took his kids up near the podium and they began to dance. Soon, there was a whole array of children from both communities dancing together, freely and joyfully. Some older adults soon joined the celebration.
Marshall and Carmelita kept close watch, especially on the children. They wanted no one in danger and no one to spoil this moment. They noticed that a ring was forming around the crowd, seemingly on its own. Those who were not dancing had joined hands in a circle to make sure no little ones got away and no one got away with one of their precious children. There they all were, young parents, people in wheelchairs, people who were rich and people who were poor, the educated and those without that opportunity, church people and people who stayed away from church as far as possible. No one could tell one from the other. It was just the human family in celebration for no other particular reason than life itself.
An outer circle formed around the smaller inner circle. By this time, they were excited and nobody needed to be prodded into dancing. Those in wheelchairs were participating with the help of someone who was dancing behind them. Soon, the whole town of Safety Harbor, the Unsettlement, and tourists, were joining in the dance.
Katye came to the microphone and called out, “Hello! Hello!” It was two or three minutes of intermittent “Hellos!” before the dancing finally stopped.
“I’m sorry to interrupt so much fun,” she said, “but we have to quit dancing so we can have a parade.”
There was a combination of “Yes” and moans.
Sally and Nate and the kids walked slowly up the hill to Main Street where the parade would begin.
“Did you see Joe dancing?” asked Buddy excitedly. “He was really good!”
“Yes, he was!” said Caitlin.
Sally and Nate looked at one another.
“You saw Joe?” said Nate. “Where did you see him?”
“He was standing in the inner circle of dancers right in the middle of us kids,” said Caitlin! “I didn’t know Joe could dance like that!”
“You saw Joe? Are you sure it was Joe?”
“I’m sure!” said Buddy and Caitlin in unison.
“He said, ‘Hi Buddy! Hi Caitlin!’” Buddy smiled. “Boy! It was good to see him! I told him everybody missed him and everybody was looking for him and he said, ‘I’ll be back soon!’”
“But Joe,” I said, “You’re already here!”
“Yes I am!” he said. “That’s all he said and he went back to dancing.”
“Did you see him after that?” asked Sally. “Because, if you did, we need to find him and we need to tell Carmelita to take back the BOLO!”
“No, he told us he had to go and we looked and he was gone,” said Buddy.
Chapter 18
The attraction between Nate and Sally was unmistakable to many, even to Nate’s kids.
“Are you gonna marry my Daddy?” asked Buddy.
Caitlin grabbed her father’s hand and held on tightly. A clumsy silence followed.
“Well, no, we’re not getting married. Sally just lost her husband. We all have to be nice and kind to her,” said Nate.
“Is that what you’re doing Daddy? Being nice and kind?”
“Yes, he is,” said Sally. “Your Dad is very kind!”
“That’s not what Momma says, but I tell her she’s wrong,” said Buddy.
“Let’s talk about something else, guys,” said Nate.
Soon the kids ran ahead to join some friends they had spotted.
“We are going to have to be careful,” said Nate.
“Nate, there can’t be anything going on right now between us. I haven’t even buried my husband!”
“I know,” said Nate. “I want to respect that. I do. But, I just want to reach over and plant a kiss on you right now!”
“You think I don’t?” she asked. “My marriage was over a long time ago. But still, I must respect the vows Keith and I made between us. He’s not even cold in the grave yet.”
“I know you’re right,” said Nate. “The thing is, I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. I can’t help it. I’ve tried not to. I know it’s not right. I can’t change my heart, Sally. I just can’t.”
“Nate, I just don’t know if there’s a future for us or not.”
“I hope so,” said Nate.
Sally wanted so much to say, “I do, too,” but she could not. It was too soon, by far. It wasn’t right.
“All I know,” she said, “is that I couldn’t start life again with a man who couldn’t respect that my priority right now is to bury my husband. I have arrangements to make and details to see to, starting tomorrow.”
“I’d like to help,” said Nate.
“How would that look?”
“I know you are right,” he said. “It’s just difficult.”
Sally’s voice softened. “You think this is easy for me? We have to hold ourselves together and do what’s right. We owe that to ourselves.”
“Yes, and to my kids.”
“Yes, and for our community. We owe it to our neighbors not to bring scandal down upon our little town. I owe it to Joe, too. I know I would disappoint him if we got into a relationship right now. We have to act with integrity, Nate. If we don’t, there would be no chance at all of building a life together.”
They walked together for a while in silence.
Sally broke the spell. “So, I don’t think we should see each other right now or be seen together. We have to go our own ways, even more so now than ever. It hurts me to say this, but don’t call me or email me, or text me, or try to communicate in any other way. We’ve just got to break it off, and now.”
“I didn’t know there was anything to break off.”
“Don’t play semantic games with me, Nate. You know what I mean.”
“I do, Sally.”
“If you love me,” she said, “you’ll do this.”
Nate felt a thrill through his whole body. She had never mentioned that word before.
“I do love you, Sally,” he said. “You know that.”
“And you know how I feel about you.”
“No, I don’t. You’ve never said.”
“I can’t say right now for all of the reasons we have been discussing.”
So, she did love him!
“I can wait for now.”
Sally brushed her hand over his and then quickly walked ahead and joined another group walking up to Main Street.
Mayor Lou and Hope walked alongside Rock and Magdalena.
“Rock and I have been talking,” said Magdalena. “We’d like to invite you two to ride in the Grand Marshal’s car with us.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that,” said Lou.
“We mean that we’d like to share the car, with all four of us sharing the Grand Marshal’s title.”
Lou couldn’t speak. He’d never had anything offered to him before, especially something that he felt strongly was rightfully his anyway! His feelings were all jumbled.
“Lou