On Thin Ice
Page 15
Megan flew into Alec’s arms. He held her tightly, nestling her head into his shoulder, stroking her hair.
She was crying. “It was Bryan. All along, it was Bryan. He was pretending to be Brad. I’m so glad you stayed, that you didn’t fly to New Mexico.”
“I am so sorry,” Alec said. “Will you ever forgive me? I never should have even thought about going away with you in so much danger.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re here and that you stayed. And I love you for loving your brother so much. I never had a brother. I don’t know what those ties are. I shouldn’t have judged you.”
Alec held her tightly. She was so cold. He said, “Your note on the piece of paper towel was a very smart and brave thing to do.”
She began crying again. “Bryan said he was going to come in and check all the walls. But I had my keys with me and this little penknife attached to my key ring has this tiny pen in it. So I wrote on a piece of paper towel and then I stuffed it back up in the dispenser. It was the only thing I could think of. I prayed someone would use it.”
“Someone did,” he said. He held her tightly. She was so resourceful and brave and beautiful and, most of all, forgiving. “You were right, Megan,” he said. “You were right about Bryan and I was wrong. I’ve been wrong about so much.”
“What I was wrong about was God. I thought I was never good enough. I thought He was always punishing me, but I learned something tonight. I learned that He loves me no matter what. I learned a little about grace.”
Alec just held her and cried tears of relief. He said, “But there’s one thing I haven’t been wrong about and that’s how much I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
While the two talked, Jay and Stu were busy with Bryan and Vicky. Bryan was quiet now, and was shivering so much that his limbs actually twitched. His face looked too white. Jay was able to get a tourniquet tied to his upper thigh, but he frowned, and told Alec that he thought Bryan had internal injuries. An unconscious Bryan was lashed into the toboggan. Vicky was suffering from hypothermia and was sitting up now, conscious and wrapped in a space blanket. She would be okay. And so would Megan. And so would they.
EPILOGUE
Alec’s family buried Bryan a week later. His injuries were too severe and by the time they were able to get him to a hospital, he had lost too much blood. Alec sat with Bryan on the backseat of the snowplow and talked to him all the way into town. He told him that he loved him, that his mother and father loved him. That God loved him. He didn’t know if Bryan heard or not, he could only pray that somewhere deep in his unconscious that he did and that he knew. Alec took care of his brother’s affairs for the very last time. Disposing of his electronics, cameras and gear came within dollars of paying off all of the debts and unpaid rent that Bryan had accumulated.
Megan went back to Baltimore after the funeral, but it was a very short trip. Within two weeks she had given her notice, called a moving company and was on her way back to Whisper Lake, driving along behind the moving van. She never thought that the moving van would make it down the little road to Trail’s End, but it did.
What a fitting name, Trail’s End. The cottage Peace was winterized but not furnished so she rented it for her possessions and moved back into Grace for the six weeks it took to make the wedding arrangements. Tears came to her eyes when she realized that living in Grace was even better than having her things in Peace. God had given her back Alec and, most of all, had taken her back, as well. He had been there all the time, she thought. She just had to figure out what Grace was all about.
They were married the last day of March. They had waited long enough. They had made too many mistakes already.
Their wedding was attended by Steve and Nori and their two girls, Daphne and Rachel. Steve was Alec’s best man. By that time Steve’s son was back home in Florida with his mother.
Marlene came with her husband, Roy, her daughter, Selena, and all the waitresses at the Schooner Café. Earl was there with his son. Denise came. Eunice flew up from Baltimore and stood up for Megan. Alec’s parents were there too, happy for their son, even though they had buried their youngest the previous month.
Vicky was there. Her arm was just out of a cast. The cuts and scrapes on her face were healing nicely. She told everyone that she was moving to Whisper Lake Crossing later in the spring. She was going to live by the lake, plant a garden and write poetry.
Megan and Alec were married in the little white church in Whisper Lake Crossing. A small reception was held in the lodge at Trail’s End. Much to Megan’s surprise and delight, the assorted sandwiches were served on the lost antique china. Her godmother, Eunice, had kept them all these years.
“I always thought something might work out between you and Alec,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
It wasn’t until a month after their wedding that the ice fully melted. Alec told her when it finally gave way it could sound like a cannon going off. The towns-people always had a big party the weekend after the ice broke up.
The third week in April, Megan was at home in Alec’s house working on a Web site when Alec came in the door, holding a bouquet of red roses. She got up, as she always did when he came home, and went into his arms.
“For you,” he said.
“The ice broke up this morning,” she said, smiling. “I heard it.”
“Yes it did. Springtime, a new beginning each year.”
“And Alec,” she said, tears running down her cheeks, “what a perfect person with whom to start this new beginning.”
Holding her close, between kisses he whispered, “I love you, Megan.”
“I love you, too, Alec.” And it was true. On this early April morning, with her husband standing there with a bouquet of roses and smiling, she felt that life couldn’t get any better. She felt loved and, most of all, forgiven. Whisper Lake Crossing was a special place. She loved being a part of the little church that Alec went to. She loved the lake and the ice and the people who made her feel so at home.
Yes, life was truly good for her.
Dear Reader,
I’ve always been fascinated by “first love” stories. You know the kind—where couples long separated by years and distance finally find each other. There is something about those stories that melt a place deep inside of me. I’ll read them over and over. Megan and Alec’s love story in On Thin Ice is like that. They were to be married. The wedding was all arranged. The invitations were sent and the dress was bought. But when Megan’s grandmother was murdered, everything fell apart and the wedding never happened.
On Thin Ice begins exactly twenty years later and the two have “found” each other again, but the circumstances are different. Someone is threatening them. Friends have been murdered. Before they can fall in love again they have to work through their feelings, the threats against them, murders, and their understanding about God.
On Thin Ice is the second in my Whisper Lake series of books, stories set on the shores of the fictional Whisper Lake, Maine. I hope you enjoy it. If you have a story of “first love” please send it along. I would love to hear about it. I can be reached at: Linda@writerhall.com.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Alec and Megan’s story is one of first love. Do you remember your first love? What do you remember about it?
Throughout her life Megan experienced many losses. As a result, she believed God no longer loved her. Have you experienced loss? Did you feel that God had abandoned you, even for a moment? What did you do about it?
Because Megan became pregnant before she was married, she felt that her losses were God’s punishment for this act. Do you think this is the way God works?
After her grandmother’s murder, Megan was so distraught that she left. What would you have done had you been in her shoes?
Alec was torn between his love for Megan and his love for his family. Have you ever been torn between two opposing but important factors? How did you handle it?
For twenty years Alec kept a “secret sin” inside of himself. He felt that God could forgive everything about him except for this one thing. Is there something that you hold in a secret place in your soul that you feel God can’t forgive? What did Alec learn about God’s forgiveness? What can you learn?
Dorothy, Alec’s mother, wanted both of her sons to be perfect, yet life has a way of not working out at times. Do you have children or family members who have not “turned out” the way you wanted or prayed for? What can you do about this?
What character did you identify with most and why?
Vicky came to Whisper Lake to get over a relationship gone bad. Right away she finds Brad and clings to him, which later proves to be her undoing. Should she have been more cautious? Why do you think Vicky was so drawn to Brad?
At the very end, Alec has a choice: stay with Megan or visit his brother. In your opinion, did he make the right choice?
Megan lives in the cabin named “Grace.” What did Megan learn about Grace and Peace by the end of the book?
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5271-8
ON THIN ICE
Copyright © 2010 by Linda Hall
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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