*
The Pharaoh brothers arrived right after breakfast with the backhoe to dig Stanton’s grave, but they also came prepared with pickaxes, should the need arise. Sometimes mountains were more rock than dirt.
Leigh’s heart skipped a beat when she saw them coming. One more step toward making Stanton’s absence horribly final.
“Want me to do this?” Bowie asked.
“No, but thank you,” she said, then stuffed a tissue in her jeans pocket and went out the back door, past Talia, who was sitting in the porch swing.
“Where you goin’, Mama?” Jesse yelled, as Leigh walked past the garden.
“To the cemetery,” she said. “You keep picking the berries, okay?”
“Okay, Mama. Picking berries,” he said.
Talia saw the stiff set to Leigh’s shoulders and the fact that her hands were curled into fists, and looked away.
Bowie came out carrying a glass of cold water and handed it to her.
“Drink up, honey. It’s already getting hot out.”
She took a big drink and then cradled the glass between her hands as condensation began to coat the outside of it. “I feel so sad for what’s happening.”
“We all do,” he said, and then eased down on to the swing beside her. “I have news,” he said.
“Is it good?” she asked.
“Yes, very.”
“Then tell me.”
“I’ve been offered an onshore job by my company. Supply engineer. It’s coordinating what both offshore and dry land rigs need, and then facilitating getting the goods to them. I have the experience. The pay is good, the hours are regular, and I’ll be based in New Orleans and home every night.”
“Oh, Bowie! This is wonderful!”
Her delight and excitement were evident on her face.
“It’s going to be a new start for both of us,” he said.
“Do you have a deadline for when you have to be there?” she asked.
“Within the next two weeks. We’ll be here for the funeral and still have time to do some house hunting before I start work.”
“Rather than rush the house hunting, why don’t we just settle into an apartment, preferably with a short lease, and then take our time finding a permanent home?”
Bowie grinned. “You wouldn’t mind that?”
She threw her arms around his neck.
“I don’t care where we are, as long as we’re together, remember?” she said, and kissed him, then didn’t turn loose.
The kiss went longer and grew more heated until Bowie stopped with a groan.
“You might want this, but you can’t have it, and neither can I,” he said. “Just get well.”
“We could pretend.”
He laughed.
“We moved way past that stage when you turned sixteen.”
“I’ve been missing you for so long,” she said.
It was the quiet tone of her voice that made him look closer.
“What’s wrong?”
She hesitated for a moment before she answered.
“I guess I’m afraid this is all too good to be true. I wanted this for so long and thought it was lost to me. Getting you back, and with the dream, seems too good to be true.”
Bowie hated the fear he heard in her voice. “What dream are you talking about, baby?”
“The one where we live happily ever after.”
Bowie took her hands and held them against his chest.
“What do you feel?” he asked.
She shrugged, uncertain what he meant. “I feel you.”
“What else?” he asked.
“How soft your T-shirt is and how hard your muscles are.”
“What else?” he asked again.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said.
He held her hands tighter against him. “Close your eyes, then tell me what you feel.”
He waited.
Suddenly her eyes were open and she was smiling.
“Your heartbeat. I feel your heartbeat.”
“As long as my heart beats, it beats for you. We aren’t going to be happy. We already are. Even in the middle of such sadness and uncertainty, we already have each other. Now, no more fear about our future. We’re good to go, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Love you,” he said softly.
“Love you more.”
“Well, I know that. You have to,” Bowie said.
Talia laughed. “Why do I have to love you more?”
He stood.
“Because there’s so much more of me to love,” he said, and blew her a kiss as he headed for the garden to check on Jesse.
She was still smiling when he started tilling the ground between the rows of sweet corn.
A short while later Leigh came back to the house, then stopped at the porch swing and held out her hand.
“Come inside with me where it’s cool, honey. The day is already way too hot.”
Talia eased herself up and went inside. Only after the cool air hit her did she realize how good it felt. “Can I help you do anything?” she asked.
Leigh looked pale and shaken. Watching them dig her husband’s grave had been gutting.