Read Online Gone But Knot Forgotten by Mary Marks - Free Book Online

meant well, but I didn’t want him to pressure me. Better to be alone than with the wrong person.
    â€œI see Yossi from time to time.”
    â€œOkay, okay, I know when to stop asking. A glick auf dir. ” Good luck to you.
    I laughed. “I love you, too, Uncle.”
    The house seemed unusually quiet as I covered my head with a sequined blue scarf. Lighting two candles in my bubbie’s silver candleholders, I recited the Sabbath blessing and thought wistfully about spending Shabbat with someone I loved. Did Harriet feel the same way in her isolation? Did she ever put pure white candles in those fifty-thousand-dollar candelabras and recite the blessing in her big, empty house? I felt lonely enough for both of us.
    The doorbell pulled me out of my reverie. I looked through the peephole. Crusher smiled at me from the other side of the door. He wore a brown tweed sport jacket, a blue shirt open at the neck, and a traditional black skullcap instead of a do-rag.
    Oh no . I didn’t know if I was ready for this. The only other time he’d come over in nice clothes, they ended up on my bedroom floor.
    I opened the door and he handed me a bouquet of pink roses and stepped inside. In his other hand he held a bag from Brent’s. “I figured you’d be tired from working all day, so I brought Shabbat dinner.” He noticed the Sabbath candles flickering on the dining room table and when he looked back at me, his eyes glistened. “You feel like home.”
    I sensed my defenses evaporating. “I’m all dusty and yucky.”
    He gently tilted my chin and kissed me softly on the lips. Electricity sizzled down my spine.
    His deep voice cracked. “Go do what you have to do and I’ll get dinner ready.”
    My heart sped as I rushed to my bedroom. After a quick shower, I blew my hair dry and rubbed my body with fragrant oils. I chose a pink silk blouse and a long black skirt. Twenty minutes later I took a deep breath and walked into the living room.
    Crusher waited for me in one of the big chairs. When I walked in, he stood and looked at me for a full five seconds. “God, you’re beautiful.”
    Dishes of food rested on a white tablecloth at my dining room table. We sat and he opened a prayer book with a scuffed black cover. According to tradition, he chanted in Hebrew the Eshet chayil, from the book of Proverbs. Heat rose in my cheeks as he began the love song. An excellent wife, who can find? She is more precious than pearls.
    Then he raised the cup of wine for the Kiddush, the blessing that ushered in the Sabbath. He took a sip and handed the cup to me. The essence of all the Sabbaths and all the holidays for thousands of unbroken years lay distilled in the taste of sweetened Concord grapes. After he blessed the raisin challah I bought at Bea’s Bakery, he tore off two pieces, sprinkled them with salt, and handed one to me.
    A sense of peace slowly washed away the sadness. Everything felt right. A Sabbath table with familiar savory foods. A man who respected and embraced our common traditions. I studied his face in the candlelight. Gray flecked his neat red beard, and his startling blue eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled at me. The places inside me, aching and empty only an hour before, filled with the honey of life. We didn’t speak about Harriet. We didn’t speak about much at all but ate in a contented silence. Without discussion and without negotiation, I understood and accepted where this night would lead.

C HAPTER 8
    Saturday I woke to Crusher’s beard tickling my face as he kissed me. I rolled into his arms.
    â€œBabe, I want to wake up like this every morning. Marry me.”
    I wanted to wake up every morning like this too. I mean, who wouldn’t? But what did I really know about this man? “We should get to know each other better.”
    â€œWhat’s to tell? I’m forty-eight years old, never been married, and have no