Glimmers of Change by Ginny Dye

clearing. One look told Carrie her surprise was waiting.
    “I didn’t even know this was here!” Robert exclaimed as he gazed at the small lake nestled in the woods.
    “I hoped you hadn’t discovered it,” Carrie said with delight.
    “This is a great surprise.”
    “Oh, this isn’t your surprise,” Carrie murmured as she swung off Granite’s back and tied him to a hanging branch. She waited for Robert to dismount and tie Diamond, then she took his hand and led him forward to the edge of the lake. “ This is your surprise,” she announced, waving her hand over the lake. The lake caught the moon and sent it shooting back as diamonds glittered from along the entire shoreline.
    “Look at that…” Robert said slowly, amazement filling his voice as he leaned down. “The whole lake is surrounded by ice sculptures! I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    Carrie nodded happily. “The conditions have to be just right. If the air is cold enough, and the wind blows strongly enough, the water forms ice sculptures on everything it hits. I discovered them for the first time when I was thirteen.” She paused. “I’ve never shared them with anyone but you.” She gazed up at Robert, her eyes soft with love. “I used to dream of bringing my husband here to see them. This is the first opportunity.”
    Robert leaned down to kiss her warmly, holding her face as he peered into her luminous eyes. “You are one in a million, Carrie Borden. Thank you for loving me,” he whispered.
    Grabbing her hand, he began to walk along the edge of the lake. “This one looks like a cluster of grapes.”
    “A cluster of grapes full of diamonds,” Carrie agreed. “Look how they are reflecting the stars.” She pointed further to the right. “That one looks like a heart. See how it is wrapped around the branch suspended above the water?”
    “Magnificent,” Robert muttered, his head swinging as he tried to take it all in. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful,” he murmured.
    Carrie felt the sudden tension grip his body. “Robert?” She knew so many different things could trigger the pain and agony of the last four years.
    Robert stood on the shoreline and took several deep breaths until he could speak. “This time last year I was hauling frozen carcasses out of the Petersburg trenches. Men I had eaten with the night before had frozen to death,” he said slowly, his voice laced with pain. “I just can’t believe there can be so much pain and fear in the midst of such beauty,” he muttered as he leaned down again to touch an ice formation that looked like a bird in flight. “It seems to me that if people could simply absorb the raw beauty of God’s world they would find a way to live in harmony. They would see their own fears and greed as being so tiny and unimportant if they could truly grasp God’s power.”
    Carrie knew his thoughts had never strayed far from Matthew’s announcement this morning. Somehow all of them had been able to push aside the reality and bring laughter to the rest of the day as they played games and ate around the fireplace, shoving aside their turmoil for the children’s sake. But she had seen the trouble lurking in her husband’s eyes. She knew it was more than memories of the war. “You’re afraid it will come to Cromwell,” she said.
    Robert looked down at her. “I think 1866 is going to be a year of challenges,” he finally acknowledged solemnly, but he said no more.
    Carrie tried to swallow the surge of panic that rose in her throat as she wrapped her arms around Robert, letting him hold her close. “I don’t want to leave you,” she whispered.
    “You’re not going anywhere for four more months,” Robert said roughly, his lips pressed against the top of her head as he rubbed his hands down her back.
    “One day, or four months. I can’t imagine saying goodbye again. I can’t imagine not knowing what is going on with you every day.” She fought against the