SHOW ME THE WAY TO GO HOME
By Jo
PART TWELVE:
Thanks to Terry some while ago, Cort had...paperwork. The next day he went with Daisy to
the courthouse and they applied for a marriage license. As they left the building, Cort was holding her hand and he asked, "Are there daisies?"
"Daisies?"
"Yes, daisies. Are there any daisies hereabouts?"
"I'm sure the florist has some."
"Not what I mean. Are there daisies...growing?"
"You mean...lots?"
"The more the better."
"It's not east Texas, you must remember, but Grannie Annie has a fair-sized patch behind her
house. She has a sprinkler system and never quite got over growing up in North Carolina."
"And who might Grannie Annie be?"
"Quilts. She makes fabulous quilts she sells on consignment at one of the shops."
"Might we, um, pay Grannie Annie a visit?"
"You want to pick her daisies?"
"I have other uses for them in mind," he smiled.
"Did I ever tell you, Cortland Wells, what an absolutely mind-boggling smile you have?"
"Mind-boggling? My smile...boggles you?"
"Indeed it does! I can barely think when you smile at me."
He smiled again, even more widely and she crossed her eyes dramatically. "Ah," he chuckled,
"I see what you mean."
"But don't you stop. I love being boggled by you. Makes my knees go all weak and my lips
tingle." She still couldn't quite believe how freely she could talk with him. That's how she did
feel but she would never have said so to another man.
"You do know, Miss Whittaker, there is only one cure for tingling lips?"
"No, is there?"
"Umm hmm." And he leaned toward her and placed his lips softly and warmly atop hers.
A few blocks brought them to Grannie Annie's door. "She won't mind?" he asked.
"Probably not," Daisy grinned and rang the bell.
"Probably...?"
But the door was opened by a smiling woman Cort guessed to be at least 80. She had nearly waist-length silver hair that hung over one shoulder in a wide plait. She was slender, quite tanned, and even at her age had an air of strength about her.
"Ah, Daisy! I'm so glad to see you, my darling girl. And who might the handsome gentleman
with you be?"
"This is Cort, Grannie Annie...Cortland Wells...and I'm going to marry him in a few days."
Annie's pale blue eyes sparkled. "Are you now? Well, come on in so I can size him up, let you
know if you have my ok on the matter," she chuckled.
Cort walked into a large room with three quilting frames on one side. Finished quilts hung on
the walls as decoration, a pile of folded ones sat on a small table. "Come...sit," Annie said,
nodding toward a rose-colored overstuffed couch with a quilt in matching colors draped over
its back.
When they'd seated themselves, Annie looked at Cort. "First things first. Cortland, how do
you feel about quilts?" It seemed an odd question to ask someone you'd just met, but she knew
she could tell a lot about a person from how they went about answering it.
"Well, the first thing that comes to me when I think about quilts is my grandmother. She raised me an' she had this quilt on her bed that she'd made when she was young. I remember bein'
little an' lyin' across that quilt just marvelin' at all the stitchin' she'd put into it. She told me
she'd made it when she was first married to my grandpa and she'd sit in her rocker an' each
stitch she took she felt like she was buildin' somethin' permanent like she wanted her life with
her husband to be. So I'd lie there and study all the patterns her stitchin' made and think about
the love she'd put into it. It had to take her a long time, I figured, to do that many stitches an'
so neat an' all like they were. Sometimes in the evenin's she'd hold me in her lap while she sat
in that same rocker an' she'd wrap that quilt around the both of us an' I felt like I was safer'n
anythin' in the world. So, Ma'am, when you ask how I feel about quilts, I've got to say I'm right
fond of them cause when you're all wrapped up in one, you're all wrapped up in love."
Annie looked very seriously at Daisy and said, "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, it's all right for you to marry this man. In fact, if you hadn't already got him, I'd be after
him myself."
Daisy laughed. "Don't you laugh, child! I'm serious about that. He gave the best answer to that
question anyone's ever given me." She smiled and turned her eyes to Cort. "Sure you wouldn't
prefer an older woman, Cortland?"
He grinned and said, "It's a temptin' offer, truly it is, but I've already gone and committed myself to Daisy."
Daisy slid her arm through his, holding on. "You can't have him, Grannie Annie. I've waited a long time for him."
Annie's expression went all soft. "Yes, you have, dear girl, yes, you have." Seeing the glow in
Daisy's eyes really touched her heart. "Now have you come here to invite me to the wedding?"
Cort spoke up. "Daisy tells me you have, um, a daisy patch out back?"
"I do indeed. You in need of daisies?"
"Seriously in need. Could you...would it be...possible for us to get married there?"
Annie's face broke into a wide grin. "Where were you when I was sixty years younger? Of course you may. My daisy patch is at your disposal. You want to see it, Cortland?"
"I'd like to, yes, Ma'am."
"You going to see my daisy patch, you got to stop calling me Ma'am and call me Grannie
Annie. That's my condition."
"Yes, Grannie Annie, I'd be most obliged to you if you'd let me see your daisy patch."
"Much better!" She stood up. "Come on this way. God's smiling down on you young'uns
'cause the patch is in full bloom."
"She waters it every day," Daisy whispered to Cort.
Annie heard. "Arizona ain't North Carolina," she observed without turning to look at the
couple behind her.
"Why'd you leave there, Grannie Annie?"
"Husband. Married me an Arizonian and he took me outta my Blue Ridge and plopped me
down in the desert and I've been here ever since. But that's why the quilting, Cortland. Lots
of folks into quilting in the Blue Ridge." She stopped just before she got to the back door and
turned to look at Cort. "You an Arizonian, Cortland?"
"I am," he nodded, "but I live in east Texas now. My house is in a very green area, grass,
trees."
"I'm bettin' daisies would grow right fine there," she commented, looking meaningfully at
the young woman holding Cort's hand.
"I aim to see this particular one is well taken care of."
"Known this gal all her life, Cortland. I'm gonna be right sorry to see her go, but taking a
daisy out of the desert and putting its roots down somewhere green, that sounds mighty fine
to me."
"It sounds fine to me, too, Grannie Annie."
"Well, garden's just through here." She opened the back door and stepped out onto a flagstone patio. Beyond the patio was a large, fenced-in area with cottonwoods forming a screen across its rear. She stepped to one side so Cort could have a clear view. "See anything you like?"
Cort's lips had parted at the sight. He shook his head. "You sure this isn't North Carolina?"
Annie laughed, "Well, son, it's as close to a piece of it as I could get. Taken me years but I think
it's worth it."
Entranced, Cort walked down a flagstone path that led off to the left through an area with daisies planted on both sides. At the end of the path was another patio with a small fountain and several chairs. Daisy followed him as he turned and took both her hands. "Here," he said, "right here is where I want to make you my wife."
She smiled up at him, sunlight dancing on her pale hair. "Do you know what you mean to me,
Cortland Wells?"
"What?" he smiled back.
"Absolutely everything." And she rose up on her tiptoes and kissed his lips.
When they were back inside and drinking the lemonade and eating the sugar cookies Annie offered them, a thought occurred to him. He remembered how he'd come upon Father Pavel
by the river in the Czech Republik and that he'd performed his wedding ceremony with Rachel.
"Who's goin' to do it?"
"Do what?"
"Marry us."
Daisy looked at Annie. "Do you think...?"
"Of course he will."
"Who?"
"My son, Willard. He's the judge hereabouts. He'll do it for you."
Cort looked at Daisy, who added, "He's ten years older than I am, has been like a big brother
to me, Cort. I'd love for him to do it."
"You love it; I love it." He looked back at Annie. "Thank you more'n I can say."
He took a long drink of his lemonade then got up to study a quilt she was working on. "Reminds me of a stained glass window, Grannie Annie. Sure is a beautiful thing."
"I hadn't thought of it quite like that, Cortland, but now you mention it...yes."
He walked around the room, examining the quilts hanging on the walls. "Every one is more
beautiful than the next. Be a mighty blessed fellow got himself all wrapped up in one of these."
"I think you're right," she smiled.
That night they had supper at the Longhorn Grill. Cort paused in the parking lot. "Sure like
to see the rest of that steer those horns came from."
"I don't think I would," Daisy mock-shuddered, pressing close to him.
Later, he lay alone in Daisy's mother's bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking. He was mostly
thinking about Sid. Sid was also Russell Crowe manifested as a nanobot. What did that mean?
Was Sid actually more human than anyone knew? Sid, too, must have a soul. It had to be every one of them or none of them. Perhaps...some day...he could talk with Sid about that. Perhaps...if he did...then Daisy would be safe. He couldn't stand the thought of Sid ever harming her and the thought of him doing to her what he'd done to Marie made him physically ill. Not Daisy, who had never been with a man. He knew she'd dated off and on. She's was just too pretty for men not to notice, not to want to ask her out. But her conviction was she needed to be married before being with a man. He honored that, especially as a man of his time would honor such a thing in
a woman he considered to be a lady. Rachel had lived with a man before she met Cort, had been open with him about that, but there was something down in his 1880's heart that really liked that about Daisy. For him it made everything fresh and new and very special. He hadn't expected ever to love again and that someone so endearingly special as Daisy had come into
his life meant the world to him. He'd come all the way out here hoping to end some pain that
plagued him. He'd not only done that, he'd found a new beginning and there was a lightness in his heart greater than he'd felt since he was a child living with his grandmother.
The following day, he and Daisy parted ways for a while to do some shopping. He remembered his search for the perfect ring for Rachel and how he'd found the pearl. He wanted something
entirely different for Daisy, something that would reflect the brightness she'd brought to his life.
In the fourth shop, he found it and could hardly stop grinning as he purchased it and put the
little white box containing it in his pocket.
Walking down the street, he saw her coming out of a shop he'd been in earlier. "You done?"
he called out.
She smiled back. "Just finished. Feed me!"
He laughed and bowed slightly. "My pleasure, Miss."
The next couple of days passed with walking by the Santa Cruz, making arrangements for the
small ceremony, just being together. It had occurred to Cort there were two vehicles to get back to east Texas and he didn't want to do the drive with Daisy in a separate car. He liked her Jeep
better than his car, so sold his to a dealer who had a little used car lot. She resigned her position with the Park Service and he helped her pack up the things from her house that would be shipped to Texas. The days were full and passed quickly so the wait for the marriage license to be processed seemed to fly by.
The wedding was going to happen on a Wednesday afternoon and the day brought a sparkling
blue sky. Cort had bought a new, rather western-looking suit for himself, light tan with a chocolate vest and tie. As he dressed, he felt eager to see how his Daisy would look in her
wedding gown. He had taken off his wedding ring the day he'd asked Daisy to marry him and tucked it away in an extra ring box he'd gotten at the jewelry shop. Everything was very different from his first wedding, no Henri, no Terry or Dee, no Father Pavel so he was glad that the setting was also different. He needed it to be different. Today was a day for looking forward, not back at what had been lost but at what he had found. It was a day he'd never thought would come, not to him. He was dressing in Daisy's mother's room and Daisy herself was already at Grannie Annie's, doing her preparations there with Annie and Matty and a young woman named Margie, who was her best friend.
When Cort got to Annie's, he and Willard went on out to the patio at the end of the daisy
path, talking and waiting. Because Cort had no one there as his guest, Daisy had asked only
a handful of people besides Annie and Matty. One of her friends was a harpist and she sat on
the main patio. When Daisy appeared, she began to play softly and Daisy walked alone down
the path through the daisies to the smiling Cort.
To Cort she looked absolutely perfect. Her dress was white, but simple, its bodice lined with a row of embroidered daisies, a white sash at her waist. The full skirt was covered in a layer of
soft tulle and came just above her ankles. In her hands she carried a bouquet of daisies and
atop her hair sat a simple circlet also of daisies. It was her smile, though, and the warm glow
in her eyes that he focused on. She was coming to him, coming to be his wife, and under his
breath he murmured a soft 'thank You' to his Maker. He had been living in winter so very
long and as she came, she was bringing spring. In his words to her during the ceremony, he
told her that very thing and when it was time for him to put his ring on her finger, he reached
into his pocket, holding it in his palm a moment.
It was gold and completely encircled by small daisies with golden centers and platinum petals.
Like finding her, he hadn't expected to find such a perfect ring. As he slid it slowly up her
finger, he said, "As this ring encircles your finger, my beautiful Daisy, so you have encircled
my heart with yourself an' so does my love encircle your heart. With this ring I take you to be
my wife, promisin' always to love an' cherish an' protect you...no matter what."
Her ring for him was wider, solid gold with a simple cross engraved on its top. Inside she'd
had inscribed You are a child of God, my love. As they were pronounced husband and wife,
he took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly but well.
Annie and Matty had prepared a reception area on the big patio and Matty, who was quite the cook had made a cake for the event.
It was a tall cylinder shape, crowned with large daisies. When Annie saw Cort looking at it, she
grinned, "Well, Cortland, you said you wanted to get married in the daisies!"
"It's perfect, Grannie Annie. All of it. Like she is."
"She's not entirely perfect, Cortland. Don't expect that from her. She's human, just like the
rest of us, she is, but I do think she's about as perfect as one of us can get."
"I know, Grannie Annie. I do know that." He looked down a second then back up at her. "I've
been through a lot in my time an' she's more perfect than anythin' I ever hoped to find again."
Annie came up to him and kissed his cheek. "I can see how happy she makes you, Cortland, and
I'm right glad about that."
Daisy had been talking with a couple of her friends but walked over just then. Annie took each of them by a hand and led them inside where a large, wrapped package sat on the dining room
table. Cort and Daisy opened it together and inside were two quilts, the top that stained glass
one he'd admired the other day and she'd worked hard to finish and a second one they'd never
seen before. As Cort opened it out, she explained, "I was sitting last night having my good-night
chamomile tea when it just came to me I was supposed to give you this quilt, too. It's not at all like the other one, but somehow it seemed right, like it might mean something, like the colors, I mean, might be, well, right, for something you two have in mind."
The quilt was white and sky blue and Cort smiled widely. "Our house, Daisy! Grannie Annie, I
have a big ol' white Victorian house an' right now it's solid white, even all the gingerbread.
Daisy an' I've been talkin' about paintin' all the trim sky blue." Now it was his turn to lean down and kiss her cheek. "Thank you, thank you with all my heart. Lookin' at this I can just
picture how it'll all be...the white an' the blue."
"Oh, Grannie Annie, it's just...just beautiful!" Daisy added.
Matty had brought a lot of food, which had been added to by Annie, and they ate and laughed and as it grew dark, went out on the patio and danced by torchlight. They were going to spend
their wedding night in a special room at Matty's inn since everything in Daisy's house had
either been shipped that morning to Texas, or sold or given to someone. Daisy had taken cuttings
from some of her mother's favorite flowers to plant in her new garden. Everything was ready
and after all the well-wishings and the farewells, they walked hand in hand through the night
to the inn.
Once up on the porch, he lifted her in his arms. She opened the screen door enough for him
to get his foot hooked around it and he carried her inside and all the way down the hallway
to their room, then over the second threshold inside that. Though their luggage had been sent
there, neither of them had seen the room before. Matty had made up the king-sized bed all
in white and scattered a few daisies across the white coverlet. Cort laid her gently down on
the white among the daisies and just stood there a while gazing down at her. Then he knelt
beside the bed and took her right hand, lifting it to his lips.
"I adore you, Daisy Wells," he whispered. "I treasure you an' I cherish you."
She blinked back a tear and he touched it with a fingertip. "Ah, now, none of that."
"It...it's just...you have no idea how...how beautiful your face is to me when you look at me
like that."
He leaned over her, kissing her lips then softly moving his down her neck. She trembled
slightly and whispered, "I...I have a gown."
"Ah, yes," he smiled, straightening. Looking toward the large bathroom, he said, "I believe
I see an appropriate case in there."
"Is...is that...all right?"
"Everything about you is all right," he smiled. "I'll be here. Take your time."
After the bathroom door closed, he opened his own bag and took out a few items. Undressing,
he then put on some soft silver pajama bottoms that had a tie in the front. He decided to leave
off the top and got in bed, plumping a pillow and folding his arms behind his head, watching
the bathroom door. He smiled a little when he heard the water running. He knew she would
have showered this morning but she was washing again and it reminded him quite vividly how this was her first time and how gentle he needed to be.
When she came out, she was practically glowing with cleanliness and was wearing a white
satin gown, fitted at the waist and hips but flaring toward the floor. She had a matching robe
over it and as she approached the bed, she slipped that off, draping it over a chair. He propped
himself on one elbow.
"Let me just look at you a moment as you stand there." She turned slightly, smiling shyly.
He thought she was the most adorable thing he'd ever laid eyes on. Then he held out a hand
toward her and she slid under the white satin sheet. For years she'd wondered what this
moment might be like. Now it was here, now it was with Cort, and she was entirely glad it
was him.
He kissed her ear, then across her cheek to her lips. Her hair smelled wonderful. She smelled
wonderful. "I love you," he murmured and let his hand slide down till it cupped one of her
breasts over the satin of her gown. She gasped slightly and the sound of it totally aroused him,
yet he took his time, moving his hand over her gown. The satin was slippery and he loved the
feel of it beneath his fingers. She loved the feel of his fingers atop the satin and turned more
toward him so their legs were touching. He kissed down her throat and she tipped her head
back, baring it to him trustingly, then his lips crossed her collarbone and moved on to the
warmth of her cleavage that showed above her gown. A little series of white bows tied the
front of her gown together all the way down the full length of its center and he untied the
top of them, kissing the newly-revealed flesh.
He spent a great while, untying each of them slowly, kissing beneath. She began to breathe
through her mouth and when he untied the bow low on her stomach and kissed there, she
moaned and arched her back. Every sensation was new and wonderful, more than she'd
imagined, and because it was him, her Cort, her husband, who was causing them in her, she
relaxed under his gentle touch, giving herself over to the feelings. He was moved, truly moved,
by her response to him and by the knowledge that he was making her feel these things for
the first time.
She'd had no concept of what real wanting was, but what Cort was doing to her had set every
nerve ending in her body tingling with desire. When he'd untied the bows over her legs, he
moved a hand over a thigh, then took it away. She found it, moved it back, and he smiled,
letting his fingers slide ever so slowly up between her legs. He touched her there and she let
out a small cry of surprised pleasure. He smiled again, treasuring each moment of this first
time. It was a gift she was giving him, had saved just for him, and there could only be one first
time. He wanted to make it last, to let her experience all that her body could feel, so he held
his own need in check, giving back to her all he could. Keeping his hand where it was, he
straightened his upper body, finding her mouth partially open. He covered it with his, letting
his tongue find the tip of hers, dance with it, press against it. She responded in kind and their
tongues met and mated as his fingers kept doing what they were doing between her legs. She
gasped and arched more and he moved his lips down to a breast, making love to it. When he
knew she was fully ready, he entered her gently and within a moment she was his entirely.
They lay together, wrapped in each other's arms, her head on his chest. "I didn't know...,"
she sighed contentedly. He kissed the top of her head, murmuring, "Daisy Wells, my wife."
They slept a while then she woke, wanting him again now that she did know, so kissed his
lips, waking him. There was something almost fierce in the intensity with which she pressed
herself against him and she moved so that her breasts were bared to his mouth. He responded
instantly and more intensely this time himself, his need for her almost overwhelming. He
brought her to readiness in a few moments and then he loved her again. She was, after all,
twenty-eight and he had revealed to her the full measure of her womanliness.
They slept again and again he was awakened by her touch on his thigh. Opening his eyes, he
chuckled, "My daisy has turned into a tiger lily in the night."
She growled and he laughed, then rolled her onto her back and kissed her thoroughly. This
time he worked on her breasts with his mouth so intensely, so absolutely completely, that she
started to come even without having been touched anywhere below them. He was aware of
what was happening and that there was no time for him to enter her, so he quickly moved
his hand down and as she came, he touched her in a way that sent her shooting upwards so
piercingly that she cried out with it until he covered her mouth with his own, letting her
cry of pleasure soar inside him. He was so aroused that he did enter her then and when he
came, she came again, too, their mouths locked together.
They slept late, closely enfolded, and when they woke, simply lay there, staring into each other's
eyes. He filled the large tub with warm water and bubble bath, settled himself leaning against
the back of it, and patted the bubbles in front of him. She got in, sitting between his legs, her
back against him and he smoothed the soap across her breasts, kissing her hair. Then he
curved the soap around and around on her stomach. His fingers were slippery with it and he
let go of the bar, moving his hand along her thigh. She opened her legs to him and he touched
her until her head pressed back hard against his shoulder and her back arched away from
his chest. When her pulse had quieted, she rolled over in the fairly deep water, straddling his
legs and soaping his chest. He watched her face as she intently moved the bar, then she slid
further down his legs and curved it around his stomach. Then he leaned his head back, closing
his eyes as she moved down and down. She, too, let go of the bar and used her soapy hands to
touch him. His lips parted and he let out a long, low growling groan of pleasure as he came.
A couple of minutes later he smiled at her. "Now we'll need to take a shower."
"Really? I don't mind," she grinned and reached behind her to pull the plug. They stayed
where they were as the water drained, leaving them fairly well covered in bubbles. There was
a separate shower stall and they left wet footprints as they crossed to it. The warm water
washed the bubbles from them and he kissed her but said, "I'm goin' to have to wait a bit or
I'll lose consciousness."
She giggled. "Then I could have my wicked way with you and you couldn't resist me."
"I can't resist you, conscious or not."
"Good," she stated. "I don't ever want you to resist me."
He lifted a lock of her wet hair and kissed it. "You have no worries there, wife."
They dried each other with big white towels, then she blew his hair dry and he hers. As they
were dressing, she slid her hand inside his shirt. "I can't stop touching you. My fingers are
drawn like magnets to your skin."
He sat on the bed, pulling her onto his lap, folding his arms around her. "Daisy, I love you
so on beyond what I ever...I can't...I just..."
"I know," she whispered, kissing his temple. "I do know."
"You...you've changed everythin', made everythin' better." He buried his face in the curve of
her neck and shoulder, blinking back sudden tears.
"I love you Cortland Wells, with all that I am." She kissed the side of his neck. "I wasn't
complete until you came. I always knew I was missing some part of me. I just didn't know it
was you." She squeezed him as tightly as she could. "I love you, I love you! Do you hear me?
I love...you!"
Matty had kept a big breakfast warm for them. "Figured you two might be a bit hungry this
morning," she grinned.
"Starving!" Cort said.
"Absolutely famished!" Daisy laughed.
They ate everything Matty set in front of them, went back to their room and packed, loaded
the Jeep, said good-bye to Matty, and with Cort driving, headed up to Tucson where they
took Interstate 10 generally in the direction of Texas. They were in no hurry and planned to
stop whenever or wherever the mood struck them.
END OF CORT'S SEPARATE STORYLINE
TO BE REJOINED SHORTLY WITH BACK ON TRACK
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