Ruth

By Melanie Benforado

Not every great love story starts with "Once upon a time..." Have you ever wished your situation was different? Have you ever wanted to find someone who sees you and loves you? Have you ever wondered if there was anything in the Bible you could apply to yourself? Have you ever thought the Bible may have bee

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Mar 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890412614

Melanie Benforado

Melanie Benforado retired from the Navy after serving for over twenty years. She has led young ladies' Bible studies and participated in women's conferences for her church. She and her husband have four children and twelve grandchildren located throughout the United States. They spent a number of years in southern Maryland and currently live near Nashville, Tennessee.

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RUTH

BY

MELANIE BENFORADO

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2024 by Melanie Benforado

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

Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 979-8-89041-260-7

E-ISBN: 979-8-89041-261-4

Note from the Author

This is a fictional book based on the Book of Ruth from the Bible, which is in the Old Testament. There seems to be a growing number of people that don’t think the Bible is relevant anymore. I felt prompted by the Lord to show, through a fictional account, how the Bible is still relevant, and I hope you enjoy this book.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Lord Jesus Christ, who redeemed me from a life of hopelessness and helped me write this book. I would also like to thank my husband, who was patient and supportive as I worked on this, and the many people who provided guidance and support.

Chapter 1

Ruth woke up freezing. She tried to reach for Mason, but he wasn’t there, so she grabbed all the blankets (including his), bundled up, and tried to go back to sleep. It was too cold to get up, she thought, but as she lay there, she realized she wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep. There was an unusually cold spell, and the heater wasn’t working. Mason was very handy and fixed a lot of things around the house, including small air conditioning and heating problems, but this time, he couldn’t figure out what the problem was.

She called their heating company a few days ago to have someone come look at their heater, but due to a high volume of calls, they couldn’t get out to look at their unit until today. She was used to getting snow in Wyoming, but this cold spell still surprised her because it was earlier than usual, and she wasn’t used to it being in the low twenties in the first week of September. She hoped this wasn’t an indication that they were in for a long, cold winter.

Ruth got up and went to see if Mason was downstairs. She couldn’t find him anywhere in the house, but he made a pot of coffee. Even though she couldn’t find Mason, he had filled her new Contigo coffee mug and set it by the coffee pot, where he knew she would see it. She really wasn’t pleasant to be around until she had at least one cup of coffee in her. She had no idea when he left, but she did know that her coffee would still be nice and hot. As she took her first sip of coffee and looked out of her kitchen window, she thought this could quite possibly be her favorite part of the day; she always enjoyed that first sip of coffee in the morning.

She picked up her phone and checked it to see if he had sent her a text letting her know where he was. It was Saturday, and he never worked on Saturdays, so she knew he wasn’t at work. That was usually their day to go out and look at yard sales, go for bike rides, or hang out with his family. Mason rarely slept in on Saturdays; Ruth, on the other hand, considered it her reward for making it through the week, and she loved her weekends.

Mason usually got up early and got on his computer until Ruth got up, and then he would make Saturday breakfast for them, and they would talk about what they were going to do that day. She didn’t remember Mason saying anything last night about not being there in the morning, especially since they had the heating company showing up sometime today. Ruth looked at her phone and saw a text from Mason. It said, Coffee’s made; I had to take Mom to her doctor’s appointment. Kyle couldn’t do it, but he will pick her up when she’s done, so I will be home soon and will bring home something from the Ramshorn bakery. I love you.

She loved that he and his brother Kyle were so good to their mom. She thought again about how she and Mason would never have children and then shook off those thoughts as she took her coffee upstairs and got dressed so that she would be ready for the heating company whenever they got there. They gave her a window of 8:00–12:00, and even though she figured they’d be there at 12:00, she thought she should get ready in case there was a miracle, and they showed up around 8:00.

As she got dressed, she thought about Mason and how lucky she was to marry such a wonderful man. Her only regret was that they didn’t have children. For the first year or two, they weren’t ready for children, but then they felt settled and decided to start a family. After a year of trying with no success on their own, they went to see their doctor about it and found out that Mason had low sperm count and couldn’t make any babies. Ruth could tell by the look on Mason’s face that he felt embarrassed that it was his fault. Later, she tried to assure him that it wasn’t a matter of fault, but just that he didn’t have a lot of little swimmers.

It was one of the few times that Ruth saw Mason really sullen. They talked to the doctor about options, but Mason didn’t want to really hear any of it. He was so great and patient with Ruth but so hard on himself, and Ruth decided to just leave the subject of babies alone for a while. The few times Ruth tried to mention other options to have kids, such as in-vitro or adoption, Mason shut down, so she decided to leave it alone. Months of not mentioning kids turned into years, and even though Ruth wanted kids, she saw how hurt Mason was, so they never had any. She just loved on her best friends’ kids.

Mason had so many wonderful qualities and was such a good man; Ruth remembered the first time she met him. Was it really ten years ago? They had been married for almost ten years now, so yes, it must have been just shy of eleven years ago that she met him. She was working as a waitress back then, and he came into the Cowboy café and ordered food to go. She didn’t normally remember people who ordered food to go, but Mason must have changed his order four or five times.

Ruth, who could normally remember orders without using a server pad, was glad she had one handy because, by the time he was done ordering, it wasn’t anything close to what he said he wanted when he first came in. He was cute, but he seemed to be scatterbrained, and Ruth thought maybe he was a tourist visiting the Grand Teton National Forest because she hadn’t seen him around before, and if he lived in Dubois, she would probably have seen him around.

Funny thing was, he came back almost every day for two weeks after that and seemed to know exactly what he wanted to order every time he came back. By the end of the first week, it was obvious to everyone in the restaurant, except Ruth, that what he wanted was her, but Ruth wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone right now, so she was oblivious to his awkward flirting. She had just gotten out of a relationship with a very controlling man and didn’t want to think about anyone or anything but finishing college and getting a good job. She really thought he just enjoyed the food as much as he said he did and that he wanted to try the different menu items. It wasn’t that Ruth was naïve, although she was at times; she just wasn’t looking for a man and took him at his word when he said he just really enjoyed the food.

By the end of the second week, everyone, including Ruth, knew that he had come in there for her, especially when other servers told Ruth that he had asked when she would be working. Finally, after two weeks, he got up the nerve to ask her out. She had already looked up his online presence, and other than the family business, there wasn’t much about him. She had even asked around about him, and everyone said that he and his family were new in town and that he was a good guy. She said that she would go out with him on one condition: that they not have their first date at Cowboy café. He laughingly agreed, and they ended up going out for coffee on one of her days off. They talked for hours and realized that they had a lot of similar interests and tastes even though they were from different parts of the country.

Ruth was an only child whose parents moved from the Wind River Indian reservation shortly after getting married because they wanted to try to live a life outside the reservation and away from all of their family on the reservation. They both worked a lot, so she didn’t see a lot of them, and when her parents were home, they often fought about money or other things, but mostly about money, and she couldn’t remember them ever showing her or each other a lot of love. Her parents divorced when she was in fifth grade, which didn’t bother her too much because at least she didn’t have to hear them fighting all the time. She would often get herself cereal or pop tarts for breakfast, and her dad would try to be home for dinner. They would talk about his work and her school, and he always seemed genuinely interested in what was going on with her school and friends.

She spent time going between their two houses, but she lived with and spent most of her time with her dad. He always spent time with her, but when she went to her mom’s, she was often going out on dates or out with friends. Her mom was beautiful, and men were always asking her out, so she went on a lot of dates. She also drank a lot and changed jobs often because she was usually getting fired for being rude to her co-workers or customers; she never deferred to anyone else because she believed that she was always right. Ruth didn’t really like visiting her mom because she was always trying to make her feel guilty about living with her dad, and she didn’t really take any interest in anyone unless she could get something from them, including Ruth.

Her mom had always been very controlling and always wanted to know where Ruth and her dad were almost every second they were not with her. She was always drinking and yelling at them and blamed them for her bad life. Ruth’s mom, Kamina, who was half-Indian and half-Caucasian and drop-dead gorgeous, said that Ruth’s dad, Dabai, ruined her life when he got her pregnant. She often said that she didn’t sign up to be saddled with a man who barely made enough money to eat and a snot-nosed kid who was always underfoot.

Her mom left them and moved back to the Wind River Indian Reservation. Ruth was happy with her dad, but when her mom found out she could get child support if she had Ruth, she fought for her. In the end, she got to stay with her dad but had to visit her mom. The visits didn’t go well, though, because her mom barely noticed Ruth was there unless she wanted something from her, like information about her dad and his work. Kamina was always trying to see if she could squeeze money from her dad, and Ruth hated being any part of that struggle. She always complained that Ruth’s dad took away her youth, her beauty and left her broke. When Ruth was in middle school, her mom would be gone most of the time during Ruth’s visit, so Ruth visited her grandma and saw her mom less frequently until she was able to stop visiting her altogether.

She was happy to be able to visit her huichi (Grandma), who still lived on the reservation, and sometimes, if her mom got drunk during her visit, she would leave her mom a note and go stay with her huichi. Usually, her dad would pick her up the next day, but sometimes her huichi would drive her back. It was only an hour’s drive, and there wasn’t much traffic, but she always felt better when her dad just came and got her. He would often stay and visit with his family when he picked her up. Ruth loved being on the reservation and hearing the stories passed down for generations, but she was always glad to get back home, too.

As soon as she was old enough, she got a job waitressing so she could take shifts that worked around her school schedule and save up to pay for college. It also gave her an excuse not to visit her mom as much. Even though she was going to start at a community college, it still cost money that she knew her dad didn’t have. She was determined to get a good job and be self-sufficient. She was also determined to be good with her money so that she didn’t struggle the way both of her parents did, which is one of the reasons she wanted to be an accountant. Her dad helped her open up her own checking account and told her to never let her mom know how much money she had in the account, or better yet, to not let her know that she had a checking account.

She was studying to be an accountant and enjoyed helping friends and family with their taxes. She hoped to one day officially become a CPA so she could actually get paid to do people’s taxes and not be encouraged to do it free for family and friends. She was content with her life and being single until Mason came along. He was different from anyone she had ever known. He wasn’t controlling or pushy at all, and she loved how laid-back and easygoing he was. He kept her calm when she got frantic, and he always knew just what to say to cheer her up. He was so kind and gentle, and she loved looking into his big, soft brown eyes with eyelashes that were longer than hers. He was almost six feet tall, and while he was thin, there was something that intrigued Ruth about him.

Mason dropped his mom off at the doctor’s and was back in his truck reminiscing as he drove towards the bakery to get Ruth’s favorite items, Strawberry Cheese Danish and Boston Crème Donuts. He grew up in Arlington, Virginia, and loved his life there, playing sports and hanging out with his friends. During his senior year of college, his dad was offered an opportunity to start up a new business close to the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

He wanted the whole family to move to Dubois, Wyoming, about half an hour from the national forest. At first, Mason was going to stay near D.C. since he had a part-time job as an accountant and loved working there. Plus, he was almost done with school and looked forward to starting full-time with the firm, but after many discussions with his family, he decided that since he had enough credits to graduate, he would go and help out his family and have his diploma mailed to him. He would only promise to stay for a year, and then once his dad’s business was running smoothly, he would probably return to Northern Virginia.

During those first few months after moving, he used to wonder why his father ever wanted to move from Arlington, Virginia, to this sparse part of Wyoming that didn’t seem to have much and was an hour from the nearest big city. It was also hard on Mason’s brother Kyle, who had to leave his friends and finish his last few years of college online, in Dubois. Did they even have internet? Mason and Kyle used to jokingly ask. Mason remembered that his mother didn’t seem thrilled to be moving either, but after several times of voicing her feelings to his dad, she seemed to leave the subject alone and did research to prepare them all for a life in Dubois.

They adapted to their new small-town living, both boys helped their dad with his business, and they all settled into life in Wyoming. His parents got to see each other more, and their mom actually began to like the small-town feel. Life was a lot slower-paced here, and Mason thought it was actually good for his parents. His dad worked regular hours, and both of his parents seemed less stressed here. Even though it was good for his parents, he remembered thinking when they first moved west to Dubois that he was at the end of the earth.

He thought there was nothing in the whole county, let alone the little town, that would keep him here longer than the year he promised his parents, but then he met Ruth. Suddenly, he knew he was right where he was meant to be. She had long black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, which fell down to her waist, and she had the most beautiful, tawny skin tone like many of the Shoshone people. Her eyes were soft brown and seemed to light up every time she smiled. She was about five feet seven inches, had a drop-dead gorgeous body, and could literally stop traffic, and she was the most beautiful woman Mason had ever seen.

He and his family had lived in the area for about three months, and the town still seemed so small and deserted. It was a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Northern Virginia that he was used to. They only had a few restaurants in town, and Mason wasn’t sure he liked living in such a small town. He was trying to figure out how to break it to his dad that he was already thinking about moving back east, but then he stepped into that restaurant and saw Ruth, and everything changed. He couldn’t even remember why he was there. He felt like a little boy, stumbling over his words and changing his order at least half a dozen times.

She had been so patient and gracious as he continually changed his order. He had gone back there regularly since then, partially to see her and also to show her that he did actually know how to order food and wasn’t always tongue-tied and awkward. Even though he wasn’t muscular and had been sick a lot growing up, he did work out and wanted Ruth to see that he was smart and could put more than two thoughts together.

On their first date, they went for coffee at the local bakery, and she ate both a cinnamon roll and Strawberry Cheese Danish, saying she couldn’t choose between the two, so she ate both. He loved that she had such a good appetite and could sometimes eat him under the table even though she still wore a size two. He wasn’t sure what wearing a size two meant, but he knew that her friends all thought it was amazing that she could eat like a lumberjack and still wear that size. She always turned heads whenever they were out together.

He loved her from the first moment he laid eyes on her, and when she looked at him with that warm smile of hers, he knew he would always love her. Every time he looked at Ruth, he felt like the luckiest man in the world. He knew then that he would stay in Dubois, or anywhere else in the world, as long as Ruth was with him. They saw each other almost every day after that and were married the following year.

Mason was an accountant at heart, and while that sounded boring to most people, he loved numbers and math. He and Ruth both loved math, and they always celebrated Pi Day, which is always March 14 (3/14) of the year. They even loved telling each other corny math jokes; they really were perfect for each other. They lived in a small two-bedroom house that was on his parents’ property, along with his brother Kyle and his wife Olivia, who also lived on their parents’ property. Kyle and Mason had always been close and often hung out together even though they were so different. Mason was always the responsible one, and while he did like to have fun, he was always the one who was practical and did the right thing. Kyle, on the other hand, was always the life of the party, fun to be around, and was usually the center of attention.

When Kyle met Olivia, everyone thought she was perfect for him because, while she was very funny herself, she was an introvert and almost always let Kyle have the spotlight and be the life of the party. She was also one of the few people who understood Kyle and knew that under the funny on-stage persona, he was an insecure little boy who wanted to be as loved and raved about by his father as his older brother was. Mason never sought attention; he was quieter than Kyle and happy to let Kyle have the spotlight, but people gravitated to Mason. Mason was well-respected, and no one seemed to mind when he and Kyle took over the business after their father died. Mason and Kyle were always close but drew even closer after their father died.

Ethan loved both of his boys and had always been proud of them. People thought he favored Mason, but that was in part because Mason always, well, for the most part, did what he and Naomi asked. He rarely got into trouble and always had good grades. He had a good group of friends and always kept his room clean, even from a young age. He never had to be reminded to do homework or chores. Kyle, on the other hand, always wanted to hang out with his friends and had to be constantly reminded to do his homework and chores. He got decent grades, but his teachers all said that he didn’t seem to put much effort into his schoolwork.

Mason handled most of the business end of things, especially the finances, while Kyle was in charge of sales and getting new customers, which he was great at. They were able to not just keep the business going but grow the business after their father passed and enjoyed running the company together. The two brothers and their wives often did things together, and they always saw each other on Sundays for dinner at their mom’s house. Naomi loved having everyone over for Sunday dinner, and they all laughed and had a great time catching up on the week’s events.

Even after losing her husband almost ten years ago, Naomi still had them over for Sunday dinner so they could catch up on each other’s lives. She was so grateful that the boys still came over because just having them there helped her feel closer to Ethan, and sharing food and stories with her boys helped ease her loneliness. She knew that she was blessed to have two wonderful sons who were so good to her.

Mason had just gotten home when he got a call from Kyle asking if he would swing by and pick him up to get some supplies for their business and then pick up their mom.

Kyle, Mason said. You know I had plans with Ruth for today. I dropped Mom off, and you said you would pick her up.

I know, Kyle responded. My car broke down again, and we need those supplies before we open up on Monday?

I’ll pay for your gas and go with you. I thought I fixed my car last week, and it ran great until I tried to start her up this morning. I promise I’ll make it up to you and to Ruth.

You were supposed to pick up those supplies yesterday; I didn’t even think they were open on Saturdays. What happened? Mason asked.

Kyle hesitated and then said, Well, I was running late on a sales meeting and called the parts company yesterday. They said they were open today and would have our order ready.

Mason was more than a little frustrated with Kyle. He had planned to spend the day with Ruth (after the heater was fixed), driving over to Yellowstone to look around. He could not figure out why Kyle kept that old car that didn’t run half the time anyway. He had the money to buy a new one and keep the old jalopy, as he liked to refer to it.

Mason mentioned more than once to Kyle that he really needed to get something more reliable and stop asking others for rides, but Kyle didn’t listen and didn’t want to give up his baby. Mason wouldn’t have cared what Kyle did with his car, except that, more often than not, he was the one helping Kyle out and picking him up from a repair shop his car was towed to. He understood that the car had sentimental value, but he wished Kyle was a little more practical than sentimental. Kyle had never been really practical; thankfully, his wife Olivia was.

Finally, Mason got tired of bringing it up and generally left the topic of the car alone, except for times like now when it interfered with his plans. While he was tempted to just let Kyle suffer the consequence of not getting a car that was reliable, he couldn’t do that to his mom, and since he was older and used to bailing Kyle out of jams, he gave Ruth a kiss, told her he would see her in a little bit, hopefully when their heater was already fixed, and headed out the door to pick up his brother and help him run his errands and pick up their mom. The problem with Kyle is that he was so likable that even Mason couldn’t stay mad at him for too long. They really did have a great relationship, and Mason had to admit that Kyle helped him out a time or two as well.

Kyle always enjoyed taking his mom to the doctor’s so he could see how she was holding up. He knew she was lonely after their dad died, and he felt more protective of her now. He enjoyed the time they shared going to and from her doctor’s. He could have just let Mason go pick up their mom, but he wanted to be there with Mason to hear how her appointment went and talk to the doctor himself to see if there was anything that they needed to do for her. Mason and Kyle were both good to their mom, and they both made sure to visit her regularly and take care of her.

Mason took care of her finances and made sure she had everything she needed to live a comfortable life, and Kyle took care of her spirit by making her laugh. Both Ruth and Olivia worked, but even they would look in on Naomi to make sure she was doing okay and pick up groceries for her. One or more of the four of them would often call Naomi before leaving work for the day to see if she needed anything. Ruth worked for a small company doing accounting, and Olivia worked at the daycare center. Between the two of them and her sons, who could get away if she really needed them, Naomi always felt well taken care of.

After her husband’s death, Naomi didn’t want to do anything. She stopped going to church, wouldn’t see any of her friends, and wouldn’t let anyone but her kids into her house. She would often ask the kids to go shopping for her and rarely got dressed except on Sundays when the kids were coming over for dinner. It was the highlight of her week and what kept her going. Slowly, she started to heal and just started getting out again a few years ago, but she hadn’t felt good in the last few weeks, so her sons encouraged her to go see her doctor. She could drive herself but was glad that her sons always offered to take her. She didn’t know why she had been having headaches recently, and they weren’t that frequent, but her sons insisted she have a doctor look at her, so she made an appointment.

Kyle was planning to take care of all his errands and then pick up his mom, but his car wouldn’t start this morning. Olivia was out with her parents this morning helping them pick out some new furniture, so he couldn’t ask her for help. Besides, he wasn’t sure she would help because she (along with everyone else) had been telling him he should get a new car, but he kept thinking his 1996 Dodge Viper RT/10 Roadster would keep hanging on. It was the first car he purchased on his own, and he drove it everywhere. He restored it, took it on road trips, many dates, and he and Olivia drove away from their wedding reception in his baby. The car broke down so often now that she wanted him to get rid of it, even though she knew how much he loved it.

He just hated to even think about getting rid of it. After all, his beloved car was now a classic. He loved the looks he got when he drove it around town and how he felt behind the wheel, but lately, he had to admit he spent more time fixing her than riding in her, so he probably would have to think about getting another car. He and Olivia had many long conversations about the car and finally came to an agreement. He would buy a new car, not a used one, but a new one, and Olivia would let him keep his baby in the driveway, and he could continue tinkering with it, and in the rare event that she started up, she would even proudly ride in it beside him. He would let Mason know, when he picked him up, that he really was going to get another car. That should make him happy—heck, it would make everyone happy, and he could still keep his baby.

Mason arrived, and after ribbing him about keeping that car, which was nothing more than a showpiece since it hardly ever ran, they went and ran Kyle’s errands, and he told Mason that he was going to buy another car but just wouldn’t sell his baby. He would tinker on it and take it out for pleasure rides and use the other car for everything else. He asked Mason if he would go with him to the car dealer the following week, and Mason was happy to agree. They were on their way to pick up their mom and discussed what kind of car Kyle would get. Olivia wanted a sedan, and Kyle wanted a sportscar, but both agreed that they would do research to see if they could find something kind of sporty yet practical. Kyle didn’t really like the word practical and cars, but Olivia insisted. Kyle and Mason were enjoying discussing what the possibilities were for Kyle’s new car when suddenly, out of nowhere, Mason heard the horrible ear-piercing sound of metal on metal followed by a horrible scream…Who is screaming? he wondered. Was that scream coming from his mouth—Kyle’s or both of them?

Chapter 2

Naomi sat waiting in the doctor’s office and watched other people in the waiting room. A mother with a little boy sat off to one side, a lady was at the check-in window complaining that she had been waiting for thirty minutes so far, and another lady was reading one of the magazines that the doctor’s office laid out on the tables. Looking at the other women, she realized she was content. At first, it was hard on her after losing her husband. They had been married for almost thirty-five years and had been through a lot in that time. Naomi and Ethan built a nice life for themselves in Arlington, Virginia, so she was surprised eleven years ago when he told her that he wanted to move to a small town in Wyoming. Ethan had always been a good provider, and Naomi trusted him, but she had no idea why he wanted to move out to Wyoming. She suggested they try to wait out the bad economy, but he was insistent on moving.

Both of them were raised in Northern Virginia, where their families still lived and where they raised their family as well. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, and then, out of the blue, one day, Ethan comes home and says that they are moving to a small town in Wyoming. She knew that Ethan had been laid off from his job and that the economy was so bad that a lot of people were getting laid off, but she never fathomed that they would ever leave their home in Arlington, Virginia. She didn’t even know where Dubois, Wyoming, was and certainly didn’t know why in the world Ethan would want to move there. He may as well have said He wanted to move to the moon because it sounded like the ends of the earth, and all she could think about was the fact that she was not going to be near her family and friends and that she wouldn’t be just minutes away from them if she needed them.

Her sister Sharon was her best friend and always looked out for her, especially after their parents died. She never went a week without seeing or talking to Sharon, and she didn’t know what she would do without her, but she felt she needed to support Ethan, especially since he was more excited than he had been in years at the prospect of starting his own company. It was like a franchise in that it would be his company, but he would get a little help getting it started. Naomi didn’t quite understand it when Ethan tried to explain it to her, but he understood the process and was ecstatic about the opportunity.

Everyone she knew lived right there in Arlington. She and Ethan went to grade school and high school together and attended the church they grew up in; his cousins and aunts and uncles lived in the area, and her sister lived in Arlington. Moving to Wyoming sounded like the worst possible thing that could happen to them. She asked Ethan to think about the boys—Mason was just finishing up college, and Kyle was just starting it—what would they do? Ethan suggested they finish online. They did have the internet in Wyoming, and he really wanted to jump on this opportunity.

Naomi didn’t want to rob the boys of the opportunity to walk with the rest of their classes to get their diplomas. Mason was getting his degree in accounting, and Kyle had not declared a major yet, but since it was his freshman year, it didn’t really matter. He would be doing general studies for pretty much the first two years anyway. Both boys were at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. They liked living down in Charlottesville. Mason had an apartment off campus, and Kyle lived in the dorms since he was just a freshman, but they both loved it down there, and each had their own set of friends.

Even though she could call or FaceTime her family, it wouldn’t be the same as getting together with her sister and friends for coffee and manicures and baking at each other’s houses. Ethan met a man who wanted to open a new business and was told that the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming was ripe for this type of business, so he convinced Ethan to partner with him and relocate down there to head up a new business out west. Ethan promised her that it would just be for a few years, and if the business didn’t work out after a few years, they would move back to Virginia. She was going to hold him to that promise and mark the date they moved on the calendar so she could start counting down a year.

They talked to both Mason and Kyle, and, at first, both boys were going to stay in Virginia, but after talking it over, and with their dad’s promise that they could be part of the business and also move back in a year if they didn’t like it, they decided to go and at least help get everything set up. Both sons agreed to stay a year. Ethan was ecstatic that everyone was finally on board, and he started getting things in motion to move.

The business was actually pretty successful, more successful than Naomi initially thought it would be, and Ethan was able to bring Mason and Kyle into the business right away. Mason helped him run the operations and take care of the books while Kyle worked the sales side of things. Ethan was so happy the business was doing well, and Naomi was so proud of him and her boys. She had to admit that she liked the slower pace of Dubois compared to Arlington, and Ethan taught the boys every aspect of the business, which was now run by Mason, with Kyle managing sales.

Naomi remembered the day that Ethan passed away. He came home from work early, saying that he was sore and didn’t feel good, which was so out of character for him. He laid down for a short nap and said he felt better when he woke up, so he went outside to mow the yard before it got too dark. When he came back in, he said he felt tired again and was going to just grab a quick shower before dinner. Naomi asked him if he wanted to go see the doctor, but he said he thought it was just indigestion or light food poisoning from her cooking last night.

Very funny, she said. I’ve been cooking for you for thirty-five years, and you’ve never been sick from my cooking. As a matter of fact, I seem to remember a certain man raving about my wonderful cooking, she said with feigned indignation.

Ethan grabbed her and laid a big kiss on her cheek, You’re right. You are the best cook I know, he said. After showering, he still felt tired, and his stomach was still a little upset, so he thought he would lie down until dinner was ready. He yelled out to Naomi to just wake him up when dinner was ready. A half-hour later, she went to wake him up, but he didn’t move. At first, she thought he was just messing with her, and she told him to get up and stop messing around, but when she went to push him to get up, he didn’t move, not even a little. Her heart stopped for a second, and she tried again to wake him again. She knew something was terribly wrong.

She called 911 and then her two boys, who came over immediately. The paramedics were there in under five minutes and declared that he was dead. Dead! How could that be? They must be mistaken, she thought. Maybe he just had a slow heart rate. She asked them to check again. She explained to them that he just had an upset stomach and said he was tired. He couldn’t be dead, she explained, because he was just joking with her. The paramedics looked at her and her sons and said, I’m sorry, ma’am. He’s gone.

But he was just teasing her and giving her one of those big, sloppy cheek kisses that she hated. Now, she wished she could have just one more of those kisses. He couldn’t be dead. He was healthy, they had dreams to fulfill, grandkids to have together, places they wanted to visit… So many things they had planned to do when he retired in a few years, but none of that was going to happen now. He was gone, and after spending a lifetime as neighbors and thirty-five years of marriage, she felt like her life went with him.

Nine years could seem like an eternity, but she had her sons and daughters-in-law to think about. At first, Naomi thought of just packing up and moving back to Virginia. She talked to Sharon, who said that she could stay with her and Josh, but both of her sons had met and fallen in love with her (now) daughters-in-law, and they were not going to leave Dubois, so Naomi stayed as well. Naomi never had any daughters of her own, but she loved Ruth and Olivia as if they were her own daughters. She taught both of them how to cook and knit.

She tried to teach them how to make quilts and sew as well, and they helped her to keep on going after Ethan’s death. She had no idea what she would have done without her sons and daughters-in-love (as she liked to call them). Neither Ruth nor Olivia liked sewing too much. Ruth liked the math aspect of figuring out yardage and measurements, but as she put it, she could not sew a straight line to save her life, and Olivia didn’t have the patience for all of the pinning and unpinning that needed to be done. Both women did like the cooking lessons, and their husbands sure appreciated the cooking lessons as well. She loved them as if they were her own daughters, and they loved her too.

Finally, her name was called, and she went back with the nurse. After getting her vitals done, she had to wait a little while for the doctor to come in, but at least she was in the inner room now, which meant it shouldn’t be too much longer. She always wondered why they wanted you to arrive fifteen minutes early for your doctor’s appointment, yet they never seemed to call you until at least thirty to forty-five minutes after your appointment time to go in and be seen. At least she didn’t work outside the home.

Ethan used to complain that he was losing money every time he had to wait for the doctor, yet they would be upset if you ran late for your appointment. She was glad she didn’t have to go to the doctor’s too often. She was normally very healthy and, other than an annual visit, rarely had to visit the doctor. Her sons made her go to the doctor a few months after Ethan’s death because she just couldn’t function, and Dr. Connor kept tabs on her and had her come by every six months for a while just to check on her and also to make sure that she was getting out of the house.

Naomi knew she had gained a few pounds since her last visit and knew that her doctor would not be happy, but she didn’t feel like doing much after Ethan’s death except eat and sleep. Her doctor would tell her she needed to exercise like he did every year; the difference is that this time Naomi knew that she was going to have to do something. Maybe she would start walking and use that new Fitbit gadget that the kids gave her for her birthday. She would tell Doctor Connor that she was going to start walking with her new Fitbit, and, hopefully, that would help him not to be so hard on her. Naomi really did have the best of intentions when it came to exercise; it was just that her follow-through wasn’t so good.

She would tell herself that she was going to walk at least two miles when she got up in the mornings, but she usually found things to do in the morning, and then after lunch, she was so tired she needed to take a nap, and then after she got up, she had a few programs that she liked to watch, and she would often read, and then it was time to go to bed for the night. Dr. Connor was kinder to her than she expected, and he gave her a prescription for what he thought would help her headaches go away and said he was happy she was going to start walking, and he looked forward to seeing her in a year for her next annual visit. Naomi had just gotten out of the doctor’s office and was heading to where Kyle was going to pick her up when her phone rang. Naomi didn’t remember talking on the phone or collapsing on the sidewalk.

When she awoke, she was in a room in the hospital in Lander, WY, and all she could think of was that her phone call must have been a dream because, otherwise, her world would have just come to an end. Naomi looked around and saw that Olivia and Ruth were both in her hospital room, and both were crying uncontrollably.

"Why are you two so upset? I think I just passed out. I’m sure