Millie turned with another plate of eggs in time to see Albert catch Nicholas’s eye and wink. She pursed her lips and delivered an unspoken warning. Be nice. Though truth be told, her heart warmed to see Albert joking with the young man as he would one of their own sons.
“If you really don’t want to polish the silver,” she told her husband, “you don’t have to. You have another duty—a far more important one.”
“That’s true.” He straightened in his chair and cast a fond glance toward Alison. “I get to walk my daughter down the aisle.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Millie slid the final egg onto her own plate and carried it to the table. “You get to pay for everything.”
Having rendered her husband momentarily speechless, she took her seat and bowed her head. It was her turn to pray.
Epilogue
Millie waited on the grass outside the church, Albert at her side. Across the sidewalk, Shirley and Three, as the family called Nicholas’s father, stood arm in arm. They made quite a group, the twenty-three people who had gathered to see Alison and Nicholas exchange their vows. Not only her sons, Doug and David, and her daughters-in-law, but Albert’s niece had driven down from Cincinnati and brought her three children. Seven-year-old Tori had served as an impromptu flower girl, spreading petals hurriedly plucked from the wilting mums in the flowerpots along Main Street.
“It was a beautiful wedding, wasn’t it?” she asked Albert.
He squeezed her arm. “It was. You did a great job.”
“Thank you. And you looked very nice walking Alison down the aisle.” When they passed the front pew where Millie stood, she’d caught the sparkle of tears in his eyes. But to mention that would embarrass him, so she tucked the memory away in her heart.
Tori, standing on the church steps to peer inside, whirled with a grin and shouted, “Here they come!”
Moments later, Alison and Nicholas appeared in the doorway. They paused while Alison gathered the skirts of the elegant white prom dress she and Millie found on the rack at a department store in Lexington. No wedding dress could be more beautiful, nor any bride either. Alison positively radiated joy when she looked into the handsome face of her husband, resplendent in his military dress uniform.
Then the pair disappeared behind a blur of Millie’s tears.
They ran down the stairs amid a shower of birdseed thrown by their guests. Laughing and crying at the same time, Millie waved at the couple as they ran to the waiting car. Nicholas sprinted forward and opened the door for his bride, who turned and called to her guests, “We’ll see y’all at the house!”
“She already sounds like him,” Albert muttered. “Did you hear that Southern drawl?”
Millie laughed. “Imagine what she’ll sound like when they come back from Italy.”
When the newlyweds’ car sped away, everyone else headed for their own vehicles. Albert started to leave, but Millie held him back with a pressure on his arm. He turned to her with an unspoken question.
“I just…need a moment.” Again, her vision blurred, and she lowered her head lest anyone see.
Albert pressed her hand and told their sons to go ahead. When they stood alone on the church lawn, he placed an arm around her waist.
“Are you going to be okay?”
Swallowing, Millie nodded.
He pulled her close, and she rested her head against his shoulder, breathing in the unique blend of his aftershave, soap, and hair tonic. They were alone now. Truly alone. The last of their little birds had left the nest.
“Our house will never be the same.” Her words were muffled against his suit coat.
“What are you talking about, Mildred Richardson?” She heard a teasing tenderness in his voice. “We’ve been alone for four years, ever since she went to college.”
She shook her head. “It’s not the same. She was just away temporarily. But we’re really alone now. She won’t be coming home.” A sob threatened to choke her, and she pressed her face harder against the stiff fabric.
Albert hugged her a moment, and then pushed her gently back. “Here now. Dry your eyes. This is the way it’s supposed to work. We’ve done our job. And we’ve done a good job with all three of our kids. Now it’s our turn.”
With a mighty sniff, she looked up into his face. “Our turn to do what?”
A wolfish grin appeared on the familiar face. “Chase each other around the house, maybe?”
The answer was so un-Albert-like that she laughed. Trust her husband to say exactly what she needed to hear. When the laughter died, she was left smiling at the man she had loved for more than half her life.
“I hope Alison and Nicholas will be as happy as we have been.” She rose on her toes to place a lingering kiss on his cheek. “I love you, Albert.”
“It’s a good thing,” he replied. “I think you’re stuck with me.”
Laughing, they looped arms and headed toward their car.
Can’t wait for more antics and adventures from Goose Creek? Read more about Albert, Millie, and all their small-town neighbors in The Most Famous Illegal Goose Creek Parade, the first book in the Tales from the Goose Creek B & B series.
Welcome to Goose Creek!
It’s ten years after the Fall Festival and Doc’s skirmish with the six-toed cat, and Al Richardson is perfectly content in his Goose Creek, Kentucky, home. The village is charming, the neighbors are friendly, and retirement is only three years and sixty-three days away.
But changes are right around the corner for Goose Creek. Al’s wife, Millie, is hatching a scheme to renovate an old Victorian eyesore and open a B&B. The new veterinarian is mystified when her only patient is Al and Millie’s smelly dog. And folks are starting to take sides over who should give the water tower a new coat of paint…an issue that might just lead to an illegal parade.
Retirement or not, Al is about to get a lot busier than he bargained for.
A delightful, quirky comedy about a small town with a big heart.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
The Most Famous Illegal Goose Creek Parade,
Book 1 in the Tales from the Goose Creek B & B series,
visit: http://harvesthousepublishers.com/book/the-most-famous-illegal-goose-creek-parade-2015/
Read More from Virginia Smith
TALES FROM THE GOOSE CREEK B & B
Dr. Horatio vs. the Six-Toed Cat (prequel)
BOOK 1 — The Most Famous Illegal Goose Creek Parade
Books by Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith
THE AMISH OF APPLE GROVE
“A Home in the West” (free short story e-romance prequel)
BOOK 1 — The Heart’s Frontier
BOOK 2 — A Plain and Simple Heart
BOOK 3 — A Cowboy at Heart
SEATTLE BRIDES
BOOK 1 — A Bride for Noah
BOOK 2 — Rainy Day Dreams
About the Author
Virginia Smith is the bestselling author of more than two dozen inspirational novels, an illustrated children’s book, and 50 articles and short stories. An avid reader with eclectic tastes in fiction, Ginny writes in a variety of styles, from lighthearted relationship stories to breath-snatching suspense.
Visit her at www.VirginiaSmith.org.
About the Publisher
To learn more about Harvest House books and to read sample chapters, visit our website:
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
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