Living With No Regrets (25 page)

A lot had happened, and Leigh seemed to be struggling with it, but as a family, if they stood together, they would be able to deal with anything, and help Leigh get over the nightmares she’d survived.

Epilogue

It had been an eventful year for Leigh, since she’d been rescued from the pastor.   Though she knew that you’re supposed to pray for your enemies as well as your friends, Leigh couldn’t help being happily relieved when she’d been informed that Daniel Peters had been shot and killed in a failed escape attempt during transport to the courthouse for his trial.

Bill had been sentenced to ten years without parole for aggravated sexual assault, but he’d been extradited to South Dakota for the murder charges, which had him serving life without the possibility of parole; which trumped his rape charge, but as long as he was behind bars, that was what mattered.

She and Russell had both mourned their lost child, but since she was no longer pregnant, she’d been able to do her radiation and chemo.  Now she was in remission, and they were all praying she stayed there.

She’d been told that she’d be able to try and have more children, but it felt wrong to her.  It felt like she would be trying to replace one child with another, so they weren’t thinking about it anymore.  Maybe it would change the longer she had to grieve, but she felt like Randy was blessing enough.

Feeling like she wanted to make life as easy for herself as possible, Leigh sold her family’s grocery store to her old friend, Lacey Peters (she was Pastor Daniel’s second cousin and had tried real hard to make things up to Leigh, though Leigh didn’t blame her for what had been done).  Her husband had been out of work for a while, because there were no local jobs to be had, but they didn’t want to move because Lacey loved her job at the school.  He was a smart, likable, well respected man, and Leigh knew that he’d be successful and not sell off to a chain store.

She’d gifted Mark their little web design company, Simple Designs, and also had deeded her mother’s house to him since she and Randy had moved in with Russell.  Mark tried his best to pay her, but she refused it telling him to give it to charity if he just had to give money away, so he did.  He donated to St. Jude’s Children’s hospital, which they all felt was more than a worthy cause.

About eight months after everything happened, Russell took Leigh to the pond behind her mother’s house for a quiet dinner and night-time swim.  It was the first time she had been swimming since she lost her breast, and Russell had made it so magical that she forgot it all.  He truly loved her just as she was.

After they had swam for a while, and they were lying on the dock, Russell all of a sudden jumped up and went to his pile of clothes, pulling something out of his pocket, but she couldn’t see what it was.  He came back to her and helped her sit up to where they were facing each other.

It took him a few moments to speak, and when he did, it was only after he cleared his throat as if he were getting choked up.

“In no way will I ever think that I deserve you.  I betrayed you, and our love, six years ago when I did what I did, and didn’t believe in you.”  He took both of her hands into one of his, never taking his eyes off of her face.  “But for some reason, amazingly, you were able to forgive me.  Even after blaming you for me not knowing about Randy, which was due to my own stupidity.  I lost myself when I threw you away.  I became bitter and wasn’t a very nice person when I didn’t have you in my life to light my way.  I thank God for answering my prayer for a second chance.”  He finally brought the small velvet box out so she could see it, though her vision was already blurred from the tears she couldn’t stop.  “I want to ask you – to beg if need be – to please become my wife, my best friend, my life partner, and my angel for the rest of our days.  Leigh,” Russ opened the box and took out the two karat princess cut yellow diamond ring out and placed it on her left ring finger.  “Will you marry me and be mine?”

Having trouble speaking due to crying over his heartfelt proposal, finally she answered.

“I’ve always been yours, my Russell Sprout.  Yes!  I will marry you.”

*****

Mark and Maggie walked down the hallway of the church leading to the small dressing room Leigh was in.  They had just dropped Randy with Russ after making sure he had everything he needed, had memorized his part, and was calm enough not to mess up his mini-tux.  Mark reached out and opened the door for Maggie to enter first and heard her gasp.

Everyone always tells the bride that they are the most beautiful bride ever, but in this instance, Mark sincerely thought that it was the truth.  Leigh’s dress was a satin base with about ten layers of a light gauzy material layered over it, all cut into a sleeveless princess design and pearls embedded all over the bodice.  She had opted for no veil, wanting the focus to be on the dress alone.  She had only the bare minimum as far as make-up, though it would have to be redone, and her hair was left loose in waves down over her shoulders; which was the way Russ liked it best.

“I can feel her right here with me.”

Leigh was standing in front of a full length mirror, tears streaming down her face as she studied the dress that she never knew that her mother had made for her.  After telling Leigh that she didn’t have to worry about shopping for a dress, Maggie had shown up at their door that morning and pulled Leigh over to the main house to start the preparations.  Maggie said that her mother had started working on it as soon as Leigh decided to move back to Pine Grove in hopes that everything would work out as it was supposed to have years before.

“She is,” Maggie said as she went over to Leigh and started smoothing out the bell of the dress.  “And so is your daddy.  They are watching you right now, and I know how proud they must be.”

“You and James have always been like a second set of parents to me, and I love you both so much.”

“Now you’re going to make an old man cry.”  They all turned to see James at the door, looking very dashing and debonair in his navy blue suit.  “That’s not allowed.”

He walked over, putting his hands on her shoulders.  “You are so beautiful, honey.  I think Russ will forget how to breathe when he catches sight of you.”

“Now…It’s about that time.  Russ and Randy are waiting up front with Pastor Andrew, so we need to get ready for the march.”

Russell had only wanted Randy beside him since his dad, along with his mom, would be walking her down the aisle to give her to their son, so Randy was both the ring bearer and best man.  He’d been so happy and excited when Russell asked him.

Leigh had asked Mark to be her ‘Bachelor of Honor’.  He’d laughed, thinking she was joking, since he’d never heard of that title before, but she told him that he was her brother and best friend.  She didn’t want anyone else there with her.  He’d actually cried knowing that she was serious and asking from her heart, so he was dressed in a white tux with a navy blue tie, and he was going to march down the aisle before her and lead the way.

After Mark reached his place, and the wedding march started, Leigh kept her eyes on Russell.  They had been through so much, but as the saying goes, love will shine through and save the day.  For Leigh, love had broken her, healed her, saved her, and now was staying with her for the rest of her life.

Everything that had happened in her life had led her to this moment.  Though she might wish that she had done some things differently, she would change any of it because of the outcome.  In that moment, she finally realized the true meaning of living with no regrets.

About the Author

Jayton is an anagram of my three kids’ names merged to one.

J – Jory

ay – Kayla

ton - Trenton

I currently I live in Myrtle Beach, having moved here in 2012.  I am a full time mother and have 3 kids that are my staunchest supporters in my writing.  I started my dream of writing when I was just a teenager and it was great.  I’ve had some good times and some bad times living in Myrtle Beach, but I love it here; having wanted to live here all my life.  It’s like three dreams realized for me (motherhood, writing books, and living at the beach).  Being a mother and a writer is a lot of work, but it is amazing and completely worth it.  There are a million stories in my imagination waiting to come to life, and with the support of my family and friends, I am looking forward to sharing them all with other avid readers.

Go to my Facebook page for more info about upcoming books and information about me.
www.facebook.com/JaytonYoung