But Liv didn’t feel too old for that sweater now. Her trip to Florida and meeting Jared had revived her somehow. And to prove it, she reached into the white box at the very back of the closet floor and pulled out the other item she’d been hiding from for two years for the same reason.
After getting showered and dressed, Liv sat down on the bed and opened the large white box. She ran her hand over the long suede leg of one of the black boots tucked inside.
Nope, she decided. These are just a little too Pretty Woman. What was I thinking when I bought these?!
She used the bathroom mirror to fluff her loose spiral curls and dab on a bit of makeup. She chose a large pair of hammered metal earrings and a braided silver thumb ring to finish off the look. Standing in front of the mirror, Liv couldn’t help shaking her head and chuckling. She was a different woman. And the change felt really, really good.
Even if the worst happened, and she never saw Jared again, or if he fell over to the dark side and took up with Georgia, Liv knew she would at least have this restoration. She was fifty again—not a hundred and fifty. Most important of all, she no longer saw cancer as she looked at her reflection.
All in all, two weeks on Sanibel Island had changed her, and Liv closed her eyes and thanked God for bringing her back to life.
“A little more to the right. No, that's too far. Go back.”
The chair wobbled slightly beneath her, and Josie and the kids screamed as Liv regained her footing.
“It's going right here!” she declared, and she poked a thumb tack into the corners of the WELCOME HOME MOMMY! banner before hopping down from the chair.
She stood back and looked at it, all three kids at her side.
“It needs something,” Scotty declared.
“Balloons!” Katie shouted, and Liv nodded.
“That's it. Let's hang some balloons on each side of it.”
“You blow ’em up, Scotty,” Katie cried. “And Jason can tie the knots. I’ll get the ribbon.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Jason asked, irritated. “Just tie the knots? That's lame.”
“You’ll supervise too,” Liv suggested. “Make sure they’re hung in the right place.”
Jason appeared to be all over the idea of supervising his younger siblings.
“Can we put candles on the cake, Aunt Liv?” Katie beamed. “Like if it was Mommy's birthday or something?”
“That's a great idea,” Liv replied. “I’ll go see if there are any candles in the drawer.”
Liv walked into the kitchen to find that Josie had overheard and retrieved a box of birthday candles. She joined Josie at the kitchen table as she poked them into the top of the cake.
“What's with that smile you’re sporting?” Liv asked her. “You look like you just ate the canary.”
“Do I?” she replied in a sing-song voice. “I guess I’m just so happy that Halleluiah is doing so well, and coming home where she belongs.”
“That's an interesting name,” Liv said. “What made you name her Halleluiah?”
“Her father wanted a baby girl,” Josie explained. “All through the eight and three-quarters months that I carried her, he hoped and prayed for a little girl. And when she was finally born, after the nurses counted all her fingers and toes, and they told Hosea that he’d gotten the girl he wanted, the first words out of his mouth were words of praise. And he hollered, ‘Well, Halleluiah!’ It seemed like the perfect name for the baby girl we’d waited so long to bring into this world.”
Liv grinned. “It's a great name.”
“Oh, she hated it her whole life. ‘Mama, no,’ she’d say. ‘Don’t call me that in front of my friends. Call me Hallie. I’m begging you, Mama.’”
They shared a laugh, and Liv nodded with confidence. “I can hear her saying that.”
“She's a special blessing,” Josie remarked, and Liv noticed that her expression had turned quite serious. “I’m so thankful that she's going to be whole and healthy again.”
“You know, Hallie was a rock for me when I was sick. She cooked for me. She pushed back my hair when the chemo overwhelmed me. On the worst nights, she even sat by my bed and just read to me in that soft, sweet voice of hers. I couldn’t even tell you what she was reading. Only that she created a soothing hum that carried me through.”
“That must have been an awful time for you, Pumpkin.”
“It was,” Liv agreed, and then a smile broke over her face like the dawn of a new day. “But you know what? It's behind me now. And I’m happy and strong again. I can’t really remember if I’ve ever felt like this.”
“Must be love.”
Liv's heart fluttered. “Pardon?”
“Oh,” Josie said, shaking her head. “Just something my mama used to say. If something was going right, or we kids were in good spirits, she would say, ‘It must be love.’”
At just that moment, Katie exploded into the kitchen, hopping from one foot to the other. “She's here! Mommy's home!” And just as quickly, she disappeared.
“Mommy's home,” Liv mimicked, and she gave Josie an over-the-top excited smile. “She's home!”
Katie scuffled back into the kitchen, just long enough to shout, “Somebody's with her!”
“That's your daddy,” Liv responded, but the little girl was gone again.
Josie touched Liv's arm as she passed, and Liv followed her out into the living room where they were all gathered in front of the picture window.
Jim helped Hallie out of the car while someone else stood behind the open trunk, pulling out a folded wheelchair.
“Who's that with them?” Liv asked Josie, and the woman returned an awkward shrug and then turned away.
The third person rolled the wheelchair around the car and toward Hallie. She sat down in it, grimacing and supporting her ribs with both arms.
Liv's heartbeat suddenly picked up the pace and cold perspiration percolated on her upper lip, across her forehead, and in the hollow of both palms.
“It's Dr. Jared!” Katie cried. “Dr. Jared is with them.”
Once Katie was out the door, the boys followed suit. Scotty jumped the shrubs lining the sidewalk and reached Hallie first.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Jim called. “Go easy. Your mom's very fragile, kids.”
Jared stepped aside, allowing Jim to push Hallie up the walk toward the house. From opposite sides of the hubbub of children's voices and excited greetings, Liv and Jared homed in on one another. When he smiled, something in her stomach jumped.
“Step back, Katie. Let me get your mother into the house.”
Hallie reached up and grabbed Liv's hand. “Surprise,” she mouthed, and then Jim rolled her forward.
“What on earth?” Liv said, as Jared reached her and wrapped her up in his arms without a word. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you think?”
“Come on in, everyone,” Josie directed. “Let's let my daughter get comfortable. What do you need, Hallie? Something cold to drink? A snack?”
“I just want to look at my family,” she replied. “It's good to be home.”
Jim knelt at her side, took her hands in his, and stared into her eyes. “It doesn’t work without you.”
Hallie tried to smile, but the tears that rose in her eyes melted it. Stroking the side of Jim's face, she told him, “I know that feeling.”
“Hey, Mommy, did you see the sign?” Katie interjected.
“I did,” she answered, releasing the shared moment with her husband with evident reluctance. “It's beautiful.”
“Aunt Liv made it on her computer.”
“Did she?” Hallie cast Liv a quick smile. “Did you kids say hello to Dr. Jared? He came all the way from Florida to see us.”
Katie took Jared's hand and led him toward the kitchen. “Wanna see Mommy's cake?”
“I’d love to,” Jared replied, looking back at Liv as they went along. “I do love a good cake.”
“Me too!” Katie exclaimed, as if they wer
e the only two people on earth who could truly appreciate cake.
Liv followed them and stood in the doorway as Katie led Jared toward the table and leaned in for a cautious closer look.
“This one's real good too. It's vanilla inside, with red raspberries in the middle. We had the same one for Papa's birthday, and Mommy said it was the best cake she ever had.”
“How clever of you to remember that,” Jared told her. “And then to get her the same one for her Welcome Home party.”
“I was the one who remembered! See it? Isn’t it pretty?”
“It really is,” Jared replied.
His attention darted toward Liv for a quick moment, and then his focus was back on Katie, right where the little girl wanted it.
“It was my idea to put the candles on it too. Like if it was her birthday or something.”
“Oooh, good one. She’ll like that.”
“Katie, come here, sweetheart.”
The little girl tossed Jared's hand away like a used napkin and ran toward her mother's voice. Liv stepped out of the way just in time to avoid a collision.
“You’re a sight for my lonesome eyes,” Jared said, leaning back on the counter and regarding her like a long-lost prodigal.
“You didn’t sound so lonesome,” she replied. “Too busy to talk to me because you were having dinner with Georgia.”
“Jealous?”
“No.”
Jared beamed. “You’re jealous.”
“I am not.”
“Come on,” he said, swaggering toward her with an infuriating grin. “Admit it. You’re jealous of me having a simple meal with another woman.”
“Oh, please.” She forced a soured expression. “You’re an arrogant fool.”
“Maybe so, but you’re still jealous.”
“Hush up.”
Just as she turned away from him, Jared snatched her wrist and eased her toward him. His embrace was too much to refuse, and Liv dissolved into it with a laugh. Jared kissed the top of her head and rubbed her arms warmly.
“I’d like to tell you about that dinner, by the way.”
“Oh?” She pulled back and looked at him, serious all of a sudden. “Is there something to tell?”
“Quite a bit, actually.”
“Really.”
Well, there it was.
“It must be staggering news to bring you all the way up here to tell me in person.”
Jared cast a glance toward his shoe and, without looking at her, he softened. “Staggering is a good word for it.”
Liv braced herself.
“There was a little more to it than just dinner—”
Before he could continue, Josie and Katie turned the corner.
“Olivia, if you’ll bring the plates, I’m going to light the candles and we’ll serve some cake.”
Liv looked into Jared's eyes, hoping she could find some hint there of what might have been spilled, if only they hadn’t been interrupted. But all she found was a hundred golden flecks of light, and they weren’t spelling out a thing.
“Sure,” she replied in resignation, turning toward the cabinet.
“What can I do?” Jared asked.
“You could get the forks,” Katie suggested. “Can’t have cake on plates and not have forks.”
“Or napkins,” Josie added as she touched the fire to each of the candle wicks. “Why don’t you get those down, Katie Marie?”
“Okay, Granny.”
Liv flinched with regret, her brain buzzing with possibilities about what Jared might have said.
Dinner with Georgia … more than just dinner … staggering news …
“Fooooooor,” Josie sang as she walked into the living room, and everyone joined in right away. “She's a jolly good mommy, for she's a jolly good mommy, she's a jolly good mo-o-mmmy …”
Josie completed it alone. “And we’re glad to have her home.”
Applause erupted as Hallie blew out the candles.
“Thank you, everyone.”
“It's the one with the raspberries in the middle,” Katie told Hallie. “Remember we had it for Papa's birthday?”
“I do remember.”
“I ’membered how you said it was the best cake you ever had. So that's the one we bought you.”
“Thank you, sweetie.”
“I forgot the knife to cut the cake!” Josie exclaimed.
“I’ll get it,” Liv said, and then she gave Jared a covert little “Follow me, for crying out loud!” roll of her hand as she passed him.
She produced a cake knife from the drawer, and then stood there waiting for Jared to make his way into the kitchen.
“Wha-at!” he asked, making no effort to disguise his amusement.
“What were you going to say before?”
“When?”
“Before.”
“Before what?”
“Before, before,” she replied, groaning.
Why was he being so obnoxious?!
“Ohhhh,” he said deliberately. “Then. Right. I think I was telling you about the night I had dinner with Georgia, wasn’t I?”
“Yes. And you said there was more to it than dinner.”
“Riiiight.”
“Jared, why are you acting like this?” she blurted, smacking him on the arm. “If you have something to tell me, just come out and say it. If you’re not interested in pursuing the relationship we started when I was in Florida, you can just be honest. You know?”
“Is that what you think?” he asked her, and his entire demeanor softened. “I’m sorry, Liv. Come here and sit down.”
She let him lead her toward the table, and she felt rather numb as he guided her down into a chair. But when he sat down across from her, his smile set her at ease again. Maybe it wasn’t so dire and irrevocable.
“So you and Georgia had dinner,” she sighed.
“Yes. And I invited her to go somewhere with me,” he explained. “Truth be told, I’d been thinking about it for a very long time. Maybe ever since I—”
“Aunt Liv!” Katie cried as she slid across the floor toward her. “We need to cut the cake.”
“I’m sorry,” Liv said, and she handed her the cake knife. “You be very careful with this, okay?”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“In a couple of minutes. I have to talk to Dr. Jared about something first. You go ahead, and we’ll be right in.”
“But the cake—”
“I’ll have some cake in a bit, okay, Katie?”
Josie poked her head around the corner just then, and she innocently asked, “Don’t you two want cake?”
Jared smiled, and Liv sighed until she was deflated.
“Of course we do,” she said. Then she looked at Jared and suggested, “Can we come back to this?”
He snickered and, with a nod, replied, “Of course.”
24
Prudence rounded the corner of the glade, and she’d just set her front hoof to the path leading down into the meadow. Some fresh morning grass would surely make her feel better.
But the kind of feeling better Prudence was about to feel had nothing to do with fragrant green grass, and everything to do with the biggest and most wonderful surprise of her short donkey life.
The stallion! Her stallion. He was standing right there in front of her.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” she asked him.
“Where else would I be?” was his reply.
Jared had Hallie to thank for telling him Liv's favorite restaurant and providing directions to find it.
“Take her and go,” Hallie had whispered to him as her three children vied for Liv's attention to the point that he couldn’t seem to finish a sentence. “Seriously. Run like the wind. Save yourselves.”
Jared had rehearsed what he wanted to communicate to her for nearly the whole plane ride north. He’d even jotted down some notes to help him remember to hit the finer points. He never once thought that he should have also run through a plan to get her a
lone. He wasn’t sure how Liv felt about being surprised, or how she would take the news that he had to deliver, and it certainly wasn’t something for which they needed an audience.
The drive to the restaurant was a quiet one, and Jared pondered just pulling over to the shoulder of Sharon Road, turning off the ignition, and just blurting out what he had to say. But just about the time that consideration seemed almost worthy, he spotted a sign introducing The Grand Finale.
He turned into the parking lot, and Liv gasped. “This is my favorite restaurant!”
“I know. Hallie told me.”
“This is where we’re having dinner? I hope you made a reservation.”
Jared rounded the car, opened her door, and took her hand to help her from the car. He wasn’t a man given to extreme cases of nerves, but this night was an exception. He couldn’t even anticipate how Liv was going to react to what he had to tell her.
The Grand Finale was a large Victorian-style house with dining areas on two floors. Antique furnishings, floral tablecloths, fine crystal, and tasteful artwork created by the restaurant's owner mingled together to create a perfect fusion of upscale comfort and ambiance that inspired instant understanding for Jared. Of course, this would be Liv's favorite restaurant. It had her name all over it.
They were seated at a small table for two near the window on the first floor. Liv's eyes sparkled with familiar appreciation for her surroundings, and she beamed at Jared.
“Isn’t this place great?”
“It's beautiful.”
“I’ve been coming here for years,” she told him. “Birthdays, anniversaries, or just to reconnect. I think every milestone I’ve had in the last twenty years has been celebrated here.”
“What's your favorite appetizer?” he asked. “Show me what's good.”
“I always get the artichoke fritters,” she admitted. “They’re fantastic. But you would probably like the crabcakes. They come with a corn salsa and this really amazing mustard sauce.”
“Let's order both.”
Once the order was placed, Jared observed an awkward, let's-get-down-to-business expression that surfaced on Liv's face. There was no mistaking it. She wouldn’t wait any longer for him to get to it.
The Big 5-OH! Page 22