Love Finds You in Maiden, North Carolina

by Tamela Hancock Murray

  “Yes, he does love me, in his way. But he has his own life, and that’s the way it should be. I won’t be his problem. I’ll be here in Maiden, with Artie. I think when Father sees the situation, he’ll agree it’s a blessing from God.”

  “He’ll blame me for not taking better care of you.” Selene could tell by the way Aunt Louisa blew out her breath that she felt resignation rather than anger, bitterness, or fear of reprisal from her brother.

  “Not taking better care of me?” Selene chuckled. “I’d say we couldn’t have created a better outcome if we tried.”

  “Maybe in some quarters people would feel that way. But no one ever anticipated you would live here forever. I have no doubt your father has someone in mind for you to wed.”

  “Oh, he mentioned a prospective beau now and again, but I have a mind of my own. And my mind says that Artie Rowland is the one for me.” She extended her hand and touched his. “If this hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have come to Maiden for an extended stay—or even come to Maiden at all, and I never would have met Artie. I have to think that this baby is part of God’s plan.”

  “As do I.” Aunt Louisa wiped a tear.

  “You ladies won’t have an argument from me.” Artie gazed at Selene before turning his attention to the older woman. “Please know, Miss Louisa, that I really love Selene. I want to be a good husband to her and a good father to her baby.”

  “You’re a bachelor. You really want a ready-made family?”

  “I hadn’t planned on it, I’ll admit. But when I met Selene, I loved her right away. Only I couldn’t be unequally yoked. When she accepted Christ as her personal Savior, I knew she had changed. Like Selene, my present is different because of God. He gave me many second chances, and I want to be part of Selene’s second chance. I want to give her the best life I can. I feel certain my friends will accept us and Easter. Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of them both, gladly.”

  Selene saw Aunt Louisa’s eyes mist. “I think you owe it to Selene and her father to ask his permission.”

  “Let’s wire him and have him visit us. I want him to see his granddaughter.” Selene cuddled her baby.

  Aunt Louisa looked Artie straight in the eye. “If you can take the hardened flapper who came here a few months ago and turn her into a loving mother, who am I to stand in your way? I’ll do everything I can to help you, son.”

  Hestia sat beside Booth in the Model T as he parked it in the Barrington driveway. His parents disembarked. Mrs. Barrington had mentioned she bought a ham that would take all afternoon to bake. That left Booth time to visit with Hestia. At least, she hoped.

  “I don’t want to keep you from lunch.”

  “A nap is more like it, but I’m too excited to sleep.” Hestia yawned.

  “You’d think you were the one who just had a baby.”

  Hestia started walking to her aunt’s house, with Booth beside her. “I feel as though I did, in a way. I shared a room for months with Selene, remember? She didn’t hold back on telling me everything she was feeling.”

  “Soon you’ll be back in Haw River, with a room all to yourself, I assume.”

  She remembered her home. The teddy bear from her youth still occupied a special place on her bed. “Yes, I have my own room. Lavender and white.”

  “I can picture you in a lavender-and-white room. You miss home, don’t you?”

  “Yes, there’s a lot of it I miss. I always thought I’d stay in Haw River forever, helping Papa in his office until I married Luther. But you know how that went.”

  “You already know what I think of Luther.”

  Hestia had long ago forgiven Luther, thanks in large part to Booth. “I’ll always be grateful to you for helping me see that I can have a happy life without him. It’s peculiar how I’ve been gone so long that my friends’ letters don’t mean so much to me. At first I felt as though I was in the center of everything, but now when they write, I feel as though I’m reading about someone else’s life, an outsider watching from afar.”

  “They don’t mean it that way, do they?”

  “Of course not. They can’t help it. That’s just the way life is, I’m finding. It’s all my fault. I told them I’d be gone three weeks at most, and I ended up being away several months without so much as visiting at Christmas.” By this time they had reached the veranda. Since they’d just left church, neither had any desire to sit, so they stood near the door.

  “I’m glad you stayed here for Christmas. It wouldn’t have been the same without you. It won’t be the same without you. Nothing will. You have no idea how much you have added to my life, Hestia.”

  She remembered the smell of the cedar tree and how handsome he had looked that night. “May–maybe I can arrange to stay a couple of extra weeks.”

  “Do you mean that? You really want to stay? Or do you just feel sorry for me?” He grinned in the lopsided way she loved.

  “I want to stay.”

  “Then stay forever.”

  “Forever? I love Aunt Louisa dearly and I know she thinks the world of me, but I can’t expect her to let me stay with her forever. She’s much too independent.”

  “And so are you. You deserve your own home.”

  What was he saying? “I—I don’t have my own home here.”

  “But you can, with someone who loves you. Me.”

  “You? You love me?” Her heart beat with such ferocity she could hardly speak.

  “You couldn’t tell?”

  “You could have told me, you know.”

  “I wanted to so very much, but I knew you’d be sacrificing your life to move here to be with me. It didn’t seem fair to ask somehow.” He took her hands in his. “I’ve saved up some money, and I can find us a house. It won’t be the biggest or grandest in town, but I’m sure I can find something for us somewhere. Somewhere you can be happy—as my wife.”

  “Your wife!”

  “Yes. My wife. Would you like to be Mrs. Booth Barrington?”

  “I–I’m surprised!”

  “Are you really?”

  “Well…yes! I didn’t think you’d ask me. Are you certain?”

  “I’ve never been more certain.”

  “Neither have I.” Unable to restrain herself, she jumped up and down. “Yes! I’ll marry you. Ever since we laid in the leaves together, I knew I loved you.”

  “You don’t know how much I wanted to kiss you that day. How much I want to kiss you now.”

  “What’s stopping you?”

  He drew her closely into his arms, and she felt a joy she didn’t think possible. His kiss, the kiss she had wanted forever, proved even sweeter than she could have imagined.

  “Mercy!”

  They turned to see Miss Olive wearing her most outraged expression.

  “Sorry, Miss Olive,” Booth told her. “You can’t protest us now. We’re getting married!”

  “Married! When?”

  Booth paused, but only for a second. “New Year’s Day 1924.”

  “What does your aunt say, Hestia? And has your father given his permission?”

  “He will, I have no doubt. And so will Aunt Louisa.” She looked into Booth’s sparkling blue eyes. “New Year’s Day 1924 is perfect. Just perfect.”

  “So that’s what all the commotion is over here.” Miss Olive’s tone sounded satisfied, as though she had been instrumental in solving a monumental mystery.

  “Not exactly.” Hestia shared her account of the previous night’s events.

  “So the baby’s here.” Miss Olive tsked. “What a shame to have such circumstances of birth. I’ll go in and see if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  Booth squeezed Hestia’s hand as the neighbor disappeared. “There’s nothing like Miss Olive to dampen a mood, is there?”

  Hestia chuckled. “She doesn’t mean any harm. I want to tell them the good news, but I don’t want to rub our happiness in Selene’s face. She must feel terrible about giving up the baby.”

  “At least Artie
is here to console her.”

  “Yes, he has been a great comfort to her. Come on, let’s go in.” Holding hands, they entered the parlor but noticed that everyone seemed to be hovering in Selene’s room. Alarm shot through Hestia. “I hope the baby’s okay.”

  “There you are,” Miss Olive said. “Already celebrating their engagement with a little too much vigor, if you ask me.”

  “Engagement?” Aunt Louisa asked. Selene and Artie looked surprised by the news as well. “When did this happen?”

  “Just now,” Booth said. “Well, I’ve been thinking of asking Hestia for some time, but I hadn’t gotten up the nerve. With the baby being born and the reality of Hestia returning to Haw River upon me, I knew I had to tell her how I really felt about her.” He looked into her eyes.

  “I think you knew all along how I feel about you,” Hestia told him.

  Selene beamed. “So you’re staying here in Maiden?”

  Hestia nodded. “Yes. I hope I can stay here with Aunt Louisa during my engagement. We hope to wed on New Year’s Day. Do you think you can put up with me that much longer, Aunt Louisa?”

  The older woman smiled. “I would be happy to have you here as long as you want to stay.”

  “This is a dream come true!” Selene cried. “Artie and I are planning to marry as soon as we can, and I’ll be living in Maiden, too. We’ll raise Easter together.”

  “Easter? What a beautiful name.”

  “Easter Hestia Louisa Rowland,” Selene said.

  When Hestia heard her name, tears flowed. She ran to Selene and embraced her. “That’s so beautiful of you to do. Thank you.”

  “I want you to be my maid of honor at my ceremony, even though it won’t be much.” Selene squeezed her hand.

  “Of course. I would be thrilled. And it’s not the ceremony that matters, but the marriage.”

  “True.”

  “Booth, will you stand up for me?” Artie asked.

  “I’d be insulted if you didn’t ask, old man.”

  Hestia looked at Artie. “I’m so glad you and Selene decided to wed. Selene has proven she deserves a second chance, and she couldn’t have found a better man for her.”

  “Coming from you, that’s quite a compliment.” Hestia could see by the misty look in his eyes that Artie was moved. “I was about to tell Selene more about second chances when we got sidetracked.”

  “Oh?” Selene asked.

  “Yes. Very few people know this, but I was adopted.”

  A collective gasp filled the room.

  “It’s true.” Artie nodded. “For a while, I felt terrible about it, even though I shouldn’t have. My adoptive family showed me nothing but love and patience, and what did I do about it? I indulged in bitterness and resentment and the type of life that brought me and everyone around me nothing but pain and heartache. But I mended my ways, just as I see that Selene has mended hers. Only Selene is much smarter than I ever was. She got on the right track at a very young age. It took me a few years.” He looked at Selene, love coloring his eyes. “Your child deserves a home with her mother. If you’d been ambivalent about this baby, I wouldn’t have taken such a leap. But you’ve been wanting to keep her for quite some time, and most especially now that you’ve seen her.”

  “Yes,” Selene admitted with no hesitation.

  “And now you can. Both of you will live with a man who loves you. Easter, as the best father I can be. And you, Selene, as the best husband I can ever hope to be.”

  “I love you,” Selene declared.

  The collective gasp changed to a collective sigh.

  “When I came here, I was miserable and didn’t know it,” Selene said. “But love found me in Maiden, North Carolina.”

  “I knew I was miserable when I arrived.” Hestia remembered her heartbreak and recognized her gratitude that she would never again feel put-aside. She had the love and devotion of a good man. A man she would love forever. “I never expected love to find me in Maiden. But it did.” She looked at Booth. His eyes sparkled with the joy of realized love.

  Want a peek into local American life—past and present? The Love Finds You™ series published by Summerside Press features real towns and combines travel, romance, and faith in one irresistible package!

  The novels in the series—uniquely titled after American towns with unusual but intriguing names—inspire romance and fun. Each fictional story draws on the compelling history or the unique character of a real place. Stories center on romances kindled in small towns, old loves lost and found again on the high plains, and new loves discovered at exciting vacation getaways. Summerside Press plans to publish at least one novel set in each of the 50 states. Be sure to catch them all!

  NOW AVAILABLE IN STORES

  Love Finds You in Miracle, Kentucky by Andrea Boeshaar

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-37-5

  Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas by Sandra D. Bricker

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-45-0

  Love Finds You in Romeo, Colorado by Gwen Ford Faulkenberry

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-46-7

  Love Finds You in Valentine, Nebraska by Irene Brand

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-38-2

  Love Finds You in Humble, Texas by Anita Higman

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-61-0

  Love Finds You in Last Chance, California by Miralee Ferrell

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-39-9

  Love Finds You in Maiden, North Carolina by Tamela Hancock Murray

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-65-8

  Love Finds You in Paradise, Pennsylvania by Loree Lough

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-66-5

  Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida by Debby Mayne

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-80-1

  Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana, by Melanie Dobson

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-74-0

  Love Finds You in Poetry, Texas by Janice Hanna

  ISBN: 978-1-935416-16-6

  Love Finds You in Revenge, Ohio by Lisa Harris

  ISBN: 978-1-934770-81-8

  COMING SOON

  Love Finds You in Sisters, Oregon by Melody Carlson

  ISBN: 978-1-935416-18-0

  Love Finds You in Charm, Ohio by Birdie Etchison

  ISBN: 978-1-935416-17-3

  Love Finds You in Bethlehem, New Hampshire by Lauralee Bliss

  ISBN: 978-1-935416-20-3

  Love Finds You in North Pole, Alaska by Loree Lough

  ISBN: 978-1-935416-19-7

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