Abide With Me (25 page)

O
n a Sunday night in the beginning of November, Madge stared at the clock hanging on the wall above the front door of the
Purr
ple Palace. Was the clock broken already? It was only days old.

Russell came up behind her. “There’s a battery inside that powers the minute hand to move once every sixty seconds. It doesn’t operate on nervous energy,” he teased.

She sighed. “I thought it was five minutes to seven over five minutes ago. I think I’m just as nervous about this grand-opening celebration as I was when I had my first party in high school.”

He chuckled. “That was a long time ago.”

She nudged him playfully with her elbow. “Well, I haven’t forgotten how I felt right before everyone came to my fifteenth birthday party. I had this awful fear that no one
would show up, but I was also afraid everyone who had been invited would come, and we didn’t have room for them all. And what if someone crashed the party to make trouble because they hadn’t been invited?” She shivered as the old memories returned. “This feels the same to me. My stomach hurts. My heart is pounding, and my head feels like there’s a tight band of steel wrapped around it. I know tonight is just a party to celebrate opening the store and tomorrow is the first real day for business, but I’m still nervous.”

He took her hand. “Me, too.” Their gazes met. “We have a lot to lose if this venture fails, but if we don’t have each other, then nothing else matters, anyway,” he whispered.

She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. When the cat clock meowed seven times, Russell handed Madge the key to the inner lock on the front door. “Do the honors. If you hadn’t supported me and helped me and given me a second chance, this store never would have happened.”

She hesitated and wrapped her fingers around the key. Six months ago, she would have handed the key back to him and insisted he unlock the door for the first time. She would have been content to be in the background while Russell took center stage and accepted all the accolades, as well as responsibility for success or failure. Sadder and wiser now, she was committed to changing her past mistakes for the sake of a better future.

Russell had selected the site for the store, made all the major decisions about stock and planned the advertising. He would manage the store and the three employees ready to begin work tomorrow when the store opened. Madge,
in addition to naming the store, had taken charge of the floor plan, decorating and arrangement of the stock. Once the store opened, her responsibilities as a wife and mother would be primary, but she would remain very much a part of the business as it evolved.

In truth, Russell had changed a lot these past few months. He had worked even harder at their marriage-counseling sessions than she had prayed he would. He had been honest and sometimes brutally hard on himself, and she had discovered ways in which she had failed, too.

Not that her failures had been as traitorous as his, which he was quick to point out during their counseling sessions.

When she examined the life they had led for the past few years with the same honesty, she realized she had put Russell and their marriage behind other things, like the roles she played within the community.

He should have been her first priority.

Their marriage
should have been her first priority.

Tonight was a turning point in their relationship with each another, and she prayed for the courage and the wisdom to let him know she was now able to forgive him fully.

She urged Russell to go to the front door with her. She put the key into his hand and wrapped her hand around his and slid the key into the lock. The blessing of full forgiveness washed the anger from her spirit, once and for all. “For better or for worse, we’ll work together as equal partners in our marriage and in every aspect of our lives. We’ve shared the job of getting the store ready to open for business, and we’ll share the work of making it a success, each in our way, each with our own talents,” she whispered.

When she tried to turn the key, he stopped her and
cleared his throat. “For better or for worse, we’ll work together to make our marriage stronger. You have opened your heart and offered forgiveness, and I pledge to you with all my heart that I will honor and cherish you above all others for the rest of my days as my wife and helpmate,” he murmured, and turned the key. “Ready?”

She nodded, unable to speak, unable to see clearly until she blinked away her tears. With a prayer of gratitude in her heart, she stepped back from the door.

Russell had the door open and the vertical shades pulled back before she had herself composed again. Fortunately, at least for the moment, it was her family that poured into the store. Michael and Jenny had brought Katy, Hannah and Sarah with them, as planned, but Madge had to hide her surprise when Andrea followed in with Bill Sanderson.

Andrea put her arm around Madge’s shoulders while Russell scooped Sarah into his arms. “We came on the dot of seven to get the first tour.”

“
If
anyone else comes. You do think they’ll come, don’t you?” Madge asked.

“Of course they will,” Jenny assured her. She put little Hannah on her hip while Michael settled Katy on his shoulders. “Okay, the angels of destruction are secured. Better hurry, though. This won’t last long,” he teased.

Madge smiled and nodded to Russell. “You’re the official tour guide.”

He began where they stood, in the front of the store, and methodically led the group in a mini-parade, through the different sections. In the front, furniture, too old-fashioned or scratched to be used in a home, but too young to be considered antiques, had been painted a soft cream color. Then
a local artist had painted scenes on them, featuring different breeds of cats, including their wild relatives from other lands. Stuffed felines in every shape, color and size filled bookcases, hutches and sideboards, along with fashion accessories for both the stuffed and live variety of cats, who claimed owners who wanted to spoil them.

Madge made everyone stop to let the girls pick out a stuffed animal for a keepsake, which would also keep them occupied. Katy chose a Siamese cat the size of her hand. Hannah took one identical to her sister’s, but Sarah debated over two before she selected a pastel tiger with purple stripes. Madge beamed. “That’s my girl!”

Before they continued, Russell made sure they looked above the purple gingham café curtains where a number of stained-glass ornaments and sun catchers hung, ready to catch tomorrow’s sun, to dazzle window-shoppers before they followed the purple paw prints painted on the wooden floor to the center of the shop. Purple gingham fabric lined wooden crates that had been stacked to hold an assortment of trinkets for cats and their owners that ranged from all-weather scarves to zippered change purses. If they weren’t shaped like cats, they had a cat stitched or painted or decoupaged on them.

The rear of the store, however, was Russell’s greatest triumph. He waited until they were all together before he explained. “Up to here, Madge either organized everything you saw or decorated it. This is my one big contribution,” he said as he waved his arm at the two chest-high glass cases in front of them. Much like the cases used in bakeries to display cakes and muffins or doughnuts and breads, the cases held all sorts of gour
met cat foods. The girls, however, squealed at the top of the cases, where plates of McAllister’s butter cookies were set beside a tray of fresh vegetables and a bowl of dip. Smaller plates held squares of cheese, slices of pepperoni and crackers. Liquid refreshments were available at a side table.

Russell handed each of the girls a butter cookie to keep them quiet. “The case on the left isn’t refrigerated. For anyone who has a special cat at home, we have all kinds of snacks shaped like mice, squirrels, rabbits and even a few breeds of dogs. They’re made fresh every day, without preservatives or additives. On the bottom, I have sample cans of cat food. Most are imported, but I’m hoping to find a gourmet American brand soon.”

Carrying Sarah, he stood behind the second case, where bowls of cat food were displayed like salads in a deli case. “Cats have a reputation for being finicky eaters, but I never knew what they really meant until Sarah’s kitten proved it was true. I’m confident enough to make this guarantee to all of my customers—If there isn’t something here your cat loves to eat, then I’ll give you a full refund and a gift certificate for a free grooming at The Cat’s Meow.”

Bill peered into the case and shrugged. “Looks like ordinary cat food.”

Russell grinned. “But it’s not. I purchased the recipes from several sources, and I make everything from scratch using fresh, not frozen, ingredients. I only use the best cuts of meat and the freshest vegetables. I bake the dry food until it’s crunchy on the outside, but tender on the inside. It’s all nutritious, it’s tasty and, best of all, it smells delicious to cats and to humans.”

Andrea looked at the prices and winced. “It’s a bit pricey, especially if you’re feeding three at a time.”

Madge chuckled. “You get a family discount, doesn’t she, Russell?”

“Of course!”

Jenny shook her head and moved Hannah to her other hip. “You actually make the food yourself?”

“Not here. There isn’t room for a kitchen, although I doubt I’d get a variance to put one in, even if I had the room,” Russell responded.

“My gourmet kitchen at home is finally getting a good workout again, and I don’t have to clean up his mess, either,” Madge explained with a laugh.

Before her laughter died, their first official guests arrived. Jenny and Michael excused themselves and took the three girls home with them. Madge was more than a little anxious about letting Sarah go to her first sleepover, but Jenny promised to call, even if it was three o’clock in the morning, if Sarah woke up and wanted to go home.

“Bill and I will stay a while,” Andrea told Madge, before Madge left with Russell to greet their guests.

The huge crush of people Madge had feared never happened. Over the next two hours, she and Russell greeted old friends, neighbors and other business owners who arrived in small groups, stayed for a while and left, making room for another wave of well-wishers or people curious about a business geared strictly for people who were owned by their cats.

At eight forty-five, the celebration night was winding down. Madge began to circulate among the guests who remained, while Russell took several men to the back store
room. She stopped to chat with Caroline and her husband, the co-owners of The Diner, and another couple, who were also local merchants.

“You look tired, but probably not as tired as you’re going to be tomorrow morning,” Caroline suggested. “What time does Sarah get you up in the morning?”

Madge groaned. “Around seven,” she answered before she remembered Sarah was staying with Jenny overnight.

Caroline looked around the store. “You’ve done wonders here. I hardly recognize the inside, although I haven’t been inside for at least a year. That’s when the old taxi company closed its doors.” She sniffed the air. “I didn’t think anyone would buy this place. I think the wood inhaled twenty years of cigarette and cigar smoke. How did you manage to get that out?”

Madge shrugged. “That was Russell’s doing, not mine. I made the curtains, though.”

“And handled the decorating, too,” Caroline added with a smile of approval. “You two make a good team, just like we do,” she said with a wink at her husband.

“I think we do,” Madge murmured before the two couples offered one last wish for success and left.

Madge met Eleanor Hadley and her companions from the Shawl Ministry, Millie and Grace, on their way to the door. All three senior citizens smiled. “Lovely, lovely store, though we probably won’t be buying any cat food, not on our limited budgets,” Eleanor noted.

“The butter cookies are McAllister’s, aren’t they?” Millie asked before she popped a piece of a cookie into her mouth.

Madge chuckled, even when she saw the pockets bulging in all three women’s sweaters. Grandmother Poore used
to take little plastic doggie bags to events, too, and wondered if they shouldn’t be called kitty bags, instead. “Are there any better butter cookies for a hundred miles? I wanted to thank you all, again. You made Sarah’s introduction at church last month very special for all of us.”

“We loved doing it for her, and for you, too,” Eleanor replied. “You helped us to get started, remember? You even talked your sister into joining us. I don’t suppose we could get you to join us, too?”

“I’d love to, but…I’ve got so much to do now.”

Grace patted her arm. “That’s okay, dearie. We understand. Little ones come first. Just pray for us, then, and be sure to let us know if you hear of someone who might need a shawl.”

Madge agreed, bade them good-night, and moved on to the final group gathered at the rear of the store around the last of the refreshments. To her surprise, Andrea and Bill were still there, along with Carol Watson and another woman from the WYAA. By the time she reached them, Russell emerged from the storeroom with the women’s husbands.

“This tour is over, and my day is done,” he whispered as he joined her. “How about you? Tired?”

She nodded.

“I was just telling Andrea about the new girls’ crew team,” Carol said. “She made a donation a few months back. Can we count on your support, too, Russell?”

He ran his fingers through his hair and smiled. “Sure. I guess that’s part of doing business, isn’t it? Stop in during the week, and I’ll have a check for you.”

“You could have given the man a chance to open his door for business before you asked him,” her husband chided.

“We only have a few months left to raise the money,” Carol countered. “If we don’t reach our goal by then, we’ll never be able to buy the equipment and field a team in time for the spring meets.”

Ginger Smith, co-chair of the fund-raising efforts with Carol, nodded. “Now that we finally have a name and a slogan selected from the contest we ran, maybe that will get donations flowing again.”

“What’s the name?” Andrea asked.