No Mistakes
By BritnieAnn

Trinity Faleron stumbled blindly out the back door. Running, running to anywhere. From everything and everyone. Hurt and pain swelled up so deep inside her she thought she would surely pass out. She wished she would pass out, come awake, and find this all had been some
terribly horrific dream�

But it wasn't and she couldn't.

All of them, every one of them had been killed. Her entire immediate family, wiped off the face of the earth to her, in one phone call.

She had thought she was beyond tears, but found that to be false as a great sob and mournful wail broke lose from her trembling lips."Why God! Why?!" she screamed to the sky in anguish, falling to her
knees on the hard ground. Why had this happened to her? Why not someone else? What had she done to deserve this sorrow and pain?

Thoughts raced through her mind, memories of their time's together past. Christmas's, birthdays, times just spent laughing and joking with each other�even the times when they fought together. They
were to be no more. She would never be able to tell them how much she
loved them.

And her mother. Oh, what trials she must have caused her. What pain, with her flippant attitude and harsh words�

"Sorry, so sorry�" she whispered, knowing it was too late.

She cried and wailed until her eyes would produce no more tears and her voice was virtually gone. She wiped her eyes as a new thought formed in her mind.

"What do I do now? Where will I go?"

A cold feeling washed over her like water from a frozen river. She was an orphan. True, she did have aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas�but, no father and mother.

"Trinity, Trinity!" a worried voice broke her out of her stoopered state. How long had she been kneeling here outside the door?

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry!" Mrs. Wells, God bless her, Trinity thought. The woman did just as she wanted, wrapping her in warm, caring arms and just holding her.

"Baby, we got here as fast as we could. Don't worry, God will get you through, darlin'." Trinity nodded with a sniff, thanking God already for His peace, for being able to know that of every member of her family was praising God in the streets of Glory�But it was still oh, so painful.

Trinity looked up and saw a sea of sympathetic faces staring into her own tear-streaked, sorrow-filled one. And one face stood out from the rest. Neal Wells. The boy she had adored in secret for so many years,
and was too shy to do anything about. The sadness and worry on his face was obvious. Her brother Jake had been his very best friend�her little brother, gone.

Trinity bit back another bout of tears and pulled away from Mrs. Shirley, trying to make herself a bit more presentable. But her heart wasn't really in it.

Standing, she was swiftly bombarded by two pairs of little arms wrapping around her waist. She smiled weakly at the care the two small Wells boys showed. She soon got an extremely tight embrace from her best friend, Kristy, with a prayer whispered in her ear. And then another from Mr. Wells that wrapped around her whole body and made her feel safe and secure, even if for just that moment.

As she let go she saw again Neal, and longed deeply to throw her arms round his strong, slim frame and hold on for dear life as she sobbed into his firm shoulder, to feel his arms around her, comforting and warming her� But she knew how inappropriate it would be, even in such a situation, and was simply comforted by the large hand he put out to envelop her smaller one for a moment's time, with a soft squeeze that meant so much.

Mr. Wells put a strong arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "We'll go with you to the hospital." Trinity nodded gratefully, she knew this was the beginning of a long, hard road�

Yet she hardly remembered the next few hours. And thinking back, she couldn't understand how she made it through them, but for God's grace. And her family and friends. There was not a dry eye near her that day, or arms that weren't open. A car accident had taken her families lives. They had all gone to the local hardware store to get a few supplies for spring planting. She had stayed home to finish up an assignment for Sunday school that next day. And as hard as she wished she could say she wanted to have died with them, she couldn't. It disgusted her how powerful her own will to survive was.

The next few weeks were hard. Full of funeral and other arrangements that exhausted her in body and spirit like nothing before. And she now had a decision to make. Stay in Alabama with her aunt and uncle, or move back to Arizona with her grandparents.

Trinity struggled for weeks with the question. Not knowing which way to go. The Falerons house and land were to be sold, as well as her horses and other animals, minus her cat. Piece by piece her whole life was being shipped off down the road to become a part someone else's. How could things have come to this?
She had been staying with her aunt and uncle ever since the accident, and it was obvious a new member to feed and clothe was not easy for them. She had even heard her uncle talking of getting another job. That would make three. But they would never encourage her to leave�

Her grandparents; they were well off, lived in her home state, and were very lonely. But she had so much here�One day, as she was sitting on the front porch trying to stop thinking of how young her brothers had been, she heard a car come down the gravel driveway. Or more precisely, a bronco, Neal's bronco. Trinity smiled and stood to go meet him. She was surprised though to find he was alone, and not with his usual clan of brothers, or his father. Not even Kristy was with him. The Wells family had all visited her quite often, as had many members of her home Church, but Neal had never come alone before.

Neal cut the engine and jumped from the seat, shutting the heavy door behind him. He walked to where she stood at the truck grill.

"Hey," she said with a soft smile.

"Hey, how're you?" he replied, giving her an incredibly cute smile, though she could see the ever-present worry for her in his dark eyes.

"All right, I guess." She made a show of looking in his trucks windows. "Where is everyone?"

He looked uncomfortable for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  "Uh, they all had things to do, Dad's got a job and mom isn't feeling well again."

"Oh, that's too bad." And after an awkward moment, "You want to sit down?" she waved at the front steps.

"Sure." He seemed happy to have the subject dropped. Trinity knew he now had had his drivers license for years at age nineteen, but it was still strange to see him out by himself, especially on a visit to her, a girl, when most everyone knew they were attracted to each other.

She sat on one end of the stair and he sat on the other.  They chatted about various things, and Trinity marveled at how at ease they had both become with each other. These few months of frequent talks had brought them far in their relationship.

There was a lapse in conversation and they sat in companionable silence, watching the horses graze on a hill above the house. Her aunt had come out earlier to greet Neal and had then soon gone back inside, seeming to sense a need for their privacy.

Neal cleared his throat. "I, uh, heard you made your decision." With one darted glance at her, he didn't look her way again, staring straight ahead.

She looked at him sharply and then down at her lap.

"Um, yeah. I think I have. It's the best for everyone. My aunt and uncle can't support me comfortable. My grandparents can and are dying to have me. Besides, I guess I've missed Arizona�"

Neal mumbled something too low for her to hear.

"What?"

He looked up with resolve on his face and this time clearly said, "Is that what you want?"

Trinity looked away, startled. God was pointing her West, wasn't He? She felt she had to get away from all the memories�all the pain and  heartbreak of this past year.

"Trinity," I love hearing him say my name. She frowned at that silly thought and cleared her face before looking at him again. He continued. "think of all you'll leave behind? Church, your friends, family, your horses, and me. You know how much you'll miss me, don't you?" he said the last part with a slight smirk.

Trinity smiled at his mock arrogance. "Of course, how could I forget! That changes everything! I cant live without you, Neal!"

"Good." He said softly. Trinity looked at him again quickly and saw he was dead serious. "Neal, I-"

"No." he interrupted. "You can't go, I won't let you. You have too much her to just walk away from."

Trinity felt herself becoming angry.

"Neal, that's just it! There is too much here! Too much pain. Too much suffering for me. It's suffocating! I can't stand it anymore!" she jumped up from the step and looking down, faced him. "What do you want me to do? I have nowhere to go I can't stay here. I have no other family in Alabama, and I will not impose on my friends. So, what? What!?"

He stood and looked her unwaveringly in the eyes. "Marry me."

It was that simple. That short. And that easy.

And just too much. One of her cousin's later told her Neal had been so frantic over her that he himself had nearly hit the cement. Though Neal had caught her before she did. It figures that she would miss
the first time being in his arms.

When she came-to, she found herself on the couch with Neal hovering over her with so many apologies thought up that she could barely get a word in edge wise. She finally had to put her hand over his mouth. And her answer was even simpler than his question; Yes.

The talk in town was scandalous.

"She's barely turned eighteen!"

"Newly orphaned, can you believe the nerve of that boy!"

"I heard she's pregnant, can you imagine?"

"He's got to be only seventeen years old, and she not a day over sixteen!"

But the glowing newly engaged would hear none of it, and were blissfully unaware of the words of the dissenters. For there were more who were ecstatic about the couples marriage. Her aunt had been
extremely happy for her, and after the hour of questioning her uncle had had with Neal, he too had given happy consent. Neal still had never told her what had gone on during that time. She felt sure that her family in Heaven was also pleased with her match, and though her grandparents in Arizona were disappointed she wasn't going to stay with them, they were happy to hear she was happy. Neal persuaded Trinity to stay in Alabama, promising to help her through the sorrowful memories, and help her make new, equally good
ones. She hardly knew what she would do without him now, life would barely go on.

Neal was soon promoted to full partnership with Trinity's uncle, who owned a small carpenters business, which provided the beaming newlyweds a decent house that fall.  She was able to keep her horse on they're small plot of land, and the two promised each other that soon another pair of four legs would join the mare.
How different things had turned out for them both� Not a year ago Trinity had wondered if her new husband even liked her as more than a friend. And here now they were pledged to each other for life�Trinity
really couldn't say if without her family's death, things would have ended up so well. She liked to just be content with knowing God didn't make mistakes�in anything.