Made to Shine - Shining Light - Chapter 7

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Chapter 7



‘Our life is a road we must travel. We have the choice to stay on the straight and narrow and allow God to lead our paths. Sometimes we may be on a high cliff, clinging to the Rock as we walk on the narrow path. God has promised to never leave us or forsake us. And He also gives us tools to help along the way. The Bible verse that says Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. In Biblical times, they did not have street lamps and city lights to light up the night. It was dark! So their lamps would only light up the area where they stood and the next step, everything else was pitch black. Only after they took a step, would they see their next step. Walking in God’s will is like that, you may not know your next step until you are ready to take it. But, remember God has the map for our lives, He has it all figured out. All we have to do is take the next step knowing that when He is ready to reveal it to us He will.’


The next morning Ben thought he was dreaming, Emily was in his arms, he wanted to wake up with her in his arms every morning. That night they had eventually moved to her bed, but Ben would not dare try anything with everything Emily was going through. They had saved themselves in high school after a pledge at church to remain pure until marriage. Since then, neither Ben or Emily dated much, they were both too in love with each other. Even when they were not together they did not have casual sex with anyone. That night laying in Emily’s bed, every desire came rushing in Ben, he wanted her bad. The promise they made years ago could not have stopped him from having her, but he didn’t want to take advantage of Emily in her state of worry for her grandmother. No, when they made love for the first time, it would be special. And he had waited all this time, he could wait for them to get married like they had planned in high school. That is, if he could ever get the nerves to ask her.

When he woke up with her in his arms, it was really the middle of the night, three thirty to be exact and she had started to turn the alarm clock off when Ben woke up. He had almost joked by saying ‘Time to make the doughnuts’ but instead just pulled her into him and kissed her and then let her go get ready for work. She had told him to stay and get some more sleep, but sleeping in dress pants and shirt left on from church the day before was not that comfortable. Before Scott could arrive and think anything inappropriate had happened, Ben left to go home. Stopping only long enough in the bakery kitchen to kiss Emily good-bye and grab a cup of coffee. He promised to see her in a little while.

Ben had returned by eight to help Emily open the bakery. He worked the front counter with her while Scott baked. With not many cake orders that day, they decided to close the bakery at two, so they could go and get Grandma at the hospital. At eleven, Grandma walked in, followed closely by Emily’s mother. Ben had never met Julie Banks-Hallbrook before and although she looked a lot like Emily, her auburn hair was cut shoulder length and her green eyes did not quite sparkle like Emily’s, but standing next to each other, you could tell they were mother and daughter.

“Grandma! What are you doing here?” Emily asked. The line of customers did not matter, she stopped everything to go to her grandmother.

“I live here.” Grandma said with a smile, “Let me get my apron and I will help out.”

“I know you live here, but what I meant was, I called the hospital a couple of hours ago and they told me you would be released this afternoon, after two. I was coming to get you. Why didn’t you call?”

“She didn’t need you. I was there with her,” Julie said dismissing Emily, “now Mother, why don’t you go upstairs and rest. I will bring you a cup of tea.”

“Nonsense. don’t fuss over me like I am a child. I am just going to go over here and sit with Maria. Emily, will you bring me something to eat? That hospital food was horrible!” Grandma said as she went and sat down with one of their regular customers and visited like she had not just come from the hospital.

Emily fixed her grandmother a cup of tea and brought her over her favorite, blueberry muffin, “here you go Grandma,” Emily said  “please don’t over do it today. Go upstairs and rest.”

“Baby girl, I know you worry about me, but please don’t. Everything will be fine. I do want to talk to you about the sign in the window! I don’t need help.”

“Grandma, we will talk about it later. To set your mind at ease, it is not for you, it is for me,” Emily knew this discussion was like a souffle, there were so many things that could make it flop, she had to approach this topic just right for Grandma to buy in. And now was not the time or place to discuss this. She was going to go on and close at two today and have a discussion with Grandma about the business.

Going back to the counter, she saw her mother looking around, “Can I help you with something?” Emily asked as her mother was looking around behind the counter.

“No, I should be leaving, Stephanie has an orthodontist appointment,” Julie said.

“Well, thanks for bringing her home,” Emily said as she went back to the counter to help Ben with the customers.

“You know,” Julie said looking at Emily, “I will never understand why you stuck around here. Why didn’t you leave when you had the chance?”

“Mother, I love Grandma and Grandpa too much to run out on them and leave them. And I guess over time, I fell in love with the bakery too. I will never leave here.”

“Well, one day, you just might have to.” Julie said as she turned and walked out. Emily’s mind was reeling with the conversation that she and Ben had the night before. Certainly her own mother would not take the bakery that had been in the family for over sixty years! Would she?


Later that afternoon, after closing the shop early, Emily sat down with Ben and Grandma to discuss the bakery and other things. She knew this was going to be difficult, for not only herself, but for Grandma as well. So, she was glad Ben stayed for moral support. Sitting down at the kitchen table in their apartment, Emily began, “Grandma, about the Help Wanted sign. The bakery is booming, we are getting more and more customers. I have hired Scott in the kitchen to help me out because it is more than one person can manage. If we hired someone up front to help you, then I would only come up to the counter when you are really backed up and I could do more in the back. With lines starting to reach out the front door, we really need to consider hiring at least one, maybe two people in the front for you to supervise.”

“Business is the busiest I have ever seen, and I do agree that with you winning Best of the Best we have boomed. Your Grandpa would be so proud,” Grandma said with a tear sparkling in her eye, “And I will give in and let you hire one person to help me out front.”

“What if we hire one person and a high school student who can help close and clean up?” Emily asked in hopes that her grandmother would agree.

“I guess that would be fine, but,” Grandma added with an edge to her voice, “I will not be put out to pasture!”

Emily chuckled, “I would never want you out to pasture, so don’t worry about it. You are too important to me and for this business, I need you. And that brings us to the next thing I want to discuss with you,” Emily took a deep breath not knowing how to begin, “Grandma, you scared me. Finding you passed out. And last night, Ben asked some good business questions that I don’t know the answer to.”

“OK,” Grandma looked from Ben to Emily. She was so happy that they were back in each others lives. She no longer had to worry about Emily being alone if something happened to her. “Go on.”

“Well, I pray that you live for a very long time, but if something was to happen to you, what would you want to happen to the bakery?”

“Baby girl, you would go on running it. I would know that it is in good hands.” Grandma said looking at Emily with admiration, love and support.

“But, my name is not on anything. Mother could come in and take the building and do whatever she wants with it and kick me out.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Grandma said shaking her head, but then she never would have imagined her daughter abandoning her own daughter and never making an effort to have contact with her either.

“Mrs. Banks, as a lawyer I see it happen all the time. And I love you and Emily and I would hate for the legacy that you and Mr. Banks built be ripped away from Emily. Sure, she could open another bakery in a different location, but this bakery is her legacy too.”

“You are absolutely right. No one else, not even Julie, should have this bakery.”

“Well, what I recommended to Emily was that you set up a corporation so that you are partners and in the event of either of your deaths the bakery and all the assets of the bakery would go to the other partner.”

“Show me where to sign,” Grandma said looking for a pen.

Ben chuckled, “Well, we wanted to talk to you about it before putting anything on paper. I will have the paperwork for you in a few days. But, I would also like to sit down with you and talk about your will, if you don’t have one, you need to create one so that if something should happen, then your personal assets will not go through probate and you wishes are met.”


“OK. But, I do have one request. And I will not take no for an answer,” Grandma said looking from Ben and then to Emily. She had lived her married life in this apartment and the memories of years gone by came rushing to her. She remembered a newlywed carrying his bride over the threshold, promising her a life together and a partnership in the bakery he began a few years before. She remembered raising a child here and then a grandchild. She remembered losing her love and Emily telling her that they could do it together. Then she remembered how proud she was at Emily’s college graduation and then at her culinary graduation. The times that Emily would get up early to bake and then stay up until the wee hours of the morning studying to help make the bakery a success. All of this, Emily did without question, without looking for something in return. “Emily needs to be the primary partner. She runs this bakery, she is the chef in the kitchen and she runs the staff. She is the person who is bringing customers in droves to our little bakery.”

“But, Grandma, you have been a partner in the bakery for over fifty years.” Emily argued.

“Yes, but you are the future of this bakery. I will not take more than forty percent of the partnership. And that is final!”



Three days later, when Ben had come to pick up Emily to look at office spaces, he brought in the contract for them to sign. He explained, “The paperwork here sets up the corporation, and transfers the building and assets of the bakery to the new company. I have also included paperwork to set up a bank account for the new corporation and the filings needed for federal and state agencies. There is a lot of paperwork for us to review.”

In the days since their conversation about hiring help, Emily had also hired Annie to work in the front with Grandma. Annie was a single mom with a son in kindergarten. She was sweet, and jumped right in helping Emily make sure Grandma did not push herself too hard. Even after a few days, Emily felt like if she needed to, she could leave Annie and Scott and run errands while leaving the bakery in their care.

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