Page 95 of Love in Riverbend
It’s then that the rest of the room comes into focus. Molly is now on Bridget’s lap and both Bridget and my mom are dabbing their eyes with napkins. Randy is the one to stand and lift his glass of water. “A toast to Dax and Kandace.”
Everyone raises their glass except Justin.
Finally, Kandace’s brother grins and lifts his glass. “Welcome to the family,” he says.
Everyone cheers.
I go to Molly and lift her from her grandma’s lap. “How about it, Molly? Are you okay with Mom and Dad getting married?”
“What took you so long?”
The room fills with laughter as Bridget brings two homemade pies into the dining room.
Sitting at my side, Kandace looks down at the ring and back to me. “I love the ring. It’s beautiful.”
“I had some help picking it out.”
“Who?”
“Your mom.”
Epilogue
Kandace
Six months later
* * *
Quintessential Treasures is an online sensation. I’ve hired three people to help with orders and keeping the merchandise stocked. While the upstairs isn’t Molly’s and my home, it is filled with inventory as well as a room designated as the shipping center. The computer system is updated and with living only walking distance from the store, I can go back and forth whenever I need.
Dax has partnered with Jeffrey Murphy and opened a title company. They’re working on something that has to do with ethanol. He’s swamped with work but is always there to walk Molly and me home when I turn the sign in the window.
I smile at my friend who is looking at herself in the full-length mirror, turning right and left.
“I look like a giant watermelon.”
“You do not.” I scoff. “A small watermelon.” I lift my finger and thumb only an inch apart. “Baby watermelon.”
“I think that’s what I’m growing.”
The seafoam green dress she’s wearing has an empire waist and plenty of material to cover her eight-month baby bump. She and Mick married on New Year’s Eve. It was a bit sooner than originally planned. That didn’t make it any less festive. Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as we expect. The most important thing is that they do work out.
Once in a while it takes a well-meaning grandmother and friend to make one’s eyes open and ready one’s heart to trust and love again.
The door to the dressing room at the back of the church opens. Mom and Molly come in. Our daughter is wearing a dress a shade darker than Chloe. My dress is ivory and long. The hem comes to the top of my shoes, and my veil is secured in my hair with a pearl-encrusted comb that Ginny brought to me. She said Ruth wore the comb in her wedding to John, and she, Ginny, wore it in her wedding to Dax’s father. She asked if I’d continue the tradition.
Of course I said yes.
Mom comes up behind me and peers over my shoulder into the mirror. “You’re beautiful.”
When I turn, I’m holding back my tears. “Thank you. For everything. I remember feeling afraid and alone. You and Dad never let that be a reality. And now, marrying Dax…it’s my dream come true.”
“Hey,” Chloe says, as she adjusts the bow on the back of Molly’s dress. “You were never alone.”
“I wasn’t and it’s because of all of you.”
Molly reaches for my hand. “I love you, Mom.”
