Page 35 of The Sheriff's Mistletoe Bride
Ally lowered her hand.“Thank you.I’ll keep it safe and then when I leave this world, it will come back to your children.Full circle.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Did you havefun?Weren’t the horses amazing?I wish I could have gone with you.”Ally was bombarded with Jillie’s questions and comments about her day with the horses.But the truth wasn’t to be shared.At least not yet.She and Cade agreed it would be told when Ally was ready for it and that would be when she was ready to leave.
“We need to concentrate on the festival.And if you don’t hurry and get into costume, we’ll be late,” Ally reminded her, gathering up the bags of items she needed to take and then packing the cookies and pastries the class would sell.She wanted it all to go well as Tori was counting on her to do her job in her absence, and she wanted to make Jillie proud, as well as Matt and so many others.That was the time the phone had to ring.She answered it and her day just got worse.The music teacher had a stomach virus, and she needed someone to get the choir on stage and set and lead them.Ally had mentioned her experience with the church children’s choir, and she could sing in tune.She had been to almost every rehearsal with Jillie…so the teacher begged her to do it.And the word no was something she needed to practice using more but it never was uttered.Now the clock was really ticking.
There was controlled chaos backstage when they arrived.The choir had to be rounded up and nerves settled.Jillie had to get into costume.And the cookies needed to be delivered to the classroom.Matt sent a text that he was running late and was stuck at the office.Tori had yet to arrive with the baby and Ally knew that panic was not an option.She stepped in and began giving directions to those waiting for guidance.And the time struck the hour and the curtain was going up.
Ally had to hide her own nerves and pretend with a big smile.Somehow it worked.It all went by in a blur.The audience laughed during the parody of the first Thanksgiving dinner when they should, the songs went together and in tune, and the Fall Fest was kicked off in grand style.The applause was great.And when her name was called, she walked out from behind the curtain to be presented with a bouquet on behalf of the school along with two others and she was touched by their heartfelt thanks.And she caught sight of Tori giving her a thumbs-up in the audience and next to her was Cade smiling and clapping and then there was Matt.He was clapping harder than the rest and the smile he sent her was meant just for her.In that moment, she felt an incredible joy unlike anything she had known before.She belonged.What she felt she had lost in New York when Annie died, she had found in Destiny’s River.How would she ever belong to any other place?But she kept the smile from fading as she walked offstage and then hugs came from the kids and a huge one from Jillie.
“You are the best ever, Miss Ally,” the little girl said with a huge grin.“I was scared but I remembered what you said about the audience, and I just was able to do my part.I’m so glad you came here.”
“That makes two of us.”The voice belonged to a beaming Matt, and he joined them with some flowers for Jillie, and three roses for Ally to add to her bouquet-filled arms.“Congratulations!I hear word in the hall that they can’t wait to see what you do next year.”
Ally couldn’t speak and luckily, she didn’t have to do so.Tori came up and grabbed her into a hug.“I knew you could handle this.Way to go.”
“Did you bring some of those pecan fudge things that I love?”Cade grinned and asked his most important question.Tori jabbed his arm.
“Go check out the classroom…and leave a big donation for all that you already ate while she made them,” his wife reminded him.
“So, this is the amazing, talented, gifted, and beautiful Ally Jones,” said a woman who stood with Tori.Ally had no idea who she was.Maybe someone who had come with Matt?She remembered seeing her standing next to him in the audience at the end.
The woman stuck out her hand and Ally automatically shook it.“I usually hug but since we haven’t been introduced by any of these people standing here, I will shake hands.I’m the brilliant one of the family…Cassie Parker Connors.My husband and I just got back into town and he and my daughter, Emmie, are around here someplace.You’ll meet them later.”
“Did she say brilliant?”Matt leaned over and asked Tori, who looked as mystified as he did.
“She was out in that sun too long on the West Coast,” Tori responded in kind.“Perhaps too much smog in the air, too.”
“Don’t pay attention to them,” Cassie noted with an arched look in their direction.“They’ve always been jealous.”She hooked her arm through Ally’s, and she handed the flowers over to Matt.“Make yourself useful, little brother.Hold on to these.Ally and I are going to get acquainted while she takes me to where these amazing pastries are that I have heard so much about.Lead on, Ally.”
*
“Aunt Cassie!”Jillieleft the table of cookies and launched herself into her aunt’s arms.“I missed you!Where’s Emmie?”
“I bet they’re at the dunking booth trying to get the principal soaked, if I know them.”Jillie gave her one more hug and left them in a whirl.
“So, what do you think of my brother and his little girl?”Cassie asked, her expression matching the sincerity of her question, while she bit into a sugar cookie decked out as a turkey with different-colored feathers.“Pretty cool, aren’t they?And this cookie is amazing.So, what do you think of them?”
Ally could only stand in amazement at the rapid-fire way the woman’s mind worked.She had heard that she was a special agent for law enforcement or some such, but she certainly had down the ability to interrogate and confuse.
“Cool, amazing, funny, adorable, and too generous.”
“Which describes which of them?”
“You’re a super sleuth, aren’t you?You tell me.”She bit into her own cookie.
“I knew I liked you.The moment I saw that save where the turkey was losing his tail feather into the fan that cooled the choir and then it tipped toward the piano, but you grabbed the feathers and used that sneaky move with your foot to anchor the fan throughout that entire song.Great balance.”
“Thank you, I think.”Ally smiled.“You do see more than most.”
“That’s why I’m brilliant.But I let the others think they’re special, too.”They both shared a laugh and that’s when she and Matt’s other sister became friends.
“I like her,” Cassie pronounced with a nod of her head in Ally’s direction as the rest of the family gathered.“She can keep up with me.Unlike some in my own family.”
“Jillie is with your bunch, and we need to get home to our son who is being watched over by Mrs.James and her husband.Joey was sleeping when it came time to dress, so we took advantage of the grandmother of ten who begged to watch him.But we miss him.Great going, Ally.Rest tomorrow and then we begin…ratheryoubegin…to be roped into the Christmas Tree Celebration and all that entails… Good luck!”And she was gone before Ally could question her words.
“Funny how that works, isn’t it?I felt that same shove in my backside when I moved back here and got married.I think a death certificate is the only way you get out of it.Or joining the army or some such.But we need to run too and unpack.I’ll be seeing you soon!”She left after them.
