Page 95 of The Girl from Devil's Lake

Bisbee, Arizona

Saturday, December 23, 2023

At two p.m. on December 23, Butch Dixon walked hisbeloved stepdaughter, Jennifer Ann Brady, down the aisle. He made it to the front of the church all right, but when the Reverend Marianne Maculyea asked, “Who giveth this woman?” he burst into tears and barely got the words out.

Within minutes Jennifer Ann Brady and Nicholas Richard Saunders were husband and wife, having exchanged their vows in a church overflowing with poinsettias. For her part, Joanna wasn’t at all surprised when Marianne introduced the newlyweds as Jennifer Ann Brady and Nicholas Richard Sanders. Jenny kept her name, and Nick kept his.

After all, Joanna thought.Jenny’s a chip off the old block.

It was a joyous event. Butch’s collection of Mexican finger foods was a big hit, and the cake was downright spectacular.

The following Sunday, as they were getting readyfor church, Joanna told Butch that they’d need to take separate cars because she had something she needed to do after church.

“Scatter the ashes?” he asked.

Joanna nodded and dragged her hiking boots out of the closet.

The road to Juniper Flats was little more than a rutted footpath, and it was also covered with a smattering of snow, but the Interceptor made the trip with no difficulty.

Once on top, she parked near the radio, cell, and TV towers dotting the summit, but she walked past them, over to the edge of the precipice. Once there, she unscrewed the lid from the urn.

“I’m sorry you had such a tough life, Marliss,” Joanna said aloud. “If you’d lived long enough for us to grow old together, we might have become friends after all, but for now, this is the best I can do.”

As she poured out the ashes, a gust of chill wind caught them and carried them off into the canyon below. Marliss Shackleford had chosen to make her life in southern Arizona, and here she would stay.