His smile widened. “There have been a few times today that I imagined seeing her myself. She was such a vital part of this place you can’t help but feel she’s here and will always be here.”
Jenna smiled, knowing that was true. “She’s happy. I can actually feel it.”
“And she has reasons to be,” Randolph said, taking Jenna’s hand in his. “Today her great-grandson married her goddaughter, her long-lost great-granddaughter has been found, the Bible has been returned to where it belongs and last but not least, Glendale Shores will be kept out of developers’ hands. Knowing my grandmother, I believe she is extremely happy.”
He held his wife’s gaze steadily as he added, “Just like I am happy. When I think about all we have gone through, all we lost and restored, I can’t help but thank God.”
Jenna’s smile widened. “And I feel the same way. I thank God for our families and friends, but most importantly, I thank him for the ties that bound us together all those years ago, and still bind us today.”
Randolph grinned. “So what do you anticipate next, Mrs. Fuller?”
Jenna chuckled. She glanced over at Randi, who was talking to Noelle. “Trying to get our daughter through college without losing any of our hair.”
She moved her glance over to where Zach and Anna sat talking. “Possibly another wedding in a year or so.”
Her gaze left the couple to go rest on the bride and groom. “A grandchild in less than a year.”
Randolph, who had been following the movement of her gaze, chuckled. “That soon?”
Jenna turned her head and met Randolph’s gaze and smiled. “Possibly sooner, less than nine months from now, and if that’s the case, act surprised.”
Randolph paused when her words sank in. “Are you saying that you think …?”
Briskly, Jenna nodded. “He’s a Fuller. She’s a Haywood. Together that’s a combustible combination. If anyone should know it would be us.”
Randolph couldn’t deny that. Nor could he deny feeling more love for Jenna than he thought was possible. She was and had always been everything to him.
He lifted his wineglass up to her in a salute. “To the ties that bind.”
Also by Brenda Jackson
Family Reunion
Welcome to Leo’s
(Anthology)
TIES THAT BIND. Copyright © 2002 by Brenda Streater Jackson.
All rights reserved.
For information, address St. Martin’s Press,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
eISBN 9781429905718
First eBook Edition : May 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jackson, Brenda (Brenda Streater)
Ties that bind : a novel / Brenda Jackson.—1st St. Martin’s Griffin ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-30611-3
1. Married people—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. I. Title. PS3560.A21165 T54 2002 813’.6—dc21
2002005047
Ties That Bind Page 39
