Made For Each Other
Chapter 1
Elizabeth couldn't sleep.
Something that pastor Joseph had said, at her and Lucas's pre-wedding planning meeting, earlier that evening, was still playing over and over in her mind as she prepared for bed. Now, even though she had turned off the light, crawled under the covers, and closed her eyes, sleep simply would not come!
"Why had such a seemingly simple comment from pastor Joseph affected her so?" She thought to herself.
Sighing deeply, she fluffed up her pillow a bit, turned on her side and tried closing her eyes once more, willing herself to fall asleep. But after a few more minutes of obvious restlessness she let out a defeated sounding groan and opened her eyes.
She didn't turn on her light though, as she didn't want someone to think that something might be wrong with her or Jack. The row houses were close enough together that someone might see the glow of the light from her window shining into theirs. At least that thought brought a soft smile to her face as there had been more than a few nights lately when she could see the glow from Lee and Rosemary's house next door and she had known that Rosemary was up tending her new little one.
So, remaining in the dark, she rearranged her pillows again. Not even bothering to try to close her eyes, she simply lay there looking up towards the ceiling, once more playing over in her mind what had happened that evening to set her into such a state of sleeplessness.
Pastor Joseph had agreed to come to the house, to meet with Lucas and herself after she had put Jack to bed. His coming here meant she wouldn't need to ask anyone to babysit while Jack slept and she was out.
After Joseph arrived, she brought both him and Lucas a cup of tea. Then she went back to the kitchen for a plate of apple muffins that she had made earlier that day after coming home from school. Carrying them back into the living room she sat down next to Lucas on the settee. She had offered the plate of
muffins to Joseph, then Lucas, before setting the remaining muffins down on the living room table, making it easy for anyone to help themselves to more if desired, as they visited and made plans for the upcoming wedding ceremony. That was just over a week away!
Making small talk, she had told Joseph that she was sure her muffins couldn't hold a candle to what he was used to, as they all knew Minnie's talent for cooking and baking. The pastor smiled and assured her there would be no judgement or comparison going on by him, saying, "I personally don't see how anyone could go wrong making something out of apples, sugar, and cinnamon" to which they all had a chuckle.
After Lucas had taken a bite of his muffin, he said, "While Joseph may not be making any judgement, I would personally be more than willing to place a wager that your muffins are the best, hands down!" Then flashed Elizabeth one of his flirtatious looks, the one that always made her blush just a bit. Especially now with Pastor Joseph sitting there with them as well.
She realized now that she had actually found herself feeling just a little self-conscious and couldn't help but wonder what Joseph, as a pastor, might have been thinking hearing Lucas using gambling references. But whether he noticed it or not, he had simply used Lucas's statement, as an opportunity to give some words of husbandly advice, saying "Now be sure that you keep up the compliments, even after the ceremony next week, you understand? Because there is nothing that keeps a woman blooming like a beautiful flower more than knowing, firstly that her husband sees her beauty, secondly that he values her thoughts and wants to hear what she has to say, and thirdly that he truly does notice and is appreciative of her talents and all the hundreds of little ways she adds to his life and how she turns four walls into a home."
And with that, Joseph had segued into talking about the wedding ceremony plans.
All was going well, when Pastor Joseph had simply mentioned some of the scripture texts that he planned to use in the ceremony. One of the passages was Genesis 2:18-24, where God says "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
Of course she had heard those bible verses many times, it wasn't something new but then Joseph went on to say "God made Eve especially for Adam and everyone that gets married needs to ask themselves, did God make me, especially for the person I am planning to marry. And vice versa, did God make the person I am planning to marry, especially for me. You've got to know that God made you for each other before you say, I do and make a lifelong commitment to each other."
"I don't know if Lucas and I are especially made for each other?" ran so clear and distinctly through Elizabeth's mind that it almost seemed to her as if it had been audibly spoken. And she truly hoped, that in that moment her face had not reflected the total shocked surprise, and unease she felt wash all through her.
Thankfully, Joseph had moved on to talk about the other Scripture verses he would be reading from, and to inquire as to how they would like to do their vows. Lucas spoke up first and said he thought they should just stick with the traditional love honor and obey.
So, Elizabeth, still shaken and unsure what to do with the uninvited thought that had just intruded into her mind, simply nodded in agreement. Now she realized that she and Lucas had never even discussed whether or not they wanted to use traditional vows or write their own. Of course she and Jack had written their own very personal and meaningful vows to each other but if she was honest she hadn't even stopped to think about what she and Lucas would do, even with the wedding only a week away.
Though she knew Joseph had said a little more after that point. She honestly couldn't remember what it was, even though, she had tried to follow along at the time. Thankfully when Joseph got ready to take his leave so had Lucas. And after giving her a quick kiss on her cheek he had told her to have sweet dreams and that he would see her tomorrow.
Well, she thought to herself, what I'm doing right now certainly wouldn't be what he had in mind when telling me to have sweet dreams.
Before coming up to go to bed she had quickly washed the teacups and put away the leftover muffins for Jack to have with his breakfast in the morning. Then she sat down at her desk for just a minute to make a note of the four words playing over in head "Made for each other."
But, not feeling up to sorting her thoughts out into words just yet, she had simply shut off the lights and headed up the stairs. She paused on the stairway landing before turning to go the rest of the way up, the light from the hallway above casting a soft light down on the drawing that Jack had made of the two of them smiling and happy. He'd had it framed and gave it to her as a gift. She smiled as she remembered that time with Jack and the love she had felt. In one sense, she could remember it like it was yesterday, but in another sense, it seemed so long ago.
"Oh Jack, I wish I knew what you thought of all of this, me getting married to Lucas, our son having a new father figure?" Elizabeth whispered, as she ran a finger over the frame. "Past some bumps when we first met, I always know we were made for each other!"
laying in her bed in the dark, having replayed the whole evening over in her mind one last time, the natural weariness of a long day finally won over the confusing thoughts in her mind. And as sleep overtook her, Elizabeth softly mumbled into the pillow "Made for each other..."
