Page 64 of Just (Fake) Married
I searched the faces of my audience. The teen girls nodded in understanding. Irma and the mayor seemed to buy it. Only Ida narrowed her eyes until she was squinting.
“Anyway, it all worked out in the end, now that we’re married.” I said. “Oh, and Mayor Gallup, I was thinking, given that we have a new event in the McGraw/Calloway timeline, maybe now would be the time to re-invest our focus into the Feud Day Festival.”
The festival wasn’t until April, but we needed months to plan if we were going to bring it back to its former glory. So we couldn’t start early enough.
“Seriously?” Marion asked. Given that Marion worked part time over at the historical museum in the municipality building, her interest made sense.
“What a great idea!” Mayor Gallup jumped in. “We could bring back the re-enactments with the actual McGraws and Calloways.”
“The one where Sheriff McGraw shot Esther Calloway in the chest for bootlegging whiskey from Canada?” Irma chimed in. “That one is my favorite.”
“No, my favorite is the one where the original Widow Calloway got shoved off the peak by Duncan McGraw because she refused to marry him. Only to survive, climb back up the peak, and push Duncan McGraw off the same peak,” Marion said, bouncing on her toes.
“She was hanged for that,” I reminded Marion.
“Yeah,” she laughed. “So gruesome.”
“I like the wedding,” Ida said, and we all stared at her. Ida Strunk liked the only sort of happy event in the Calloway/McGraw feud?
“She’s always had a thing for a man in uniform,” Irma said.
“And I like that she got to live her life on her own terms, after he died.”
“Because she was grieving and alone,” Irma cried. The twins were gathering heat for a real argument.
“Yes, yes,” the mayor agreed. “Now is the perfect time to recommit to our once celebrated festival.”
“Maybe you could reach out to the state,” I said to the mayor. “See if they could get someone from the Blue Ribbon committee to come down this year and check it out?”
“Hmmm. Well, we’ll have to think about that. I wouldn’t want to invite someone down unless we were sure we had everybody’s involvement.”
“What we need is a town meeting!” Ida announced. “We can appoint a Feud Day Festival committee who will oversee all activities.”
The girls nodded. “We’ll tell our parents,” they said.
“I’ll pick a date and put it on the community board,” the mayor said. “This is very exciting news. Very exciting!”
“A whole new chapter for the feud,” Marion said.
“Yeah,” Ida said. “Let’s hope this time you both live.”
The door opened again, only this time it was Mrs. McCormick who walked in and barreled right past everyone else to throw her arms around me. The Darryls were right behind her in their orange Carhartt jumpsuits.
“Honey,” Mrs. McCormick cried, clutching my neck. “You’ve gone and surprised us all, getting married to that handsome McGraw boy. You know, he was always my favorite of that family. So bright.”
“Dottie,” Mayor Gallup said. “We’re going to need to call together the town council to schedule an official meeting to discuss new plans for the Feud Day Festival.”
Mrs. McCormick clapped her hands with excitement and then reached for mine to squeeze them. “Harmony, do you think we can do it? Do you think we can get all the McGraws and Calloways to participate again? It will be just like old times!”
“No, Mrs. McCormick,” Marion said. “Like new times. Ethan McGraw and Harmony Calloway…the newest chapter in the Last Hope Gulch legend. It’s going to be epic.”
I smiled, feeling, for the first time, a little guilty that we were lying to everyone. I had to remind myself we were doing it for the right reasons.
“Yes!” I said with real enthusiasm. “It’s going to be epic.”
FIFTEEN
ETHAN
