"Hallie, come on, now. There's no need to do anything so drastic!"
Diana Belden gave her husband's cousin a look of horror as the dark haired woman held up two fabric swatches with violently opposing colors and patterns.
"What?" Hallie Regan asked, feigning innocence. "You don't think one of these would look good for the curtains with the other as the upholstery?"
"And I thought your husband was color blind," Di quipped.
The two women laughed together.
"Poor Bill, visual arts really aren't his thing. He can't get out of the house with matching socks, but he can decipher mixed breeds in a horse just by its coloring."
Diana didn't miss the appreciation Hallie's voice held when speaking of Bill Regan. Despite what others had at one time deemed a very odd pairing, the married couple had become quite a success together over the years. They adored each other and ran the Sleepy R Ranch as if they were one person. As she dug through some more fabric squares in the bottom of her design kit, Di couldn't help but smile to herself with the happiness of seeing how proud Hallie was of her mate.
"Oh, I guess you'll keep him, then," Di teased.
"Hmmm. I guess so. But if he doesn't stop tracking mud into this house, I'm going to have to reconsider that."
The women let loose another round of laughter and fell to work again, sorting through samples of various shades and textures.
"Honestly, Di, I appreciate you coming over and helping me pick out some things to redecorate this room with. I think of all the jobs we've done for other people's houses, and I don't remember it being this difficult to choose." Hallie looked discouraged, taking in a sweeping gaze of the multiple design choices laid out on the sofa, the coffee table, the end tables, and most of the available floor space of her living room. She was clearly overwhelmed.
"It's always harder when you're designing for yourself," Di said with a grin. "You remember, it took me two months to get the idea for Laura and Lydia's room picked out when they were little."
"And look at them, now," Hallie sighed as she picked up a picture from the nearest table. The photograph was of her daughter Fiona, dressed in her Easter finest, standing between Diana and Mart's twins. The three girls were of the same age and looked almost like triplets. "Oh Di, when did our little girls get so big?"
It was Diana's turn to sigh. "I guess the same time we got old."
"Speak for yourself!" Hallie smirked and tossed a curtain tassel at her friend. The fair-skinned Diana quickly snatched the fringy item up and held it against a nearby swatch with a clashing hue.
"Oooh, now this is classy!"
Hallie made an appropriately disgusted face as she shook her head and chuckled.
"I may be old, but I'm not blind. That's definitely something Bill would like; therefore, it is absolutely not an option."
"I don't know, Isabella could probably find a way to make it work," Di snickered lovingly.
Her sister-in-law, Isabella, was a brilliantly talented architect, but she was beyond eccentric when it came to her fashion sense. Di had met the younger woman when she had been asked to speak to a drawing class at the local college, and she immediately knew that she had to introduce the beautiful intellect to her husband's little brother. They were perfect for each other. Both Bobby and Isabella would have probably preferred the hideous color combination Diana was now holding up in front of her grinning face.
"Sure, I should let her come over and help…and then all I'd have to do… would be to get little Angelica to pick out one of her famous mismatched outfits… for me to wear… when I reveal this new design to my family…and I'll be… the talk of the town!" Hallie sputtered out each phrase through fits of giggles.
As if they were intoxicated, the two women gave in to side splitting laughter and doubled over deliriously. It was in this state that Hallie's oldest son, Will, found them.
"Um…Mom? Di? What are you doing? Looks like you two are having just a little bit too much fun in here."
"Will! I didn't know you were coming by." Hallie jumped up from her place on the couch and threw her arms around her son. "What a wonderful surprise!"
"Good grief, Mom. I just saw you yesterday morning. You'd think it was a year the way you're squeezing me to death."
"I just needed to hug you today," Hallie said quietly into his chest. Will was nowhere near as broad as his father, but he was every bit as tall. His mother had to crane her neck to look up into the twenty-year-old's dark emerald eyes.
Knowing that Will understood Hallie's last statement as an indication she was worried about something, Di wondered if she should leave the two alone to talk about it. She was about to excuse herself to the bathroom when Will interrupted her plan by bringing the silent problem out into the open.
"I take it you know about Daniel and Ashley, now, huh?"
"I don't think I like the way you say it. As if they're engaged or…doing something they shouldn't…" Hallie gave her son a quizzical look and pulled away from him. "What do you know about it?"
"Mom," he whined, "You know I can't just spill stuff my brother's told me in confidence. Hey, this is Daniel, we're talking about here. He gets himself into scrapes, but he's not dishonorable. I mean, he's considering seminary, so I'm sure he's not about to…" The young man suddenly stopped as if he'd said something he wasn't supposed to say.
Di watched Hallie's eyes grow large with surprise.
"Seminary? What are you talking about?" Hallie put her hands on her hips.
Uh oh. I've seen that look before, Di thought. She knew Will wasn't getting out of this until he told his mother everything.
"Oh Ma, don't freak out. I think Daniel's been called to ministry. It's really a good thing. Really."
Di felt an electrical shock go through her body at the words of her little cousin. It reminded her of the day one of her little sisters had rushed into the Lynch Estate with shining eyes and a strange looking box in her hand. Cara had helped Bobby find the witness cube in a treasure hunt that Daniel's father Dan Mangan had left for Bobby before the young man had passed away from cancer. As a result of finding the cache and reading the letter, which Bobby had angrily refused to finish reading and had given over to her, Cara had accepted Christ as her Savior. She used the cube to bring her twin sister Tara to Christ, as well as their brothers Larry and Terry.
Suddenly, Diana couldn't help but wonder how pleased her siblings would be if they knew what Daniel was thinking of doing. They had all been led to different callings; most of which had taken them far from Sleepyside, but they still kept in touch. Cara was a missionary's wife, and she had recently moved with her family to Honduras. Terry was a single father and a career military man who was currently stationed in Japan. Larry and Tara and their spouses all worked for a local airline: the men as pilots and the women as flight attendants. Diana was very proud of them and their families.
She searched Hallie's face to see if the dark-skinned woman was as enthusiastic about Daniel's revelation as she knew her siblings would be when she told them.
She was shocked to find no emotion registering there. Nothing flashing in the blackberry colored eyes. No tangible mood apparent on the woman's proud face.
All had gone frighteningly blank.
Di hadn't seen that look in a really long time.
"He made a deal with God…" Hallie breathed out in a parched whisper.
Before anyone could register what was happening, the middle-aged woman's dark eyes began to roll back into her head, and her tall, thin frame began to slack loosely in a rapid descent toward the floor. Will reacted just in time to prevent his mother's head from crashing onto the porcelain tiles as she lost all consciousness and fell limp in her son's arms.
Ooooh! There are more twists and turns coming – just need more time to edit them. Now you know how Isabella and Bobby met, what happened to Di's brothers and sisters, and why Dan's Roman's Road letter didn't work on Bobby (maybe later I'll even let you see why he got mad and didn't read the rest of it). Watch for falling flashbacks!