Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) (31 page)

Now here they stood on this beautiful mountain the morning after their wedding night. Sarah could not imagine a more perfect place to spend their honeymoon, learning Derrick’s favorite pastime away from family, friends, and any kind of technology that might beckon him back to work.

“At the time it was simply my love. You hadn’t yet realized that you returned it.” He cupped her cheek and kissed her softly. “I climbed up here and prayed, begging for God’s direction. Then I went to your house to ask you to marry me, but you threw up all over me instead.”

Sarah laughed and stepped back. “I did no such thing. I never missed the bucket.” With Derrick’s cocked eyebrow, she waved her hand. “Well, maybe once.”

His face sobered again and Sarah felt a fluttering in her stomach at the look on his face. “I have loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you, sweetheart. And I will love you until we reach the end of eternity.”

Stepping forward and slipping her arms around his waist, she rested her head on his chest and listened to the beautiful sound of his heart beating. She vividly remembered sitting in the hospital room with him, breathing in time to the machines, listening to the beep-beep-beep as the monitor signaled the rhythm of his heart. “God has given us a beautiful gift in our love,” she said. “He brought us together, then He healed you with a miracle. I sometimes feel like we can never do enough to be worthy of this gift.”

Stroking her cheek with a finger, Derrick smiled. Then he shrugged out of his backpack and dug around in it until he pulled out a couple of energy bars. “All we can do is love Him and serve Him with all our heart.” He winked as he handed her the snack. “Heart, not hearts. Did you catch that? Because we’re one, now, you and me.”

Sarah slipped an arm around his waist and looked out over the beautiful view, admiring the wonder of God’s creation. “I’m blessed.”

THE END

IT
was October, but the Florida Keys varied little in the sense of changing weather. For a brief time, they worried that the tropical depression sitting a few hundred miles off the coast in the Atlantic would affect their plans. At the last minute, the storm veered in its course and allowed for the perfect day. The sky was blue enough to hurt the eyes. The sun was warm enough to allow short sleeves. The air was fresh enough that spirits felt rejuvenated just breathing it.

Across the sloping lawn that led to the beach, white covered tables nearly bowed under from the weight of the food. Every several yards, drink stations were set up, manned by a wait staff all in white who worked under the expert eye of Mrs. Tony Viscolli. In the kitchen, the army of decorators unwound with cool drinks after hours under the drilling command of Mrs. Barry Anderson. And the children were relaxed and refreshed after an afternoon spent with Mrs. Derrick DiNunzio.

All in all, it was a perfect party.

The guest list ranged from the country’s most prominent to the bartender who ran the seediest bar on the south side of Boston, with dress ranging from black tie to black leather. An hour before, the crowd had buzzed with the surprise arrival of President Cummings, while some had shifted position to avoid being in the way of the big guy with the goatee who went by Hank. But the sisters saw neither political affiliation nor social status. They merely looked out at the hundreds of people and saw Tony’s friends and associates, all those who had come to the extreme southern part of the country to pay homage to him on his fiftieth birthday.

Near the cake that rose six tiers, a lone microphone waited. Antonio Viscolli rarely let an opportunity go by without giving a speech, and his wife knew him well enough to know that and have it installed even under his protests. After the cake was cut and the champagne poured for the toast, she gave a secret smile to her youngest sister as he took the miniature stage.

He waited with a smile on his face as the applause died down, then cleared his throat while he scanned the sea of faces. “My wife worried that no one would come,” he said, then waited until the laughter faded away. “I want to thank you all for being here. The honor I feel at seeing so many friends at one time is a great one, and I feel it deeply.

“Birthdays are a time of gifts, but this year I’ve decided to give rather than receive.”

Robin sat at the table with the rest of the family and glanced up when she felt someone at her elbow. Surprised, she took the thin box from the uniformed waiter. Tony continued to speak. “In December, it will be eighteen years since I asked my wife to marry me. At the time I was willing to do anything at all to get her to say yes. As it was, all it took was offering her a trip to Italy.”

More laughter followed Robin’s surprised gasp. He grinned at her from his spot. “Small change compared to the joy she’s given me over the years. For the two beautiful children. TJ, fourteen and already a championship rower, Madeline, my precious little girl who just became a teenager. It was just yesterday that you two were born, and here we are.” He paused while his children looked at each other and grinned embarrassed smiles. “
Cara
, about three hundred people are waiting for you to open your present.”

While Robin fought the bright paper, Tony explained his gift. “She’s always complaining that the jewelry I buy her is too much. Too flashy. Too expensive. I’m afraid that she has nearly quit even opening the boxes, very frustrating for a man who enjoys beautiful gems, I assure you.” He felt the familiar glow she always brought him as he watched her hold up the simple sapphire hanging from a thin gold chain. “Maybe this one you’ll actually wear, my love.”

Murmurs flew through the crowd as Robin secured the chain around her neck and clutched at the stone. Maxine was so involved in watching Robin, that she didn’t realize a waiter holding an identical package stood at her arm until he tapped her on the shoulder.

“Maxine, my sweet. So many years ago we feared we’d lost you for good. You who lights up a room just by walking into it, and who has gifted this world with your magnificent art. To Maxi, the mother of my four precious nieces and nephews, to the wife of my best friend and brother. You are the one who always complained that you didn’t get the flashy jewelry. Well, sweetheart, this was the flashiest I could find.”

Other women would have oohed and ahhed over the emerald the size of a robin’s egg centered in three strands of emeralds and diamonds. Maxine, though, threw back her head and laughed. She removed the thick gold band from around her neck and put the new necklace in its place. What should have been tacky and overdone somehow found its home as it complimented her black sheath perfectly.

Sarah’s face fused with color when Tony turned his attention to her. “This brings me to our little pixie Sarah, the one whose strength binds our family, who is our constant voice of reason. The one who has spent her career in service to others, helping deliver countless babies. She is the wife of the man who is my brother in my heart, and the mother of his almost three children.” He grinned down at her while she hid the fact that she was having another contraction. She wondered if it would be rude to tell him to hurry up.

“Your husband has been about as bad as I am with my lovely wife in showering you with presents. So it was hard for me to find something you may not already have. But somehow, I managed it. The bracelet he gave you for your 30th birthday was a rare find. He wanted the topaz, but he wanted a certain color. He was so proud of it, and discovered during his search that it originally had a matching necklace.”

Sarah felt the man at her shoulder and took the thin box from him. Her hands shook so badly that she worried she’d drop it, and she nearly cried in relief when Angela, her three year old, clambered forward to help her open her present. “After months of searching,” Tony continued, “I finally located the matching necklace. To inspect it, my buyer had to fly all the way to Australia.” Sarah lifted the necklace out of the box and barely saw the strand of pearls interlaced with topaz gems the color of honey through her tears. Maxine crouched behind her and removed her pearl choker, helping her fasten the new necklace.

“You sisters are the jewels in my life, in the lives of my brothers. You are the reason we are complete, the reason we greet each new day fresh, ready to tackle the next thing the world brings us.

“One day, we will receive jewels in our crowns in heaven. But, for now we will work for God’s kingdom, together in our marriages that are to emulate Christ’s relationship with the church. We will continue to fight the good fight and run this race. And the reason we can do it with such love and joy in our hearts is no doubt because we have you sisters by our sides.

“Without you, the three of us would be miserable old men with no joy or laughter in our lives. Because of you we have our children, we have our homes, and we have love.

“There was a time in my life I was as alone as a person could get. It was dark and cold both inside of me and out, and most of you out there would have written me off as no good, as having no hope. No other birthday present could compare in my heart to looking down from this spot at the table filled with my family. The table with those beautiful women and all those beautiful children, and knowing that they will forever keep that dark and that cold at bay, and knowing that the love at that table is real and it is absolute because that love all came from God.”

He paused and smiled at his wife with love in his eyes so strong there wasn’t a person who could see it who doubted him. He raised a glass and softly said, “
Grazie
.”

amico
– friend, buddy

Ayudame, por favor. Mi hija!
– Help me, please. My daughter!

C’è la venuta di difficoltà
– Trouble is coming.

capire che sono orgoglioso di lei
– Understand that I am proud of you

calmi giù, il fratello
– Calm down, brother

cara
– beloved, darling

devo andare adesso
– I have to go now.

grazie
– thank you