Sheltered Hearts (A Hidden Hearts Novel Book 2)

by Mary Crawford

  “Does this mean what I think it means?” she asks in a voice barely above a whisper.

  “Red, if this comes as a complete and total shock to you, I haven’t been doing a very good job of making my intent clear.”

  “I know you love me, you’ve made that plain enough, but there’s promises between us and then there’s telling the whole world. That’s an entirely different thing!” Jessica stammers. She focuses on the ring display. “Mitch, I can’t believe how much these look like Grandma and Grandpa’s set. It’s almost as if they were cast at the same time.”

  The salesperson that was helping Jessica comes over and whispers something in the gentlemen’s ear. He pauses for a moment and then looks at Jessica, “I’m sorry, Ma’am but I need a private moment with your young man, please. Tracy here can show you some more things around the store.”

  A look of complete befuddlement crosses Jessica’s face and I’m sure a similar one is on mine. I have no idea what this salesperson is up to. Shrugging, Jessica gets up and follows Tracy to the other end of the store.

  “Don’t worry, Tracy is my daughter and I won’t let anything bad happen to your fiancé — you do intend to make her your fiancé, correct?” The salesperson laughs as he sticks out his hand, “I’m sorry, I did not introduce myself, I’m Gene, the owner of the store. I noticed the search and rescue badge on your dog and I just want to say thank you. My son was lost while hiking and was saved by a search and rescue dog. We owe you everything.”

  “You’re welcome, Sir. I’m honored to be part of the group of people that do this for a living. Is there a problem with the rings?” I’m curious as to why he sent Jessica away.

  “No, there’s no problem. I just thought perhaps you might want to think about an engagement ring as well as a wedding set. Tracy pointed out to me that your girlfriend is very much enthralled by the hummingbird necklace. I have a very graceful gemstone ring that compliments the hummingbird pendant that would serve as the perfect engagement ring. I have been waiting to find a home for that wedding set for many years. I had just about given up hope. I am willing to negotiate a very good price if you want to purchase an engagement ring with the pendant and the set.” He writes down a number on a business card and slides it in my direction. I pick it up with some trepidation, but I’m more than a little gob-smacked when I see the number. I’ve been doing enough ring shopping to know that he must be giving me the jewelry at nearly wholesale prices.

  “All I can say is, thank you. If Red likes those pieces as much as I do, consider it a deal.”

  “No, the pleasure is mine. All I’m doing is paying it forward. One day a few years ago, a young man not unlike yourself, put his life on the line to help my family. It’s just time for me to return the favor.”

  “Your generosity isn’t going unnoticed, that’s for sure,” I comment.

  Gene looks a little uncomfortable with the praise as he looks through his inventory for the engagement ring. When he opens the box, I can immediately tell that Jessica is going to love it. The stones are delicate teardrops overlapping to form a band in the bright jewel tones that she was wearing the first day I saw her in her belly dancing costume. As he sets it back on the counter, Jessica sits down beside me as she remarks, “Did you guys finally get done talking about all your ‘guy’ stuff? If you would’ve let me wander around the store much longer, it could have been dangerous to my budget. There is just too much pretty stuff in this store.”

  Tracy laughs at Jessica’s remark, drawing her attention away from me. This allows me to get the ring out of the box and quietly leave my chair. Gene motions for me to give him my cell phone, so I gently scoot it across the counter to him. I’m not even listening to what Jessica is saying to Tracy, she could be plotting to buy all of the inventory in the store for all I know. My heart is in my throat. Suddenly, I’m shaking, even though I’ve been planning to do this for weeks. I could use some of my famous nerves of steel right about now.

  Despite my online dating thing, I’m still pretty much an old-fashioned kind of guy. So, I drop to one knee and wait. Tracy’s sudden gasp clues Jessica in that something is happening. Jessica spins around and looks at me kneeling on the ground. “Oh my gosh! You are so doing this! I’m kinda sad that Ivy and Rogue aren’t here. My grandma and grandpa should be here too. I should probably shut up and let you do your thing, shouldn’t I?” she asks with an ear to ear grin.

  I smile up at her as I joke, “I’m not an expert in this by any means, but I think that it might actually go smoother if you let me talk.”

  She sticks her right hand out and waves it in my face as she replies, “By all means, please proceed.”

  “Jessica Lynn Walker, as we long ago established, nothing about our relationship has gone according to any sort of traditional plan from the way we met to the way we’ve courted. For a by-the-book, plan ahead, organized guy like me, it should’ve been the scariest thing in the world, but that didn’t seem to matter to my heart. As you said, I fell in love with you one heartbeat at a time when you provided my heart with unexpected shelter. Because of your warmth and love, I’ve discovered how to be who I need to be and I need you beside me every day. Would you please do me the honor of agreeing to be my wife?”

  Jessica swallows back tears as she nods and whispers, “In a heartbeat.” I place the ring on her finger and stand up to fold her into tight embrace.

  I’m a little startled when our celebratory kiss is interrupted by an enthusiastic round of cheers and applause. After I catch my breath, I am surprised to look up and see my parents watching the whole proceeding through the glass windows in the concourse of the airport. I excuse myself and run after them to invite them into the store.

  Just when I think my day can’t get anymore unpredictable, my dad spends several awkward moments studying Jessica and Hope before he gives me a hearty slap on the back and announces, “I see you’ve finally settled on a good woman and a career in search and rescue instead of pussyfooting around in a classroom with dusty old books. It’s about time you made up your mind and followed your heart.”

  “You mean, you’re not disappointed in me?” I practically stutter. Something about interacting with my dad always makes me feel like I’m nine years old and just got caught with a roll of toilet paper and a flashlight on the way to the neighbor’s house.

  “Are you kidding me? We’ve been waiting forever for you to grow a backbone and make a decision based on what was best for you instead of everyone else. Do you think your grandfather wanted me to teach firefighters for a living? Every son needs to make his own way for his own reasons. How could I ever be disappointed in you for that?”

  “I think that my lovely fiancée, Jessica here was right and we need to talk. We probably should’ve done it a long time ago, but now is a good time to start,” I admit.

  I’VE BEEN BACK FOR A little over a week and every day as the excitement wears away, a feeling of discontent and restlessness settles over me. It occurs to me that I’m actually feeling homesick for Florida. I find this a bit shocking since most of the time I spent in Florida, I felt like the only place I wanted to be was back home. I never expected that I would miss Florida — yet, somehow I do. I suppose I feel less autonomous here. Every place I go, from the grocery store to the library and the bank, everyone is reminding me of the person I used to be when I was young. Sometimes, those memories are not always flattering or pleasant. I’ve tried really hard to become a bigger, better person and to make up for the mistakes that I’ve made. It seems like I might not ever outgrow them around here. I’m starting to feel really self-conscious, yet when I tried to speak to my grandma and grandpa about how horrible I was to them back in the day, they just laughed it off and told me that there really isn’t anything for them to forgive.

  I’m feeling a little bit at loose ends because I feel like I never got to say goodbye to my old life and I don’t really have anything other than Mitch to embrace in my new life. I could help Grandpa out with church business, b
ut he has volunteers at the church that help him with those tasks and I would feel like I was taking away someone’s job. They count on that work to be able to develop work skills, so I don’t want to be taking away someone’s career aspirations just to create busywork for myself.

  Mitch doesn’t seem to be having the same problem assimilating to life in Kansas. He has found opportunities for himself literally left and right. First, Tristan wants him to join the company that he and Isaac have formed to work with law enforcement agencies. They want to capitalize on his ability to work with search and rescue dogs and expand that into providing companion animals and personal protection dogs for women who have been traumatized and soldiers returning with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; it sounds like a huge undertaking. Mitch hopes he’ll be able to start a whole training facility and bring on a couple trainers for Hope’s Haven within a few months. He’s really excited about the opportunity. I can tell he’s nervous too, he keeps trying to steer Isaac and Tristan to more established programs that have a more favorable record of long-term placements. However, they pretty much told Mitch they were willing to take the risk on him and his work ethic.

  As if that weren’t enough responsibility, when Rogue saw the little church and parsonage that I grew up in, she showed it to Tristan and suggested that they start a new satellite center of Elliott’s Center. At first, the connection went over my head. I had to ask her what Elliott’s Center was. She reminded me that it was formed to honor Tristan’s half-sister who had unexpectedly passed away leaving her son behind who didn’t know how to grieve. They have set up a charitable foundation to help kids and their parents learn how to process the loss of a parent or other close family member. As soon as Isaac saw the parsonage and the chapel, he fell in love as well. Grandpa and the guys have been meeting with all of the city officials to try to come up with a plan.

  Even my grandma is well enough to go off to her ladies club. Feeling out of sorts, I decide to go to the local public library. Jotting a note to Mitch and my grandpa, I grab my keys and head out the door. All of this down time with nothing to do is driving me crazy. I miss having art and dance classes everywhere I turn or the ability to see a movie twenty-four hours a day or even the ability to go have ethnic food in a dozen different varieties at the drop of a hat. Assimilating back into small-town life is harder than I would have imagined. When I pull up to our small town library, I realize that they’ve remodeled quite a bit since I used to hang out here as a kid. This place used to be my refuge from life. My grandparents are amazing people, but they were not always aware of how profoundly lonely I was as a kid. I used to come to the library and read books about faraway places and famous people. I loved reading biographies of Hollywood stars and imagining that one day I would be one of them. I think that’s what sparked my interest in theater; I thought that playing characters would be a way to live in someone else’s shoes. When I was really young, I thought perhaps if I were someone else, my parents would love me more. I would spend hours in the mirror practicing all sorts of faces, expressions and voices trying to perfect the art of acting.

  I cautiously open the door. The sensory memories are almost overwhelming, as the smell of old paper and carpet glue come rushing at me. It looks like they’ve recently remodeled. Instinctively, I look up at the reference desk. I remember spending so much time there, asking my favorite librarian to look for specific books for me. Much to my shock, Mrs. Turner is still here. She looks equally stunned to see me. “Jessie? Jessie Lynn? Well, look at you all grown up with a ring on your finger. I guess the rumors around town are true.”

  “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but yes, I’m going to marry a very wonderful man, Mitch Campbell.”

  “The rumor mill didn’t exactly spit out his name, but it told me that he did a mighty fine job of rescuing your grandmother.”

  “He did at that,” I acquiesce. “Mrs. Turner, do you have anything interesting for me to read? I’m going a little stir crazy.”

  “I just got a few new books in on Lady Gaga. You might find those interesting since she just won a bunch of awards in Hollywood.”

  “Thank you, I’ll take a look at them,” I answer with a smile.

  As I’m about to take the stack of books from her, a rambunctious youngster comes barreling through the library and practically knocks me over as he is shrieking at the top of his lungs. In fast pursuit behind him is a slightly older girl screaming, “You are in so much trouble. My homework was on that disk and you went and ruined it. Now what am I going to do?”

  The little boy sticks his bottom lip out as he replies, “I just wanted the metal part for my airplane.”

  “Oh my goodness! These two are supposed to be keeping themselves occupied and quiet while their mom gets ready for a job interview.”

  “Is everything roughly where it used to be?”

  Mrs. Turner looks at me a little skeptically as she nods and answers, “Yes, I suppose it is. Mostly we’ve added to the reference section and put in space for computers. Everything else is pretty much the same, it’s just spiffed up.”

  I set the book down and turn to the kids. “Hi,” I greet, “I’m Jessica. Do you mind showing me where your mom is?”

  The older girl looks dubious as she responds, “Don’t think I should. Mom said not to bug her. She’s studyin’ for a job.”

  I nod solemnly as I respond, “Oh, I know all about studying, I just graduated from college. I’ll be really quick, I promise.”

  I look over the top of the little girl’s head and wink at Mrs. Turner as the little girl cautiously holds out her hand to me and leads me deeper into the library.

  When we approach the table, I instantly recognize its occupant as soon as I see her beautiful waist length hair the color of corn silks. She was a couple years ahead of me in school and then suddenly disappeared. Rumor had it that she was going out with some college guy from a couple of towns over and that she had gotten pregnant. From the looks of her family, it appears that there might’ve been some truth to the small town chatter. I have to mentally bite back the phrase, “Janice Franks, as I live and breathe!” It’s true, I have turned into my grandmother. I can’t even pretend that I haven’t.

  I’m saved from having to form a socially acceptable, age appropriate greeting when the little girl announces, “Mama, somebody came to the library to see you. Is it somebody from your new job?”

  Janice looks up at her daughter with a confused expression as she explains, “No, Sweetie, I don’t have a new job yet. I’m still trying to get a job. That’s why I’m trying to study these interview questions. I need you and your brother to stop bothering me so I can concentrate.”

  “But, Mama—” the little girl starts to protest.

  I step forward to rescue her as I say, “Hi, Janice. I am sorry for any confusion. I’m afraid I’m the one who asked her to break the rules. I just wanted to ask you if it was all right if I borrowed these two. I don’t know if you remember me, but I was a couple years behind you in school. I’m Pastor Walker’s granddaughter.”

  She smiles at me as she responds, “Of course I remember you. You and I were hair spirits because the only person that got made fun of quite as much as I did for my hair was you. I figured that made us sisters of the heart. What did you have in mind?”

  “I just thought maybe I would take them down to the reading corner. They have a bunch of puppets and kids’ books over there. Truth be told, I am going a little stir crazy being all normal and straight-laced at my grandpa’s house. I need to let a little bit of my acting skills surface and take them out for a spin or I’m going to go a little nuts. I just can’t be this normal for this long, it’s driving me absolutely crazy. I’d like to read your kids a story or two if you don’t mind? I’ll just be right over here in this room.”

  “You would do that for me? I mean, we were friends, sort of, but you didn’t really know me like a best friend or anything.

  I chuckle as I respond, “Well, quite frankly I’m a littl
e bored, but you also look like you’re a little frazzled and look like you could use some help. I am a sucker for kids, I totally love them. Ask Mrs. Turner, I love books, especially kids’ books and I was really bummed out when I got too old to read them. I’ll use any excuse to go back to the kids’ section.”

  Janice giggles at my antics and replies, “Okay, okay you don’t have to work so hard to sell me. If you want to entertain my kids for a while, knock yourself out.” She looks at the kids and warns, “Craig and Lissa, try not to kill each other. That’s Mrs. Wilma’s granddaughter. You guys better be nice to her,” she warns sternly as the kids run off to the reading room.

  I wink at Janice as I remark, “If you remember, I used to be the original wiggly kid, so I’ve got this covered. Nothing much upsets me. Just do whatever you need to do. We’ll just be in the kids’ room having fun.

  Her shoulders slump slightly as she says, “Okay, thank you, I don’t know that you understand what you’re getting into but if you’re willing, I can’t even tell you how grateful I am. All I can say is ‘Good luck’.”

  I shrug and say, “I think I’ll be okay.” As I enter the room, I realize that the puppet collection has expanded a great deal since I was a little girl. I glance around a little in awe as I see the vast variety of puppets. I find one that resembles Lissa and hand it to her. “Lissa, it’s been a really long time since I’ve been here. Do they have puppets that look like your brother and me?”

  Lissa grins and runs off to a different puppet rack. Craig is waiting for me to address him. He looks like he’s afraid that I’m going to leave him out of the fun. “Craig, I need you to pick out some puppets that look like you and your sister’s favorite animals. Let me see if you can guess some of my favorite animals too,” I challenge. “I’ll meet you back at the reading mats.”

  Lissa returns with the puppets and asks, “Will these work?”