Elizabeth Thornton sat in the living room of her modest-sized home in Henderson, Nevada, looking at the photographs she had taken from her trip to England six months before. What a trip it had been! Rosie Coulter, her best friend since college, had gone with her and she was always entertaining.
Thank goodness for Rosie. She'd stuck with her through losing her sister Vi in an accident just out of high school. She was so supportive when she met Jack at age 22 and married him three months later. She cried with her when they couldn't get pregnant for almost three years and decided to adopt instead. Then, when the unthinkable happened and Jack died from cancer at the age of just forty five, she held her hand through his funeral service, assuring her that the fog would clear.
She reached up and felt for his wedding ring on the chain under her shirt. It had been five years now. She missed him but her thoughts brought good memories, not painful ones.
She reached for another album, this time family photos. She missed his smile. The first photo was their wedding. What a day that had been.
A simple ceremony at her parent's home in the country followed by the perfect honeymoon weekend in the Rockies of Colorado.
The next photo showed the day she and Jack had gone to the hospital to pick up their brand new son, Jacob from his birth mom. The amount of hair that boy had from birth made her chuckle. He still had a lot of it.
Two years later, surprising them all, was a picture of Elizabeth, her hand resting on her rounded tummy. Her announcement to Jack that they were actually pregnant after a painful few years of not being successful.
The next picture then showed baby Gracie, named after Elizabeth's mother of course.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and said a prayer of thanks. "What a life I have had," she whispered.
Now at the age of 50, a widow with two grown children, she felt she needed a change. A big one. She had no debt, the house being paid off with Jack's life insurance. She refused to use credit cards and paid cash for any vehicle she bought. She was in the position to do something unexpected.
"Mom!" Gracie and Jake yelled, running in the house, interrupting her thoughts.
"What on earth? Why are you running and yelling? You know better."
"Mom! We've been calling you for the last hour. We got that cell phone for a reason."
"Oh, that thing," she said with a wave toward the table. "It ran out of battery. You should have called the landline."
Gracie huffed and walked over to the cell phone, plugging it in.
Jake sat down on the chair facing Elizabeth. He was a handsome man at the age of twenty four. Responsible with a good job. He'd sure make a good husband one day.
"What, Mom?" he asked, softly.
She got up and touched both sides of his face, kissing his forehead. "I just love you, Jacob Thornton."
"I love you too."
Almost twenty two year old Gracie watched. "Mom, I have news."
Elizabeth sat down again, her attention on Gracie. "I'm listening, dear."
"I got a job. It's an internship...but I'll be shadowing Fred Thurgood at the Henderson Chronicle."
"The Fred Thurgood? Photo-journalist Fred Thurgood?"
"Yep!"
Elizabeth got up again and hugged her daughter. "I'm so proud of you, Gracie!"
"Thanks, Mom."
Gracie was about to start her senior year of college and this job, internship, was exactly what she'd been working for.
"I have news too," Jake mentioned.
"Go ahead, love."
"I sort of...met someone."
"You did? What's her name?" Elizabeth wondered, so curious who had caught her son's attention.
"Tara Flynn. She and her parents moved to town a few months back. We work together at the station."
Jake was a police officer at Henderson PD.
"She's a cop too?" Gracie asked, opening a bottle of water.
"Yeah."
"I'd love to meet her, Jake. Please, anytime would be great," Elizabeth told him.
"Maybe next weekend."
"Great. I'll make your favorite." Elizabeth looked at her children, her loves. She needed to tell them her news too. "I have news as well."
"What is it, Mom?" Gracie asked.
"I'm thinking of making a big change in my life."
"What kind of change?"
"Well, the class I'm teaching is done in a few weeks and...I've decided to retire."
Both kids raised their eyebrows. "You can do that?" Gracie asked. "I mean, you're only fifty."
"I've been there twenty years, Gracie. I'm eligible for a full pension."
"What will you do? Won't you be bored if you're not working?"
"No. In fact...I'm going back to Beesands."
"Okay but that'll only keep you busy for a few weeks. Then what?"
"No, love. I'm going there to stay."
"What?!" they said in unison.
"You can't move to England, Mother."
"Yes, Gracie Rose, I absolutely can. I'm more than capable of making life decisions for myself. Much like you and your internship and Jake and his girlfriend."
The kids left shortly after, seemingly not believing she was moving away. But she was. Elizabeth headed next door to Lee and Rosie's for dinner as she did every Saturday night.
"You're moving?!" Rosie shrieked the way only she could. It was hard to tell if she was happy though.
"Yep. I've been thinking about it since we got home from our trip, Rosie."
"Wow. Good for you, Beth," Lee told her.
"Aunt Beth? Why do you want to move so far away?" fifteen year old Hope Coulter asked her. "I mean..you don't know anyone there and you don't have a place to live yet, do you?"
"I can meet people and I've been looking online for a place in Beesands. There is a small cottage I could rent that I have my eye on."
Rosie put her spoon down. "Excuse me," she said and then walked off toward the kitchen.
Elizabeth excused herself too and walked to the kitchen. "Rosie? Are you alright? I thought you'd be happy for me. You always tell me I need to do things for myself. So I followed your advice." Rosie nodded as she looked out the window.
She turned, looked into Elizabeth's eyes and took her hands. "I am so very proud of you, my dear Elizabeth. The only concern I have is how on earth I'm going to survive without you in my life. If that makes me selfish, well, so be it. I just love you so much."
"Oh, Rosie. I'm still going to be in your life. Just not next door." Elizabeth kissed her best friend's cheek. "Just think, you'll have a beautiful place to come visit me."
"Lee!" she yelled, making Elizabeth cover her ears. "Thanksgiving we are visiting Elizabeth!"
Jake took Tara's hand as he led her into her favorite Chinese place on The Strip. "What's bothering you, Jake?"
"Nothing really."
"You've been quiet tonight. You can tell me."
Jake put his arm around Tara and kissed her temple. She was the sweetest woman he'd ever met, aside from his Mom. It was kind of shocking that she was a police officer.
"My mom is moving to England."
"Wow. Why is she moving?"
"She said she wants a change…"
The waitress took their orders and then they resumed their conversation. "I just...why can't she stay close by? I mean, buy a house here? England is so far."
Tara squeezed his hand across the table. "You mentioned before that your dad passed a few years back. Maybe she's missing him."
"I don't know. She probably is. I need to talk to her about that. Anyway, Mom wants you to come over next weekend for dinner."
Her stomach dropped and this time it was his turn to notice. "Tara? What do you think?"
"I'm...maybe it's too soon. What if she doesn't like me?"
He squeezed her hand and smiled. "We have been dating six weeks. It's not too soon and honestly I think it's impossible for her not to like you."
"Why's that, Officer Thornton?" she smiled, curious.
"You are so much like her. Strong, independent, loving, sassy. It's going to be perfect."
"Sassy, huh?"
"Oh yeah." He chuckled and grabbed an egg roll that the waitress brought.
She giggled and grabbed her crab Rangoon. "Yum!"
Tara didn't get any less nervous as the week progressed. When it came time to drive over to Mrs. Thornton's home, Sunday evening, she was pretty sure she was going to throw up or pass out, neither of which was good since she was in a moving vehicle.
"I can do this. Mom and Dad liked Jake. Elizabeth will like me too," she told herself.
The only thing she really knew over the seven weeks she'd been dating Jake was she'd fallen fast. His parents had to be amazing to raise a guy like him and she wanted to continue to be a part of his life. To do that, meeting his Mom was necessary.
Not only was it necessary, it turned out to be wonderful.
Tara took Jake's hand and he led her into the house. Elizabeth immediately reached for her and gave her a big hug.
"I'm a hugger. I hope you don't mind," she said with a wink. "Its so nice to meet you, sweetie."
"You too, Mrs. Thornton."
"Just call me Elizabeth, dear."
She instantly felt comfortable with her and in the cozy house.
"Now, Tara, tell me about yourself. Jake told me you and your folks just moved here?"
"Yes, ma'am. We moved from Billings."
"Montana? Any cowboys in your family?"
"Mom," Jake laughed, taking a chip with salsa and almost choking on it.
"No cowboys, ma'am," she answered with a giggle. "My dad was a police officer too. He retired and decided it was time to move."
"I can relate."
"Jake mentioned you were moving. That's a big change! England?"
"Ever been there?"
"No, but I'd love to go someday."
"Its magical really. Such a romance to it. The town I'm moving to is a small fishing village. You can walk anywhere you need to go and the view is amazing!"
"Sounds great."
Elizabeth could see concern etched on Jake's face. "What's on your mind, love?"
"Nothing. It's okay."
"Ask me, Jake. I want you to be comfortable with this move too."
"Is it...because of Dad? I mean, are you running from memories?"
She reached for her son, who came to her without complaint. "No, sweetie. Listen, I will never stop loving your father. He was so wonderful and he was the best father and husband but I'm doing this for me. I'm alone here in this big old house and you and Gracie have your own lives. I want mine too. I want to live and experience new things and honestly, I fell in love with that town the moment I stepped foot there."
Jake nodded and kissed her cheek. "I'm going to miss you, Mom, but I support your decision."
"I'm going to miss you too."
A couple hours later, Jake walked Tara to her car. "So, are you glad you came?" he asked, stepping into her space, his hands on her slim hips.
"Yeah. She's wonderful." She kissed the corner of his mouth. "Now I know why you are too."
He held her for an extra moment and stepped back.
"I just have one question."
"What's that?"
"Are you ever going to kiss me, Jacob Thornton? Seven weeks of dates and holding hands and text messages and phone calls...that's a long time."
He smiled, a bit nervously. "I.."
"You can tell me."
"I've never kissed anyone before. I know that's strange considering I'm twenty four but...its true."
"So, it's not that you don't want to."
"Absolutely not."
She moved closer and stared up into the depths of his chocolate brown eyes. "Okay, I was worried I always had bad breath or something," she teased.
He chuckled and allowed his eyes to rest on her perfectly shaped mouth. He absolutely wanted to know what she tasted like. "Here goes."
"So romantic," she laughed, sighing as his warm lips touched hers, soft and gentle. "I love you, Jake."
"I love you too." He went in for another kiss, finding that now that he'd tried it out, he definitely wanted to keep going.
Elizabeth smiled and stepped away from the window where she'd been watching. Her son was in deep and she couldn't be happier for him. Tara was a sweetheart with a good head on her shoulders. She'd take good care of him.
Elizabeth made herself a cup of tea and sat down to email a realtor in Beesands.
"Good evening from Nevada. My name is Elizabeth Thornton and I'm interested in renting or purchasing the cottage on Water's Edge…."