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Authors: Lori Wick

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BOOK: Long Road Home, The
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48

Baxter, Wisconsin

 

Paul paced around the room and then threw himself onto the sofa in Luke and Christine’s living room. He sat still for only a moment before jumping to his feet and bellowing down the hall.

“Luke, you’re going to make me late for my wedding, and Abby will be furious!”

Luke stuck his head out of his bedroom door, and Paul could see he didn’t even have a shirt on. Paul threw up his hands in frustration. Silas, dressed and ready to go, observed the whole thing dispassionately from a nearby chair.

“I should have ridden in with the girls,” Paul grumbled as he began to pace again. Christine, Amy, Joshua, and baby Kate had all gone in early to help Grandma Em, Julia, Susanne, and Abby’s mother with the preparations.

“You’d have only been in the way. Not to mention, women have this thing about not being seen before the wedding—tradition and all that. Sit down, Paul. We have plenty of time.” Even as Silas spoke the words, he praised God that his wedding was over and Amy was already his.

Paul did sit but was out of his seat the second he heard Luke’s steps in the hall. He hustled his brothers out to the waiting wagon as though going to a fire.

Silas drove with Paul next to him, and Luke sat on the back-seat. The day was beautiful, and Paul prayed for a calm spirit as they moved toward town. This was a day he wanted to remember forever, and he knew if he continued on as he was, the day would be over before he knew it and he wouldn’t know where half of it had gone.

“I apologize if I was rude at the house,” Paul said with quiet sincerity to his brothers. To his surprise they both laughed.

“You know, Paul,” Silas spoke, “I’d forgotten you weren’t at our weddings. Believe me, Luke’s actions that day make yours look calm.”

“Me?” Luke said with feigned outrage. “Silas, it was you that was so nervous you forgot to keep your place by the pastor. I tell you, Paul, he would have gone up the stairs the moment Amy started down if I hadn’t grabbed his arm.”

“Well, who could blame me? You should have seen Amy, Paul, standing on the wide stairway at her aunt and uncle’s and in that white dress. I fell in love with her all over again in that instant.”

“You sound like a newlywed,” Luke commented.

“You’re not exactly an old married man yourself. As I recall, Christine looked rather nice on your wedding day, too.”

“Nice!
She took my breath away.”

“You sound like a newlywed,” Silas mimicked, and the men laughed. Paul was feeling better by the minute as he listened to his brothers’ light banter. The wagon was now at the edge of town. As soon as the ceremony started and he could see Abby, all would be fine.

Abby, upstairs at Grandma Em’s, was thinking the same thing. She wished there was no tradition about not seeing the groom before the ceremony. She wasn’t having doubts or feeling nervous, she just wanted to be married and with Paul.

Was it just three weeks ago they had been sitting in her in-laws living room and she had asked Paul if they could go all the way to Baxter to be married?

The extra days they had spent in Bruce Mines to get Abby back on her feet had been no strain. Even the stop-off in Bayfield to tell the congregation of their plans had been great fun. But once in Baxter, sewing and planning for the big day, things had gotten a little rough.

Abby and her mother were staying with Grandma Em. Elizabeth had traveled down with Paul and Abby after receiving a wire that Abby’s father would be unable to get away from Michigan. He’d sent his love to all. Paul was out at the ranch with Luke and Christine, and Abby keenly felt the separation. Why, they had been together almost constantly for weeks, and each evening when Paul came in to see Abby, it had been nearly unbearable to have him leave again. She wished now that they had gone ahead and married up north and had just planned a reception in Baxter.

“How are things coming, dear?” The door opened and Liz Pearson stepped in, followed by Grandma Em.

“I think I’m all set. I just wish it were all over—the wedding I mean.”

The older women both laughed.

“I’ll bet you do,” Grandma Em said as she hugged Abby. “And if I know Paul, he probably shares your feelings exactly.”

“Actually, we came up because Mac is looking for you. He says it’s time to leave for the church.”

Abby was a vision in cream-colored satin nearly 30 minutes later, as she stood with her hand tucked into the curve of Mac’s arm. He had come to her after they had arrived in Baxter and asked for the honor of giving her away.

Abby, desperately missing her father, had hugged him for his sensitivity. She had told him the honor was all hers, and
now they stood, so contrasted in size, waiting to walk down the aisle.

The chords on the piano sounded their cue, and they stepped forward in unison. Every eye in the room was on Abby, but she didn’t notice. Her eyes were locked with those of a tall man at the front of the church, and she didn’t even know when Mac released her.

The ceremony was lovely. Silas played the piano and Amy sang a solo—a wonderful song of commitment and love within God’s care. Abby felt as though her heart would burst when Paul looked into her eyes and not at her hand as he placed a simple gold band upon her finger. All the words he’d spoken grew just a bit dim compared to the promise of love she read in his eyes.

The atmosphere of the church had been hushed and reverent throughout the ceremony until the end when Paul kissed Abby briefly, only to snatch her back in his arms a moment later and kiss her again. The room broke up with laughter and put everyone in high spirits for the reception to be held at Mark and Susanne’s.

“You can scoop Abby up and leave any time you want.” It was several hours later, and the words were spoken by Grandma Em, her eyes twinkling.

“Thanks, Gram,” he said as he hugged her. “I think she believes it her duty to see that everyone is happy and comfortable.”

“That’s what makes her a good pastor’s wife. But I’m sure you’d agree—today belongs to the two of you.”

They stood for a moment watching Abby with two of her Cameron nieces: baby Kate on her shoulder and Elizabeth in her lap. She looked jubilant as her eyes caught Paul’s.

“You need some of your own, Paul,” his grandmother whispered quietly.

“I couldn’t agree more.” His smile nearly stretched off his face as he started for his wife.

Abby did feel a little strange about leaving ahead of the others, but Paul had her out the door and on the way to the hotel before she had too much time to protest.

“We’re going to be here for a few days, and I think we’ll have time to visit with everyone.”

“Oh but I was thinking of you, Paul. It’s been so long since you visited with them that I didn’t want to rush you away.”

“I appreciate that, my love, but like I said, we can see them later.” He finished speaking just as they stepped into the hotel and, with the room key in Paul’s pocket, started right up the stairs.

All was quiet in the hallway outside of their room, and Paul opened the door before lifting Abby into his arms. The door shut with the help of his foot, and he moved to the nightstand where the lantern stood. Abby struck the match and lit the lamp all from the position of his embrace.

“You could put me down, you know.”

“I don’t want to put you down.”

Abby laughed. She thought he sounded like a little boy whose older brother was trying to take away his birthday present.

The room was bathed with a soft glow from the lantern when Paul sat in the overstuffed chair with Abby in his lap. She snuggled against him thinking how small and protected he made her feel.

“I love you, Red.”

Abby’s face was radiant as she tipped her head back to stare up at him.

“You,” she teased him, “may call me Mrs. Cameron.”

Paul’s laughter bounced off the walls before he looked into her eyes—eyes filled with love and mirroring his own, eyes that assured him that the long, long road to finding each other had been worth every single step.

Epilogue

Baxter, Wisconsin
Summer 1891
Nearly one year later

 

Steam blew and doors were opened as the train rumbled to a stop. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cameron disembarked, shifting packages and bundles as they made their way to the street.

They headed straight for Grandma Em’s with one stop for more shifting of the packages.

“Do you think she’ll be surprised?”

“I’m not so sure. We write so often, and she knows us pretty well.”

“I just couldn’t stand the thought of her coming all the way to us, Paul. And it’s simply not the same to put it in a letter. But I don’t want to upset her.”

“I know what you mean, Red, but she’ll be worried about you nonetheless.”

A few minutes later they stood before the front door. Abby knocked with Paul towering behind her holding the two smallest bundles.

Grandma Em opened the door and gasped, her hands flying to her breast in surprise. Abby immediately stepped forward, hugged her and led her to the couch. Paul pushed the door shut with his foot as he followed.

Grandma Em had still not said a word but watched as Paul moved next to Abby and placed his bundles in his grandmother’s arms.

“The one on your right is Jessica Marion and on the left is Julie Marie.”

Tears filled the old woman’s eyes as she looked in wonder at the infant girls in her arms.

Abby spoke then. “We hope you’re not upset, but we just had to come and see you. It’s been so long, and this was too special for a letter.”

Grandma Em finally found her voice. “But Abby, are you sure you should even be out of bed. Why, these babies can only be…”

“Three weeks old, and I’m fine. My date was off and we thought they were early, but the doctor said they’re full term.”

“None of your letters said it was twins,” the older woman accused her grandson with a stern look.

“We didn’t know, Gram—not until Jessica was delivered and the pains continued so Julie could arrive.”

“Did you have a rough time of it, Abby?”

Paul answered for his wife. “She was wonderful, Gram. The whole thing was over in just a few hours. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

“You were there, Paul?”

“You bet. The doctor tried to throw me out, but I pulled rank on him and told him God wanted me there, and he gave up.”

Grandma Em laughed in delight at this, but the tears were just under the surface and Paul and Abby took their daughters so she could wipe her face. When she had dried her nose, she moved two chairs close to the front of the sofa and Paul and Abby sat. Grandma Em took the couch, everyone’s knees
nearly touching, and studied her great-granddaughters in their parents’ arms.

Her wrinkled, weathered hands reached out to stroke the downy red fuzz on the tops of their heads, and she watched as one baby found her tiny fist and began to suck on it. No one moved from their position until the girls began to fuss from hunger.

Makeshift cribs were made for the babies while Abby fed them in the bedroom upstairs. Paul and Abby put them to bed before rejoining Grandma Em back in the living room.

In a movement as natural as breathing, Paul pulled Abby close the minute they sat down on the sofa. Grandma Em regarded the two of them and then spoke softly. “It’s so good to have you here.”

“It’s good to be here,” Abby smiled and answered for all of them.

Paul kissed the top of his wife’s head, and then spoke across the room to the woman who had stayed faithful and near him in her prayers, all the years of his life. He knew she would understand his words.

“I chose a rough road, Gram, but Abby was waiting at the end of it. Every time I look at her, I know how much God truly loves me.”

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