“Sure is nice to see the whole family here.” Roxie smiled up at him.
“Yep, it is,” Claud agreed. “You’d think sixty years was a big thing.”
“It is a big thing,” Roxie told him, “and I deserve a medal for living with you all these years.”
“You deserve a medal? What about me?” Claud’s voice went all high and squeaky. “Honey, if it wasn’t for your cookin’, I might have drowned myself in the Red River years ago.”
“Well, damn it.” Roxie’s blue eyes twinkled. “I would have burned the biscuits that whole first year if I’d known that.”
“If I can’t cuss in church, then you can’t either.” Claud guided her through the people toward Marilyn and Sarah, their other granddaughters.
Will thought that Darla was absolutely stunning in her cute little purple dress that barely touched her knees. Her long blonde hair floated down her back like a waterfall, and her clear blue eyes mesmerized him, just like they had from the first day he met her.
“I hope that someday we’ll have a sixty-year anniversary party right here in this same place, and that we can still tease each other like your grandparents do,” Will whispered. “I love you so much, darlin’.”
“Love you too.” Darla really did love Will, but…
There are no buts in real love, the pesky voice in her head scolded.
Chapter 2
I love Will, Darla protested. He is sweet and romantic and never forgets our special days. He’s downright sexy with all that dark hair and green eyes. And more important than all that, he loves me.
As if to prove her thoughts were right, Will hugged her to his side and planted a kiss on her forehead. She looked over his shoulder and saw Andy Miller coming through the door with his grandmother. He could sweet-talk the granny panties right off a holy woman. His blond hair was tied back in a ponytail with a strip of leather, and he wore tight-fitting jeans that stopped at his ankles and a shirt that stretched over his chest like a paint job without a single run. He said he loved her and wanted her to go back to California with him when he left in a week. She wasn’t sure that he loved anyone but himself, so why was she drawn to him like a fly to a cow patty?
Claud called out to her from across the room and pointed to the lady taking photos. “We need you to be in the family picture. Bring Will with you. He’ll be part of the family by the time Roxie picks out which one she wants to hang above the mantel.”
Did Will being in the picture seal the deal on what she should or could do? Would she ever get over the way that Andy made her heart do those crazy quivering things? Will took her hand and led her across the room. Everyone turned to watch the photographer do her work, and Darla felt like she was lying to God right there in the fellowship hall.
Roxie and Claud sat side by side on a fancy high-backed velvet settee with carved wood on the front of the arms. Granny looked like a queen, but something that Kevin, Darla’s father, had said once about his dad came to mind.
“You can take the boy out of the cornfield or the wildlife refuge, but you can’t ever take the cornfield out of the boy. We could put a four-thousand-dollar suit on Dad, and in five minutes, he would look like he had just walked across a plowed field.” Her dad had chuckled when he said it.
“Kevin, you and Gloria stand right behind them,” the photographer said. “Marilyn, you and Derrick go beside your mother, and Sarah, you and Bryan stand beside your father.”
Once they were in place, the lady said, “Now, Will and Darla will sit on the floor in front of Roxie and Claud. Marilyn’s two boys will sit beside Will, then Sarah’s girls can take their place by Darla. That’s perfect. Pretty girls on one side. Handsome boys on the other.”
“Maybe we’ll have a baby to hold in our laps for the next family picture,” Will whispered and slid a sly wink toward Darla.
Darla wasn’t sure she was ready for a baby in only a year. She glanced across the room and locked eyes with Andy, who flashed a brilliant smile. Unless he’d changed drastically over the last seven years, he was way too self-centered to ever want children.
The Marshall girls had always been more alike than just their tall height, their blonde hair and blue eyes. All three of them had been good girls who had been valedictorians of their senior classes in Tishomingo and had graduated from college with honors. Maybe it’s time you broke the mold, Darla’s inner voice whispered, and did something crazy.
I could never just walk off and leave my job and my students like that. She almost shook her head, but remembered that she was sitting for pictures. It would break my daddy’s and mama’s hearts as well as Granny’s. I’m a kindergarten teacher. Boring as that might be, it’s who I am.
The photographer took half a dozen pictures and said, “Now we’ll take individual shots of Roxie and Claud, then of each family, and finally one of Will and Darla. That way our anniversary couple will have new pictures of all of you.”
Roxie would never forgive Darla if she ran away after all this. When Darla dated Andy in high school, Roxie had told her repeatedly that he was going to break her heart, and she had been right.
Darla pasted on her best smile when it was her and Will’s turn to sit on the settee for their pictures and decided that she had to be up-front and honest with her grandmother about how she was feeling.
Tomorrow.
She and Granny would talk about it after Sunday dinner the next day while Gramps had his Sunday afternoon nap. She was still deep in thought when Will stood up and extended a hand. Her heart told her that this was the man she should spend the rest of her life with, but suddenly Andy was right there, not three feet away from them.
“Hello, Will.” Andy stuck out his hand. “I don’t think we’ve ever met. Darla and I graduated together from good old Tish High seven years ago. We were quite the item back then.”
Will shook hands with him. “She told me that she had dated you when y’all were young. Pleased to finally put a face with the name. Have you moved back to Tishomingo? I’m in the real estate business. If you’re in market to buy a place, I could help you out.”
That was Darla’s Will—always ready to help someone out, even her old flame from the past.
“His grandmother told Granny that he’s just here for a visit, so I doubt that he’s interested in staying around these parts.”
“I’ll only be here another week, but it’s good to see you, Darla, and meet you, Will.” Andy flashed one of those brilliant smiles. “We’ll probably run into each other again. Maybe in church tomorrow morning?”
“Probably not,” Will said. “I have to be in Mannsville at nine thirty to show a home. I usually don’t work on Sunday, but it can’t be helped this weekend.”
“Will you be there?” Andy locked eyes with Darla.
“Right beside my granny and the rest of the family. She asked that we all line up with her on her pew at church tomorrow as her anniversary gift from us.” Darla felt like she was babbling, but she didn’t have the power to stop. “We couldn’t disappoint her. After all, sixty years is a long time to be married.”
“My grandmother sits on the pew behind her, so I guess I’ll see you there. Don’t know that I could ever stay with one woman for the rest of my life.” He did a mock shiver. “There’s only one lady I can think of that I could manage to do that with, but she’s already off the market. Hey, you want to come to dinner with the two of us and talk about old times after church?” Andy asked.