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  MARRYING MALLORY

  By

  Diane Craver

  Marrying Mallory

  Copyright © 2012 by Diane Craver

  Cover Art by Diane Craver

  Marrying Mallory is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Dedication

  To Bartholomew,

  A totally fabulous and wonderful guy plus a terrific son.

  He has made everything beautiful in its own time.

  Ecclesiastes 3:11

  LASR REVIEW OF MARRYING MALLORY

  Rating: 4.5 Books

  Reviewed by Fennel

  In his book, ‘Writing the Breakout Novel’, Donald Maas states, “God works in little ways as well as big ones, so look for small moments of magic as well as big ones.” He then asks, “Have you ever felt that something that happened to you was fated?”

  Well in Diane Craver’s book, Marrying Mallory, that is the precept she has used.

  Mallory is born with a nose she considers too large and ungainly for her face, and is fed-up with her students snickering behind her back so decides to take action.

  Consider: if an unseen act of God had not occurred, Mallory would never have crossed paths with plastic surgeon, Seth Whitman.

  A devout and practicing Christian, Mallory is also faced with coming to terms with accepting that her divorce from her cheating husband Toby slices right through her religious beliefs. Can she learn to forgive herself for what she perceives as a betrayal of her beliefs? For all Seth’s charms, strength and obvious attraction to her, can Mallory learn to forgive herself and accept reality for what it is?

  Not content in stirring the pot of confusion in her heroine’s mind, Ms. Craver then sets to work on her hero, giving him ethical and emotional dilemmas enough to floor the strongest of heroes. But Seth’s Christian faith and staunch friends do not let him down. All he has to achieve, now, is to undo the author’s masterly character development in her heroine and convince Mallory they have a future together.

  Ms. Craver’s secondary characters all play pivotal roles in the story without usurping the hero and heroine. Time, place and setting all enhance and move the plot along and create vivid imagery for her readers. For those who assume an inspirational romance cannot handle conflict, drama and suspense, I recommend they read Diane Craver’s Marrying Mallory, for it is all there.

  Chapter One

  Her luck was about to change. Mallory Harrington could feel it in her bones.

  In the past, she’d felt cursed at times. Too many things had gone wrong in her thirty-two years of life. It’d started when her father left. He never even said good-bye, but at age five she knew he wasn’t coming back. He hated living in Findlay, Ohio. They couldn’t go with him because her mother refused to leave Grandma.

  As a seventh grader, Mallory climbed a tree to get a football for the little neighbor boy. After dislodging it from a high limb, she tossed the ball to him. Mallory started her long climb down, but slipped before reaching the ground. A barbed wire fence ripped her cheek during the fall. The jagged opening required thirty stitches.

  Then she was robbed of being valedictorian because a few weeks ahead of graduation, another student’s grades were a little higher. She’d counted on receiving a full academic scholarship to college.

  When she married Toby Harrington, she finally felt blessed. Doubly blessed when she gave birth to their son, Joshua. But her happiness ended the night Toby asked for a divorce.

  All she ever wanted was to have a complete family and live happily ever after. Was she jinxed? The name Mallory meant luckless. If her mother had realized the meaning of her name, would it have made a difference? Would she still have named her Mallory?

  Don’t be silly. My name didn’t cause my marriage to end. I’ll get what I want in my life. I’ve already accomplished the first challenge, which hadn’t been fun. I can’t wait to share my good news with Elizabeth and Heather. She prayed, Thank you, Lord, for my friends, Elizabeth Wright and Heather Richards. They are a constant in my life, just like You.

  She glanced at her kitchen clock to see if it was time to meet them and felt a surge of excitement. She couldn’t wait to share her important news. Five-year-old Josh was at Toby’s so she was free to go to dinner with her friends. She was glad they’d decided on the nearby Olive Garden restaurant.

  Before leaving her house, she grabbed the paper by the computer. She stared for a minute at the attractive man with black hair. I’m glad I printed his bio and photo to show Heather and Elizabeth. As Mallory held the paper for a minute, she realized that this man would change her life… if she went ahead with the plan. After folding and putting the paper in her purse, she headed out, anxious to give her incredible news in person.

  At the restaurant’s doorway, the hostess escorted Mallory to the booth where her friends were already seated. Mallory smiled at both women. With her sleek, honey-blonde hair and subtle but deftly applied makeup, Elizabeth looked like she had stepped off a beauty contest runway. She wore a pale pink jacket with black pants. She liked Heather’s leopard-print chiffon dress on her, but it wasn’t something she’d wear. “Hi. You two must have gotten here early. “

  “I changed out of my nurse scrubs as fast as I could,” Heather said. “I need to hear good news for a change.”

  “Hurry, sit,” Elizabeth said. “I bet I know what you want to tell us. You got that teacher award, didn’t you? You deserve it. I don’t know how you stand teaching junior high students. They’re such a high maintenance group.”

  “I didn’t get the teaching award. It went to a high school science teacher.” She noticed Heather’s new haircut. “I like your short hair with bangs. It’s very cute on you. I have two things to tell you. Here’s the first.” She twirled around before sitting beside Heather.

  Elizabeth fingered a silver button on her jacket. “It’s about time you bought new clothes for yourself. You look great in that skirt and top.”

  Awesome. Her blue skirt and v-neck top passed Elizabeth’s approval. Her friend had a good eye for fashion. If she ever stopped being a speech therapist, Elizabeth should consider a clothing career.

  With a pleased expression, Heather said, “Oh, I get it. You lost the rest of your weight.”

  She nodded. “I finally lost the last five pounds.”

  “So that’s a total of fifteen, right?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Yes and…” She paused. Now she was afraid to tell them. Maybe they wouldn’t be excited for her. She was so proud of herself that she’d made the appointment and wanted to share it with her best friends. But looking at their happy faces, she wondered if they would be disappointed. They might think she was being superficial.

  Heather searched her face. “What’s wrong? You went from a big grin to a frown. If you won the lottery, I won’t be jealous. Just don’t give any of your money to Toby.”

  “Geez, don’t get me started,” Elizabeth said. “Promise you aren’t going to talk about your ex-husband.”

  She was saved for the moment because the waitress came to take their order. Toby had nothing to do with her big decision, but still her friends might disagree with what she wanted to do. She had a sinking feeling they wouldn’t approve. After the waitress left, she pulled the paper out of her purse and handed it to Elizabeth. “This guy’s going to
change my life.”

  “He’s hot. I can’t believe you never told us about him. I’m glad you decided to date.” Elizabeth passed the sheet to Heather.

  Mallory shook her head. “I’m not dating him. I’m interested in what he can do for me.”

  While looking at the photo, Heather frowned. “I know this surgeon. He’s Dr. Whitman.”

  She exhaled deeply. “I’ve decided to have surgery but decided to lose weight first. Today I called and made an appointment to see Dr. Whitman. He’s supposed to be the best plastic surgeon for rhinoplasty. I didn’t want to see him until I lost my weight. I was afraid if I went in being overweight, he’d think I also needed liposuction.”

  Elizabeth’s perfect eyebrows shot up. “I seriously doubt he’d have thought that you needed liposuction.”

  So far, so good. Inserting body image in that way had been brilliant. Elizabeth latched on the weight issue first instead of nose surgery. She grinned. “It was a great motivator since it got me to lose some excess baggage.”

  Heather said, “I don’t understand. You don’t need to have plastic surgery.”

  “I agree.” Elizabeth patted her arm. “I like your nose.”

  She stared at her friends’ faces. “You two are lucky having small noses, but you know I’ve always hated my nose. I had to get a nose like my dad’s. He looked fine with a bigger nose, but being a female I want a smaller one.”

  “But you’re already pretty,” Elizabeth said. “You were Halloween Queen our senior year.”

  Mallory laughed. “Right. I didn’t get Homecoming Queen, but got plenty of votes to be Halloween Queen. My big nose reminded everyone of a witch.”

  Heather shook her head. “No way. You looked gorgeous riding in the convertible in the big parade in Findlay.”

  Since their drinks had arrived, Elizabeth sipped her iced tea. “Hey, your mom told us how a photographer asked if you could be a model for his agency.”

  “I was nine. My nose was still small.” She smiled. “You two aren’t going to change my mind. I’ve wanted this since high school.”

  “Have you ever watched Discovery Health Channel or Dr. 90210?” Heather asked.

  “No. I don’t have cable, remember?” How could Heather forget? She teased her a lot about only getting a few channels. She was glad now she didn’t have that expense.

  “Well, they show how they make incisions. Then you can see how they cut pieces of bone and cartilage. But the scary thing is what the patients look like after surgery. Their faces are all badly bruised, and there’s swelling for several weeks after surgery.”

  “Oh, no. You don’t want your nose to be swollen for my wedding.” Elizabeth said, looking worried. “And Heather’s right. I saw a gruesome episode where they did nose surgery and it was so awful that I had a nightmare.”

  The server stood by her side, holding a hand grinder. “Do you want grated cheese on your salad?”

  “Yes, please.” After Mallory told him that was enough cheese, she turned to Elizabeth. “Your wedding isn’t until August. That’s four months away.”

  “Yes, but you hate to take time off from teaching, so I’m guessing you’re going to do it when school’s out for the summer. Then it’ll be closer to my wedding.”

  “I’ll ask the doctor if I’ll be presentable enough to be a bridesmaid in an August wedding.”

  “At least we know there will be a marriage.” Heather sprinkled salt on her salad. “I can’t believe I called off two weddings.”

  “You did the right thing both times.” Elizabeth picked up a breadstick. “I’m glad we decided to eat at Olive Garden. They have the best breadsticks.”

  Poor Heather had been in love with two great guys, but each time she’d gotten cold feet and broken the engagements. When she’d been engaged to Toby, it’d been such a wonderful time in her life. She’d been positive he was the one for her. “Heather, you should drive me when I have the surgery. When I was checking out Dr. Whitman’s credentials on the Internet, it didn’t mention anything about him being married. And from his photo, he’s very good-looking.”

  “Sure, I’ll be your driver if you’re determined to do this,” Heather said. “He has a sterling reputation. And he’s single. Maybe Dr. Whitman will fall in love with you, and you won’t have to pay for your surgery.”

  “That’s not going to happen. For one thing, I’m sure it’s not ethical from a professional standpoint, and for another thing I’m not looking to get romantically interested in my plastic surgeon. When I mentioned Dr. Whitman’s single status, I was thinking how you two might hit it off. You both like surgery.” The only man for her had been Toby. Although they’d been divorced for five months, she hadn’t gone out with anyone. And she didn’t plan on it. A teacher at her school had asked her out recently and she’d turned him down. She had her shot at marriage and it ended.

  “I’m not interested in a surgeon for future husband material.” Heather laughed. “I was engaged to one. Remember?”

  “Maybe Dr. Whitman will be different.” Heather’s past surgeon fiancé had been pretty uptight.

  Elizabeth wiped her mouth with a napkin. “How are you going to pay for this surgery?”

  “I’m probably going to take out a medical loan. I’m not sure how much it’ll cost yet, so I’ll decide when I know the exact price.” Who was she kidding? She hated to borrow money and pay interest. After all, she saw what had happened to her mother when she got deeper and deeper in debt. Fortunately, her mother’s financial status had improved.

  “What brought this on anyhow?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I decided if I’m going to do this surgery, I shouldn’t wait any longer.”

  “What about Josh? Do you think he’ll be scared to see you with a splint on your nose?” Heather took a sip of iced tea.

  “I’m hoping he won’t have to see me. I want to schedule it when he’s away. I looked online and the splint is on for only a week. He’s going to visit Toby’s parents for two weeks in June at a lake house they rented.” Holding a breadstick in her hand, she said, “I love the smell of bread baking. Maybe I could get a part-time job as a baker to help pay for my surgery.”

  Elizabeth chuckled. “You baked bread sometimes at the steak house when you worked there one summer. You complained how you got burned taking the pans out of their oven.”

  Mallory sighed. “I even get burned on my own oven. I’m such a klutz.”

  “Don’t get mad but I like the way you look,” Heather said.

  She wasn’t surprised by Heather’s comment. “You just don’t like change.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with your nose. I don’t think it’s big. Did your students say something nasty about your nose?” Elizabeth asked. “Remember, they’re kids and like to rile the teacher. It makes their day interesting.”

  “I did overhear a few students say that Mrs. Harrington has big boobs and a big nose, but that isn’t why I want surgery. Ella… she’s a teacher at my school who recently had nose surgery. She’s pleased with what Dr. Whitman did. I tried to talk my mom into letting me have surgery before I started college, but she was adamantly against it then. It’s been in the back of my mind ever since. And you didn’t want me to mention Toby, but I have to. His girlfriend Samantha has a cute little nose so I’m a bit envious.”

  “Well, she’s also a blonde. Are you going to change your hair color too? “Elizabeth gave her a big grin. “We can both be blonde for my wedding.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think I’d look good as a blonde. Anyhow I like my brown hair. Listen, you two I’m only changing my nose. Nothing else.”

  “I’m glad you aren’t married to Toby any longer.” Elizabeth sighed. “I know you aren’t going to like to hear this, but Toby never appreciated you. You put him through law school and it wasn’t easy with you assuming all the financial responsibilities. Then the louse cheats on you. And it’s so unfair he built a beautiful house while you stayed in the old small one that constantly needs
work done on it.”

  Heather told the waitress thanks as she refilled her drink. “You know Mallory wanted to keep their house. And Toby paid off the mortgage and gave the house to her.”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “I guess that was a bit generous, but I’m sure he was also thinking about Josh when he did it.”

  Some things never changed. Elizabeth tore Toby down and Heather defended him. “It has needed some minor repairs,” she said. “And it’s not that old. Only twenty years old. Toby did come over when the lights kept flickering in the living room.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “We all know that you could’ve figured it out. But that was a clever way to get him to work on your house.”

  “Toby surprised me how quickly he came to look at it. I guess he didn’t want an electrical fire happening in the house. Plus Josh complained to him about the TV going off and on before I used an extension cord to plug it in another room.”

  When Elizabeth’s cell phone rang, she pulled it out of her purse. After glancing at the caller ID, she told them, “It’s my mom.”

  Mallory took a sip of her coffee. Thank goodness, she liked it without sugar and cream. When she drank iced tea, she had to have lots of sugar in it. She worked too hard to lose weight and wanted to keep it off. Another breadstick would be nice, but she was going to have self-control and stop at one. She turned to look at Elizabeth when she heard her name.

  Elizabeth said, “I’ll tell Mallory. Bye, Mom.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “She said you’ll need alternations on your bridesmaid dress since you lost weight.”

  “I will, too, because they always order these dresses a size too large.” Heather put her glass down. “Then you have to pay for alternations. It’s a scam.”

  “I know. I tried to tell the one doing the ordering, I needed a size smaller.” Hopefully, her dress wouldn’t need shortening too. Besides alternation expenses, she and Heather were throwing a bridal shower for Elizabeth. She was going to be the matron of honor, so she’d be expected to also give a bachelorette party. And she planned on getting an expensive wedding gift for Elizabeth and Derek. After all, she’d been friends with her since they were in elementary school. Maybe she could get an extra job. Tutoring paid well. She should know. She had to do tutoring plus teach in order to pay all the bills while Toby was in law school.