Simple Choices (37 page)

S
aturday was the most wonderful day of my life, but it rushed past me like a mighty wind that sweeps in and out so quickly you’re not sure it was ever really there. A few memories will always stay burned into my memory, though. Sam, standing at the front of the church in his black suit. As I walked down the aisle, I was certain he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my entire life. My mother told me once that in her eyes, my father outshone every man she’d ever met. As the years went by, she never changed her opinion. At the time, I couldn’t understand why she didn’t seem to notice his wrinkles, the extra skin under his chin, or the way his stomach got a little larger every year. But on Saturday, I understood it completely. I knew that the rest of my life, I would see Sam standing there, his sun-bleached hair combed neatly into place, his incredible gray eyes looking at me beneath dark lashes, his expression one I will always remember. He told me after the ceremony that he was so overcome by my beauty he could barely breathe.

And I will always recall my mother’s face when she saw me wearing her blue dress, a white-lace shawl around my shoulders, and a bouquet of red carnations, yellow dandelions, and purple irises in my arms. My white dress was packed away in a trunk, waiting for the day my daughter would decide between it … or a plain blue dress that carried more meaning than beauty.

A sea of faces passed before us that day. My mother and father, Pat, Ida, Gabe, Sarah and John, Sweetie, Emily and Abel. Each face precious to me. Every person part of a large, extended family. And of course, Hannah. Although we didn’t get much time to speak, she hugged me tightly and whispered “Thank you,” into my ear.

There was great food, courtesy of Hector and Carmen, and wonderful gifts given by all the people who love us. Our reception overflowed with laughter and the joy of the Lord. But little by little, people drifted away. Bill Eberly drove Sweetie to the airport after the reception. It was hard to see her go, but Sam and I both knew she had made the right choice.

As quickly as the whirlwind of excitement that weddings bring reached its peak, it was over. My mother and father went home to the house that had sheltered the Temple family for over fifty years. Sam and I drove home to the big red house, our truck stuffed full of gifts we’d find places for later. Although everything we’d been given blessed us, my grandmother’s quilt and Hannah’s painting would stay at the top of the list.

We changed clothes and went out to sit on the porch. We were finally alone. Buddy curled up at my feet, and Snickle lay down on Sam’s lap. The third rocking chair sat empty, and Sweetie’s absence was deeply felt. We pulled our rocking chairs together and held hands until the sun went down.

Finally Sam said, “I think it’s time to go inside, Mrs. Goodrich.”

“I agree.” I turned to look into the stormy gray eyes of the man I would spend the rest of my life with. “Hey Sam, why don’t cannibals eat clowns?”

He chuckled softly. “I have no idea. Why don’t cannibals eat clowns?”

“Because they taste funny.”

Sam’s warm laughter drifted into the night air. “Is this what I can look forward to for the next fifty years?”

I squeezed his hand. “You got it, bub.”

He leaned over and kissed me gently, and then he stood up. “I can hardly wait.”

I let go of his hand. “Hey, give me just a minute alone, okay?”

He smiled. “Just don’t take too long.”

“I won’t.”

He called Buddy and Snickle, ushering them both into the house. When the door shut behind him, I looked up into a sky full of glittering stars. A verse from the eighth Psalm popped into my mind.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
Tearfully, I whispered a prayer of thanks to the One who had led me to Harmony, Kansas, so He could reveal His plan for me—a plan far beyond anything I could have ever dreamed. I rocked for a while in the soft, summer air, wrapped in His love. Then I got up and opened the front door of the house I’d loved from the first moment I’d seen it, and went inside, ready to begin a brand-new, wonderful adventure.

N
ANCY
M
EHL
lives in Wichita, Kansas, with her husband, Norman, and her rambunctious puggle, Watson. She’s authored eleven books and is currently at work on her newest series. All of Nancy’s novels have an added touch—something for your spirit as well as your soul. You can find out more about Nancy by visiting her website at:
www.nancymehl.com
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T
HE
H
ARMONY SERIES

Simple Secrets
Simple Deceit

H
OMETOWN
M
YSTERIES

Missing Mabel
Blown Away