The Strawberry Hearts Diner(97)
Vicky jerked her head up so fast that it made her dizzy. “I don’t know, but I need to get them out of my mind. What did you mean, like grandma?”
“Thelma Jane Green was the piano player at church from the time she was thirteen. Leonard’s mama had been before that, but she died and Thelma had a right good ear for music, so she offered. Now put a girl like that with a boy that was twice as bad as Ryder.”
“My daddy?” Vicky frowned.
“Was your dad and he could do no wrong. But before he got that title, he was the worst womanizer in Henderson and Anderson Counties. Your mama fell hard for him, and your grandma, God love her soul, couldn’t do a dang thing to change her mind,” Nettie said.
“Go on,” Vicky said.
“That’s all, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn that your grandma was attracted to the same kind of man. You know”—Nettie lowered her voice—“that your great-grandma and grandpa made moonshine here in Pick during the Prohibition days.”
“I heard that before. I hope that this baby is a boy.”
“Will he be a bad boy?” Nettie giggled.
Emily knocked on the door. “Who’s a bad boy? Can I join this party, or is it a private one?”
“Ryder is a bad boy, and you are welcome to come in. I hope your baby is a boy. Did y’all have a good swim?” Vicky patted the bed beside her.
Emily crawled up beside her mother and laid her head in her lap. “We sure did. The water was nice and cool. I hope this one is a boy, too, Mama. I want two boys and then a girl.”
“Three is a big family in today’s world.” Vicky combed Emily’s long blonde hair back away from her face with her fingers.
“Hey!” Jancy poked her head in the door. “All right if I have first turn in the bathtub tonight?”
“Come on in and join us first,” Emily said. “There’s room beside Nettie.”
“You sure?” Jancy asked.
Nettie patted the pillows. “Saved this spot for you. You are positively glowin’, girl. What has happened?”
“I told Shane all of it and be hanged if he didn’t already know about the probation thing. It was on my record when he applied for a car title for that burned-out wreck.” She grinned. “And he’s fine with it and I told him that I love him. Good grief, I’m rambling.”
“Savor the moment,” Emily said.
“I love this feeling, Nettie,” Jancy said.
“Hey, this is Pick, Texas. It’s a magical place where only good things happen,” Emily said.
“That’s just rainbows and unicorns talking,” Vicky told her.
“But they’re my pretty rainbows and my pink unicorns with glitter on their horns,” Emily said.
Nettie chuckled. “For tonight y’all all can float around in the pretty fluffy clouds, but keep one foot on the ground and set firm in reality, because life is not all rainbows and unicorn farts. It’s got pain as well as joy. Remember that.”
“Will do,” Vicky, Jancy, and Emily said in unison.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
On Thursday night, their last night before the wedding preparations the next day, the four of them went to the mall in Tyler for some last-minute honeymoon items for Emily. Sarah had begged for a bridal shower and a bachelorette party, but Emily had promptly put an end to both ideas.
Music from a carousel greeted them when the two guys pushed open the doors into the mall. “Let’s ride the horses,” Emily yelled over the music.
“Are you serious? Aren’t we too tall?” Jancy was doing all kinds of things for the first time and loving every minute of it.
“Never.” Shane grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the carousel. He gave the man the money for four to ride. “Pick your pony, darlin’.”
She chose one with gold reins and a sidesaddle. Shane put a hand on each side of her waist, picked her up, and set her on the horse. She loved that flash of heat when he touched her, even in the most innocent ways. He slung a leg over the black horse right beside her and reached for her hand.
When the ride ended and Shane had helped her off the horse, Jancy bumped her hip against Shane’s. “Thank you. That was my first ever carousel ride.”
“It wasn’t m-my first, but it was the best one ever,” he said.
Emily and Ryder joined them, and she pointed toward a cotton candy kiosk. “I’ve been craving that stuff. Let’s share a big cone. After that I want to go to the food court and get a fat dill pickle, and then I’ll be ready to go to Victoria’s Secret.”
“I’ll buy two, because one won’t go around among four of us,” Ryder said. “Bag or cone for y’all, Shane?”