Thirty Years Later: The Oyster and the Pearl

By Sandra Mason Beckham

Thirty Years Later ~ The Oyster and the Pearl is a delightful, endearing read that puts a smile on your face from the very start. It chronicles the chance meeting, courtship, and ultimate marriage of two people who seemingly have nothing in common. This love story forms the foundation of the solid marriage they share some thirty years later. It will make you laugh, and it will make you cry, as it maintains your keen interest until the very last page. Whether you are married, single, or contemplating marriage, this romance elicits emotion that all can identify with. If you have ever fallen in love, this book is for you. Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491828809

Sandra Mason Beckham

Sandra Mason Beckham is a small business owner and trainer. She conducts workshops on resume writing, interviewing skills, effective communication, and public speaking. Sandra holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, and a Master’s degree in Organizational Management, and currently works in the field of education. She is married, has two sons, and resides in Maryland.

Book preview

AuthorHouse™ LLC

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2013 Sandra Mason Beckham. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/11/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2881-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2880-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013919060

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Acknowledgments

T o the people who encouraged me to write this book.

F irst and foremost, to my dear husband, Kenneth. I love you more than you will ever know. You made this book possible, and I thank you.

T o our dear sons, Brian and Brandon, who continued to incite me when I wanted to quit. Thanks for egging me on. I love you both.

S am and Ann Reynolds, thank you for encouraging me to go for it. I always wanted to write, but just didn’t think I had it in me. You two believed in me.

B eatrice Tignor, Ed.D., for all of your guidance and support, thank you.

K athy Jenkins got so excited when she read the first chapter of the manuscript, she made me feel as if it was already a bestseller. Thanks for your enthusiasm and encouragement. And to your daughter, Shameira Jenkins, the aspiring artist, thank you for the back page sketch.

L ast, but not least, to my mother, Dolores Mason. We have not always agreed, but when she read the book, she said, It’s the truth. Thanks Mom. I love you dearly.

Chapter One

Blind Date

O livia invited me over to have dinner with her family in late December. Her dad, who was an amateur chef, was flying in from California to prepare the family meal. She was so excited because she had not seen her dad in a long time, since her wedding, as a matter of fact, some eight months earlier. She also wanted me to come to dinner because we probably would not see each other until graduation the following June. I had completed all the classes required to graduate from Patricia Stevens, the finishing school we attended, and Olivia had six more months before she would complete the course. But more important, she was inviting me to dinner to meet a gentleman she thought I might find of interest. I had just turned twenty-five and was still single, and Olivia, who was about eight years older than me and on her second marriage, thought it was time I at least started looking. Little did she know that I was already looking, but to no avail. So for me, this dinner party would be very interesting.

W hen I arrived at Olivia’s house that cold, snowy afternoon, I could see her tall, slim frame watching from the window as I parked my car. When she caught sight of me, she ran out of the house and all the way down the sidewalk to greet me. Thinking this was rather strange, since she was wearing no coat, not even a jacket, I asked her, Is everything all right?

S he said, Yes, but there’s just one little problem.

S he told me that Ken, the gentleman whom she had invited to dinner for me to meet, had called and asked if he could bring a friend. He had not been told that he was invited to meet someone. So when he called, Olivia’s husband, Mike, answered the phone and told Ken, Sure, you can bring a friend; the more the merrier.

O livia was scared because she had not told her husband that she was inviting me to meet Ken, because her husband would accuse her of playing matchmaker. As we stood outside in the cold she also told me that she did not know if the friend was male or female. It really did not matter to me. When she originally invited me to dinner and told me that she wanted me to meet this guy, I was not all that excited anyway. I had been down this road so many times and was ready to throw in the towel. The guy she wanted me to meet was the same one her sister had invited her into town to meet earlier that year.

T hey all lived on a military base, and because it was such a family-oriented community, people would pop into and out of each other’s houses whenever their shifts were over, just to talk or have a drink. Back in March when Olivia was living in California, not too far from her dad, her younger sister Terri, who was married to a military man, invited her to come meet Ken. Terri knew that her sister was interested in getting married again and that she was very particular about the men she dated. Olivia had already been through a not-so-good marriage and, for the sake of her young son, did not want that to happen again. Ken and Terri’s husband, Al, were very good friends. They had served a couple of tours of duty together, stateside and overseas, and would stop by from time to time just to shoot the breeze. So Olivia flew to the East Coast to stay with her sister Terri to meet this man named Ken. Terri knew her sister’s type and that she would probably find Ken to be a suitable mate,