The Christmas Ring

Chapter 18

pass. A Christmas gift, maybe. Because he took the whole trip ten miles over the speed limit. He would’ve gone faster if it

would’ve been safe.

He wore a dark suit and tie and a white dress shirt, and again he stopped at the florist when he got into town. They were

just closing. The woman working behind the counter grinned at him. “You’re Vanessa Mayfield’s friend, right?”

Ben paid for his purchase. “I hope so!”

And with that he hurried out. He pulled into the Veterans’ Hall five minutes after the evening’s program was set to begin.

A few stragglers were making their way from their cars to the entrance. Ben jogged past them all and ran into the hall.

The lights were dim and Christmas filled the room. He waited for his eyes to adjust. Every table was full of people in their

celebratory best, but where was Vanessa?

Then he saw her. She was taking the stage, walking to the center with a microphone. She looked like a vision, and Ben had a thought he couldn’t deny. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

If only she could forgive him.

“Welcome to the Fourth Annual Columbus Cares Military Dance.” Vanessa wore a long deep red dress. The sight of her left Ben

in something of a trance.

Between bursts of applause, she welcomed the attendees, thanked her volunteers, and moved straight to the families being sponsored.

“Columbus Cares was a dream of mine, and tonight you have made that dream come true. Thank you.”

Ben watched her check her clipboard. “Our goal tonight was to see a hundred families sponsored. Besides the basket of generously

donated gifts and gift cards, each family will receive a hundred dollars. The cost of sponsorship. Right now, we need just

five more sponsors to make sure we take care of every military family’s needs.”

With that, a few hands shot up. As people volunteered, Vanessa kept track. Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine. “We’re

just one short now.” Vanessa looked around the room.

Ben couldn’t hold back. He stepped forward into the light near the stage and looked straight at Vanessa. “One hundred.” He

held up his hand.

The room erupted into applause, but Vanessa clearly had to work to hide her shock. She thanked everyone and told them that

the food tables were open. The dancing could begin.

Vanessa took the stairs on the side of the stage and came straight to him. The hurt in her eyes was enough to make Ben physically sick. She kept more distance than usual. “Thank you. For your support.”

“Listen.” Ben thought about moving closer to her, but he changed his mind. She deserved an explanation. “Vanessa, I’m sorry.

I never should’ve left like that.”

“I called you.” She still had walls up. He’d never seen her like this.

“I know. I can tell you everything.” He glanced back at the door. “Come with me. Please.”

He led her to a table near the door where he took the white corsage from its box and slid it onto her wrist. He didn’t have

to tell her how he felt about corsages. Her eyes told him she already knew. And she appreciated the gesture. But that didn’t

mean things were okay. Not yet.

Ben motioned for the exit. “Let’s talk outside, okay?”

He had no idea how the next ten minutes were going to go, but he was encouraged by this much at least. She was wearing his

corsage. And she was following him.

As soon as they left the building, Vanessa stopped short and looked up. It was snowing! Something that happened in Columbus

only a handful of times since Vanessa was a little girl. The light dusting fell like something in a snow globe.

She laughed and held out her hands. “I can’t believe this.”

“Right on cue.” Ben was trying. She would give him that much.

He led her around the corner to a quiet garden. A gazebo stood nearby, but they didn’t make it that far. “The other night. Vanessa, it was all my fault, but I had to leave.”

She felt her hurt start to fade. Whatever he wanted to say, she would listen.

“I had to get back to Marietta before it was too late.”

“Too late for what?” Vanessa shivered a little.

“To stop a certain sale.” He searched her eyes. It looked like he wanted to take her in his arms, but he was still trying

to make her understand what happened.

“At your store?” Vanessa blinked the snowflakes from her eyelashes. Inside the hall the music began to play.

“Yes.” He was working hard to explain himself. “When I went back home, before our date, my dad showed me the piece he was

about to sell. The one I told you about.”

“Twenty-five thousand dollars? That one?”

“Yes. Only it wasn’t just a special antique. It was a ring. And at first, I thought nothing of it. I never dreamed it might

be yours.”

Vanessa felt her pulse quicken.

Ben took a step closer. “But then at dinner you said it was engraved. Maison. And that word was on the ring my dad was going to sell the next morning. I saw it myself.” He paused. “In that moment I

knew it was your ring, and all I could think was that I had to get home. Had to stop the sale before it was too late.”

“But . . . my ring was costume jewelry. The appraiser told my mom . . .”

“No. The appraiser was wrong.” Ben shook his head. He pulled a green velvet box from his pocket and handed it to Vanessa.

“Open it.”

Her hands were shaking now, but not from the cold night air.

Not from the snow. She took the box and opened the lid and there .

. . after all this time, since that day at Breckenridge .

. . there was her Christmas ring. The one her great-grandfather had found on D-Day .

. . the one that would someday belong to Sadie.

Tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks. “I . . . I can’t believe it. How in the world? How could it . . . ?” She

slipped it onto her finger and looked at Ben. “Is this a dream?”

Ben moved closer. He took her into his arms. “I’m in love with you, Vanessa Mayfield.”

She couldn’t get over any of this. The ring sparkled on her finger. “How did your dad . . . ?”

“It’s a long story.” He pulled her closer still, the snow lightly falling on their cheeks.

Something hit her, the words he’d just spoken. “Wait . . . What did you say?”

He framed her face with his hands. “I said . . . I’m in love with you.”

And in that moment, Vanessa knew she’d stay with Ben Miller all the days of her life. The past day and all her uncertainty

fell away. “So . . .” Her tone was playful now, the miracle of the moment more than she could take in. “Sorting through antique

rings, were you? Interesting.”

Ben must have known just what she was alluding to, because he grinned and played along. “That’s what you do. When you’re thinking

about getting married.”

Their eyes held and with the big band Christmas music coming from inside, Ben eased his fingers into her hair and kissed her, their lips warm against the cold of the snowy evening. The kiss took her breath, the way she had always known it would.

If they ever got to this point.

And now, here they were. “I’m not dreaming, right?” She lifted her face to the falling snow and then looked at him again.

“You tell me.” And with that, he kissed her again. Longer this time.

Vanessa looked at her Christmas ring and then back at Ben. “God answered my prayers.”

Ben didn’t blink, didn’t look away. “He answered mine, too.” He slipped his arm around Vanessa’s shoulders. “It’s freezing.

Let’s get you back inside.”

The moment after they entered the building, Vanessa saw Sadie look their way. Their eyes held for a long beat, and then Vanessa

watched her daughter excuse herself from Hudson and the friends she was standing with.

Beside her, Ben had hold of her hand. He didn’t have to ask. He could obviously tell this was Sadie heading their way.

“She knows?” he whispered.

“She does.” Vanessa held back her tears this time. Introducing her daughter to a man other than Alan was not something she

had ever planned to do. Still, here they were, and all she could do was believe Sadie would see in Ben what she herself had

seen in him from the beginning. Not just that he looked like Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy. But more than that. How Ben was a godly, kind man. Someone they could both trust.

Sadie reached them. She turned to her mom first and immediately noticed the Christmas ring. “Mom! How did you . . . ?”

“Ben found it. I’ll tell you later.” Vanessa hugged her daughter. “Sadie, I’d like you to meet Ben Miller.”

Tears flashed in Sadie’s eyes, but her smile was genuine. She held out her hand and then changed her mind and hugged Ben.

“Nice to meet you, Ben.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” Ben clearly understood the depth of the situation. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

Sadie nodded. “Me, too.”

Hudson walked up then and Vanessa introduced him as well. Ben shook Hudson’s hand. “Thank you for your service, Hudson. We’d

be nothing as a country without people like you.”

A glimmer of light filled Sadie’s teary eyes, and Vanessa could tell—Sadie liked Ben already. The four of them moved to the

dance floor.

“Hudson’s quite the dancer.” Sadie’s tone was light, her spirit clearly filled with joy. She grinned at Vanessa. “Not sure

you knew that.”

“Well.” Vanessa gave Ben a flirty look. “I think the real test is going to be which of the guys can dance better. Ben here . . .

he’s got some moves, right?” She led Ben out onto the dance floor next to Sadie and Hudson. “That’s what you told me. Remember?”

Ben chuckled, reluctant as Georgia snow in December. “I was teasing. Didn’t I say that?”

“You didn’t.”

Both couples began to dance, and from across the way, Vanessa saw Maria and Leigh give her a thumbs-up. With her hand Leigh made the phone call sign and mouthed, Call me later.

Vanessa laughed and Ben followed her gaze. “I think Leigh wants answers.”

“She can wait.” Vanessa slipped her arms around Ben’s neck and stayed close to him that way through the entire song.

Hudson and Sadie showed off their own moves and even drew an audience. But when the song ended, Vanessa still hadn’t noticed

whether Ben could dance or not. It didn’t matter.

He was here and he was in her arms. God had brought him back to her, and God had found her Christmas ring, too. More than

that, Ben was in love with her. And she was in love with him. Sadie had met Ben and she liked him.

Vanessa could never ask for a better Christmas than that.

Four Years Later—Christmas Eve

Vanessa still couldn’t believe how fast time had flown. In the spring she and Ben would be married four years. The engagement

had been fast, but she and Ben were good with that. Time was short. They knew that better than anyone.

After a lifetime in Marietta, Georgia, Howard Miller had taken a liking to Columbus, and with the proceeds from selling the antique shop, he and Ben had purchased twice the space in Old Town.

Howard’s cousin Gary had moved to Columbus, too.

They were all one big family now. And Millers’ Antiques was not just an antique store that specialized in vintage Christmas pieces.

They also had a bookstore. One that featured Christmas books.

Across the church Vanessa saw Howard and Gary sitting in the third row. She couldn’t get enough of the two. She had even learned

to play chess. Mostly so Howard would have someone to beat.

The music began to play, and one by one the couples in the bridal party came down the aisle. Ella and Cami and Bella, from

Reinhardt. Every one of them was beaming.

After all, they had more than a wedding to celebrate today. Hudson Rogers was home for good. He had finished his four years

with the Rangers, and now he was part of the training team at Fort Benning.

For a moment Vanessa looked down at her hands, at the Christmas ring on her right finger and the vintage diamond wedding band

on the other. Sadie hadn’t wanted the Christmas ring yet. Maybe when she gave birth to her first child a few years from now,

she had told Vanessa. That was fine. Vanessa had gone without it for years. She was more than happy to wear it now.

She looked around again. Yes, God had answered all her prayers. Life hadn’t turned out how either she or Ben had planned.

But God’s plans were still good. Better than Vanessa or Ben ever could’ve dreamed.

Every now and then, she and Ben would take a walk and try to imagine what their lives would’ve been like if she hadn’t come

through the doors of his store for that Christmas-in-July sale. What if Sadie hadn’t gone to Reinhardt or Vanessa hadn’t needed

gasoline right at that Marietta stop?

But there was no point thinking about such things. God had ordered their steps and here they were. At another momentous occasion, one Vanessa had prayed about since Sadie was born.

A different song began to play, the traditional wedding march. The doors at the back of the church opened and there she was,

her Sadie girl. She was dressed in the most gorgeous white gown, and holding her hand in the crook of his arm was the man

Vanessa loved.

Ben Miller.

Vanessa stood with the other guests, and her eyes met Sadie’s. They had survived the unthinkable, and now they would celebrate

the greatest gift of all. The gift of love. Vanessa turned to look at Hudson. He couldn’t hold back his tears as he watched

Sadie walk down the aisle to him.

When Sadie and Ben reached the front of the church, Sadie hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.

And with that, Ben took his spot beside Vanessa. The two held hands and Vanessa savored the feeling of him beside her. Ben

was not only her best friend, but the one she would grow old with. Her husband. The man who loved her daughter like his own.

In fact, over the past four years, Ben and Sadie had grown very close. She was his favorite tennis partner, and he was her

confidant when she needed a father’s advice. No, Ben would never replace Alan. But Sadie had come to love him very much.

They had all agreed that if God could find Vanessa’s missing Christmas ring, if He could bring Vanessa and Ben together and build a bond between Sadie and Ben, then truly He could do anything. Even this wedding here today.

They were all home now. Where they belonged. Because home wasn’t a place—it was the people Vanessa loved. Yes, the word her

great-grandfather had chosen was the right one, for sure.

Home.

It was all part of the miracle. The one Vanessa and Sadie had prayed for on a snowy hill in Breckenridge. A miracle that Vanessa

would thank God for every day.

For as long as she lived.