“Did Shug give up on you?”Scottie said.
“She’s talking with Remi, and I was remembering how I taught you to dance all those Friday nights you stayed over.”Fritz led her gracefully through his box step as a new song came from the band.A modern rendition of “Moonlight Serenade,” yet still so Glenn Miller.“You were such a joy to us.”A mist dusted his old blue eyes.“You are the absolute best thing that ever happened to your dad, Scottie.Well, to me and Shug too, can’t lie.We tried to tell him as you got older to step out a little, find a nice girl, but you were his girl.”
“I know, Fritz.I’m grateful.It’s just everything is changing all at once.”
“Darling, everything’s been changing since you learned the truth.You just weren’t paying attention.”He bent to see her face.“You’re free, Scottie.You can—”
“You sound like Cap.Free to do what, Fritz?I never wanted to be free.I never felt trapped.”She rested her head against him.“Are you really okay with all of this?Losing O’Shay?”
“I admit it was a bit of a shock, but Great Grandpa Loom’s legacy isn’t shirts and trousers, it’s us—his sons and daughters all the way down to you, me, and your father.Even Ethan who unknowingly put the nail in the coffin.The sale gives you something you never had before Scottie.A choice.Your dad and I often talked about how we’d locked you in as heir to O’Shay before you even knew how to read.”The trumpets played their mutedmwah, mwahmelody from the stage.“O’Shay turned out to be a fine company.But it’s not my greatest achievement, nor your dad’s, nor my father’s.Our greatest achievement is our family, friends, and what we do with our time, money, and words.”
“Maybe so, Fritz, but you did create a new fabric for men’s outdoor wear that greatly impacted hunters and campers, hikers and mountain climbers.”
“We were desperate for something to keep us afloat in the ’70s.Desperation will make you find a new way of doing things.”Fritz waltzed Scottie around the floor.“Hint, hint.”
“I hear you, I hear you.”Scottie smiled.How she loved her grandfather.
“Did I ever tell you the first time I saw Octavia Broadripple?”
“Many times.But tell me again.”
“I spotted her at a dance and nudged my buddy.‘I’m going to marry her,’ I said.Which was no easy feat, I tell you.She was beautiful and a bit stuck up.No, not a bit.All the way stuck up.Every fella in town wanted to drive Octavia to the movies.”
“But you won her over.”Scottie never tired of hearing her grandparents’ love story.Fritz, in his wisdom, was grounding her to everything that mattered.
“A few months later, we were at another dance, and Shug’s date abandoned her on the dance floor for a nip of hooch out back with a couple of hoodlums.She was fuming.I’d just come home from basic training, looking all spiffy in my uniform, so I slipped between the dancing couples, took her in my arms as the band leader sang “Unchained Melody” by Les Baxter.Never heard the song before, but it would become our song.She was spitting mad, ready to knock the other fella’s block off, but I hung on to her, never let her go.Even stole a kiss as the song ended, and seventy years later, Scottie, winning her is my greatest achievement.Our love is my greatest legacy.I want that for you, my girl, more than anything.Your dad finally found his love story.It’s time you found yours too.”
Image after image crossed her mind.Michael at the quay.Michael by her side at the Garden Party.Michael reaching for her in the Midlands mob.His scissor-kicking lesson with his nephew at the anniversary celebration.His eyes looking so intently at her as they danced the Ilyds.Pints at the Belly of the Beast.Climbing up to Wenthelen Chapel and making so many discoveries about the Blues and Fickles.Emmanuel emerging from the woods with fire in His eyes.The Rose Ball.The Eye of God.Their quiet ride from Hadsby to the Port Fressa airport.
“I’m not sure he’ll have me,” she said without explanation, though Fritz probably already knew.“We’ve texted a few times, but we’ve whittled down to communication by emoji.I was so upset, eager to get home, I ignored everything between us.”
“Here’s my final piece of advice,” Fritz said, scooching her away from the dance floor as dozens and dozens hurried out for a line dance.“Don’t sit and wait for some new path to magically open for you.Take the one you’re already standing on, Scottie.Consider all the good you did in your short time in Lauchtenland.You have privileges ninety-nine percent of the population can only dream about while watching a movie.I think there’s more for you to do, Lady Royal.”
“Any other words of wisdom, dear grandfather?”She’d always loved the calm timbre of his voice.“What about him?What do I say to him?”
“Don’t let the sun go down one more day without reaching out, Scottie.Don’t wait.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Scottie
As Dad and Remi dashed toward the waiting limo through a shower of glowing, colorful confetti, Remi glanced back at Scottie then shot the bouquet at her with the might of a major league pitcher.
While everyone cheered, Cap caught her eye and winked.Fritz did the same.
“You’re next.”
Okay, okay, simmer down.Maybe.No, probably not.She’d given Michael every reason not to trust her.Once the bride and groom whisked off in a carriage drawn by Dad’s beautiful shire draft horse Sampson, Fritz’s advice resounded.
“Don’t wait.”
There, under the twinkle of the tent lights, a wedding bouquet in her hand, Scottie knew beyond all doubt, she loved, really loved Michael.
Everything about the O’Shay takeover, the long-held secret of her mother’s identity, the notion her future was crushed, gave way to an overwhelming freedom.
She was free.Her feet were no longer cemented in Hearts Bend’s bedrock.
Spinning around to go, she ran into Jack Gillingham and his wife, Taylor.“Hey,” he said with a laugh.“Where’re you going in a hurry?Some of us are heading to Buck and JoJo Mathews’s place for—”
