Diedre blows out a long breath, her bangs ruffle and she shakes her head. “If I ever had a man look at me the way Gavin looks at you, I’d marry him in a second.”
The kitchen goes dead silent as Gran and I stare at Diedre, because…Tom.
In fact, he’s looking at her that way right now. Diedre shakes her head, her hair falling over her shoulders, her tiny checkered dress barely covering her butt. “You have no idea. These online duds, they string me along, they just want to do the nasty, they don’t care about who I am, or what I think, or that all I want is a little house, a backyard for a dog and some kids, and a man who will be there whenever I need a shoulder to lean on. And if I could ever find a man like that—”
“Diedre. Get in the truck. We’re going to Charleston.”
We all start when Big Tom says this.
Diedre puts her hands on her hips. “What the heck are you talking about? Why would I go to Charleston?”
Big Tom points at Diedre, then he points at himself, and says in a gruff Scottish accent, “You. Me. We’re going to the courthouse to get married.”
A slow, sly smile spreads over Diedre’s face and I get the distinct feeling that she’s actually known all these years that Tom has loved her. “Are you saying you want to marry me?”
He smiles and shakes his head. “No, you daft woman. I’m saying I love you.”
She grins. “About time. What took you so long?”
He narrows his eyes on her, steps forward, then picks her up and throws her over his shoulder. Diedre laughs then beats on his back. “Hey! Man oaf, put me down!”
He shakes his head. “No.”
She cranes her neck, looks back at us and winks.
Tom carries her from the kitchen and the front door slams behind them.
Gran makes a noise of approval. “Now that’s how a man does it.”
I grin at her and shake my head. I’m happy for them, really happy.
“Now it’s your turn.” Gran gestures at the front door. “Pack up. Get the kids. Go after your husband.”
I trace my hand along the edge of the cast iron pot. “Gran, we aren’t actually married. Remember?”
She gives me a shocked look and plasters her hand to her head, looking frail and weak. “What? You aren’t? Well I’ll be! I plum forgot. Oh no, oh no, this old lady’ll die of shock if you don’t go out and fix this mess. You’ve been living in sin. You may have a child out of wedlock, oh dear—”
“Gran. Cut the bull.”
She gives me a wicked smile. “Thought I’d try.”
“Uh huh.” I cross my arms over my chest and frown at her. “You’ll never be able to play the frail old lady act on me. The day you get old is the day pigs fly.”
She nods. “That’s true. The only people that get old are the ones that are born old. Luckily, I was born young and I plan on staying that way my whole life.”
I step forward quickly and wrap her in a hug. Her elbows poke me, and she smells like Grandpa’s tobacco.
She hums and then says, “You’ve come to your senses?”
I step back and give her a firm nod. “Sure have.”
I glance over at the windowsill above the kitchen sink. The glass flower Gavin made me shines in the spray of sunshine coming through the window. Gran was right. For years I’ve been closed up. It happened even before Bobby, although no one noticed but me. It happened when I lost my dad and then my mom and I just kept closing tighter and tighter. But since Gavin I’m as open as the flower he made me.
I can’t go back to being closed up again. When you’re shut down tight you can’t get hurt, but you also can’t get love.
It looks like I’m finally, finally going to leave this mountain.