Worth a Thousand Words (26 page)

“This is what we need to be doing. I’m leaving for grad school soon and you’ll be in Corpus Christi, wrapped up in flight school training. I know your older sisters and your mom will do whatever you need, but I want to make sure you and I nail down your preferences first. You deserve to have a beautiful wedding.”

Shelby hugged her neck. “If nothing else, I have a beautiful friend,” she said softly.

Shelby’s parents sauntered into the family room, still dressed in the suits they had worn to worship service.

“Church was good today,” Mr. Arrington said. “Should have been there, ladies.”

Indigo read the look Shelby gave her mom as a silent plea for support.

“You guys know why we stayed home,” Shelby said with an edge to her voice. “It would have been too much, too soon.”

Indigo reminded herself that, other than Shelby, no one knew the real reason for the breakup. She was sure that Shelby’s mother and Brian’s mother had been trading phone calls and speculating why she and Brian had ended their engagement. Was it Brian’s fault or Indigo’s? Had one of them found someone else?

Mrs. Arrington was fond of her, but Indigo knew she loved Brian like the son she’d never had. She was fiercely loyal to him, and to his mother.

Indigo wondered this afternoon whether that would change if she knew Brian’s secret. She was sad that his unwillingness to be real meant they both had to live under a shadow of suspicion. She decided in this moment, however, that she could handle it. Regardless of whether the Arringtons or the Harpers accepted her, she would hold her head high.

The phone rang and Mr. Arrington stretched to grab a cordless receiver from one of the end tables. He gazed at caller ID and his pensive stare told Indigo it was Hunt.

“Are you going to answer, Daddy?” Shelby asked. “Hunt promised to call around this time.”

He sighed and pressed Talk on the third ring.

“Arrington residence,” he said dryly. “Oh, hello, Hunt. I’m doing well. You been to church today? Uh huh. We’ll have to talk more about these kinds of things the next time you come to visit. Or better yet, maybe the next time you call. Here’s my daughter.”

He extended the phone toward Indigo and she passed it to Shelby. Mr. Arrington stuffed his hands in his pockets and left the room. Mrs. Arrington waved lightly and followed him.

“Tell Hunt I said hello,” she mouthed to Shelby before she was out of sight.

Now Indigo understood. Shelby didn’t want a wedding because she didn’t want her own folks acting like fools. She had said her mom liked Hunt and was happy about their engagement, but clearly Mr. Arrington wanted to haze his future son-in-law.

“Yeah, babe,” Shelby said into the phone. “I miss you too.”

She glanced at Indigo and again seemed filled with sympathy.

“Let me call you back a little later, okay? Indie’s still here and I want to make the most of our time together. Don’t worry about Daddy. We’ll pair him and your mom at the wedding reception so they can commiserate.”

Shelby chuckled and hung up. She turned toward Indigo and sighed. “You see why I’m thinking about skipping the wedding? We can get married at Grace Temple, with Pastor Richardson and just two witnesses.”

Indigo nodded. “I see why you’re stressed. I’m surprised that your daddy is tripping like this.”

“That’s because he likes to control everything. He already had me married off, to his law partner’s son. But I haven’t seen Garrett Lee in three years—plus, we’ve never dated. I told him he had to give that pipe dream up; I wasn’t into arranged marriages.”

They covered their mouths to stifle their laughs.

“What about your mom?” Indigo asked.

“She really likes Hunt, and she says she can tell that he genuinely loves me,” Shelby said. “That’s all that matters to her. She wants me to be loved, treated with respect, and taken care of properly.”

Indigo chuckled again. “That sounds like the description of a Southern belle beauty queen, not some little woman who just went through the Navy’s most rigorous training program, with dreams of flying helicopters and space shuttles.”

Shelby pushed the chair away from the computer and walked over to the palladium window. Her eyes traveled to her neighbor’s backyard, and Indigo saw her watching a group of kids frolic on a swing set.

“Nothing about my life is that uncomplicated, or typical, anymore,” Shelby said.

Indigo joined her at the window to watch the happy children. “I concur, Officer Arrington. But maybe this is how God intended it. If everything were cookie-cutter perfect, I guess we wouldn’t rely on him to lead us, right? The main thing is to walk in truth and in love, with everybody—yourself, Hunt, your parents, and his. Don’t let someone else’s hang-ups keep you from following your heart. You make the memories you want for you and Hunt, as long as they honor God.”

Shelby turned toward Indigo and gazed at her a few minutes without speaking. “You’re a good friend, Indie. I did what I did—or didn’t do—because I love you and I wanted the best for you. I’m sorry if I let you down, and I’m grateful that you love me enough to forgive me and to be here in Austin with me, as hard as this must be for you.”

Indigo smiled halfheartedly. “It is hard, but what would be harder would be to lose my sister-friend over something that neither of us can change. Just be real with me from now on, Shel. And find the courage to be real with yourself.”

Shelby looked at her young neighbors again and saw two little girls, about three, pause to hug each other. She smiled and a tear slid down her cheek. “Dreams don’t necessarily die, do they? They just come in packages that God knows are a better fit for us than we could have designed.”

She motioned for Indigo to join her again at the computer. “Come on. Let’s decide on these dresses so we can outline a plan for the rest of the wedding.”

When Shelby was seated again, she pulled an envelope from a drawer in the computer armoire and placed it on Indigo’s lap. Indigo frowned when she opened it.

Shelby raised her hand to halt Indigo’s protest. “You might want to give me that wedding dress, but I asked my mother to write a check to your parents, since they were picking up the tab. I’ll be honored to wear the dress that you picked out and have it altered to fit me. You just help me plan my special day and be there to share it with me and Hunt. That will be gift enough.”

52

I
ndigo loved back-to-school shopping, even if she were a grown woman well beyond the crayon-and-glue-stick stage.

In her case, she was shopping for bed linens, towels, and curtains for her New York apartment. Yasmin had recently returned from modeling camp, feeling like a fashion and design connoisseur, and had come along to offer advice. Somehow, though, she had quickly escaped to the shoe department, to hunt for one more pair of sandals to be ready for ninth grade.

Indigo spotted the two cute kids as she strolled through the section for bedroom comforters and accessories. They were about five or six and had to be fraternal twins, because although one was a boy and the other was a girl, they were each other’s spitting image. They tumbled into a floor-model beanbag and tickled each other incessantly, growing louder by the second.

Indigo was startled when Max Shepherd came into view. He rounded the corner and playfully scooped the two children up by their collars. She watched from a few feet away, amused by his attempt to be stern.

“Didn’t I tell you two to stay where I could see you? I guess there will be no movie and popcorn today.”

“We’re sorry, we’re sorry!” the kids pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

Indigo giggled. Had they been in her care, she would have melted.

Max turned in her direction and did a double take.

“Hey, you,” he said. “How long have you been standing there?”

Indigo approached him and accepted his hug.

“Long enough to see you manhandling these two sweet children,” she teased.

Max threw back his head and laughed. Indigo noticed every inflection.

“Believe me, Fric and Frac here deserve it. These are my little cousins Katerri and Joseph.”

Indigo extended her hand to each of them, and they shook it.

“You’re pretty,” Katerri said.“Are you Cousin Max’s girlfriend?”

Indigo blushed. Before she could respond, Max replied.

“Not yet, little nosey rosey. Not yet.” He smiled.

Indigo raised an eyebrow. Max turned to the kids and stooped to make eye contact.

“You have my permission to play on the beanbag for two more minutes, got it? Just two. Then we have to go.” He stood and faced Indigo. “So how you been?”

Indigo shrugged. “I can’t complain. You?”

He hesitated and Indigo could tell that he knew.

“News travels fast in Jubilant. I’m sorry about your broken engagement,” Max said.

Indigo folded her arms. “Based on what you just told your cousins, you don’t seem too sorry.”

Max looked down and then straight into her eyes. “Truthfully, I guess I’m not. I’m more sorry for Brian than anything. You’re something special. I’ve realized that in the short time I’ve known you.”

Indigo wanted to roll her eyes at his come-on line, but didn’t, out of respect for the fact that they were photography colleagues. Maybe he really meant it, but right now she was jaded on anything that resembled smooth talk.

“I’m not looking to date anyone right now, Max,” she said. “I’m leaving for New York soon and I just want some time to myself.”

His curly hair bobbed as he nodded.

“Understood. I’ll be around whenever you’re in town,” he said. “And I’ll be in New York, speaking at SVA in about a month, about the transition from student to owning my own photography business. If you’re up to it, maybe I can take you out for coffee or something then.”

This guy was persistent. He was handsome too, Indigo admitted. But if Brian had taught her nothing else, she had learned that checking out the inside was more important than focusing on the packaging.

“We’ll see,” she told Max. “Look me up when you get to town, okay?”

She walked away to find Yasmin, but not before noting that funny feeling in her heart that seemed to surface whenever she was in his presence.

Something about him was magnetic, but she had to be careful. There was too much at stake to get caught up in the wrong game.

To top it all off, he seemed to be a mind reader.

“Just so you know,” Max called after her, “I don’t pick up girls at the mall all the time. You happen to make me do strange things, Indigo Burns.”

She waved to him without turning around and kept walking, but inside, she was smiling. Max might not be “the one,” but he was a signpost that someday soon she was going to learn to love again.

53

N
izhoni became an official part of the Burns family when she showed up at the family cookout and ate a plate of chitlins with Indigo’s dad.

Indigo loved her father, but she wasn’t going to eat pig intestines for anyone.

“You have wrapped yourself around my daddy’s heart, girl,” Indigo told her friend. “Welcome.”

Nizhoni laughed. “Believe me, I’ve eaten odder things on an Indian reservation. Other than the smell, this isn’t bad. My dad won’t even eat them. I’ll have to let him know that I’m one up on him.”

Indigo walked over to Aunt Melba, who stood on the backyard patio beaming like a proud mother.

“Did you see that girl over there eating chitlins? Do you see her hair flowing down her back?”

Indigo had noticed. There was no braid.

“Working in your salon is doing her some good, huh?”

Aunt Melba smiled. “Being around good people anywhere can do that to you, Indigo. You remember that when you get to New York. Don’t cast your lot with people who have nothing to show for themselves or no drive to work hard for something. They’ll only hold you back or hold you down. And I’m not just talking about material things. I’m talking dreams, ambitions, and opportunities. You cast your lot with other winners, like yourself, and you humbly serve the others in the hopes that some of them will get there.”

Indigo tucked the advice in her mental memory bank. “How did you become so wise?”

“Just listening to my mama and daddy, at first, and then adding in the ultimate source—the Word of God, baby,” Aunt Melba said. “It will never lead you wrong.”

Indigo scanned the crowd and monitored the side gate as guests continued to arrive. He had promised he would come, but the cookout had been in full swing for two hours.

“Who are you looking for?” Aunt Melba asked. “Brian?”

Indigo shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Did you invite him?”

“Yes,” Indigo said. “He said he’d think about it.”

Talking about him must have conjured him up, because minutes later, he came strolling into the backyard, accompanied by Shelby and Hunt.

The three of them looked good, especially Brian.

Indigo noticed some of the female friends of the family following him with their eyes. She watched as he surveyed the crowd, searching for her.

When his eyes landed on her, she waved, and he came over to the patio.

He hugged Indigo’s mom, Aunt Melba, and then Indigo. It wasn’t a lingering hug as usual, but it was sincere.

Indigo felt as if the two of them were onstage. R&B singer Anthony Hamilton’s “The River” blared from the surround sound speakers as what seemed like everyone waited to see how they interacted.

Indigo motioned for him to follow her inside.

“Thanks for coming,” she said once they were alone. “I know you leave for flight school next week. Your parents let you out of their sight?”

Brian chuckled. “Briefly,” he said. “When I said I was coming here, they were all for it. They haven’t given up hope.”

Indigo smiled, surprised that the resentment that occasionally surfaced didn’t flare. What she felt instead was something special for him. Pity, she supposed, for the journey she knew he faced.

“I’ll always love you, Indie,” he said softly. She saw in his eyes that he wanted to kiss her, so she let him. It was tender and sweet, but also bittersweet.

She started to tell him the truth—that on the night he revealed his issues, she had been planning to break their engagement anyway. But looking at him now, and seeing that he was working so hard to be at peace with himself and with the fact that he had given her up, she decided that some personal truths didn’t need to be shared.