Page 13 of A Rose of Steel
To have all the things my heart desired.
Which brought me right back to that bolt-out-of-the-blue—Dr. Alexander Hale.
The man who had saved the life of the groom.
The one that was hopefully all set to save me.
From the moment I met him, it was him that I dreamed of being with until death do we part.
But things don’t always go the way one hopes. Alex turned out to be already married.
Separated.Almostdivorced. So he put it.
But like one of those Southern sayings I wanted no part of, “almost” only counted in hand grenades and horseshoes.
Knock. Knock.
Knuckles hitting my window gave me a jump. It was Catfish. I pushed the switch and let down the window.
“I didn’t hear you come up,” I said. “You scared me.”
“You were lost in thought,” he said and smiled. “Unlock the door,” he said, pointing at it. I popped it and he grabbed the outside handle and opened the door for me. He held out a hand to help me out. “I thought I’d beat you here with all the goings on at your house. You been here long?”
“You didn’t hear?” I asked, stepping out of the car.
“Hear what?” he said.
“Groom had an asthma attack,” I said. “Ambulance had to come and get him. They had to postpone the wedding.”
“Oh wow,” Catfish said. “So Babet didn’t get to perform her first wedding, huh?” He laughed. “She was really looking forward to it.”
“She’ll get her chance. They’ll probably only keep him overnight. Maybe they can try at another ceremony next weekend,” I said. “If they do, though, I’ll have to find someplace else to be.”
Maybe in Chicago with Alex...
“I don’t know,” Catfish said. “Next week is Homecoming at the high school. She’ll be super busy. Probably won’t want to do another wedding then.”
“That’s next week?” I asked. “I will definitely have to be somewhere else.”
In East Texas, football was next to God. And at a Roble High School Homecoming more people came to participate than there were sinners in church on Easter Sunday. Everyone came to give their praise whether the team was winning or not. Week long events—dinners, dances, school spirit activities and of course the game. A big deal for Roble High School, an even bigger deal for The Roble Belles Booster Club, which Auntie Zanne proudly ran.
“She didn’t tell me,” I said. “I’m surprised she hadn’t asked me to help plan it.”
“She wanted you to get the work done here,” he said. “Finish setting up ‘your office’ as she told me.”
I shook my head. “It’s not my office,” I said.
He held up his hands. “Only repeating what she said to me.”
“You didn’t tell her you were helping me today, did you?” I asked. “I told her I had deliveries coming. If she knew they were just from you, she would have tried to make me postpone them and stay at the house. I used them as a means of getting away.”
Catfish laughed. “Didn’t say a word. I figured if you wanted her to know, you would’ve told her.”
“Thank you, Catfish,” I said.
“Anything for you,” he said.
Catfish looked cute in his green bucket hat and overalls, his usual attire. He was an outdoorsman, keeping property out in the pinelands close to the Sabine River. He fished, hunted and farmed, but he was handy and could help me with anything I needed.
