Chapter 3 #3
Mom grinned. “That about sums it up. Not that I believe in the legend.”
“Yet you said that Grandma gave it to you when you graduated from high school. Right after that, you went off to the University of South Carolina and immediately met Dad.”
Maddie’s dad occasionally verged onto overly intense and taciturn territory with his kids. Never with Mom, though. Mom softened him into a cream puff.
The two had become friends shortly after arriving at the university.
For more than two years, Dad bided his time while planning his careful strategy to win Mom’s heart.
Eventually, he’d succeeded. When he returned to his home state of Washington for med school, he’d brought both an undergrad diploma and a new wife with him.
It was a match made in heaven. Of all the married couples Maddie knew, her parents’ relationship was one of the best.
Come to think of it, Grandma and Grandpa had a wonderful marriage, too. They were both upwards of eighty and had been married close to sixty years.
“It was a coincidence that I met your dad shortly after Grandma gave me the brooch,” Mom said.
“I certainly hope so. If this brooch has the ability to bring my true love to me then I sure could’ve used it a few years back.”
Mom laughed.
“What do we know about the women who owned the brooch before Grandma?” Maddie asked.
“I don’t know anything, I’m afraid. Call Grandma and ask.
Her memory’s excellent.” She rolled out a second ball of dough to cut into lattice that she’d lay in a crisscrossing pattern atop the pie.
“Speaking of true loves . . . are you dating anyone at the moment, Maddie?” She asked the question with casual innocence, as if she didn’t know very well that Maddie loathed discussing her boyfriend prospects with her mother.
“Nope.”
“Evan over at the post office is nice.”
“He smells like mustard.”
“What about that handsome Zander Ford?”
“Two problems there. One, he’s overseas at the moment and has been for more than a year. Two, he’s in love with Britt.”
“How about Brenda’s son, Drew? Will you let me set you up with him?”
“I’ve known Drew since we were four. If it was a love match between us, I think we would’ve recognized that by now.”
“Russell Goodman?”
“He lives with his mom.”
“Your brother lives with his mom!” she countered, quickly coming to the defense of her can-do-no-wrong son.
“Exactly. Men who still live at home are off my list on principle.”
“The Mission:Christmas party is coming up,” Mom said. “Who are you going to take?” Every year, Mrs. Pottinger, a member of Bethel Church, hosted a lavish Christmas party for the volunteers and their dates.
“I was thinking about taking you again this year.” Mom had proven herself to be a convenient date.
She’d never met a party she didn’t like, knew everyone, and could easily spend the entire party chatting with people other than Maddie.
However, should Maddie find herself awkwardly alone, she could default to her built-in wing woman.
“I’d be happy to go, of course,” Mom answered. “But should you find someone special between now and then—and I really think you should give Russell a chance, Maddie—then I’ll step aside. And you can go to the party with your new man.” She shot a hopeful look in Maddie’s direction.
Lord, have mercy.
“The brooch belonged to my mother,” Grandma explained to Maddie later that night over the phone. “My father died when a log truck overturned, and my mother died not long after that—of grief, they say, because she loved my father so much. I’ve told you all that before.”
“Yes.” Maddie sat cross-legged on the floor of her apartment in front of her newly decorated Christmas tree. Its branches sparkled with brightly colored ornaments and little white lights.
“My father’s brother, Uncle Oscar, and his wife, Maisie, raised me, but the brooch belonged to my mother, Marion Evans Brady.”
“Which makes perfect sense because the initials above yours on the bag are MEB. Did Marion’s mother give it to her?”
“I believe so.”
“Mom seemed to think that the women who have their initials on the bag are all related to us.”
“As far as I know, that’s true.”
“Has anyone studied the genealogy of that branch of our family?”
“Your aunt Susan has.” Aunt Susan was Maddie’s mom’s younger sister. “I have the family tree she sent me around here somewhere. Once I married your grandpa, I gave up wondering about all that folderol, but you’re welcome to it.”
“I’d love to take a look at our family tree. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to match all the brooch’s initials to names.”
“Give me a few days. I think those papers might be in the hall closet, but I’m not entirely sure. I’ll call you when I find it.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Grandma.”
“Sure, sweetheart.”
“One more thing before you go. Mom mentioned that the brooch has an accompanying legend.”
“Yes, the legend has it that the brooch brings true love.”
“Do you believe that?”
A warm chuckle. “I didn’t want to. And then the brooch kept going missing and the same man kept bringing it back to me. That’d be your grandpa. I finally decided that the Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes.”