshining the sun. And the Reverend Dunn kept his word, winking at Nelle with a silly grin as he pronounced them husband and wife.

Afterward, in the church hall, tears flowed as freely as the good food and well wishes.

They drove off in Pete’s yellow Beetle that Junie had washed and waxed. Natchitoches was a short distance but a world away. The oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase, Natchitoches was perfumed with abundant fragrant pink rose bushes blossoming in front of historic buildings and tidy white homes. It was the beautiful old town where Pete and his grandfather used to camp and fish. Their three days of honeymoon passion was better than the first time they made love.

The new house at Cloud Nine went up faster than either Nelle or Pete had expected. With the help of friends volunteering on weekends, the house took shape quickly. Nelle came to love the sounds of hammers and saws, and the masculine banter of men teasing one another over the quality and speed of carpentry and plumbing work. She curled up with Pete in the evenings, snug in the trailer for now, happy as Mrs. Nelle Lyons Everheart. The plan was to move in the new house before Labor Day.

Without much help from either of them, the Fifth Annual Jubilee was coming together smoothly. The summer event had found a life of its own with more people volunteering each year proudly participating in West River’s biggest attraction. Junie had taken over the racetrack responsibilities and Reverend Dunn’s son Joe David ably handled the details of promotion. Even radio stations mentioned the upcoming event, encouraging families to come out for the big day.

“It keeps getting bigger,” Nelle said as she cuddled into Pete after a long day for both of them. “Reverend Dunn says we’ve done a good job of training people if they don’t need us anymore.”

“He’s right. And there’s no time anyway, Nelle. I hope you don’t miss the work,” Pete said, nuzzling her neck. “I don’t. It’ll be fun to be a spectator at the race. I don’t even know who’s running in this one.” Pete turned over as he heard Nelle’s soft snore. He worried how tired she seemed lately. Maybe it’s the heat, he thought, before closing his own eyes.

August had been unbearably hot, even for West River. Nelle found her energy increasingly sapped even after minor chores and sleep didn’t seem to revive her. On a steamy morning as she prepared bacon for Pete over the hot stove, she suddenly wretched and nearly fainted. Then she knew. So soon. So soon, she mumbled as she steadied herself and ran for the bathroom.

Pete helped her up from the floor and led her to the bedroom. He was smiling. “You didn’t waste any time,” he said tenderly, unable to stop grinning, as she lay pale and sweating in the bed.

“Meeee,” she groaned. “It wasn’t just me,” she said, managing a weak smile. “Go turn off the stove.”

Miraculously, their new home was finished early. As Nelle’s morning sickness increased, so did volunteer help when the word spread about “her condition”. Miss Ruby was the first to discuss it with Nelle, counselled her on care, and prescribed home remedies that helped. Not long after, the whole town buzzed with the news. Church ladies counted the months since the wedding, relieved by the acceptable math. Gifts of knitted baby blankets, tiny hats and booties, a cradle, and a rocking chair piled up in the new nursery. Excitement was met with generosity and welcomed with joy.

Pete’s ingenious idea to convert the trailer into Nelle’s examination room for her practice solved more than a financial dilemma. Nelle’s new and growing practice would be contained on their property, allowing her to take care of the new baby at home. On visitations that required Nelle’s travel, the baby could come with her or Pete could take over for the day. Cloud Nine had indeed grown into her heaven. Her roots had taken hold.

She looked forward to the jubilee on this day with nostalgia for the past and excitement for the future.

“I’m bringing folding chairs so we can sit close to finish line,” Pete said. “If it gets too hot we don’t have to stay. Just say something, okay?”

“I’ll be fine, Pete. It’s the fifth jubilee. I have to be there,” Nelle answered. “I wouldn’t miss this celebration for anything.”

Heavy traffic inching into the church parking lot was an indication of the size of the crowd. Young men directed the line of cars and trucks, whistling and pointing to open spaces, and having a good time at it. Nelle was impressed by the organization. Pete was annoyed.

“I know a better spot,” he said, driving past the young attendant, ignoring his signal. “In the field by the end of the finish. We won’t have to walk as much.”

Nelle didn’t object. The mix of food smells had suddenly turned her stomach. She needed fresh air.

Pete saw her place her hand on her belly and swallow hard. “You okay?”

She nodded unconvincingly. “Just get me there.”

Pete sped up, glancing at her every few seconds, as she rested her head back on the seat with closed eyes. Then he saw it and sighed in relief. “Well look who’s here!”

Miss Ruby’s beat up red pickup truck was parked where Pete was heading. Both of the doors were flung wide open. Miss Ruby was sitting behind the steering wheel drinking a Dr. Pepper.

She grinned and held up her drink as Pete pulled in next to her. “Hey! Too damn many people for me nowadays,” she said, looking at Nelle. “Here, honey. I’ll get you one. You’ll feel better.” She jumped down from her seat and walked to the back of her truck where a dented aluminum cooler held several drinks floating in melting ice.

Nelle sipped the cold effervescent sweetness and soon recovered, taking a seat on the chair Pete had set up for them. Pete offered his chair to Miss Ruby and sat on the ground beside Nelle. They recalled past jubilees and remarked on the changes, especially how it had grown and attracted people far beyond the borders of West River. Thanks in part to the jubilee, Reverend Dunn’s pews were mostly filled on Sundays these days.

“Time for the younger ones to take it,” Miss Ruby said after relaxed silence.

Nelle realized Miss Ruby wasn’t talking about the jubilee. She turned to her friend and saw the map of her years etched in her face with her thin lips turned up in perpetual smile and deep crevices of worry circling her rheumy blue eyes. Large bony knobs protruded on her knuckles. Nelle reached over and lightly stroked her arm. “I’m so glad you’re here, Miss Ruby.”

Miss Ruby patted her hand back affectionately, silently returning Nelle’s sentiment.

Suddenly, serenity was shattered by the piercing crack of a gunshot. They jolted together at the loud noise.

The horse race for the Fifth Annual West River Jubilee had commenced.

“About time,” Miss Ruby said. “Was getting tired of waiting.”

They felt the thundering gallop and heard the roaring crowd before the horses came into view. Nelle stood quickly while Pete sprang up and helped Miss Ruby out of her chair.

The thundering grew louder, shaking the ground. Nelle bobbed to the exhilaration surging through her body while Miss Ruby rocked back and forth pumping the air with her outstretched arms. Pete hollered into the field as the horses came charging into view with legs lifting off the ground. Miss Ruby’s white mare led, flying like a winged Pegasus.

“Lizzie! That’s my Lizzie!” Miss Ruby shouted. “Lizzie!”

The clamor of snorting heads, pounding hooves, and riders bouncing high in saddles came at them in a jubilant rush. Exuberant cheers and wild applause followed the gallant equines until the last horse crossed the finish line.

Tammy was panting and sweating, almost as much as her mount. She rode toward Miss Ruby with a huge grin, stroking Lizzie’s neck, stopping directly in front of her. “We did it, Miss Ruby. We did it. Thank you.”

Miss Ruby saw the shock on Nelle’s face and placed her hand on Nelle’s shoulder. “It’s never too late to forgive, Nelle. Remember that.”

Thanksgiving was approaching with the exhausting lingering heat of summer now a mere memory. The cool, dry air of fall brought relief to humans and animals alike. Nelle and Pete spent time together outside enlarging the vegetable garden and tending their animals, adding a small flock of chickens and a miniature pony that Nelle had rescued from neglect and named “Jelly” because she was so sweet.

Aging Hot Shot and grumpy goat Mr. Bill accepted the new additions quickly but required a period of adjustment to the puppy, which nipped at Hot Shots legs and chased the chickens around the field. Sarge had delivered the skinny stray to Nelle, hoping she would keep him. He had dubbed the rambunctious floppy eared, short-legged mutt “Buddy” and it stuck. The assorted residents of Everheart farm were adjusting and thriving in the milieu of their new and changing home.

Her morning sickness now gone, Nelle found increased vitality in her fifth month and spent a great deal of time preparing the nursery and furnishing the house with bargain finds and kind donations. Not all of her clientele paid with cash, but their artistry in furniture making and basket weaving was often priceless and filled her home with warmth and meaning. Bartering was important to farm life in West River, and her rapidly swelling belly made her realize the value of sharing and rotating maternity clothes. The clothes came with young women offering advice and friendship and she was grateful to be part of the mothers’ club.

On a cool bright November afternoon as Nelle was scattering feed for the chickens inside the pasture, Nelle heard a car in the distance. Buddy’s ears perked up and he began to yap. Jelly whinnied and nuzzled her thigh.

She put her hand above her eyes to shield the glare of the sun and spotted a car in the distance coming toward the house. As she got nearer, Nelle recognized Christine. The passenger was unfamiliar.

Christine drove up slowly and parked in the driveway. She spoke to the woman seated beside her before she opened the door to greet Nelle. The woman stayed inside.

“Hello, Nelle. I have a surprise,” she said in a low voice.

Nelle looked over at the passenger, then at Christine quizzically.

Christine turned toward the car and nodded.

The passenger door opened and the woman stepped outside. She stood straight, her arms by her side, her fingers nervously tugging at the end of her long red sweater.

“Momma? Momma? Is that you?” she asked with uncertainty.

She had never seen her mother with gray hair and this was not the woman that Nelle held in her memory. This lady’s long hair was streaked with silver. She was heavier, her face fuller. She seemed hesitant and timid.

“It’s me, Nelle,” she said, spreading her hands palms out. “It’s me, darling.”

They walked toward each other without further words and embraced tightly backing away to inspect each other once more, then embracing again.

“I went to your granddad’s house first,” her mother said, her voice strained with emotion. “I didn’t know you were here or, or…” she stumbled over her words, as she pointed to Nelle’s belly. “Or any of this. I’m so sorry, to both of you. I’m so sorry,” she said, now looking at Christine. “And I’m proud of you, too,” she gulped, choking back tears. “All you’ve done.”

“Come inside. Come inside, Momma,” Nelle said, trying to gather herself after the shock. “I need to sit down.”

Maggie’s scrambled recounting of her reasons and actions were difficult to tell and harder for her girls to hear. She had never intended to stay away, but after she left, she didn’t know how to return. Finding her way back, she told them, proved as difficult as leaving.

Nelle and Christine heard her as adult women now, a story impossible to understand as children.

“I was afraid you didn’t want me back.” Her girls, she reminded them, were often the only thing that kept her going. “I thought about ending it so many times. But I couldn’t. I still had you. You girls were always my home, the only home I ever knew. I realized eventually that it’s not the end that’s so hard. It’s the middle part that’s difficult. I got trapped and stuck in a horrible middle that I thought would never end.”

“We want you, Momma. Please come back to us. We’ve always needed you,” Christine said, taking her mother’s hand. “Come back and live in the garage apartment. Nelle fixed it up so nice. Better than before. We’re going to have Thanksgiving and Mary Ellen is coming from Baton Rouge. We’ll be a family again. Like before. You have to stay with us now,” she pleaded.

Nelle nodded. “Help me with the baby. She’s going to need her grandmother.”

Maggie interrupted, “She? She? It’s a girl?”

Nelle answered, “Yes. It’s a girl.” She put her hand on her stomach and felt the baby move. “We’re going to call her Annie.” She reached for her mother’s hand and placed it on her belly. The baby kicked again. “Don’t let us lose you again, Momma.”

Maggie looked at her grown girls and marveled at the women they had become. She couldn’t believe she was going to be a grandmother and knew at that moment she had made it back in time, that she had been led to a crossroad and finally took the right turn.

“The road to home is short,” she said, sighing heavily, a tear spilling down her cheek. “It’s the detours that get in the way of taking us back to where we belong.”

“Well, Momma. It ends here,” Christine said, embracing her mother tightly.

Maggie held her hand out to Nelle and squeezed her hand. “What is that sign over your door, Nelle?” she asked. “I couldn’t quite make it out.”

“It says Cloud Nine, Momma. You’re at Cloud Nine,” she beamed, squeezing her hand in return. “We all are.”