Ashley saw a shredder in Grandma's room, she shredded the letter, and they walked back to the dining room together to be with the family.
Tiffany's phone rung, it was the Richards letting her know that the car she sent had picked them up from the airport, and they were in the front yard.
Tiffany said to Grams, “Your surprise guest is here!”
Grams said, “Nobody move, stay right where you are!”
Tiffany looks at Charles and said, “Ashley the surprise is for you.”
Ashley thought that her surprise was a stripper. Ashley said to them, “What did you do?”
Grandma came through the door and moved to the side. Ashley saw her mother and father, she stood up and so did Charles.
Charles stood right beside her, Ashley looked at her father, and he opened his arms to her. She went to her father with open arms, hugged him back and her mother, too.
With Charles still standing beside her, Marley got up and stood in front of Tiffany, she knew instantly who they were.
Everyone in the room was happy for Ashley. Tiffany pushed Marley in front of her saying, “This is Marley.”
Granddaddy dropped to his knees and held on to his grandbaby.
Grandma touched her on her head; Marley turned and grabbed her grandmother around the waist.
Grams said to the rest of the family, “Let’s move to another room.”
Charles, Ashley, and her parents stayed in the dining room. Grams said to Marley, “Come with us and let them talk for a while, and you can come back later.”
Ashley and her mother, sat at the table holding hands, Charles stood in front of Mr. Richards and he said, “Mr. and Mrs. Richards…I.…I…”
Mr. Richards said, “You don't know what to say to us, just like we don't know what to say to our daughter.”
Mr. Richards sat down by Ashley and said, “I don't know how to say I'm sorry for taking your little girl away, you wanted her so badly, and I wasn't there for you.”
Ashley remembered something Marley said and Ashley had said it to her father. “That was then and now is what matters. Daddy, I just want to start with now.”
Mr. Richards said, “Now that's good, now that I have my baby girl back.”
Meanwhile Andrew, Linda, and his parents went home, Dru and Charles's Grandpa walked around the ranch.
Tiffany and Grams put the Richards’ luggage in the apartment with Marley.
Grams said to Tiffany, “Let's go get them something to eat.”
Marley went ahead of them and she peeped through the door asking, “Can I come in?”
Her daddy said, “Sure, Baby!”
She climbed in her granddaddy's lap, talking to him and her grandma while Tiffany and Grams fixed plates of food.
Mr. Richards said to Ashley, “Marley looks like our Marley.”
Marley said, “That's my mom’s twin sister. I'm keeping her name for her.”
Granddaddy says to her, “Yes, you are.”
Dru and Grandpa came in and they all sat around the table talking while the Richards ate.
Later, Grams went to bed saying, “We’ll see you all in the morning. Marley, you come with me, young lady, and get ready for bed.”
Marley hugged everyone goodnight. Cousin Dru asked, “Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?”
Marley replied, “No!” Looking at her mother, “My bedtime story came true, didn't it Daddy?” Charles answered, “Yes, Baby. It sure did!”
Ashley remembered the letter and said what bedtime story. Charles stood up and kissed Ashley and replied, “You!”
Charles picked up Marley and took her upstairs to her room.
Ashley and Tiffany walked the Richards to the apartment where they would be staying. Then Ashley and Tiffany came back to the house and everyone went to bed.
The next two days the families had fun getting ready for the wedding. On the morning of the 19th, decorators came in to prepare the house for the wedding.
The Reception was to be held on the beautiful terrace. The wedding was to start at 2 pm.
At 10 am, Tiffany left with Marley and Mrs. Richards. Grandma wanted to take her granddaughter shopping because she had missed a lot of birhdays.
When they returned, everybody started getting dressed for the highly anticipated event. After Tiffany and Mrs. Richards got dressed, they went to help Ashley get ready.
Ashley told Tiffany, “Grams hung my wedding dress in a bag behind the door.”
Tiffany got the bag and opened it. Ashley exclaimed, “That's not the dress I picked out!”
Ashley’s mother said to her, “It's my wedding dress. Tiffany had it altered for you. They added some and took some off.”
Ashley said to her mother and Tiffany, “It's beautiful . . . I love it.”
The time was suddenly 1:45pm and the wedding was about to start. Ashley walked out to the room where her father was waiting.
She saw all the people that had arrived to be in her wedding. She turned to Tiffany and asked, “What happened to my small wedding?”
Tiffany replied, “You said just the family. We don’t have a small family, they’re all our cousins.”
There were many little boys waiting to escort the little girls, there were about twenty people in the wedding party!
One of her cousins was escorting Marley. Ashley told them they were all so very beautiful. She hugged all of the little children and teenagers.
Ashley said to Tiffany, “I'm sorry for not coming to your wedding, and you did all this for me!” She hugged and thanked Tiffany for everything.
Ashley's father whispered to her, “You are so beautiful. My beautiful baby is getting married.” He hugged her, then he hugged Tiffany and said, “Thank you, Tiff, for everything.”
The wedding started, Marley came out first with her cousin. Dru stood with Charles, both of them repeating how beautiful Marley was.
The rest of the wedding party entered. As Tiffany entered, Dru told Charles, “I would marry Tiff all over again!”
As the “The Wedding March” played, Charles saw the girl he fell in love with the first time he saw her on that California beach so long ago. He suddenly felt complete.
Everyone gushed about the beautiful dress, dragging so long in the back. Ashley looked around at all the people; she saw Tiffany's parents and several people from the law firm where she worked.
Ashley felt so blessed to have a loving family and friends showing their love for her that it made her cry.
Charles and Ashley wrote their own vows. Charles’ vows brought the Richards to tears, the verses were so loving and sweet.
The wedding was so beautiful. Everyone adjourned to the terrace for the reception.
The wedding party was seated.
The bride and groom’s first dance was to a song the groom picked for his bride.
The second song the groom selected for his new in-laws. The bridal couple joined the parents of the bride in the dance, then Marley and her escort, and finally all the others joined in.
Charles and Mr. Richards changed partners, and then Charles danced with Marley.
The reception went on until 6 pm.
Charles and Ashley prepared to take a flight that night for their Hawaiian honeymoon. Andrew and Dru took them to the airport.
Mr. Richards decided to fly back in the morning with Tiffany's parents.
Marley was planning to stay with Tiffany and Dru and they would be leaving in four days with Dru's parents.
Suddenly Marley asked, “Daddy . . . Mom . . . can I go with my Grandma and Grandpa until you get back?”
Mr. Richards offered, “We would love to keep her for you.” Ashley hesitated.
“Hopefully,” Mrs. Richards offered, “Tiffany can pick her up when she gets back. . . .”
Ashley slowly shook her head no. Her Mother implored, “Please, Baby, give me these four days.”
Suddenly something came over Ashley making her say, “That was then.” Charles chimed in and said, “Sur
e you can!”
Mr. Richards said to Charles, “When you come back, and when you’re ready for her to come home, I would love to take her back to Promise and spend some more time with her there.”
Charles answered, “That will complete my family.”
He picked up Marley and said, “We'll see the three of you in two weeks.”
Ashley walked away and looked to the sky and said “Thank you, Mrs. Roxenbury,”
Then she heard, “And, thank you, Mrs. Roxenbury.”
Ashley smiled as she walked up to Charles and hugged him. He held her close to him as if it were twenty degrees outside.
Mr. Richards looked at them and said, “That completes my family.”
She hugged her parents goodbye and bent down to Marley, saying, “I love you! We are going to have so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa when we get home.”
She hugged, kissed, and told her mother she would see her in two weeks and have fun.
Andrew and Dru took the new Mr. and Mrs. Roxenbury to the airport while Tiffany visited with her parents.
The family invited the Richards back to their home the next year since they were now all one family.
The Richards went back to pack.
Marley followed them telling them about her ranch, her horse, the new saddle that her Gramps made for her birthday, how she and her parents rode around the ranch, and all about the go-carts.
Chapter Six
The next morning, the Richard’s and the McKinley’s flew back home with Marley.
When the Richards arrived home, Grandma told Marley, “You can put your things in your mother’s room.”
Grandma showed her the door to the room. Marley entered the room as grandpa was coming down the hall.
Marley slowly looked around the room and saw that grandma had framed and hung all of her mother drawings on the walls.
Marley started putting her things away and saw her mother’s photo album. In the album, she found pictures of her grandparents, the twins when they were babies, and Ashley and Tiffany when they were her age.
She told Grandpa, “I look like my mother then, but she looks different now.”
She kept turning through the book-asking grandpa to name everyone.
On the last pages of the book, she saw pictures of her parents at the amusement park and on the beach with Tiffany and Dru.
Grandma came in and Marley told them the bedtime story her daddy told her; just by looking at the pictures, even the funny things her mother did at the beach and about Ashley cheating at the amusement park games.
Marley saw in pictures, what her daddy had always told her. Grandma told Marley she could take the book home with her, it was her gift.
Monday morning Grandpa left for work, kissing Marley, and saying, “I’ll see you this evening.”
Grandma owned her own shop where she sold her drawings and knick-knacks. Marley went to work with her each day.
Marley spied some drawings on the wall in her grandma’s office that grandma drew. Beside them was a drawing that Ashley drew.
Marley told grandma that she drew and painted, too.
Marley asked grandma, “Can I draw a picture for you?”
Grandma said, “Sure you can, when you finish it I’ll hang it next to your mother’s.”
She took Marley back in her workshop and gave her everything she needed.
Each day they came to the shop Marley went in the back room to work on the picture. At the end of the week, Marley finished her painting.
Marley tells Grandma, “It’s finished, but it’s still wet!”
Grandma went in the back to look at the Marley’s artwork.
She saw a beautiful painting of Ashley and Marley together. Marley painted it from a picture her daddy took of them by the lake.
Grandma hugged her grandchild telling her it was beautiful.
She told Marley, “Your mother started drawing when she was your age. We will let it dry over the weekend and hang it Monday morning.”
Grandma had painted a picture of her twins. Ashley had chosen to paint a picture of her parents. Now, Marley had painted a picture herself and Ashley. All of the paintings were hanging on the wall in Grandma’s shop.
Grandma and Marley went home after a long week of working at the shop. Marley saw the kids next door playing, she asked, “Can I go play with them?”
Grandma said, “Yes, I’m going to make dinner.”
Saturday morning, Grandpa told Marley that they were taking her to see the town where her mother grew up.
“It’s where Tiffany lives. You can go see her, too.” Grandma added.
They drove around town showing Marley where they used to live.
The Richards spent the day with Tiffany’s parents, while Tiffany and Cousin Dru took Marley to the Amusement Park.
She had a lot of fun with Tiffany and Dru.They told her about all the times they went there with her mom and dad.Marley went home with lots of stuffed animals she won or Tiffany and Dru won for her.
It was Marley’s last week with her grandparents.
She spent evenings looking through her mother’s things, gathering what she wanted to take back home with her to Texas.
Thursday morning Marley received a phone call from her parents. They called to let her know that they are home from their honeymoon and they would see her in two days.
Marley and Grandma cleaned the house and got ready to go to the shop. When they arrived, they opened the shop and started redecorating it. They also painted pictures for Marley to take home with her.
Grandma told Marley, “It’s getting late. Let’s go start supper.”
When they got home, Granddaddy had already cooked supper! He surprised them with food, music, and flowers.
They ate, sang, and danced to the songs on the radio.
Friday morning grandma took Marley shopping, and then they went to Granddaddy’s office since she wanted to see where he worked.
Granddaddy took them out for lunch, while eating, Granddaddy asked Marley, “Are you ready to go home tomorrow?”
She answered, “Yes, I want to see my mom, dad, and my horse.”
The Richards and Marley finished their lunch and Granddaddy went back to work.
Grandma and Marley went to the shop for a couple of hours more and then went home. Saturday morning Mr. Richards called Ashley to let her know that they were leaving.
A few hours later Marley was back home. Happy to see her parents, she ran to them and they all unloaded the car.
When Marley finished unpacking her things she went to check on her horse while her parents made lunch.
The Roxenburys and the Richards had lunch in the yard by the lake. Later that evening they all went horseback riding.
The Richards stayed until Sunday afternoon. Charles invited them to come back anytime they wanted to visit.
Granddaddy told Marley, “We’ll see you in three weeks for the weekend. You call us anytime!”
They all said their goodbyes.
Marley spent the rest of the day telling her parents about the photo album pictures, working at the shop, visiting Tiffany and Cousin Dru, drawing pictures and hanging them in grandma’s shop, and how she met some friends next door to the Richards.
One year later, Ashley made partner at the Law Firm on the same day that Tiffany gave birth to her first child.
Tiffany and Dru named their first-born Andrew Tyrek Roxenbury, IV.
The Richards visit Promise five times a year for the weekends and they join the rest of the family in Texas once a year for summer vacation.
Author
Joyce Lomax-Dukes, of the baby-boomer generation, was born and reared in Altamonte Springs, Florida. She was the 17th of 18 children of David and Annie Mae Lomax. Her late sister Jean was both a songwriter and poet.
Joyce mothered four adult children, fifteen grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends and writing poems and short stories. She is a hard worker
and loves communicating with new people. Joyce has worked in the fields of new construction clean up and retirement home cleaning.
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