The Sweetwater Belles had a formal ceremony to welcome Danielle Crossett into the club last Friday night, filling the opening left by the death of Charlotte Baker.
“Does that make you sad?” Cricket asked.
“Not one bit. I’m just glad they weren’t able to put me on a guilt trip like they tried to do when I refused to join in Mama’s place. And, speaking of the Belles, look at this one.” Jennie Sue pointed to the next headline.
BABY SHOWER GIVEN
The Sweetwater Belles hosted a baby shower for Belinda Anderson on Sunday afternoon. All twelve members were in attendance.
“I’ll give you a baby shower when the time comes,” Cricket said. “Think that might be anytime soon?”
“How about in seven and a half months?” Jennie Sue laid a hand on her flat stomach.
Cricket turned the page and then gasped. “What did you just say?”
“That I’m six weeks pregnant. Rick wanted to tell you the day I took the test, but I was afraid I’d jinx it until I saw the doctor and he confirmed it. We’ll be out of your house by the time the baby is born, so don’t worry about diapers and sleepless nights,” Jennie Sue told her.
Cricket grabbed her in a fierce hug. “Oh! My! Goodness. I’m so excited I can’t breathe.” She fanned herself with both hands. “This is the best Thanksgiving ever.”
“We’ve got so much to be thankful for, don’t we, sister?” Jennie Sue said.
“What was that about being thankful?” Rick, Lettie, and Nadine all pushed their way into the store.
“I’m going to be an aunt,” Cricket squealed.
Rick crossed the floor and kissed Jennie Sue. “And I’m going to be a dad, and this baby is going to have the best mama in the world.”
“Well, how about that?” Nadine grinned. “We are going to be grandmothers, Lettie.”
“I’ll start knitting a blanket next week.” Lettie fished two dollars from her purse and handed it to Nadine. “A week ago she said you were pregnant, and I told her she’d been listenin’ to the aliens in her sleep.”
Lettie clapped her hands like a little girl. “I’m so happy I could dance a jig, but my old knees would give out.”
“You ready now that we’ve dropped this bombshell on them?” Rick asked.
She put her hand in his. “It’s time, isn’t it?”
“If you are ready, but there’s no rush,” he said.
“Sure you don’t want us to go with you?” Lettie asked.
“No, I need to do this by myself,” she said. “Thanks for helping Cricket with the store today so Rick and I can have the day to ourselves once we get finished.”
“Honey, we’re glad to help,” Nadine said.
“Caddy or truck?” Jennie Sue asked when they were on the sidewalk in front of the store.
“Caddy—you’re carrying precious cargo, and it’s an easier ride,” he said.
She handed him the keys, and he opened the door for her. She fastened the seat belt and looked over her shoulder. Rick had carefully pulled the seat belts around the two silver urns so that they wouldn’t tip over. The tombstones had been in place for months, but Jennie Sue had procrastinated. She’d gone back and forth between burying them or combining the ashes and scattering them somewhere that had been special to them both. In the end she’d decided that burial was the best decision, and what better time to do that than right before Thanksgiving.
“It’s your last ride, Mama, and it seems fitting that it’s in your Caddy,” Jennie Sue whispered as Rick rounded the back of the car and got into the driver’s seat.
They were at the cemetery in only a few minutes. Rick helped her out and then handed her the urn with her mother’s ashes. He picked up Dill’s urn, and together they carried them to the two holes dug to the right depth for that kind of burial.
“One more time,” he said. “You’re sure this is what you want?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I want them to be here with Emily Grace so I can put flowers on their graves and remember them. I want to bring our children here and tell them about their sister and grandparents,” she said as she knelt down and put the urn inside the hole. “Rest in peace, Mama. You will always be beautiful in everyone’s memories.”
Rick handed her Dill’s urn next, and she did the same.
“See you later, Daddy.”
When she straightened up, Rick drew her close to his side, and then he worked his phone from the hip pocket of his jeans and laid it on Emily Grace’s tombstone. Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High on That Mountain” seemed to fit her feelings about Emily Grace and her parents better than any church song that she’d thought about playing that day.
Tears flowed when the lyrics said that their lives on Earth had been troubled, but she kept her eyes locked with his and found strength and happiness there. When the song ended, Rick put the phone back in his pocket. He turned to face her and took both her hands in his. They bowed their heads at the same time and said a silent prayer.
“Amen,” they whispered at exactly the same time and looked up at each other.
He pulled her toward him and whispered, “I’m the luckiest man in the whole world.”
“And I’m the luckiest woman. Let’s go home now and take a quilt to the creek,” she said without a single doubt about any of her decisions and so much peace in her heart that she knew she’d never have a single regret.
“That sounds like the perfect finish to this day.” He tipped her chin up and kissed away the tears.