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“We’re here to get married, Hope… or I guess renew our vows, either way. I just want the memory of you becoming my wife fresh in my mind and I’m going to cherish it.
“Aden—”
“And this time, when I make you my wife, I’m never going to forget.”
forty-nine
ida sue
15 minutes earlier
“I’m looking for my niece, Hope,” I demand, bursting into my sister Edna’s old motel. It looks good. Looks better than it did when my sister ran it, if I’m honest. Little Hope has done really good, even if she did get herself in a bit of a pickle.
“I’m afraid she’s not here.”
“Where is she?” I ask, admiring the sugar skulls that the clerk has tattooed up and down her arms. They’re a mixture of reds, blacks and pinks. It kind of matches her hair. You have to admire a girl who commits to matching and accessorizing. I wonder if she’s single. My Blue needs a girl to bring some color into his life.
“She went to the courthouse,” the woman answers.
“The courthouse?” White growls, from behind me. “Aden is having her arrested?”
When White told me what kind of mess little Hope had gotten herself into, I knew I had to come up here. I’m all she has left. My brother—God rest his soul—loved his girls, but he did them no favors saddling them with the mother they had. Charity is pretty grounded and escaped without too much damage, but Hope and Faith were younger and their mother chewed them up and spit them out. Hope struggled, but having Jack helped her. Faith is still completely lost. Edna thought giving the motel to Hope would give her a sense of belonging and put her and little Jack on solid ground. Faith… has a trust set aside, but she can’t touch it until she gets married. If she got it now, the poor girl would just waste it. She has zero direction. If she wasn’t so sweet, I’d be worried her mother’s blood had tainted her.
“Arrested? No. He’s taking her there as a surprise!”
“What kind of a surprise? The kind that involves handcuffs?” White growls. “Let’s go Mom, I told you we should have come here sooner,” he says, already acting like a wet hornet out for revenge. That’s the problem with my boys, all of them really. They shoot first and then look surprised when it’s their own foot they’ve shot off.
“Well, it doesn’t involve handcuffs… unless they’re into that kind of thing later I guess. I don’t know them well enough. He took her down to the courthouse to renew their wedding vows.
“Renew their wedding vows?!?!?”
This rather shrewish cry comes from a woman who just came through the front door. She’s a tall, slim woman with perfect hair, makeup, and nails. She’s wearing a designer outfit that is more fit for Milan fashion shows than Clancy, Idaho. She even has on black gloves and dark sunglasses—despite the fact it’s cloudy and looks like the sky may open up and rain buckets at any moment. She’s wearing a large brimmed black hat too.
I’m a pretty good judge of character and I think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t let this woman walk in my yard without getting out my rifle… I look down at her shoes and frown. Well, I might let her walk through the yard in those heels just to see what happens when she steps in one of Hamburger’s presents—Hamburger being my pet cow who leaves his patties anywhere he wants—and usually in the first place you go to step.
“Aden is getting married?” This comes from White’s buddy, Gavin. I recognize him and Casey right away, behind him is a long, tall, cool drink of water, with skin like milk chocolate. I always did have a sweet tooth. I might be old, but I still like looking—figure I always will.
“Well kind of, it’s a renewal… they’re at the courthouse in town,” the woman says, starting to look worried. I know the feeling, because I’m starting to get worried about my little Hope. There are too many vultures in this room and the scariest one is wearing a black hat. A woman like that could chew up and spit out my girl.
Everyone leaves the lobby at once. Casey leads the way, with Gavin and mystery man on her heels. I grin as she somehow manages to push back against the woman—the one I don’t like— and make sure they all get out in front of her. The lady lands on her ass and White and I go around her, quickly.
White piles into his truck and I’m right there with him.
It looks like this might be a race to the courthouse. Nice to see that my niece keeps things lively—just like my own kids.
I’m not sure I could deal with boring limbs in my family tree.
