by Robin Shope
Lucy.
Joe kept rereading the letter. “Oh my gosh, Lucy. This is not what I would have expected to read at all. I’m surprised.”
“I know. You expected another heartfelt letter, but it isn’t.” Lucy began to pace the floor. “Steve saw me as someone I wasn’t; you saw me as Steve did. It’s all an illusion. Your love for me is based on this girl you imagined, a girl you thought loved her fiancé to his dying day. Now you know that isn’t true.”
“Lucy…” Joe started across the room toward her. Lucy stepped away, hungering for the feel of his arms around her and desiring to hold him in hers. But there was far too much to say to him first.
“Listen to me, Joe. In the beginning, I did love Steve. He asked me to marry him the Christmas before he went overseas.”
“When he gave you the heart ornament?”
“Yes, that’s right. Looking back on it now, I realize he didn’t love me at all. I was just a girl he could write to while he was gone. A ring on my finger meant I would stay put.”
“You don’t need to explain this, Lucy. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“It matters to me, Joe! You cannot believe a lie!” Lucy stamped her foot. “After a year passed, I suddenly came to the conclusion that not only didn’t I know Steve, but my feelings had changed, too. Even knowing this, I couldn’t let him down while he was overseas so I kept writing to him. One more year. During that time, I no longer wore his ring, but I didn’t tell him.”
“Steve never read the last letter. He died thinking you still loved him.”
“Yes, that unopened letter you handed to me was a gift. Up until then, I blamed myself for Steve’s death. Joe, you set me free. Steve never read my words of unfaithfulness. I did not cause his death.”
“We both have to stop taking on guilt.” Joe held up the envelope. “These are the words of an honest woman.”
“But the words in the letters before that were anything but honest. You fell in love with that woman. Don’t you see she doesn’t really exist?”
“But you exist. Lucy, I have gotten to know the real you. I love you.”
“Don’t say that, Joe; I mean it. I have betrayed you on so many levels. First, when I thought you sold us out, and then I believed Angela...”
“Stop rehashing, Lucy. Leave that behind us.”
“…and now I have betrayed you with the letters. You said these letters helped you through some dark times. If that is true, I am thankful they did some good. But, as you now know, they were based on a lie…at least the last year was.”
“You’ve proven my point. In the last year, you stopped writing Steve about your feelings. It was obvious to me your feelings had changed. I saw it. I bet he noticed it, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Each of the letters became short stories, snapshots of your day. You wrote about your life in Turtle Creek, the people who lived here, and about that wonderful quirky family of yours. By the time, I stepped into the newspaper office that day, I knew everyone. It was like coming home after a long tiring trip.
“I didn’t fall in love with you because you loved Steve. I fell in love with you because of the contents of the letters that revealed your character. Like the day you rescued a turtle from being run over by a hay wagon. You returned it to the pond and sat on the shore until it disappeared into the water.”
“I still look for it every time I drive down that particular stretch of road.”
“I know you do.” He held her face, his thumbs stroking her cheeks. “In another letter, you said how the employees of the newspaper loved sponsoring the holiday food drives. It was followed by pages of how we need to live our lives helping others the year round. I particularly liked the one where you searched half the night for your neighbor’s house cat, out in the rain and thunder.”
“How do you remember all of this?” Lucy asked as her voice filled with adoration for him.
“When your dad had the heart attack,” Joe continued. “I was right there with you, emotionally sitting beside you at the hospital. All of this paled in comparison to meeting you in person. I want you for my wife.”
“For your wife, huh? Does this mean I have to learn to make casseroles? And wash the dishes?”
“I am not asking you to marry me for your culinary skills…”
“Or lack thereof?”
“Or lack thereof. I’ll do all the dishwashing if that is what it’ll take for you to say yes.”
This time Lucy didn’t step away from Joe. She welcomed his touch on her neck and then her shoulder.
“Close your eyes, Lucy. Where do you see yourself one year from now?”
“I-I-I don’t know what you mean.” Confused, she looked at Joe with worry. If she said the wrong thing, would he be disappointed?
“We focus on the small details no one else ever notices, but right now, I ask you to look into our future with the eyes of faith,” Joe begged.
Lucy closed her eyes. In a minute, a smile spread across her face. “I see us in matching red sweaters by a Christmas tree.”
“Are we holding a Cocker Spaniel?” He placed his hand in the small of her back.
“No. We’re holding a baby.” Lucy’s heart pounded as Joe tangled his hands in her hair. He angled her mouth to his and kissed her until she thought her legs would give out. Lucy fought to gather her thoughts. It was true. Joe loved her as she loved him.
Joe pulled back and looked at Lucy. “I want our own story. I want to go shopping every Christmas for ornaments that tell our family history.”
“I want that, too, Joe.”
“For the last time, will you marry me, Lucy?”
“Come to think of it, we will be very happy living here in this cottage by a creek wiggling out from the woods. You know, I’ve been thinking about that housewarming gift. I do believe I should buy a truckload of rocking chairs, since we’ll be living here and having babies. Yes, Joe, I’ll marry you.”
His smile grew as he slid the ring onto her finger. Lucy stood looking down at her hand. Joe was her love. She could never say goodbye to him.
He kissed her gently. Then took her in his arms and waltzed her around the Gingerbread Cottage.
The Christmas Edition
Epilogue
Saying Goodbye to Bachelorhood
by Joseph McNamara
Excuse me, folks, but I took a short detour. I am back now, for good this time.
What have I been up to since my return to Turtle Creek? I have my old job back for one thing. And behold I even have gotten myself engaged. Me…engaged. Who’da ever thought it? Not any of my old buddies, that’s for sure. But none of them have met Lucy Collins, yet.
Ever since the moment Lucy Collins agreed to be my wife, I’ve been whistling. Maybe you have seen me walking with a lighter step and wearing an idiot ear-to-ear grin. Yep, that was I. Being in love just brings it out in me.
Engagement serves a purpose. It holds one’s feet to the ground while tying dreams to the tail of a kite. Bachelorhood left me with that self-doubting sense of missing something worthwhile, that I was too cranky or boring to be stuck with.
There are some things you should know about my bride-to-be. She is punctual. She is nostalgic. And she is absolutely nuts about old pink houses.
She doesn’t know this but I watch the look on her face when the sun goes down. The colors of the sky are spectacular but not so much in comparison to the look in Lucy’s eyes. It’s like she is seeing it for the first time. When she gets that look on her face, I sigh and think to myself, I get to watch her like this every day for the rest of my life.
For a long while, I thought bachelorhood was the way I was to go, but that was only because I hadn’t met Lucy yet. Now that I know her, I want to spend every moment of each day figuring her out and discovering more about this wonderful creation God allowed me to meet.
Lucy taught me valuable skills like finding the right country road into town. Before Lucy, I was lost, alone and shed countless tears
. Now, I have a partner to share those tears. With Lucy, I have laughed out loud so often and so hard that my stomach still aches from the memory. How does one say goodbye to bachelorhood?
With unspeakable joy.
The Christmas Edition
Last night Lucy slept peacefully—dreaming of the almost kiss, soothed by the hope of a first kiss. Today, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine his arms around her and his lips on hers.
“Thanks for asking me along today.”
“I must make a small correction. I didn’t just ask you along; we both have work to do and I need you.” Her blush was immediate. She noticed Joe’s eyes. They were soft gray, almost pale, but right now they were darker, emitting a strong emotion.
Joe pulled to the side of the road and got out. Lucy wondered if they had a flat tire and was surprised when he opened her door and pulled her out onto the snow. With tenderness, Joe drew her to him. She didn’t have the sense to look away. She was locked in this moment and knew she’d carry it to her grave. His touch made her melt into him. His arms kept her from falling. Joe brought his lips within an inch of hers. He looked into her eyes as if asking if this was all right. Her breath caught in anticipation of what the next moment would bring. She wouldn’t turn away this time. The sun was high now, casting them in winter radiance. “Joe…”
His mouth prevented her from saying another syllable. This was their first kiss, happening right here at the side of the road just under the snowy boughs of tall pine trees. Joe kissed each hand, her neck and then her lips. He used his lips as one would use their fingers when plotting the way to go on a map. Then he gathered her even closer. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him for all she was worth.
He stepped back and whistled. “We needed to get that out of the way.”
The Christmas Edition
The
Christmas
Edition
by
Robin Shope
The Christmas Edition
Chapter Eight
December 5
Lucy breezed into the office with the scent of winter wind on her clothes. Her camera bag was slung over her left shoulder. “Want to come with me?” She sweetly invited, swaying her hips side to side.
“Sure! Where are we going, Boss?” He couldn’t stop looking at her.
“There are five towns I want to visit. I’ll shoot photos of the townspeople and their decorations while you, as my man-on-the-street, will be interviewing people.”
“Sounds like fun. What’s the theme?”
“Christmas, of course, silly.” Lucy looked at the wall next to Joe’s desk. “I see your lists seem to be quickly procreating. What time did you get to work this morning?”
“Not long ago,” he answered not meeting her eyes.
“You were gone by seven at least. When I got up, I checked the drive and your SUV was missing.”
“By the way, I looked at your photographs in the office.”
She scrunched her nose and blushed. “I know it was silly to frame them but Dad likes to have my work hanging up.”
“The black and white photographs are particularly amazing with the way you used the light and dark contrast. They remind me of Cecil B. DeMille’s movies in the 1930s and 40s.”
Lucy knew that was over the top praise but didn’t say anything. It would have come across as false modesty.
“Lucy, they took my breath away. They are works of art. You should send them somewhere, like…to magazines.”
“Aw, how kind of you to say,” Lucy demurred. “But now you have gone too far. Magazines are filled with pictures much better than mine. I am an amateur and any professional in that field would spot me in a heartbeat.”
“You’re wrong. You have a fresh eye. In some ways, you are like me; we stop to notice the little things other people don’t. When I was younger this consumed me. I find I am still a bit on the obsessive side.”
“Now this sounds interesting.” Lucy laughed. She pulled a chair over to Joe’s desk and set her equipment on the floor. Lucy sat with one leg crossed over the other. “Tell me more.”
“One of your most fascinating pictures is of a forest. There is a saying ‘you can’t see the forest through the trees’, but you take it a step further. In one of the pictures, you singled out one leaf. One obscure leaf and then you focused your camera lens on it. Of all the trees in the entire forest, why did you decide on that particular one?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy answered quickly. “I looked up and there it was.”
“Oh no. There’s more to it than that. You selected that leaf, that single leaf.”
Lucy reflected for a moment and then answered, “I decided on that one leaf because it was lost in the array of thousands of leaves on hundreds of trees. I felt I was the only one who ever saw it and so I snapped its picture.”
Joe leaned back in his chair until it creaked. He rested his elbows on the armrest and pressed his fingertips together. “What else?”
“I don’t know what you mean?” She jiggled her leg.
“Close your eyes and think about that day. You are standing in the woods. What kind of day is it?”
Lucy closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Was it rainy, cloudy…”
“Sunny! It was sunny that day and I will have you know I only took pictures and left only footprints.” Lucy peeked one eye open.
“No fair, you’re looking. Keep your eyes closed.” He smiled. “Tell me about the moment you selected that leaf?”
Lucy took a deep breath and shut her eyes again. “It was really quiet in the woods. I went alone because I like it that way. I stepped off the trail and made my own path between trees, over fallen logs. It was uneven terrain but I welcomed it. I kept walking, moving further and further away from houses. So quiet, I nearly heard the beat of my heart but then the sound of wind came gushing through like a storm drowning out everything else. Strange. The sun was so bright above the trees that at certain points it dried up the shadows completely. When I looked up, the sunlight was so sharp I had to cup my hand over my eyes.
“I went further into the woods, where the shade was deeper and it was much colder. I heard the caw of a crow. It was somewhere close and I had to find him. I wanted to see what he looked like so I got my camera ready and followed the trunk of an old oak up until it reached a branch that had three crooks in it. Just the very second I spotted the crow, it flew off. The wind kept right on coming making the leaves spin like colorful tops. It made a sound like it was talking in its own secret language. Some leaves were knocked away from the tree and floated to the ground as though the fight to stay where they were wasn’t worth the trouble.
“Then I saw the leaf, small and so pale that it was nearly wiped clear of any color at all. And yet it had that hint of yellow.” Lucy opened her eyes. “It held onto the tree fearlessly.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said with an approving nod. “And that story is what I saw in your picture.”
Tears filtered into Lucy’s eyes. Joe got her.
“Lucy, the paper should buy a domain and then through the web address, you would be able to do a photographic journal.”
Lucy grimaced as though someone had accidentally stepped on her foot. “Come on, let’s get our day started.”
****
A blanket of snow circled above and then blew sideways as they rode in Joe’s SUV down County O toward their first stop of the day, the town of Delavan. Lucy told him how to get there. The country seemed to confuse him. Lucy figured it was because they didn’t have tall buildings that blocked out the sky. He knew how to deal with traffic and skyscrapers. It was wide-open spaces that caused the problems.
“Is another blizzard on its way?” Joe turned on his wipers and tipped his head to get a good look at the sky.
“None in the forecast; this bit of snow is merely winter air,” Lucy said, her cheeks crimson from cold. Her mind was centered on Joe and the fun she knew they would have as they s
pent today together, all day. She looked at him from the corner of her eye. There was an aura about him that stirred her emotions. No other man had ever gotten to her like he did. Maybe it was because he wasn’t from around here. Every guy she had ever dated was from Turtle Creek. She hoped she was as interesting to him as he was to her. Thinking about Joe almost kissing her yesterday made her sigh.
“Is everything okay?” he looked her way.
“Very okay.” She punctuated her answer with a smile. Right then she resolved that even if it took all night she would sit in this vehicle until she got her kiss. No flaking out on him this time. Business protocol or not, she was ready for the business of romance.