months ago, and Libby’s wedding would take place in only one more month.
“I think I’ll go with the white,” Libby said to the baker once she returned to the table, and she started filling out the forms she needed to get the wedding cake ordered.
Before August, Etta would’ve returned to her place at the back of the homestead after an occasion like this. She’d change into sweatpants and watch sappy romantic movies all night, letting whoever came to the homestead fend for themselves.
She’d known for a while now that she’d be the last single Glover standing, and the thought had irritated her and brought her to her knees many times. As Libby finished paying for the deposit on her cake, and the three of them stood, Etta didn’t feel like that.
She felt like the Lord knew her and had been mindful of her situation. She would never go so far as to say that August’s wife had died so that Etta could have him in her life, but she absolutely believed the Lord had guided August to Three Rivers at this time, so they could find one another.
He fixed something inside her that had been broken when she couldn’t walk down the aisle. She liked to hope that she healed something inside him that had been damaged upon his wife’s death. They got along well, and since the New Year’s Eve kiss, a day hadn’t passed where she hadn’t seen him and kissed him.
So things were going really well, at least in Etta’s mind and in her All Things Dating Book. She’d even told him about a few of the dating disasters from her book, and they’d laid together on his couch, laughing while Hailey slept down the hall in her bedroom.
As she hugged Libby and Mildred and they went their separate ways, a new kind of hope filled Etta’s heart. Hope that she could gather those she loved around her to help her pick out wedding cake, the perfect dress, and the precise paper for the invitations. Hope that she could have the happily-ever-after she’d always dreamed of.
Hope that she and August could build a relationship with one another and then a family together, even after so much heartache and so many disappointments.
She drove toward Shiloh Ridge, saying, “Whatever Thy will, Lord, I’ll do.”
A distinct thought entered her mind—don’t plan for anything, Etta—and she kneaded the steering wheel in her truck. Etta sure did love making plans, and she had fantasies about her partner and what her wedding would be like that dated back three decades.
“I’ll try,” she whispered to herself, and to the Lord. After all, she didn’t need an elaborate wedding cake, the most fashionable gown, or a shiny announcement in order to get what she’d always wanted. Sometimes fantasies were exactly that—fantasies—and Etta wanted real, lasting love in her life.
Now, whether that was with August or not, she could only hope; she didn’t know yet, but she was excited to keep exploring the relationship and see where it led her.
Chapter 15
Sammy Glover hurried her children up the steps at Bull House, glad there were only a few. Russ could get distracted by a piece of debris floating in the air, for crying out loud.
She knocked on the door and then opened it so Dot wouldn’t have to get up and come answer it. “It’s just me,” Sammy said. “Come on, Smiles. Hold the door for Momma.”
Smiles stepped in front of her and did what she asked, and Sammy gave him a smile as she moved past him. “Hold it for Russ. Come on, son.”
Dot rose from the couch, and she looked like she hadn’t slept much the previous night. Sammy stalled. “I’ll call Etta,” she said.
“I already did,” Dot said, offering Sammy a weary smile. “Glory just had a rough night, that’s all.”
“Auntie Dot,” Smiles said. “Look at my toof.” He ran toward her, and Dot grinned as she crouched down to look at Smiles’s front tooth, which had started to wiggle a couple of days ago.
“Oh, you’re going to lose that so soon.” Dot straightened and patted Smiles’s head. Behind Sammy, the door opened again, and Etta said, “I brought lunch.”
Sammy got out of the way so Etta could move past her with a pot of what smelled like her famous curry chicken soup. A plastic grocery sack swung from her arm, and Sammy spied a bag of pumpkin seeds and a container of sour cream.
“I can reschedule the meeting,” Sammy said.
“Nonsense,” Etta said as