Made to Shine - Shining Light - WATTY AWARD Winner

Made to Shine - Shining Light - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

‘God will not give you more than you will handle. When you seem to be at your breaking point, God will come through at just the right time.’


At seven o’clock on Saturday night, Emily and Grandma sat on the bride side of the church witnessing Becky and Brad get married. Emily thought she would never make it there. The cakes were completed, but they had a couple of issues with delivery. One of the cakes wanted to topple over. She and Scott thought quickly and put more stabilizing dowels in the layer below and fixed the problem before the cake fell. Then, while setting up Becky’s cake, the van had to slam on brakes and one of the layers started to slide around, the cake itself is transported to the reception and then put together. When they arrived, Emily had to fix one side that was smashed in a little. Luckily, she always brought extra decorating supplies. In this case, it was the little blue flowers that flowed down every layer of the chocolate cake. After a few minutes, no one but Scott and Emily was able to tell that there was a difference in the layers.

The wedding was beautiful. Emily could tell that Becky and Brad were a good match and were practically glowing that day. For a moment, Emily wondered what it would be like to marry Ben. At one point during the ceremony, Emily found herself watching him in his groomsman position by the alter, she was deep in thought about their relationship and how much she loved him when she caught him eyeing her as well and winked. She blushed and lowered her head, but kept her gaze on him through her lowered eyelashes.

At the reception, they danced and danced and danced some more. Grandma danced with Ben, his father and his grandfather. It was a grand occasion and everyone was happy. Then the moment everyone waits for at a reception, they brought the cakes out. Both cakes looked wonderful. Brad’s groom’s cake was in the design of Shea Stadium, where his favorite baseball team the Mets had played for years. It even had little players made out of blown glass on the field. Everyone ooo’d and ah’d over the cake. Then they brought out the wedding cake, applause all around. People sampled both cakes and Nora came over to Emily asking for her card and asked if she could contact her in the future for other clients.

Nora said, “A cake can be beautiful, but if it doesn’t taste good, that is what people will remember. Ms. Banks, your cakes are not only exquisite looking, they are some of the best cakes I have ever had. And that is saying something because I have cake just about every weekend!”

Again, business was booming. Emily was happy, but she also didn’t know what she was going to do. She needed to hire more staff, but she really did not have room in her small kitchen.

Ben had been across the room talking to his aunt and uncle. He noticed Emily sitting at their table with her worried look on her face. Crossing the room he pulled up a chair beside her, leaned over and kissed her. Taking one of her hands in his he brought it to his mouth and kissed it, bringing it back down, he rubbed his thumb in circles over the back of her hand. Emily smiled up at him.

“I love you,” Emily said, “more than you will ever know.”

“What’s worrying you Em?”

“Nothing, let’s go dance.”

Emily started to get up, but Ben pulled her into his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he said, “Talk to me.”

Emily shifted so that she could look into his eyes. She placed her palms on each side of his face and said, “This is your sister’s wedding. No worries today, only celebration. We can worry enough tomorrow.”

Ben kissed her and as he pulled away, he said, “Well, will you at least give me a heads up and let me know what we are worrying about?”

“Tomorrow. Tonight, you are going to dance with me.”


Tomorrow came and went, and Emily did not tell Ben about her worries. The more she worried, the weaker she felt. On Wednesday, she was working in the kitchen with Scott, planning for the cakes that would be coming due on the weekend. As they were standing next to each other at the decorators table, which had been cleared off except for the design sheets laying across them, Emily started hearing a ringing in her ear. She took a couple of deep breaths and closed her eyes to try and clear the weird feeling she was having. Scott looked over at her worried, then scooted her stool behind her.

“Darlin’ are you alright?” His drawl which he did not try to hide came through strong now.

Emily sat down when he put his hand back on her arm and guided her to her stool. She took a drink of water from the water bottle he was offering her. It was crisp and cold as it went down her throat. Emily took another deep breath and opened her eyes.

Blinking away the confusion, she said, “Yeah, I am fine, just felt funny for a minute, it is gone.”

“What did you eat today?” Scott asked as he pulled his stool up next to her and sat close, worried that she would pass out.

“HA! I actually ate today, so that is not it! I had a muffin this morning and half a sandwich for lunch.”

Scott slowly caressed her back with his hand. “You have got to take care of yourself. I need this job and you need me here. So, promise me you will make your health a priority.”

“My health is fine. I will be fine.”

“Look, we are almost finished here, why don’t you call it a day and I will finish up here. Isn’t Ben coming over tonight?”

“Yeah, we are going to go look for him a new apartment.”

“OK, well go upstairs and rest and I will see you in the morning.”


Emily went upstairs and laid down, something she had not done since taking over the bakery. As she laid in bed she prayed, “Lord, I need help, but I don’t know how to ask for it. Please guide me. I don’t want to turn business away, but I am not ready for this growth. I need to expand, but I can’t afford the down payment for next door. Lord I need your help. Please guide my steps.”


A couple hours later, Emily felt a warm hand stroking her face. Ben moved a strand of hair off of Emily’s forehead and rubbed the pad of his thumb on the dark circles under her eye. Emily’s eyes fluttered open and she started to sit up.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Ben bent down and brushed a kiss across her lips, his hand gently guided her to lay back down, “You looked so peaceful, so beautiful.”

“I didn’t mean to sleep so long. Let me get ready.”

“Grandma told me that you weren’t feeling well. Why don’t we stay in tonight?”

“No really, I feel much better. I was just tired. Seriously, I’m OK.”

“Are you sure? I can reschedule with the realtor.”

“Nonsense. I am good.”

“OK, but we will grab something to eat when we are through.”

“Sounds great. Now step out so I can get something decent on,” Emily said with a smile as she pushed Ben away and shooed him out the door.

Ben waited for Emily and talked to Grandma. She had been worried that Emily was taking on too much, and when Scott told her what happened in the kitchen, Grandma had been really worried. She told Ben as soon as he arrived. While they talked, he told her about his plans for the evening.

When Emily came out of her bedroom, she looked beautiful. She had traded her sweats and t-shirt for a a pair of nice jeans and a green tank and sweater. Her hair was pulled back into a french braid and she wore a pair of green flats with a little bow tied on top of each shoe. Ben smiled when she walked in. She looked like she did when they graduated from high school. No longer the ragamuffin, but his angel.


They knew they wanted the apartment to be as close to the bakery as possible. The realtor had picked several locations. The first one, which was two blocks away was a studio apartment. After climbing five flights of stairs, they found that it was very small. So small that it could easily fit in the bakery’s freezer. The second apartment was only two floors up, but the neighbors had a lot of loud barking dogs. After only two minutes, they had decided that was not the apartment for them. The third apartment was beautiful, it was an open floor plan, it was spacious and everything they wanted. The only problem, it was the farthest from the bakery.

After the realtor left them and they were driving, Ben said, “I have one more I would like to show you. Are you up for it?”

“Sure.” Emily said with a smile. She had actually enjoyed helping Ben look for a place knowing that this would one day be hers too.

Emily was surprised when Ben drove into the neighborhood and parked in front of the bakery. “I thought we were going someplace first.”

“We are. Can you trust me? Just for a few minutes?”

“Ben, I trust you with my life, forever,” A smile appeared on both of their faces, but Emily’s soon faded when she saw Ben bring a scarf from the back seat and tied it around her eyes. “I promise it will be worth it.”

Emily let Ben help her from the car and lead her into a building. She realized they were not in the bakery like she suspected because she did not smell the sweet scent of breads and pastries. He led her through another door and then said, “Put your hands on my hips and I will lead you up the steps.” Emily did, but after several steps one of her hands slipped a little lower, “Hips, woman, unless you want to start something we can’t finish.” Ben heard her laugh as she moved her hand back up.

Leading her into another door at the top of the stairs, Emily could not feel him near any longer. “Give me just a minute.” What sounded like clicking could be heard and then Emily began smelling vanilla candles. He was lighting candles.

Suddenly, he was back by her side and removing the scarf from her eyes. When Emily opened her eyes she saw what looked like a hundred candles all over a room and a table set up in the middle with a box of pizza sitting in the middle. A champagne bucket was there, but instead of bubbly, it had a two liter of soda sitting in the ice. Other than that, the room was bare. It was a little dusty, the carpets had been removed to show hardwood floors and there were several doors leading to other rooms.

“Ben?” Emily asked looking at him for answers.

“I have not bought it yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”

“Where are we?”

“We are in the apartment over the hardware store, or what use to be the hardware store.”

“Ben, we can’t afford this?”

“Listen to me?” Ben took a deep breath and led Emily to one of the seats at the table.  Holding on to her hand, “Emily, I love you, I always have, and I always will. You mean more to me than anything. You are my everything. Finding you again and knowing you love me, I feel like I won a grand prize in a contest I didn’t even know I was entered in. Emily, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Ben dropped to one knee while he still held her hand. “Emily, will you marry me?”

Emily was crying tears of joy, “Yes! Yes Ben, I will marry you!” She pulled him to her in a hug.

Ben pulled a ring box out of his pocket. “If you don’t like the ring, we can get you something else.” The ring was a silver band with three rings set inside the band and not raised above. The center stone was larger than the two stones on the side. “I wanted something you could wear all the time.”

“Oh Ben, this is perfect! I won’t lose the stones working.” Emily hugged Ben again, thinking this night could not get any better!



As they ate their pizza, Ben began to explain, “I am a person who does not like debt. I have paid off my student loans, I own everything outright. I was thinking, I have enough set aside that I can buy a brownstone without any payments, or I can put that money towards a down payment on the hardware store and apartment. It would cover about twenty percent of what they are asking. If you want to do this, then the bakery can pay ‘rent’ on the property until the note is paid off. But, this will give you plenty of room to expand the kitchen and the front of the bakery. Plus as an added bonus we can live here. If you want to, we can keep it two separate apartments, knock down a part of the wall for a door, or redo the entire place to make it one large apartment.” Emily had sat quiet listening throughout his explanation of his idea. The silence was killing Ben, “What do you think?”

“I think it is one of the sweetest, most wonderful things anyone has ever done for me! I love you,” Emily said, throwing her arms around his neck and showering him with kisses. “Wait, we need to tell Grandma.”

Ben took a breath, “I already did. I hope that is OK. I mean, I needed to ask permission to marry you and I told her tonight while you were asleep about the store and apartment. She loved the idea.”

“Oh Ben! This is perfect!”

“I will talk to Mr. Thomas tomorrow about the store and get things moving to make the purchase go as smooth and as quickly as possible!” Then Ben pulled out his phone, he pulled up the calendar on it and said, “Now, let’s pick a date!”