Author's Note: Dear readers, thank you for traveling this journey with me! I appreciate you all – especially those who have posted reviews and sent me encouraging messages. I believe that I have the best beta readers in the world! One I can thank by name – katbybee, who has been there for me through thick and thin from the beginning. Her help bringing this chapter (and the story as a whole) to a close was invaluable. My other beta reader prefers to remain anonymous but has been no less important in the telling of this tale. You know who you are. I am grateful for all your help and encouragement!

It is a bittersweet moment for me, bringing this story to a close, but I console myself with the thought that, even as this story ends, Johnny and Nita's lives together are only just beginning and there are plenty of new stories left to write!

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Glossary: Choctaw – English

Nitoshi – Little Bear

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May 21, 1983

The wedding day dawned clear with the fragrance of oranges hanging in the air. The previous day, Johnny had helped Nita move her belongings into the ranch house. She and Billy stayed up there together Friday night, and Johnny stayed at their trailer in Carson. Early Saturday morning, JoAnne drove up to the ranch with her daughter and Emily Stanley to help the bride get ready. Nita's aunt and uncle and cousins would arrive from Bakersfield by ten to prepare the wedding feast, but she wanted some time with her new friends first. Now she stood with her back to Emily, who was fastening the hook and eye closures that ran from her waist up to the neckline of her dress. Jo stood nearby, already wearing her own blue dress.

Nita closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose, then let it out slowly. How many times had she dreamed of this day? She felt joy bursting inside her and yet, her hands trembled. "Jo?" She reached for her friend and squeezed her arm. "Oh, Jo… were you this scared the day you and Roy were married?"

Jo chuckled. "Nita, I was terrified! But I had just spent almost a year hardly daring to hope that Roy was alive… I wasn't about to let a few nerves get in the way of our wedding."

Suddenly somber, Nita grasped Jo's hand. "I'm sorry, Jo… Johnny told me a little about what Roy went through in Viet Nam. It must have been a terrible time for him… and for you."

JoAnne nodded. "It was… and maybe we rushed into marriage too quickly after he came home. It was only a few years ago that he really started opening up about his experiences." She sighed softly. "Nita… today is about you and Johnny. You have your own stories – your own struggles – that have led you to this moment. And I am very happy for you both. Johnny is happier than I ever saw him before you came back into his life. Some nerves are normal. I predict that by tonight, all the anxiety will be forgotten."

Done with the closures, Emily turned Nita around and cupped her cheek in one hand. "JoAnne's right, you know," the older woman said. "And Nita… you are absolutely stunning in this dress."

Nita smiled. "Now for the necklace." She reached for the beaded work of art, designed to look like a colorful starburst.

Emily fastened it around Nita's neck and then stood back to admire the effect. "When Johnny sees you, he won't know what hit him!"

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Johnny stretched his arms into the sleeves of his burgundy wedding shirt, then looked down at D.J. and winked as he knelt to the boy's level. "Want to help me get buttoned up, Nitoshi?" D.J.'s grin stretched from ear to ear and he nodded.

Johnny reached for the boy's hands and examined them. "All clean? Can't have any dirty fingers smudging me up today, can we?"

The child giggled. "Jus' washed 'em!"

"Well, a'right then… remember how we do this?" Uncle Johnny positioned D.J.'s hands, one on the bottom-most button and the other by the matching buttonhole, then guided him in pushing the button through. "Well look at that! You did it!" He held up a hand for a high five, and D.J. obliged with enthusiasm.

Johnny couldn't have loved D.J. more if the boy had been his own son. His godson approached every day of his life with determination and excitement and a deep love that never quit. He managed his share of mischief, like any kid, but his zest for life brought joy to everyone who knew him. When the six-year-old was born with Down Syndrome, the DeSotos had been counseled to put him in a special home, but they had never regretted ignoring the doctor and raising him with his older siblings; Johnny had seen how both Chris and Megan had developed into compassionate and caring young people, thanks to their beloved little brother. He felt a twinge of regret that he hadn't been able to be the big brother to his little sister Jesse, who had been born with the same condition. She had passed away in one of those dismal institutions when she was only three. Johnny blinked his eyes and rubbed moisture from them. "Hey, Buddy… let's do one more now! You try this one yourself." He tugged D.J.'s hands toward his shirt again, but then let go and watched as the little boy attempted the feat on his own.

After a couple of tries, D.J. got the button through the hole. Then he looked up at Johnny, his eyes shining with pride, and held his hand up in the air, palm outward. "I did it, Unca Johnny!"

"You sure did!" Johnny high-fived him again, then waited patiently as D.J. fastened every button on his shirt, stopping only when Johnny pulled his fingers away from the very top button. "Let's leave that one open, like on your shirt, Nitoshi."

D.J. nodded, then sobered quickly. "Unca Johnny?"

"Yeah, Nitoshi?"

"You're still my boy, right?"

Worried eyes gazed upward and Johnny felt his heart spin. He pulled D.J. into his arms and hugged him tight, blinking back tears. "Always and forever, Little Man. No matter what."

"We'd better get goin', you two." Roy's voice floated in, interrupting the moment. "Chris is already waitin' in the truck."

Johnny turned to see his friend leaning against the door frame and wondered how long he had been watching. He patted D.J.'s back and set him down. "Ready to go be my ring bear?"

D.J. giggled and held up his fingers as if they were bear claws. "Grrrr!" he said, his blue eyes dancing. "Let's go, Unca Johnny!"

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Johnny sat on Minko's back, eager for his first sight of his bride. The driveway from the road to the ranch house had never seemed so long. He swallowed the lump in his throat, closed his eyes, and took in a calming breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. He wasn't really nervous… just excited, his heart practically pounding out of his chest in time with the steady drumbeat that accompanied him on this long ride. He was glad Roy was leading the horse – he wasn't sure he could have managed it. Maybe he was a bit nervous.

He only vaguely noticed the knot of Nita's cousins and aunts and uncles as he drew near. They all cheered his arrival, but his eyes sought his bride. At last, Aunt Meli stepped to one side, revealing Nita, more beautiful than he'd ever seen her before. Her eyes glowed as their gazes met, and a sudden thrill swept through him. He slid down from Minko's back and stepped towards the woman he loved.

Before he reached her, she took off like a shot, running fast toward the pasture, colorful ribbons streaming from her waist. Everyone laughed as Johnny darted after her. She zigged and zagged, eluding his grasp for several minutes, but soon slowing to let him pull her into his arms. Together, they walked hand in hand back to the knot of cheering family members and took their place on the wedding bench.

After the traditional gift-giving, Reverend Folsom stood before them and the whole assembly. Johnny's head was swimming, but he forced himself to listen carefully to the wedding speech.

"John Roderick Gage… Anita Ruth Folsom…. you have chosen to join your lives as one, and to pledge your love and devotion for one another. Today is a day of great joy as you take your vows in front of your loved ones. We all wish you many such days of happiness in your life together. But it is not in the days of ease and feasting and celebration that you grow strong in your relationship or in your shared faith. Trouble will come, as trouble always comes. And it is in the troubles that your vows will be tested and proved worthy. Troubles are the fire that will either consume you or refine you into the purest gold. If you let trouble divide you, then you become weak and you will be consumed. But if you face troubles as one, hand in hand, supporting one another as God created you to do, then those fiery trials will refine you and you will come through the flames as pure gold."

Johnny nodded solemnly. He knew fire. He knew the need to face it with someone you trusted with your life. He would happily spend every day of the rest of his life endeavoring to be that person for Nita. He glanced at his bride and caught her eyes on him. She flashed him a bright smile and squeezed his hand and then they both turned their eyes back to the reverend.

"And now, as you prepare to exchange your vows, I ask you to remember the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians: 'Love is patient, love is kind…'" Johnny mouthed the words to the old familiar Scripture by heart. A glance to the side told him Nita did the same. The passage on love was a favorite of hers, and she had asked her uncle to include it in his message. Johnny squeezed her hand as the pastor spoke the final verse, "'Now these three remain: Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.' John, do you take this woman, Anita, to be your lawfully wedding wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto her for as long as you both shall live? If so, answer 'I do.'"

"I do." John answered without hesitation. He barely heard the reverend's words to Nita, but her soft "I do" echoed in his ears and filled him with joy. He could feel her hands trembling, could see the glow of happiness and anticipation in her eyes. He couldn't help himself… he had to kiss her now. He stepped closer and lowered his lips to hers, oblivious to the gasping women and the chuckling men in the crowd.

Only when Nita pulled back, a sheepish grin on her face, did Johnny realize what he had done. He felt a flush of heat in his cheeks. He glanced at the crowd, shrugged up a shoulder, and waggled an eyebrow. "Just practicin'."

A roar of laughter traveled through the whole assembly at that, and Johnny turned back to Reverend Folsom, completely serious once more. The good reverend, on the other hand, was clearly fighting to keep his composure. Johnny could see his lips twitching upward and was pretty sure his sudden bout of coughing was contrived to cover a laugh.

"You all right there, Reverend?" he deadpanned, then added a sudden, "OWW!" when Nita smacked him on the arm.

Reverend Folsom really lost it then. He bent over, laughing so hard tears rolled down his cheeks. Behind Johnny, Chet whooped and hollered, "Not even married yet and already in the doghouse!"

Johnny just shook his head and shot back a quick, "Shut up, Chet." At the same time, he took a step away from Nita, just in case she decided to smack him again.

As the laughter from their guests died down, Reverend Folsom blinked away tears and shook his head. "Ahem… may I have the rings, please?"

Johnny felt as if the wedding ceremony were crawling by. The stolen kiss had left him hungry for more, and at this point he would have happily bypassed the rest of the ceremony and the feast and simply jumped to the point when he and Nita would be alone together in the ranch house. But he knew Nita would not stand for it, and so he willed himself to wait it out – he listened, spoke the proper words at the proper moments, slid the ring on Nita's finger. Then she did the same for him. At last the words he had anticipated since the moment she walked back into his life were spoken: "And now, John, you may kiss your bride!"

Johnny didn't need to be told twice! This time, the crowd erupted into cheers when he pressed his lips to Nita's in a long and tender kiss.

"Dearly beloved," Reverend Folsom proclaimed, "it is my joy to present to you John Roderick and Anita Ruth Gage!"

The rest of the festivities were a blur. Eager anticipation carried Johnny through the wedding feast and the toasts to the moment when their guests accompanied the new couple to the ranch house. Carried along on the tide of joyful friends and family, they soon reached the front steps. Johnny stood there for a moment and took a deep breath. Then he swooped Nita into his arms and carried her up the steps to the front door, which already stood open to welcome them.

He stepped over the threshold and gently set her on her feet, then bent to kiss her again. He thought he would never get enough of those kisses. As one hand tangled itself in her long hair, his free hand reached back to close and lock the door behind him. "And now, Mrs. Gage, it's time for our private celebration," he murmured in her ear before settling a kiss on her earlobe. Giggling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to return his kisses. He lifted her once more and cradled her close as he walked to the back bedroom, his fingers fumbling all the while with the closures of her dress.

The next few hours proved that their long wait had been worth it. Johnny and Nita knew they had received a rare gift – after so many years of separation, they had been given the opportunity to stir the banked ashes of their memories into the fires of God-given passion and a deep and abiding love.

The End