20. Forever and Ever, Amen
RANDY TRAVIS
Ginny looked at herself in the mirror one more time. A final check before Chloe, her official date to the Homecoming Bicentennial Dance, arrived. She’d never heard back from Ryan, though after her last check at For the Record, her final note was gone just like the others. She’d tried not to let herself feel any further heartbreak over his lack of response. Praying she’d get the chance to apologize in person and to tell Ryan, face-to-face, how long she’d loved him.
She had chosen a rose-colored, a-line dress. One that tapered at her hips into delicate, ruffled tiers and had similarly tiered, but sheer sleeves. Her hair, loose and curled, fell past her shoulders. She saw her smile reflect back at her when she heard Chloe’s knock at the door, thankful for the friend who’d checked in with her every day that week.
“Hey, girl,” Chloe said, coming in and handing a corsage over to Ginny that matched both their dresses.
Ginny laughed and sashayed to the refrigerator where she’d stored Chloe’s. “I have one for you too.”
“This sure is different from my actual homecoming.”
Ginny offered her the cream colored flower wrapped in greens to match Chloe’s dress and eyes. “I forget who you went with in high school?”
“No one,” Chloe replied, dipping her head into Ginny’s refrigerator and then looking up with disgust. “Virginia Remillard, you have light mayo in here? What’s even the point?”
“I hesitate to even tell you this, based on the look you’re givin’ me right now, but I don’t even eat the stuff. I just keep it in there for guests. My daddy eats light mayo.”
Chloe blanched, ripped the glass jar from its home and threw it in the trash. “If we are to maintain this friendship, I’m gonna have to take you for a proper grocery shop at some point.”
Ginny laughed. “If it’s that important to you, I think we can make it happen.”
“It’s a matter of honor.” Chloe held out her elbow, offering it to Ginny. “Are we ready, date?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, taking her arm and steadying herself against her friend.
“Let’s go dance the night away,” Chloe said, pulling Ginny down the stairs and through the shop to where her car waited. “And maybe we’ll see a hot coach along the way.”
Ginny’s stomach jumped with anticipation. “Maybe…”
On the street, Ginny found not just Chloe’s car but a line of her siblings and their spouses, dressed to the nines in their formal attire and each couple holding corsages of various shades of pink.
“What are y’all doin’ here?” she asked in complete shock.
Her sisters stepped forward first, Georgia offered her a light pink carnation with peach and cream ribbons tied around it and placed it on her wrist. “We are taking you to the dance, Virginia. All of us.”
“We shouldn’t have meddled when we did. Shouldn’t have taken things so far, and we’ll always be so sorry for how hurt you are, Gin.” Caroline held out a blush cluster of baby roses tied with lavender ribbons and slipped Ginny’s hand into the stretchy bracelet.
“It wasn’t even close to your fault, guys. I should have been honest from the get go.” Ginny wrapped her arms around both her elder sisters and squeezed them close. “I love you so much.”
Dakota joined their huddle and slipped daisies with tiny pink mums around her already crowded wrist. “You deserve it all, Gin. Flowers, romance, PDA…” he gagged and the group laughed. “But while you wait for Doofus—”
Sadie elbowed him in the gut, sliding into their hug with Griffin and Lake close behind.
“Ahem,” Dakota said, clearing his throat, “while you wait on Ryan, we are here. And we always will be.”
Ginny had no words. Only gratefulness for the people God had so graciously placed in her life—her people—and she couldn’t believe she’d ever felt alone.
The school’s auditorium was beautifully decorated, draped in sheer fabrics of deep eggplant purple, lavender, and creams. All honoring the Sugartree Armadillos and the 200th Anniversary of the city Ginny was thankful to call home.
“I’ll always be impressed at your ability to make this place look like a wonderland,” Ginny told Georgia with appreciation in her voice. “You’re amazing.”
“Thanks, Gin. I had help, of course.” Georgia smiled at Lake, who winked and pulled her in close for a kiss. “I think we’re gonna go dance. You good here?”
Ginny looked around the room, seeing neighbors and friends happily mingling and dancing. “I’ll be fine.”
She watched them twirl onto the dance floor just as a slow song played over the speakers. A strong hand caught her elbow, and she turned, finding Liam looking back at her. “Hello, Virginia.”
“Hello, Liam Michael Holder.” She took in his gray suit from head to toe and smiled wide at him. “I’m glad ya made it.”
“Me too.” He smiled wryly back at her. “I know you’re… attached… but at the moment you aren’t, so I thought we might have a friendly dance. For old times’ sake.”
She hesitated. Liam, no matter how handsome or flirty, was not the man she most wanted to have in her arms at the moment.
Liam’s eyes flicked over her shoulder and his brow rose. “Looks like my timing was off… again. Bummer.” Ginny stiffened but didn’t turn around. Not when Liam lightly pressed a kiss to her cheek, and not when he walked away and she felt the heat of the man standing behind her. His hand twirled in one of her curls, then traced the length of her back before coming to rest on her hip.
“Would you dance with me, Ginny?” Ryan’s whisper caressed her cheek, sending nervous shivers across her skin.
She turned and her eyes filled with tears, blurring the vision of Ryan in his navy suit, hair perfectly tousled, glasses framing his tender green eyes, and a corsage of peacock feathers in his free hand. He released her waist before gently placing the corsage on her wrist. “Seems you’re quite popular tonight.”
She shrugged but felt anything but nonchalant about the way Ryan still held her hand in his. How he was looking at her. Really and truly looking at her. Ryan wiped a tear from her cheek, cupping her face as if he were holding a delicate treasure. “Don’t cry, Mood Music.”
She laughed through the tears, knowing he’d been forced to watch You’ve Got Mail at some point with those kooky friends of his and anticipated his next line.
“I wanted it to be you.” His thumb traced the curve of her cheek and his grin tilted in the way that made Ginny want to kiss him silly. “I wanted it to be you so badly.”
“I… I’m so sorry, Ry. For everything.”
“I know, Gin.” With gentle, agonizingly slow movements, Ryan took her hands and wrapped them around his neck, pulling her close and beginning to sway them to the music. “I got your letters.”
“And my secrets?” she asked, feeling as if she were walking along a tight-rope, holding her hand out tenuously to him.
He raised an eyebrow. “Among other things.”
“I wish I was apologetic for that glitter bomb, but I’m more sorry I wasn’t there to watch ya open it.”
Ryan shook his head and tightened his grip on Ginny’s waist, a delicious pressure she wanted to lean into. “And how ‘bout the date sabotage? Are ya sorry for that?”
Ginny ran her hands across Ryan’s shoulders and then grasped his tie, pulling him close. “Not even a little bit. I bet Hadley is very happy canoodlin’ those puppies of hers.”
“You’re such a peacock, Virginia Remillard.”
“You like peacocks…”
“I do,” he admitted, eyes never leaving hers. “Can we go talk? Maybe a little more privately?”
She nodded, feeling those nerves bursting at the seams of her spirit but silently thanking the Lord she’d have the opportunity to tell Ryan everything she’d wanted to for so long. Face-to-face. Heart to heart.
He took her by the hand, leading her from the dance floor to a quiet alcove in the hallway. “I, umm…” He cleared his throat and pulled a letter from his pocket. One that had clearly been folded and unfolded time and again. He slipped it between his fingers like he wasn’t quite sure what he planned to do with it. Which, of course, made Ginny want to know the contents of that piece of paper more than anything. But Ryan looked up, intent written in the sharp lines of his face, and instead, she decided the paper could wait. She wanted all the thoughts running through Ryan’s brain. Whatever it was that had him looking at her so differently than the week before.
“A few weeks ago I was going to stop communicating with a girl I’d been writing letters to in my favorite record store…”
“You were?” She gasped a quiet breath, and Ryan took a tiny, but monumental step towards her, running his finger down the length of her arm, pausing at her palm where he traced circles against her skin.
“Yeah, I was.” He nodded. “Ya see, I’d been praying for a long time… with my mysterious penpal, actually…” Ginny chuckled softly, and he continued. “I’d been praying about a distraction in my life in the shape of a beautiful, strong, irresistible woman that I’d known for years. A woman who’d saturated my life with color and laughter and confrontation, but one I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about for longer than I care to admit.”
“She… she sounds awesome.”
He nodded, taking her pinky and linking it with his, drawing her closer still. “She’s… You , Ginny, are stunning and smart. You’re as stubborn as a mule, but when you go after something you want it’s impossible not to watch in awe at what you’re capable of. For so long I told myself that the feelings I had for you weren’t real. That you were too young and Georgia’s sister… and just another woman I’d sought attention from. All those old wounds from growing up just bubbled to the surface and drowned me with doubt. But Ginny, the more I prayed for the distraction of you to disappear, the more enticing you became. The more I wanted to be around you. To drink coffee with you and share lunches. To walk the dog… or fight about what the greatest country classic of all time is.”
Ginny laughed through tears, the stunned rush of joy and shock rushing over her.
“It doesn’t matter what we do, Gin, because I just… I just want to be near you. The more I pray, the more you are at the forefront of my mind and heart. And the more I see you for what you are… The only woman I want to be with.”
“But… I… I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you the truth. That night, I should have come out and told you, but I just… didn’t. You were there, and you were him and…”
“I forgive you, Virginia. Okay? I…” He invaded her space, cupping her cheek with his free hand and searching her eyes like he wasn’t sure how she’d respond. “I’d gone to meet Mood Music that night to thank her… for her friendship and prayers in person, and then end it so that I could pursue you.”
“But then I showed up,” Ginny whispered, finding her voice and reaching up to capture his hand against her cheek.
He kissed her forehead. “When I saw you in that gazebo it was like God had thrown a football through my chest—I knew. I know that even when I can’t always trust myself or my feelings, I can trust Him. And I trust Him with you, Virginia.”
He pulled away and put that mysterious piece of paper in her hands.
“I wanted to throw out every one of your letters this week. I’m not gonna lie to you, Gin. I was angry. But… I was angry at myself for not realizing it was you the whole time. Embarrassed at the whole situation—at how open I could be with a stranger but not with people I knew. And mad… so mad that I didn’t see you, Virginia… sooner.” He sighed. “So instead of tossing them, I read every single letter again and again. And I… I wrote you one in return.”
Ginny unfolded the soft edges like a present she’d unwrap at Christmas, feeling his eyes on her as she took in his scribbled but neat penmanship. The way it looked like italics but not quite cursive. The loops and quick marks she’d memorized like lyrics to her favorite song.
For Mood Music,
I don’t know why you wrote a note that first day or why I wrote you back, for that matter, but I do believe in God’s providence. That He knew exactly where you and I would be in our lives and in this record store… needing someone.
And I did need someone, Mood Music. Needed a friend to pray for me, without knowing exactly what I was going through and to point me to Christ. To encourage me, as you have, to seek out His will and desires when I couldn’t trust my own.
Your letters were a gift I couldn’t wait to unwrap every day. Your words, Ginny, are my favorite song. But it's your friendship that is the only tune I hear on repeat in my head all day long.
So here’s my secret: I want that dance. I want them all… with you.
Yours,
Forever and Ever, Amen
Melody Man
When Ginny looked up from the note, Ryan took her hand without preamble, leading her back to the dance floor, roping her arms around his neck again, and moving them to the music as if they’d never left.
“Yes,” Ryan whispered against her ear and used his hands to gently coax Ginny’s face up to reach his gaze.
“Yes?” she whispered back, breathy but filled with hope.
“Yes,” he said, bringing his face closer to hers. “Yes, I love you. Yes, I want to be your friend.”
She felt his words bathe her in warmth. He loved her.
She carefully folded the note up and put it in her dress pocket—because it had pockets!—and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close, resting her cheek on his chest and feeling nothing but relief and gratitude as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I can’t believe…” she said, looking up from where her head rested below his chin. Her hands drifted under his suit coat, clenching his crisp shirt in her hands. “I’ve waited for so long, and I know there’s so much to say and to talk about, but I can’t believe I finally get to tell you how much I love y—”
Ryan crashed his mouth into hers. A frantic claiming of her lips and her heart in front of their entire town. The Homecoming crowd cheered, but Ryan didn’t let up. He only slowed them down, swaying Ginny to the music and gently coaxing her lips open, kissing her with an unhurried, reverent tenderness. His hands traced the shape of her hips and lower back as his lips memorized hers.
When he released her, it was only so that he might leave a trail of light kisses on her cheeks, her forehead, the tip of her nose, and then finally, against her lips again.
“That was…” Ginny uttered, out of breath.
“A really good first dance.” Ryan let his nose graze against hers. “Think it was enough?”
“Enough?” she asked, wrapping her hands around his shoulders and swaying with him to the music—a slow cover of Shut Up and Dance .
“Enough peacocking? I can strut and grumble some more if you think it’d keep Captain America on his side of the room.” His smile turned into full-blown mischief.
“Depends. What kind of socks are you wearin’?”
“Peacocks,” he whispered, in a tantalizing breath against her ear.
“You are not.”
Ryan paused them, pulling up the leg of his dress pants, just barely, to reveal dark brown dress socks with peacock feathers printed on them. “I’ve got a pair for you, too. They're in the car.”
Ginny tilted her head back, laughing with Ryan who gave her waist a squeeze and pulled her closer.
“I dunno, Coach. I think you may need to lose the shirt and socks for the crowd… ya know… just to be sure he gets the message.” She gazed at him, giving him her biggest, softest puppy-dog eyes.
“Noted, Virginia.” He grinned. “But I've got some other ideas on how to keep the competition at bay.”
Ryan kissed her soundly, again, singing the lyrics to the song against her lips, “ This woman is my destiny…”
To which she responded, “ Shut up and dance with me,” leaving no question as to who she’d be dancing with for the rest of forever, if she got her way.