Selena
was still struggling with adjusting to her new role as lady of Herlin Hall
while maintaining her sovereignty as an independent working woman. She really
loved her job and she had no intention of leaving it, but Miss Emery took every
opportunity to remind her how improper it was for her to work when she should
be giving her grand babies. Selena couldn’t wait until Lenora got married and
started popping out kids so that maybe the old woman would get off her back.
There was a part of Selena that wished Rhodes would give the whole operation
over to Lorena and Locke when they were married. She knew that he would be much
happier doing something other than running the farm and Lorena had her eyes on
the place. Of course, old fashioned Miss Emery would probably never hear of
such a thing.
Selena had been thinking that if she
were to get Rhodes to move away from Putnam County that she might like to work
for a non-profit in a larger city doing education based work. The work she did
now was all fine and well and good, but she wanted a job that had a bit more of
a feel good aspect to it. Maybe something involving literacy and writing. There
had been a point when Selena had been quite a talented writer. She might like
to teach creative writing to kids in impoverished schools. Of course there was
nothing to say she couldn’t do that in Putnam County, she supposed. If Miss
Emery were to get what she wanted and Selena were to quit her job that is what
she would do. She would volunteer in the schools as a creative writing coach,
although she wasn’t altogether certain if there was much of a need for that
sort of a thing. There had to be a desire. Kids like to be creative and there’s
never enough time for that sort of thing. It would be an afterschool program.
She would go once a week and lead a workshop. When she had some downtime on her
drive to and from work, she had been giving this idea a lot of thought. She
could make it work. It would be a lot of fun for her and the kids. It wasn’t
that she hated kids, she just didn’t want any of her own.
Stella on the other hand really did
want her own children. She had been thinking about that quite a bit since the
blowup with her family. Should she and Buckley get married and have children,
they would effectively have no grandparents. Her parents didn’t want to be a
part of their lives and Buckley’s mother . . . well. She was not the most
stable, now was she? This, in addition to everything else that had gone on made
her very sad. It almost seemed unfair to have anymore children. At least the
one that she had borne was able to have a good life with a good and stable
family. She knew that she and Buckley would love a child with everything they
had, but she wondered if that would be enough.
Since being back in Putnam County,
Stella’s sister Montgomery was able to get ahold of her only once and that was
to tell her that her parents’ anger was a cold one. They were placid for the
most part. It was as though Stella had never existed. They wouldn’t even speak
her name. Montgomery felt this was a ridiculous overreaction and she speculated
that it was less to do with their feelings about Buckley’s race and more to do
with the fact that Stella had defied them. Stella had always been the placid
one – the one they could count on to roll over and do as they wished. The fact
that she had stood up to them and defied their wishes must have floored them.
Buckley didn’t know what to do about
Stella’s depression over her family. He felt like it was all his fault. He had
asked her to tell them and now that she had, her depression threatened to
consume them both. He almost wished that he could take it back but he knew in
his heart that living the way they had been, sneaking around and hiding their
relationship from her family was no way to live. Things are always better when
the truth is exposed to the light. Still, he hated to see her this way, and all
he could do was hold her and kiss her forehead and that felt as useful to him
as doing nothing at all. What he really wanted to do was to go down south and
tell her family if they didn’t start acting like decent human beings he was
going to do to them what he usually only did to gators, but he knew that would
solve nothing as well. So, he just held he and listened as she cried.
But tonight she managed to dry her
tears. Tonight was the beginning of a new year for her and for all of the
friend and they were going to make the most of it. Stella had promised herself
that she would going to start this year off on the right foot and leave all of
the ugliness of the previous one behind her. Her pale skin and long brown hair
looked stunning in the short green cocktail dress she was wearing that night.
For once she didn’t borrow once from Selena, but instead she went out and
bought her own. Still working two jobs, she had plenty of money for such
frivolous purchases.
The guests began to arrive at Herlin
Hall at around 9:30. Buckley and Stella arrived closer to 11, after Stella got
off her shift at Angel’s. By then, the party was already in full swing and
Buckley was surprised to see how relaxed and at ease Stella was when she walked
in. She needed a night out with friends to get her mind off of things.
Buckley’s mind was on the small box in his
right front pocket. He had been carrying it around with him for a few weeks
now. He had hoped that instead of disowning her that her parents would have
come to their senses about Stella’s relationship with him, especially after the
words Buckley had had with her father over the summer. He had hoped this
because he wanted to ask Stella to marry him. He felt the box in his pocket.
Inside was a ring with three emerald cut diamonds on it that he so desperately
wanted to slide onto her finger and ask her those four little words that had
been on the tip of his tongue for weeks. But now was not the time. Still, he
wouldn’t have minded seeing the ring on her finger that night with or without
her answer – she looked so beautiful.
Once everyone arrived at the party, Lottie
showed her film which turned out to be a blinding success. Buckley was the hero
of the film which set him up to become something of a small time star and a
local legend. Stella was so proud of her friend for making the film, of herself
for helping, and of Buckley for being the star of the production.
Lottie roamed the party with a
camera for most of the night filming the proceedings and made sure to stay at
arm’s length from Rhodes. She was not interested in incurring the wrath of
anyone’s wife at this juncture in her life.
The party went alone throughout the
night and everyone had a great time. At midnight, everyone found someone to
love. Buckley and Stella found themselves alone on the deck. He held her close
to him against the cold and kissed her gently.
“Happy New Year,” he whispered.
“Happy New Year,” he whispered.
She smiled at him. “Let’s hope this
one begins better than the last one ended, huh?”
He laughed. “I think it has to.”
They stood there on the deck holding
one another in the cold, looking at the moon reflected on the surface of the
dark river, and they were happy. They could have stayed there forever in that
moment, but sadly, all moments such as these must come to an end and soon they
had to return to the party and so too, their lives.
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