Back in Kansas Read online

  Claudie blinked, questioningly.

  “Oh, sweetheart, I’d have to be pretty petty to whine about my life when you were able to get past your anger at Garret.”

  He dug in his pocket and withdrew her mother’s locket. As he slipped it over her head, he said, “You gave me your heart, Claudie. But you’ve always had mine.”

  “Oh, Bo, I love you.” She pulled him to her. Through her tears, she saw her friends sniffling and hugging each other. Sara’s face was buried against Ren’s chest. Babe, who stood a little off from the rest, remained tearless, but she smiled warmly and nodded her approval.

  Claudie couldn’t wait to call Sherry and Val.

  It was a long and winding road—and not a single yellow brick on any part of it—but, somehow, Claudie had found her way home.

  EPILOGUE

  THE SUN—barely past its zenith—failed to mitigate the effect of the chill December wind that swept across the rolling hills of eastern Kansas. Blue-black spruce—hump-shouldered matrons bowed from the forces of Nature—encircled the hallowed grounds. Fifty-some mourners crowded around a vivid patch of artificial green carpet with a rectangle of hothouse flowers at its core.

  Garret had passed away the night of the fund-raiser. Sherry had called the following morning to tell Claudie the funeral was set for Saturday. Claudie couldn’t get over the number of people who’d packed the tiny white church then followed the hearse to Otter Creek’s cemetery. Sherry had tried to prepare her the night before, but Claudie hadn’t envisioned this kind of support.

  “In the end, Peggy came for him,” Dottie said softly as they waited for the service to begin. “I know because he smiled—that very special smile he saved for Sherry, and you.”

  “Me?” Claudie choked.

  The older woman, her kind eyes red from crying, nodded. “You were so like Peggy, how could he not love you, too?” She took Claudie’s cold, numb hands in her own and said, “Brave, generous, loving Claudie. You truly are your mother’s daughter. You proved that by coming back to heal the rift between you and Garret. He died in peace, and I can never thank you enough.”

  Claudie squeezed her hand and looked at the casket. Oddly, she felt no anguish, no bitterness—only regret.

  “My parents wanted me to tell you that instead of flowers they’re sending a check to Garret’s foundation,” Bo whispered, joining her when Dottie left to take her assigned seat.

  She looked at him and her heart swelled with joy. The Bishops stood beside him.

  Claudie hadn’t been able to talk Sara and Ren out of joining them on this journey. And Claudie would be eternally grateful for the support. Sara’s sweet smile and Ren’s easy manner diverted many curious, if well-meaning, friends and associates from inquiring too deeply into Claudie’s past. This freed up Claudie to concentrate on her siblings.

  Yancy had driven in the night before with his wife and sons, who’d reveled in Dottie’s warmhearted attention. Valery, who had balked at making the trip until Bo got on the phone and applied his sweet-talking charm, arrived in her Mercedes. Sherry—overwhelmed by both the loss of her beloved father and the convocation of so many estranged siblings—was slowly finding her footing.

  “Friends and neighbors. Brothers and sisters,” a gruff, but dignified, voice said to those gathered. “Please join us in prayer.”

  Claudie gazed at the man in the ill-fitting suit, bare hands folded around a worn Bible. Around his neck was a beautiful, hand-stitched stole of Lakota design. Zach. His presence here was Ren’s priceless gift.

  As her brother solemnly gave their communal goodbye, Claudie stared at the simple casket. Squeezing Bo’s hand, she felt the reassuring pressure of the engagement ring on the third finger of her left hand. Their wedding was set for the first weekend in June—two weeks after Sherry’s high school graduation. Bo’s father vowed to be well enough to dance up a storm. And Sara was happy that she’d have a full month after the birth of the twins to get in shape. Everyone in Claudie’s family, even Dottie, promised to attend.

  Claudie looked skyward. She wanted to think Garret and her mother were somewhere up above smiling down on them. A perfect family they weren’t, but, in the end, the bonds among them were strong enough to bring them all back to Kansas.

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-5161-1

  BACK IN KANSAS

  Copyright © 2001 by Debra K. Salonen.

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