Perfectly Matched

by Lois Richer

  Then it was her turn. Nothing had ever felt more right than this moment.

  “I, Shay, take you, Nick to be my lawfully wedded husband. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. As long as we both shall live.”

  After a short homily on what marriage meant, Pastor Marty told Nick he could kiss his bride. As his lips covered hers, Shay knew she was finally at home.

  It was when they moved to sign the register that Shay saw it—a spray of the tiniest pure white roses in a silver vase on the table. While Nick was signing she leaned forward and peeked at the card tucked in with a pink ribbon.

  To Shay, with love, Jessica.

  “What’s wrong?” Nick whispered as Shay gasped.

  “Everything is right. An old friend of ours sent her blessing.” She showed him the roses. “Everything’s perfect.”

  When the ceremony was over, the pastor announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Nick Green.”

  The congregation clapped as they walked together down the aisle. Outside the church, they formed a receiving line with bubbles filling the air around them, sparkling iridescence in the summer sunshine.

  The reception was held under a huge white tent as the sun dipped behind the mountains. Tiny paper lanterns strung all over the ceiling were switched on as everyone found their place. Anyone who wanted to come had been invited to celebrate and that’s exactly what they did, toasting the beautiful bride and her handsome groom. There was much tinkling of glasses to encourage the couple’s kisses. Then Shay threw her bouquet which Mrs. Green caught. Finally Shay and Nick cut the wedding cake Susan Swan had made and passed it out to their guests.

  It was while her friends were helping her change out of her wedding dress that Shay’s friend Jaclyn asked, “Any idea where Nick’s taking you for your honeymoon?”

  “New York.” Shay smiled at her two friends’ dismayed looks.

  “Why?” Brianna asked.

  “It’s time for us to make new memories in that city. It’s only the beginning of what God has in store for us.” Shay hugged them both then walked out the door and tucked her arm into Nick’s, delighted to know that God had given her such a wonderful gift of love out of such a terrible time.

  When everyone had wished them well and they were on their way out of town in her convertible, Shay took a moment to look at the man by her side—her husband.

  “Do we have time for a side trip before we catch the plane?” she asked. Nick frowned but nodded. “We need to stop by my place.”

  “We’ve got a pretty tight schedule,” he said, but he drove there quickly, casting her questioning looks but remaining silent until they arrived. Then his eyes widened. When he looked at her, he seemed stunned.

  “You gave me the most lovely wedding gift,” she said, fingering the chain at her neck. “This is mine to you. With all my love.”

  Nick caught her close and kissed her. Shay laughed at his quick glance over her shoulder.

  “Go and check it out quickly,” she said. “Then we have to go.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Nick vaulted over the side of her car and raced toward the building she’d had moved onto the property last night. He dragged open the door and peered inside. A moment later his woohoo echoed across the desert.

  Shay sat content, unable to suppress her smile as she waited. After a few minutes Nick came racing out of the building, yanked open her door and caught her in his arms, swinging her around and around.

  “I take it you like it,” she said with a laugh, twining her arms around his neck. “I hope you enjoy your new shop, my darling husband. I know you’ll use it to help those who need you. Those God sends your way.”

  “I love you, wife,” he whispered. “And not because you gave me the most wonderful inventing shop in the world. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known and your beauty starts in your heart. I love you.” He kissed her, pouring his heart and all of his feelings into that kiss.

  And Shay kissed him back until Nick finally drew away, set her in the car and took his place behind the wheel. But before he drove away he cupped her chin in his palms.

  “From here on it’s you and me and God. I love you, Shay.”

  “I love you, too, Nick.” She leaned her head against his shoulder as they drove into the sunset.

  Sometimes the unscripted moments when you let go of the controls and just trusted were the best of your life.

  *

  Keep reading for an excerpt of Reunited for the Holidays by Jillian Hart!

  Dear Reader:

  I hope you’ve enjoyed Perfectly Matched, the last installment of my HEALING HEARTS series. Best friends Nick and Shay just needed a little time and the touch of God’s healing hand for love to blossom between them. Each had to learn that trust in God means believing He is there and cares for you, no matter what happens around you.

  Thank you for spending this time with me. I love hearing from readers. You can contact me via email at loisricher@yahoo.com, through my website at www.loisricher.com or like me on Facebook. If you’d prefer to write, please do send me note by snail mail to Box 639, Nipawin, Sask. Canada S0E 1E0, and I’ll respond as quickly as I can.

  Until we meet again I wish you His peace, the kind that passes all understanding, His joy, which never disappears, and the sweet solace of His everlasting love.

  Blessings,

  Lois Richer

  Questions for Discussion

  Shay’s stalker left her insecure and uncertain about her safety and her future. Discuss issues in your own life that have made you feel alone and vulnerable and distant from God.

  As an eleven-year-old boy, Nick was profoundly affected by his father’s decision to abandon his family and by the gossip he overheard. He assumed responsibility for his sisters and his mother. Consider ways parents and the community in general can help children feel secure and loved in the face of their parents’ marital issues.

  Maggie’s faith in God’s love for her is unwavering despite her injuries. It’s this faith that both Nick and Shay lack in themselves. List reasons why children seem to find it so much easier to trust God. Are there ways adults can emulate a child’s faith?

  Even years later, Shay couldn’t shake the legacy her stalker had left her with. Discuss experiences that have affected your world so deeply you now find it hard to forget them. Do you feel your faith has affected the afterthoughts of these experiences?

  To most people, except her closest friends, Shay seemed to lead a perfectly normal life. Take time to think about your circle of friends and family. Are there those who seem fine on the surface but about whom you’ve noticed something unusual? Did you pause in your busy day to talk to them, or do you feel that’s prying and that they’d do better to handle their issues alone? When it is okay to push past the platitudes and try to help another?

  In the story, Nick’s mother became Shay’s mentor. This woman’s experience of God’s love after her husband’s abandonment taught her that God doesn’t always remove problems but sometimes uses them to teach His children. Consider some tough issues you’ve faced in your own life and whether God used them to teach you and, through them, build your faith.

  Nick took Shay to watch a meteor shower, hoping to help her overcome a longstanding fear of the desert at night, but he was challenged himself. Explore your view of God and what you believe is true of His nature. Is there a biblical basis for your beliefs, or are they the result of what you’ve been told or of a life experience?

  Perfectly Matched is primarily a story about family. Reflect on your own family and the impact they’ve had on your life or the lack of impact if you don’t have a family. Ponder the difference a strong, supportive network can make in a child’s life and opportunities you might have to provide such a support network for a child who doesn’t have one.

  Shay made a deliberate decision to trust God, used Nick’s mom as a mentor and modeled Maggie’s faith as she struggled to overcom
e the legacy of fear her stalker had left. Discuss alternate ways she could have fought her fear.

  Shay unveiled a repressed memory of the stalker while she was in the cave with Maggie. Offer suggestions as to why God allows some things in our pasts to stay buried.

  In the end, Nick chose to give up the security of his football job in order to stay in Hope, to be near his family and wait for God to show him the next step. Was this a foolhardy choice? What would you have done?

  Fear and trust are the main issues in this book. How do they manifest in your life? How do you combat them?

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired story.

  You believe hearts can heal. Love Inspired stories show that faith, forgiveness and hope have the power to lift spirits and change lives—always.

  Visit Harlequin.com to find your next great read.

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  Chapter One

  Dr. Brian Wallace plucked the ceramic frog out of the flower bed, tipped it upside down and shook hard. The spare front-door key fell onto his palm as he squinted into the watery afternoon sun. It was good to be home. Late November air crisped over him and he shivered, goose bumps traveling down his arms. Weak from an extended illness, he gripped the railing to steady himself. The long trip from rural Texas had taken a toll on him.

  The old adage There’s No Worse Patient Than a Doctor had never been more true, he thought, as he struggled up the stairs. Easily winded, he paused a moment at the top, thanking God he was here to see the colors of sunset. His near brush with death had marked him. He couldn’t deny it. He’d missed his life here in Fort Worth. He missed his kids—although they were grown, they were what he had left of his heart.

  He ambled to the door, leaned heavily against the wall and inserted the key. The door creaked open. Every part of him vibrated with a mix of weakness and exhaustion. As he crossed the threshold into the comfort of the house, memories surrounded him. It had been years since his children had lived here, but he recalled the pound of music from an upstairs bedroom, the chatter of his daughter on her phone, the drum of feet as one of the boys prowled the kitchen.

  Emotion dug into his chest, claws sharp. Yes, looking death in the face changed a man. It stripped away everything extraneous, leaving what mattered most.

  His footsteps echoed in the lonely living room. He eased onto a couch cushion, sighing heavily as fatigue washed over him like water. Maybe he should have listened to his colleague—he’d valued Dr. Travors’s expertise, which had saved his life—but he’d had enough bed rest. He needed to get home; he needed to be here. The Lord had put a deep call into his heart. He couldn’t explain it as he reached for the phone to try his children again. He needed to see them.

  He dialed his daughter’s number first. Dear Maddie. Many things had crossed his mind while he’d lain on a spare cot in the corner of a migrant worker’s temporary home—a shack beside many others on a remote Texas farm. His failings and regrets hit hard, but none as cruelly as his missteps in his personal relationships. He’d always had a difficult time opening up. He had to try to fix that. He’d been given a second chance.

  He waited for the call to connect. A muffled ringing came from what sounded like his front porch. The bell pealed, boots thumped on the front step and joy launched him from the couch. He set down the phone, listening to the faint conversation on the other side of the door. His kids were here? Theirs were the voices he’d missed during his illness, the ones he’d most longed to hear. He gripped the brass knob, tugged and set eyes on his children. All three of them.

  Praise the Lord, for bringing them here safe and sound. “You got my messages.”

  “You left about a dozen.” Maddie tumbled into his arms. “Dad, you have no idea how good it is to see you. No idea.”

  “Right back at you, sweetheart.” The endearment stumbled off his tongue—he wasn’t good with them—but he had to get better at speaking his feelings. He had to try harder. His dear Maddie, so like her mother. His chest ached with affections too intense to handle, so he swallowed hard, trying to tamp them down as he held her hands in his after their hug was done. “I was gone a little longer than I’d planned this time—”

  “A little?” Her voice shot up. “Dad, you have no idea how worried sick we’ve been over you.”

  “I don’t even know how to say how sorry I am—”

  “What matters is that you’re all right.” Her hands gave his a warm, understanding squeeze.

  “Where have you been?” Grayson, his oldest child, stepped in to join the reunion. Tall, dark and handsome. Pride swelled up, making it hard to look at the boy properly.

  “Grayson.” Those couldn’t be tears in his eyes, of course not. Brian wasn’t a man given to tears. Maybe because he had thought of his two other children when he’d been fighting for his life on that cot. Yet another son and daughter, lost to him forever. His biggest regret of all. Emotion clumped in his throat, making it impossible to say more.

  “We’ve been looking for you.” Grayson’s hug was brief, his face fighting emotion, too. “We found your wallet in a ditch and we feared you were missing. The police—”

  “Missing?” He swiped a hand over his face, grimacing, hating what he’d put them through. “I was in rural Texas, you know that, sometimes without phones or cell service. I would have gotten a message to you kids, but I lost my cell—”

  “I know. We found your phone, too.” Carter, his youngest from his second marriage, stepped in, healthy and whole, back from war. “We were afraid you’d gotten ill. Are you all right, Dad?”

  “Now I am.” He wrapped his arms around Carter, holding him tight. When he ended the hug, he held on, drinking in the sight of the boy—okay, he was twenty-three, but Carter would always be his youngest, a seasoned soldier home from deployment safely. When Brian let go, it was hard to see again. He was grateful to God for returning his youngest son home unharmed.

  “We heard you caught a virulent strain of strep.” Carter ambled into the living room, making himself at home.

  “And that you’d been treating a family who were dangerously ill.” Grayson headed straight for the couch.

  “We feared the worst, Dad.” Beautiful Maddie with her auburn hair and a stylish fashion sense swept through the doorway, anguish carved into her dear face.

  “I never meant to worry you.” He shut the door, swallowing hard. His case had been severe and there’d been days, even weeks, where it hadn’t been certain he would live. He didn’t know what to do with the emotions coiled in his chest, so he shrugged, tried to play things down. “I survived, so it wasn’t so bad.”

  “This is just like you. Always keeping us out instead of letting us in.” Maddie sounded upset, on the verge of anger or tears, maybe both.

  He hated upsetting her. Frustrated at himself, he crossed his arms over his chest. Remember your vow, Brian. You have to try harder. “I didn’t mean it that way, honey. There’s nothing to worry about now. I’m on the mend. That you kids are here, that you came, means everything.”

  It wasn’t easy, but he got out the words.

  “Oh, Daddy.” Maddie swiped her eyes. “Don’t you dare make me cry. I’m choked up enough already.”

  “What do you mean? What’s got you choked up? Is something going on?”

  “Dad, you’d better sit down for this.” Grayson patted the seat beside him.

  “This can’t be good.” He studied Carter’s serious face and the troubled crinkles around Grayson’s eyes. “Something happened while I was gone. That’s why you were trying to reach me?”

  “It’s not bad news, but it could give you a real shock.” Grayson cleared his throat, waiting
until Brian eased onto the cushion. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to do it. We found Mom.”

  “Uh…” Brian’s brain screeched to a halt, unable to make sense of those words. He was hearing things. No doubt due to his exhaustion and weakened state. “Sorry…say that again? Your mom’s buried. She died when Carter was three. You remember the car accident.”

  “Not Sharla, Dad. Our real mother, at least for Grayson and me,” Maddie added.

  “Your real…? What?” That’s as far as he got. The mention of the mother of his other son and daughter floored him. How could they know? All they could remember was Sharla, his second wife, the woman he’d married when the kids were very young. “Wait a minute. I don’t understand. You’re not making any sense.”

  “I know it’s a shock for you, Daddy.” Maddie settled on the couch across from him. “But it’s true. Take a deep breath. I found our birth mother.”

  “No.” He shook his head, refusing to see how that was possible. The only person Maddie could be talking about was Isabella…his first wife, his high school sweetheart, the woman who’d broken his faith in true love.

  “I found Violet—” she began.

  “Violet?” He blinked, his brain spinning.

  “Thanks to a lucky coincidence, Violet and I came face-to-face in a coffee shop and I found Mom from there.” Maddie’s hands cradled his.

  Isabella was gone, tucked away in the Witness Protection Program with their two other children, never to be seen again. Their lives depended on it. “My mind’s playing tricks on me because I thought you said—”

  “Yes, I did. Mom is in Grasslands, and we’re all together. Violet and Jack, well, they used to be Laurel and Tanner.”

  Laurel? Tanner? He shuddered, fighting the memory welling up of the U.S. Marshal driving away in a black SUV. Isabella in the window, cradling a six-month-old in her arms, and a little chestnut-haired boy, just two, waving bye-bye.