“But I was too late.”
His wife places a hand on his arm.
The man I know now as my grandfather flares his nostrils and purses his lips. “You don’t go from being dirt poor to becoming rich overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and years. Through my uncles and aunts who were still living in Texas, I found out Lore married not long after her eighteenth birthday.”
“Oh, no,” I say.
“I was too late.” Mr. Blanchard’s green eyes turn dark. “The only thing that kept me going was my determination to prove her father wrong. Come hell or high water, I was going to make something out of myself… even if I couldn’t be with my girl. Going after a married woman wasn’t a consideration. Even after Momma’s death, Dad was faithful to his deceased wife’s memory. He always taught me marriage was sacred.” Mr. Blanchard sighs. “When word got to me that Lore was pregnant, I had to accept the finality of it. My love belonged to another man… so, I married and moved on with my life.” His unflurried demeanor slips, and something resembling pain shines through.
This is a hell of a sad story.“How did the two of you reconnect?”
He and his wife exchange a complicit look.
“Four years ago, I was invited to the lavish wedding of the grandson of a business associate of mine in Austin,” Mr. Blanchard says. “I was talking to the father of the bride when a woman standing next to me called out,‘Why Loretta Lynn Jones, is that you?’My heart lurched out of my chest. I turned around, and when my eyes locked onto hers, I stopped breathing just like the first time I saw her in the stable right before she was about to go for a horseback ride. She was still a gorgeous angel.Mygorgeous angel.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “Talk about being in the right place at the right time.”
“Serendipity––and a good old-fashioned, rowdy Texan wedding––gave us our second chance,” Mr. Blanchard says. “We were both divorced. I wasn’t going to waste precious time. I asked her to marry me just three short weeks after finding her again.”
“And I said yes.” Mrs. Blanchard smiles wide and flashes me her blinding wedding ring.
“After the wedding, we moved to Summerville to start a new life together,” Mr. Blanchard says.
“That’s an incredible story,” I say.
“I always knew it was meant to be,” Mrs. Blanchard says. “My father separated us, but fate brought us back together.”
“That’s what you call divine intervention,” I say.
“Iwasgood enough for my Lore. Always have been. So many years wasted… I can’t make up for lost time, but every morning I wake up, my goal is to let this beautiful woman know I never stopped loving her.”
“And you do it so well.” Mrs. Blanchard smiles at her husband. “But you’re right, my father forced us both into loveless marriages that both ended in divorce.”
“But now, you’re happily married,” I say.
Mr. Blanchard brings his wife’s hand to his lips and kisses it. “We are.”
“And just when we thought life couldn’t get any better, we reunite with you, Rhett,” Mrs. Blanchard says.
Mr. Blanchard leans into the table. “Along with Carina and her family, you have us now,” he says. “And you have aunts, uncles, and lots of cousins––on both sides––right here in the Lone Star State.”
This is a lot to take in.
“You come from good Texan stock, grandson.” He winks.
Grandson… I never thought anyone would ever call me that.
“You’re a Blanchard, Rhett,” Mr. Blanchard says.
Mrs. Blanchard reaches out for my hand. “And a Jones, grandson.”
I hit my chest with a closed fist to dislodge the ball of emotions choking me.
I went from being twice orphaned to being part of two large families.
Holy shit doesn’t come close.
Epilogue
