EPILOGUE
Christmas
OUTSIDE THE CHAPEL WINDOW, a rainbow glistened over the mountain ridges, painting the sky with a myriad of bright colors, vivid greens and yellows, rich purples and blues, vibrant reds and oranges, a perfect ending to the dismal rain and gray of fall.
The colors had returned slowly to Ivy, as had other memories. Over the past few weeks, she had healed, allowing them to drift back into her mind of their own accord, accepting the unpleasant ones along with the more pleasant. Some were as fuzzy as the sky had been in Kudzu Hollow, others were as sharp and vivid as the red of the Christmas decorations, the Santas her mother had loved so much.
Life, after all, was not all black and white, and neither had Lily been. She had loved Ivy and wanted to give her a better life. Granted, Ivy didn’t agree with her methods, but she had come to terms with what had happened, and had finally visited her parents’ graves. She remembered seeing George kill her mother. And Matt had discovered that the state had appointed an attorney to take care of her parents’ estate and the money they received from the land deal. George had taken a commission but Miss Nellie had made certain Ivy’s money was put in a savings bond.
Now she intended to concentrate on the future.
Her future with Matt.
She positioned her veil on her head, cradled the bouquet of red roses in her hands, smiling at the sound of the wedding march. She and Matt had decided to marry in the Chapel of Forever that Daisy had described, then return to Chattanooga. Matt had passed his bar exam and Abram Willis had been thrilled to hire him. A.J. had resigned as sheriff, and Arthur was looking at charges for spreading gasoline around Cliff’s Cabins, and negligence regarding keeping silent about the chemical dumping. Civil and criminal charges were also being filed against the owner of the defunct chemical company. And the two teenagers were facing murder charges, although the tainted drugs would play into their defense.
Music chimed and echoed around her, and she hurried to the chapel entrance. Matt’s mother met her with a smile and hugged her, and Ivy’s heart warmed. Mrs. Mahoney looked ten years younger since she’d reunited with her son.
“Thank you for bringing my oldest boy back to me,” Eileen whispered.
Ivy pressed a gentle hand to the woman’s arm, knowing she still missed her other two sons, as did Matt. He’d even talked about searching for them. “I love Matt, Mrs. Mahoney. I want him to be happy.”
“Thank you, hon. I feel like I’m gaining a daughter now, too.” Eileen dabbed at her eyes, and tears pricked at Ivy’s. “I…I’d like for us to be close, so if there’s anything you need, just let me know.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Mahoney, but all I need is Matt.” Ivy glanced down the aisle, and her heart fluttered as he winked at her.
His mother rushed to the front pew to join Larry Lumbar. Daisy and Lady Bella Rue sat beside them. The church was full of Kudzu Hollow’s citizens, who considered Matt a hero now that he’d exposed the land deal and chemical problems. The residents in the new subdivision had filed lawsuits, and Matt and Abram Willis were overflowing with legal work. Abram was still working on his book
Saving the Innocents.
Environmental services had jumped in to clean up the chemicals, and a special team of medical experts were evaluating each of the residents and homes in the subdivision, especially the children, to see if they could treat the symptoms and disorders caused by the long-term chemical exposure. The bluish-green glow from the kudzu was actually an afterglow of the chemical, not the spirits of ghosts or Lady Bella Rue’s tears.
Although Ivy still thought Lady Bella Rue might be a seer.
But hopefully, the evil in the town had been extinguished, and the gray skies and stormy days had come to an end.
Seconds later, Ivy stood in front of Matt and accepted his hand in marriage, a union made more precious by the years that had separated them.
Ivy’s heart squeezed, the need to cry almost overwhelming her, but these were tears of joy. “Matt, you saved me when I was a little girl, then again a few weeks ago. Through all the years where darkness filled my mind, somehow you were there, hidden among the shadows. Protecting me. Leading me back here. Driving me home so I could make everything right.” She swallowed hard and kissed his hand, then slid a simple gold band on his finger. “You brought the colors back into my life. You are my rainbow of reds and greens and golds. I love you with all my heart, and am yours forever.”
Matt smiled, emotions shimmering in his eyes. “I first remember you as a little girl, Ivy. With bundles of long blond hair and big green eyes. As a kid, you haunted me with your goodness. As a woman, you stole my heart.” He kissed her hand, then slid a diamond-studded gold band on her finger. “I once thought that my life was over. That bitter vengeance and anger were all I had to live for. But you made me whole again and gave me a future.” His voice cracked. “You may think that I saved you, but, honey, you really saved me.” He paused, kissed her hand again. “I promise to love, honor and cherish you all the days of our lives.”
The preacher pronounced them husband and wife, and Matt took her in his arms and kissed his bride.
LATER THAT NIGHT, AS they lay in their honeymoon bed, sated from loving each other all over again, Ivy closed her eyes, a fireworks show of colors exploding in her mind.
“Ivy,” Matt whispered against her neck. “I…have a gift for you.”
She gazed into his eyes and her throat swelled. “You’ve already given me my heart’s desire, Matt.”
He licked the sensitive skin of her neck, then reached under the bed and brought out a package. She smiled and tore into the paper, anxious to see the gift Matt had chosen.
Her heart soared at the sight of the glittering ceramic Santa. The details were so intricately carved the figure almost looked real.
“It’s beautiful, Matt.” She kissed him tenderly. “I love it.”
He grinned, then placed it on the nightstand by their bed. “I wanted you to have a new one for your collection.”
Emotions crowded her chest. She’d finally unpacked the box of her mother’s Santas and placed them on the mantel above the fireplace in her and Matt’s home. The Santas were symbolic both of a painful past and of the love and hope her mother had shared with Ivy.
Matt nuzzled her neck. “I want this one to remind you that miracles really happen.”
“I know they do,” she whispered as she cupped his face in her hands. “Because I’m holding you in my arms.”
He rolled her to her back and slid inside her, telling her with his body what they no longer needed words to say.
Turn the page for a short interview with award-winning author Rita Herron, as well as discussion questions you can use in your book club….
Last Kiss Goodbye
Reader and Book Club Guide
A short interview with Rita Herron
1) When did you first start writing and what inspired you to write?
I was an avid reader when I was a child, and loved the Trixie Belden mystery series. But I grew up in a rural area and didn’t think writing was a career option, so I earned an early childhood education degree and taught kindergarten. There, I rediscovered my love of storytelling, began to write stories for the children, encouraged them to write and first pursued publication in the children’s book market. I wrote nine books for Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley Kids series as well as articles for a children’s magazine.
Then a friend turned me on to romance, and I fell in love with the genre. I’ve written thirty books so far!
2) Do you keep a writing schedule?
Yes, although I’m flexible, and
not
a morning person. I usually get to the computer around ten and work most of the day, with breaks for exercise and also for sanity purposes! But writing is a full-time career for me, so I usually write about eight hours a day. Some of that time may also be used for editing my own work, researching, or “thinking” about the story—planning is vital to producing smooth work and being prolific.
3) What do you read?
I love a variety of types of books, from comedies to suspense to paranormal to women’s fiction. I also enjoy folklore, local legends and weird stories about places or people, and read nonfiction books to get that. You’ll find some of these interesting tidbits and folklore cropping up in my books!
4) What inspired you to write
Last Kiss Goodbye?
I had written a young adult book (that never sold) awhile back and built the story around an old abandoned junkyard. I’ve seen so many of them in the rural South that I began to look at them symbolically. I knew I wanted to include that in my story. I also wanted to use Southern ghost stories, and the idea of the town being called Kudzu Hollow seemed to fit. I had also heard an interview about a man who had researched “the innocents”—people who had been falsely imprisoned and later released due to new evidence. He not only focused on the person’s lost years but on the difficulty of transitioning back into normal life. It really made me think about those innocents, and sparked the idea for my own hero.
From there, the other characters emerged, then the title and the rest of the story.
I hope you enjoy it!
Discussion Questions
1) How would you describe this book to a friend? What drove each character to return to his/her hometown? How had the characters changed since leaving Kudzu Hollow?
2) Why couldn’t the hero and heroine be together in the beginning?
3) How did the hero’s and heroine’s personalities/conflicts/emotions help bring them together in the end? What would you say is the climactic turning point for each character?
4) What important theme or themes run throughout the book?
5) This book has a lot of symbolism. Name at least four metaphors and describe.
6) What interesting visual elements (either object or place) have significance in the book?
7) What is the significance of the title? Is it literal or metaphorical or both?
8) In the town of Kudzu Hollow, the kudzu chokes the life out of the town and land just as the evil and lost loved ones trap the people into staying. Do you believe that evil exists? Do you think spirits are trapped so that they can’t move on? Do you believe people’s spirits try to communicate once the people are dead?
9) Lady Bella Rue is very superstitious and thinks she can control/change/protect the town with her potions and spells. Do you believe in the supernatural or paranormal? Witchcraft or voodoo? Do you have any superstitions? Why do you think the people are afraid of her? Because they think she’s evil or because they’re afraid she’s right? Or because they believe she really has powers?
10) The bad weather and rains are used both literally and metaphorically. Discuss the significance of weather and setting in the story.
11) Ivy owns a magazine called
Southern Scrapbooks.
Do you make scrapbooks yourself? What kinds of things do you include? How did her job parallel her life?
12) Have you, a friend or loved one ever been wrongfully accused of something? How did you feel? Do you know someone who was falsely imprisoned for a crime he/she didn’t commit? How did his/her life change?
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8139-8
LAST KISS GOODBYE
Copyright © 2006 by Rita B. Herron
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
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