My Best Friend’s Valentine (4 of 4)

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A Brief Introduction

Welcome to the last of four episodes of the Donald Jay Author Podcast featuring my short story, My Best Friend’s Valentine. In this episode, I’ll read Scene 8: The Ride Home and Scene 9: Valentine’s Day. I’m Donald Jay.

In the third episode, we found out what makes Evan’s swing so special, a second charm for Leah’s bracelet arrived, and one of the couple narrowly escaped being seriously injured.

In this episode, Leah comes clean about her suspicions, more charms arrive, and the meaning behind them is finally revealed on Valentine’s Day.

And now, the conclusion of My Best Friend’s Valentine.

My Best Friend’s Valentine – Scene 8: The Ride Home

MY BEST FRIEND’S VALENTINE
A Dickens Station Romantic Short Story
By Donald Jay

Scene 8 – The Ride Home

Freezing rain socked in overnight. Leah found an odd sense of comfort that the gray, gloomy weather reflected her mood. The nurse wheeled her out through the sliding emergency room doors, with Mason leading the way to his truck.

Thick, icy rain deflected by the edge of the umbrella splashed her face. She found it refreshing. Mason had hardly said two words to her all morning. She couldn’t tell if he was angry, worried, or just staying out of the way. As he helped her from the wheelchair into the truck, his scent of shaved wood and muscular arms invigorated her. Even if he was mad, she looked forward to the forty-five-minute trip home with him.

Mason remained quiet most of the way.

Unable to stand the silence any longer, Leah blurted out, “You know what happened.”

Mason nodded without taking his eyes off the icy road. “I can guess.”

A few more miles passed beneath them.

Leah shuffled in her seat to face Mason, which made her wince. “Look, Mason, just get it over with. Yell at me, call me stubborn, or say I told you so, something. You know I can’t stand the silent treatment.”

Mason sighed and squinted at her. “I wasn’t giving you the silent treatment. I just don’t know what to say. Look, I know you don’t want me around anymore, but who else is there? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to care? Am I supposed to act like one of your hired hands? I’m kinda lost here.”

Leah’s breath caught as she sat back in her seat, making it more difficult for her to control her frustration. “I said I need to stand on my own two feet. What ever gave you the idea I don’t want you around.”

“You did.”

“What? When?”

Mason hesitated. “Monday morning at the bakery. I overheard you telling Char that you wanted me to move on.”

“Oh.” Leah fiddled with a loose thread on her sling. “Did you hear why?”

Mason shook his head. His eyes remained fixed on the road. They passed the cutoff to Dickens Station and turned onto the road that led to the Marley Ranch. Mason’s confession reminded Leah of her resolution and the night she had overheard Evan begging Mason to promise to look after her. Sleet pelted the windshield like daggers of reality, stabbing her heart.

Mason stopped the truck at the end of the driveway. Neither of them moved to get out.

“Mason, I can fix that swing.” Leah sniffed back tears before insisting through gritted teeth, “I have to fix that swing.”

“Why, Lee?” Mason grabbed the steering wheel and twisted to face her. “You and I both know you’re capable. I’ve told you that ever since high school. You are the most beautifully diverse and capable person I know. Banker, mom, horse whisperer, wife, maple farmer, you’ve managed it all. I know that’s not what you’re trying to prove. So, why? Why won’t you let me help you? What’s so important that you have to push me away?”

“Because I know, Mason.” Leah pounded the door beside her, sending blinding pain searing through her body.

Mason recoiled, paused, and then whispered, “You know what?”

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Leah blurted out the secret she had promised herself never to share. “I know Evan made you promise to take care of me. I know that I’m your charity case and the only reason you’ve been helping me is because you’re like a loyal puppy guarding the front door even though its master is dead.”

She bolted from the truck, slammed the door behind her, and ran through the icy rain and the pain. When she yanked open the screen door to her home, a tiny package fell to the porch at her feet. She snatched it up, barely able to see it through blurry eyes, unlocked the main door, and disappeared into the house.

***

Leah made her way straight to her refuge, the tiny closet of a room that Evan had never understood; she called it the library, her home office. Cold seeped into her aching bones. She had really done it this time. She had rejected the one man who understood her. Desperately needing to hear from Evan, she ripped open the package she had thrown on the desk and extracted the crimson velvet box. Her brow furrowed as her eyes focused on a colorful butterfly charm. No memory of Evan returned. She didn’t hear his voice or feel his presence. For the first time in her life, she was truly alone.

Howling winds rattled the shutters outside, sending painful shivers through her. She rose and adjusted the thermostat on the way up to her bedroom. She hadn’t the strength for the warm shower she craved, so she undressed and snuggled into her comfy plush robe and fleece-lined slippers. Sleet ticked at her windows, and the wind continued to moan. As she started downstairs for some coffee, another sound caught her attention, pounding from somewhere outside. She stole closer to her bedroom window and peered through a fluttering separation in the sheers, down at the front yard.

Mason had already attached one A-frame to the swing’s crossbeam and braced the other upright with a deadman. He heaved the massive crossbeam over his head and slid it into the waiting A-frame. Then, with a powerful left-handed swing of a ten-pound sledgehammer, he drove the bracket home. His scent wafted through her memory; her body ached for his warm embrace. Then her heart sank. He was right. I could not have done that alone. She faded from the window. At the bed, she settled gingerly into a comfortable position, opened the gift box waiting there, and studied the butterfly.

***

A knock at the front door awakened her. As she repeatedly yelled, “I’m coming,” she commanded her stiff, aching joints to extricate her body from the soft mattress, forced herself to stand, and made her way downstairs.

“Oh, Mason, I’m so glad you didn’t …”

The same young delivery boy greeted her beyond the screen door. “Another package for you, Mrs. Marley. Did you get the one I left here yesterday?”

She reassured Todd that she had received the package, tipped him, and received this day’s delivery with dispatch. As the teen dismounted from the porch, she stepped out to gaze past the porch rail and into the yard. Mason had restored the swing, and his truck was missing from the driveway. She ripped open package number four. This time, the charm was a clock. Suddenly, it all began to make sense.

***

My Best Friend’s Valentine – Scene 9: Valentine’s Day

MY BEST FRIEND’S VALENTINE
A Dickens Station Romantic Short Story
By Donald Jay

Scene 9 – Valentine’s Day

Leah’s alarm clock jolted every aching joint in her body, arousing her from a deep, pain-killer-induced sleep. She cursed whatever had possessed her to move the alarm clock out of easy reach, requiring her to wrestle herself to her feet to shut it off. Leaning on the bedpost, trying to figure out how to return to the warm cocoon with the least amount of pain, she remembered it was Sunday, and Valentine’s Day as well.

Having not missed a Sunday service since Evan’s passing, she resolved not to start now. Mason would be there as an usher to escort her stiff, protesting bones to her seat. That alone made it worth the effort. She showered, dressed, and bundled up for a frosty journey into town.

Upon opening the front door to leave, she saw Mason staring back at her from the foot of her porch steps, hat in hand. She stepped out onto the porch, set her Bible and a box on the rail, and stared down at him.

“I’ve come to apologize. I shouldn’t have rebuilt the swing. I was angry. I’m sorry.”

 “The charms were from you, weren’t they?”

Mason bowed his head and nodded.

“The promise? You were going to tell me about the promise you made to Evan.”

He glanced up at her through heavy eyes. Nodding, he lowered his head further.

“And the yellow rose was from a friend I’ve counted on since high school, truly my best friend.”

He gathered enough courage to look her in the eyes. “How long have you known?”

“The butterfly.” Leah walked down the steps to join him.

“Beautiful because of its many colors. I have always seen you that way.” He held out a hand to steady her on the last icy step. “But this time, it means something more.”

“Oh?”

He did not release her hand, nor did she pull it away. “The promise to Evan was an easy one. You were then, as you have always been, my best friend. I would have gladly taken care of you without that promise. Lee, you are my first thought in the morning and my last thought at night. In the past year, my feelings for you have evolved like that butterfly in ways I wouldn’t dare allow while Evan was alive.”

Still holding her hand, he led her to the swing and pointed to the inscription. “That man would have given you the stars if he could have. He loved you. And I know you love him with all your heart, a love I would never want to diminish. All I have is hope that, in time, there will be room in your heart for another.”

Leah raised hopeful eyes to his. “And the clock?”

“The clock signifies that I know my timing is off. It’s too soon for you, and I don’t want to rush anything. The clock is to reassure you we have all the time in the world. When you’re ready, I’ll be here, if you’ll let me. Until then, all I ask is that you let us still be best friends.”

He took her hand again and gently coaxed her to sit on the swing. Then he sat beside her and removed one last crimson box from his pocket. “Leah Marley, if you want me out of your life, if you want me to go away, I will. But I have one favor to ask in return. Call it reimbursement, if you like, for everything you think of as charity but that I call privilege, or maybe just for old times’ sake. Just this once, would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort my best friend to church and to call her my valentine?” He opened the box to reveal one last charm, a red rose.

With tearing eyes and bobbing head, Leah touched a finger to his lips. “Let me answer you this way.” She jumped up, patted his hands to keep him seated, and then gingerly made her way to the porch. She returned with a bright pink box that bore his name. Inside, Mason found two strawberry cinnamon buns shaped like hearts, the Plum Pudding Bakery’s Valentine’s Day special.

The End

A Few Closing Thoughts

Thank you for listening to My Best Friend’s Valentine. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please leave a comment, a like, a review, or communicate with me in some way either at DonaldJay.com or on a Donald Jay Author account on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Your feedback means the world to me. And, too, be sure to join me for the next episode of the Donald Jay Author Podcast. We’d love to have you. Until then, thanks for listening. I’m Donald Jay.