Before I got down the few steps from the stage to the auditorium proper, a disturbance rose from the back where people were bunched up, waiting to get out. Looking over the heads of those sidling out of the rows and crowding into the aisles, I could see arms waving and hear cries of "It's Sonny Sutton!"; then, "Sonny! Sonny!"

I hesitated on the steps, not wanting to get caught in the crush of departing ticket holders, but needing to find Sam. I glanced back at the stage, hoping to find an easier way out. Latisha, freed from Lillian's grasp, was dashing from one contestant to another, admiring their gowns, with Lillian right behind her. Little Lloyd stood off to the side by himself, watching the turmoil. Some of the contestants crowded around Tasha, congratulating her and, I expect, envying her. Heather and Shandra were gracious enough to hug Ashley, and tell her they had no idea how talented she was. Parents and friends of the contestants pushed up onstage, along with the deputies whose units the contestants had represented.

I didn't know whether to go or come. Whichever way I looked, there was a crowd to be maneuvered through. I caught sight of Sam's white head edging around a group clustered at the judges' table. I waved to him, but he didn't see me.

"Julia! Yoo-hoo, Julia!" LuAnne yelled from the center aisle, as she waved her hand to get my attention. "See you at the club!"

I nodded, refraining from raising my voice above the din, which had increased as more people heard of Sonny's personal appearance among us. Still hesitating, I lingered, hoping to get Sam's attention before he was swallowed up by the crowd. Finally giving up the effort, I decided to go across the stage and out the back way. I wanted to waylay Sam before Sonny caught the preacher, and the preacher caught what was coming to him, at which time, he'd make good his threat to spew out a full confession. And if I couldn't keep the preacher away from Sam, my best hope was to keep Sam away from him. Maybe, I thought, since I was the only one who would know Preacher Kincaid by his proximity to Eunice Knowles, Sonny wouldn't recognize him, and the man would slip on through. Maybe he'd be pleased enough with Ashley's showing, and go back to Tennessee and never be heard from again.

And maybe, if nothing worked out and Sam was willing, he and I could elope again, this very night, get married for real and true, and no one would ever have to know the actual date of our anniversary.

Then Preacher Kincaid could do all the announcing he wanted to, and we could smile and say we'd never trusted him in the first place, which was why we'd immediately remedied the situation. Then, regardless of the uproar over a celebrity's attempt to marry, we could simply be amused and above it all.

But I couldn't get it done by myself.

I hurried across the stage, edging around and through clumps of people ogling and hugging and congratulating the contestants, until I almost bumped into the Reverend Morris Abernathy. He was talking with Lillian, while a group of his deacons stood by, beaming at Shandra's success.

"I'm so sorry, Reverend," I said, backing right up against Lieutenant Peavey. "Oh, pardon me."

The Reverend Abernathy, that small, courtly gentleman who had once come to my rescue when Binkie and Coleman had badly needed some officiating, bowed gracefully. His dark, wrinkled face under curly white hair broke into a bright smile. "Mrs. Murdoch, a pleasure, madam, to see you again. This is Deacon Woodrow and Deacon Sims." He indicated the two smiling men beside him. "We are so proud of Miss Washington. The Lord has bountifully blessed her and us, too, as he always does."

I shook hands with his deacons, wanting to be polite but wanting even more to be on my way. "You should be proud of her. She is an exceptional young woman. If you'll excuse me, Reverend . . ."

And I sidled away, only to be engulfed by Hazel Marie as she threw her arms around me. "Oh, Miss Julia, it was a success, wasn't it?"

"It was, indeed," I said, disengaging myself. "You did a marvelous job, Hazel Marie. But I have to run. LuAnne wants me at the club as quickly as I can get there."

"I'll bring Lillian and Latisha with me, and we'll be there soon. Well, as soon as I find J.D. Have you seen him?"

"I think he's out front with Sonny Sutton."

"Sonny's here? Oh, my goodness, I hope I can get his autograph. I've got to find Etta Mae." And she hurried away, smiling at the praise heaped on her head as she went.

I finally got to the sidelines, thinking I had clear sailing to the back hall. I was brought up short by the sight of Little Lloyd standing alone in a dark corner.

Going over to him, I said, "Are you all right?"

He turned away from me, and my heart dropped as I saw the stricken look on his face. "Little Lloyd, what's the matter? Are you sick?"

He shook his head. "No'm."

"Well, come on with me. I'm looking for Sam, and we'll go to the party together."

"I don't want to go to the party." The child looked so miserable that for a minute my own troubles flew out of my mind.

"Has somebody said something to you?" I was immediately prepared to do battle. The idea that anybody would hurt him just tore me up.

He mumbled something, and I had to get him to repeat it. Finally I heard him say, "Miss Easley doesn't like me anymore."

I straightened up and looked around. There was Miss Easley by the dressing room, weeping on her mother's shoulder. "It's not fair," I heard her say amid convulsive sobs. "My talent was better than Shandra's, and her baton ruined my dance, and I'm prettier than Ashley, and it's just not fair."

So, I thought, that young lady was so taken up with her own misery that she'd spread it around, and to an innocent child, too.

"Come on," I said, taking Little Lloyd's hand. "You and I have no time for crybabies. Strike her off your dance card, Little Lloyd, and hold up your head. She's the loser in more ways than one. Now, I've got to find Sam, and I want you to help me." Still, I could've smacked Miss Easley good for hurting his tender little feelings.

We hadn't taken two steps when Miss Wiggins came running up and threw out her arms to hug me. I took a step back, and she thought better of it. "Wasn't it wonderful!" she cried. "And Ashley! I can't believe how good she was, and it was all because of you. I would've given up on her long ago, but you stuck with her and she was the highlight of the whole show."

"Thank you, Miss Wiggins, but I take little credit for her natural ability. I think she has a real future somewhere." I hoped it wouldn't be at McDonald's. "But you must excuse us, Miss Wiggins. I have to find Sam."

"I saw him just a minute ago," she said, glancing over her shoulder, as a flash of anxiety surged through me. How had she found him, when I couldn't? "But you can call me Etta Mae."

"Thank you," I said again, and moving away, I steeled myself to give credit where it was due. "You helped make the pageant a success, too, and I know Hazel Marie appreciates it."

Pulling Little Lloyd along, I wove my way through crowds of people that had spilled over behind the stage. Lord, where had they all come from? But still, I couldn't find Sam. I wouldn't have put it past Miss Wiggins to have steered me in the wrong direction, but I kept looking.

"This way, Little Lloyd," I said, pushing past a clump of people to return to the stage and through the back curtain, hoping to find Sam on the other side. I ducked just as a man threw out his arm in an expansive gesture; then I slipped through the opening in the back curtain. I raised up and found myself eye to eye with Deputy Max von Rippen.

"Oh, Lord!" I stepped back so quickly, I almost flattened Little Lloyd.

"He won't hurt you, Miss Julia. Deputy Fields has to give him a command before he'll attack."

"I'm taking no chances." I grabbed his hand again and veered away.

Finally closing in on the door that led to the classroom hall, I caught a glimpse of Sam in conversation with Tonya Allen. I saw him laugh and nod his head, as he gave her his full attention. You would think, being judges and having made at least one contestant so unhappy, that they would've put some distance between themselves and the stage. But Sam was always so pure and honorable in his dealings, that it rarely occurred to him that others might not be. My heart lurched in my chest as I watched him, so wanting him to want me, wanting to be within range of his goodness and have it slop over onto me, wanting to be his wife in holy matrimony. I didn't want to pretend anymore, nor act like a wife without being one.

"Sam," I said, hurrying up to him and feeling his warm eyes welcome me. "Forgive me, Tonya, but I have an emergency. Sam, we have to talk."

I took his hand, still holding Little Lloyd's with my other one, and led them both out into the hall. Hurrying into an empty classroom, I turned to Sam, the words rushing out of my mouth.

"Sam, I've thought and thought, until I'm tired of thinking. That's what you wanted me to do, and I've done it. I don't know what you've been doing, and-"

"I did my thinking a long time ago-"

"-and I know you might've come to a different conclusion. But I'm going to put aside my pride and ask you to marry me, once and for all, in spite of the fact that we might've already done it, so-"

"-I was just waiting for you."

"-so I want to do it now, this very night, and then whatever happens happens, and it won't affect us."

He was talking, but I wasn't listening. I needed to get said what I had to say. "Now, I know you may be attracted to someone else, but believe me, Sam, she is fickle and it wouldn't last. You'd regret it till your dying day. But I promise with all my heart that you will not regret choosing me. I will be your wife in every way possible, and I will be a good one."

I'll just tell you, I was at my wit's end by this time, dreading to hear him say that he needed to think more, or that he'd already thought enough and he'd made a different decision.

Little Lloyd said, "I thought y'all were already married."

"It didn't take," I said. "We have to do it again. Sam?" I put my hand on his chest to hold myself up. My limbs were shaking, as I steeled myself, promising the Lord that if the ceiling fell in, I'd take that as a final and irreversible sign that Sam was not for me. I bit my lip, waiting for the crash of plaster and rafters and billows of dust to fall on my head.

"Julia," Sam said, as his arms went around me. "Anytime, anywhere." And there, at last, was a sign I understood.

I broke from his embrace and wheeled on Little Lloyd. "Run get the Reverend Abernathy. Hurry-don't stop for anything and don't tell anybody. Except your mother. Bring her, too."

Sam started laughing then. "Here? You want to do it here?"

"I certainly do. We need another witness. Who can we get that won't blab it all over the place?"

"I'll find somebody," he said, poking his head out the door, while I eased up behind him, afraid to let him out of my sight.

So that's how we came to be married in a classroom at the high school auditorium, with Hazel Marie and Deputy Fields as witnesses, along with Deputy Max von Rippen looking on with soulful eyes. Little Lloyd was there, of course, and if he'd been old enough he would've been an official witness, too. The Reverend Abernathy spoke about some legal aspects of when and what we had to sign the following morning, since he didn't happen to have his marriage book with him. In the meantime, he said with a complacent smile, he would trust us to hold ourselves pure and unsullied until all the T's and I's were crossed and dotted.

Other than that, the Reverend asked no questions, except the main ones, seemingly unperturbed by either the timing or the setting.

By the time our little wedding party got to the pageant gala, it was in full swing. Sonny Sutton was the center of attention, so nobody asked why we were late and nobody seemed to notice our postwedding glow.

Hazel Marie ran to find Mr. Pickens, and I saw him bend his head to her as she told him the news. He laughed and held a glass up to us, then made his way through the noisy celebrants to our side.

"Is it real this time?" he asked, and, as I put his mind to rest on that score, he leaned over and kissed my cheek. "To the bride. Congratulations, Sam."

Somewhat embarrassed by Mr. Pickens's greeting, I looked around the room, loud now with the beat of bad, bad Leroy Brown, and swirling contestants, still giddy with excitement. I smiled at the sight of Latisha dancing with Deacon Sims, and smiled even more when I saw Miss Wiggins doing some kind of gyrations with Sheriff Frady. Willie Pruitt might have been waiting his turn with her, but he was doing it with Miss Easley, whose tears seemed to have dried up. Heather Peavey pounced on Little Lloyd as soon as she saw him, and led him to the dance floor. Hearing a gust of laughter, I turned to see Lillian and James in deep conversation.

Over by the buffet table, LuAnne was holding forth, as Sonny's black hat towered above the crowd that milled around him. You would think he'd have the courtesy to bare his head when he came indoors, but that's the way some people are. For just a second I caught a glimpse of Ashley, smiling, but with a deer-in-the-headlights look about her.

Sam's arm stayed around me, enveloping me in the warmth and assurance of his love. He leaned close to Mr. Pickens so he could be heard. "What's the story with Sonny?"

Mr. Pickens gave us his devilish grin. "He spotted Kincaid coming out of the auditorium, and we had a little stir there for a minute. A few flashbulbs popped, because Sonny can never get away from them all." Not that he would want to, I thought.

"Anyway," Mr. Pickens went on, "since there were plenty of deputies around, he had Kincaid picked up for fraud. It won't stick, but Sonny thinks the effort will reassure his fiancee." Mr. Pickens looked at me. "Kincaid wouldn't tell Sonny anything, just said his lips are sealed until the seventh seal is broken."

Mr. Pickens looked puzzled, not understanding the reference, but I knew that Preacher Kincaid was promising his silence till the end of time.

But to be on the safe side, I drew Mr. Pickens slightly to the side. "Don't you agree that there's no need for anybody to know exactly when our wedding took place? If anybody asks, you could say we've been married for some time now."

He looked at his watch. "About thirty minutes?" Then he grinned at me, and whispered, "Your secret's safe with me."

Hazel Marie came running up. "Guess what just happened! Oh, I am so thrilled! Sonny's going to introduce Ashley to a record producer! She's going to Nashville to make a demo! And it's all because of our pageant!"

Well, not exactly, since it had taken Sam and me being only slightly married by her uncle, who then pressured me into keeping her in the contest, which lured Sonny Sutton to Abbottsville, where he just happened to hear her. That's how she got a record deal, and, somewhere in the middle of it all, that's how I learned to go after what I wanted, signs or no signs. I could only marvel at the mysterious ways our lives had intertwined.

"Here, Julia!" LuAnne pushed a champagne glass into my hand, and another one into Sam's. A waiter she had in tow supplied Mr. Pickens and Hazel Marie. "Even if we're weeks behind time, we're celebrating your wedding tonight." She raised her glass. "To the bride and groom, better late than never!"

Sam and I smiled at each other over our glasses, enjoying our precious secret, and after only the slightest hesitation, I decided that this was an event worthy of a taste of spirits. But I only took the teeniest, little sip.

Also by Ann B. Ross.

Miss Julia Meets Her Match.

Miss Julia Hits the Road.

Miss Julia Throws a Wedding.

Miss Julia Takes Over.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind.