Smothering a laugh, Julia patted his hand and threw him a quick smile before returning her gaze to the screen.
Soon she found herself riveted, even though she had seen the episode a dozen times before in the studio cutting room. The previous season had ended on a cliff-hanger, with the main characters confronting a torrential rainstorm, lost cattle, conniving railroad barons, and complications to numerous friendships and romantic entanglements.
Just as Sadie and Ben were about to acknowledge the deepening affection they had long denied, a misunderstanding fomented by a jealous rival sparked a terrible, very public argument outside the dry goods store where Sadie sold her beautiful quilts on consignment. They parted ways angrily just as the towering thunderclouds billowed into view in the west. By the time Sadie arrived home, the rain was pouring down, but the farmhouse was empty. After a quick search, she found a note her grandsons had left on the kitchen table: The livestock, terrified by the lightning and thunder, had bolted the barn, and the boys had gone off to fetch them back. As Sadie gazed pensively out the window at the worsening storm, Ben arrived at his ranch only to learn that some of his cattle were missing. Ben ordered the hands to move the rest of the herd to safer ground while he and his trusty border collie, Buck, went after the strays, who had fled the west pasture for the river bottoms, the worse possible place for them to seek shelter in a storm. Meanwhile, back at the Henderson farm, Sadie was drawn outside by the sound of an approaching horse. She halted on the front porch, drawing her shawl tighter, wind whipping her hair loose from the heavy knot at the nape of her neck, only to discover not her beloved grandsons but a neighbor returning her wayward goat. She invited him in to wait out the storm, but he wason his way into town to warn folks that the dam on the North Stone River was in danger of bursting. Sadie gasped in horror. Ben’s ranch was on the river below the dam, and he might unwittingly be heading straight into a flash flood. She faced a terrible choice: to find her grandsons and the livestock and bring all safely home, or to race off to save the man she loved—for yes, she did love that stubborn, infuriating man, and it had taken the threat of losing him forever to make her realize that.
That was where the season finale had ended, a breathtaking cliff-hanger that, to Ellen’s great satisfaction, had sparked avid speculation in the press and fan websites all summer long.
The season five premiere began as most fans predicted it would, with Sadie pulling on her sturdy waders and Augustus’s old vulcanized rubber mackintosh and heading out into the storm after her grandsons.
Although Julia had agreed with Ellen’s choice, not everyone in the cast had. At the table read in January, Noah had pointed out that Sadie’s grandsons were old enough to look after themselves. “They’ve probably already found the livestock and are heading back to the barn,” he pointed out. “Ben is on his own, unaware of his impending doom. Maybe Sadie should race off to warn him instead.”
“Plus, Jesse and Frank had to be rescued in the season four premiere,” Chance had chimed in. “Can’t someone else need saving for a change?”
“Exactly,” said Noah, raising his fist to Chance, who bumped it.
“Nope,” Ellen had said firmly. “Confronted with a choice like this, obviously Sadie would help her grandchildren.”
“Perhaps Sadie’s warning should arrive too late,” mused Nigel, stroking his chin. “Ben can be swept downstream, defy certain death, and yet survive. I’d certainly relish those scenes.”
“Would you all please read the whole script before you ask for rewrites?” Ellen had implored. “After that, if you’re not happy, we can talk.”
They agreed, and when the table read was finished, they all declared that it was brilliant. Ellen had given each of the leads scenes that played to their strengths and set up their characters for interesting arcs in future episodes. Sadie chose her grandsons over her beloved, which meant that the legions of viewers who conflated character and performer wouldn’t conclude that Julia was a terrible person and that they ought to hate her. Jesse and Frank rescued the missing livestock on their own and made their way back to the farm safely, not encountering their grandmother until they were nearly home. The unwitting Ben was indeed swept away by floodwaters, but in a thrilling sequence that required a stunt double, a helicopter, and a special observer from the ASPCA, he was hauled from turbulent waters by his faithful companion, Buck the border collie. Everyone congratulated Ellen on this especially clever plot twist, for fans adored Buck and persistently wrote in to demand more screen time for him.
Still, Julia wasn’t sure how fans would react to the final scenes. After dragging Ben to the safety of the riverbank, Buck raced off to find help, but as fate would have it, the nearest homestead was where Sadie’s jealous rival, Charity, lived with her family. Meanwhile, Sadie had spent a sleepless night worrying about Ben, lamenting their foolish misunderstanding, berating herself for not telling him she loved him when she had the chance. As soon as it was safe to venture out, she raced on horseback to his ranch, fearing she would be informed of his untimely death. Instead, when she knocked frantically on the door, who should answer but her jealous rival. Smiling with vicious sweetness, Charity explained that Ben had been so concerned with her welfare that he had waited out the storm at home with her family, and so she was repaying his kindness by fixing dinner for him and his hired hands. There was no mistaking her implication that they were now courting. Stunned, Sadie turned away and rode home, the misery in her expression eventually giving way to resolve. She did not know that Ben had heard her voice and had staggered from his sickbed tothe window, where he had watched her riding away, his expression full of longing.
Fade to black. As the end credits rolled and the closing theme played, raucous cheers and applause filled the room. Someone shouted, “Bravi!” and someone else called out, “Encore! From the top!” Everyone laughed as they rose from their seats and began filing out of the theater, eager to return to Julia’s great room, where they knew coffee and dessert awaited them.
“Your last scene, the way you conveyed everything through your shifting expressions?” Ellen said to Julia as they made their way up the aisle. “Wow. Just wow. That was so much more effective than any line I could have written for you.”
“Don’t sell yourself short.” Lowering her voice confidentially, Julia asked, “You don’t think the fans will be disappointed that it didn’t end with Sadie and Ben in a sweeping, emotional embrace?”
“No, not at all.” Ellen waved that off. “They’ll get that scene soon enough, in episode six. It’ll be all the sweeter for the delay.”
Julia nodded. That was what she had thought too, but it was good to have Ellen confirm it.
“And that look Ben gives Sadie as she rides off?” Ellen threw Nigel a grin over her shoulder. “That’s why so many people are convinced you two are a couple in real life, no matter how many times Nigel and Alistair are photographed hand in hand on the red carpet.”
“What can I say?” Julia paused in the doorway to allow Nigel to catch up, then linked her elbow through his. “Fans want to believe we’re in love. If it doesn’t bother Alistair, it doesn’t bother me.”
“Alistair finds it all rather amusing,” Nigel said as they climbed the stairs, a wry twist to his mouth. “He has no reason to question my devotion, however much I try his patience by spending far too much time away from London.”
“He should move here,” said Julia, as she had many times before, and probably would many times again. “We have museums andcharitable causes in Los Angeles. Any one of them would be grateful for his expertise.”
“He’s quite content where he is, darling, and he’s not one to abandon any project unfinished.” As they entered the foyer and passed the art nook, Julia thought she saw Nigel’s gaze linger wistfully on Charles’s Oscars. He would never say it aloud, but she knew he longed for one of his own. “Besides, it would hardly make sense for Alistair to find work here when I’ll be returning to London soon enough.”
“For the holidays, you mean?” Julia asked. They had reached the great room, where their friends and colleagues were helping themselves to refreshments and exchanging rave reviews about the premiere. Julia hoped the invited members of the press were equally impressed.
“Yes, of course, the holidays.” Nigel glanced around, distracted, but his expression brightened when he spotted the tea service. As if she would ever forget to have tea for him. “He’s flying in for the Emmys first, but we’ll spend Christmas and New Year’s together in London, when we aren’t gathering with his family on the ancestral estate in Derbyshire. I’ll return in January in time for our season six table reads. Those few weeks together will have to do until our more permanent reunion.”
As a server passed with a tray of sweets, Ellen helped herself to a chocolate cannoli. “We’ll keep you so busy with rehearsals and filming that you won’t have time to be lonely,” she promised Nigel. “The months will fly by. You’ll see.”
“Months?” Julia echoed. Surely Ellen meant years. Nigel was a lead and had to be on set nearly as often as Julia herself. He could hardly do that from the other side of the Atlantic.
“Thank you, Ellen. I confess we’re counting the weeks.” Nigel’s rueful grimace softened as he turned his gaze to Julia. “You can count on me to return for your sixth season premiere gala. And when I tell Alistair what a joy this penultimate celebration was, he’ll insist upon accompanying me.”
“I’ll be here too, no matter what,” Ellen declared. “Julia’s launch parties have become a cherished tradition. I wouldn’t miss the grand finale.”
“Grand finale? Penultimate?” Bewildered, Julia looked from one to the other and back again. “What are you two talking about?”
