“You’ll be the very first guest at Hubbard House,” Alex said to soothe his beautiful but agitated guest as they drove to the Jenkinses’. “Nancy is a wonderful cook and she’s planned the best room for you. It overlooks the grain fields. They tell me that this is the most beautiful time of year, except maybe for spring…and summer…and winter.

“People appreciate the four seasons here. I’m actually looking forward to winter. It’s messy in Chicago, with all the traffic, but out here it will be different. Can you imagine all these beautiful fields as pure white? And Will told me about snowshoe rabbits. They’re brown in the summer and fall but turn white in the winter so they blend in with the terrain. Nature’s camouflage. Isn’t that something? And they have big hind feet so that they don’t sink in the snow. God’s little miracles are all over….”

He was babbling and he knew it, but he didn’t know what else to do. He hadn’t wanted to let Natalie drive her car to the Jenkinses’ place in the shaken state she was in, so he was driving it for her. Nancy or Ben could take him back to the parsonage when she was settled.

“Listen, Natalie, I am so sorry about the fiasco back there but…”

“It’s my fault. If I’d stuck to my plan and arrived when I should have, none of this would have happened.”

“You’re hardly to blame. Neither is Will. He promised me he wouldn’t have Rosie around when you were here. I know he wasn’t expecting you to arrive so soon. I apologize, Natalie.”

She flipped her dark hair away from her face, a habit Alex remembered with affection. She glanced at him coyly from the corners of her eyes. “Haven’t you thought for just a moment that I might have been hoping for a slightly warmer welcome? A hug, maybe, or even a kiss?” she teased. “Instead I get Wild Kingdom!”

“I’m sorry, Natalie, but under the circumstances I didn’t think that you would expect that. We are…estranged.”

“Don’t you see?” She leaned toward him. “That’s why I’m here. That’s why I was so excited to get your e-mail. I made a mistake….”

Alex pulled into the porte cochere, covered pillars that had once provided cover for passengers departing buggies or carriages, before they entered the big house.

Natalie was obviously so startled by this unanticipated mansion on the prairie that she was temporarily distracted from their conversation.

Nancy, Alex noted, had even scrubbed the fieldstone arch around the doorway, and swept down the siding. She’d put out a new welcome mat and a planter of geraniums.

Nancy burst onto the porch with a broad smile on her face. She wore an apron with the word WELCOME appliquéd on it. Thanks to the quilting ladies, Alex was well acquainted with the appliquéing process. Nancy beamed at them and beckoned them inside.

“You must be Natalie! Welcome to Hubbard House. I just took muffins out of the oven. You must be tired from your trip. Why don’t you and Alex sit down and have tea while I take your suitcase to the room?”

The house smelled enticingly like a bakery, and every surface gleamed. Alex wouldn’t have been surprised to hear a band strike up at Natalie’s arrival. “I’ll take her luggage upstairs, Nancy. You visit with Natalie. She’s never been to North Dakota before.”

“Thanks, Alex. First room on the north. I’ve decided to call it Tessa’s Room after my great-grandmother. Everything’s ready.”

Alex was glad to escape to the upstairs. Natalie had come hoping to reconcile. It was what he’d hoped for when he sent that exploratory e-mail…wasn’t it? Then why did he feel so confused now?

He put the suitcase on the luggage rack in the elegant room, painted in soft greens. There was a white marble fireplace against the east wall and a king-sized bed dressed in puffy white bedding. Music was coming from a small player on the bedside table next to a dish of chocolates. A comfortable-looking rocker sat near the fireplace, and on the table beside it was a stack of books and magazines.

As he walked down the stairs, he could hear Nancy and Natalie in conversation. Natalie was telling Nancy about Rosie and the snake. Nancy, accustomed to animals of all sorts, laughed gaily.

Nancy looked up and patted the empty spot on the couch next to her. “Come, join us.”

“Good stuff, huh?” Alex nodded at the muffin on Natalie’s plate. “I suppose we’ll have to think of something for dinner tonight. I’d planned to cook but haven’t been to the grocery store yet.”

“You? Cook?” Natalie looked at him with wide eyes.

“He’s surprising everyone,” Nancy said proudly. “He even promised to bring home-baked cookies to our quilting group one day. Of course, he has an excellent teacher.”

“When did you start to cook?” Natalie sounded amazed but pleased.

“I’ve started to do a lot of things differently, Nat.” Thanks, in part, to you. “Life goes on. Some things even begin to improve—like my cooking.”

She took in what he’d said. Were those tears gathering in her eyes?

Nancy, unaware of the currents running between her guests, said, “Why don’t you come here for supper, Alex? Natalie can rest and take a shower. Ben can drive you home to get your own car. You know I’m planning to offer an evening meal to my guests eventually. I’ll practice on you. How do you feel about salmon? Or would you rather have pasta?”

“Anything you fix is great with me,” Alex said absently and escaped the B&B.

At home and needing to talk to someone with some objectivity, Alex went into his office, picked up his phone and dialed his friend and mentor Edward O’Donnell. While they’d been on staff at the college, he and Edward had discussed a lot of life issues. Maybe he’d have some insight on this. To his relief, Edward picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, old friend,” Edward greeted him. “I haven’t heard from you in quite a while. Things must be going well out there on the prairie.”

“Hilltop and All Saints Fellowship are speaking again, thanks to a history quilt the ladies are making together. My nemesis Alf Nyborg has softened a bit, and my little friend Will Packard is expanding his Hoomain Society daily.”

“God be praised,” Edward said cheerfully. “What’s up with Will? You always seem to have a good story about him to share.”

“It’s a whopper today.” Alex told Edward about Natalie’s arrival, the baby snake and the pet skunk acting as official welcoming committee.

Edward howled with laughter. When he’d finally gathered himself together, he said, “So Natalie’s back. What do you think about that?”

“I don’t know. Part of me is delighted. I loved her, you know. I wanted nothing more than a wife and eventually a family. And part of me is, frankly, confused…nervous. When I left Illinois, I never expected to see her again, and here she is dropping hints that she’d like to make up.” The hurdles they’d had to overcome were daunting.

“I heard through our mutual friend at the college that she went through a pretty embarrassing breakup. The man she’d left you for did the same to her. That’s all I know, except that I’m sure she’s realized she’d passed up something special in you.”

“She does seem more like the old Natalie, the one I fell in love with. What do I do, Ed? Should I consider taking her back? When I look at her, I remember how much I loved her.”

“Do you want to take her back?” Edward had an annoying way of answering a question with a question. He’d always said he’d like to be a psychotherapist. “We all make mistakes. Of course, hers was bigger than most.”

“There are more women besides Natalie in the world,” Alex pointed out rationally.

“How many of them are in Grassy Valley?”

None…or, Alex thought, maybe that was the problem in a nutshell. Was he thinking this way only because he was lonely?

“I think I’m destined to have a family, Edward, but it’s difficult without a wife. I’ll have to work this out in my own mind. Pray for me, will you?”

“I always do.”

When Alex returned to the Jenkinses’ later, he was greeted by Nancy. “She’s feeling much better after a long nap,” she told him when she met him on the porch. “She’s very pretty, isn’t she? Gorgeous, in fact. You are a very handsome couple.”

Alex shrugged, reluctant to get into a discussion that might lead to his personal life.

“Okay, don’t admit it,” she said cheerfully, getting the hint. “I’ve got appetizers ready in the living room. Ben’s inside playing host.” She put her hands together and held them to her face. “I’m having so much fun I can hardly stand it!”

“You’ve found your niche.”

She studied him for a moment. “I don’t know that I would have if you hadn’t come to Hilltop. We were ready to give up on this house. It was sucking us dry. But when you called your cousin Dan and he suggested ways to fix up the house, it gave us renewed interest. Without you, none of this would have happened.”

“I can’t take credit for that, Nancy. I see God’s fingerprints all over it, however.”

“Maybe, but you were His messenger. Now come inside and have some appetizers.”

He walked into the living room, where Ben and Natalie were sitting on the Victorian-looking couch looking at a photo album of the house over the years.

“There you are! Alex, this is such a wonderful place!” Her eyes were bright. “I already feel so relaxed that my bones might melt. Try these.” She picked up a plate of stuffed mushrooms. “They’re out of this world!”

He took a small plate and a couple of the mushrooms and sat down in the chair across from them. Alex watched Natalie and Ben in animated conversation, covertly observing the woman he once thought he knew so well. What did he feel now? He’d thought he might feel nothing for her, but he’d had to find out for himself. One didn’t just toss love away, he was discovering. Its remnants lingered in one’s heart long after the love itself had shattered. But what to do about it? Would he be a fool to let her go? Or would he be more of a fool not to?

“Dinner’s ready,” Nancy announced. “It’s on the table. Alex, will you say the prayer?”

They gathered around the table. It took Alex a moment to formulate his prayer. “Lord, You are gracious, generous and loving beyond reason. Thank You for the gift of this meal and for our hosts. Thanks for safe travel for Natalie. I ask that You be in every moment of her visit here and that Your will be done. Amen.”

She looked at him oddly when he raised his head. Her brows beetled together in a small frown. She’d picked up on the words he’d emphasized.

But he hadn’t been talking to Natalie. He’d been speaking to God.

He was playing in reverse a game that he remembered Carol playing as a child, plucking the petals of a daisy and chanting, “He loves me, he loves me not.” His version was “I love her, I love her not…” Was Natalie thinking the same about him?

He was glad for the cheerful, diverting conversation over their meal, and after dinner Alex suggested Nancy and Ben join them in watching a movie. No more conversation was required between him and Natalie for the night. Alex couldn’t be more thankful.

The next morning Alex found himself back at the B&B for breakfast. Natalie studied him somberly over her plate.

“What?” He helped himself to a mound of fluffy scrambled eggs.

“I hope that we’ll get some time alone, Alex,” she said gently. “We have things to talk about.” She was wearing a rich gold-colored blouse that made her skin glow, and her brown eyes were luminous. He found it impossible to look into her eyes.

“And that is?” Alex tread cautiously.

“About us, of course.”

“Is there an ‘us,’ Natalie? You made that very clear several months ago that there was no ‘us.’” No matter how gently he tried to say it, it still sounded harsh. Harsh, but true.

Alex took a deep breath and tried soften his tone. “You can understand why I’m confused by this change of heart, can’t you? I’m not even sure why you’re here, Natalie. Why, really, did you respond to me?”

“Because seeing your message brought back to me what a fool I’ve been. I want to make up, Alex. I want us to be a couple again.” She paused, and when she spoke again her voice was a whisper. “I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to say that to you.”

He drew back, startled at her bluntness.

“I dreamed of looking you in the eye, and having you look at me. I fantasized that there would be something special between us if we could connect again.”

He had to address the elephant in the room. “What about the other man, Natalie? He’s pretty difficult to overlook.”

“I was a complete and utter fool. What made me think he’d be true to me when he encouraged me not to be loyal to you? We’d dated less than six months before I caught him stepping out on me.” A pained look crossed her face. “Will you find forgiveness in your heart for me and give me a chance to make this up to you?” Her voice quavered. “I love you.”

“Natalie, I have forgiven you. I couldn’t move ahead in my own life until I did. And my love for you didn’t die completely. The problem is, you see, that when I first proposed to you I knew you were right for me. Now I’m not so sure. All I do know is that God’s got me on this crazy journey….”

She closed her eyes. “I know. I don’t blame you.” She opened them again and they were filled with fire. “But I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen again. All I ask is that we keep the lines of communication open. I’ve changed. Now I want to prove it to you. Will you let me?”

“I meant what I said, Nat. Please don’t.”

But judging by the expression on Natalie’s face, Alex doubted she’d go down without a fight.