More Than Great Riches (17 page)

She smiled now, remembering how hard she had tried to avoid Leif when she first came back
to Allerton. But God knew best. He kept putting Leif in her path until she finally
realized that this was the perfect man for her—strong, brave, honorable, compassionate,
dependable. She needed a thesaurus to find all the right adjectives to describe how
wonderful her man was. She sent up a small prayer of gratitude. Thank you, Lord, for
finding Leif for me.

Maggie brought her back to the present. So, when’s the big day? I’ve been waiting too many
years to be Tracy’s matron of honor.

Tracy laughed. Sorry about that, but I’ve waited too many years to find Leif. And now we
have to wait a little longer. Jeff has four more weeks in the rehab program. We can’t have
a wedding until my brother is here to walk me down the aisle.

Maybe I can get him released early, Leif suggested with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

No way, Tracy protested. Remember what Jeff said—you and Rev. Jim prayed him in there to
stay.

Hey, can I call you Aunt Tracy? Mark piped up.

You’d better, she threatened, or I’ll give that baseball back to Manny Ramirez.

Aunt Tracy, Luke echoed, testing the sound of the name.

She had no idea what or whether she had eaten. She was already filled to the brim with
love. She put her hand to her throat to touch the sapphire pendant Leif gave her as an
engagement present. She cherished the words he whispered as he fastened the clasp at her
neck. It’s almost as pretty as your eyes.

The pendant would be the something blue for her wedding. Her mother and her aunt were
bringing something old, diamond and sapphire earrings that were a family heirloom.
Something borrowed would be Maggie’s gorgeous wedding veil, a cloud of frothy white tulle
studded with seed pearls. And something new was the perfect wedding dress that Lucille’s
granddaughter was making for her.

When the last crumb of Maggie’s cake had been devoured, Leif got to his feet. I have an
announcement.

Hear, hear, Maggie cheered. The great stone face speaks.

Tracy’s gaze locked onto Leif’s face. He put his hand on her shoulder and she felt the
depth of his love in his gentle touch. My cup runneth over.

He gazed down at her with that smile that affected her like a stun gun. You know, I tried
my best to resist this woman. I’m not sure exactly when I fell in love with her. It might
have been when she let Luke bleed all over her. Or maybe it was when she made a bell
ringer out of a guy with two left hands. But I think it was that day her car threw a rod.
She was standing there in the middle of Main Street looking like a beautiful Cinderella
whose coach had just turned back into a pumpkin. All I can tell you is that when that
detective called from New York, he gave me the best assignment I ever had—‘Keep an eye on
Tracy Dixon.’ Now, I take my job very seriously, so believe me when I say I’m going to
keep my eye on Tracy Ericson for the rest of my life.

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