Carry the Light (14 page)

S
ometimes one good idea inspires another.

After mulling over Ellie's suggestion of an assembly line and deciding it was a good one, Charlene found herself considering more new ideas.

When she was drying the breakfast dishes, she paused to glance out the kitchen window, thinking about the possibility of Daniel helping her in the store. He had made good progress clearing the backyard, but he still had a great deal of work to do to keep his promise to give Aunt Dorothy a clear view of the creek by Easter. The overhead skies threatened rain at some point today, and the forecast for the weekend was still undetermined. But whether or not Daniel could work outside this weekend, Charlene would fine-tune her plan for the assembly line before mentioning it to him—or to Aunt Dorothy, for that matter.

Charlene also decided to call and make an appointment for a haircut. She'd put it off too long, and Ellie's recent trim had inspired her.

She was drying a saucer when Aunt Dorothy entered the kitchen carrying the old candy tin containing her jewelry. “Let those dishes go for now. They'll air-dry just fine. If we don't make time for me to show you this jewelry, we never will.”

Charlene winced. She had been so busy, she hadn't had the opportunity to sit down with Aunt Dorothy again for a jewelry-and-story session. “I'm sorry. With Easter so close, it's been a little hectic for me,” she apologized. Reluctant to put her aunt off yet again, she gave up any hope of getting to work early today.

Aunt Dorothy chuckled. “Maybe you've been busy, but all I've had to do is worry about convincing Agnes Withers that I'm not dead yet, so she shouldn't be so worried about who is getting what after I'm finally good and gone from this world.” She set the tin on the kitchen table and sat down.

Charlene grabbed a pencil and a notepad from a junk drawer and took a seat next to her aunt. “I'm ready,” she announced, ready to see what kind of jewelry her aunt had saved in the tin.

Aunt Dorothy lifted the lid and set it aside. She took out an old cardboard box held together with blue rubber bands. Inside, there was a faded maroon velvet box, which she snapped open to reveal a tiny gold ring with a square amethyst stone centered between two diamond chips.

Charlene smiled immediately. “I recognize that ring. You used to wear it all the time.”

“It's my birthstone. Your mother gave it to me when I stood up for her at her wedding. Thanks to these old knobby knuckles of mine, it doesn't fit anymore.” Her gaze softened, as if she traveled back in her mind's eye to glimpse at the past for a moment before she packed the ring away, tucking in the note Charlene had quickly scribbled to explain the ring's significance.

The next few boxes held a fourteen-karat-gold cross with a diamond chip in the center, which had been given to Aunt Dorothy on her sixteenth birthday by her parents; a dented gold locket containing a lock of Aunt Dorothy's baby hair; and a chunky gold ring studded with opals that a former old neighbor had bequeathed to Aunt Dorothy in her will.

“I saved the best for last,” Aunt Dorothy proclaimed, slowly, almost reverently lifting out the final box.

Yellowed as all the others were, this box was larger by half and was held together with a faded green ribbon.

Charlene leaned forward in her chair. She expected to see a bracelet of some kind, but when her aunt finally removed the cardboard lid, she was surprised to see three diamond engagement rings, side by side, sparkling brilliantly as Aunt Dorothy tilted the box to catch the morning light.

“They're lovely,” Charlene murmured, impressed by the antique settings as well as the diamonds themselves.

“They are lovely. And they're a big part of the history of the women in our family, which is why I wanted you to know the stories behind them. One day, I hope you'll pass them on to Bonnie,” her aunt replied. One by one, she laid the rings on the table. “These were my mother's engagement rings,” she said, pointing to the two closest to her. “The other one belonged to her mother.”

“Then these were my grandmother's and my great-grandmother's engagement rings,” Charlene clarified.

“That's right.”

Charlene picked up her great-grandmother's ring, a symbol of commitment that represented the hopes and dreams of a young couple from so long ago. Although she had never known her great-grandparents, this ring created a tangible connection to them, just as her mother's engagement ring, which Charlene kept stored in her jewelry box at home, did. “I don't think I've ever known my great-grandmother's name.”

“It was Anna Hughes,” Aunt Dorothy told her. “She was an Altman by birth, but she was married to Jack Hughes for fifty-seven years. They were both gone by the time I was nine or ten years old. I do remember she always wore a hat, and he had a big mole on the lobe of one of his ears. It's funny what a child remembers about people, isn't it?”

Charlene gently set the ring back on the table and studied the other two rings that had belonged to her grandmother. Although the diamonds in both rings were identical in size, perhaps half a karat, the settings were very distinct—one gold and the other platinum. “I don't think I ever knew that Grandmother Phillips was married twice.”

“As you know only too well, Charlene, war always makes lots of widows and orphans. When your father died in Korea, it wasn't the first time a woman in our family became a war widow.”

Charlene nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat.

“My mother married for the first time when she was seventeen,” Aunt Dorothy continued, and pointed to the gold ring. “Her husband, John Gibbs, was killed in France during World War I. After the war, she married his brother, Jake, who was your mother's and my father. This is the engagement ring he gave her,” Aunt Dorothy said, pointing to the platinum ring.

“She married brothers?” Charlene asked.

“That wasn't uncommon back in those days. I worked with a girl once who married brothers, but she was a floozy. Seems she forgot to divorce the first brother before she married the second,” she said and laughed. There was enough gossip in the factory about Flossie Decker and the Birmingham brothers to fuel the assembly line for months!”

“I imagine there would be.” Charlene chuckled as she wrote a brief note about each of the three rings. After folding it into quarters, she tucked it into the black box underneath the velvet. “There. Now I won't forget what you've told me.”

“Before I put these rings away, why don't you let me see yours?” Aunt Dorothy asked.

Charlene slid her engagement ring from her finger. When she held it out, her aunt took it and laid it on the table next to the other rings. “Knowing who owned what ring is nice, Charlene, but not as important as the men who gave them to the women they loved as a symbol of commitment—a promise, fulfilled through marriage, to love and honor each other,” she said softly. “Do you still have your mother's engagement ring?”

“Yes. It's at home.”

“Well, if we laid her ring right here,” she said, pointing, “there'd be four generations of our family represented here. Four generations of women who spent their lives keeping the promises they made. I'm pretty sure it wasn't always easy. But every time I think I'm not strong enough to do something I need to do, I like to take these rings out and remind myself that I come from a long line of very strong women. So do you.”

Moved by her aunt's words, Charlene slipped her engagement ring back on her finger with a renewed awareness of the commitment she and Daniel had pledged to each other so many years ago. Before she could thank her aunt, the back door opened, filling the kitchen with a blast of damp, chilly air.

When Charlene turned, startled, to face the door, her eyes widened. “Daniel! What on earth are you doing here?”

Grinning, he nudged the door behind him closed before he set a brown cardboard box on the counter. “I came home from work yesterday and decided to use a couple of my vacation days to work here in the yard. I thought I'd surprise you both,” he said and planted a kiss on top of Aunt Dorothy's head. “How's my best girl?” he asked before walking over to Charlene and pecking her cheek.

“I'm feeling better now that you're here. I can't say I've ever been fond of surprises, but you could change a girl's mind about almost anything,” her aunt said coyly.

“It looks like I've interrupted the two of you,” he said as her aunt discreetly put the three engagement rings away again before gathering up the rest of the boxes and storing them in the candy tin.

“You're about the best interruption I've had in ten years,” Aunt Dorothy teased. “We were finished, anyway,” she said and handed the tin to Charlene. “If you wouldn't mind, you could put this back in my room now.”

Disappointed to end her conversation with her aunt, yet very pleased with her husband's unexpected arrival, Charlene picked up the candy tin and got up from her seat. “Have you had breakfast?” she asked Daniel.

“Hours ago. I wanted to get a full day of work in today.”

“It's a shame you didn't wait until tomorrow,” she said, glancing out the kitchen window at the gray skies again. “It looks like it's going to rain.”

“I've taken care of that, too,” he replied, and nodded toward the cardboard box on the counter. “I picked up some earth-friendly cleaning products. I found an old concrete birdbath in the brush at back, but it's covered with grime and algae. I thought I'd clear out more brush until it rains, then I'll move to the carport to tackle the birdbath. According to the clerk at the hardware store, I should be able to clean it up almost as good as new.”

Aunt Dorothy clapped her hands together. “I was hoping that old birdbath was still out there, although I'm sure it's in deplorable condition. You're such a considerate man to want to fix it up for me.”

Charlene nodded. “Daniel is probably the kindest man I've ever known,” she said, offering him a compliment of her own. Telling Daniel how much she admired him or appreciated the little things he did for her was something she used to do a lot, and he had been just as open with his compliments to her. She was not sure how or why they had stopped doing that. But she certainly liked the way he smiled back at her right now.

“Did you happen to find anything else out there in the yard?” Aunt Dorothy asked.

He leaned back against the counter. “No. Why? What else is out there?”

“I used to have a concrete bench by the edge of the creek, but it's probably gone. Either kids shoved it in the creek or it just caved in by itself after a heavy rain.”

“It might still turn up,” Daniel said before turning to lift a small, covered aluminum pan from the cardboard box. He placed it on the table in front of Aunt Dorothy, who beamed up at him.

“For me?”

“For you. I was hoping I'd get here in time for your breakfast, since you usually sleep late, but I see from the dishes drying on the counter that you've already eaten. You can save these for tomorrow.”

“That depends on what they are,” she suggested.

“I'm not sure what you like, other than jelly donuts, but I think you'll like these.”

Without waiting for another invitation, she peeled back the corner of the lid and peeked inside. The aroma of bananas filled the air.

“Banana griddle cakes!” Aunt Dorothy cried. She picked up one of the silver-dollar-size treats, devoured it in two bites and took another.

Charlene chuckled. “I better get a plate.”

Daniel urged her to take a seat. “Relax. I'll get one for each of us.”

“These are delicious,” Aunt Dorothy managed to say between bites. “I remember you made these once before. I believe it was for your birthday, Charlene. You turned forty-one that year, I think.”

Impressed by her aunt's amazing memory, Charlene invited her own memories to surface. During the years they had been raising a family, Daniel had not cooked very much. The kitchen had always been her domain. But he had commandeered it on special occasions, such as their birthdays, usually making Charlene and the children their favorite breakfast. Once Greg and Bonnie had grown up and moved away, the tradition had faded to a memory that Charlene had almost forgotten until now.

Like his father, Greg loved creamed beef on burnt toast, of all things. Bonnie favored homemade waffles with blueberry syrup, while Charlene's favorite breakfast was banana pancakes.

She wondered now if Daniel had made them today to please her as much as to please Aunt Dorothy.

When he laid a plate in front of her, she placed her hand atop his and glanced at her engagement and wedding rings. Thinking of the women in her family, she prayed that she might find the strength to keep the promises her rings represented, too.

When she looked up at her husband, she found what she was hoping for in his eyes. In his own quiet, gentle way, he reassured her that the promises he had made when they married were still important to him, too.