Page 61 of Magnolia Summer

Will opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen.

“Where’s Truett?” Celia’s voice sounded breathy and desperate. She tried to wipe the anxiety from her expression.

“Went home.” Will picked up an apple from the bowl on the table and bit into it.

Celia closed her eyes, her stomach twisting. Had she really lost her chance to talk to him and warn him? Perhaps she should run after him.

“But he’ll be back tomorrow night.”

The breath rushed out of her in a sigh of relief. She’d get another chance.

“He’s going to help me catch that mean old possum. Said it must be a huge one.” Will crunched into the crisp apple again.

This time she’d make sure she took advantage of her opportunity. She wouldn’t let him get away again without talking to him.

* * *

Celia awokein the middle of the night, shaking all over, even though she’d escaped the horror of her dream.

Truett was riding his black horse wearing the hood and cloak from the cave. He rode into the forest until he reached a clearing. Sheriff Suggs stood with several men. They led a horse and its rider toward a giant tree, where a noose hung from its lowest branch. Sheriff Suggs slipped the rope over the person’s head and around their neck. Then Celia saw the victim’s face.

Annie. The little girl Celia had saved from the rattlesnake!

She wanted to scream, “No!Stop!”, but the paralysis of dreaming would not let her intervene.

Truett rode directly to the men with white hoods and Sheriff Suggs raised a gun, pointing it at Truett.

The gun fired once, twice, three times.

Truett jerked backward and tumbled to the ground.

He lay on the ground, three holes in his chest.

Sheriff Suggs walked over and yanked the black hood off. Truett’s eyes were closed and his face was ashen.

Celia shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut against the memory of the dream. Each breath came hard and fast, and her heart raced like mad inside her chest.

“Celia?” Lizzie stirred beside her and opened her eyes.

“I was only dreaming,” Celia whispered. “Go back to sleep.”

She tried to calm her breathing, but the image of Truett’s face wouldn’t go away. She lay back down, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw Truett’s face again, looking as gray as her father’s had at his funeral.

Pain throbbed in her chest. She didn’t want to admit it, even to God, but she cared so much about Truett that she was afraid it would kill her if something happened to him.

Was she destined to become like her mother? A walking dead woman, simply because her husband had died?

And Truett wasn’t even her husband.

Celia shivered and clutched the blanket tighter. She was a coward either way she looked at it. She was a coward for being afraid to love Truett, and a coward for being so terrified that she would turn out like her mother if he died.

She pressed her hand against her heart, trying not to disturb Lizzie. She should probably just get up, since there was no way she’d be able to sleep anymore with these thoughts churning inside her head. She was also too hot and sweaty. Maybe she was sick?

Thunder rumbled in the distance. A storm was on the way. No wonder the air seemed so heavy and hot and oppressive.

Soon, flashes of lightning illumined the sky outside the bedroom window. It was probably almost morning, but the coming storm would keep them from seeing the sun for some time yet.

A loud crack erupted, seeming to come from just outside the window. A rumbling boom followed.