Chapter 10
Karlee stepped into her bedroom, fresh from a shower. A pair of new black sweatpants and a red, white, and black Badger sweatshirt were laid out on the bed. After dressing, she slipped on a pair of red slipper-socks and began brushing her damp copper hair into a ponytail. Her reflection in the oval mirror sent her back to her teens. She felt as giddy as a fifteen-year-old getting ready for a sleepover, though she was sure that tonight’s slumber party would be far different from any in her high school years.
Humming to herself, she bent down to open the bedroom window and drank in the cool evening air. The setting sun reflected sparks of light on her diamond. Without thinking, she reached for the phone, sat on the bed, and dialed. As a deep voice answered, she lay back on a pile of pillows, her legs still crossed, and smiled contentedly.
“Hello?”
“Hi, David.”
“Did the kids forget something?”
“No. I just missed you.”
“I missed you, too. How long has it been?”
Looking at the digital clock on her dresser, she sighed. “An hour and forty-nine minutes.”
A smooth Cary Grant imitation met her ears. “Tsk, tsk. That long? My, oh my. That would explain your calling.”
“Be sensitive, David! You’re talking to a woman in love! I can’t tell you how many times while you were gone I wanted to call you and hear that voice.” She sighed.
“But instead you watched An Affair to Remember just one more time. . . .”
“Not that voice! Your voice! And don’t you dare make fun of that movie!”
“Who, me? Now that would be insensitive!”
“Rrrr! So how are the kids doing without me?”
“They’ve been as good as gold since I promised to take them to Disney World.”
“David, you didn’t! Unless. . . Is that where we’re going for our honeymoon?”
“Hah! I’m really getting into this fatherhood business, but there are limits! But I think a family honeymoon would be kind of nice, after we get back. What do you think?”
“I think you’re too wonderful,” Karlee said with a sigh.
“Just keep thinking like that. Now, hasn’t the wedding shower/slumber party of the year started yet? Mom left here about twenty minutes ago.”
“I can hear voices downstairs, but they’re keeping me a prisoner in this tower until they’re ready for me.”
David laughed. “So you were calling to see if I would rescue you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, I would, but I’m afraid the fries would burn before I got back. Now, if you could call at a more convenient time. . .”
“My hero. . .”
“So what’s this call really all about, my dear Kar? Are you sure the kids didn’t forget anything?”
“Well, it’s your first time taking care of them alone, and it’s an over-nighter, and—”
“And you sound just like my mother! Such trust! Now, if you don’t let me go, I’ll never get the corn dogs in the oven!”
“Okay. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Kiss the kids for me.”
“I will.”
“What are they doing now?”
David laughed. “They’re putting together the electric train that my dad bought them.”
“He’s going to be a good grandpa.”
“Yes, he is,” David agreed patiently. “Now, good night, dear.”
“Your mom’s going to be a good grandma, too.”
“Yes, she is. Good night.”
“Did your dad go to the game with Robert?”
“Yes, he did. Good night.”
“So you really are alone. I could drive over now, you know.”
“I know you could.”
“I will. . . .”
“No, you won’t.” His voice grew quiet. “Kar?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you for letting me be a father.”
“This is just the beginning.”
“I can’t wait to get started on the rest.”
“And how many do you have in mind, Mr. Stern?”
“Two. What would you say to two more?”
“I’d say, do you mind becoming a new daddy before our first wedding anniversary?”
“I couldn’t think of a better gift.”
“Speaking of honeymoons. . .”
“We weren’t.”
“David, I don’t even know how to pack!”
“Hailey and Paige do.”
“This isn’t fair!”
“Humor me. Our honeymoon is my gift to you.”
“I’m not going to know anything?”
“I hope nothing! Just trust me on this, Kar.”
“I trust you in everything, David.”
“Even with your kids?”
“Even with our kids.”
“Then say good night and let me bake my corn dogs.”
“I could come over and help. . . .”
“Say good night.”
“Good night.”
“I love you, Karlee.”
“I love you, too.” Holding the receiver close to her cheek, she listened for the soft click on the other end of the line.
❧
Karlee covered her eyes with one hand as she came down the stairs. Hailey’s voice rose up to greet her. To the tune of the Miss America theme song, she sang, “Here she is. . .Mrs. David Stern (almost). . . . Here she is, my. . .sister. . . .”
Karlee waved her arm. “Stop!” She laughed. “You sing worse than you cook!”
Hailey reached for Karlee’s arm and steered her in the direction of the women waiting comfortably in the living room. Bowing slightly, Hailey said, “Since some of your guests just arrived, will you do us the honor of making introductions?”
Karlee put her arm around Hailey, who was dressed in maroon hospital scrubs. “Of course. This is my crazy sister, Hailey Austin. And over in the rocking chair, in the pink satin pajamas, is my future mother-in-law, Rose Stern. Hiding behind the steps is my soon-to-be sister-in-law and Hailey’s new roommate, the artist, Paige Stern.” Paige had on a long white nightshirt and knee-high boot-slippers.
“And on the sofa my two dear friends—Jody Hansen, in the red sweats, and Edna Kosinski, my Bible study leader and David’s second mother, who is knitting an afghan for one of her favorite men even as we speak.”
Edna was wearing a long flannel nightgown and a pair of her husband’s wool socks. Already her knitting needles were clicking in the air with strands of white yarn between them as she hurried to finish the blanket she had promised David as a wedding present. She smiled up at Karlee. “It’s for you, too, dear.”
Karlee returned her smile, then turned to Hailey. “It’s all yours, sis.”
“Thank you, my dear sister. Paige and I want to thank everyone for coming and sharing this evening with Karlee before she is carried off by her knight in shining armor. Now, everyone in the dining room. We’re going to start with spinach quiche and crescent rolls, accompanied by a fresh fruit salad and followed by a selection of flavored coffees and herb teas to go with the chocolate-raspberry cheesecake.”
Murmurs of approval met Hailey’s announcement and grew as the women took their places at the table. Candlelight shimmered off Karlee’s white china and crystal goblets filled with sparkling red cranberry juice.
“I’m impressed!” Karlee said. “Somehow I was expecting pizza or sub sandwiches. Aren’t we a bit underdressed?”
“Not at all,” Paige answered. “After Hailey and I put so much time and effort into preparing this meal, we wanted you all to be comfortable while you enjoyed it.”
“Why don’t I believe a word of this?” Karlee laughed.
“Because,” Rose said, “rumor has it that your sister can’t cook any better than my daughter.” She accented her comments with a doleful look at Paige.
Hailey put her arm on Paige’s shoulder. “Can you believe this? After you got up at four this morning to start on the rolls, and I went out and picked the spinach by hand, and this is the thanks we get?”
Edna gestured toward the kitchen. “Wasn’t that a box from Van’s Deli I saw on the counter?”
As Paige and Hailey tried to look crestfallen, the others laughed.
Rose wiped at her eyes, damp from laughing so hard. “Well, thanks to our dear Karlee here, I’m finally going to be a grandma. There’s not much hope of my daughter snaring a husband with her culinary charms!”
The phone rang just as Edna finished asking the blessing. Karlee waved Jody over to the phone. “It’s Don. The boys want to say good night.”
Knowing smiles followed Jody as she shook her head and walked to the kitchen.
“It’s nice to be needed, isn’t it?” Edna said sweetly.
Coffee cups were filled and carried into the darkened living room after dinner. Only the soft glimmer of light from the fireplace lit the room.
“I’ve asked Edna to give a devotional later tonight, some of her words of wisdom from forty-seven years of marriage. We could let Karlee open her gifts now, but I think we’ll make her wait till around midnight,” Hailey said, smirking at Karlee. “Right now, we have a decision to make.” She pointed to Paige, who held up two video cassettes. “Will it be Casablanca or An Affair to Remember?”
“Definitely An Affair to Remember,” Rose answered. Edna and Jody quickly agreed.
“All right, An Affair to Remember it is,” Paige said, setting the other tape down, then adding in her best Bogart voice, “We’ll play it another time, Sam.”
By the time the credits rolled on the screen, the Kleenex box had been passed around several times. Dabbing her eyes, Rose sighed. “I’ve always loved that movie. I can remember the first time Raymond and I saw it.”
Taking the Kleenex box from her mother, Paige said, “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it.”
Edna looked reflective for a moment, then made a perfect segue into her devotional. “You know, life isn’t like the movies. Love is not a feeling, but an act of our will. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 13,” she said, as she quoted from memory. “Love suffers long. That means patience, being slow to anger, putting up with dirty socks on the floor and whiskers in the sink, as well as the big things. Love is kind. Love does not seek its own; it is not selfish. That means going a hundred percent to meet your mate’s needs, none of this fifty-fifty stuff! Love bears all things; it has no end to its trust. Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. So many people today don’t know how to identify genuine love because they don’t know how to define it in the first place!”
“Amen!” Rose agreed.
Jody sipped her caramel nut coffee. “I’ve only heard parts of that before—it makes so much sense. Don is one of the most unselfish men I know. I love him for that. Where is that in the Bible, again?”
Rose lifted the Bible off the end table, found 1 Corinthians, and laid the open book on Jody’s lap. “Edna, that was said beautifully. I can see why my son thinks so much of you. Now I’d like to read Proverbs 31, if that’s all right.”
The others nodded as she pulled a mauve-colored Bible case from the tote bag at her feet and put on her reading glasses. She opened her Bible, then removed her glasses and looked up. “Karlee, I hope this isn’t inappropriate, but I just need to express my gratitude. Raymond and I began praying for our children and their future families even before they were born. To think of how God has blessed us with two beautiful women who have loved the Lord and treasured our son. . .” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m afraid my faith wavered at times over the last four years—I wondered if David would ever know happiness again. And now, tonight, to see the joy on his face as he sat on the floor playing with your two precious children. . .” Rose took a moment to steady her voice, and Karlee slipped over to wrap her arms around her. “Thank you, Karlee.”
The mood was broken by the ringing phone. Karlee whispered, “Thank you,” and went to answer it.
Jody laughed while dabbing at her eyes. “Now whose man is that? Yours, Edna? Or maybe David—it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Paige returned from the kitchen with a fresh pot of coffee and a pan of homemade fudge Edna had made. Behind her walked Karlee. “Phone’s for you, Hailey. It’s Cody.”