Until Winter Comes Again: (An Inspirational Contemporary Romance) (Cane River Romance Book 6)

by Mary Jane Hathaway

  “Of course,” Rem said. They moved around the storage room, lifting canisters of lamp oil. “I’m glad the girls are nice and warm upstairs with Rose. I heard Blue closed the office and went to help her out.”

  “Yep. Alice went off to check on Henry. She sure looked poorly last night. Kept moving around like she was in pain.”

  “No, sir. I suspect she doesn’t feel comfortable at all now.” He started to cover his yawn but then remembered Bix couldn’t see.

  “I mean, that dinner was top notch. I looked at all that food and my buttons popped off. I can’t resist a good Southern meal. It was late for me to be havin’ supper but I did anyway. When we got home, I was full as a tick and then went straight to bed.” Bix patted his stomach. “Good thing I don’t eat like that every day.”

  Rem hadn’t managed to eat much dinner. Flannery had been inches away and all he’d been able to think of was the moment in the poetry aisle. When he’d seen her in that blue dress, he’d nearly lost the ability to form a sentence. Although he’d promised himself that he’d stay away, he’d found himself coming closer. He missed being near her, simply being close to her. When they’d stood together in the aisle, he’d felt like he was finally whole again.

  He wished he hadn’t asked what she’d been reading. The poem she’d shown him was a message, but he hadn’t been able to accept it. It was torture to be near her and deny his feelings. One weak moment and he’d reached out for her.

  Rem closed his eyes for a moment, his heart dropping into his shoes. She’d been too kind to say anything but if she’d felt the same, she would have done something, anything.

  “Too bad Alice isn’t here to see the bookstore lit up by lamplight. We’re back to the old days. She’d love this, I tell ya.” He found a box of matches and handed it to Rem. “Maybe she can have a low tech day every week or so. Customers would love it.”

  Rem didn’t know how many people would enjoy reading by firelight. He hadn’t ever tried it himself. He yawned again and picked up a can of oil.

  “We’d better get these going. This might be the only place open that has light and heat for the day.”

  “Too right,” Bix said.

  As they were walking out of the supply room, Bix’s phone buzzed. A robotic woman’s voice said, “Call from Alice.”

  “Here, can ya hold this?” Bix handed Rem an oil lamp and fished in his pocket for his phone. He answered, listened for a moment and let out a holler.

  “Send us a picture. We gotta see him. Did Gideon make it in time?” He was still smiling, but said, “Oh, that’s a shame. Well, better than havin’ to deliver that baby in the tub. Give yourself a pat, sha. You done real good. Give them all our love.”

  When he’d hung up, he turned to Rem and said, “Alice delivered Henry’s baby. A healthy little boy. It all happened so fast there was just enough time to heat some water and get her into the bed. The ambulance is takin’ them to the hospital now.”

  Rem felt his jaw go slack. It might possibly be the strangest day in Natchitoches history. They were having a snowstorm, the city had lost power, and now an old-fashioned birth at one of the plantation homes. “They’re okay?”

  “Sure. Alice is real calm in that type of situation.”

  Rem wondered what kind of situation occurred in a bookstore that was even slightly the same as helping deliver a baby. He couldn’t help grinning. “Henry had her baby. I never would have guessed it.”

  Bix let Patty lead him back toward the main room. “Of course not. You’re not a fortune teller.” The old man turned and faced him. “But some things are real obvious. I’ve been meaning to say somethin’ to ya, and I was goin’ to save it until after the wedding, but it seems like the Lord wants this day to be memorable, so maybe I’ll do my bit.”

  “Okay.” Rem wondered if he’d offended Bix, or maybe Ruby. Perhaps he’d made an insensitive comment about his blindness, or assumed too much as the new tenant. He readied himself for a speech.

  “My granddaughter loves you.” He frowned in his direction. “She’ll be right irritated with me for sayin’ it, but she does. And it doesn’t look like you’re gonna get off the stump and do something about it.”

  Rem’s mouth had gone dry. “We’re friends.”

  The foyer echoed with Bix’s laughter. “Yeah, like Ruby and I are friends. I can’t even see and I know you two are in love with each other. God doesn’t want you two to be dancin’ around each other for years. You’re wasting time. You always think you’ve got all the time in the world, but you don’t.”

  “She doesn’t see me that way.”

  “Don’t give me that. She’s loved you for years. Ya know, maybe I should be havin’ this conversation with her instead of you.” He paused. “Hey, that’s a good idea. I’m gonna call her over and tell her that you’re so in love with her that you can’t eat your dinner or sleep at night.”

  “How did you―”

  “Boy, I’m blind but I’m not stupid.” Bix winked at him and continued into the foyer. “Now help me get these lamps lit. I have a feeling we’re going to have a crowd in here.”

  Rem followed Bix, his mind turning his words over and over again. I can’t even see and I know you two are in love with each other. Maybe it wasn’t all one-sided. Maybe Bix could see something that Rem couldn’t.

  As he helped light the lamps in the foyer and add wood to the fire, Rem wrestled with his fear. Bix could be wrong. He could be imagining everything. But the man had been able to tell what he’d eaten and if he’d slept, so maybe there was a kernel of truth to it.

  He’d thought being in love with Flannery was a cruel twist of fate, but maybe it was all part of God’s plan for them. Maybe falling for her wasn’t a misstep and a disaster. Maybe it was just one more step in their friendship.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Indeed,” he said.

  For his mind was full of forlorn hopes,

  death-or-glory charges, and last stands. —C. S. Lewis

  Flannery squinted at the darkened page. She’d have to move out into the main office area to read the new catalogue. There had been enough light from the window but as the morning wore on, it had grown darker and darker. She didn’t mind the lack of electricity. It was sort of calming to read without the buzz of the fax machines and the overhead lights.

  Glancing out the window, Flannery gasped to see the white puffs of snow floating gently to the ground. So the weather predictions had been true. Flannery thought of Austin and Charlie’s wedding and smiled. What a beautiful memory it would be for them if they had a rare winter wedding in the snow.

  Her phone buzzed on her desk and Flannery picked it up, her heart stopping, then restarting at the sight of Rem’s name.

  “Hey,” he said as she answered. “Power’s out in the whole city.”

  “I know. It’s been out for quite a while. I closed the library and sent everybody home.” Except herself, of course. She wondered why he thought he needed to call her.

  “They say it might not be on until this evening. The bookstore has the fireplace going and we’ve lit some oil lamps. It’s pretty cozy. You should come.”

  Flannery was quiet for a long moment. Maybe this was a gesture of friendship, or maybe he just felt sorry for her. “I might just go back to my apartment.”

  His voice was carefully neutral. “There’s kind of crowd gathering here. I think the word is out that we’re the only place with heat and light.” He paused. “Bix found a few bags of marshmallows and we’re roasted them over the fire.”

  Flannery grimaced. She was a sucker for marshmallows and he knew it. She considered that and weighed the option of spending the day in the cold by herself, or at the bookstore near a cheery fire roasting marshmallows. A week ago, she would have been halfway down the block by then. In fact, she would have chosen to spend it near Rem even if they’d had to stay in a cold, dark room.

  “Thank you,” she said. “That sounds nice. I’ll be right over.”

  “
Good.” There was relief in his voice.

  There didn’t seem to be much more to say. After a few long seconds, she said goodbye and disconnected.

  Taking her coat from the rack she slipped it on and headed outside. Locking the doors behind her, Flannery looked up at the sky. The soft flakes filtered down, coming to rest on her shoulders and arms. She stood there on the steps, thinking of how this moment would have thrown her into giddy peals of laughter a week ago. Now it seemed beautiful, but sad. Without Rem, everything seemed colorless and gray.

  She trudged down the steps, noting how there was already a light dusting over the surface of the cement. As hard as it was snowing, she wondered if they would close the roads.

  “Pippi,” someone said and she turned, eyes going wide.

  “I thought you were… Didn’t you just call from the bookstore?”

  Rem smiled as he came nearer. He seemed nervous, but happy. “I have some good news, and maybe good news. I wanted to tell you alone so I walked over. So, do you want the good news or the maybe good news first?”

  Flannery frowned up at him. She loved how the snowflakes were coating his hair but his expression was scaring her. He looked like he was going to drop a bomb on her life. Maybe he was moving back to Boston sooner than the spring. She hated how her heart sank at the thought. It would be for the best, really.

  “Good news first, I guess.”

  “Alice went to see Henry at the plantation, and she went into labor so fast that Henry and Clark the caretaker delivered a perfectly healthy baby boy. They’re headed to the hospital. Probably already there.”

  “Wha―?” Flannery stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. That was not the kind of good news she’d been expecting. She started to laugh. “Oh, poor Alice. Poor Henry.”

  “Poor Clark,” he said, grinning.

  “Oh, poor Gideon,” she said, and this time she didn’t laugh. He really didn’t seem like the type who would be happy about missing his son’s birth.

  Rem started toward the bookstore. “Walk with me?”

  Flannery glanced at her car and nodded. “No harm in it,” she said.

  As they walked along, she thought of how they’d taken this same path just days ago. It seemed like a lifetime. She’d been so excited to surprise him. Now she felt a hundred yard gulf stretching between them. “What’s the maybe good news?”

  Please don’t say you’re leaving. Now that she thought he might leave she realized she never would have moved out. She needed to be near him.

  He stopped and turned to her. They were standing in the middle of the block cars passing slowly by. He reached out and took one of her hands. Flannery felt her heart stop in her chest. She was caught between fear and hope, and couldn’t look away from his face.

  “I love you, Pippi. I’ve loved you for so long I don’t even know when it started.”

  She felt the earth shift around her. She couldn’t have spoken if she’d wanted to.

  He went on. “You wanted to know what was wrong with me. That’s it. I realized I loved you, and I was afraid that you would be horrified if I told you, so I tried to hide it.” He shrugged. “I never could lie to you.”

  Flannery hadn’t moved. She felt frozen in place. “Love me?” she managed.

  Rem didn’t say anything more, just stepped toward her and took her face in his hands. He lowered his head and just when his lips hovered above hers, he hesitated. She held still, her heart bursting, hoping that it wasn’t all a dream. When he didn’t move, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, hard. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet.

  After a long moment, he set her back down and she fought to catch her breath. “I love you, Pippi. Now that I stopped being so afraid to tell you, I’m never going to stop.”

  “Good,” she said softly. “I might need to hear it another thousand times or so.”

  A car honked at them and he broke off their kiss. “I should have planned this better. I should have made you a nice dinner and had candles and…”

  “I love you, Rem. I loved you when we were ten. I loved you when we were awkward eighth graders. I loved you when we were teenagers and spending all our time avoiding our parents. ” He started to laugh but she went on. “I loved you in college, and I looked forward to every visit like it was Christmas. I loved you when we went off to be adults and I thought I was going to actually get a boyfriend. What a joke.”

  He pressed his forehead to hers. “We were blind.”

  “But now we see,” she said, smiling. The snow was falling harder and they were both coated in a soft layer, but she didn’t feel cold. “I’ll never forget this moment.”

  “I hope not.” And he knelt down in the snow, holding on of her hands in his. “Flannery Beaulieu, will you marry me?”

  She started to laugh, although she didn’t know why. Pure joy, surely. “Are we going to skip dating completely?”

  “Is that a rhetorical question?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  He frowned. “So, rhetorical, or are we getting married?”

  “Oh, Rem, get up.” She pulled on his hands and he stood again, wrapping her in his arms. She didn’t care that they were on the street and half the city would know they were engaged before they could tell their families. She was simply too happy to care.

  “Courage, dear heart,” she murmured against his coat. He was holding her so tightly that she could barely breathe, but things like air took a back seat to her need to be close to Rem.

  He let her go a little and looked into her eyes. “You know what I just realized?”

  “What?”

  “The apartments aren’t jinxed after all. We’re the exception.”

  She shook her head. “But we’re engaged.”

  “True. But one, you haven’t moved in yet. And two, we were in love before you even rented the place.”

  She started to laugh and he kissed her lips, her cheeks, her hair.

  “I can’t wait to marry you, my friend. I’ll never stop thanking God for you.”

  Flannery wanted to say something back but her heart was so full all she could do was smile. Her heart had been full of Rem all along but she hadn’t known it until she thought she was losing him.

  After a while he took her hand and they headed back to By the Book. the foyer was crowded with people, but they found a place near the fire and celebrated their engagement with several perfectly toasted marshmallows.

  ***

  Flannery knocked on Henry’s hospital door. A quiet voice called her for her to come in.

  “Hey, there.” Flannery was happy to see Henry looked much better than she had before little Thomas Teasdale had made his appearance. Her eyes were brighter and she seemed almost perky. Not that many people would use the word to describe Henry. She was holding a tiny bundle in her arms and Flannery could see the stocking cap poking out from the blanket. “I brought someone to see you. Is it a good time?”

  “Sure. I was feeling a little down about missing the wedding.” Henry peered past her. “Is it Bix? He hasn’t made it in yet. Probably because of the snow. I made Gideon go to the wedding even though he was trying to stay here with me. Nothing to do in the hospital, I can tell you that. Or maybe it’s Ruby? She said she was coming to see him today.”

  “Well, yes. And no.” Flannery moved out of the way as everyone trooped into the room.

  Henry’s eyes went wide. “Did you bring the wedding party to me?” she asked, laughing.

  “We decided it wasn’t fair for you to miss everything so we came down here for some photos.”

  “Your baby is really pretty,” Jessica said.

  Henry smiled at her. “Thank you. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Henry.”

  “She’s my girlfriend,” Mark said.

  Jessica rested her head on his shoulder and Flannery saw Andy smile at his brother’s happiness.

  Charlie stepped forward, her simple silk gown brushing the floor. “Can I hold him?”

  �
��Of course,” Henry said, passing the baby to her.

  She gazed down at the little face and smiled. “It all works out in God’s timing, doesn’t it?”

  The group murmured agreement and they took turns holding little Thomas, whispering greetings and blessings over him.

  Flannery slipped her hand into Rem’s and looked up at him. She never could have predicted what was ahead the day she’d decided to move back to Natchitoches. Heartache, loss, and love. But God’s grace had smoothed the way for them and despite their own fears, they’d found their way together. They were close in a way that could never be described by mere geography or a label.

  He lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, not caring that a room full of their friends whistled and groaned at their public display.

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you,” she whispered as everyone went back to admiring the baby. “I choose the holly and the briar-rose.”

  Rem smiled down at her, the promise of a lifetime of love and friendship shining in his eyes.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading the sixth book in my Cane River Romance series. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I loved writing a story from several viewpoints, but I especially enjoyed visiting with all of my favorite couples now that they were married and starting families. As someone who’s been married almost twenty years, I like reading about couples who aren’t just twenty and dating. I think my favorite couple will always be Paul and Alice, but Henry and Gideon are a close second. Writing Henry’s birth scene was the funnest time I’ve had for ages, and I’m worried to know what that says about my boring life!

  If you enjoyed this story, be sure to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. I love visiting with readers on my author page of Mary Jane Hathaway, or on my blog at The Things That Last!

  Love and Friendship By Emily Brontë

  Love is like the wild rose-briar,

  Friendship like the holly-tree—