Briar Rose (48 page)

‘Really?’ She caught Joshua’s eyes and smiled. ‘That works.’

‘Same deal for you, son,’ his dad said. ‘Fourteen days should be just about right for you to paint the house.’

Joshua added his own groan to the mix.
Not that.

‘Sounds fair to me,’ Lily said as she rose from the chair with Reena’s help. ‘I need to go talk to my great-granddaughter’s folks. They’ll probably hear what
went on tonight and it’s best they know just how fine a daughter they have. Before they ground her.’

‘Oh, man,’ Reena murmured. ‘Do good and get busted for it.’

‘That’s often the case,’ Lily replied. ‘Don’t expect these kids to be the same as they were a week ago. They’ve grown up in a hurry. Had no choice about
that.’

‘I know. I can see it already,’ Briar’s mom said, and took hold of her daughter’s hand. ‘We’re just happy she’s alive.’ She looked up at Joshua.
‘That all of you are alive. I mean that.’

Briar nudged her mom and gave her a pointed look.

‘I apologize for what I did to your family, Lora. Daniel. It wasn’t right. I had no idea it would get as bad as it did. I am truly sorry.’

Joshua’s mother only gave a stiff nod, but it was a start.

‘I can’t speak for my wife, but I accept your apology,’ his dad said. ‘This is done. We need to move on, all of us.’

A’-freakin’-men!

As Joshua and Briar headed towards the barn, he murmured, ‘This was so Shakespearean, you know. Like one of his tragedies.’

‘“See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are
punish’d.”’

He looked at her in awe. ‘What was that from?’

‘
Romeo and Juliet
. Talk about a high body count. Even the lovers die and that is
so
wrong. Everyone knows there’s supposed to be a happy ending, except old Will
apparently.’

When Joshua laughed, it pulled at the cut on his face. ‘I’ll see you Saturday at the battle. I’ll try to call you if I can,’ he said. ‘Or email you. It depends on
whether Dad takes away both my phone
and
my computer.’

‘Same here.’

They drifted closer, then gradually became aware that both sets of parents were on the porch, watching them far too closely. Joshua gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘I’ll be dreaming
about flying around on that crazy horse with you.’

She beamed. ‘So will I.’

As her dad pulled out of the drive, Briar waved at her new boyfriend, then sank back into the seat, immensely tired.

‘Briar?’

‘Yeah, Mom?’

‘You really crawled across the bridge on your own?’

‘Yes I did.’
I still can’t believe it.

There was silence for a time and then, ‘I never really let you do much over the years. I was too scared something would happen to you. It’ll take a while for me to loosen
up.’

Briar blinked. This was not a conversation she’d ever thought she’d have with her mother. ‘OK. I’ll be careful from now on, but . . . I want to do more things. I just
don’t want to stay at home and watch my life go by, you know?’

‘I’d say we all need to be thinking like that,’ her father cut in. ‘We’ve had our lives on hold for too long.’

‘How about a driving lesson, Dad? You up for that?’
Come on, go for it.

He sighed. ‘OK.’

Score!

‘Mom, if I make it on the tennis team, will you car pool me and some of the others to practice?’

A moment’s hesitation and then, ‘Sure, if you make the team, and I have no doubt you will.’

‘You might want to rethink that, hon,’ Briar’s father began, his tone light. ‘You’ll get stuck driving a car full of raging hormones. Trust me, it’s not
pretty.’

‘I hadn’t thought of that. Just how bad is it?’ she asked, grinning now. It’d been so long since Briar had seen her mother happy.

‘Unbearable,’ he said, and grinned. ‘Right, daughter?’

‘No comment, Dad.’

As her parents parried back and forth, Briar leaned against the window, smiling to herself. It appeared that she and her folks would all be stretching their wings very soon.

How cool is that?

The next few days were a blur of work. When Briar finished cleaning the garage in record time – all the while hoping that her sentence would be lifted early – her
parents had just come up with a new project. And then another. By the time Saturday morning came she had managed to accomplish more scut work than she had the entire summer.

Each evening’s phone call to Joshua proved that he’d employed the same tactic with similarly disappointing results. According to him, Reena and Pat had dropped by one afternoon and
helped with the house, though Joshua claimed they’d spent more time messing with each other’s heads and stealing kisses than getting paint in the proper places.

While Briar had slaved away, there had been a steady stream of visitors to the Rose house. Everyone wanted to know what had happened to their daughter because the rumour mill was working
overtime. Luckily her mom had extra baked goods in the freezer because every visitor wanted sit and talk over coffee. The first had been the pastor, worried about the rumour that Briar was
‘into magic’ like the Hill girl. Her mom had reassured him that wasn’t the case and sent him home with a Bundt cake. That had proved a mistake as others dropped by just on the
off-chance of some Rose-quality baked goods. Her mom didn’t win first prize at the county fair each year for nothing.

A more ominous visitor was Sheriff Johnson, who was investigating the ‘wanton destruction’ of the old bridge. Apparently the guys in the pick-up had made note of a young man on a
black horse and girl with blonde hair along the road that night and had readily offered up that information to avoid a speeding ticket.

This time Briar’s mother took the lead. ‘Yes, my daughter was out there,’ she’d said. ‘She and Joshua Quinn were riding along the old road.’

‘That late?’ the cop asked dubiously as he claimed another peanut-butter cookie. It was his fifth.

‘Yes. We knew they were out there. The Quinn boy is a . . . nice kid and I trust him with my daughter. Besides, we were just up the road at his parents’ place for a visit.’

‘I thought you and the Quinns had some . . . problems.’

‘We did. We got that sorted out . . . recently. Briar and Joshua are dating now so it seemed only fair we get to know his parents better.’

After more questioning that led absolutely nowhere, the sheriff departed with a bag full of cookies and brownies. He claimed his next stop was going to be the Quinn house, then he’d be
seeing Reena Hill’s folks.

Briar wasn’t worried. She knew that none of their parents, or Lily, would allow anything bad to happen to them.

The following Saturday Briar was granted respite from her detention. Since her birthday had hardly been one of celebration, a party had been scheduled for that evening. As
always, Briar’s mom was baking, but this time it wasn’t stress relief. In fact, she was humming along to the radio. She’d even signed up for art classes in Statesboro.

‘I’m out of here,’ Briar said, shouldering her pack that held her uniform. ‘It’s time to get all hot and sweaty.’

Her mom chuckled. ‘You used to hate that.’ She removed a sheet of cookies from the oven. The scent was absolutely mind altering.

‘I’ve been worse,’ Briar said.
Like covered in wolf drool, for one.

‘My little girl has changed.’

‘So have you. I like my new mom a lot.’

‘Even when she makes you scrub the kitchen floor?’ her mother teased.

That hadn’t been fun. ‘Yeah, even then.’

They hugged and then a kiss landed on her forehead. ‘Just don’t forget how to be my little girl every now and then, OK?’

‘I won’t. Thanks for being cool about Joshua.’

‘He’s a good kid. I’m sorry we kept you guys apart.’

‘Yeah, me too. He said his parents are getting counselling. I’m hoping that works for them.’

‘All we can do is hope. Lora and I are meeting for lunch next week in Statesboro. Fewer busybodies watching us that way. It’s not going to be easy, but I think we’ll try to
mend fences as best we can.’

Yes!

‘Cookie to go?’ her mother offered.

Briar took one, popped a kiss on her mom’s cheek, and then scooted out the side door at warp speed, letting the screen bang shut behind her. As she headed through town for the field, she
couldn’t keep her smile under wraps.

No one knew it yet, but Elmer Rose’s sad story was about to change for the better.

In deference to the heat, the last re-enactment of the year was scheduled an hour earlier, though it was almost as hot at eleven as it would be at noon. The moment Briar pulled
on the heavy uniform she began to wilt. How did the soldiers wear these things? At least she wasn’t allergic to wool like one of the other re-enactors who’d broken out in hives.

She’d just finished buttoning up her uniform coat, twitching at the itchy fabric, when Joshua appeared, leading his mare on to the field, Kerry trotting at his side. He was in full uniform
and had hidden his wound under an old-fashioned bandage.

Wow, is he cute or what?

‘There you are,’ he said, smiling. ‘I’ve missed you.’ He placed a kiss on her cheek.

‘It’s been, like, forever,’ she said. They kissed more earnestly now.

‘Briar?’

They jumped at her father’s voice. He was standing behind them.

How did he sneak up on us? Wasn’t he supposed to be working in the beer tent?

Her cheeks warmed in embarrassment. ‘Ah, hi, Dad.’

‘Hi there. Joshua, can I talk to you a minute?’ he said.

‘Sure, Mr Rose.’ With a shrug, Joshua handed off the reins and then tailed behind him until they reached a suitable distance away. Then her dad began to chat with her boyfriend, a
friendly hand laid on his shoulder.

‘What is that all about?’ Briar murmured.

Reena coasted up, assessed the scene and delivered her verdict. ‘My dad did the same with Pat yesterday. It’s the
You mess with my girl and I’ll kill you
lecture.’

‘He really said that?’ Briar asked, astounded.

‘Yup. Pat was still freaked about it last night. You know how big my dad is.’

‘Yeah, linebacker big. How are you and the Ego doing?’

‘Just fine,’ Reena said, waggling her eyebrows and grinning. ‘Pat’s a total kick once you get to know him. Who would have thought there was a nice guy beneath all that
jerkiness?’

‘What about his parents? How are they taking you two being together?’

‘His mom was pretty cool. She’s interested in local history and because my family’s been here since forever she likes that. Especially since they used to be slaves at the
Ashland Plantation.’ Reena snorted at that. ‘His dad? Well . . .’

‘Bad?’ Briar asked, still keeping an eye on her own dad and her boyfriend, wishing she could hear what her father was saying.

‘The first time we met was
way
awkward,’ Reena explained. ‘Mr Daniels stared at me like I had horns growing out of my head. Then he found out that my dad used to be a
pro football player and suddenly I was golden. Seems he’s hoping to score tickets to the Super Bowl.’

‘Wow. He’s a user, isn’t he?’

‘Totally. Oh, and Pat’s coming to your party with me tonight.’

‘Oh, man,’ Briar said, realizing the implications. ‘Did you warn him about some of my relatives?’

Reena grinned. ‘No, I didn’t. I figured it’d be more fun that way. Especially your great-aunt. I’m hoping she wears that hat with the flamingo on it. That’d
rock.’

Briar groaned at the memory.

‘I’m off to the ice-cream tent and then I’m meeting Pat at the lake. See you later, girlfriend.’

‘OK, bye!’

Joshua returned, his cheeks crimson.

‘What did my dad say to you?’

He shot a look at her father, who was currently talking to a re-enactor.

‘He said . . .’ Joshua sighed. ‘He said, and I quote, that “having grandchildren appear before my daughter gets married
and
in college would give me homicidal
tendencies”. In short, if I crossed the line with his little girl, he would rip my head off and feed it to me.’

‘What? Is that, like, even anatomically possible?’

‘He made it sound like it would be,’ Joshua admitted. ‘And I believe him.’

‘I’m sorry. He can be kinda weird sometimes.’

‘No weirder than my dad. I got the
Let’s review the birds and the bees
lecture over breakfast. Bottom line is
Don’t go there no matter what
. At least not
yet.’

‘I’m surprised there isn’t a chastity belt involved.’

‘Don’t give them any ideas.’ He hugged her. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not like Mike, but I will need a lot of kissing to compensate.’

‘That I can handle.’

As Briar wound her hair round and pinned it up – it was always hard to get it under the cap – she worked out the final parts of her plan.

‘You have a very devious look going on there,’ Joshua observed.

She leaned close and whispered the plan in his ear, along with a question.