A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

Neil turned to Calliope, his voice warm with gratitude. "Callie, I know you barely had a bite to eat before jumping in to help us. Really, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been this lucky."

Without Calliope, there was no doubt Oxcreek Town would've been bulldozed by Ivory Town again. Ivory Town always showed up in droves, young and strong, and Oxcreek just couldn't match their numbers. Every time, it ended badly for the home team.

But this time, with Calliope around, things were different.

"Neil, I'm serious. If anyone from Ivory Town ever gives you trouble again, promise me you'll call. I mean it! I've got connections in town, and this kind of thing isn't hard to handle."

She shot a look over at the folks from Ivory Town. "Alright, it's over. Everyone, head home, okay?"

"Yeah, let's get back to dinner. We didn't even finish our food!" someone chimed

in.

"Gosh, the pot roast will be ice-cold by now!"

"No kidding, let's go warm it up!"

drifting back toward the community

reheated casseroles, mashed potatoes, and pies. Soon, the tables

and a few others chatted with Calliope, finally realizing-she knew the county commissioner, and a bunch of people

tell me, alright? No secrets,"

makes us the luckiest

someone called

ever come back, and you end up saving the day,"

be in real trouble again. Ivory Town never lets

clinked glasses to Calliope and Silas,

one seemed to mind.

the old family house, Calliope and Silas headed

bright and early, they drove

stop: Ivory Town, where Calliope made sure Isaiah understood what would happen if he ever

they return to

of the packing was done, boxes stacked neatly