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“Just know we’ll probably leave for a little while so Mia can feed Everly, but then we’ll be back,” Austin told them. “Who knew this would be so hard?”
It was wild to see his big, strong older brother like this, but he kept the observation to himself.
For a few hours, everyone ate and drank while the kids played. There was music playing and if Jackson closed his eyes, it had all the sounds and smells of his childhood. Looking up to the sky, he smiled and thought,“Thanks, Dad,”for giving them all a chance to relive a precious time in their lives.
When dessert came out, he was standing and talking with Hunter Jones, who was a firefighter here in Magnolia, about the qualifications for joining the company.
“There’s a bit of a lengthy process,” Hunter explained. “First, there’s an application you need to fill out online, followed by a written aptitude test. After that, there’s a physical agility test and a face-to-face interview. Then there’s the contingent offer phase, the offer of employment, and then the training academy and probationary period. It sounds like a lot, but it can go pretty fast. Are you interested?”
“I kind of think I am,” Jackson said and then laughed. “That didn’t sound even a little confident, did it?”
Hunter laughed with him. “Not entirely, no.”
“You know my situation. I enjoy having a physical job and I just always thought I’d end up coming home and doing construction, but…I don’t think that’s what I’m passionate about. So I’m sort of thinking outside the box I put myself in and seeing what else is out there.”
“If you ever want to come down to the station and talk about it, just let me know.” Then he nodded to Jackson’s knee. “And you’ll need to get clearance from your doctor first. No one wants you to mess that up again.”
He nodded, even though he would hate the thought of this being the thing that kept him from finding a career he loved. “So, what about you? How’s everyone doing?”
Smiling, Hunter motioned to his wife and kids who were sitting at the table near where the beanbag toss games were set up. “Vi is doing great. Her travel business has grown so much that she’s taken on a couple of independent agents to help her out.”
“That’s awesome!”
“Eli’s in the third grade and wants to play every damn sport the town offers. It’s exhausting.”
“I’ll bet. And what about Silas and…sorry, I’ve been gone and there are so many kids in this family…”
“Mila,” Hunter told him with a serene smile. “Silas is three and loves to try to do whatever Eli is doing and thankfully Mila is only six months and more than content to sit in her stroller and watch it all. Although, between you and me, I think she’s going to have her brothers wrapped around her finger just like Scarlett had us.”
“That’s not such a bad thing. You know they’ll always look out for her.”
Hunter chuckled. “Sure. Ask Scarlett how she felt about that.”
They chatted for a few more minutes before Georgia called out from her perch on the deck to get everyone’s attention. The music faded and everyone turned to face her.
“I want to thank everyone for coming out today to honor the memory of our cousin Cash. Some of you didn’t really know him, but we sincerely appreciate that you’re here to support those of us who knew and loved him,” she began. “Susannah and I had the honor of spending time with him before his passing and he was very emphatic about a few things. First, he wanted to throw the kind of family get-together that our grandfather Ezekiel loved to throw. So I hope for those of you who remember those days, that we got it right.”
Looking around, everyone nodded.
Susannah spoke next. “Next, he said he didn’t want the kind of ceremony where people got up and waxed poetic over him. Mainly because he said they’d mostly be lying because there wasn’t a lot of good to share.”
Fortunately, everyone laughed at that.
“However,” she went on, “he hoped that most of you had fond memories of him that you might want to share with Austin, Garrett, Jackson, and Savannah. He hated not leaving a better legacy for them and hoped when they thought about him, they’d think of this day.”
Jackson shared a look with his brothers as he held Savannah close.
“And lastly,” Georgia said, “there was a very specific request he made that took all the planets aligning to make happen, but we were able to do it. I’d like to personally thank Mason, Colton, Dominic, and Tommy Flynn for all of their help in making this possible. Tonight at nine, there will be a fireworks show—the likes of which we haven’t seen in probably more than a dozen years.” She smiled and looked down at Jackson and his brothers specifically. “More than anything, he wanted to leave you with a memory from your childhood that you all enjoyed together with him.”
“Oh my goodness,” Savannah whispered from beside him.
“What? What’s the matter?”
“He said that to me.”
“When?”
“In the hospital. The day before he died, he said told me to stay for the fireworks,” she told him. “I thought it was an odd thing for him to say, but I agreed because it seemed to mean so much to him.”
