Coming Home to Paradise (Sisters in Paradise #3)

Chapter 15

Disappointment washed over Rae as she and the rest of the family gathered round the trailer that evening to go on the annual family Christmas caroling trip. Gunner had promised Rae that he and the girls would do their best to join them, but the sun had almost set, and they still weren’t here. She had worked on the police force long enough to know that the chief was basically on call most of the time, especially in emergencies. She had completely given up on seeing them when Bo nodded toward headlights coming down the lane.

“Turn that frown upside down,” she teased. “Looks like your boyfriend made it, and just in time. Mama is bringing out the hats and candles. Once she hands them out, we’ll load up and be on our way.”

“Gunner is not my boyfriend,” Rae argued.

“What do you call him, then?” Bo asked. “You’ve talked to him more than you have me in the past few days.”

Bernie wedged her way between them. “I heard what y’all said. Gunner is a good man, but he is really, really not the man for you, Rae. You are mixing up your feelings for his motherless girls with feelings of love for him. That’s never a smart thing to do. Besides that, he’s a policeman. Every time he walked out the door to go to work, you would worry that he would get shot or hurt before he came home in the evening. That’s not even mentioning all the emergency calls that he would have to go out on in the middle of the night.”

Bernie’s red velvet pantsuit showed in flashes under a floor-length dark-green cape with a white fur lining and a hood. She wore red satin gloves and rings on every finger, including her thumbs. Her earrings—jingle bells, of course—gave off a tinkling sound with every movement of her head. The matching necklace added to the noise. Then to top it all off, she had piled her dyed red hair up on top of her head and was wearing a glittering tiara around the messy bun.

“How do you intend to get a Santa hat on over that tiara?” Rae asked.

Bernie lifted her chin a notch. “If I can make two people fall in love, or keep a couple from falling in love, a tiara is no match for my magic.”

“We’re here! Don’t go without us!” Heather yelled as she jumped out of the truck as soon as it was parked and ran across the yard. She wrapped her arms around Rae’s waist and hugged her.

Daisy ran up beside her and grabbed Aunt Bernie in a bear hug. Then she took a step back, looked up at Bernie, and her eyes got big. “You aren’t Miz Bo. You are a princess.” She slapped her hand over her mouth and whispered. “Heather, this is the famous princess that we saw on television.”

Heather took a step back and gasped. “No, that’s not the princess, Daisy. That’s the queen.”

Both of them did a perfect curtsy.

“Can we sit beside you?” Daisy asked.

“Can we take a picture with you to show all our friends?” Heather asked. “Do you live here?”

“Yes, I do, and I’m Queen Bernie,” she said.

“Wow!” Heather exclaimed. “We are moving to the town where Queen Bernie lives.”

“Yes, you are,” Bernie told them. “Who are you two little girls?”

“I’m…” Her eyes twinkled. “Which one am I, Miz Rae?”

Rae could hardly keep the laughter at bay as she looked from one girl to the other. Queen Bernie indeed! After that meeting, she wondered how long it would take her aunt to warm up to the little imps. She finally caught a glimpse of the freckle below Heather’s ear.

“Let’s see.” She tapped her chin. “Daisy is wearing a red stocking hat, and Heather’s is pink. I can’t believe you aren’t dressed alike.”

“Daddy let us choose our own clothes tonight,” Heather declared proudly. “But if we’d a-knowed we were meeting the queen, we would have dressed up. Guess what? I’ve got a loose tooth. See?” She opened her mouth wide and touched a tooth. “I’m going to pull one before Daisy does.”

Daisy tipped up her chin and narrowed her eyes. “Then she won’t be able to grin for school pictures, and everyone will be able to tell us apart because I always smile.”

“I’ll smile anyway,” Heather declared.

“Guess what else?” Daisy changed the subject. “We are moving and going to a school where you are going to be the teacher.”

“They are just alike,” Bernie whispered. “How do you ever tell them apart?”

“Rae is one of the only ones who can,” Bo answered and looped her arm into Bernie’s. “Your lady-in-waiting is here to help you up to your hay-bale throne.”

Daisy and Heather stood to the side, their little faces still a picture of pure awe.

“Can we sit beside the queen?” Heather asked.

“You can ask her,” Rae answered.

If that didn’t win Bernie over to thinking they were angels instead of hooligans, there would never be any hope.

“All aboard!” Joe Clay called out. “This wagon train leaves in five minutes for Spanish Fort and beyond.”

“That’s our cue to find a hay bale to sit on and get ready to sing,” Rae told the twins.

Mary Jane brought out two tote bags. “Everyone needs to line up right here and get your hat and candle.” The flame looked real when she flipped a switch on the bottom of each candle.

“Do we get one?” Daisy asked Rae.

“Of course, you do,” Rae told them. “And a Santa hat too.”

Bernie was first in line to get her hat and candle. She removed her tiara, affixed it to the Santa hat and then put it on her head. “There now, I’m ready to sing.”

Heather was next, and when she’d crammed the red and white hat down over her stocking hat, she took a deep breath and looked up at Bernie. “Can we sit beside you?”

“If you promise to be good little girls,” Bernie answered. “And if Rae wants, she can bring you to my house sometime when she’s keeping you after school. It’s not very big, but we have to keep where I live a secret. If everyone knew the queen lived here, they would swarm this area.”

Heather made the sign of the cross over her heart. “I promise.”

“It will be our secret,” Daisy whispered.

“We might even have a dress-up party and take pictures,” Bernie told them and then shot a look toward Rae that said she had better not say a word.

Bo reached down to get four hats and as many candles. “Hey, Rae, remember the first time we did this?”

“Yep,” Rae said. “The nursing home staff had hot chocolate and cookies ready for us in the lobby.”

“Do we get some, too?” Daisy asked as she waited for Bernie to take her place on a bale of hay. Then she sat down as close as she could on Bernie’s right side. Heather hurried over and claimed a spot to her left.

“Everyone does,” Bernie answered. “We go inside the lobby, and they have refreshments for us.”

“Do they know you are the queen?” Heather asked.

Rae was so busy enjoying the show with Bernie and the twins that she didn’t hear Gunner coming until he was right beside her. Who would have ever thought that two little girls’ reaction to a costume that an octogenarian pulled together would have turned Bernie’s attitude about the twins completely around? Certainly not Rae, nor her own twin from that smile on Bo’s face.

“I feel like just saying the words are never enough,” Gunner whispered. “But thank you once again for inviting me and the girls to the Christmas caroling tonight. Since they found out you are a teacher at their new school, they are actually looking forward to the move. How did your first two days go?”

“So far, so good,” Rae said. “I’m really enjoying the job. How are the girls handling the idea of having their own rooms?”

“Daisy is over the moon about it, and Heather…” He paused. “She’s getting into the spirit better than I hoped.”

Rae was concerned about Heather, but she really wanted to wrap her arms around Gunner and drag him off to the barn for a make-out session, even after all her aunt’s warnings.

“Daisy actually kind of took care of that issue,” Gunner answered with a chuckle. “She asked if she could have bunk beds. Heather jumped on the idea and asked for the same thing so that she and her sister could have sleepovers on stormy nights. Neither of them likes thunder nor lightning.”

“That is great!” Rae took her hat and candle from her mother and started to step up on the trailer. But her foot slipped, and she fell backward, right into Gunner’s arms.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Gunner teased as he picked her up and set her firmly on the bed of the trailer, then took the hat and candle from Mary Jane. “Folks are going to believe that you are either clumsy or flirting with me.”

“I’ve never been known for being graceful, so they’ll probably think that’s the issue.” Rae’s words came out between breaths. “That was scary for a split second. This time I’m the one thanking you.”

“My pleasure, but I was sure hoping you were flirting with me.” Gunner grinned.

“Everyone is ready now. Ursula and baby Clayton are in the back seat. It’s too cold for him to ride back here.” Mary Jane winked at her and headed toward the truck where Joe Clay held the door open for her.

Rae couldn’t remember the last time she had blushed, and she hoped that everyone who was already seated thought the cold wind was the cause of her red cheeks. She eased down on a bale of hay, and Gunner sat down right beside her.

“If Rae is finished showing us that she hasn’t outgrown her clumsiness, we will get warmed up by singing ‘Jingle Bells,’” Bo said and then glanced over at Bernie. “Is the queen ready to go?”

Bernie did a perfect royal wave. “I’m on my throne and since my official lady-in-waiting is busy leading singing tonight, these two lovely little girls will be filling in for her.”

Daisy and Heather beamed and snuggled in closer to Aunt Bernie. If only something as simple as a little adoration could make her aunt like Gunner, all would be well.

Endora nudged Rae on the arm. “Are you okay? That was a close call. If Gunner hadn’t caught you, you would have hit your head on the trailer hitch.”

“I’m fine,” Rae answered.

“Can you believe Aunt Bernie?” Endora lowered her voice. “She’s been cussin’ mad about you keeping Gunner’s kids, and now they are allowed to sit beside her, and she called them her ladies-in-waiting.”

“Amazin’ how being called a queen will change a person, isn’t it?” Rae chuckled.

“Downright fascinating,” Endora said.

Rae focused her attention on Bo and said, “You are welcome.”

“For what?”

“For me taking the clumsy gene before we were ever born and giving you the musical ability,” Rae answered.

Bo laughed out loud. “Well, then thank you. Daddy has started the truck engine, so here we go…” She hit a button on the karaoke machine and led the whole group in the first song.

Rae sang along until Gunner touched her on the shoulder. “The girls are having so much fun. Did your aunt dress up just for them?”

“No, Aunt Bernie is a little eccentric. She owned a bar up in southern Oklahoma for decades, and she loved to dress up on every holiday. Sometimes if there wasn’t a special day, she invented one. They even had their own version of Mardi Gras. Is this the first time Daisy and Heather have been out Christmas caroling?” she asked.

“Honey, this is the first time I’ve done something like this,” he answered and sang another chorus of “Jingle Bells” before he said, “Seems like your family makes up most of Spanish Fort and are in this trailer or else in the bed of the truck. Who are we going to sing to?”

“The folks who live along the road to Nocona,” she said. “Then we go out Main Street to the nursing home and make a loop through town on our way home. It’s too cold for the folks who are able to come out on the lawn to listen to us, so we’ll take our caroling into the lobby tonight. Afterwards we come back to the Paradise for sandwiches and chips. The family does this every year, but this is the first time Bo and I’ve gotten to be a part of it in a long time.”

“I had no idea the ride would be this long,” Gunner said. “I should have bundled the girls up a little more.”

“The queen might wrap them up in her fur cape if they get too cold.” Rae pointed to blankets and quilts stacked up beside Bo. “But if she doesn’t, that’s what those are for.”

“I might not need one if I can snuggle up close to you,” he said.

The heat from Bernie’s stink-eye glare reached across the truck bed, but Rae merely shot a sweet smile at her and turned toward Gunner. “Is that a pickup line?”

Evidently, Aunt Bernie was fine with two little adoring girls to fawn over her, but the issue of a relationship with Gunner was still off the table.

“Maybe,” he answered. “I’m a little rusty. How am I doing?”

Rae scooted over a little closer to his side. “Not too bad for someone who says he’s out of practice, but we better start singing or Aunt Bernie is going to burn this trailer down with her mean looks.”

“What’d I do to warrant that?” Gunner asked.

“It’s not you. It’s me. She thinks I’ve fallen in love with your girls, and that I’m transferring that over to you. Besides you are a policeman, and your job is dangerous. I guess she thought all I did was rescue baby kittens when I worked for the police force,” Rae said and started singing “Frosty the Snowman” with the rest of the group.

“I’ll have to work on her opinion, and Aunt Rosie told me the same thing. She says that since you are good to my girls that it’s influencing my way of thinking about you,” he said and joined in the singing.

“Are they right or wrong?” Rae asked.

“Guess we’ll have to give it some time,” Gunner answered.

***

Endora grabbed a fluffy red-and-black-plaid throw and wrapped it around her and Parker’s shoulders. “Gunner is flirting with Rae.”

“I noticed,” Parker said. “They’re almost as well suited to each other as we are.”

“Aunt Bernie does not agree,” Endora told him. “Look at the fire shooting out of her eyes.”

“She was wrong about Tertia and Noah,” Parker reminded her. “But it seems like she’s changed her mind about the twins. They are definitely behaving better these days, but that credit goes to Rae. I didn’t even find wads of gum stuck to the church pews where they sat with Rosie last Sunday.”

“Bernie said that she was using reverse psychology on Tertia and Noah, but this time, she’s just downright against Rae and Gunner having a relationship,” Endora said.

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Then from what I’m seeing, she better get ready to agree to disagree on the matter. Tonight, the sparks around us have as much to do with what’s between them as the ones that belong to us.”

“Two weeks from Sunday,” Endora whispered.

“You won’t change your mind, will you?” Parker asked. “I’ve made a short-timer’s calendar, and every day I mark off a day.”

“Not a chance.” She laid her head on his shoulder and sang “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” with the rest of the folks.

Several songs later, Joe Clay turned east on Highway 82, which was where a lot of the businesses were located. He drove below the speed limit, and when a vehicle passed them, most of the time they either honked or rolled down their windows and waved. The folks at a barbecue restaurant came out and yelled, “Merry Christmas.” The news must have spread because from there, more and more people came out on the street, some taking photographs, and others merely waving the flashlight on their phones like they were at a concert.

“Will our picture be in the newspaper?” Daisy asked.

“It could be,” Endora answered.

“Daddy!” Heather stood up and walked the short distance to her father and sat down on his knee. “Our picture might get in the paper with the queen of Paradise.”

“What makes you think that?” Gunner asked.

“People are taking pictures of us,” Heather answered.

“We’re going to be famous,” Daisy added.

Endora couldn’t believe that this was the same set of twins who gave her such a hard time when she taught their Sunday school class. Had she known that it would just take Rae’s magical touch to turn their horns into halos, she would have begged her sister to come home and take over the class sooner.

“What’s the chances we’ll have twins?” Parker asked.

“It could happen,” Endora answered. “Aunt Bernie was a twin to my grandmother. Mama had two sets, so who knows?”

“I would love to have two sets,” Parker said.

“Be careful,” Rae said. “You might get what you wish for. Mama said that at one time our dad brought home two tricycles for my and Bo’s birthday presents. After an afternoon with two kids riding and two crying—that would be Endora and Luna—she told him not to buy anything if he couldn’t get four.”

Parker chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind if we are blessed with twins twice.”

“Hey, now!” Bernie said. “I know Mary Jane wants lots of grandbabies, but we should get to spoil them one at a time. And besides, you aren’t even married yet. You need a couple or three years to enjoy being together before you even think about having children.”

“We’re almost to the nursing home now,” Bo said into the microphone. “Raise your voices and sing. Let’s put on a concert all the way into town.”

“My lady-in-waiting is telling us to stop talking and sing,” Bernie said.

Endora snuggled in closer to Parker. She sang the carols as they finished the drive down Nocona’s Main Street, but her thoughts were on moving into the parsonage and beginning her life with Parker.

***

A jealous streak shot through Bo when Joe Clay parked the truck and trailer in front of the nursing home. Everyone, including Aunt Bernie with her two new little buddies, had someone that evening. All Bo had was a microphone. When she first went to Nashville, that’s all she wanted, but sitting there on a bale of hay with her family all around her, she changed her mind.

Bo led the group in singing “Silent Night” as they all climbed out of the trailer and truck and filed into the lobby as they sang. Joe Clay and Mary Jane led the group, with Ursula, Remy, and the baby right behind them. Bo brought up the rear, still leading the singing with another carol.

Music brings joy , she thought as she looked around at the old folks—some in wheelchairs and some with walkers. The brightness in their eyes and the way they swayed in time with the melody testified that the carolers had brought happiness into the nursing home that evening. Several of them sang right along with the family who had now gathered in a semicircle around the front of the lobby.

Joy and jealousy can’t live in the same heart any more than love and hate.

She was multitasking, as Oprah called it—singing and thinking at the same time. She had given up on her dream of being a big star, but in all her gigs she had never seen a crowd so enamored. All in all, the little voice in her head said that she hadn’t given up as much as she was getting.

They sang several songs, and then a nurse with LESLIE on her name tag stepped up to the front of the room. “Hasn’t this been wonderful? Let’s give this family a big hand.”

Bo knew she had made the right decision to move back to north Texas when the applause and whistles rattled the glass windows. She might never be a Nashville star, but being so loved right there in a small nursing home was even better.

“And now,” Leslie said, “we have hot chocolate and cookies laid out on the table at the back of the room for everyone. Maybe we can talk our guests into staying a little longer to visit with all y’all. I see two little girls and a baby among the group…”

“And Queen Bernie,” Daisy said loudly and then did another cute little curtsy.

“She got all dressed up just for y’all,” Heather said.

“And we got dressed up for y’all,” one little lady dressed in a hot-pink velvet robe said from the back of the room. “I would love for the beautiful woman with the baby to sit beside me and just let me see that precious child.”

Ursula made her way through the crowd, sat down beside the woman, and removed the blanket from baby Clayton.

“My name is Amelia,” the woman introduced herself. “And that is the most beautiful child I’ve seen in years. He’s going to have brown eyes.”

“Just like his father,” Ursula said.

“Which one is his daddy?” another lady asked as several other folks gathered around to look down on baby Clayton.

Ursula pointed to Remy. “The handsome one right over there talking to Leslie.”

When he saw her, he smiled and blew her a kiss.

“You better start layin’ in a supply of big sticks,” Amelia said.

“Why’s that?” Ursula asked.

“To beat off the girls that will come sniffin’ around,” one of the other women answered. “With a boy this pretty, they’ll start early.”

Bo touched Endora on the arm. “Baby Clayton is making quite the splash. And look at how Bernie is introducing the girls to that group of women on the other side. We should bring the Sunday school class to visit them at least once a year. Maybe they could even color pictures to give to the folks.”

Endora nodded in agreement. “That’s a wonderful idea. Do you think that the wise men looked at baby Jesus like that?”

“I imagine they did,” Bo whispered.

“Ursula, Remy, and Clayton are going to make a wonderful Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the Christmas program,” Endora said. “I always imagined Mary being tall like Ursula. How are you coming along with their costumes?”

“All done with every one of them. They are pressed and hanging in the church choir room,” Bo answered.

Parker crossed the room and draped his arm around Endora’s shoulders. “I heard what you just said. Thank you, Bo, for all the sewing you’ve done. This is going to be an amazing program.”

“And the after-party will be just as awesome.” Bo grinned and then realized her mother was standing behind her. “I hear Santa Claus is going to be at the potluck. Are you going to sit on his knee, Endora?”

“Yes, I am, but I’m not telling you what I’m going to ask him for,” Endora said. “How about you, Mama?”

“Honey, I can sit on Santa’s knee anytime I want,” Mary Jane teased.

“Did someone say Santa?” Bernie asked. “I sat on his knee one time, and oh, honey, that turned out to be one fantastic night.”

“Aunt Bernie!” Bo nodded toward the children.

“Well, it was, and I got exactly what I asked for,” she protested and then smiled at the twins. “If you are good, you might get what you want.”

Daisy and Heather were vowing to be good when Bo headed for the refreshment table. Halfway across the floor, she turned back to look at the residents interacting with the little girls and the rest of the family. Yes, sir, she had made the right decision and was ready to settle down in or near Spanish Fort. She didn’t want to miss times like this ever again.

Her phone buzzed in her hip pocket. She pulled it out, saw Maverick’s name, and answered on the second ring. “Well, hello! Are things so slow at the bar that you are bored?”

“No, but I need your help, Bo.” His voice sounded a little desperate.

“I’m out caroling with my family. There’s no way…”

“Not tonight. Things are slow here, and I can handle it by myself. I need you tomorrow morning. Dave wants to have a float in the parade tomorrow. He’s out of town for the weekend so he’s given me the job. He says there’s a flatbed in the storage shed out back. I took a look and it’s pretty pitiful. Some ratty old garland is hanging around the edges and it’s got a flat tire. I’m not sure what to do. Got any ideas?”

“The floats will probably line up at noon since the parade starts at one. I’ll be there at seven in the morning with some leftover decorations from the Paradise. What’s your theme?”

“The theme of the whole parade this year is Christmas carols, but other than that, I’m at a loss about what to do for a trailer. Should we just do something simple with my truck?”

“We’ve got a flatbed at the Paradise, and I can borrow Daddy’s truck. We can decorate it. We’ll have to make a run to the dollar store and get some candy to throw out for the little kids, and…” Her mind ran in circles, latching onto one idea and then another. “We have a Santa suit and a cute little Santa’s helper costume that I can bring.”

“You are a lifesaver, but what do we do other than pitch out pieces of candy?”

“Let’s roll the piano out onto the flatbed,” she suggested. “We can play and sing. We can put a sign on the side of the truck that says, ‘Merry Whiskey Bent Christmas.’ We should be able to decorate the trailer and make the sign by noon—easy peasy.”

“That doesn’t sound easy to me, but if you can help me do all that in five hours, you are beyond a lifesaver! I could kiss you,” Maverick said.

“I don’t kiss on the first date,” Bo teased. “See you tomorrow morning bright and early.”