Trending, page 27
She shivered despite the warmth of the room. The fire popped loudly behind her, causing her to jump.
She walked a few paces away and reached to click on the lamp on the nearest side table. There was a loud stomping on the front porch before the door groaned behind her. Creed carried in more snow on his shoulders and in his hair; he clutched an envelope in his hand. She folded her arms across her stomach to ward off the pain she instinctively knew must be coming. She walked to the couch and dropped onto the cushions.
Creed watched her sit and followed to kneel before her, his hands resting on her knees.
“Amelia, I’m so sorry,” he began.
She closed her eyes. An apology right out of the gate couldn’t be good, right?
“Amelia, you have shown me more mercy and grace than any man deserves. You have been my rock, my friend. Even in the years we were apart, your friendship and the things I learned from you shaped me into the man that I am. You have always been my dearest friend.” He stuttered over that word and for a moment her words from earlier shattered the moment.
“You said it hurts too much to be my friend, but, Amelia, I want so much more.”
She shook her head. “No, you don’t. Creed. I’ve loved you for all of these years, but you’ve never…” she trailed off when he held up the large envelope.
“No, Amelia. That’s not true. You are the best friend that I have ever had. Always encouraging, unflinchingly supportive, funny, loving, tender. You didn’t let me get away with anything in high school, and I am convinced that’s why I fell apart in college. I was lost without you, my best friend. But God showed me incredible grace. First with my wonderful gift, Izzie, and again that night at the reunion when you ran into me. Literally.”
Amelia let out a nervous puff of laughter and shook her head, glancing at her lap in embarrassment. Creed reached to hook a finger under her chin and gently lift her gaze back to him. The lamplight illuminated the flecks of brown in his eyes and golden smattering of freckles across his nose.
“That night, Amelia, you received a letter that changed your life. You set out to be different, convinced that you had somehow wasted your life in the way that you lived it. You see a woman that made choices only for the sake of her future husband. I see a woman that was meant to be a teacher, no matter her original reasons for choosing that profession. I see a woman that God preserved for His good purpose.”
His hands trembled slightly as he drew a stack of papers from the envelope and unfolded them. He looked up at her and back to the papers.
“I have letters here that I wrote recently—long overdue responses to the ones you wrote to me.”
She rounded her eyes at the papers and back to his warm brown eyes. “Oh Creed…” she breathed.
“But there is another letter in here. One that I wrote ten years ago and was also given the night of the reunion. And although unexpected complications and my own stupidity have derailed me a bit the last couple of months, I want to show you that I also set out from the reunion to be different because of the words I wrote to myself ten years ago.”
Amelia wrinkled her forehead and leaned forward slightly, wondering what he was talking about.
“This is what I wrote to myself our senior year, Amelia, and I have never felt it to be more true than I do this moment.” He cleared his throat and read aloud, “’If in ten years you are not married to Amelia Howard, you are an idiot.’”
Amelia blinked slowly, letting the words sink in. She took the paper from him and stared in amazement at his neat scrawl. The year of their graduation was scratched in the corner. It was true. He wrote that all those years ago.
“But, the last couple of months—“
“Were the second biggest mistake I’ve made in my life,” he breathed. “The first was letting you go in the first place. I should have fought harder, found a way to have you beside me through all of this instead of tucking tail and running.”
Amelia’s mind buzzed. Creed loved her. Had loved her as long as she had loved him. And he wanted her. Was kneeling here before her with such a glow of adoration in his eyes her breath caught at the wonder of it.
“So what do you say, Amelia?” Creed whispered to her. “You willing to marry me and recue me from my idiot status?”
She closed her eyes, a smile spreading from her heart to her lips. Yes! Her heart soared. How many years had she dreamt of this moment—of a man to love her and ask her to be his alone?
But not just any man would have done. It was Creed she had dreamt of all those years; his face in her mind as she wrote letters to him and made plans for their future. And then he came back into her life and the Lord wrecked all of her deliberate, ridiculous plans.
He showed her that He was her hope, her only joy.
And because He loved her, he also led her back to Creed. Her one true love. And to his daughter, a little girl she loved and longed to claim as her own. What a wonder it all was. And how foolish she had been to hide from it.
She leaned forward slightly, suddenly sure she couldn’t go another minute without his lips on hers, without his arms wrapped around her. One corner of his mouth ticked up, reading her look, relishing it. He slowly met her lips. She savored his taste, shivered from the pleasure of his unspoken promises.
He pulled back. “Is that a yes?”
A bubble of laughter escaped and she kissed Creed again and again. “Yes, Creed. But on one condition: you let Izzie be our ring bearer. I made her a promise, after all.” She leaned back and arched a coy brow at him.
His grin stretched and he shook his head, eyes clouded in wonder.
“I love you Howard. And I can’t wait to start a new life with you and make you a Williams.”
“Oh, Creed,” she whispered, leaning to touch her forehead to his. “Yes. Let’s make a life here. Let’s seek the Lord’s will for you and Izzie and me for the rest of our lives.”
As her arms came around his neck, Creed stood and lifted her from the couch, hugging her tight around the middle, his lips never leaving hers. Sassy meowed and wrapped herself around Amelia’s leg, purring. Amelia smiled against Creed’s kisses thinking of the verse she had underlined in her Bible that morning:
“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’” Jeremiah 29:11
Acknowledgments
My Lord and my God. Once again You have let me write a story and been with me for every twist and turn. Thank You for Your love and generosity with your people.
My handsome lumberjack hubby, there is no one else I want to do this crazy, messy, beautiful life with. Your unyielding support of me is astounding. Long live the red beard!
My wonderful daughters, thank you for letting Mommy write…and being (mostly) okay that you can’t read it. We’ll talk when you’re allowed to date—so when you’re forty.
Mom and Dad Brown, your support has carried me through so many years. Thank you for reading this, for the technical support as well as emotional, and for encouraging me always. And Dad, let’s pretend you didn’t read the kissing scenes, okay?
Katie Brown, my favorite roommate, long-time friend, and now wise and wonderful editor. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your suggestions made the book exceptionally better—I’m so glad I finally got brave enough to let you read it.
Lisa, Lynn, Jeni, Angie, and Amanda. Thank you for reading this. For your tips and your encouragement. I am filthy rich with friends like you
Mike and Debbie Sloane, thank you for answering so many questions about the publishing process. Can’t wait to work with you and the rest of the NCC Publishing team soon.
Author’s Notes
Thank you for reading Trending. I hope you enjoyed Amelia and Creed as much as I did when they first introduced themselves to me.
I honestly can’t tell you where this story came from. I only know that I was the girl in high school underlining, dog-earing, and making notes in dating books just like the ones Amelia read. I definitely didn’t go to the extremes that Amelia did, but I have had my moments of planning my life out only to look around and see that God has taken me completely off that path.
And I can say with full assurance that His path is always better. I hope as you go through your days you will fully rely on Him and follow His lead. I imagine He just can’t wait until we meet Him at the curve and we finally see all that He has been planning.
If you have time, a review on Amazon goes a long way for authors and I always appreciate feedback. My other books, The Earth is Full and The Heavens are Telling, are published under B.D. Riehl and also available on Amazon.
Thank you J
Bethany Riehl, Trending
