An April Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

what if I don’t have Marsh?
    She couldn’t think beyond the here and now. She had to take baby steps right along with Marshall. When she saw him coming out of the church, she took a steadying breath and waved.
    “Sorry,” he said. “The reverend gave me a little advice.”
    “What did he say?” she blurted. Then she held up her hand. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me. That’s private.”
    “It’s okay.” He opened her door to let her into the driver’s seat, then he came around and folded himself into the passenger’s side. “We prayed together.”
    Stella felt a rush of tears again, but she pushed them away. She’d never been such a crybaby. But knowing Marshall was also relying on the Lord made her feel so much better.
    “We have to keep the faith,” she said as she shifted the little car into reverse.
    Marshall looked straight ahead. “Yes. I guess having faith is a lot like not remembering. The unseen things are right there out of your reach and you have to trust that everything will make sense one day.”
    Stella shot him a smile. The old Marsh was still here. She could cling to that. “I thought we’d take a drive around the lake. Pelican Lake. Do you remember it?”
    He took in the countryside. “Church picnics, camp meetings, after-school swimming. Yeah, I . . . I can see it in my mind.”
    She wanted to ask if he could see her in his memories, but Stella was learning to be patient. “It’s not a big lake, but it’s pretty. Remember Old Jake?”
    He squinted and frowned. “No.”
    “He’s a big alligator. We used to sing ‘Hey, Jake from Pelican Lake.’ He travels back and forth from the bayou stream between the river and the lake. I used to be scared to swim there because of Old Jake sightings. I guess he’s still there somewhere.”
    “Just like my memories,” Marshall said, his tone full of frustration.
    Stella refrained from agreeing with him. “Let’s grab some burgers and have a picnic. We used to spend a lot of time out there.”
    “That sounds great,” he said before changing the subject. “So we’re getting married at the church. I like that.”
    “Good. We agreed on that a year ago. Right before you left.” Her voice drifted off as memories flashed through her mind like a river flood. “Then we decided to go ahead and find a house. Our own house. Your dad helped my dad fix it up. Our moms helped me decorate it.”
    “Let’s go to the house,” he said, his eyes lighting up. “If I’m gonna live there, I probably should see the place, right?”
    Stella wasn’t sure. She’d wanted to show him the house right away. But that had been before . . . before the new Marshall had walked into her life. “Are you up to this?”
    “Why wouldn’t I be? I told you, I need details. I’d say the house I obviously now own is one mighty big detail.”
    When she didn’t respond to his rough tone, he touched her hand. “I’m sorry. This . . . isn’t easy. I can’t remember and I get aggravated. I didn’t mean to snap.”
    Stella held on to the gear stick and shifted. “The house it is, then. I hope you like it. I sent you pictures.”
    He gave her a frustrated stare. “Mom kept telling me about your letters and pictures. They must be in the bundle of my personal belongings that got shipped here.”
    Stella mirrored his frustration. “You really haven’t read any of my letters?”
    “I was so out of it in Germany, I didn’t want to read them. Mom decided to ship my belongings home so they wouldn’t get lost,” he said, his tone softening. “I’ll get themout and read them again. I promise. Everything’s been kind of mixed up.”
    Stella’s hope warred with her agony. If he didn’t care enough to read the letters she’d sent to him on a regular basis, why should he care about anything?
    She whirled the car into the drive-through and ordered their burgers, then she took a turn on the street where they were supposed to live. She spun the tiny car up onto the