Devlin's Grace (10 page)

Chilled
from the ride, Gracie shivered as they entered the theme park and Devlin put an
arm around her shoulders. “Are you warm enough, babe?” he asked.

“I’m
fine,” she said, snuggling against him.
 
She timed their arrival so they’d miss the opening ceremonies, something
she usually enjoyed.
 
But Gracie feared
the salute to veterans, the national anthem, and the raising of the flag over
the park might trigger memories for Devlin so she made sure they avoided
it.
 

“Let’s
grab some coffee,” he said. “I’m hungry.”

At
the little bakery near the entrance they shared some sweets and sipped
coffee.
 
They were exquisite, rich and
just out of the oven.
 
As Gracie broke
off a piece of cinnamon roll, she watched Devlin as he devoured his apple
Danish.
  
His shoulders were relaxed and
since he’d gotten a few hours of sleep, his eyes were clear, not
bloodshot.
  
When he noticed her gaze, he
grinned at her, the good mood he’d awakened in still intact.

“So
what do you want to do?” he asked. “It was your idea to come here.”

She
picked it because all her memories of Silver Dollar City were pleasant.
 
It’d always been a peaceful place, more the
way the world should be than the realities.
 
Gracie couldn’t think of anything past the opening ceremonies with the
possibility to trigger bad memories. She didn’t intend to ride any of the
wilder rides.
 
She never did – they
scared the life out of her.

“I
love walking around, watching the crafts people create things,” she said. “Some
of the shows are good, too.
 
I don’t know
– I haven’t been here in several years.
 
I think the last time was when my high school class came as a senior
trip.”

Devlin
entangled his fingers with hers. “So it’s about five years then?”

“Yes,”
she said. She’d graduated five years ago, went to her first year of college,
then dropped out, broke.
 
After working
full-time at K-mart and part-time as a waitress, she saved enough to go back to
classes.
 
At twenty-three, she wanted to
start living and if everything worked out she’d graduate in December.
 
“When’s the last time you came here?”

He
cocked his head as he calculated. “Must’ve been in 1999,” he said. “It’s just
been a century or so.”

His
quip about the date amused her, but she watched, wary in case it conjured up
anything unpleasant.
 
Nine years older,
Dev lived through hell in Iraq and sometimes it bubbled to the surface without
warning.
 
“I bet the place changed since
then,” she said.

“Oh,
yeah,” Devlin said with a nod. “I think they’ve changed some of the rides,
probably even more, but overall it’s the same place I remember.
 
It was fall then too because it was just
before my birthday.”

Gracie
knew his age but not when he was born.
 
“When
is
your birthday?”

Laugh
lines crinkled in the corners of his dark eyes as he responded.
“Halloween.
 
You know,
the day all the hard shell religious people say is the devil’s birthday.
 
It just shows I’m a devil for sure, huh?”

Today
he joked about his nickname.
 
Sometimes
he didn’t.
 
“Were you really born on Halloween?”

“Sure,”
he said. “If you want, I’ll show you my birth certificate.”

“Driver’s
license will do,” she said, so he sat down on a bench and pulled out his
wallet.
 
He handed her his license and
Gracie read the date.
 
“Okay, so you’re
not joking,” she said. “It’s just a couple of weeks away.”

“Don’t
plan anything,” he warned. “I don’t do birthdays anymore, Gracie.”

She
lifted her hand to touch his cheek and sunlight caught the sparkle of the ring
he’d bought her in Eureka Springs. “You will with me.”

For
a moment Gracie thought she’d pushed it too far, but when he smiled, she did,
too.

“We’ll
see,” he said.
 
“Let’s go ride a
rollercoaster.”

“No way!
They scare me.”

“So
did the motorcycle,” Devlin said.
 
“Come
on, ride Thunderation with me.”

All
the way through the line, she fussed, but once they climbed into the cars and
were strapped in place, Gracie got quiet.
 
Although the coaster roared at tree top level, twisting, turning, and
dropping over the narrow track, Devlin loved it, and she caught some of his
enthusiasm.
 
It still frightened her, but
she focused on the fun and it wasn’t so bad.
 
Afterward, though, her head spun dizzy and when she headed for the
closest restroom, she got sick, a post ride hazard.
 
Her stomach rejected the coffee and
rolls.
 
Gracie lingered a few extra
minutes, rinsing out her mouth and splashing her face with cold water.
 
Good
thing I don’t wear make-up ‘
cause
it’d be ruined.

Gracie
didn’t plan to tell Devlin, but when she came out of the restroom, he
frowned.
 
When he took her hand, he
leaned over and sniffed.
 
His nose
must’ve caught the lingering stink of vomit because he asked, “What’s wrong?
Did you get sick?”

Surprised
at his discernment, she nodded. “It happens sometimes after a wild ride. It’s
no big deal.”

Devlin
shook his head. “You look pale.
 
How do
you feel?”

“Good,”
Gracie said, honest. “I’m okay.”

Despite
her protests, he insisted she sit on a shady bench and brought her a cool soda
to sip.
 
He fussed over her and although
she hated to admit it, she liked it.
 
They lingered for another fifteen or twenty minutes, enjoying the
sunshine filtering through the trees.
 
As
she watched a lazy yellow leaf drift to the ground, Gracie said, “Let’s go do
something.
 
I doubt this is much fun for
you, just sitting here hoping I don’t puke again.”

“I’m
not complaining,” Devlin said.
 
“I’m not
in a hurry and I like being with my woman.”

He’d
never called her that before and the words delivered a warm glow to her
heart.
 
“Let’s go ride Shootout in the
Flooded Mine.”

“Are
you up to it?”

She
laughed. “It’s a baby ride.
 
No thrills
at all.”

“If
it’s what you want, let’s go.”

If
he had any qualms about the name or wondered if there was any actual shooting
involved, Devlin didn’t voice them.
 
Gracie couldn’t remember how long the ride existed, but she knew from
past experience no real shooting happened.
 
The sound effects were more cartoon than realistic so she didn’t expect
they’d trigger anything.
 
They shared a
boat and used the laser equipped prop guns to aim at various items through the
indoor ride.
 
Floating the route, she
decided Devlin must be quite a shot in real life, because he never missed any
of the targets.

Hunger
replaced her earlier nausea and so they snacked as they strolled.
 
Vendors offered everything from fried ‘taters
to popcorn and frozen lemonade.
 
The
kettle corn they bought had a sweeter taste she liked, and they wandered down
to watch the boats on the Lost River of the Ozarks.

“Do
you want to ride?”

On
a summer’s day, temperatures in the nineties, she would, but Gracie shook her
head. “I don’t want to get wet and the sign’s right – if we ride it, we’ll be
soaked.
 
It’s too cool.”

At
the old time photographer’s studio, she talked Devlin into posing for a tintype
style photo.
 
He put on the gunslinger’s
outfit she suggested while she dressed up as a saloon girl to stand beside him,
one leg leaning against his chair.
 
They
stared into the camera with old-fashioned sober faces.
 
Even before they could pick up the finished
result, Gracie knew she would treasure the picture, the first she had with both
of them.

They
sat down long enough to hear a traditional music group perform, watched the
glass blower at work, and avoided the other roller coasters.
 
Gracie wouldn’t have minded riding the
relatively tame Fire in the Hole, an older indoor coaster, but she recalled the
sound effects of an explosion on the final drop and rejected it for Devlin’s
sake.
 
Everywhere they went, they held
hands or he kept an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m
hungry,” he announced long after noon. “Let’s find something to eat.”

Choices
abounded, but they ended up eating barbecued chicken.
 
After they finished, they rode the carousel
just for kicks.
 
Gracie heard the high,
thin whistle of the Frisco Silver Dollar and exclaimed, “Oh, I almost forgot
about the train.”

“How
could you?” Devlin asked. “It’s one of the original attractions.”

“Let’s
ride it,” she cried.
 
The train, an old
steam engine with open air cars running along a narrow gauge track, ranked as
one of her childhood favorites.
 
The ride
through the forest and back through parts of the park made a fun
excursion.
 
Somewhere in the middle, the
train always got robbed.
 
The comic
routine hadn’t changed much over the years. It was corny and country.

Until
the end of the skit, she thought Devlin enjoyed it, too.
 
They sat side by side on a wide bench at the
rear of the last car watching the show.
 
Late in the season, there were more adults than kids on board the train,
but people of all ages laughed at the antics.
 
Gracie forgot the skit always ended when the conductor from the train
showed up with a shotgun loaded with blanks and fired into the air after the
fleeing would-be bandits.
 
Seconds before
the end, she remembered and started to warn Devlin, but by then it was too
late.

When
the shot fired, he reacted.
 
Devlin
grabbed her and took her to the floor, covering her body with his.
 
“Stay down,” he said in a serious voice, a
tone she’d never heard before.
 

Applause
broke out from the other passengers and some whooped their appreciation.
 
At the sound, Devlin realized what he’d done
and helped her up.
 
His face turned
ashen, paler than she’d been earlier, and his expression shifted from joy to
despair.
 
Gracie noticed how his hands
trembled. They sat still and silent as the train headed back to the
station.
 
She put her right hand over his
left and leaned until her head rested on his shoulder.

“It’s
okay,” she whispered.
 
He said nothing,
even after they got off at the train station and merged into the crowds.
 
Devlin walked with brisk steps over to a
bench as far away from everyone as he could and sat down.
 
He buried his face in his hands.
 

Gracie
bent over and put her hand on his back.
 
“Devlin?”

“Jesus
Christ!” He spat out the words with force, with self-disgust. “I’m sorry for
being so fucking pathetic, babe.”

“You’re
not.” Gracie stroked his back, hoping to soothe him. “I should’ve remembered
about the shot.
 
Don’t beat yourself up
about it.
 
It’s a natural reaction for
someone who’s been in combat, nothing to be ashamed about.”

His
head popped up. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

“Don’t
say such things.
 
You’re my Devlin,” she said.
“I need you.”

Admitting
it took gumption, more than she’d had before she met him.
 
Gracie didn’t know what to call him –
boyfriend, lover, best friend or buddy? He was all that and more to her.

“Why?
I’m no use to anyone, just a fucked up pain in the ass embarrassment.” He put
down his hands and glared at her. If she couldn’t shut down his reaction now,
the rest of the day would be shattered. Everything could crash and she refused
to let it happen.

Until
now, she’d saved the three words, kept them back for a special occasion or a
rainy day.
 
Her old lack of self-esteem
and nerves prevented her from speaking them aloud because Gracie feared
rejection.
 
She spoke them now, hoping
they would matter, throwing out her heart into the fray to be mangled or
destroyed if they didn’t.
 
“I love you.”