Chapter One - Spring Arrives With A Jolt

Emma Lindsey was up before the sun. She had to be because it was Tuesday and Spring had arrived a week earlier. The flats of young flowers she ordered were late and had only arrived the day before. She couldn't wait to get them in the ground and had spent the last two weeks cultivating the beds they would be settled in. She pampered them when they arrived.

Showered and dressed, she prepared as much of Drew's breakfast as she could: the crispy brown bacon as he liked it, his ritual oatmeal without lumps and the early strawberries she found at the grocery on Sunday afternoon, all sliced and soaking up a teaspoon of sweet sugar. Drew loved them.

By the time she had rinsed off the dishes and had the eggs scrambled and covered to keep them warm in the pan, the sun had come up. She toweled off her hands and poured a cup of coffee then stepped to the sun porch to look out over the back yard. Oh, it was going to be beautiful this year, she thought. She just knew it. The giant oak stood stately at the end of the garden, spreading its limbs so wide they almost reached her prized bed of roses. "We'll have to trim those," she said to Boopy, the little white haired Terrier she gave to Drew on his birthday two years ago. Boopy looked up at her, his tail wagging gleefully, as she continued, "They'll hide the sun from Momma's roses and we can't have that, can we Boo?" She loved the stately oak because it brought back wonderful days of summer when Drew would stretch out in the willow lounge chair and read his paper or a book while Boo rolled in the grass beside him. "We'll cover all those shade places with blue Phlox this year, Boo. They will fill the air with a lovely perfume!"

She heard Drew pull out his chair at the kitchen table and hurried back to serve him. "Good sleep?" she asked running her hand over his crop of thick brown hair and then kissing the crown of his head. He looked up and smiled at her. She poured the fresh hot coffee into his cup and pulled a warm plate from the oven. Bacon and a healthy portion of fried potatoes filled the plate. She reached for the pan of scrambled eggs and spooned them onto his plate. Drew took two pieces of buttered wheat toast from a small plate in the middle of the table and pulled the dish of apricot jelly closer to him. She removed the cover from his bowl of oatmeal and stood back to make sure he had everything. A moment later she squeezed his shoulder and returned to the back porch with Boo behind her. Out the back door they traveled to her beloved garden. Her entire morning was now devoted to setting out all those bedding plants. She smiled grandly up at the morning sun and let it shine warmly across her face. "Come Boo," she said and Boopy followed her diligently.