Page 56 of Ash

After the second batch of honey bread nearly gave her fits, she decided to do something she'd Tim Gun say on Project Runway over and over... She 'Made it Work.'

Tackling her third batch, she divided the bread into rolls.

Then she sat there, perched on a stool, she watched through the glass panel as the dough baked and turned a beautiful golden brown.

And when she opened the oven door and the scent of honey deliciousness reached her nose, she wanted to bathe in the scent. Or make candles with it and burn it all around her house.

Even Hetty, who had stepped outside to visit, swung the door open and popped her head in. "Is that it? Is that success I smell?"

People came in off of the street from the smell alone and even thought the rolls were too hot to eat at that moment, people were begging to buy them.

So, they left with their hands cradled around napkins, their rolls cupped inside of them.

They were sold out before the rolls were ready to eat, but not completely sold out.

Suzannah had kept back a half a pan in the back of the bakery.

She sat with Hetty as her partner, oh, it felt so good to think that, ate her first honey bread roll with a look of heavenly joy on her face.

"My dear girl," Hetty opened her eyes and Suzannah saw them sparkling with joy, "I do believe that my dear friend Betty sent you to me from the great beyond."

Suzannah looked up at the wall where Hetty had hung the last photo of the two together.

There was some resemblance between her and her great aunt, but not much.

She would never be able to say that she had known her aunt or spent any real time with her, but there was something about being in the bakery, being in her home... She felt like she was getting to know her little by little and everything she found, she liked.

"I hope," she swallowed and her voice cracked a little, "I hope that you'll feel that way a month from now... a year from-"

Suddenly she couldn't breathe.

Hetty had her arms around her, squeezing her tight.

"I won't change my mind, Suzannah. Even though you didn't come into my life because we planned it, I believe you're here because you were meant to be here."

There was a settled feeling inside of her chest. A warmth that she'd felt the moment she met Aaron and Celeste. It had been a tiny spark then. Then she'd met Ash and she felt it catch fire. But she'd seen fires that had sputtered out at that moment. Candles with flames that sputtered out and died just when they'd started to glow.

This warmth was different.

Ash's touches and his kisses had kept that flame burning, building.

Now, sitting there in Raisin' Cakes, spending time with a woman who was her partner in a business? A woman who considered her to be a benefit and... a joy?

Well that little fire was building and it felt like she could warm herself with it. It's flames dancing inside her soul.

Tears spilled onto her cheeks and Hetty was suddenly wiping at her cheeks with her sleeves and the corner of her apron. "Don't cry, sweetheart. Please don't cry. I'm so sorry I made you cry."

"No... No. I'm not crying because I'm sad."

Hetty's hands slowed and Suzannah saw her kind and gentle face through the remnants of her tears. "What is it, sweetheart?"

Suzannah blinked back the tears that threatened to fall anew. "You." She smiled. "This place. Feeling like I have a purpose. A... a skill! I left my old job because it was killing me. Dealing with unhappy people who seemed to live to make other people unhappy. I walked away from that, taking a chance that this was going to be my home."

"And you've found it?" Hetty's voice was higher than it had been. There was a brightness to it that sounded a little too bright. And her smile looked like it might falter at any moment.

"Yes." Suzannah enjoyed watching as Hetty's smile softened and her whole face transformed with joy. "I think I've found my home. No, IknowI've found my home."

Hetty's smile changed again. This time it looked more impish than sweet. "And that home... will it be here behind the bakery? Or up on the mountain where Ash lives?"

---