A Broom With a View
Page 18
“It’s complicated,” Liza replied. “I was married once before, like you, and he…he was afraid of me I think. It made me afraid of me. I was afraid to do the things that I loved. And that made me someone else.”
"Someone you didn't like?" Bridle prodded gently.
"Yes."
"It was the same with me, but for different reasons."
"But Colt loves you, he wants to take care of you. It's different. You're family," Liza persisted, feeling beads of sweat gathering on her forehead despite the cold wind.
"Colt didn't care what I was going through. He loved me. He loved me," she repeated vehemently. "He's not afraid of anything. Except for maybe Nashville. But that's another story. He hates the traffic and not being able to get biscuits the way he likes them. He's not afraid of you, either. I can promise you that. You won't have to change for him."
“But I thought that before and–“
“Colt isn’t like that. He doesn’t care what you do, or who you are. He can see through those things,” Bridle argued.
“Maybe,” Liza answered, but she didn’t quite believe it. Mode had thought he could handle it. And he couldn’t.
“Let me ask you something else…Everything you do is for someone else. And they’re all little things. Jessie, Taffy, Athalie, me...isn't there something you could do for yourself?”
Liza giggled. “I straightened my front porch. And I fixed some things in my business when they got destroyed. But let's keep that on the down low and make the construction guys feel good about it.”
Bridle waved her thin, delicate hand in the air. “Those don’t count. They’re practical and boring. Be you, Liza. Do something for you. Something that will make you feel better. Something that will make you feel happy and powerful and wonderful. Isn’t it time to accept you? To make yourself happy? To honor your gift? And not by opening a business or selling stuff or moving but by honoring your talents?”
Something snapped in Liza’s heart then, as she thought of the things she loved, the things she’d missed, and the things she wanted.
Then, looking up at the dark sky, she laughed. With both arms high in the air, Liza rose to her feet and began twirling. She spun so quickly it seemed like it was the world around her moving as she stood stoic in the center.
And then, as dark and quiet as the sky had been, it was suddenly filled with the pure, white flakes of snow. Thick and soft they rapidly fell around her like flower petals, landing on her eyelids, shoulders, and on Nana Bud’s crocheted hat.
Bridle, too, got to her feet and tottered off the porch, reaching for Liza for support. Both women locked fingers and looked up, reveling in the first snow of the season.
And then there was Colt.
Liza stopped smiling then when she saw his scowl. She paused, about to make it stop, when he broke out into laughter and reached for her, taking her into a waltz. “Looks like somebody beat you with a pretty stick,” he said as Bridle settled down on the porch step and continued to gaze at the sky in wonder. “Guess this means I’m going to have to break out the sled now.” But he didn’t look unhappy.
“It’s going to be a good Christmas,” Bridle declared, watching the two of them.
Liza wrapped her arms around Colt’s neck and nuzzled him close.
It was.
THE END
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Rebecca’s Other Books
To see a complete list of Rebecca’s books, and for ordering information (including signed paperbacks) visit her website at:
www.rebeccaphoward.net
Taryn's Camera Series
Windwood Farm (Book 1)
Griffith Tavern (Book 2)
Dark Hollow Road (Book 3
Shaker Town (Book 4)
Jekyll Island (Book 5)
Black Raven Inn (Book 6) Coming February 2016
Taryn’s Pictures: Photos from Taryn’s Camera
Kentucky Witches
A Broom with a View (coming December ‘15)
Broommates (Coming March ’16)
A Broom of One’s Own (Coming June ’16)
True Hauntings
Haunted Estill County
More Tales from Haunted Estill County
Haunted Estill County: The Children’s Edition
Haunted Madison County
A Summer of Fear
The Maple House
Four Months of Terror
Two Weeks: A True Haunting
Three True Tales of Terror
Other Books
Coping with Grief: The Anti-Guide to Infant Loss
Three Minus Zero
Finding Henry: A Journey Into Eastern Europe
Estill County in Photos
Haunted: Ghost Children Stories From Beyond