After stopping by the refreshment table for glasses of punch, Greyson said, “How about we walk outside for a bit? It’s gotten a bit warm in here.” He gave a significant nod towards the right corner of the room, where Georgie was watching them with increasing interest.
“Sounds good.” Hope smiled as he took her hand. They stopped by the coat rack to get Hope’s jacket before continuing outside. Millions of stars danced in the clear, night sky. Her breath caught. “It’s so beautiful,” she whispered.
“It is,” Greyson agreed as they walked. “But not as beautiful as you.”
Grateful for the darkness to hide her burning cheeks, Hope smiled. “I think at this point, you’ve become biased.” They walked hand in hand toward town square.
“So, I know I promised earlier there wouldn’t be any more surprises,” Greyson began.
Hope gently smacked his arm. “I knew you were up to something.”
“Hey now,” he said. “Let a man finish. I really had no intention of more surprises, but I saw this at the jewelry booth and it made me think of that dress you wore the other night.” Greyson walked them under a street lamp. “Not the best lighting, I know,” he said, handing her the wrapped box.
She shook her head with a smile. “You better hope I don’t get used to being spoiled like this.”
“Something tells me you’re the practical type who will appreciate spoiling when it comes, but not expect it all the time.”
“For having only known me a couple weeks, you know me pretty well,” Hope said. She unwrapped the box and admired the sparkling beads on the necklace. “That’s so pretty,” she said.
Greyson took a deep breath as he helped her clasp the necklace about her neck. “Have you ever read fairy tales and thought how ridiculous it was that the characters fell in love so quickly?”
Hope grinned. “Haven’t we all?”
“I guess so. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I feel like I’ve always known you. It doesn’t make sense when I think about it. But in some ways it does. I guess what I’m trying to say is, well,” Greyson paused, as though unsure how to complete his thought.
No night chill could banish the warmth in Hope’s heart. She smiled and looked up into his eyes. “It’s okay. I love you too.” As he kissed her gently, Hope wished the moment could last forever as stars shone above her and Greyson’s arms held her close.
He pulled away, leaning to rest his forehead against hers. “Consider the necklace a promise,” he said. “A promise that over the next months, I’ll make time in my schedule not only to visit Gram, but just to see you. I want to build a relationship with you, Hope Fields. A relationship that will see us through a lifetime of Thanksgivings in Blessings.”
Hope wasn’t sure her heart could swell any more than it already had. Tears of joy pricked her eyes as she whispered, “I’ll hold you to that promise, Greyson Able.”
“I’m counting on it,” he said before claiming her lips once more.
HOPE SAT HAND-IN-HAND with Greyson Sunday morning at the annual interfaith devotional, his promise necklace sparkling about her neck. Despite the chill wind blowing through Blessings, the devotional was held at town square. Members of the community sat on hay bales brought to the square from the ball, festival, and other activities. Hope had brought a blanket with her to lay over the hay bales in order to prevent the hay from getting into her skirt, or Greyson’s pants. She’d also brought an extra to wrap around her beloved neighbor, knowing Georgie would be more susceptible to the cold in her weakened condition.
She listened as Mr. Wagner, a local pastor, shared thoughts on the blessings and miracles of every day life. Greyson squeezed her hand as the pastor spoke about the miracle of love, and the blessing of togetherness. Hope squeezed his back. She considered the multitude of blessings she’d experienced in the past weeks. Blessings of grace, forgiveness, joy, laughter, family, and healing. Despite their rocky start, she and Greyson had been able to see past their differences to discover that perhaps they weren’t such a badly matched couple after all. Although, they’d both admitted that if their relationship did continue to build, Georgie would forever say she was the one to bring them together.
Bowing her head as Mr. Wagner prayed, Hope smiled. “Amen,” she chorused with the others when he finished. She stood and helped Georgie to the potluck, which would be the final activity of the festival. Greyson hung back to help move the hay bales. “Did you have Greyson help you make your famous pumpkin bread?” Hope asked.
“Of course not,” Georgie retorted. “I made it myself. Although, I might have made him take it out of the oven for me.” She paused as Hope giggled. “What did you bring this year?”
“Apple pie. It’s not as fancy as the ones Sharon makes at the cafe, but it should taste good enough anyway. Local apples, so it has to be good, right?”
Georgie scoffed. “You don’t give yourself nearly enough credit.”
Hope smiled. “Maybe I don’t.”
“Well, Greyson’s finally getting over his dislike of small towns. You know what he told me this morning?” Georgie asked.
“No, what did he tell you?”
“He’s considering moving out here with me after all. Said he can commute to Kansas City. Of course, he also said that if he’s going to live with me, there are going to be repairs done around the house. Apparently he doesn’t approve of me putting out an ad for a friendly ghost to move in.”
Hope laughed aloud. “I can’t say that I blame him, Georgie. You’re trouble enough on your own.”
Georgie gave her a conspiratorial grin. “That’s just what Greyson said, bless his heart.”
Smiling to herself, Hope looked up to see Greyson coming toward them. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought, I think he blessed mine. When Georgie saw a friend of hers, she took her plate and said, “I think I’ll go sit with Deb. You two go on without me.”
Greyson rolled his eyes at his grandmother’s retreating back. “You know what’s unbelievable? She actually thinks she’s subtle.”
Hope giggled. “So, Miss Georgie says you’re thinking of moving to Blessings.”
“Wicked old gossip,” he muttered.
“You’re not?” Hope said, trying not to let her disappointment show.
Greyson helped Hope into a seat before sitting next to her. “I am considering it, but I wanted to tell you myself when I had a firmer idea rather than just a vague, ‘I might move here.’ My townhouse contract goes through March, so unless I can find someone to take it before then, I can’t move out for a few months anyway.”
Hope nodded. “That does make sense.” She grinned. “I’ll have to start praying for someone to be in desperate need of a townhouse in Kansas City then.”
He laughed and wrapped an arm around her. “You do that. In the meantime, I’ll just have to look forward to frequent weekend trips to see my two favorite girls.”
She leaned against him with a sigh. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special, you know that?”
“One of the things Gram taught me early on was to hold your blessings close to your heart,” Greyson said quietly. “And you’re one blessing I never want to let go of.”
Hope kissed him gently, her heart full to bursting. “I think you’ll fit in just perfectly around here, bless your heart.”
Greyson gave her a lingering kiss before resting his forehead against hers. “You already did.”
Abundantly Blessed Excerpt
I hope you enjoyed this installment of the Blessings of Love Series! Be sure to check out the next book in the series, Abundantly Blessed by Rachael Eliker.
She's determined to stay grounded while he can't wait to leave.
Katie Holloway is content in Blessings, Kansas, the town that's the only family she has ever known. When her best friend shows up with Will, the handsome older brother that Katie hasn't seen in years, Katie is determined to prove to him that small-town living has its virtues.
After his father's injury,
Will Ryan reluctantly agrees to come back to help with the harvest but wants to get the job done sooner rather than later. When he sees Katie all grown up, he reconsiders his rush to leave. There's just one problem: she's his little sister's best friend and that makes her off-limits.
With the harvest taking longer than anticipated, Katie puts Will to good use arranging a Thanksgiving meal for townsfolks who could use a place to go. As they grow closer, an opportunity presented to Will threatens to end it all before their love has a chance to blossom.
Chapter One: Katie
“You ask her,” Katie heard whispered behind her back.
“No. You.”
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the Stanleys had taken a seat in the corner booth at the Home Again Café, hiding their prying eyes behind open menus. The second Katie met their gaze, they looked down, pretending to decide what they were going to get, but as they were a pair of Katie’s regular Thursday morning crowd, she knew their eating habits varied less than geese flying south in the fall. Lester Stanley always had two fried eggs with a side of wheat toast and black coffee, while his wife, Delores, liked to indulge her sweet tooth with a short stack of blueberry pancakes smothered in maple syrup and a cup of coffee that was more sugar and cream than anything else. Katie even had the total of their bill memorized.
Finishing up her order with another table, Katie dropped off the ticket at the kitchen.
“I imagine the Stanleys would like their regular,” Katie told Sharon, the owner and cook for the Home Again Café.
“You’re not going to even ask them?” Sharon questioned, not bothering to look at the order as she poured pancake batter onto the griddle and added blueberries.
“As a formality, I will. I just want to give you a chance to get ahead since the morning crowd looks like it’s finally slowing down.”
“Appreciate it,” Sharon said, cracking a pair of eggs onto the griddle.
Taking the coffee with her, Katie strolled to the Stanleys’ table with a pleasant smile on her face. Whatever they were gossiping about would come up in conversation whether she tried to avoid it or not. Blessings, Kansas was small enough that speculating about others was often a favorite pastime of its residents since not much else exciting beyond the occasional threat of a tornado or broken-down semi-truck bringing a stranger to town ever happened.
“Coffee?” Katie asked, holding a freshly brewed pot of decaf.
“That would be lovely, dear,” Mrs. Stanley said, pushing both their mugs toward the end of the table.
As Katie delicately poured, making sure not to splash, Mrs. Stanley tore open two packets of sweetener and a creamer. Mr. Stanley asked, “How’s planning for your Thanksgiving luncheon going?”
She released a sigh of relief that she’d been anxiously holding in her lungs. That’s what they wanted to ask her about? It was benign compared to what some other patrons were bold enough to ask. The number of times she was questioned about her dating life was astounding. A proud smile spread across Katie’s face. She’d volunteered to head up an event to provide a traditional Thanksgiving meal to those in town who might not otherwise have a place to go. Once she’d gotten the go ahead from Sharon to use the café, she’d dove right into the project to make sure it was a success.
“Things are really coming together,” Katie answered. “Sharon has been so kind letting me use the café for people who could use somewhere to go on Thanksgiving. Plus, the community has really stepped up with the donations. Now it’s just a matter of being organized the day-of to make sure I can get all the cooking done in time. I don’t suppose anyone would enjoy raw turkey with their mashed potatoes and stuffing.”
The Stanleys chuckled. “Well, we’re looking forward to it,” Mrs. Stanley said, gently patting Katie’s hand. “It’s been far too long since we’ve had a proper Thanksgiving meal. I haven’t been able to muster the energy to do all that work for the two of us.”
Biting her lip, Katie felt a flutter of nervousness. “I hope this one lives up to your expectations.”
“As long as you have some of that famous pumpkin apple streusel pie, you won’t have any complaints from me,” Mr. Stanley said.
“The Taste of Home pie? I promise there’ll be more than enough to go around,” Katie said. “I’ll be baking round the clock the day before to make sure I get everything done.”
“Just don’t be afraid to ask for help,” Mrs. Stanley said. “No one expects you to be able to pull it off all on your own.”
“Right,” Katie agreed, keeping the gnawing worry to herself that doing it all might be exactly what happened. With such a close knit, family-oriented town as Blessings, everyone she’d asked to volunteer already had commitments with their own families. Even Sharon had to bow out since she’d be with her husband’s side of the family for the weekend.
Pushing her smile wider to disguise her concern, Katie reassured, “Don’t you worry. One way or another, I promise a delicious, hearty, home cooked meal for everyone who’s signed up.”
Mr. Stanley’s blue-gray eyes twinkled, and a wry smile tugged at his mouth. “And what about the Blessings Harvest Festival? I suspect you have young men lined up down the street, ready to ask you to the ball.”
Katie dropped her head back and giggled. That’s what they were whispering about earlier. Planting her hand on her hip, she asked, “How did I know that was going to come up?”
Sharon rang the bell for the Stanleys’ food. Hoping that if there was an interruption in their conversation, the Stanleys might drop it, Katie went to get it..
Setting down their plates of food, there was no such luck.
“So, does that mean you have someone special?” Mrs. Stanley asked, her face alight.
“Not exactly,” Katie answered. “I’ve been too busy with planning the Thanksgiving meal here to worry about the ball.”
Mrs. Stanley frowned and shook her head. “You shouldn’t miss out on the joy of being young and sociable because you’re helping others.”
“Life’s all about balance,” Mr. Stanley said.
The Stanleys’ interrogation unleashed a torrent of emotions in Katie. She appreciated their concern and encouragement that she should enjoy life to the fullest, but in truth, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to go. It seemed like most of her efforts to find a date were met with dead ends. People she’d known all her life were marrying at a rapid pace—some even had a baby or two already, while she was still unattached. The eligible bachelors in town didn’t hold her interest, and apparently, she hadn’t caught anyone’s eye either. She never dreamed at twenty-two, she’d feel like an old maid.
“It sure is. I suppose if someone asks, I’ll certainly consider it,” Katie reassured.
Mr. Stanley snapped and pointed a finger at Katie, wagging his hand. Katie could tell by the look in his eye that an idea was brewing in his head. “Say, why don’t you go with Kyle?”
Startled at the thought, Katie nearly sloshed hot coffee on herself. “Kyle? As in—”
“Our neighbor,” Mr. Stanley said without a hint he was joking.
Chewing the inside of her cheek so she didn’t laugh—or cry—Katie asked, “How old do you think I am, Mr. Stanley?”
Confused, Mr. Stanley looked over at his wife, who’s shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. “I dunno. Eighteen? I figured you for a senior in high school.”
“If I was still in high school, I’d be there right now, not serving you delicious food straight from Sharon,” Katie teased.
“Kyle would undoubtedly love to take her so he could brag to all his friends,” Mrs. Stanley said to her husband, patting a napkin under her eyes to catch the tears that threatened to fall after laughing so heartily, “but I don’t think we should subject our dear Katie to that kind of humiliation. Kyle is only sixteen.”
“How old are you, then?” Mr. Stanley asked.
“Twenty-two since this September,” Katie answered, pushing her glossy brunette ponytail behind her shoulder. “
I’ve been a full-blown adult for the past year.”
“I see,” Mr. Stanley said sheepishly while his cheeks pinkened adorably. Not to be deterred, his eyes brightened, and he sat up, shaking his finger at Katie as he came up with a new ploy. “How about the Graysons’ boy?”
Mrs. Stanley dropped her head into her hands and shook her head while Katie glanced at her wristwatch. “Oh, would you look at the time?”
Leaving before Mr. Stanley could rack his brain for another person to accompany Katie to the Harvest Festival Ball, Katie visited the rest of the tables, topping off coffees and making sure everyone was comfortable. She made sure to swing by Logan, one of the sweetest boys she knew, to make sure his enormous cinnamon roll was as good as he’d hoped. When the bell on the door tinkled, Katie glanced over to see Charlotte breeze through the door.
“Katie!” she squealed.
The entire dining area turned to look at Katie’s best friend, though Charlotte didn’t seem to notice.
“Hey, Charlotte,” Katie said while she stacked clean glasses back onto the shelf. “What are you doing here this morning? Don’t you have any appointments at the salon?”
“Nah. I had one grumpy guy earlier, but no one else is scheduled to come in for two more hours, so I thought I’d come get a bite to eat. Besides, do I have to have a reason to come see you?”
Turning around, Katie studied her friend. Charlotte looked innocent enough, but Katie arched an eyebrow. “If I hadn’t known you since kindergarten, I might be fooled, but I can tell you’re up to something.”
Charlotte’s mouth dropped open, and she faked hurt. “I can’t believe you’d accuse me of being conniving. That’s a knife in the back right there.”
Setting down the last two glasses, Katie apologized. “I suppose that was unfair. Sorry. Judging by your expression, it looked like you were up to something.”
Bless His Heart Page 9