Autumn Dreams

by Gayle Roper

  “Doesn’t seem too broken to me.”

  She sighed. “A lot you know.”

  “I know you wanted that pile of debris with all your heart.”

  She nodded, uncertain whether she wanted to hear his justification for the hurt he’d given her, not sure how she’d deal with the treachery. Because she’d have to deal with it. She knew she loved him irrevocably, in spite of the hurt he’d dealt her.

  “I know you’ve been saving for several years for when Carmichael finally put it on the market. So I approached him with my offer.”

  “You went to Mr. Carmichael? And he sold it to you just like that?” She stepped back, putting distance between them. She felt like a knife had been turned in her back. “But I’ve been asking him for years!”

  Dan nodded. “That’s why he sold it to me.”

  Cass stared, the shaft of pain cutting to the core of her heart. She began shaking. Then she spun on her heel and walked. I wanted it. They both knew I wanted it. Still Mr. Carmichael sold it to Dan, and Dan bought it!

  Lord, what am I to do? I’m dying here!

  Dan caught her by the arm and stopped her. “I’m not doing very well here, am I?”

  She looked at him, her eyes full of tears and hurt and love. “Dan, I don’t think I can deal with all this.”

  He nodded, smiling.

  The smile was what did it. The love and the anger overwhelmed her, and she lost control.

  “Don’t you smile at me, buster!” she suddenly yelled, punching him in the chest. Her hand bounced off his ribs and she had to force herself not to slug him again. “You’ve just taken my choicest dream and buried it!”

  He smiled some more, rubbing the spot above his heart where she had connected. “Your choicest dream?” he asked with a knowing look and a raised eyebrow.

  She closed her eyes, struggling to get a full breath into lungs suddenly unable to inhale. He was her choicest dream, and he knew it.

  “But you bought my house!”

  He pulled her into his arms again and rocked her against him, ignoring her halfhearted squirming for freedom. “That I did, Cass. That I did. But I bought it for you, sweetheart.”

  She stilled. “What?”

  “As a wedding present,” he said. “You weren’t supposed to know about it until we got married and I could present you with the deed in a great romantic flourish on our wedding night. That way I would be the object of your undying affection for the rest of our lives.”

  “A wedding present?” It was a good thing he had his arms around her or she would have collapsed with shock. As it was, she grabbed his sleeves and held on, twisting his jacket hard in her fingers. “My wedding present?”

  “Your wedding present, Cass.” He smiled down at her. “There’s certainly no one else I want to marry.”

  “You want to marry me?” Suddenly all the raucous gulls turned into glorious chimes, sounding the sweetest music she’d ever heard.

  “More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. Cass, my sweet love, will you marry me and live with me in Carmichael’s atrocity?”

  “Oh, Dan, yes!” She threw herself at him with such enthusiasm that he was overbalanced, and they fell to the sand. He landed on his back and lay with his head in the drenched sand. She lay beside him on her stomach, her arm draped across his chest. He put his free arm under his head and looked at her, squinting against the brilliant sun. She looked back. They stared at each other for several minutes, smiling, delighted with themselves, with life, and filled with hearts of gratitude for the miracle God had sent them in each other.

  “I hate to tell you this before you buy me an engagement ring,” Cass finally said, “but you would have been the object of my undying affection without Mr. Carmichael’s house. You know that, don’t you?” She rested her chin on his chest. “But don’t even think of returning the gift. You’re committed now.”

  “Totally,” he said, and she knew he meant more than just the house.

  She grinned, then turned serious. “Do we have to wait until the renovations are done to get married?”

  “I certainly hope not. I’ve seen the inside of that house, and it’s going to take a long time to make it livable. A very long time.”

  “So we can do the deed soon?”

  “As soon as you want. You’re the bride.”

  She was the bride. Her heart swelled, and swirls of joy danced along her nerves. She had never felt so alive. A long-dead hope was being realized with the most wonderful man in the world.

  “By the way,” she said. “You do know that you can’t order me around, don’t you?”

  “You’re referring to our argument?”

  She nodded.

  “I do know. And I appreciate your independence. I was just so afraid I was going to lose you before I even had you, and it came out in anger. All night I kept remembering my fear, and I was in a state by morning. I’m sorry.”

  “I understand,” she said. “I really do. If we hadn’t gone to Cape May the night of Jenn’s escapade, I probably would have said some harsh things to her, I’m sure.”

  “I guess anger is easier to articulate than fear.” He pulled his hand from behind his head and took her by the chin. “Pointy thing. It’s making a dent in my chest.”

  She pushed herself to a sitting position. It was the height of idiocy to lie on wet sand in November. She could feel the dampness all the way to her bones.

  She sneezed. “Excuse me.” She sneezed again.

  Dan climbed to his feet. “Come on, sweetheart.” He reached for her and pulled her erect. They started toward the steps to the boardwalk, hands clasped. As they hit the boardwalk, Dan started to jog. She followed his lead.

  “We both need hot showers and dry clothes,” he said. “I can’t marry you if we’re in the hospital with pneumonia. And, love, I do want to marry you. Soon.”

  Epilogue

  Fourteen Months Later

  CASS AND DAN stood at the front door of what was formerly the Carmichael place. It was now SeaScape, the newly refurbished home of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Harmon. Mike, their black lab, named not after Brenna’s boyfriend as everyone thought but after Mr. Carmichael, quivered with excitement beside them. He’d been in this place many times during its restoration and loved it. Here he had the run of the house instead of being confined to the kitchen and family room like at SeaSong. Here there was no old cat to make his life miserable.

  “Ready?” Dan asked Cass.

  “I’m ready,” she answered. “But are you certain you want to do this? I’m not exactly a featherweight.”

  “You’re beautiful,” he said. “I love you all fat and pregnant.”

  “Right. I glow.”

  He reached for her and lifted her in his arms. Cass was pleased to note that he didn’t even grunt with the effort.

  “All those months at the gym have paid off, haven’t they?” she teased.

  Dan grinned and stepped across the threshold into the front hall, Mike dancing beside him. “Welcome home, Cass.” He set her on her feet, pulled her close, and kissed her. He barely flinched when one of the babies poked him. Twins. He couldn’t believe it.

  Mike bumped them with his nose.

  “And welcome home to you, too, old boy.” Dan ruffled the animal’s ears.

  Mike grinned and raced off to see what mischief he could get into.

  “A puppy and babies? Are you sure you’re up to this?” Dan had asked when Cass gave him Mike on Father’s Day.

  “We’ll have several months to train him before the babies come,” Cass said.

  As they watched Mike rush to explore, Cass shook her head. “All I can say is that I hope the twins train more easily than he has.”

  She turned and leaned her back against Dan’s chest. She looked around the lovingly refurbished place, at the shining hardwood floors, the sparkling windows, the crisp white trim, the wonderfully restored chandelier that sent shards of light shining through its crystal prisms. Granted, she hadn’t been abl
e to do quite as much of the work as she’d done on SeaSong, but there were enough of her brush strokes on the walls and varnish strokes on the woodwork to make her feel satisfied.

  “Oh, Cassandra Marie.” Her mother rushed up, arms spread wide. “Don’t you love this pretty house? I’m so glad you could come and visit. We have lots of food.” She gestured vaguely to the kitchen where Cass could see her sisters-in-law at work. “There are some, uh, people out there fixing, uh, things.” She dimpled at Dan. “And you brought your friend.”

  “I’m Dan, Mom.” He bent to kiss her.

  “Dan.” Mom drew back slightly and held out her hand. “So pleased to meet you.”

  Dan straightened before making contact with Mom’s soft cheek. He extended his hand. “The feeling’s mutual,” he said, remembering the doctor’s advice that they go to Mom’s universe since she was unable to come to theirs. Correcting her, the doctor said, would only distress her.

  Cass leaned in to hug her increasingly frail mother. Thanks, Father, for letting this be one of her good days.

  “And Cassandra Marie, I hate to say this in front of—” She looked at Dan in question.

  “Dan,” he supplied again.

  “Nice to meet you, Dan.” Mom smiled sweetly at him, then skewered Cass. “You need to lose weight, dear.”

  Cass bit back the half groan, half laugh that threatened to bubble out. “You’re right about that, Mom. Soon. I promise. Now why don’t we go into the living room?”

  “There are people in there,” Mom whispered.

  “I know. It’s our family.”

  Mom stared into the crowded living room where everyone except Bud and Jane, the Colorado Mertons, had gathered. She frowned. “Are you sure? I don’t see Mama and Daddy. Or Elsie.”

  “They couldn’t come today,” Cass said, taking her mother’s arm. “But look. There’s a wonderful seat for you next to Tommy.”

  “His name is Tommy? He’s big.”

  “They’re all big around here.” Cass forced herself to smile. “Tommy’s your son.”

  “Oh.” Mom let herself be led to Tommy who assisted her to the seat beside him.

  As Cass walked to the antique rocker that Dan had found for her at an estate sale in Hammonton, she wondered again how her father did the Charlotte thing twenty-four hours a day. At least he’d put their names on the waiting list at a very nice retirement community with excellent health care facilities, knowing it was only a matter of time before her care was beyond him.

  As Cass sat, one of the twins poked her in the ribs. She absently rubbed the spot as she looked at Jared, home for winter break from his first year in college on a football scholarship. If anything, he was taller and broader than ever. She smiled. The boy had looks and a wonderful attitude toward life. The girls must be going crazy over him.

  When she and Dan had gotten engaged, Dan felt he should leave SeaSong.

  “You’ve only got one reputation, Cass, and I’m not going to sully it,” he’d said.

  Jared was the one who suggested that he and Dan live at Tommy and Rhonda’s.

  “The house is empty. Why not use it?”

  The arrangement had worked very well for the month and a half until the wedding. Then Dan and Jared moved back to SeaSong. At that time, Cass turned her understairs cubby back into a storage closet and moved into the turret room with her husband.

  Now Jared smiled at her from across the room and patted his tummy. She grinned back and blew him a kiss.

  Jenn sat on the sofa between Tommy and Rhonda. She obviously gloried in having her parents home again. She’d not only survived Derrick but grown ever more lovely in spirit as well as appearance in the past year.

  Paulie, no taller than before but less bulky, sat at her feet. His face had firmed and matured, and he was becoming a very handsome young man. He, too, was a college freshman, but he had chosen not to play football, much to everyone’s surprise.

  “I decided I don’t like it,” he’d said. “Enough of getting the stuffings beaten out of me every day.”

  Jenn and Jared—and Paulie—had been gone from SeaSong for three months now, and Cass missed them. She knew Dan did too. Their time with the kids had been rich and wonderful, a gift from the Lord. Another kick reminded Cass that soon she’d have more than enough kid action to keep her busy, another wonderful gift from the Lord.

  A knock on the door sent Dan to answer, and he returned with Sherri and Kevin.

  “Happy housewarming, Cass,” Sherri said, bending to give Cass a kiss and a gaily wrapped present.

  “How was your trip?” Cass asked, thinking that she would be happy to have her lap back soon. She had nowhere to rest Sherri’s gift.

  Sherri and Kevin looked at each other and grinned.

  Cass held up her hand. “Enough said. I know what those goofy smiles mean.”

  It had been a long, hard year for those two. Sherri’s hospitalization, her recuperation at home in California, Kevin’s discovery that she came from a very wealthy family, the repairing of trust between both Sherri and Kevin and their families, the hours spent in counseling. Now Sherri and Kevin were in Seaside to stay, newly married and just returned from their honeymoon.

  Sherri was to be the assistant innkeeper at SeaSong while Kevin was back at school full-time, going for a degree in hospitality. It didn’t take much imagination to know that SeaSong would have some very stiff competition in the not-too-distant future.

  Another knock and Pastor Paul entered.

  “Ah, the most important person,” Dan said as he shook Pastor Paul’s hand. “We couldn’t do this without you.”

  Dan reached out a hand and pulled Cass from her chair, no easy feat these days. He slid his arm around her waist and waited until everyone fell quiet and the sisters-in-law joined them from the kitchen. Then he spoke.

  “It’s hard to believe that I didn’t know any of you wonderful people a little over a year ago. God sent me here to find His will, and I found just how deep and wide His love for us is. He gave me Cass, another family, wonderful friends, and a new career. This being a dollar-a-year man consulting with Christian ministries has been more fulfilling than I ever imagined. I am a very happy man.”

  Cass, glowing with her own happiness, hugged her husband. “We asked you all here today for a very special ceremony. I did something similar at SeaSong, but then it was just me and the Lord. When I told Dan about it and suggested we do the same thing for SeaScape, we decided we’d like to ask your participation. A home can never have too much love and too much prayer.”

  “We’ve asked Pastor Paul to dedicate this house to the Lord,” Dan said. “Cass and I found each other later than most, and maybe that’s why we’re so aware of God’s place in our lives. We just know that we want the Lord to be always in this place as we live out our lives together and raise our kids.” He laid a hand on Cass’s belly and was promptly kicked.

  Everyone laughed.

  “Somehow, I think they’re going to give you two a run for your money,” Tommy said.

  “Then we’d better pray extra hard,” Cass said and bowed her head. The room fell quiet.

  “Dear Father,” Pastor Paul prayed. “We ask You to come dwell in this home. Fill each room with Your …”

  Cass felt a wash of water flow down her legs. Pastor Paul’s words faded as she glanced at her feet and the puddle surrounding them. Her water had broken. It was two weeks before her due date, but with twins, an early arrival wasn’t all that unusual.

  She pulled on Dan’s sleeve. He glanced at her in question. She pointed down, and his eyes widened.

  “Are you okay?” he mouthed as the pastor continued to pray.

  She nodded. “Fi—” The word was cut off as a contraction gripped her. Her eyes widened in surprise at its strength. It made the Braxton-Hicks contractions she’d been enduring for a month seem like a single apple as opposed to an orchardful.

  Dan lowered her to her chair. She grinned at him, tapping her watch. He nodded. He’d
time the contractions.

  “Towel?” she mouthed.

  Dan nodded and left the room. He returned quickly with a white bath towel. White. Why white? Cass thought as he knelt and ran the towel over the floor.

  When he rose, she thanked him with a smile, ignoring the smudges of dirt that streaked across the previously pristine towel. This time she felt the contraction begin its progress across her stomach and grasped the arms of her chair as it tightened like a vise. Her groan and Pastor Paul’s amen sounded simultaneously.

  Everyone in the room looked at her.

  “The babies?” squeaked Jenn, her eyes bright with excitement.

  “The babies,” Cass confirmed as the pain receded.

  “What babies?” Mom asked, wide-eyed.

  “Cassandra Marie is having babies,” Dad said, taking Mom’s hand. “Twins. Remember?”

  “Cassandra Marie?” Mom looked at Cass. “Then she needs to get married.”

  The kids giggled as Cass, her heart aching, said, “I am married, Mom. I’ve been married for almost a year.”

  Mom blinked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? To whom?”

  “To me, Mom,” Dan said.

  “Who are you?” Mom asked.

  “I’m Dan.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you, Dan.” Mom held out her hand. “You’re handsome. You should meet my daughter.”

  After that, things happened in a blur. More pain. A fast ride to the hospital with a caravan of relatives following. Greater pain. The puff, puff of breathing exercises. Dan’s cheeriness when all she wanted was for the agony to go away, taking him along with it. The brisk professionalism of the hospital personnel. The incredible weariness between contractions. Dan’s loving support. Then the unending haze of torture as the babies’ heads pushed through the “ring of fire.” Finally, that incredible moment of first one cry, then five minutes later, a second cry.

  Her babies were here.

  Early the next morning, Dan sat on Cass’s bed. In his arms he held Dan, Jr., a red, wizened little gnome with no hair. A weary Cass held Tobi Lynn, a sweet-faced pixie with a shock of black hair that stood out like Tobi already had a close acquaintance with an electrical outlet.