off of you, even after all these years. Girls, there’s a lesson to be learned here.”
Sharon Lynn snatched back the panties. “Get your own,” she advised her mother. “Just be sure Daddy has his heart checked first.”
“Okay, enough,” Jenny said, pointing to another box. “That one next. It’s something new.”
After the shock of the last gift, Sharon Lynn was even more cautious about opening this one, especially given Jenny’s daring. Sure enough, inside she found a couple of scraps of lace purporting to be a bra that matched those dangerously wicked panties.
“Are you sure any of this is for me?” she demanded. “Seems to me as if you all had Cord on your mind when you shopped.”
“Not me,” Lizzy said. “I’m the practical, down-to-earth one.” She handed over her gift to hoots of laughter. “Quiet, all of you. Now, Sharon Lynn, this is borrowed and don’t you forget it. Hank gave it to me on my wedding day and I want it back.”
Inside the box was a gorgeous heart-shaped diamond pendant on a gold chain. As far as she knew, Lizzy never went anywhere without it. Because Lizzy washed her hands so often at the hospital, she often left her wedding and engagement rings safely at home, but she always wore the necklace. Her fingers strayed to it again and again, as if it were a talisman. Sharon Lynn was deeply touched that Lizzy would loan it to her, even for a day.
“It’s for luck,” Lizzy said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it. “That’s what it’s brought me every single day since I married Hank. I just wanted you to get off to a good start this time.”
Tears welled up in Sharon Lynn’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said in a choked whisper. Lizzy couldn’t possibly know just how desperately she needed a little luck these days, not just for the next few hours but in all the days to come when she and Cord would be battling to keep Ashley.
“I guess that leaves me,” her mother said, pulling out the box she’d tucked into the baby’s blanket. “These were your grandmother Mary’s. Your grandfather asked that I give them to you today with his love.”
Diamond stud earrings were inside the jeweler’s box. They weren’t the largest she’d ever seen, but they were the most beautiful—perfectly cut and shooting off sparks of blue fire.
“He gave them to her on their first anniversary,” her mother explained. “They didn’t have much money then, because he was trying to make a go of White Pines. In later years, he gave her fancier jewelry, but these were always her favorites. I remember her wearing them on every important family occasion. Now you can wear them on the day you start your own most memorable dates with Cord.”
Sharon Lynn couldn’t prevent another flood of tears. Would they have been so kind, so generous if they knew the truth? she wondered. Probably so, because they loved her and whatever her reasons for marrying Cord, they wished her well.
“I love you all,” she whispered.
“Be happy, darling,” her mother said, hugging her fiercely.
“I’m going to be,” she said, surprised to discover that she actually believed it.
“Oh, my, look at the time,” Dani said. “We’d better get this show on the road. You can’t be late. Harlan Patrick says Cord’s nervous enough without being left to pace outside the judge’s chambers.”
The next few hours passed in a blur. The ceremony was little more than perfunctory with its hastily spoken vows and cursory kiss at the end. She and Cord had given in on having a small reception for the family, but not at White Pines where it had been last time. Sharon Lynn had put her foot down about that. She would have been terrified to get in a car and leave when it was over. Obviously understanding why she was being so adamant, Justin and his wife had organized it at their place in town.
“Let me make up for giving you such a rough time,” he had pleaded and she had agreed.
He and Patsy had spared nothing. Grandpa Harlan’s housekeeper had cooked a feast and the bakery in town had prepared a small but spectacular wedding cake. Sharon Lynn gazed into Cord’s eyes as he fed her the traditional bite of cake and almost gasped at the longing she saw in his gaze.
So, she thought, her grandfather had been right. Cord did love her. Please, she prayed silently, don’t let me let him down. Don’t ever let me