Huntington Family Series

by Rachel Ann Nunes

  Taking them from the shelf now, she sat on the floor and pressed her face into the flannel, glad to detect his smell, however faintly. How long had it been since she’d sat here with them in her hands?

  A year. The last time had been on the third anniversary of his death.

  Adam. She didn’t cry. She just sat there, thinking. Finally, she began to pray.

  She prayed long and hard until her knees grew weary, and she sat to rest. She closed her eyes for what seemed like only a moment. Then the dream came.

  A blond man was standing far off, his back toward her. But Kerrianne knew who it was. She ran toward him. “Adam! Adam!”

  He turned, looking surprised to see her. “Kerrianne.” She was in his arms then, and the familiarity of it engulfed her with a deep, satisfying contentment.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” she said.

  “I’ve missed you, too.”

  They hugged again and again. She wanted to stay here forever.

  As if reading her thoughts, Adam said, “It’s time to go.”

  “No! I want to stay here with you. I belong to you.”

  “I know, but you need to be with Ryan now. He loves you and the kids. He’ll take care of you. You must go.”

  “But—”

  He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “It’s okay,” he said, his breath warm on her skin. “I want you to be happy. I want you to love again.”

  “I love you!”

  “I know that. But you love Ryan, too.”

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” With that, he hugged her again, turned her around, and gave her a gentle push.

  She awoke with tears in her eyes and Adam’s pajamas wrapped around her neck like a scarf. A dream, she thought. Only a dream. And yet not just a dream, but her answer, sent in a way she could understand by a loving Heavenly Father.

  All at once she understood. Her feeling of Adam, his presence, had gradually withdrawn until she was able to face life alone. Until she was ready to find happiness and love again. What’s more, her children needed the stability. They needed a daddy. She and the children would always love Adam and cherish his memory, but they still needed help getting through the rest of their lives.

  Ryan was her future. He had been prepared and waiting for her, sparing her more years of heartache and loneliness that at times was so profound she felt like the only person who had ever existed. She jumped from the closet floor, eager now to talk to Ryan, to tell him how she didn’t want to live without him.

  The clock by the bed read 4:00 am, but now that it had been so long in coming, her love wouldn’t wait. Rapidly, she dialed the number that was engraved upon her heart.

  * * *

  The phone by Ryan’s bed rang, startling him from a sound sleep. He reached out, patting the objects on the nightstand until he found the phone. “Hello?” he asked, his voice groggy with sleep.

  “Hi.”

  He recognized Kerrianne’s voice immediately and wondered if he was dreaming. Why would she be calling at this hour? “Is everything all right? Is it one of the children?” He rubbed a heavy hand over his face, trying to focus his thoughts, trying to determine if this was for real.

  “They’re fine. Everything’s fine.” She laughed, a deep, throaty sound that made his heart pound. “More than fine.”

  “Well, then why—”

  “I’m calling to tell you I’ve decided to try out for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

  “A Midsummer Night’s Dream?”

  “I want to play opposite you, if I can.”

  “Really?” There was a meaning in her words, if only he could wrap his sleep-muddled head around it.

  “Yes. I want to spend the rest of my life playing opposite you.”

  A rush of emotion fell over him as he understood what she was saying, and he was poorly prepared for the onslaught. His chest tightened, tears sprang to his eyes, and for a long moment he couldn’t speak. This was no dream! Huskily, he said, “I thought I’d lost you.”

  “No. I’m still here. And I’m sorry.”

  “There’s no need to be sorry. I love you, Kerrianne.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Much later, when he finally hung up the phone, he jumped from bed and punched his fists in the air. “Woohoo!” he shouted. “Yahoo!”

  He didn’t know for how long he yelled, but Ria soon came in, rubbing her eyes. “Dad? Are you okay? Should I call somebody?”

  He covered the two steps between them, picked her up and whirled her around. She giggled and clung to him.

  “She said yes! Kerrianne’s going to marry me!”

  “Yippee! I knew it! I knew she’d change her mind. When? When? Before Christmas? There’s more than a week left.”

  He set her down. “No. Of course not before Christmas. Probably not until spring or even later.”

  “That’s too long!”

  “Well, we have to go slowly because we want to Misty to be okay with everything. Kerrianne’s going to talk to her about it today, but she doesn’t think Misty’s going to take it well. At this rate, she might never actually marry us. So the way I see it, we need to win Misty over.”

  Ria rubbed her hands together conspiratorially. “Yeah.”

  “Come over here and sit on the bed,” he said. “I think I know just the thing to do. Let me tell you all about it.”

  * * *

  Kerrianne opened the door, glad to see Ryan and not his parents standing on her doorstep. She hadn’t wanted to face his parents without him. Not that she would have been alone. Her mother was in the kitchen making sweet potatoes, while her father sat with the boys in the family room. Dinner was nearly ready, and the house smelled wonderful. Everything was clean and organized. Her house wasn’t the size of the Oakmans’, but Kerrianne had a talent for homemaking and believed Ryan’s parents would be impressed. If they weren’t, Ryan would still love her, and that was all that really mattered.

  As Ria and Tiger ran past her in search of the other children, she went into Ryan’s arms. He gave her a kiss that tingled to her very toes.

  “Mmm,” he said. “You smell good.”

  She laughed. “It’s the food.”

  “They should bottle that smell. They’d make a million.”

  She noticed he had a tiny package in the palm of his hand. “What’s this? Christmas is long over, Ryan.”

  “It’s for Misty.”

  She sighed. In the month since his proposal, he’d been trying constantly with Misty, and while the child was being nicer, she was far from accepting him as a father. Last week Ryan had brought her a basketball and told her it was only for the two of them to play together. So far, Misty had kept it under her bed unused. Kerrianne and Ryan had agreed they couldn’t set a date until Misty felt better about everything. But sometimes Kerrianne despaired of ever becoming Ryan’s wife and loving each other as they wanted to.

  “It’s the last present,” he promised.

  He was so earnest that Kerrianne didn’t have the will to say anything negative. “Misty,” she called. “Misty!”

  Finally they found her up in her room with Ria. “Hey, princess,” Ryan said. “I brought something for you.”

  “Give it to her, Dad!” Ria was bouncing from one foot to the other. “You’re gonna love this, Misty. I helped pick it out!”

  Misty eyed him warily as Ryan sat on the bed a few feet from her. Kerrianne folded her arms and watched from the door. She could tell, even if Ryan couldn’t, that Misty’s resolve was weakening. He held out the package.

  She opened it slowly, revealing a ring nestled in a velvet box, and gasped.

  “It’s a ring, kind of like the one I gave your mother,” Ryan told her. Kerrianne came forward and peered at it. The design was different from her engagement ring and much smaller, of course, but it was a beautiful piece of jewelry all the same. “That stone there is a diamond,” Ryan went on. “And do you know why people buy them for
wedding rings?”

  “Why?” Misty asked, touching the diamond with a finger.

  “Because it’s such a hard stone. It sat under pressure for millions of years and that’s how it was made. Diamonds last forever.”

  “Oh.” Misty took the ring from the box, but she didn’t put it on.

  “The reason I’m giving this ring to you is because I know you’re a little uncertain about things between your mom and me and that you miss your dad. This ring is a promise from me to you that I will take care of your mom and you and your brothers, that I’ll love you, and that I’ll always, always be here for you whenever you need me. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but we’ll be like that diamond and grow tough together until nothing can hurt us. We’ll be a family, and we’ll be very happy.”

  “What about my dad?” Misty asked in a whisper. She didn’t look at any of them.

  Ryan nodded, setting a hand on her back. “Think of me as just stepping in for a while until you can see him again. That’s all. And your mom will do the same for Ria and Tiger. We’ll all work for that. This ring is my promise to you. I know I’m not just marrying your mother, I’m marrying the whole family. I love you all, and I’m going to do everything I can to make you and your brothers happy, too.”

  A single tear ran down Misty’s cheek. Without looking at him, she launched herself into his arms. Ryan held her tightly, looking up to meet Kerrianne’s eyes. His jaw trembled, and she knew he was both stunned and deeply touched at Misty’s reaction. She smiled at him, wiping her own tears.

  Ria skipped over to Kerrianne and hugged her. “It worked,” she whispered. “It worked!”

  Kerrianne knew there would be more bumps along the road, but most certainly, Ryan had made some impressive headway.

  Ryan picked up Misty and shared a group hug with Kerrianne and Ria. Then he helped Misty put on her new ring. “I have to go show Grandma!” she said excitedly. She and Ria ran from the room.

  “That was perfect,” Kerrianne said, wrapping her arms around him.

  “For a minute I thought she was going to throw it at me.”

  She laughed. “Misty would never throw jewelry. She likes it too much.”

  “That’s what Ria said.” He leaned down to kiss her.

  “As much as I’d like to stay here with you,” she murmured, “we’d better go check on things before your parents get here.”

  “Okay, let’s go.” Instead, he kissed her one more time.

  They eventually made it to the family room where Kerrianne’s father, Cameron, kept slipping Tootsie Rolls from his shirt pocket to give to the kids. Kerrianne pretended not to see.

  When the doorbell rang a short time later, Kerrianne looked at Ryan. “Must be your parents. Come with me, okay?”

  “Thanks for doing this,” he said to her as they walked into the entryway. “I know it’s not going to be easy—it’s never easy with my parents—but I have to admit that I’m really happy they’ve come around.”

  Kerrianne was too, and though she didn’t hold the hope of ever having as close a relationship with his parents as she did her own, she was glad for Ryan’s sake that his father had accepted her invitation. Yes, her own father’s prestige had a lot to do with the Oakmans’ turnaround, but she believed that in their hearts they wanted the best for their son. So did she.

  She reached for the doorknob and had barely started to turn it when the door flung open and Maxine stepped into the entryway. “Good, you’re home,” she said.

  Kerrianne blinked at her. “Of course, I’m home. I’m having a dinner party tonight, remember? I borrowed your crystal punch bowl.”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s right.” Maxine looked as elegant as ever, even if her hair was a little messy.

  “You’re welcome to stay, if you like,” Kerrianne said.

  “No, can’t stay. Harold’s waiting. But I had to come and tell you.”

  Kerrianne glanced at Ryan, but he shrugged, apparently as confused as she was by Maxine’s pronouncement. “Tell me what?” Kerrianne asked. “Are you okay?”

  “Okay?” Maxine repeated, her voice rising too high. “Okay? Well that’s just it. I’m not okay. Not at all. It’s all a disaster. And I’ll tell you why. Harold’s gone and done it.”

  “Done what?” Kerrianne hoped he hadn’t suffered a heart attack. Despite her refusal to marry him, Maxine was fond of the man.

  “He kissed me, that’s what! The old fool’s gone and kissed me. And now what? I ask you. Now what?”

  Ryan chuckled, and Kerrianne clenched her lips together to stop from laughing out loud.

  “I think,” Kerrianne said, “that you’re going to have do what I did—stop playing games, and tell the man you’ll marry him.”

  Maxine blinked, her eyes showing surprise. “Oh.” Then she seemed to recover her composure. “Maybe. Just maybe, mind you. But for crying out loud, I’m not washing his clothes. Or cooking either!” Without another word she turned around and hurried back outside, skirting an old pile of snow on the walk. Kerrianne saw Harold, bundled in an overcoat, waiting in the driveway next to his car. He waved, as patient and polite as ever, and opened the door for Maxine.

  As they drove away, Kerrianne and Ryan fell into each other’s arms and burst into laughter. Kerrianne thought how wonderful this moment was, shared with a man she loved.

  “Ryan?” a hesitant voice asked behind them.

  They turned to see Misty standing alone, holding the basketball Ryan had given her. “I was just wondering since your parents aren’t here yet . . . Well, maybe there’s enough time to play basketball.”

  Ryan grinned. “Misty, even if they come right now, I wouldn’t miss playing with you for the world. It’s cold, though. Better grab a coat, princess.”

  They ran outside, Misty smiling so broadly that it hurt Kerrianne’s heart as she watched from the window, her fingers spread against the cold pane. It’s working, Adam, she thought. Our little girl is learning to love again. The thought didn’t come with heartache, sadness, or regret, but with the quiet knowledge that love would somehow find the way for all of them.

  Ria came to stand beside her. “I’d go out there, but I think Daddy’s going to pretend to lose, and I hate games like that.”

  “Would you like to help me whip the cream for the chocolate pie?” Kerrianne asked. “It’s real cream, not the fake stuff.”

  Ria nodded eagerly. “Can I lick the beaters?”

  “Of course you can.”

  With a hand on Ria’s shoulder, Kerrianne took a confident step into her new life.

  About the Author

  About the Author

  Rachel Ann Nunes (pronounced noon-esh) learned to read when she was four, beginning a lifetime fascination with the written word. She began writing in the seventh grade and is now the author of two dozen published books, including the popular Ariana series and the picture book Daughter of a King, voted best children’s book of the year in 2003 by the Association of Independent LDS Booksellers. Her newest picture book, The Secret of the King, was chosen by the Governor’s Commission on Literacy to be awarded to all Utah grade schools as part of the “Read with a Child for 20 Minutes per Day” program.

  Rachel served a mission to Portugal for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and teaches Sunday School in her Utah ward. She and her husband, TJ, have six children. She loves camping with her family, traveling, meeting new people, and, of course, writing. She writes Monday through Friday in her home office, often with a child on her lap, taking frequent breaks to build Lego towers, practice phonics, or jump on the trampoline with the kids.

  Rachel welcomes invitations to speak to church groups and schools. Write to her at Rachel@RachelAnnNunes.com or P.O. Box 353, American Fork, UT 84003–0353. You can also visit her website, www.RachelAnnNunes.com, to enjoy her monthly newsletter or sign up to hear about new releases.

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