Loaves & Wishes

by Maddrey, Elizabeth

  “Sure. I’ll mention it to Jonah.”

  Emerson called to the boys who only needed a little cajoling to get back in the car. She lifted a hand as he backed out of the driveway. Muffins. Took all kinds. She trudged inside and detoured upstairs. If she was back in business, she should make sure the guest rooms were ready and worry about her own space later.

  16

  Corban hid the bouquet of sunflowers he’d picked up at Blossoms by the Akers when he’d been down at the garden center for some plants yesterday. He knocked on the kitchen door of the once again fully-functional B&B. As soon as she’d started taking reservations last week, Ruth had received three bookings. They’d arrived at the start of the weekend. One couple had even joined Ruth at church before heading out to explore.

  Ruth pulled open the door with a grin. “Hey. I’m sorry I couldn’t do lunch. With guests and everything, I needed to get back and tidy up a little.”

  “It’s okay. Where are the guys?”

  “Napping. All three of them. I guess getting up before the sun six days a week to bake does a number on you.” She grinned. “Come on in.”

  He whipped the flowers around with a flourish. “I was hoping you might want to go for a walk with me.”

  “Oh, these are lovely.” Ruth buried her nose in the flowers, then sneezed. “I forget sunflowers don’t smell great. But they’re so cheery. Let me put them in water and get some shoes.”

  Corban tucked his hands in his pockets as she hurried out of the kitchen, his fingers closing around the small, velvet box that held his mother’s engagement ring. His stomach jittered. Was it too soon? Not in terms of their relationship, but was there already too much upheaval in her life? Jaden, her brothers, the CSB...even the harvest, in some ways, was a change, since it had taken up lots of his previously free time during the day. He’d come by most evenings still, and they’d talked or played a game together. Or spent time kissing on the couch.

  He smiled.

  “What’s that for?” Ruth came back without the flowers and with sneakers on her feet.

  “I love you.” He reached out and took her hand.

  “I love you, too.” She breathed in deeply. “This is just what I needed.”

  “What is?”

  “Time alone with you.” She cocked her head to the side and smiled. “And probably the fresh air.”

  Corban squeezed her hand as they crossed the road and wove through the fields. Periodically Ruth would ask what one thing or another was. It was good she had interest in the farm. It was a part of him. Would she mind living in the farmhouse and running the B&B from there? His mother had never seen it as a problem, and it would free up the main floor suite as well. Though maybe her brothers would want to live there. These were all details. He was getting ahead of himself.

  “You’re quiet.”

  “Sorry.” He flashed a grin. “We’re almost there.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been over this way.” She craned her neck around as they walked.

  “Here we are.” He pushed open a white picket gate and held it as she walked through. “This was my mother’s garden. She used to spend hours out here while Dad was in the fields. In the evening, they’d come sit by the pond and listen to the fountain. I let it go for a while after they moved away. It always seemed like I was trespassing on their private space. But then came you.”

  Ruth’s eyes grew wide. “This is beautiful.”

  He watched as she moved from his mother’s rose bushes that formed a sort of wall around the space to the beds he’d planted with multi-colored flowers. When she came to the small pond with water trickling down stair-stepped rocks she stopped and turned to him. “I see why they came out here. It’s like a little piece of heaven.”

  Corban crossed the garden and took her hand again as he lowered to the wrought iron bench facing the water.

  Ruth sat beside him and sighed. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

  He shifted, turning so he was facing her, his gaze locked with hers. “I’m hoping this can become our spot. A place we come to remember the beauty and romance of love, even on the days when things are harder than it seems like they should be. My parents had a long marriage, a good one, but it wasn’t perfect. They argued and they made up. And they never stopped loving one another.” Corban slid off the bench onto one knee and fished the box out of his pocket. “I want that with you, if you’ll have me.”

  Ruth’s eyes filled with tears. She blinked, but one escaped trickling down her cheek. “Oh, Corban. I want that, too.”

  Heart thundering in his chest, he opened the box to reveal the simple solitaire in a plain gold band. “This was my mother’s. It served her well and I know she’d be thrilled for you to wear it. Will you marry me?”

  She reached for the ring, eyes glistening with tears, and slipped it on her finger before gathering him into her arms. “Yes. Oh absolutely yes.”

  His lips found hers and the sounds of the bubbling water faded as he lost himself in their future.

  * * *

  A note from Elizabeth…

  How sweet was it for Corban to give Ruth his mother’s engagement ring? (Serious awww points there—and who doesn’t love something so meaningful?)

  Ruth definitely found her place—the place God set up for her—in Arcadia Valley. Even though there were some bumps along the way. And her brothers are all in town now, too, which gives Corban the family he’s been missing since his parents passed away.

  Ruth’s youngest brother, Malachi, might be helpless in the kitchen, but he knows how to manage the books and the other important business details the bakery needs. The only skill he isn’t super confident about is website design.

  Thankfully, there’s a professional in town.

  But there’s something about Ursula that suggests they aren’t actually strangers. Will uncovering their prior connection from an on-line game lead to heartbreak or love?

  Log on, cuddle up, and read Muffins & Moonbeams today to find out.

  Preview of Muffins & Moonbeams

  Ready for more? Here’s a preview of Muffins & Moonbeams, the first full-length book in the Baxter Family Bakery series.

  * * *

  Malachi Baxter pushed a hand through his hair and scowled at the computer screen. He hadn’t built a website since high school. How did he get stuck with this job? Oh, right. Business degree. Which meant handling the finances and such, but the website? He scooted away from the machine and stood. He needed to talk to his brothers.

  He stepped out of the tiny office at the back of the bakery and into a wall of heat. His oldest brother, Jonah, was measuring ingredients into a huge mixing bowl. His lips were moving, but with his brother’s face half-turned Malachi couldn’t quite lip read well enough to make out the words. Was he singing? He touched Jonah’s shoulder.

  “Hey, Mal. Done with the website already?” Jonah set the measuring cup aside and dusted his hands on the apron tied around his waist. “That was fast.”

  Malachi shook his head and signed. “We need to hire someone. It’s an investment that’ll pay off in the long run. If I do it, it’s going to look like someone’s ten year old put it together over the weekend.”

  Jonah laughed. “That bad?”

  Malachi nodded. He’d drag his brothers back to see what he’d been playing with all morning if they insisted, but it was embarrassing.

  “All right. Let’s check with Micah, but if you say we need it and can afford it, then I’m game.” Jonah strode across the kitchen to the swinging door that led to the front of the bakery where Micah manned the counter.

  Malachi sighed and followed.

  Micah handed change and a bag of bread to one of their regulars—Malachi searched his memory for the name and came up blank—and turned when the light above the door that served as the hearing impaired version of a doorbell flashed and the customer left. “Uh oh. If Mal’s out of the office, something must be up.”

  Malachi clutched his stomach and feigne
d laughter before sticking his tongue out.

  Jonah shook his head. “Nothing serious. Mal thinks we should hire the website out.”

  “Rusty?” Micah raised his eyebrows.

  Malachi signed, not bothering to speak along with it since they were alone in the bakery. “When was the last time you did a website?”

  “Fair enough. Works for me. You notice I didn’t volunteer to do any of that stuff, right?” Micah squatted and collected a towel from under the counter. He ran the cloth over the display case, scrubbing at some imagined spot. “Do what you think is best.”

  Jonah nodded. “Agreed. And since you’re handling all the business end, I don’t really care about details. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders and won’t dig us into debt.”

  It was good his brothers had faith in him. Someone needed to. He nodded and eased back through the door into the kitchen. No point in hanging around out where customers came to gawk at the deaf man. In D.C. he hadn’t been a novelty. There were all sorts of people in the greater metropolitan area that made up what had been home his whole life. And mostly people didn’t bother staring at the ones who were different. In Arcadia Valley different stuck out. Oh, they were nice about it. Malachi doubted anyone genuinely had any motive other than learning about something they didn’t encounter every day. But that didn’t keep him from feeling like a circus sideshow because he couldn’t hear. He hadn’t felt that way since right after the accident that cost him his hearing when he was young.

  Back in the office, he pushed the door mostly shut, a signal that he was involved and shouldn’t be disturbed if at all possible. A quick search online revealed what he suspected, there were more web designers in the world than made sense. How did he sort out the bad ones and find the good? Malachi drummed his fingers on the desk and reached for his cell phone to tap out a quick text to his sister, Ruth. The B&B had a nice site with a lot of the same kinds of functionality that they’d need. He set his cell back in the charging cradle that flashed brightly when his phone vibrated and turned to the computer. It was mid-morning. Ruth was probably cleaning rooms and wouldn’t get to her phone for a while. But there was no rush.

  With a glance toward the door and only the barest twinge of guilt, Malachi started up Orion’s Quest and logged in. There weren’t many players online in the middle of the morning, but there were always folks in other time zones, or people, like him, sneaking in a battle during a slow time at work. He skimmed the activity log. No one he played with was on, but he’d been storing up solo missions. Maybe he could knock one of them out. If his ship was repaired. He’d parked it in a dry dock when he logged out the night before, there should have been enough time for the fixes to be finished. And if not, he’d wander this outpost—where was he again? Didn’t matter, really. Some new outpost on the edge of civilized space, getting ready to head into the frontier and see where his fortune lay. Before that, he could use an armor upgrade. Maybe some new weapons. If he had the cash after he paid for repairs.

  The chat bar at the bottom of his screen notified him that Scarlet Fire had logged in. His heart sped up and he grinned as he opened up a direct message box.

  “What are you doing on in the middle of the morning? Don’t you have work?”

  “Ha ha. I could ask you the same thing. Slow day?”

  Malachi glanced at his cell phone cradle before typing again. “Waiting on a text. Thought I’d check on my ship, maybe start a quest.”

  “Need a first mate?”

  Colorful lights flashed in the corner of his eye. Of course. He sighed and grabbed the phone. Sure enough, Ruth had come through with the contact info for her web designer. “Never mind. Gotta run. You’ll be on tonight?”

  “Of course. See you then.”

  Malachi took two minutes to run down and spring his ship from the repair facility. At least that way when he did have time to play he’d be ready to go. With a final check that he’d set himself to be able to scoot out on a mission as soon as he logged back in, he exited the game and opened a web browser. He liked the website for the Fairview, but there was nothing wrong with checking out other references just to be sure before making contact.

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  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading Loaves & Wishes! I hope that you enjoyed it! I would appreciate it if you’d help others enjoy it too by leaving a review on any retail site you frequent. Word of mouth is how most people say they find new books to read, so I’d love it if you’d also consider telling your friends about it. Any success my books have is owed to readers like you who take the time to tell others about my stories. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

  I had so much fun being part of the Arcadia Valley series. Now that all six authors have completed their series and we’ve separated back out into individual projects, I find myself missing the conversations we had in our little author group about where a building should be or what might be happening in town during a particular month. The Baxter Family Bakery series can be read as a standalone series, but I hope you’ll look for the other books that were originally part of the Arcadia Valley series and spend some more time in town when you’re finished.

  You can always keep up to date with my writing news via my newsletter. There’s a sign-up form at my website http://bit.ly/2g0AGvf and also on my author Facebook page http://www.Facebook.com/ElizabethMaddrey.

  I continue to owe a huge debt of gratitude to my husband and sons for giving me the time to write, my sister for her unflinching support and encouragement, and my critique partners Lynellen Perry, Heather Gray and Jan Elder for catching all the times I use the same word six times in two paragraphs.

  More than anything, I’m grateful that God continues to give me words and makes it possible for me to write them down.

  I’d love to hear from you! You can connect with me on Facebook my webpage or via email.

  About the Author

  Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.

  Also by Elizabeth Maddrey

  Hope Ranch Series

  Hope for Christmas

  Peacock Hill Romance Series

  A Heart Restored

  A Heart Reclaimed

  A Heart Realigned

  A Heart Redirected

  A Heart Rearranged

  A Heart Reconsidered (fall 2019)

  Arcadia Valley Romance – Baxter Family Bakery Series

  Loaves & Wishes

  Muffins & Moonbeams

  Cookies & Candlelight

  Donuts & Daydreams

  The ‘Operation Romance’ Series

  Operation Mistletoe

  Operation Valentine

  Operation Fireworks

  Operation Back-to-School

  The ‘Taste of Romance’ Series

  A Splash of Substance

  A Pinch of Promise

  A Dash of Daring

  A Handful of Hope

  A Tidbit of Trust

  The ‘Grant Us Grace’ Series

  Wisdom to Know

  Courage to Change

  Serenity to Accept

  Joint Venture

  Pathway to Peace

  The ‘Remnants’ Series:

  Faith Departed

  Hope Deferred

  Love Defined

  Stand alone novellas

  Kinsale Kisses: An Irish Romance

  Luna Rosa (part of A Tuscan Legacy)

  Non-Fiction

  A Walk in the Valley: Christian encouragement for your journey through infertility

  For the most rece
nt listing of all my books, please visit my website.