Chapter 19 #2
“I go sometimes.” Lydia and several other women nodded in agreement. “I don’t feel regret for protecting my husband or my town, but sometimes it just feels good to share my feelings, especially if I have a nightmare.”
Wow. Jordana felt as if her whole body had been hit with a tidal wave of warmth and welcome. These people accepted her, understood her, and would take care of her physically and mentally. “Thank you. I am having nightmares about my time as a hostage. I might come on Tuesday.”
“I can bring you,” Waverly told her. “I have trouble with that every now and then too. It’s gotten much better being part of this community though.”
“Okay, enough talking,” Maggie told her, raising her sword. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Maggie swung, and Jordana fell right into the training her father had given her.
Her father’s system was shockingly similar to Reverend Winston’s.
They’d started at eight with small knives, a dagger, or stiletto, and then worked their way up to a machete, which was common to have when you were in the jungle.
The cutlass was different, but the training she had with the machete taught her well for it.
She was sweating by the time they finished with the boarding pike.
“Finally!” Maggie said, wiping her now red face that was covered in sweat.
“You’d be good if it were just a staff, but you get caught up with the knife on the end.
Your knife and sword work is excellent. How are you at shooting?
” Maggie laughed when Jordana just smirked.
“You have to come to the shooting range with me. We’ll have so much fun. ”
“I’m good, but I’m not Olympic gold medal good! Forrest told me all about you.” Jordana looked around as everyone else finished up. Even the elderly trio of women was practicing with various weapons. It was an incredible feeling to be a part of this group of women.
“Then maybe I can teach you a thing or two and you can teach me some martial arts? I’d love to take Hunter down.”
Most of the women snorted in amusement and made Maggie promise to do it downtown where they could all see it.
“I hardly got any time with you,” Natalie said, rejoining them after putting away her knife. “How about we text the guys and tell them to have some guy time while we go to Harper’s and have a girls’ night?”
Lydia’s head popped up. “Yes! Please!”
“I’m in,” Waverly said as Maggie also nodded.
Jordana looked around and saw that Melinda was standing just off to the side. “Melinda, would you like to join us for a drink?”
She loved seeing her eyes light up. “That would be lovely. Thank you.”
Jordana found herself in a group of women leaving the class.
“Oh!” Maggie stopped by a five-foot-tall, thick candle stand.
There were over twenty in the nave. It seemed excessive, because there were several other candle stands between the nave, the entranceway, and the altar.
They must really be into candlelight services.
“There’s a weapon in every candlestick holder. ”
“I’m sorry, what?” Jordana asked as Maggie tipped over the large candle stand.
“See?” Maggie said, pointing to what sure did look like a sword hilt.
Lydia reached down and a second later pulled out a sword. “The bigger the candle stand, the bigger the weapon.” Lydia slid the sword back in, righted the candle stand and they were on their way again.
“This is why I came to Shadows Landing,” Melinda told her as they walked across the street to Harper’s to get a drink as Lacy and Leah turned and headed toward their house.
“Key West also has a strong pirate history and I thought it would be fun to see what Floyd, I’m sorry, Reverend Winston, did with that history during his sermons.
And well, look at him.” Melinda bit her lip to stifle a giggle and several heads turned to look at her.
“Ha!” I knew there was something going on between you two,” Lydia said triumphantly. “Now, spill. I have maybe an hour left before my children overrun my husband. The Marines don’t train for this type of warfare.”
Melinda looked so badly like she wanted to confide, but also remembered she was supposed to be this perfect reverend herself.
“You can tell us. You might be a reverend, but you’re also a woman,” Jordana whispered to her. “Plus, if it gets awkward, just tap me and I’ll spill about Forrest to distract them.”
Melinda looked relieved then it all spilled out.
How he’s been completely professional but after just one week she wanted something more, but didn’t know how to tell him since she was worried about it being unprofessional.
And about how she kept expanding her fellowship here and had been told she had to go back to Key West by the end of the month or risk losing her position as assistant reverend.
“This is a later-in-life career change. After my divorce, I found such comfort in my church and this feels like a betrayal somehow by not wanting to go back.”
“He’s clearly into you and I bet he’s similarly struggling to keep it professional,” Maggie told her.
“I’ve known Reverend Winston my whole life.
He’s definitely into you. I would just tell him the truth.
You don’t want to go back because you have fallen for him, but you’re up against the clock. Love or your job?”
Melinda nibbled on her lip as they all paused until Gator, who was tending bar tonight, set down a round of drinks and left. “Won’t that seem like an ultimatum?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“I think it presents the problem you’re facing, and the reverend does enjoy solving a good problem,” Lydia told her. “And then you’ll know. If you don’t try and you go back to Key West never knowing, it could eat at you forever.”
Melinda took a deep breath, shot back her glass of wine, and stood up. “No time like the present.”
“You go!” Waverly cheered as Melinda walked from the bar just as Professor Halbert came in. “Mary! We had a seat just open up. Would you like to join us?”
Mary blushed a little but took the chair Melinda had vacated next to Jordana. “So, how is filming going?” Jordana asked.
Mary instantly rolled her eyes. “We’re a week behind schedule and getting worse. I was hired because I’m the expert. But my director keeps trying to make this some kind of pirate soap opera. Owen is the only thing keeping me sane.”
“Aww,” the table all cooed.
“And about you and Skeeter—” Natalie started.
Mary blushed again but the way her whole face lit up told Jordana more than her words. Mary was smitten.
“He’s wonderful. I’ve never met a man like him before. Normally men talk down to me and think I’m weird. Not Owen. He treats me with such respect and honesty. It’s so freeing to be with someone who has, um, similar talents.”
“What do the ghosts say?” Maggie asked. “They always have strong opinions and let you know exactly what they are. Anne also likes to pinch the butts of cute men, and I approve of that. It’s always fun to see them freak out.”
Mary shook her head as she smiled. “See, no one ever reacted this way before when they learn about my talking to ghosts. They all used to think I’m mentally unstable. But the ghosts approve. They’ve been downright demanding about it.”
“Demanding?” Jordana wondered how so.
“Yeah, they insist I stay in Shadows Landing and make ghost-seeing babies with Owen. They go on a lot about fate and destiny.”
“So, why don’t you?” Waverly asked. “There are lots of colleges here and I’m sure they have colonial history and piracy classes.”
Mary looked thoughtful. Knowing they’d pushed her enough, the group quickly turned to Jordana and Forrest. Now it was her turn to blush as she told them about falling in love under very unusual circumstances. Mary gaped, but the rest seemed to find it surprisingly normal.