October is such a perfect time for a wedding,” Elsa said on a sigh. She handed Diana the final gift from the stack of presents surrounding her. “Yours and Brady’s was the loveliest Hickory Corners has ever seen.”
Samantha and Betsy nodded in agreement
“I’m so glad you were all part of our special day.” Diana grinned at the trio of attendants who over the past several months had become her best friends in the world. How lovely they’d looked during the ceremony, in gowns of crushed gold satin, and carrying bouquets of yellow and white roses. Mother and Father sent funds enough to cover the best, plus deeded the house to Diana … an excess they assumed would make up for never sparing time in their lives for their only daughter, she surmised. Sadly, they were still off on a tour of Europe.
Diana had long ago accepted their disregard. She sat straighter and looked around at her new family, the one God had given her … Millie, the Tidewells, and the threesome from the sewing circle. People who truly cared about her and Brady.
Her fingers toying with the ribbon on the gift Elsa had placed in her lap, she glanced across the room to her new husband. Tall and respectable in his new suit, he chatted with some well-wishers who’d waylaid him at the refreshment table. She dragged her gaze away to finish unwrapping the big present.
Raising a fold of the paper, Diana looked closer at the contents, and her eyes grew misty. “Why, it’s the quilt we worked on together!”
“Four Hearts,” Samantha supplied. “We each signed our name in a corner. Mrs. T embroidered yours, so you’d always remember this past summer.”
“How sweet. This will make the memory even more special. My forever friends. Thank you all so much.”
Diana’s heart felt full to bursting. The Tidewells had presented the newlyweds with a bank account containing every cent Brady had earned over the years. That, along with the big Montclair house and a housekeeper who doted on them, would give them a much better start in their married life than most people had. But Diana had grown enough to appreciate the value of things more precious than money. She knew now that happiness lay in friends and neighbors all striving to help each other, and in honoring the Lord. That true contentment was found in giving, in sharing.
She and Brady had a lot of love to share. He’d make a good life for her and, hopefully, for the little ones to come. In time, the big house would boast four hearts of its own, possibly more. Its walls would ring with joyful laughter. What more could she ask?
Brady crossed to her side once more and held out his hand. Tugging her gently to her feet, he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” he murmured, his warm breath feathering tiny hairs on her neck. “I plan to spend the rest of my life making you glad you chose a poor working man for your husband.”
Diana looked up at the features that had grown so dear, at the dark-blue eyes that could see into her soul. “Poor, my dearest Brady, is being surrounded by wealth, without love. Having you and knowing how you feel about me has given me more riches than I’ve ever had.”
He smiled that heart-stopping smile and lowered his lips to hers with a kiss that fulfilled all her dreams. “Then let’s go home, my love.”
To Diana, there seemed to be no one else in the room as she placed her hand in her husband’s and strolled with him toward the door.