25. Madeleine
MADELEINE
By midnight we’d all changed out of our wedding clothes and into jeans, sweaters, and jackets. Finley had loaded a sled with hot buttered rums in tin mugs and hauled them out to the fire pit. We settled around a fire pit the size of a small pond in a loose circle.
The sky was clear and stuffed with stars, with the moon hanging low in the horizon. Behind us, the lodge glowed from every window. The giant tree in the middle of the ranch was alight, twinkling under the starry night.
I didn’t realize until we all sat down that it was now Christmas. “Merry Christmas,” I called out to the group.
“Oh goodness, yes, it’s Christmas,” Ivy said.
I sat between Knox and Ivy with my hands wrapped around a hot mug and my shoulder against Knox’s arm, feeling quite toasty.
Just then, Jasper Moon came out of the dark in a Santa suit and a canvas feed sack over his shoulder stuffed with parcels. He announced himself with a ho ho ho.
“I’ve heard there are good boys and girls here tonight,” Jasper said. “And Santa’s brought presents.”
Everyone let out a somewhat drunken cheer.
Jasper reached into his bag. “Let me see. Ah yes, we have little Rhett’s present first. I checked the list twice but you still made the cut.” He tossed the parcel to Rhett.
Rhett caught it, grinning. “I told you guys I was good.”
“Better look at what’s in there before claiming that,” Holly said.
Rhett peeled the paper back. “It’s not coal! I’m officially on the good list.” Then he went quiet, peering at the photograph. “It’s a photo of Jack and me when we were kids. Where did this come from?”
“I found it while looking for something else,” Jack said. “We’re like thirteen here. I don’t remember it being taken. Do you?”
Rhett looked at it a long moment more. “I remember that jacket. Mrs. Lewis gave it to me. Hand me down from one of her kids. Where are we, though?”
“That’s the park,” Jack said. “Do you see the swings behind us?”
“Oh yeah, right,” Rhett said. “We all used to hang out there like we were cool.”
“May I see?” Holly asked.
Rhett didn’t say anything for a moment, almost as if he were deciding whether or not to give it to her. In the end, however, he handed it to her. “See anyone you know?” Rhett asked.
“Oh my gosh, that’s me to the side,” Holly said. “Looking at you two like you hung the moon.”
“You were looking at Rhett,” Jack said. “You only looked at Rhett in those days.”
“Yeah, I guess I always have thought he hung the moon,” Holly said softly, as she handed it back to Rhett.
“Thanks, brother,” Rhett said to Jack. “I’ll cherish it.”
Jasper reached back into the bag. “Here’s one for Beck.”
Beck’s present was flat too, and rigid. Probably a frame. His mouth dropped open when he saw what it was. “Wow, okay. Where in the world did this come from?” Beck looked up, but didn’t really focus on anyone in particular. “My first chart. With my arrangement for our first hit.”
“Yep, I saved it,” Jack said.
From what I could see it was a page of manuscript paper, old, penciled over in a cramped hand, a brown ring where a coffee cup had sat.
“That’s a piece of our history,” Knox said. “You should hang it up—remind us how far we’ve come and how much you’ve always brought to the table. We don’t say it enough.”
“I don’t need to hear it,” Beck said. “I know.”
“We all know,” Grant said. “Who you are. What you give to us with your hard work and talent.”
“Jeez, guys, I got through the whole day without crying,” Beck said. “Thank you, Jack. Thanks to all of you. I’ve never felt like one of the cool kids, you know. Just the nerd with only one talent. But with you guys, I feel like I’m cool-adjacent. And I love you. Every one of you.”
“We love you,” Jack said.
Blake, who was sitting next to Beck, leaned closer to get a better look. “This is going in the film.”
“If you think it should, then yes,” Beck said.
“Here’s something for Grant,” Jasper said.
Grant caught his and unwrapped it, then held it up for us to see. “Um, okay, this may indicate I’m on the naughty list.” It was a length of rope. Just rope.
“That’s part of Soren’s guide line,” Jasper said. “The one that helped Grant bring Knox back in safely. Jack thought you ought to have a piece of it to remind yourself how brave you are.”
“Oh, I see.” A muscle in Grant’s jaw flexed.
Knox leaned forward, his hands splayed over his knees. “That rope and you—that’s why I’m here. You know it’s true.”
Grant shrugged. “I did what anyone would do.”
“I doubt that,” Jack said. “Regardless, you’re a hero, and I wanted to acknowledge that.”
“Thank you, Jack. It’s very kind of you,” Grant said.
“Knox Hartley, you have something from Santa too,” Jasper said, reaching behind one of the chairs for a large bag and setting it in Knox’s lap.
“I’m pretty sure I’m getting coal,” Knox said, opening the bag, then laughed. “It’s one of my crutches.”
“We all wrote something on there,” Ivy said. “To remember our time together.”
“Some of it’s not exactly G-rated,” Jack said.
“I’ll cherish it always,” Knox said, laughing.
Jasper handed out Holly’s next. When she tore the paper off, she just sat there looking at it, clearly not understanding. It was a brick.
“It’s a—Jack, it’s a brick,” she said, looking over at her childhood friend.
“Open the other one,” Jack said.
Jasper handed her the second parcel—a long tube. Holly pulled out a roll of paper and unrolled it in the firelight. “I don’t understand. They’re architectural plans. Building plans.” She stopped. “Oh my God, is this what I think it is?”
“It’s a plan for the new Boys and Girls Club in Stonehaven,” Jack said.
“I know you’ve been trying to raise money to rebuild after the old one was torn down.
We all practically grew up there, you know.
The place probably saved us.” Jack looked at her, smiling.
“I couldn’t let it disappear. Not when there’s kids who need it, like we did.
Ivy and I held a low key fundraiser with folks from the industry with deep pockets.
It’s funded. All of it. A new Boys and Girls Club is getting built. ”
Holly put her hand over her mouth, shaking her head like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“The brick’s from the original building.” Jack paused for a second, glancing at Rhett. “I had only one request. I asked them to name it after Rhett.”
The circle went dead silent. Holly’s gaze flew to Rhett.
Rhett looked like a startled animal. “Me? Why me?”
“Because you’re the proof,” Jack said simply.
“A kid from that place can turn into something. From sheer will and determination and a few helping hands along the way. But dude, when I look around this circle, it’s all you.
You did this. Mailing my tape in. Giving up a career doing something more important than putting this motley crew together.
No child should be tossed aside just because they’re poor.
We need places like the Boys and Girls Club to make sure kids like you don’t fall through the cracks. Kids like us.”
“No, man, that’s not how it was.” Rhett’s eyes leaked tears.
“It’s all you. I just caught hold of your coattails, you know.
Been lucky enough to be part of something that actually matters.
I could be sitting in some cubicle right now instead of here with people who make the world more beautiful with their music. ”
“I wouldn’t be here without you,” Jack said. “It’s that simple.”
Holly held a brick in one hand and the plans in the other.
“He’s right, Rhett. You’re the one who put all the pieces together to make something whole.
Your keen mind—finding the right people—putting them together—that’s your genius.
” Holly smiled down at the brick. “I don’t care what we call it—I’m just glad we’ll have a place for the kids to go.
” She looked up at Jack. “I can’t thank you enough. ”
“Who’s next?” Jack asked, clearly embarrassed.
“Luci Wilder,” Jasper said.
Luci startled at her name, like she’d been somewhere far away. Her parcel was small, just an envelope. She opened it, read it, then started vehemently shaking her head. “Jack, no.”
“It’s done,” Jack said. “There’s nothing to argue about.”
“Jack, this is too much,” Luci said.
“You should have asked me for it to begin with,” Jack said.
“You’ve taken care of me long enough,” Luci said. “Medical school was my responsibility.”
Jack shook his head. “All the good you’re doing shouldn’t be rewarded with a bunch of debt. I have the means, and I wanted to do it for you. End of story.”
“What is it?” Grant asked.
Luci looked over at him. “He paid off my student loans. All of them.”
“Wow, okay,” Grant said.
“The debt’s not something I’m proud of,” Luci said. “After all these years and all the ways our lives changed, I still feel shame about being broke.”
“You shouldn’t have to be,” Grant said. “Not with what you’ve brought to your community.”
“Well, everyone around this circle knows life doesn’t work that way,” Knox said. “But if we have a chance to make something right, we have to do it.”
“It’s ridiculous you didn’t tell me how much you owed,” Jack said. “This is my job, you know. To take care of my baby sister.”
“I’m not your job or your responsibility,” Luci said. “But since it’s already done, I have no choice but to say thank you.” She glanced at Ivy. “And thank you too, Ivy. I’m sure you didn’t anticipate that I came with the Jack package.”
“It’s given Jack a lot of joy to do this for you,” Ivy said. “Which means it gives me joy too.”
Blake’s gift came next. She held it up for us all to see that it was a framed photograph of all twelve of us after the talent show night. I vaguely recalled Finley gathering us all together for a photo.
“I wanted a photo with you in it,” Ivy said to Blake. “Without your camera.”
“Thank you, Ivy,” Blake said, clearly moved. “I’ll treasure it. I’m honored to have been part of so much fun this month. I don’t think I can adequately express what this time has meant to me.” Her glance bounced over to Beck.
“I have one more,” Ivy said, reaching under her chair to hand Blake another framed photo. “I didn’t have time to get this one to Santa.”
“Wait, Santa’s real?” Knox asked, making everyone laugh.
Blake was looking down at the photo, smiling, a tender expression in her eyes.
“It’s a photo of Beck and me.” She raised it up to show us a picture of Beck and Blake sitting together on the piano bench, her head resting on his shoulder.
Just a bit of Beck’s profile showed, but it was enough to know his gaze was tilted toward Blake, as if she were feeding him the notes.
He took hold of it, staring down at the photo for a moment. “Who took this?”
“Me,” Ivy said. “I might have a second career as a photographer. Capturing perfect moments, just like a song.”
“It was a perfect moment,” Beck said, a whisper of wistfulness in his voice.
“And last,” Jasper said, reaching into the bottom of the sack, “Madeleine Price.”
“One for me?” I couldn’t help but feel excited. “I can’t wait to see.” I opened the flat parcel to reveal a frame, and inside the frame were two napkins. It took me a second to realize what they were. Our wish lists, written on napkins at the end of the kind of night only twenty year olds can have.
“Remember that night?” Ivy asked. “We stopped at that diner on the way home from a bar.”
“I remember,” I said. “Ivy and I wrote down what we hoped would come true in the next ten years.”
Ivy’s was written in her loopy scrawl whereas my handwriting was precise, with no crooked lines.
“I found them when I was packing up my things to move in with Jack,” Ivy said. “I’d saved them.”
“We had some big dreams back then,” I said.
Ivy’s had all come true. Playing the Ryman. A record deal. A number one hit. She’d even gotten the last one on her list.
Find a love like Mama and Daddy have.
My list was the same. I’d done almost everything on it.
Buy Mama a house.
Put Charlie through college.
Earn six figures.
Fix my nose.
Clothes that make me look like a professional.
Lose my accent so I don’t sound like a hillbilly.
Work in the music industry.
Help make Ivy a star.
Like Ivy’s list, the very last item was about love.
Find somebody who knows the real me and loves me anyway.
I handed it to Knox. “You see that last one there. That’s you. My dream come true.”
He placed his hand over his heart but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. I knew.
“All right,” Jack said. “We have one last gift. One we hope will make us all a lot of money. Knox has written a Christmas song.”
“Hobbled For the Holidays,” Knox said. “You can imagine where that came from, right?”
Everyone laughed as Jack and Knox grabbed their guitars. They sat down next to each other on the stone lip of the fire pit.
“By this time next year, it’ll be a classic,” Jack said.
Knox and Jack began to strum, then Jack came in with the first line.
This Christmas I asked Santa for someone sweet
And full of spice
Instead I’m stuck in a hotel suite
With my ankle packed in ice
By the time he came to the last chorus, everyone was singing along but it was only Jack’s voice that sang the refrain.
Yeah, I’d do the whole thing over again
If she’d be waiting at the end
“I would too,” Knox said, leaning close to speak into my ear. “Again and again.”
“I’d be waiting every time,” I said. “With an ice pack and a kiss.”
“I’m calling it,” Jack said to the group. “That song’s going to be a classic.”
After that, we all talked and laughed some more, even shed a few more happy tears. Around two in the morning, everyone started to wander off, until it was just Knox and me sitting in front of the fire.
The moon had risen higher, shedding a silvery glow over the snow and cabins. Behind us, the lights of the lodge had dimmed, other than the Christmas tree in the front window, still twinkling as if to remind us that miracles could indeed happen, and had.
“Moon’s not full tonight,” Knox said. “But it’s okay. I kissed you under the full one last night. Which means I plan to keep you.”
“Maybe I should kiss a certain cowboy the night after a full moon to prove I plan to keep you? That way we’re covered on both counts.”
“Just to be safe,” Knox said.
I leaned close, breathing him in, then kissed him under that nearly full moon. Regardless of where we went, the moon would follow, lighting the way along the red dirt roads that brought us home.
Thank you for reading Rebel Moon!