Chapter 22 #2
“Ha! That is funny,” she teased. “I’m just kidding.
Faith, you might not have ever been married, and you can’t give me the answers I need regarding that, but you’re a wonderful listener.
You always have been. That’s why I asked you what to do.
I didn’t need a solution. I needed the answer you just gave me. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, and they both went up to check on their mom and Nan.
Nan had been sent out to the porch to enjoy the last hours of daylight while they’d set up for her party.
Scott kept Isabella busy with a puzzle in the living room as the ladies had worked to prepare.
They’d taped streamers to cabinets and lights, careful not to get any tape near the newly painted walls.
On the table, Casey had set up Nan’s albums full of photos so they could all have a look at them one last time before they were divvied up and taken home.
A bouquet of helium balloons bounced around in the center of the table, the breeze from the open door causing them to dance on their strings.
Her mom had picked up the cake. It was magnificent—a rectangular sheet cake with three-dimensional waves crashing onto an icing-painted shore.
In the corner of it was one candle for Nan to make her wish.
Faith set her silver box with the white ribbon on the table next to the cake and the gifts from her mom and Casey.
The ribbon had gotten bent on one side in her suitcase, and she was fiddling with it to try and straighten it out.
“Can I come back in now, or are you going to let me dehydrate out here?” Nan said, peeking her head in and holding on to the doorframe for support. “Oh!” she said, her gaze bouncing from one decoration to the other. “It’s lovely.”
“Come in, Mom,” Faith’s mom said with a smile.
There was a knock at the door and Faith’s heart skipped a beat.
She knew exactly who it was. Jake. She ran her fingers through her hair and cleared her throat.
Casey opened the door and let him in. He looked as familiar as an old friend and yet a current of excitement zinged through her at the sight of him.
He was all cleaned up again, his clothes clearly expensive but unfussy.
He had on a polo shirt and a pair of shorts.
She wanted to rush over to him and tell him how she wished he’d stopped by over the last few days, but she stayed put.
His eyes fluttered over to her, and he smiled that big, gorgeous smile.
“Well, there he is,” Nan said, walking over to him and patting him on the arm.
“I’ve heard a lot about your trip to Florida.
Faith really seemed to enjoy it.” Nan smiled in her direction, and Faith could feel the heat on her face from embarrassment.
She didn’t particularly want Jake to know that she’d blabbered on to Nan about her trip.
But she had enjoyed it. She’d thought about it a lot over the last few days, and she wanted nothing more than to be with him again. It was so good to see him.
“It was fun,” he said, looking over at Faith again. She grabbed the kitchen chair to keep her legs from buckling with anxiety. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn’t seen him in two days or perhaps that she was going home tomorrow, but she found herself getting all worked up in his presence.
“I’ve made some ham biscuits and we have a veggie tray if you’re hungry, Jake,” her mom said as she brought the tray around and set it down on the table. “And we have drinks. I have beer and wine.”
“I’ll have a glass of wine,” Nan piped up. “Is it white?” She walked over to the kitchen to stand by Martha, who was busy uncorking the bottle.
“ Yes,” she said to Nan. “I know it’s your favorite. Anyone else?”
“I’ll have one,” Faith said, hoping that the alcohol would settle her nerves a little.
As soon as her mom handed her a glass, she took a giant swig.
After that, she started feeling a little better.
She tried to avoid the urge to stare at Jake, or, worse still, entertain thoughts of how she could get him into the nearest empty room, so she helped her mom in the kitchen.
Before she’d even had half her glass of wine, Scott and Jake were busy drinking beers and talking about the upcoming football season.
She was glad for that because it gave her a chance to collect herself.
“Well, I’m not getting any younger. We’d better cut this cake,” Nan said.
“You want to do it right away?” her mom giggled, motioning for Faith to join her at the table. Faith followed, stopping next to Jake. “You don’t want to wait?”
“Nope.” Nan walked over to the table. “I want to be able to enjoy this night with my family and new, but dear, friend,” she winked at Jake.
“I don’t want to have to stop it all for the formality of blowing out that candle.
I’m very thankful for all you’ve done to prepare for my birthday, but I want to sit down, have a good chat, look at my photos, and eat my cake. ”
“Well, you’re the birthday girl,” her mom said, handing out paper hats.
“Put them on!” Isabella said as she stretched the string of hers under her chin, the hat sitting sideways on top of her head.
With a collective laugh, they all put their hats on. They were blue with multicolored balloons on them and floating across the front, they said, “Happy Birthday.” Her mom lit the candle with a match and started singing “Happy Birthday.”
The others all gathered around the table, singing to Nan.
The sun was still bright and it poured through the windows like the champagne Faith had had too early in the morning on the way to Key West. As the song ended, they removed their hats but Isabella kept hers on.
Faith looked at Jake and quickly looked away when she saw that he was looking at her.
She didn’t want to look at him for fear that she’d give away all her feelings.
She’d completely fallen for him, but not seeing him for a few days had made her trip to Key West with him more like a dream than reality.
As the candle flickered in front of her, Nan closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
Faith wondered what her wish was. Was she wishing something for her family, or to see John again soon, or something special for herself?
Somehow, Faith believed that whatever it was Nan had wished for, she’d get it.
Nan was not one to sit around and wait. If her wish didn’t come to her, she’d certainly go and get it herself. Nan blew out her candle.
Her mom reached over and grabbed a green foil-wrapped present off the table and handed it to Nan.
“This is from me,” she said. Nan sat down at the table and set it in her lap.
With unsteady hands, she slipped her finger under the fold and tore open one end.
Then, she pulled out the gift. It was a silver frame.
“I want Jake or Scott to take a photo of us girls before we leave tonight. Then we can put it in the frame for you.”
“Thank you. It’s gorgeous.” Nan pulled the stand open on the backboard of the frame and set it on the table. She reached over and grabbed a blue gift with white polka dots and a white ribbon.
“That’s from me… And Isabella and Scott,” Casey said with a smile.
Nan grinned in return and opened the present. She held it up so everyone could see it. It was a figurine of an angel. Nan collected angels. She put them out on her mantle every Christmas.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, turning it around in her hands before setting it next to the frame.
As she reached for Faith’s silver present, Faith thought about the significance of it.
In life, seconds became minutes and minutes became hours and so on, but they needed all of it together to make any sense.
Nan had mentioned how, when she was older, Faith would look back on her life and the things that worried her now wouldn’t seem so big.
They’d be like seconds on a clock, Faith thought to herself.
Nan had opened the gift. She held up the crystal clock with silver hands that Faith had kept in her bag all week tied up with that white ribbon.
The clock represented time—time Nan had spent over her ninety years making a life, and oh, what a life she’d made.
Faith could only hope to have a life like Nan had lived, and maybe, if she was lucky, she’d find herself at a beach house at ninety surrounded by her family.
“This is perfect, Faith,” Nan said. “Thank you. It’ll go by my bedside.”
Her mom pulled out the cake server that she’d dutifully packed from home and brought with her, and began cutting the cake and serving it onto paper plates.
“I’d like to thank you all for making this the best birthday ever,” Nan said.
“It has been a very long time since I’ve had such a perfect gift as this: everyone together.
I am so thankful to have been witness to that.
” Nan stood, walked over to Jake, and grabbed his bicep, looking up at him in a very odd way.
She stood with him for a moment without speaking, looking every one of them in the eye.
It was very dramatic, and Faith wondered what was going on.
Faith could feel the confusion showing on her face despite her attempts to smooth it out. What was Nan going to say about Jake?
“What you all don’t know is that I have a present for all of you.
” Nan waited, her face animated, her eyebrows pushed up and a grin on her face.
Nan was clearly making this dramatic on purpose.
What in the world would she have to give them that involved Jake?
“I’ve been working for a long time with Jake Buchanan,” she said.
“This cottage is not a rental. It’s mine. I own it.”