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Waiting for Mary Elizabeth
Gregory is a world renown artist, drop-dead gorgeous and sincerely believes a promise should never be broken. At the age of twelve he promises to wait for four year old Mary Elizabeth to grow up. Every day of his life since then has revolved around keeping that promise. Now the time has finally arrived to discover if she still wants to marry him.
While Mary Elizabeth doesn’t believe in fairy tales, she believes in Gregory. Her parents keep insisting he won’t come for her, but she knows he will. At four years of age her young heart recognized the person it belonged to. But just when she believes her perfect future is coming true, a spiteful adversary causes her to doubt Gregory’s sincerity. Now the future doesn’t seem quite so bright or certain. Gregory and Mary Elizabeth will have to overcome many obstacles in order to stop waiting and to finally begin living and loving.
After a moment of silence, Gregory grinned through the railing. “Well, here we are. It isn’t exactly how I
thought our first meeting would go.”
A fluttering in her chest made it hard to breathe, but she somehow managed to smile in return. “How did you think it would go?”
He leaned backward until both elbows rested on the cold, concrete flooring. “I thought I would ask about your life and then I would tell you about mine.” He shifted his weight. “I wanted to ask about your future plans.” He leaned over slightly and grinned. “What are your plans for after graduation?”
The way he studied her mouth made it difficult to concentrate. “I want to open my own floral shop, but my parents want me go to the university to study business. They think I should understand business first before I rush into ownership of a shop.”
He gave the tips of his shoes some serious consideration before finally nodding. “That sounds like wise advice.”
A comfortable silence surrounded them. Mary Elizabeth leaned on the railing and finally broke the silence. “Why are you really here?”
He sat up, leaned forward, and wrapped both arms around his knees. “I needed to know you still wanted me to wait for you.” He glanced over for a brief moment before looking back down at the steps. “You were very young when you asked.”
She wanted to reach and touch his hair. Just to see if it was as soft as it looked, but she resisted the urge. “Why have you kept your promise? Even my parents said you wouldn’t.”
He looked up and locked eyes with her. “But someone did expect me to. You did and I did. Did anyone else matter?”
She did reach over then and touched the sleeve of his shirt. “There’s more. Isn’t there?”
He completely covered her hand with his. “I wanted you to know that I believed you that day. It never mattered to me that no one else did. I did.” He gave a shy grin. “I want you to enjoy this time in high school
and at the university. Don’t give up living just because you know where our journey ends.” He increased the pressure on her hand for a moment. “Promise me to do this, okay?”
She nodded.
He released her hand and stood. She stood as well.
“When I return, I don’t want you to have any doubts about if we belong together or not.”
Before any more could be said, the cab arrived behind her father’s car.
Gregory passed Mary Elizabeth at the bottom of the steps. She slipped his jacket off and handed it to him. When he reached over for it, his fingers lingered on the top of her hand in a final caress. The touch was so brief Mary Elizabeth would have thought she had imagined it, but he paused in mid step and smiled before continuing toward the cab.
They both stopped and looked at each other before opening their respective car doors.
I’ll wait for you if you’ll wait for me.
“I made you a promise. It is still just as good today as it was the day it was made. Enjoy your time here at school. Go study your business classes and then open your floral shop. I’ll be back soon.”
There were a million things she wanted to say.
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes, but this time, you have to give me a promise. You have to promise me to live and enjoy this time of your life.”
“How do I do that?”
“You take each day as it comes. You live each day as if it were your last day on earth.”
She could feel her father staring from inside the car, but the only person who mattered at that moment was Gregory. “I’ll try.”
He laughed. “You have to promise.”
His smile made her laugh as well.
“I will. I promise.”
While Mary Elizabeth doesn’t believe in fairy tales, she believes in Gregory. Her parents keep insisting he won’t come for her, but she knows he will. At four years of age her young heart recognized the person it belonged to. But just when she believes her perfect future is coming true, a spiteful adversary causes her to doubt Gregory’s sincerity. Now the future doesn’t seem quite so bright or certain. Gregory and Mary Elizabeth will have to overcome many obstacles in order to stop waiting and to finally begin living and loving.
After a moment of silence, Gregory grinned through the railing. “Well, here we are. It isn’t exactly how I
thought our first meeting would go.”
A fluttering in her chest made it hard to breathe, but she somehow managed to smile in return. “How did you think it would go?”
He leaned backward until both elbows rested on the cold, concrete flooring. “I thought I would ask about your life and then I would tell you about mine.” He shifted his weight. “I wanted to ask about your future plans.” He leaned over slightly and grinned. “What are your plans for after graduation?”
The way he studied her mouth made it difficult to concentrate. “I want to open my own floral shop, but my parents want me go to the university to study business. They think I should understand business first before I rush into ownership of a shop.”
He gave the tips of his shoes some serious consideration before finally nodding. “That sounds like wise advice.”
A comfortable silence surrounded them. Mary Elizabeth leaned on the railing and finally broke the silence. “Why are you really here?”
He sat up, leaned forward, and wrapped both arms around his knees. “I needed to know you still wanted me to wait for you.” He glanced over for a brief moment before looking back down at the steps. “You were very young when you asked.”
She wanted to reach and touch his hair. Just to see if it was as soft as it looked, but she resisted the urge. “Why have you kept your promise? Even my parents said you wouldn’t.”
He looked up and locked eyes with her. “But someone did expect me to. You did and I did. Did anyone else matter?”
She did reach over then and touched the sleeve of his shirt. “There’s more. Isn’t there?”
He completely covered her hand with his. “I wanted you to know that I believed you that day. It never mattered to me that no one else did. I did.” He gave a shy grin. “I want you to enjoy this time in high school
and at the university. Don’t give up living just because you know where our journey ends.” He increased the pressure on her hand for a moment. “Promise me to do this, okay?”
She nodded.
He released her hand and stood. She stood as well.
“When I return, I don’t want you to have any doubts about if we belong together or not.”
Before any more could be said, the cab arrived behind her father’s car.
Gregory passed Mary Elizabeth at the bottom of the steps. She slipped his jacket off and handed it to him. When he reached over for it, his fingers lingered on the top of her hand in a final caress. The touch was so brief Mary Elizabeth would have thought she had imagined it, but he paused in mid step and smiled before continuing toward the cab.
They both stopped and looked at each other before opening their respective car doors.
I’ll wait for you if you’ll wait for me.
“I made you a promise. It is still just as good today as it was the day it was made. Enjoy your time here at school. Go study your business classes and then open your floral shop. I’ll be back soon.”
There were a million things she wanted to say.
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes, but this time, you have to give me a promise. You have to promise me to live and enjoy this time of your life.”
“How do I do that?”
“You take each day as it comes. You live each day as if it were your last day on earth.”
She could feel her father staring from inside the car, but the only person who mattered at that moment was Gregory. “I’ll try.”
He laughed. “You have to promise.”
His smile made her laugh as well.
“I will. I promise.”
178 pages, Paperback
Published August 22, 2011
About the author
Regina Puckett
135 books522 followersRegina Puckett is a 2014 Readers' Favorite Award winning author for her sweet romance, Concealed in My Heart. Her steampunk book, I Will Breathe, and her children's picture book, Borrowed Wings, both received the Children's Literary Classic Seal of Approval. "I Will Breathe" was selected as a Science Fiction Finalist in the 2015 IAN Book of the Year Awards. I Will Breathe won a silver in the 2017 Literary Classics Award/Science fiction/dystopian (high school)
Her boxed set, A TOUCH OF PASSION, is the 2016 WINNER of The Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards.
Memories, won first place in the 1st WSBR International Poetry Contest, and her collection of poetry, Fireflies, won the 2013 Turning Pages Poetry Book of the Year.
Regina Puckett has been writing for over forty-eight years, and lives in Tennessee with her husband of over forty years. She has two grown daughters and four grandchildren.
She writes sweet romances, horror, inspirational, steampunk, picture books and poetry. There are always several projects in various stages of completion and characters and stories waiting in the wings for their chance to finally get out of her head and onto paper. The only way she knows to shut the voices up is to tell their stories and to let them live among the pages of her books.
She loves writing in many different genres because life is too short to be stuck in a rut.
Please come and visit me at facebook.com/regina.puckett1
http://reginapuckettsbooks.weebly.com...
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
https://twitter.com/ReginaPucket
Her boxed set, A TOUCH OF PASSION, is the 2016 WINNER of The Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards.
Memories, won first place in the 1st WSBR International Poetry Contest, and her collection of poetry, Fireflies, won the 2013 Turning Pages Poetry Book of the Year.
Regina Puckett has been writing for over forty-eight years, and lives in Tennessee with her husband of over forty years. She has two grown daughters and four grandchildren.
She writes sweet romances, horror, inspirational, steampunk, picture books and poetry. There are always several projects in various stages of completion and characters and stories waiting in the wings for their chance to finally get out of her head and onto paper. The only way she knows to shut the voices up is to tell their stories and to let them live among the pages of her books.
She loves writing in many different genres because life is too short to be stuck in a rut.
Please come and visit me at facebook.com/regina.puckett1
http://reginapuckettsbooks.weebly.com...
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
https://twitter.com/ReginaPucket
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 21, 2011
Won on Goodread's first reads giveaways. Hope it is good. My full name is Mary Elizabeth and I'm married to Greg- better not let down our names.
Update 11/21/11: We have all heard you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Metaphorically, this is good advice. Literally, it's a rule I love to break. I am guilty of choosing books by the cover and many times, this method does not fail me. I love to walk along a library or bookstore shelf in search of the next good read. Beautiful or interesting book covers will make it off the shelf and into my hands where I will then read the bio to see if I want to give it a try. I'm sorry to say that many a plain, boring, or ugly book has been overlooked and not even touched in my search. I love pretty books. Sometimes this method fails and I find an ugly story hidden in a beautiful cover or a great book is suggested to me only to find it lives beneath a less then desirable cover. My selective method works enough though that I am not giving up my picky ways.
That said, I am sorry to say that I would never have given this book a chance had I not won it on goodreads. I found the cover of Waiting for Mary Elizabeth to be quite horrid. One glance at it and I was expecting a cheap, outdated, and maybe smutty romance novel. I do not want to read about Fabio's look-alike and his pretty girlfriend from the 70s. It is not attractive.
This is one of the cases however where the cover and the story do not match. The love story is sweet and nice and totally clean. I found the dialogue to be a little tiring though which is why I gave it a lower rating. How long must the characters talk on and on about stealing fries from one another's plate. It was too much for me. I also could have done without all of the speeches made while talking to themselves. The story was cute, and enjoyable; however the dialogue slowed it down and made reading this a little tedious.
Update 11/21/11: We have all heard you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Metaphorically, this is good advice. Literally, it's a rule I love to break. I am guilty of choosing books by the cover and many times, this method does not fail me. I love to walk along a library or bookstore shelf in search of the next good read. Beautiful or interesting book covers will make it off the shelf and into my hands where I will then read the bio to see if I want to give it a try. I'm sorry to say that many a plain, boring, or ugly book has been overlooked and not even touched in my search. I love pretty books. Sometimes this method fails and I find an ugly story hidden in a beautiful cover or a great book is suggested to me only to find it lives beneath a less then desirable cover. My selective method works enough though that I am not giving up my picky ways.
That said, I am sorry to say that I would never have given this book a chance had I not won it on goodreads. I found the cover of Waiting for Mary Elizabeth to be quite horrid. One glance at it and I was expecting a cheap, outdated, and maybe smutty romance novel. I do not want to read about Fabio's look-alike and his pretty girlfriend from the 70s. It is not attractive.
This is one of the cases however where the cover and the story do not match. The love story is sweet and nice and totally clean. I found the dialogue to be a little tiring though which is why I gave it a lower rating. How long must the characters talk on and on about stealing fries from one another's plate. It was too much for me. I also could have done without all of the speeches made while talking to themselves. The story was cute, and enjoyable; however the dialogue slowed it down and made reading this a little tedious.
August 24, 2011
This is true love at its finest. Waiting for Mary Elizabeth is such a sweet story. When Gregory finds himself lost in the woods he doesn’t think he’ll find his way out again but when he comes across a little girl who needs his help he calls upon his bravery to find a way to safety. A promise passes between them that they will get married one day, but no one believes it will happen that is except Mary Elizabeth and Gregory. This is a must read and worth 5 stars. You should check this one out and start believing in fate.
Charity Parkerson
Charity Parkerson
February 9, 2012
WAITING FOR MARY ELIZABETH is so much more than just a sweet romance -- it's conflict, humor, spice, and mystery. Ms. Pucket has done an excellent job revealing her character's strengths and weaknesses by throwing them into dire straits right away. From that predicament emerges a promise. Ms. Pucket has done a wonderful job of putting Gregory and Mary Elizabeth -- and that promise -- through the test of time. She brings them from their early years into adulthood, throwing obstacles in their paths, spinning some insecurities, making things very real with a secondary character who is one sly little troublemaker, and of course, no love story would be complete without a sprinkling of doubt. But in the midst of those problems, there's remarkable personality; humor and joy, attraction and love. This story shows remarkable character depth. The author also weaves quirky, loving family members throughout this adventure. You will fall in love with Gregory and Mary Elizabeth, and you will root for them to make good on their promises; for them to get their happy ending :)
December 28, 2011
I’ve had this book for a while now and due to thing and another, I’ve only just got round to reading it. What a big mistake! I really wish I’d read it sooner. It’s such a lovely story which starts off when a little girl asks a boy to marry her after he finds her lost in the woods. The boy promises to wait for her to grow up and when she does, he comes back to find her. I won’t spoil what happens, but I will say that this is sweet romance at its very best. A great read!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews