Silver Threads
Page 22
“The good china?” Drew feigned a look of astonishment. He looked at Liz and then back at Brooke. “Is this a special occasion?”
Brooke gave a smug grin. “Maybe.”
“Do you want to tell us about it?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
Although it was barely eight o’clock eight Brooke said she was really, really tired and trudged off to bed. Halfway up the staircase she peeked down to see if the love potion was working. Drew caught sight of her from the corner of his eye, so he leaned over and kissed Liz full on her mouth.
Later that evening he explained all that had happened. When he finished telling of Annie’s call, he sighed and said, “They claim that out of the mouths of babes…”
He let that thought hang there for a moment then added, “I guess Brooke saw something we were too blind to see.”
Without saying anything more he went down on his knee and took her hand in his.
“I love you, Liz,” he said. “I loved you the moment I first saw you. I can’t explain how it happened or why, but that evening when we shook hands I knew we’d be spending the rest of our lives together.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I had the same feeling.” She lifted his hand to her mouth and planted a kiss in the center of his palm.
Drew felt the thundering of his heart for he knew the answer even as he asked the question.
“Will you marry me? Say yes, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy.”
“You won’t have to try very hard, because just having you love me is what makes me happy.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes!”
He kissed her mouth then held her so close he could feel her heartbeat matching time to his own.
Liz stayed until almost three o’clock in the morning, and as they sat on the sofa talking of the future she came up with a plan. Keeping her voice low in the event Brooke slipped back to listen, she whispered her thoughts. Drew chuckled and said such a plan was ingenious.
A Second Proposal
The next morning Brooke woke earlier than usual and was bursting to know what happened. Still in her pajamas she hurried downstairs and found Drew just setting the coffee on to brew.
“Good morning, Daddy,” she said cheerfully.
“Morning.” He stifled a yawn and pulled a mug from the cupboard. “You’re up kind of early, aren’t you?”
“Kind of.” She sat there eyeing him as if she expected to see some physical change. When none became apparent she asked, “Did you and Miss Elizabeth do anything special last night?”
Drew straightened the curl pulling at the corner of his mouth and turned to her with a poker-faced expression.
“It’s funny you should ask,” he said. “Just after you went to bed, Liz and I were sitting on the sofa drinking the tea you made, which by the way was delicious—”
“Thank you. Then what happened?”
“I got this really good feeling in my heart, and when I looked at Liz I knew I was falling in love with her.”
Brooke’s eyes grew big and round. “Really?”
He nodded. “Yes, really. Don’t you think it’s strange that after all these months I just up and fall in love with her like that?”
Wearing a grin that stretched from ear to ear, Brooke said, “It’s a little bit strange but very nice.”
“Nice, yes, but now what?”
“Why don’t you ask her to marry you? Then she could live here instead of that tiny little apartment.”
Drew fingered his chin thoughtfully. “I’m not so sure she’d say yes to just me. After all she started out as your friend.”
“She drank the tea, didn’t she?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with—”
“She’ll say yes,” Brooke said confidently. “I’m positive she will!”
Drew feigned a look of concern and shook his head as if he was doubtful of such a thing.
“Maybe if we asked her together. You know, so she’ll realize that we both want her. I bet then she’d say yes.”
“But she can’t marry me.”
“Well, not legally marry you, but by marrying me she’d get you in the bargain. I think that’s something she’d appreciate.”
Just as Drew expected her smile grew wide, and she exclaimed that it was indeed a very good idea.
That evening Drew proposed to Liz again. This time it was slightly different. He spoke of how they would be a family, and Brooke was standing beside him when he went down on his knee. When Liz said yes, he pulled a diamond solitaire from his pocket and slid it on her finger.
Afterward they celebrated with a glass of champagne. Even Brooke had a taste of the bubbly and she got to stay up until ten, even though it was a school night.
~ ~ ~
The first week of November they were married in the Good Shepherd Church. A week earlier the leaves on the trees turned shades of gold, red and brown, and with the stiff breeze of the previous day many had fallen to the ground. The crunch of dry leaves could be heard underfoot as attendees arrived at the church. Being they were newcomers in town Liz and Drew thought it would be a modest gathering, which is not what happened.
Annie and Oliver came and sat in the very first pew. Ophelia, who loved a wedding, also came, along with several of the friends Liz met during her stay at Memory House. Every employee of Southfield Printing was there along with the tellers from Heartland Bank. Nine of the neighboring families on Lakeside Drive came as did Alice Swift, the widow with a tiny apartment across the hall from Liz.
When the organist stomped down on the first chord of the wedding march, there was not an empty seat to be had.
First down the aisle was Brooke. She carried a nosegay of pink roses and wore a dress of ivory silk, the color and fabric identical to Elizabeth’s. She walked with the measured steps they had practiced, and when she reached the end of the aisle she glanced back to see Elizabeth and Drew following arm in arm.
Since this was the second marriage for both, Elizabeth decided not to wear a traditional veil. Her dress was a soft swirl of ivory silk, and her hair was pushed back with a band of seed pearls. She carried a small bouquet of white roses. When they reached the altar Liz handed her bouquet to Brooke.
Pastor Willoughby was the first to speak.
“We are gathered together to join Elizabeth Cunningham and Drew Bishop in holy matrimony,” he said. Then he bowed his head and recited a prayer asking that the lives before him be blessed with goodness. After the prayer he said the vows taken that day were not simply those of a man and woman; they were the foundation of a new family.
Brooke, like Liz and her daddy, had written her own vow. When Pastor Willoughby invited her to speak, she turned to Liz and in a clear childlike voice said, “Miss Elizabeth, thank you for marrying Daddy and being my mom. I promise I will love you and be your true friend.”
A hushed sigh came from the congregation as Drew stooped and hooked a heart-shaped locket around her neck.
Elizabeth and Drew then turned to face one another and spoke words they had written.
“I give you my promise to love you forevermore,” Liz said. “I will love you, honor you, share your dreams, make your family mine and, God willing, walk beside you until the end of my days.”
Drew in turn promised to love, honor and cherish Elizabeth until the end of time.
“I marry you with my eyes wide open,” he said. “You have helped me let go of the past and embrace the future. Thank you for making me laugh again. Whether it be good or bad that comes our way, you will forever be my partner in life.”
They exchanged rings, and as they shared a kiss the organ came to life and the church bells began to chime.
~ ~ ~
It was a short honeymoon, just three days in New York City. They saw a play, had dinner at the Rainbow Room and spent an afternoon browsing through the quaint shops in the East Village. Kevin Harding was more than qualified to watch o
ver the Southfield Plant in Drew’s absence and Diane was capable of managing the bank, but the truth was Drew and Liz were both anxious to get home and begin their life as a family.
On the drive back to Virginia they decided to make their first Thanksgiving together a memorable one, and as it turned out it definitely was. In all they had 30 people at the table, which wasn’t a single table but all three of the redwood lawn tables squeezed together. It stretched from the far wall of the dining room through an archway and well into the living room.
That afternoon the sounds of happiness coming from the Bishop house could be heard at the far end of the pond. When the guests left they all agreed that never before had there been a grander Thanksgiving. After the dishes were cleared and everything put away, the Bishop family dropped wearily on the sofa and reminisced about the day.
“Best Thanksgiving ever,” Liz said.
Drew smiled. “We have a lot to be thankful for.”
Brooke stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “I’m sleepy. I’m going to bed.” She stood and started toward the stairs.
“Put your jammies on,” Liz called. “I’ll be in to say goodnight.”
Brooke looked back and smiled.
“Thanks, Mom,” she said.
The last time Brooke had called Liz Miss Elizabeth was the day of the wedding. Before the three of them started back down the aisle, Brooke had already decided that Miss Elizabeth was now Mom.
And so it was.
In a Place Far Away
The Keeper of the Scales watched as Elizabeth kissed Brooke good night, and a pleasant feeling of warmth settled in his heart. With a single stone he had taken the fragments of disaster and from them created a family. It was good.
He lifted his eyes and scanned the celestial landscape. Silver threads, more numerous than the stars, stretched across the sky. They were invisible to the human eye, but still they connected one person to another—a neighbor, a friend, a stranger from a faraway land.
There was no foreseeing what would travel through each of those threads. Joy? Perhaps. Tragedy? Possibly. It was something not even his great eye could see. He could only keep watch and ply his stones when a scale became too heavily weighted on one side or another.
He reached his fingers into the wide sash of his robe and pulled out a small aquamarine stone that sparkled with the brilliance of a diamond. This was the stone he’d selected for Elizabeth a decade earlier. At that time the balance of her scale wavered from moment to moment. He’d seen her tears and felt her sorrow but knew the time was not right. Given the wisdom of centuries, he knew before he placed this precious stone on her scale he had to first find balance for her. At the time, with a thunderous sigh, he’d tucked the stone into the folds of his sash and waited.
The Keeper saw Elizabeth settle next to Drew on the sofa. Then he took the stone in his hand and gently placed it on the happiness side of her scale. The scale tipped in that direction.
Before another year passed by Elizabeth would have the baby she’d always wished for.
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~ more ~
Silver Threads is Book 5 in the Memory House Series.
Other books in this series include:
MEMORY HOUSE
Book One in the Memory House Series
Click Here to download a free sample or buy the book.
THE LOFT
Book Two in the Memory House Series
Click Here to download a free sample or buy the book.
WHAT THE HEART REMEMBERS
Book Three in the Memory House Series
Click Here to download a free sample or buy the book.
BABY GIRL
Book Four in the Memory House Series
Click Here to download a free sample of buy the book.
~Turn page~
Acknowledgements
But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three;
and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
When I first started in this business, I thought I would sit down, write a book, publish it and wait for the rave reviews to come rolling in. Needless to say, that is not how it works. The truth is that even the most skilled novelist is only as good as the people who support her. I am fortunate in working with a team that I consider the best in the business. Not a single day goes by when I don’t thank God for providing me with a pathway that has brought these people into my life.
This is especially true of Coral Russell, the Bent Pine Publicity Director. She is a friend, a partner, a publicist extraordinaire, a finder of new technology and perhaps most importantly a believer in all I do. To say thank you is woefully inadequate, for she is quite often the wind that carries my words to readers, friends and fans across the globe. From the bottom of my heart, I will forever be thankful for having met Coral.
I am equally blessed in knowing Ekta Garg, a super-talented editor who somehow manages to catch my mistakes without ever losing sight of my voice. Ekta’s attention to detail constantly pushes me to go deeper into the story and I believe I am better because of this challenge.
Thank you also to Amy Atwell and the team at Author E.M.S. They are like the proverbial Fire Department, always there to help put out the fires. Thank you Amy for turning my manuscripts into beautifully formatted pages and for being so wonderfully organized and dependable.
I also owe a debt of gratitude to the loyal fans, friends and followers who buy my books, share them with friends and take time to write reviews. Without such fans my stories would grow dusty on the shelf.
Lastly, I am thankful beyond words for my husband Dick, who puts up with my crazy hours, irrational thinking, and late or non-existent dinners. I could not be who I am without him for he is and will always be my sweetheart and greatest blessing.
~turn page~
For more heartwarming stories
check out these books:
The Wyattsville Series
SPARE CHANGE
Book One
JUBILEE’S JOURNEY
Book Two
PASSING THROUGH PERFECT
Book Three
THE REGRETS OF CYRUS DODD
Book Four
The Serendipity Series
THE TWELFTH CHILD
Book One
PREVIOUSLY LOVED TREASURES
Book Two
WISHING FOR WONDERFUL
Book Three
Also Available…
CRACKS IN THE SIDEWALK
WHAT MATTERS MOST
BLUEBERRY HILL
About the Author
AWARD-WINNING NOVELIST BETTE LEE CROSBY brings the wit and wisdom of her Southern Mama to works of fiction—the result is a delightful blend of humor, mystery and romance.
“Storytelling is in my blood,” Crosby laughingly admits, “My mom was not a writer, but she was a captivating storyteller, so I find myself using bits and pieces of her voice in most everything I write.”
Crosby’s work was first recognized in 2006 when she received The National League of American Pen Women Award for a then unpublished manuscript. Since then, she has gone on to win numerous other awards, including The Reviewer’s Choice Award, The Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal, FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal and The Royal Palm Literary Award.
To learn more about Bette Lee Crosby, explore her other work, or read a sample from any of her books, visit her blog at:
http://betteleecrosby.com
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