Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(27)

What would her mom think of her if she could see her today?

She wouldn’t come out and say she was disappointed. She’d just shake her head and smile at me.

With lunch finished, she backed from her parking spot at the Sonic and pulled across the highway. This was as good a place as any to mark time on her decision-making adventure.

There was a lit sign in the front window, declaring the antique mall was open but there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot. Further inspection of the sign told her they would be open for several hours yet so she rubbed her hands together and set to browsing.

The mall was actually a conglomeration of old farmhouses that had been purchased and pieced together in a seemingly random way so that a shopper could meander from one to the next. She giggled as she got herself lost several times. She’d never had a great sense of direction.

Mom would love this place.

Room after room was packed full of antique furniture, implements, decorations, glassware, china, dolls, and every other imaginable object. Nothing really jumped out at her for the longest time. She mainly just relived old memories of antiquing with her mom, recalling and recognizing items her mom would’ve liked. Then she spotted something on a shelf and was transported back many years.

Her grandmother had given her mother a set of crystal serving dishes when Leah was very young. They probably hadn’t been all that expensive back then but they were pretty. A set of large serving bowls, platters, place settings, and a fancy candy dish with a fitted lid.

Leah had loved that set of dishes, just as much as her mom had, and just as much as Presley Ann had. As with anything back when they were young, if Leah showed an interest in it, then Presley Ann had to have equal rights to it, too. Her mom had refereed many arguments over possessions and those dishes were no exception. Leah was certain Presley Ann would break them when she had one of her stupid tea parties and hated that her mom let her play with something so old and precious.

They’d fought one day over the covered candy dish. Leah had wrestled it away from Presley Ann and in the process it slipped from her own hands and wound up shattered on the kitchen floor. She’d been furious with Presley Ann. If only she’d left them alone, it wouldn’t have happened. Shame nudged her because she’d been just as responsible for the breakage.

Her mother had been saddened by the loss and over the years they’d looked and looked in antique stores, hoping to find that elusive covered candy dish. All the other pieces of crystal had survived but they’d never been able to replace the candy dish. When her mom had passed away, she’d received the entire set as part of her inheritance, with a note from her mom to persist, that the missing pieces were out there somewhere just waiting to be found.

That same covered candy dish sat on a shelf in a corner of the antique store. Leah lifted the lid and checked it for chips and then examined the bottom half. Pristine condition. She giggled when she saw the price tag.

And they don’t want an arm and a leg for it.

She put it together carefully and held it to her, her eyes suddenly open to the possibilities. Maybe it had mates nearby. A nearby shopper looked up and smiled when she squealed with glee as she spotted an oblong platter in the same pattern that she hadn’t even known existed.

Content with her finds, she went to the counter and the elderly lady behind the counter greeted her. Handling Leah’s purchases with great care, she wrapped them in layers of newspaper as she said, “Do you know…I think I saw a matching sugar bowl in this pattern. Would you care to see it? I think the vendor marked it down.”

Feeling like her mom was smiling down at her and saying, “Now you’ve got the hang of it, sweetie,” Leah followed the proprietress to another room she hadn’t had time to explore.

With a soft fingertip weathered by time, the woman touched the lidded sugar dish. “My mother loved this pattern. It’d be a shame for you to get on your way without it, don’t you think?”

Leah nodded and asked her to wrap it up, too.

“Are you from this area?”

“No, I’m headed north, to Abilene on business in the morning. May possibly be moving there. I haven’t decided yet. I’m just taking some time to relax in the area today.” Putting the thought into words revived that unsettled feeling from earlier.

The lady nodded and smiled. “Well, I hope all the pieces come together for you, much like these missing pieces have found their way to you and your collection.” When Leah asked her about the little town and the surrounding area, she suggested a small park with a lovely overlook that was just a few miles off the main road and mentioned a bed-and-breakfast that was likely to have a vacancy that a friend of hers owned in the next town up the road.