A Bride Worth Waiting For

by Jeanie Smith Cash

  “Elizabeth glanced back at Cole and smiled. “Annie, Bethany’s mother calls them Bethany’s crutch.”

  “Her crutch?” Cole asked.

  “Yes. Everyone has their way of dealing with uncomfortable situations. Well, every since Bethany was a little girl, her way is to eat Peanut M&M’s.”

  After Elizabeth’s explanation they fell silent the rest of the way up the hill while Bethany slept. When they got back to the Ski Lodge Cole carried Bethany inside and followed Elizabeth and Mack up to her suite. Carla opened the door and Cole carried Bethany into her room and laid her on her bed. After reassuring the three young ladies that Bethany was going to be all right, he went into the living room and waited with Mack while they helped Elizabeth get Bethany ready for bed. They were there for about fifteen minutes when Elizabeth called them to come in and say goodnight.

  Cole stooped down beside Bethany’s bed and took hold of her hand. “How are you doing, Darlin?”

  “I wouldn’t have survived if you hadn’t found me, Cole.” She could hardly keep her eyes open he noticed.

  “Try not to think about that anymore, it’s behind us now. You just need to concentrate on getting well. I’m going to go, Darlin so you can rest. I’ll check on you in the morning. Goodnight.” He gently squeezed her hand before he left the room.

  Mack walked Cole to the door. “Thank you again, Cole, you’ll never know how much we appreciate all of your help.”

  “No thanks are needed, Mack. Call if you need me in the night.”

  “I will, son. Goodnight.”

  Cole left and headed up to his room he was tired and his bed would look pretty good right about now. But first he had to pray. “Thank you, Lord for helping me to find Bethany, for being with us tonight and for watching over her. Please heal her knee and her concussion. This could have been a whole lot worse if not for your watch care over us. I love you, Lord. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

  The next morning Cole went down to talk to Elizabeth. He wanted to see how Bethany had fared through the night.

  “Good morning.” Cole found Elizabeth in the kitchen baking cinnamon rolls. “Umm, those smell wonderful. I just came down to see how Bethany did through the night before we leave for church.”

  “I talked to her a few minutes ago and she was sitting up on the sofa enjoying the fire. She said she slept pretty well, that Carla had brought her some crackers and milk along with a pain pill about two o’clock this morning.”

  “It’s nice to have friends.” Cole accepted the warm cinnamon roll and cup of coffee Elizabeth handed to him. “Thank you. I figured they’d take good care of her.”

  “Yes, I assure you they will or I wouldn’t have left her. Those girls have been friends since they were in grammar school. I told Bethany I’d send up some of these with Mack, but maybe you’d like to take them instead.” She smiled. “I’ll see you at Church; the girls are going to stay with Bethany.”

  “Okay and thanks Elizabeth, for the rolls and coffee. I’ll take these up right now.” Cole took the plate of warm cinnamon rolls and headed up to Bethany’s room. He’d stay a few minutes and still be back downstairs in time to meet the guys to go to church. Afterwards Shane and Carl had to catch their flight back home. Cole would go with Chancelor, Scott and Hunter, to see them off and then they planned to go into Incline Village for awhile. Maybe he’d get Bethany some flowers and take them up to her when he got back later.

  Cole knocked on Bethany’s door and Carla answered.

  “Good morning, Cole. Come on in. Umm those cinnamon rolls smell wonderful.” Carla closed the door behind him “Sit down, how about a cup of coffee?”

  “Cole sat the rolls on the table and took the chair across form Bethany. She had her knee propped up on a pillow that was sitting on the coffee table. “That’s sounds good, Carla thanks. How are you doing this morning, Darlin?” Cole wanted to take hold of Bethany’s hand, but he resisted. She’d held his hand last night, but he wasn’t sure if that only had to do with the circumstances and he didn’t want to do anything to make her uncomfortable. Obviously the number of times she’d brought out the Peanut M&M’s when she’d been around him, he hadn’t been successful in making her feel comfortable in the past. He hoped to be able to change that in the future. He spent just a few minutes visiting with Bethany and her friends and then walked over to the small kitchen and placed his cup into the sink. “Thank you for the coffee. I’d better go so I won’t be late for Church. I’m glad you feel like being up this morning, Bethany. Is there anything you want from town?”

  “Not that I can think of, but thank you.”

  I’ll come up and check on you when I get back. If you need anything before then please call my cell phone.” He handed her his business card. “Take it easy today, okay?”

  “I will, and thank you for coming by, Cole. I’ll see you this evening.”

  He nodded, opened the door and walked out closing it softly behind him.

  Chapter Eight

  Cole and his friends spent the afternoon at Incline Village. Just before they left to go back to the lodge, they stopped at the florist and picked up the bouquet of long stemmed pink roses with baby’s breath, Cole had, had made up for Bethany earlier in the day. He’d also purchased a vase at one of the stores as they’d wandered around for her to put them in.

  “You’ve got it bad, Bud,” Chancelor said when Cole got back into the car.

  “Long stem roses, huh?” Bet that set you back a pretty penny.’ Scott grinned.

  Hunter whistled. “I sure hope she’s worth it.”

  “She is, I assure you.” Cole smiled.

  The guys took Cole back to the Lodge and picked up their luggage, they had to return the rental car and catch their plane back to Springfield. “Have a good flight and plan to come up again before I leave in the spring.” Cole gave them a three way hug.

  “Take care, Buddy. I wish you the best with Bethany.” Chancelor laid his hand on Cole’s shoulder.

  “Yeah, Keep in touch and let us know what’s happening.” Scott playfully slapped him on the back.

  “We’ll expect an email frequently with updates.” Hunter grinned.

  “Don’t worry you’ll hear from me. But all kidding aside, it means a lot that you guys came. You’re the best. Take care and have a safe trip back.”

  Cole picked up the flowers from the table where he’d set them to say goodbye to his friends and headed up to Bethany’s room. He hoped she’d done okay today. He’d thought about calling he’d been anxious about how she was doing, but he needed to take it slow, so he decided maybe he should just wait and talk to her this evening.

  Melanie answered the door when he knocked. “Hi, Cole. Come on in.”

  “Hi, Melanie. How’s Bethany?”

  “She’s doing pretty good as you can see for yourself.”

  She indicated Bethany on the sofa when he walked into the room.

  “Hi, you look great. These are for you. ” Cole handed her the vase and flowers. He loved the way her eyes lit up as she opened the box.

  “Oh, Cole.” She gasped and smiled brightly at him. They’re beautiful. Pink roses are my favorite. Thank you!”

  Melanie helped Bethany arrange the flowers in the vase and place them on the coffee table where she could enjoy them.

  “Oh, they’re so pretty. I love them, Cole. This was so nice of you.”

  Obviously the flowers were a hit, Cole was glad he’d decided to get them. It won’t be dark for another hour or so. I thought maybe you’d like to get out for a bit. Would you feel like going into Incline Village for an ice cream? Mack said we could take the SUV.”

  “I’d like that.” Bethany smiled. “But it won’t be very easy getting down to the car.”

  “I’ll get you there. Your grandfather pulled their wheelchair out of the storage room and I brought it up with me.” Cole helped Bethany into the chair. He whisked her downstairs and into the car. Within ten minutes they were on their way to the Village.


  “At least it isn’t snowing tonight.” Bethany glanced out the window.

  “No, it was earlier, but it was light. Not too much accumulation today.”

  They drove in silence for the next few minutes. “Cole, I feel I owe you an explanation for turning you down so many times when you asked me to go out with you.”

  Cole glanced over at her. ”Not unless you just want to, Darlin, you’re here with me now, so that’s all that matters.”

  “You’ve been so patient. Not once did you get upset, you’ve been so gracious.”

  “Spending time with you was worth waiting for.” He smiled.

  “Thank you. It isn’t personal, I assure you. I had a bad relationship two years ago, and I’m just leery of getting hurt like that again.”

  Cole looked over at her. “I’ll never hurt you, Bethany.”

  She looked up at him for a moment and then nodded. “I believe you mean that, Cole.”

  “I do mean it. I give you my word and I don’t give it lightly.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. I’d like to give us a chance, Cole, but I can’t help but be a little afraid to get involved again.”

  “Don’t be afraid of me, Bethany. I promise if you’ll give us that chance you won’t be sorry.”

  He waited quietly to give her all the time she needed to think about this.

  “Okay, Cole. I really like you so I’m going to trust you.”

  Cole reached over and squeezed her hand gently. He smiled as he pulled into the parking lot of a local restaurant and turned off the car. “Shall we go get that ice cream?”

  “Sounds good to me.” She grinned.

  Cole came around and brought the wheel chair. He lifted Bethany from the car and sat her in the chair. “Okay my lady your chariot is about to depart.” He gave her an exaggerated bow and then pushed her into the restaurant as she chuckled.

  Cole loved the sound of her laughter. He hoped to hear it more often in the future. They ordered ice cream Sundays and ate every bite laughing and having a good time. About an hour later Cole lifted Bethany into the SUV, and stored the wheelchair in the back. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.

  “Cole, I don’t know when I’ve ever had such a good time as I did this evening,” Bethany said when they got to her door at the lodge. “Thank you so much for taking me and for the ice cream.”

  “You’re welcome; I’m glad you enjoyed it, I had a good time too. We’ll do it again soon.” Cole reached to unlock and open the door with Bethany’s key. When they went inside they found Carla, Melanie, and Michelle at the table with Bethany’s grandparents.

  “Hi, we thought you’d be home soon so we came up to see you for a few minutes before we went to bed. Did you have a good time?”

  “Yes, we did Bethany smiled up at Cole and he could see the sparkle of happiness in her pretty brown eyes. “It’s just what I needed.”

  “Well, I’m going to say goodnight and let you visit. Call me in the morning and let me know how you’re doing. I’ll let myself out.” Cole kissed Bethany on the cheek, wished the others goodnight and headed down the hall to his room.

  * * * * * *

  That night set the trend for the following two weeks; Bethany spent every evening and weekend with Cole either in town or in front of the fire in her suite. Cole had taken over her duties in the medical department along with teaching skiing lessons. Fortunately they hadn’t had too many accidents so Cole was able to handle both jobs. She expected him any minute and she was getting anxious for him to get there. That was certainly a change in her attitude from a couple of weeks ago.

  “So are you going to tell that poor guy how you feel about him tonight and put him out of his misery?” Melanie interrupted her thoughts as she walked into the room.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know exactly what I mean! That poor guy is head over heels in love with you, Bethany and you know it. You love him too, it’s written all over your face every time he’s around, why don’t you just tell him so he can relax. Carla, Michelle and I are going into town for awhile so you’ll have some time to talk to Cole without us being here. ”

  “Okay, if you must know I plan to ask Cole to go with me to meet my parents next weekend.” Bethany shifted her leg into a more comfortable position.

  “Oh, that’s so exciting Bethany!” Melanie cried.

  “What’s exciting?” Carla and Michelle said in unison as they came into the room.

  “Bethany is going to ask Cole to go with her to meet her parents next weekend. Wedding bells are in the air!” Melanie laughed.

  “Now don’t go getting ahead of yourself, Melanie, nobody said anything about getting married.” Bethany frowned.

  “Well, we all know that’s usually the next step.” Melanie grinned.

  Before Bethany could say anything else the door bell rang and Carla went to answer it. Bethany heard Cole’s voice and it thrilled her at the thought of an evening with just the two of them sitting by the fire.

  “Hi.” Cole flashed that smile that set her heart to flying.

  “Hi, come on over here and sit down.” She patted the sofa next to her.

  “We were just leaving. Cole there is fresh coffee made if you want some and Elizabeth sent up some of her cinnamon rolls a little while ago, so help yourself. We’ll be back about ten.” Melanie smiled and followed the other two girls out the door.

  “So how are you doing tonight?” Cole leaned over and kissed her.

  “Good, I can’t wait until tomorrow I hope the doctor will release me, my knee is so much better.”

  “We’ll hope so. What time is your appointment?”

  “It’s at ten in the morning. Papa’s going to take me since you have a lesson then.”

  “I could have changed my lesson time if you’d needed me to.”

  “I know and I appreciate that, but there’s no need for you to. Papa can take me.”

  “Let me know what he says as soon as you get through okay?

  “I will and now I have something else I want to talk to you about.”

  “What’s that?” Cole reached up and slipped her hair behind her ear causing a shiver to run down her spine.

  “I’m planning to go home for the weekend Friday night and I’d like for you to come with me so you can meet my parents.”

  “Humm.” Cole turned away from her to look at the fire and she could definitely sense something was wrong.”

  “Cole, have I overstepped here? Maybe I’ve misread your feelings. Maybe you don’t care enough for me to want to meet my parents.” Tears filled her eyes at the thought and she reached into her purse for her the bag of M&M’s.

  “No, Bethany. You haven’t. That’s not it at all.” Cole placed his hands on each side of her face and gently turned her toward him. “Don’t ever think that.”

  He reached into his pocket for his handkerchief and wiped the tears that had escaped in spite of her effort to hold them back. She didn’t want to cry, but was losing the battle.

  “I’m very much in love with you, Darlin, there’s no question in my mind about that.”

  “Then what is it, Cole? Don’t you want to meet my parents?” She popped an M&M into her mouth.

  Cole sighed. “It’s not that, Darlin. I have something I need to tell you. I’ve put it off for too long already, but I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me again.”

  “Cole, what do you mean?” She swallowed her M&M. “You’re scaring me.”

  “When you introduced yourself to me that day on the plane, Bethany I recognized your name.”

  “I remember thinking you looked at me rather strangely, and that your name sounded vaguely familiar, but I didn’t think anymore about it. Why would our names be familiar to each other, Cole?”

  “Ten years ago when I was sixteen, I’d only had my license for two weeks and I was driving home from youth group at our church. I hit a patch of black ice, I couldn’t stop and I slid through a red light.”

&nbs
p; Cold chills scudded down Bethany’s spine she knew what he was going to say. “Oh, Cole. No!” Bethany sat there as Cole put his hands over his face and shook his head.

  “I’m so sorry, Bethany. I’m the one who is responsible for your grandfather being in that wheelchair. I had nightmares for years after that accident. That’s one of the reasons I became a paramedic. I hoped that if I could help people, maybe I could make up for at least a little of what I had taken away from your grandfather.”

  “Cole’s obvious remorse deeply touched Bethany.” Oh, Lord please help me here. How can I choose between my father and the man that crippled my grandfather even though I love him desperately? She had no more than breathed that prayer when a scripture from Colossians 3:13 came to mind. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. At that moment Bethany knew the Lord was telling her she needed to forgive Cole. She loved him and she knew the Lord would somehow work this out.

  Bethany shifted her bag of M&M’s to her left hand and touched Cole’s shoulder. “Cole, you were sixteen years old. It was an accident and nothing can change that. I love you and I refuse to let this or anything else come between us. We’ll work this out.”

  * * * * * *

  Cole looked at her then. He loved her more than he’d ever thought it possible to love anyone.

  “I love you too, Darlin, more than life itself. But I know how your father feels about me. I doubt he’s going to want to see me anytime soon and especially not with his daughter.”