Love Finds a Home (Love Comes Softly Series #8) (28 page)

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"No," sobbed Belinda.

Luke moved across the room to place his hands on Belinda's trembling shoulders. "What in the world did you two talk about all that time, anyway?" he asked in a teasing tone.

"Oh, Luke," sobbed Belinda, and she turned to Luke's arms and lowered her head to his shoulder.

He held her, patting her back as she wept.

"You know what I would suggest?" he said softly when the sobs had subsided. Belinda shook her head.

"I would suggest that you start over. And this time really
talk."

"Oh, Luke," cried Belinda. "I think it's too late."

"Then what's he doing here waiting right outside the door?" Luke asked with a chuckle.

"He . . . he's here?" Belinda was shocked.

"He's here. And he'll be knocking that door down if I don't soon let him in."

"Oh my!" cried Belinda, her hand going first to her face and then to her hair. "I must look one awful sight."

"I wouldn't expect him to notice," Luke replied gently, then gave her one more squeeze before he released her and opened the door for Drew.

"Belinda?" Drew entered the room hesitantly. "May I come in?"

Belinda silently nodded.

"I . . . I've really messed everything up, haven't I?" he said with such a tremor in his voice that Belinda wanted to reach out to him, but she stood rooted to the spot.

"I thought you felt your work was in Boston . . . with the elderly. . . ."

Belinda nodded again in understanding.

"I knew . . . I've always felt that I was to come back here," he went on.

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Belinda managed a shaky little laugh. "Silly, wasn't it? We both thought we knew what the other was thinking when. . ."

But Drew had closed the distance between them. He reached his hand to her face and tipped her chin upward. "Is it too late . . . to start again?" he asked softly.

Belinda couldn't shake her head. He was holding her against him. She knew she'd never squeeze a word past her tight throat. She only looked at him and then she shyly put her hands on his shoulders.

"I love you," whispered Drew. "I always have. Would . . . will you marry me?"

Belinda looked for a long time at the man she loved. She wanted to answer. She even tried to say the word, but still she was unable to speak. Her arms slipped around his neck and he must have taken that as affirmation, for Belinda found herself being tenderly kissed.

Belinda judged it to be the most glorious spring she had ever experienced, she told Drew as they sat rocking on her parents' front porch. Each day seemed brighter, cleaner, more perfect than the last. Marty just smiled at both of them. She had watched love bloom before, she told the couple as she refilled their glasses of iced tea.

Drew found a small house on the edge of town and made arrangements to rent it. Belinda spent hours dreaming of how she would fix this and paint that, and Drew proved to be handy with minor repairs.

"It's going to be just perfect," Belinda enthused. "I can hardly wait to move in."

Drew smiled. The place certainly wasn't perfect, he realized, especially after what Belinda had been used to in Boston. But Drew no longer felt worried about asking her to share his

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dreams. Love was too evident on her face, and he knew instinctively that they would be happy together.

One day as Belinda was tending her special potted plant, she decided she couldn't wait until they actually occupied the small cottage. Her rose needed planting. When the sun came up in the springtime sky, spilling its warm promises upon the earth, Belinda carefully lifted her potted rose and headed for the small cottage.

Gently she eased the small bush from its confining container and placed it tenderly, securely into the hole she had dug.

"Grow, little rose," she whispered as she poured water into the hole and eased the dirt back in place. "I hope you will be happy here. As happy as I intend to be. You are to make our home beautiful on the outside--and I will try to make it beautiful on the inside."

Belinda rose to her feet, studied her soiled hands, and smiled with inner joy.

"Oh, I hope you bloom," she told the rose. "I hope you'll bloom
this year."
She was silent for a moment and then continued. "But if you don't. . . I'll wait. I feel prepared to wait now. I ... I finally feel settled ... ready for life."

The wedding was set for August at the little church in the country. By then Drew's law practice was becoming comfortably established. The small cottage was reasonably refurbished and furnished, and Belinda had busied herself with hanging curtains and scattering braided rugs. Though the little house was simple, Belinda was gloriously happy. It wouldn't be long before she would be Mrs. Drew Simpson.

Mrs. Simpson and Sid came by train for the wedding. Drew

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gently chided his mother when he and Belinda met the train.

"When I asked you in Boston concerning Belinda, why didn't you tell me she had already gone home?" he asked.

"I had me no idea what had happened between you two," Mrs. Simpson admitted. "I felt that there was something strange going on when two very dear friends suddenly didn't know each other's plans."

"So you told me that Belinda would need to speak for herself?"

Mrs. Simpson shrugged. "What else could I say? I had no intention of intruding on Belinda's privacy."

Drew put his arm around Belinda's waist and pulled her close. "Well, I forgive you, Ma--now that things have worked out," he laughed.

Belinda just smiled. Tomorrow was to be the happiest day of her life.

"Are you ready?" Clark asked his youngest daughter, and Belinda smiled her answer.

"It's a shame," said Clark seriously as he bent to kiss the top of her head.

"What's a shame?" Belinda asked innocently.

"It's a shame I have run out of daughters. Each bride jest gets prettier an' prettier."

"Oh, Pa," Belinda laughed, but her cheeks were glowing. "Happy?"

"I've never been happier. I think I'm about to burst," admitted Belinda.

"Strange," mused Clark. "After all these years . . . you and Drew"

"It's not strange at all," smiled Belinda dreamily. "I . . . I think that it's just as God always meant it to be. He . . . He just had to wait for me to grow up."

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Epilogue

Dear Reader,

We are leaving the Davises at this point in their lives for a time. I realize there is much more we could say about their ongoing family--but it has really grown too large and scattered for us to comfortably keep up with all their comings and goings, living and loving.

Many have suggested a reunion to bring all of the western family back to join Marty and Clark at the home farm. It sounds like fun. But it is almost impossible. For one thing, there are now far more characters than a reader--or the writer--can properly keep straight. Secondly, such an event was unlikely in the days that we are reliving in these stories. The distance was too great and the travel too difficult and expensive for all the family to be able to make the trip.

Thank you for traveling with me. I pray as I write each story that something that is told, or even implied, might strike some responsive chord in a heart--somewhere--and that God will speak to you in a special way. He is able to do that, I know--and that is why sharing the stories with you has been so special for me.

God bless!

PS. It is now some years since I wrote the farewell note above, and I did return to the Davis family for four novels in the PRAIRIE LEGACY series, picking up with Belinda and Drew's offspring in
The Tender Years, A Searching Heart, A Quiet Strength,
and
Like Gold Refined.

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LOOK No Further

FOR FAITH

gro

You'll Love This Heroine With a Heart for Justice Following fast on the beloved

SHANNON SAGA, Kit Shannon

returns for more dramatic law cases, more romance, and more

early 1900's Los Angeles history. Engaged to a man who may be more than he appears and faced with some of the toughest cases of her life, Kit now must struggle to preserve her fight for justice against those who would stop her.

THE TRIALS OF KIT SHANNON by James Scott Bell
A Greater Glory A Higher
Justice

239

FURTHER -FILLED FICTION

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240

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Belinda Davis's move to Boston had introduced her to a life she never could have imagined growing up in the West. But even the opportunities of wealth, literature and travel left her feeling empty. Realizing her faith had been pushed into the background, she once again invites God to have first place in her life.

But now she faces new life decisions that seem even more difficult than before. Torn between two contrasting ways of life, one full of fascinating opportunities in the East and one represented by the beloved farm home in which she was raised, she clings to the principles that are her parents' legacy: faith, love, and family.

Then the One Person She'd Never Expected
to See Again Returns. . .

THE FINAL BOOK IN JANETTE OKE'S BELOVED
LOVE COMES SOFTLY
SAGA

Love finds a Home

BOOK 8

BETHANYHOUSE PUBLISHERS

JANETTE''S legacy reaches far beyond the four-dozen novels she has written or the Christy Award, Gold Medallion, and other accolades she has won or even the publishing trends influenced by her writing success. It is best represented by the thousands of letters she receives from readers all around the world whose hearts and minds have been profoundly affected by her stories.

US $12.99 FICT Historical Fiction

ISBN 10: -7642-2855-2 ISBN 978- -7642-2855-1

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