Free Blue Skies, Season 2, Episode 8 (Rising Storm) by Dee Davis

beyond the stone wall that divided the patio from the rest of the yard, tossing a ball with Danny. Carol was trying to make a Hula-Hoop twirl around her hips, but was having no luck at all. Tara was laughing as she watched her daughter try.
    “You have to get it twirling first and then move your hips,” Mary Louise said, pulling away from Tate to demonstrate the motion.
    Carol watched and then tried again, the hoop actually making a full revolution before it fell.
    “You have to keep moving, sweetie,” Tara said. The two women watched as Carol tried again, this time with almost two revolutions.
    “You’re getting it,” Mary Louise encouraged. “You just have to keep trying.”
    “Ah, Carol, don’t listen to them,” Rita Mae said, striding over to where the little girl was still struggling. “I was the two-time Hula-Hoop champion of Storm High. Come with me, kid, I’ll show you how it’s done.”
    With a quick look at her mother, Carol danced off with Rita Mae, their two heads bent together as they discussed the fine art of hula-hooping.
    “Well, that should be interesting,” Tara commented as they watched the pair walk away.
    “The blind leading the blind,” Mary Louise said.
    “You and my brother seem to be cozy these days.” Tara waggled her eyebrows suggestively and Mary Louise felt herself growing bright red.
    “We’re seeing each other.” God, even standing here in the middle of his family, she had a hard time believing it was true.
    “I know. And from where I’m sitting, it looks like it might be getting serious.”
    “Would that be a bad thing?” Mary Louise asked hesitantly.
    “Goodness, no,” Tara said, reaching out to pull Mary Louise into a quick hug. “More like a miracle. Tate’s needed someone like you in his life for the longest time.”
    “But he was with Hannah.” It felt like just saying her name was going to jinx everything somehow.
    “Like you said, was . And in case you haven’t gotten the memo,” Tara nodded over to where her brother Tucker and Hannah were talking with Tara’s sister-in-law Kristin, “she’s got it bad for my baby brother. So I’m thinking maybe things have worked out just the way they’re supposed to have.”
    Mary Louise smiled, pushing aside her insecurities. “Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.”
    “Argue with what?” Bryce asked, walking up behind Tara and dropping a kiss on the top of her head.
    “Love,” Tara replied, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she leaned back into her husband’s arms.
    “Here’s to that,” Zeke said, his deep voice carrying across the gathered crowd. “And on that note, I want to propose a toast to my big brother and the love of his life, Miss Anna Mae Prager. Here’s wishing you both the very best.”
    Zeke lifted his beer bottle into the air, and everyone else followed suite. Chase gave a big whoop and twirled Anna Mae around in a circle.
    “They look so happy,” Tucker said, joining the group.
    “I’m glad they found each other again,” Tate agreed, slipping an arm around Mary Louise. “It gives a guy hope.”
    “Tucker,” Hannah called, slipping her phone into her pocket as she walked toward them.
    “Everything all right?” he asked, quickly stepping to her side.
    “No.” She shook her head, her eyes welling with tears. “It’s my sister. She’s in the hospital. And Hector…Hector is dead.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Joanne slowly opened her eyes, recognizing the institutional white walls of Storm’s hospital. For a moment, she struggled to remember why she was here, then reality hit with a speed that robbed her of breath.
    Hector was dead.
    She lay for a moment, letting the idea sink in.
    Dead.
    The man she’d once loved. The man she’d learned to fear. The man who’d destroyed her family. He was dead.
    There should be horror or sadness or delight.
    But instead she felt only relief. Blessed, blessed relief.
    Slowly she sat up, trying to assess the damage. Her eye was almost