This is the last chapter before the wedding! I will post the wedding chapter on Christmas Eve, since David and Christy are having a Christmas Eve wedding.
Here are some IMPORTANT notes about this chapter:
1) If you remember, at the very end of Ch. 13: Where I Belong, Margaret had an idea strike her that she planned to speak to Neil about. You will see this idea/project come to light in this chapter.
2) Alice and Christy discuss Proverbs 31 in this chapter. I encourage you to READ IT BEFORE you read this. It's a quick read; only 31 verses, but it adds so much depth and understanding to the discussion Christy and Alice will have in the following scene.
3) Lastly, I'm sure all of you are dying for more Margaret and Neil scenes. While there are tidbits of them in this chapter, most of you will still want more. I promise to give you more Neil and Margaret after we dive into the wedding. Promise.
p.s. I don't own these characters. Except for David's mother... sort of.
Read and review, lovely readers. I love you all very much. Thank you.
Mid-morning on December twenty-third, David found Christy and Alice huddled close together over Alice's Bible as they sat at the kitchen table. They were talking in hushed tones, and David watched Christy's face as she seemed to soak up every word that Alice was saying. Alice had been leading them both in pre-marital counseling since they had first announced their engagement. Yesterday, Alice and David had met and prayed together for his ability to be the husband God desired him to be. Today, Alice was meeting with Christy about the same premise. David smiled, joy in his heart at seeing Christy so willing to accept the role of his wife and best friend. He lifted his eyes to the heavens in thanksgiving and slipped quietly out the backdoor.
"I've read Proverbs thirty-one every night for the past two-weeks, Miss Alice," Christy was saying. "The woman it describes…do you think I'm capable of being that woman?"
"No one ever completely fills those things, Christy," Alice told her.
"No…I suppose not. It's more of a goal."
Alice nodded with a smile. "And it is a goal that thee have been working toward since thee stepped foot in this Cove, Christy."
"I have?"
"Yes. Thee have helped raise up the children of Cutter Gap with strength and wisdom. Thee have instilled values and morals in them that they may not have otherwise learned."
"Oh, I think David does more of the moral teaching. I don't really do much in that regard."
"Christy, thee have been David's partner in that all along. The children learn not only from the words of their favorite teacher, but her actions as well. Thee have made plans for helping everyone here, and seen many of those plans through. Thee always finds a way to care for everyone. Christy, thy life is a great tool that God has worked through and He will continue to do so."
Christy sighed in doubt.
"Christy, do you want to know what I see when I look at thee? I see a woman who does not rest until everyone is fed and clothed. She does not give up or call anything a lost cause. She does not run from what is hard. She embraces truth and works through a kind heart. She has fought against man and nature to love others. She is strong beyond physical measure. She does not waste time on trivial things. She smiles and helps others to do the same. She has taught the people here about much more that numbers, letters, and hygiene. She has taught how to love and have hope in the future. She has faith that can move mountains. She has helped turn lives completely around. She has helped bring my daughter back to me. And she is loved beyond words."
Tears poured down Christy's face and welled up in Alice's eyes as well. Alice placed her fingers to Christy's cheeks.
"The moment I saw thee cartwheel across that schoolyard, I knew that something amazing was about to happen. Does thee remember what I told thee then?"
"To hold onto joy," Christy responded.
Alice nodded. "Not only have thee held onto joy, Miss Huddleston, but thee has given it to every person in this cove. That is the true virtue of the woman described in Proverbs thirty-one."
"Oh Miss Alice," Christy breathed out, flinging her arms around the older woman's neck. "Thank you."
Margaret and Neil bounded into the dining room at lunch time with flushed faces and grins brighter than the shimmering snow outside.
"We were beginning to worry about you," David said when he saw them.
"We didn't know where you had gone," Julia told them. "You both just disappeared."
"Sorry we are late," Neil apologized. "We were trying to finish taking care of some things."
"Well, I hope you don't mind that we started lunch without you," Elizabeth spoke up. "William and David were ready to eat us out of this house."
David and William laughed.
"It doesn't matter," Margaret assured them. "Christy, David, may we borrow you for a moment please?"
Christy and David looked at each other and then nodded.
"Christy, you haven't finished eating yet," Julia started.
"I'm sure she will return shortly," William assured her. "Let them go."
William winked at Neil and Margaret.
"What are you up to, William Huddleston?" Julia asked in suspicion.
Christy and David stood and were quickly handed coats and ushered out the door by Neil and Margaret.
"Where are we going?" Christy asked.
"To the schoolhouse," Neil told her.
"Whatever for?" Christy asked.
"Because the children have something to show their teacher," He explained with a grin at Margaret.
"The children?" Christy frowned. "They are on Christmas holiday."
"Christy, just come on," Margaret laughed. "Don't spoil our fun with so many questions."
Christy looked at David and giggled at the same bewildered expression on his face that matched her own. She reached for his hand and decided then and there to just relax and go with whatever was about to happen.
They reached the schoolhouse doors and came to a stop.
"Are you ready?" Margaret asked.
"I hope you aren't planning on scaring us and giving Christy a heart attack," David said. "I really would like to get married before this baby comes."
"On my honor as your friend and doctor, I promise that there will be no frightening Christy into labor today."
"Oh good," Christy smiled.
Margaret and Neil opened the doors and David and Christy both gasped in amazement. Freshly cut evergreen branches lined the edges of the aisle all the way to the front of the room. Sections of logs that were stood up right sat at the end of every pew among the branches, and on top of each log, a single candle burned. At the very front of the room, a giant Christmas tree stood as the backdrop. Candles nestled in among the branches also flickered with flame. The entire room glowed, and Christy felt tears well up in her eyes, blurring her vision, but it was not because of the beauty of it all, but because there, in front of the tree, stood all of her children. Their faces shown with smiles and tears, and Christy grinned back.
"Did all of you do this?" David asked, finding his voice first.
The children nodded and Christy looked at David, finding tears in his eyes as well.
"We wanted your wedding to be beautiful," Ruby Mae explained. "Doc and Mrs. MacNeill and Mr. Huddleston helped us."
"This is stunning," Christy told them. "Thank you so much."
"Ya don't have to say thanks, Miz Christy," Little Burl said. "We're wanting to thank ya."
Christy nodded and felt David squeeze her hand.
"We know that this hasn't been easy for ya," Zady Spencer started. "with the baby and all. And we all turned against both of ya, and it was wrong."
"Oh, children…" Christy sighed.
"We wanted to make it right," Rob Allen said. "We wanted to show you both that we're sorry for the way everything happened. Preacher and Miz Christy…you have both given so much to us, and we be beholden to ya."
"Miss Christy, what we are trying to say is that you might not be very excited about this baby because of what Mr. Stone did to you…to all of us. But we are going to love your baby and help you and Preacher with it and care for it just as much as you have loved and cared for all of us 'cuz we love you," Zady said with a smile. "Both of you deserve all the happiness a person can get."
Christy burst into tears, a smile brightening her face as she looked at all of the children as they crowded around them. Her eyes found David's over the students' heads and he smiled at her, tears in his eyes as he scooped little LouLou up in his arms and kissed her temple.
"I…I don't know how to thank you…" Christy sputtered, pressing her fingers to her lips.
Mountie stepped forward then, handing Christy a small pair of white baby booties. Christy let out an overwhelmed laugh, reaching out and running her hand across Mountie's cheek.
"Merry Christmas, Miss Christy," Mountie said softly.
"Merry Christmas, Mountie," Christy replied, and then looked to all of them. "Merry Christmas, Children."
"Merry Christmas!" The children responded in a flutter of noise.
In the doorway, Neil and Margaret stood, Neil's arm wrapped around her waist. He grinned at what they and the children had been able to accomplish, and looked at his wife. She was smiling, tears in her eyes, and Neil felt overwhelming and unconditional love sweep over him. He leaned toward her, pressing his lips to her temple. She smiled brightly and turned her lips toward his.
After dinner that night, the entire group moved to the living room, excitement over the next day's events keeping the conversation going well beyond the dinner table. Christy felt nothing but pure excitement for the next day. Her dreams were all unfolding before her, and she soaked in the feeling with David by her side. The smiles never faded from either of their faces.
"David, I have a surprise for you," Elizabeth announced as she joined the group around the fire in the living room after she had momentarily disappeared to her shared room with Ruby Mae.
David looked up from his seat next to Christy to see his mother extending a wrapped gift in his direction.
"Mother, it isn't even Christmas yet."
"No, but I think this will be handy before then," Elizabeth told him. "And it isn't new. You've seen it and held it many times before."
David frowned in curiosity and confusion, unwrapping the box and then prying the lid off of it. He paused as he saw a familiar piece of wood nestled amongst the straw protection in the box. A smile crept over his face and he reached in and pulled out a beautiful, polished violin.
"I didn't know you played the violin," Christy said.
"I haven't played since I came here," David said. "I pushed it to the back of my mind, but I've missed it. My father played this when I was growing up."
"Play something!" Ruby Mae begged.
"Oh, yes, David, please do," Julia agreed, clasping her hands together in excitement.
He looked up at Elizabeth and then stood and hugged her, the violin still safe in his grasp. "Thanks for bringing it, Mother. I know it wasn't easy."
"It was no problem at all," She told him. "I want your children to grow up to that sound like you and Ida did. It would have made your father very happy to see you with such an amazing woman like Christy and a family on the way. He would have been so proud."
He smiled, tears in his eyes and nodded, unable to speak. Christy felt tears sliding down her own face and she stood to wrap her arm around David's waist. He pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. "I wish he was here to see the wedding tomorrow."
"I think he can," Christy told him. "I believe that."
David nodded again and Christy squeezed his bicep, encouraging him to play something. He ran a loving hand over the strings, tuning them, and then tucked it under his chin. Soon the lovely notes of "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" filled the room. Christy sat down again, and looked on in awe as slowly everyone began to sing. Her eyes drifted over her parents, who were both lovingly watching the man who would be their son and raise their grandchildren. Their hands were tightly clasped, her father's arm around her mother's shoulders. Christy hoped and prayed that she and David would share a similar love and devotion for one another for the rest of their lives. Her eyes then moved to Ruby Mae, who was quickly becoming a woman, but still held childlike wonder on her face. A bright smile adorned her freckled face as she watched David play. Elizabeth sat beside Ruby Mae, running her hand through Ruby Mae's flaming red curls. Christy was so happy that she was able to be here, since she had been absent from Ida's hurried wedding. Alice sat closest to the fire, a smile on her lips as she too observed the scene before her. Her eyes, however, were resting peacefully on Neil and Margaret. Margaret sat on Neil's lap, her head resting on his chest and his arms firmly around her. It may not have been appropriate by most people's standards to be so openly affectionate, but for Neil and Margaret, it was a beautiful sight to behold. They had never been a couple to follow rules of propriety anyway. Alice was watching them with contentment, happiness and peace finally over every feature of her.
Christy's hand slid up to rest on top of her belly and the baby she loved so much. She smiled as the baby responded with a kick, and she sighed in contentment. Alice met Christy's eyes across the room, and they smiled at one another. They had found a true friendship with one another, and Christy could not be more thankful for her. So much had changed since that first moment she had laid eyes on Alice Henderson in Asheville, but Christy would never wish to change a thing.
The song ended with a beautiful final note, and applause filled the room. David looked down at Christy, surprised by all of the emotion on Christy's face. He grinned at her, and she smiled brightly. Her heart swelled with love and she pushed herself up to her feet, David quickly reaching out to assist her.
"David, may I speak with you outside for a moment?" Christy asked softly.
He nodded, put down the violin, and let her take his hand. They made it out to the porch before David questioned her.
"Christy, it's freezing out here. What do you-?"
She cut him off then, turning toward him and taking his face in her hands, before pressing her lips to his in a desperate, lovely, desire filled kiss. He immediately wrapped his arms around her waist to draw her closer, responding eagerly to her kiss. They didn't draw apart until air became absolutely necessary. They were both breathless, their foreheads resting together.
"Christy…" He breathed out.
"Shh…" Christy shook her head. "David, don't say anything. Just listen."
He nodded, letting silence fall between them until she spoke again.
"I love you, David. Being your wife and your best friend is an honor I don't know if I am worthy of, but I love you. I love you with my whole being, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to be everything to you that you are to me."
He smiled, his voice soft as he spoke. "You already are, Christy. You have been everything to me since the moment you fell into my arms your first night here. You are a gift and a blessing, Christy Huddleston. I cannot wait to marry you tomorrow."