Del heaved a sigh of relief when an ambulance topped the hill and rolled to a stop beside the Toyota while the deputies redirected the traffic that had backed up on the highway.
Just then, he heard Lily moan over the noise of the storm and activity surrounding them. He barely restrained himself from crushing her fragile body in his embrace, he was so relieved.
Epilogue
From her lounge chair positioned a safe distance from the bonfire, Lily sat beside Grace and watched with shared enjoyment as Maynard Goodwin approached their friend LuAnn and began a conversation. LuAnn smiled rather shyly at him, obviously attracted. Unable to hear what was being said, Lily still knew the moment Maynard confessed that he was the rodeo clown who had terrified LuAnn so badly. His handsome face was serious and his body language completely sincere as he offered his apology personally and reached for her hand.
LuAnn looked up at him and pulled back for a second with a shadow of fear in her eyes. Maynard smiled and said something, and she smiled back tentatively. When he reached for her hand again, she nodded and cautiously placed her hand in his capable grasp.
“Aww!” Grace said with a tremble in her voice. “I love a happy ending! I’m such a sap. I think I’m gonna cry.”
Lily leaned toward Grace as she watched them walk onto the portable dance floor and “Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan began to play. “If he’s a rodeo clown, how can this have a happy ending? Won’t that be…difficult?”
Grace giggled and replied, “Nope. Mayn is forty-five years old now. Being a rodeo clown is even more dangerous than being a bull rider. He didn’t just face one bull a night, he faced them all. He’s been really lucky, too. He retired from the rodeo circuit this winter. That charity rodeo he was at the night he and LuAnn met was his very last commitment. Not to change the subject or anything but I’m really glad things turned out the way they did. Any idea what you’re going to do about JT’s property?”
Since, technically, JT and Lily had still been man and wife and JT had left no will, Lily was responsible for the distribution of his property and wealth.
“I’m turning over ownership of the mechanic shop to Dirk, so he can do whatever he wants. The rest I’m donating to charity. Everything I wanted from my time in Durst I already have with me,” Lily said, looking over at her dad. Les Valentine sat in a lawn chair nearby, chatting with Jack Warner’s dad and Teresa’s father. It hurt her heart that his time with them was likely very short, but she was grateful he was there.
“And Tabitha?”
“Clay fired her.” Clay had decided to close the shop for the day because Tabitha’s employment had been immediately severed and the temping trio was on their way to Branson, Missouri, for a postholiday vacation. He’d wanted to stay home with her, and she hadn’t complained too much. “So, he has an opening if you know anyone looking for a job.”
Grace grinned and said, “That’s a plum job. I’ll ask around.”
Lily sighed happily as she and Grace watched LuAnn look up at Maynard the ex-rodeo clown. He pulled her gently into his embrace and swept her around the dance floor.
A little while later, Lily blew a kiss as she slipped away from her men after reassuring them that the ache in her head was barely noticeable. They might not understand, but there was no way she could sit still when Grace smiled at her from Ethan’s side by the dance floor and crooked her finger at her.
Lily’s arms rose above her head and pure, unadulterated joy flowed in her veins as Kelly Clarkson’s spirited vocals poured out of the speakers. The girls all hooted and joined her, forming a circle around her as she moved to the music of “Stronger.” She felt triumph in every beat in her heart.
It was JT’s choice to die in his folly, thinking he could take her out of Divine. She was in Divine, and Divine was in her. She was there to stay, and she planned to never leave again. The music flowed through her muscles, and she’d never felt stronger in her life. Sure she was injured, but she was a survivor. That chapter of her life was over, and she hooted in happiness with the other girls as the song came to an end. They closed in around her and hugged her and cheered for her.
The group parted suddenly on the dance floor. Lily turned and saw Clay and Del both walk toward her. She gasped when they both stopped and knelt on one knee.
One of the women gasped and another sobbed as Clay removed a white velvet ring box from his pocket. Both Clay and Del’s faces were intense with emotion. Clay’s playful green-gold eyes and Del’s soulful gray-green eyes smoldered with love and desire for her. Clay opened the box to show her the ring, and they each held out a work-roughened hand to her.