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Willard will probably have my hide for telling this story. First, I should tell you that while my brother is not opposed to taking a pretty lady to dinner, not one woman in the almost forty years of his life had captured his heart. All that changed the night he found a woman out at the cove battered from a fall.
He came by my little antique shop a couple days later. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” I stood on my tiptoes to give him a hug.
“I need a favor. Shannon, the woman we found out at the cove…the doc says she can be released from the hospital, and …”
“And she needs a place to stay.”
“It’ll only be for a few days,” he said.
“Shall I pick her up?”
“I knew I could count on you, Margie. By the way, she’ll need to bring her dog, Lady. You remember don’t you? The dog I found at the cove wearing the bright-orange vest? Shannon was asking for her baby when we got her to the hospital that morning, but it turned out her baby was a Sheltie named Lady.” He avoided looking at me.
“I can’t wait to meet them. Is Shannon completely deaf?”
“From what she’s told me, in her late teens she had scarlet fever and then developed auditory neuritis. She can hear a few sounds and her speech is good since she was a young adult before becoming deaf.”
“I’ll check with Thelma at the hospital to see what time I should pick her up.”
“Thanks, Sis. You’re going to get along great, she’s one terrific lady.” He lifted his cap and placed it back on again, as if trying to adjust it for comfort.
***
“I really appreciate you letting me stay here, you have a lovely home.” Shannon put a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know what I would have done without you or Willard.”
Before I could answer her, in walked Willard with his arms loaded down with food.
“I hope you ladies are hungry.” His brown eyes sparkled with a new-found gleam.
Hmmm. “If you guys don’t mind I need to run back to my shop for a little while.”
***
“I hope you like Italian.”
“After the hospital food it will be a welcome delight, but you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.”
She knew he was saying something, “I didn’t catch all that; I need to see your lips when you’re speaking.”
“Sorry, I’ll get the hang of it.” He began filling their plates with Fettuccini Alfredo and a crisp green salad along with golden brown garlic bread.”
She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Oh, this is so delicious.”
“I was wondering if, when you’re feeling better, maybe I can take you out for a real dinner.”
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I’m just passing through.”
“Yeah, I understand.”
“I’m sorry, Willard.”
Shannon later told me that while her words said one thing, her heart was speaking a different language.
“Shall we take your friend here for a walk?”
“The doctor said I need to be walking.”
Conversation came natural. He wrapped his jacket around her shoulders as if he knew the exact moment she felt chilled.
He showed up to take her for a walk each day. They began holding hands as if it was something they had always done. Then one day when they were out walking she stumbled. Willard reached out and caught her in his arms. They stood for a moment looking into each others eyes. He ran his fingers through her raven hair and felt lost in her crystal blue eyes.
Sunday morning she walked into the church on Willard’s arm. They shared a comfort that made it seem they had been doing this forever.
Still, the time came for her to leave Willard and return home, but Shannon’s heart remained in Mecca Cove. She missed the simple easiness they had shared. It was obvious that Lady missed Willard as well.
A few short days passed. Willard contacted Shannon on her TTY. “If you can’t come to me, I’ll come to you.” The last tiny thread of her will broke; she would join her heart in Mecca Cove.
Willard and Shannon were soon married. Lady stood beside her at the altar with a bouquet of miniature roses on her vest.
Willard says God brought him a woman he couldn’t live without, and Shannon says she literally “fell” for Willard.
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