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“WELL, ANDREW, TODAY’S the day.”
Zelda lay in her bed, the promise of sun still a muted pink glow against the early morning sky outside her bedroom window.
“Annie and Jake are getting married today. You were right about those two all along. The perfect match.” She laughed a little ruefully. “Well, it wasn’t all perfect, but, after everything they’ve been through, their bond has only grown stronger. They remind me of us. Remember those little spats we had? Making up afterwards got sweeter and sweeter as the years went by. I know you’d never admit it, but I know you just riled me up so you could kiss me. Shameless man.”
She tossed back the covers, swung her legs out of bed, and did her morning stretches. “It’s going to be a beautiful day. I bet you had something to do with that.”
It was the Fourth of July, three weeks after Jake had asked Annie to marry him. They’d chosen the date together, not wanting to wait too much longer to start the next chapter in their lives. Jake had joked that the holiday was an appropriate day for their wedding. “There’ll always be fireworks with us two. Might as well kick things off that way.”
The bed and breakfast was closed for the week. All of the family had arrived yesterday. Jake and Annie would wed in a simple ceremony in the old apple orchard, just the family and their closest friends present. Then there’d be a barbecue and games until the sun went down. They’d all go to the fairgrounds in town to watch the fireworks display.
Jake and Annie had said they’d go too, but Zelda doubted it. If she knew what was what, and she usually did, that young man would be carrying his new wife away to the Orchard Retreat as soon as it was decently possible. That’s where they would live while they built their house on Annie’s plot of land.
The ground had already been broken last week for a simple country house, just big enough for the little family they planned to start right away. Knowing Jake, that house would be done before the summer was over.
“We’ll have great-grandchildren running around this place before you know it,” Zelda said. She stood up and went to the window, pulling back the sheers. “Imagine that, Andrew. Great-grandchildren! Little Ethan’s and Annie’s, Gracie’s and Nate’s, Matt’s and Jake’s. A whole new generation to nurture and cherish. We’re going to have so much fun watching them grow.”
She looked to the east where the sun had finally risen over the hills. “Look at that sunrise, Andrew. Isn’t it beautiful? What a splendid day for new beginnings.”