Finally

Chapter 10

"What time is it?" Jamie asked groggily, making her way into the living room where her parents and siblings were sitting. "Jamie!" Erin bolted out of her seat and gave her older sister a tight hug; it was as if she had become a child again. "I'm so glad you're here! I missed you." Jamie and Erin had always been extremely close growing up, they were best friends. When Jamie went off to college and then moved to South Carolina, the two sisters didn't get to see each other often, and longed for the times when they were together.
"Hey Jamie! How've you been?" Simon and Ellie both stood up to join Erin in embracing Jamie. "We've all missed you." Ellie said, agreeing with Erin's earlier statement. Last to join the embrace were Jamie's parents, Sam and Carrie.
"Jamie, we'll always be here for you, and you'll always be welcome here. We're here to support you in any way we can." Jamie looked around at her small family and thought, how did I get so lucky? She started crying, both tears of joy and pain. She began to retell her troubles to the rest of the family, who listened with open arms.
"Oh, those kinds of problems." Erin reached out an arm to support her sister. Under the immense love and support from her family, Jamie fell apart. She told them everything: from meeting Mark on Monday, getting a call from Edward on Tuesday, going on a date with him on Wednesday, Mark's crash on Friday, her failed double date and the revenge of evil queen Kaitlin.
They all laughed at her last remark, but sympathized with her on the rest. Her family hated seeing Jamie upset. "We should pray." Sam suggested, placing his hand on Jamie's shoulder. Jamie reached her hand up to her shoulder and grabbed her hand. With tears in her eyes she smiled and said, "That sounds like a great idea, Dad."
Sam, Carrie, Simon and Ellie each took their turn praying for Jamie, each focusing on one of the problems she was dealing with. When it came to Erin's turn, she sat their awkwardly for a moment, not sure how to put her thoughts into words, but then she got it.
"Dear Lord, thank you for Jamie and the wonderful influence she's been in my life. I've never known her to ask you for anything, and she's always been the strongest of us kids. She's the most humble woman I know and I'm so grateful that you gave her to me to be my sister. All she wants is answers from you, so I ask that you would grant her that. If anything, help her to see what you have planned for her life, so that she may be at peace. Thank you, amen."
Everyone nodded their heads in a silent amen. Jamie stood up and embraced her sister. "Oh Erin," she said with tears in her eyes, though now tears of joy, "that was the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard. I'm so blessed that God trusted me with the task of being your older sister. I love you so much." The two sisters stood there for a few seconds before Jamie parted to ask her father a sweet, innocent question. "Dad, can we go get some ice cream?"
All Sam could see when he looked in her eyes was the same little four-year-old Jamie that look up at him with those big blue eyes every afternoon and ask for ice cream. Nine times out of ten they went, just because Sam enjoyed that time with his daughter. "That sounds like a great idea." Sam grabbed the keys and the family piled into the parents' suburban.
The drive from their home to Dreamette Ice Cream was short and familiar. Jamie looked out the window of the car, recognizing several places and landmarks where she'd made memories as a child. After ordering, the family sat down to enjoy their cold treat, reminiscing of times gone by and old childhood stories.
"Erin, do you remember when were were four and three and we were down by the creek and I pushed you in. I blamed it on a Sasquatch and for the next five or six years you believed me and wouldn't go anywhere near the creek?" Simon leaned back in his seat and laughed. "Simon!" Ellie playfully punched her husband in the arm. "I had no idea you were so mean!"
Erin looked at Ellie with a 'duh' look on her face."Apparently, there's quite a bit that you don't know about our dear Simon." Erin said, patting her older brother on the head. "Like how he wouldn't swim in the ocean until he was 15 because I told him that octopi would pull him into the depths."
At this, the whole group, including a now embarrassed Simon, let out a long laugh. Everyone said their goodbyes to Simon and Ellie, who returned home to Gainesville. "Thanks for the ice cream dad." Jamie said to her father as they were walking out. "Anytime Jamie." Sam kissed his daughter on the forehead with an amount of love only a father could bestow.
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The next morning Jamie woke up early, for once. Once she had finished showering, she walked downstairs with her hair wrapped in a towel and her body wrapped in a bathrobe and made herself some pancakes; chocolate chip pancakes to be exact. Soon the kitchen was filled with the sweet aroma of pancakes and the savory smell of sizzling bacon.
The delectable air managed to arouse the rest of the house, and soon the family was seated in the kitchen enjoying breakfast. "These are quite possibly the best pancakes I've ever tasted." Sam said between bites. "I 110% agree with you dad." Erin echoed, cramming her mouth full of gooey, chocolatey goodness.
Carrie, who had been in the kitchen getting some juice said, "hey! I can hear you! Let's see you two get pancakes from me anytime soon." Sam and Erin knew she was joking, and continued to eat. Carrie was a wonderful cook, and she had been Jamie's first inspiration to start cooking. That, combined with dozens of hours spent watching cooking shows prompted Jamie to take a summer cooking course in high school.
Because Jamie and Carrie shared the same love of cooking, the two cooked together often, until Jamie left for college. "Oh come on mom! You know I could never beat your double chocolate pancakes! They are the best!" Jamie did her best to reassure her mother, even though she knew it had been taken as a joke.
"Enough joking," Carrie said, "let's get ready! We don't want to be late for church!" The Hughes family had a habit of always managing to leave late, but today they were early; they pulled into the parking lot of Holiday Hill Baptist Church and walked in.
The service went well; Jamie felt at home in her old church. This was the place where she first fell in love with singing for God. She was on her first worship team here. She led her first bible study here. Looking around the sanctuary, Jamie felt the happiest she'd been in a while. After church ended, Jamie and her family went out to lunch at the University Diner.
Once they had finished lunch, they said their goodbyes and Jamie began the long drive home, deep in thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "Hey Haze! What's up?" Jamie was glad to talk to her best friend again.
"I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I swung by on Saturday to ask you how the rest of the night went and you weren't there. Then we got a church-wide email saying Mark had gotten in an accident. I didn't know if your disappearance was connected to that, and Edward didn't know anything. I just wanted to check on you." Even over the phone, Jamie could feel her best friend's compassionate nature radiating.
Jamie proceeded to tell Hazel everything that happened on Friday; she explained that she needed some time away to think about everything they was going on, and that she had made some big decisions in her life. Hazel, of course, begged to hear what decisions.
"I've decided to forget about Mark, as best as I can, at least in an emotional sense. Of course I'll see him at church and the Nook, but with Kaitlin holding on to him like her child I don't think I'll ever be able to talk to him much. I've also really thought and prayed about Edward. I prayed for answers and I really think that I'm meant to be with Edward. But we'll see how things go."
"I don't know Jamie, he hurt you terribly the last time, do you think you can trust him again?" Hazel, though it was hard, was making a valid point. Bringing up their last break up made Jamie go silent for a while. "Hazel, you know that over the years I've built up walls around my heart. I've met men who have loved me in the past, but right as I began to love them in return, something went wrong." Jamie paused, recalling her past experiences.
"Shaun waited too long to tell me that he loved me, Quentin had the wrong morals and tried to pressure me into things I didn't want to do, and the list goes on. Edward had a valid reason, we knew that neither of us could handle that much of a distance in our relationship. He broke my heart, but it's fine. I can trust him."
Hazel sighed, "I know you well enough to know that nothing and nobody will change your mind. Just, be cautious, ok? I hate seeing you hurt. The right man is out there for you, and I don't want you blowing your chance to meet him on Edward..." Jamie couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"I'll talk to you later Hazel, bad traffic." The roads were clear, the only bad traffic were the thoughts racing through Jamie's mind. How could she say that! Who's she to judge Edward. So we broke up once, that was three years ago! We're more mature now.. I hope.
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"I can't believe the summer is over!" Hazel whined, "I'm not tan enough yet!" Timothy did his best to calm his wife. "Hey, my parents said they were proud of the good shape of the beach house when we left and said we could come back any time." He knew he had to do something, otherwise it was going to be a long drive.
The four had driven down together from South Carolina, which was a long distance from Key West, where they had been staying. The plan was to drop Edward off at the Orlando airport on the way through Florida. His flight left for Michigan at 9PM, and at noon the friends finally set out, rushing to make sure he got there on time. "And shhh," Timothy continued, "we don't want to wake the two love birds back there."
Timothy motioned to the back of the car where Edward and Jamie were fast asleep, with Jamie resting her head on Edward's shoulder. "Aren't they just adorable!" Hazel sighed, glad to see her friend so happy. Timothy drove over a bump and the two up front cringed, hoping it didn't wake up the sleeping passengers.
But instead of waking up the two snuggled closer, as if in love in their sleep. "I'm pretty they're out Tim..." Hazel said. "Hey! Jamie! Edward! Yoo hoo! Ill give you a million dollars each if you both wake up." Hazel was almost yelling; neither of them budged. "See they're out."
The rest of the ride went smoothly and they arrived with plenty of time at the Orlando airport. "I'll wake them up, you get his stuff out of the trunk." Hazel said. She crawled into the back and slowly awoke the two. When Jamie and Edward realized where they were, their faces went from excited to glum. They dragged their feet waiting for Edward to go through customs and bag-checks.
A voice came over the intercom "The 9PM flight for Detroit is boarding from Gate 4A, passengers please make your way to Gate 4A now." Edward turned to Jamie and gave her a tight, hug. He pulled away, and looked directly into Jamie's eyes. "Jamie Hughes, you are the most wonderful woman I've ever met. You are a great woman of God and your heart is full of compassion. Every time I see you I can't help but smile. You have this essence of grace and beauty that I can't describe in words. I'm so happy and blessed that God allowed you to be in my life. I love you with all of my heart."
Jamie stood there, beaming, absorbing every word he said. "Which is why this breaks my heart and crushes every part of my soul. Jamie, I'll be in Michigan, you'll be in South Carolina and I don't know when we'll see each other again. So this is good-bye. For the good of us both, I'm ending this relationship. I'm sorry, I love you so much."
Edward gave Jamie one final hug and walked quickly to the gate. Jamie stood motionless, every fiber of her being heartbroken. As she turned away to walk back, a single tear slid down her cheek. If only she could have seen the tear that slipped from Edward's eye.