The Music Box Read Free

bridal shop. A grand sign above the display read, “Everything for your perfect day!” Angie suddenly found herself awash in memories, ones she normally did not allow to accompany her beyond her own front door. But today was different, and the past rushed in through the open car window.
    As the safety of their little town was left behind, Angie reflected on the mistakes that had brought her to this place. And they truly were mistakes. She could not deny the fact, not here, not now.
    She had first left this town to attend the university and become a teacher. Her problem was, she had left more than home behind. Her faith, for example. And the habits that had ruled her early life. All had been set aside in the city, where she had known no one and could lose herself in all the cold pleasures.
    There in the city she had met Stefan. Bold, loud, dashing, and charming. And foreign. Stefan had been everything that she was not. His family ran the town’s biggest and best Greek restaurant. He had a problem with his feet, something serious enough to keep him out of the army, yet not enough to hamper either his looks or his smooth way on the dance floor. And he had, quite literally, swept this mountain girl right off her feet.
    His family had been opposed to the quiet-spoken girl from the beginning. Which was one reason why Stefan had taken to her so swift and strong. He was destined to enter the family business, so tied by blood and obligations that there was little room for even dreaming of another destiny. So he had rebelled as much as he dared and brought an outsider into their closed ranks.
    She truly had loved her dashing Greek. So much so that she had been willing to cast aside her dreams of becoming a teacher and accept the role of waitress in the Greek restaurant, beneath the glowering disapproval of Stefan’s mother. And father. And uncle and aunt and three cousins and four others whose connections were so flimsy that she had never managed to get them straight. The only one who had granted her an open-hearted welcome was his sister, Gina, the same lively woman who had invited Angie to attend church with her. Soon after their wedding, Gina had also brought Angie to the church’s Bible study and thus helped her retrace her steps back to faith.
    The wedding itself had been the noisiest affair Angie had ever attended, with singing and dancing and toasts and crashing plates and more dancing and more toasts. For a brief moment, Angie had managed to believe that all the family recriminations and arguments that had marred their courtship were behind them. But instead, they had simply been set aside for a single noisy night. The men had danced linked by handkerchiefs, Stefan dragged up time after time until he had collapsed gripping his chest, the first indication anyone had of his weak heart. But that night no one had paid any mind, just laughing and pointing and putting it down to a bridegroom’s nerves.
    There were memories of other noisy days as well, rising unbidden to fill her mind as she had watched the road broaden and take them farther into the lowlands. Days spent in the sweltering heat of the restaurant kitchen, rushing in and out, her customers’ orders going unheeded, as no one could catch her quiet tone over the tumult. Feeling the mother’s sullen eyes follow her everywhere. Trying hard to please, and knowing that nothing would break down the hostile walls—nothing except a baby.
    Everything would be fine, Stefan had assured her over and over, just as soon as they had their first child. Then she would be accepted as one of the family. How could they reject the mother of one of their own? It was impossible. She would automatically become a part of them, connected by bonds of flesh and blood. She had no reason to worry, Stefan had said. Their first baby would make everything right, and every child after that would only make things better.
    Eleven had been the telling number of their