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Even from across the small meadow, she could hear Bree singing sweet lullabies and see her swaying gently, as if she had soothed babies all her life.
Ever the guardian, Nick stood next to Bree, smiling down at his granddaughter’s face. Then he looked at Lucy and strode toward her.
Lucy’s heart overflowed whenever she saw what a wonderful, loving dad and grandfather he was.
And what a wonderful husband he would be.
“Did I tell you the good news?” Lucy linked her hand with his. “I got a message through that Petfinder Love Lost program. I finally heard about Sniper’s owner.”
“They don’t want him back, do they?”
“The man who responded said Sniper belonged to his late mother. The day she died he ran out of the house and never came back. They’ve been worried about him ever since, hoping he was safe and well-fed. I told him Sniper has a good home with us. The very best. And he agreed.”
Nick slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “That’s wonderful news.”
The wedding ceremony would be starting at sunset on this quiet beach along Lake Minnetonka, and the sun was already slipping low in the sky. Lucy could detect the wonderful aromas coming from the caterer’s van parked nearby.
Just a few people would be here—Bree and Adam, Nick, his daughter’s little family, and sweet old Harry. As a long-retired minister, he’d been delighted at the chance to officiate the wedding.
A harpist began playing off to one side. And then everyone gathered at the water’s edge.
* * * *
LONG AFTER THE FOODhad been cleared away and everyone else had gone home, Nick stood with Lucy on the beach, listening to the gentle waves lapping against the shore.
“Not quite your big waves in Hawaii,” she teased.
“But these are a lot more familiar. This is where I grew up. Blazing autumn colors, heavy snow, spring flowers, lush summer grass. This is home.”
“Look!”
They both looked up at a meteor streaking across the sky past a heavy blanket of stars. A handful of them were far brighter, far more spectacular than the others.
“Seeing those stars feels like a blessing,” he said quietly. “When Carrie died, I was so angry at God because he hadn’t saved her. It seemed like my prayers didn’t matter. Yet now I can look back and see the way the prayers throughout my lifewereanswered, but in God’s perfect timing. And now he has brought me you.”
Lucy nodded, then turned into his arms and pulled him down to her level for a long, sweet kiss filled with love and hope for a future as bright as those stars.
* * * *
