Because a Husband Is Forever Read Free

Dakota heard the ancient grandfather clock in the corner begin to chime the hour.
    Ten o’clock.
    How was that possible? It hadn’t taken that long to drive up here, had it? And yet the hours seemed to have melted into oblivion. Had she been lost in her own thoughts that long?
    Her eyes met the woman’s in surprise.
    â€œYou’d better start getting back, or you might miss your show,” the woman told her. Taking out a pad, she began to write up the sale. Surprised, Dakota opened her mouth to say something. Second-guessing her response, the woman’s smile widened another several watts. “You know, we do get all the major channels out here. Even have a computer or two around, although I don’t really like the annoying little things.”
    The comment seemed appropriate. The area seemed so off the beaten path, Dakota would have been less surprised to have stumbled over Rip Van Winkle than to hear that the houses were wired for cable or had computers in their living rooms.
    Dakota glanced at her watch. The woman was right. She had to be getting back before it was too late. She touched the cameo at her throat again, reluctant to part with her new acquisition.
    â€œI think I’ll wear it.”
    â€œThought you might.” After ringing up the sale, the woman handed her a small pouch.
    Taking out her checkbook, Dakota glanced at the dark-green velvet pouch. “What’s this?”
    â€œIt’s for the cameo. You can place it in here when it comes time for you to give it to the next person.”
    Dakota tore off the check, a smile playing on her lips. “After I find true love.”
    The woman nodded gravely. Her faith seemed unshakable. “After.”
    Moving the check along the counter to the woman, Dakota shook her head. “I don’t think I’ll be needing the pouch.”
    Picking up the velvet item, the woman pressed it into Dakota’s hand.
    â€œYou will,” she told her with certainty.
    Â 
    Dakota was still thinking about the unusual little woman and her shop as she parked her car in the underground garage beneath the TV studio’s building. Although her life of late had been a little bleak, Dakota found that she couldn’t suppress or erase the smile that had taken possession of her lips.
    Maybe she could go back sometime and have the woman—whose name she hadn’t even gotten—as a guest on the show, she thought as she entered the elevator. It was lovely finding unusual and interesting people. Most of the time, she was in contact with people who were hurrying through life much too quickly to enjoy what was around them or even what they’d earned for themselves along the way.
    â€œPhysician, heal thyself,” Dakota muttered under her breath as she sailed into her dressing room. Definitely the wrong metaphor, she thought. Physicians were the last group she wanted contact with. But even that slip didn’t take the edge off her upbeat mood.
    She fingered her cameo, as if for luck, even as she silently scoffed at herself. The only thing the cameo was going to bring her was compliments. True love existedin fairy tales and, on rare occasions, in other people’s lives. People like her parents who were part of another generation. Somehow true love had gotten lost in this hurry-up world through which she and others found themselves navigating.
    As she gained her dressing room, Dakota nodded at the makeup girl who was in there ahead of her. Alicia’s face lit up and she went to work, although there wasn’t much to do. “You’ve got perfect skin tones.” It was the first thing the young woman had said to her when they met. “If everyone was like you, I’d be out of a job.”
    â€œHi, Alicia, sorry I’m running late.” Not bothering to sit, she presented herself to the makeup artist, her face upturned.
    Alicia wasn’t alone in the room. There, biting her nails in typical nervous