Page 35 of Two Weddings and a Shoot Out

Hank walked back in, eyes twinkling but his mouth pursed. “I’m sorry.”

Clara turned and held out her arms. “It’s okay. It was very sweet of you to try to make frosting by yourself since Mommy and Daddy were taking care of the twins. Accidents happen,” she said, holding Hank in her arms and dropping a kiss on his head.

“I changed clothes.”

“Probably a good idea. You might have sneezed all morning if you wore that shirt,” Clara said.

“Compass and Maureen are here to take us to the ceremony, and they’re going to help us with Rissa and Ginny. Aunt Winnie said they’d sit by us so you could play with David and Grant.”

“I’ll go get my boots,” Hank called, running out of the room.

“I thought the kids were staying with War, Remi, Sarah, and Scoop,” Compass said.

Clara nodded. “They were, but Hank still has some times he doesn’t want to sleep away from Mom and Dad, so he came home at two a.m.”

Hank ran back in the room, skidding on the floor in his socks. “Will you help me?” he asked.

Maureen loved seeing Compass’ face light up and nod his head. He and Hank sat down in a chair while Compass helped him.

“Anything I can do to help?” Maureen asked. She almost hoped the girls needed cuddling all morning. Maureen couldn’t think of anything she’d love more than cuddling the girls. But at nine months old, she was guessing they might want to be on a blanket playing with toys or crawling around instead of just snuggling with her. Still, she knew it would be a fun time.

Jesse came out carrying one of the twins, and Cannon walked out behind her with the other.

“Thank you so much for doing this. Did you want to take our vehicle with the car seats and then we’ll drive it back? I finished the restoration on the 1970 Harley Davidson Ironhead Sportster that Sarah and Scoop brought back from their trip. So I’ll be riding that to give to Scoop. It’s his push present for Sarah. Cannon is driving the pickup truck with the metal sculpture the guys made for the park,” Jesse said.

“I thought the push present was like when the baby was born,” Compass said.

“Do I want to know how you know that?” Maureen asked.

“Scoop and War were whining in the clubhouse a couple of days ago about them. Scoop and War both acted like they had no idea what to do,” Compass said.

Cannon chuckled. “Yeah, Scoop didn’t want War outdoing him, so he swore Jesse and me to keep the bike a secret. She’s had to hide it every night just in case War came by.”

“Well, give me one of those sweeties and let’s get over to the ceremony,” Maureen said, reaching for Ginny. The girls looked identical. At least, they were dressed in different colored outfits, and their little cuts had their names on them.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Megwalkedtothepodium and stood by Rascal. What a year it had been. So many changes, but she wouldn’t change her life for anything. She waited for Rascal to welcome everyone, then it was her turn.

“Welcome to the second annual Bluff Creek Commemoration of D-Day. It’s the 81stanniversary of the Allied invasion of D-Day. After the ceremony, I invite you to visit our memorial. When Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the invasion, he said these words, which we think embody what we should commemorate about the invasion:

They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.

“And with that, I’d like to announce our speaker, Margaret Jamieson, my Ol’ Lady, but also an expert on American war history and specifically the D-Day invasion.”

Meg smiled and nodded.

“Thank you. Today, our commemoration ceremony is a little different. When I came last year and talked about the eightieth anniversary of D-Day, I focused on the numbers and the odds they faced, which were tremendous.

“And I don’t plan on minimizing that because it’s important, but today, I want to talk about courage. Courage is facing adversity, difficulty, or danger. At least in this old woman’s opinion. One dictionary I looked at said that courage was facing something without fear, and I greatly disagree. Courage is facing that trial despite the fear and pushing through.

“D-Day had to have the right conditions to have a chance at succeeding. It needed clear weather with a near full moon to guide the ships. D-Day was actually set for June 5thbut a weathercast showed the day didn’t have ideal conditions. General Eisenhower moved D-Day to the next day, June 6th.

“Courage is doing what you know is right, even when you might not survive, and so many didn’t survive. US troops were in charge of taking Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. Thousands of US paratroopers died during their drop to Utah Beach. Some were shot out of the sky, and others died by missing landing spots or being dragged down in marshlands. Some seaborne forces also missed their landing spots due to strong currents.

“Despite all this, US troops were still able to advance and make headway. For some, this was the first time they’d ever seen combat, and still they pushed through.

“Some of them were pushing through while missing part of the men they’d deployed with. When they landed, they were in a foreign country, in unknown territory, not knowing what was ahead. All the training in the world can only prepare you so much.

---