For Now, Forever

He remembered more than the accident now. 
He remembered Anna leaning over him, talking, reassuring him as he was being wheeled on a gurney down the hospital corridor. 
He remembered the fear he'd read in her eyes, 
and before he slipped into unconsciousness, his one moment of blind, naked terror 
that he was being taken away from her. 

Oddly, he thought he remembered looking down at himself from somewhere
 while doctors and nurses scrambled around. 

Then it seemed he'd been sucked back into his body, 
but the sensation was too vague to pinpoint. 

For Now, Forever

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By Alexander P Kapp, CC BY-SA 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13670612

WHAT DOES DYING FEELS LIKE?

They found that even five minutes after a person's heart stops beating their brain cells, or neurons, may still function.

But a wave of 'spreading depression' marked the moment that these neurons shutdown before their final, irreversible death.

DAILYMAIL

The best pieces of advice about money

Self-consciously she lifted a hand to finger the silver-and-gold twists that dangled from her ear. "But I have to think about what's going to happen when I turn that page. I can't keep buying new clothes and earrings, and living in the moment. Money's a responsibility, isn't it?"

He leaned back, lips pursed as he studied her. Delicate she might look, he mused, but there was nothing delicate about her brain. He had a feeling it was both strong and flexible. All the better, he decided. The wife of his grandson should possess a nimble mind and not a shallow one.

"That it is," he said, and smiled at her.

The Winning Hand

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Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33984

BUSINESS INSIDER

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"I don't know how it's done, though. I thought you would."

"I'd be happy to help you with it." When the waiter came to remove their plates, Daniel waved a hand. "Leave hers," he ordered. "She hasn't eaten enough. Now," he continued as Darcy and the waiter exchanged resigned glances, "you'll have your time, your opportunity, and you'll have given something back. Unless you intend to toss around money like confetti, and you don't strike me as an idiot, you'll have quite a bit left over. What do you want from that?"

She bit her lip, easing forward. "More," she said, then blinked when he threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"Now there's a lass with a head on her shoulders. I knew it."

"It sounds greedy, but—"

"It sounds sane," he corrected. "Why should you want less? More is better, after all. You want your money to work for you. I'd call you a fool if you wanted otherwise."

"Mr. MacGregor." She took a deep breath and rolled the dice. "I want you to take my money and make it work for me."

The blue eyes narrowed. "Do you now? And why is that?"

"Because it seems to me I'd be a fool to settle for less than the best."

The Winning Hand

Mentions in Nora Books

Enjoying herself, Cat rehearsed in the empty lounge for an audience of one. Daniel had taken to sitting at one of the tables whenever the lounge was closed, and commenting and kibitzing on her song list.

"That means you can't have some variety?" He glowered at her from under snowy white eyebrows. "Why, there's some Scottish tunes that will rip a man's heart out of his chest while it's still beating. With that voice of yours, any man with the blood of the Scots in him would fall in love with you."

MacGregor Grooms - Duncan

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Loch Lomond - Peter Hollens

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Taking her cue, Cat stepped into the key light. "Daniel MacGregor? I have something for you."

"Well, what are you doing skulking around then? Come over here and give it to me."

"It comes from here. And from here," she added, touching a hand to her heart.

She sang for him, the old Scottish ballad "Loch Loman." Because she kept her eyes on him, she saw his begin to swim. And felt her own sting in response.

MacGregor Grooms - Duncan

the one thing everyone needs for happier, healthier lives

When a man reaches ninety years of living, he is tempted to look back on his life, to evaluate, to consider his triumphs and his mistakes. Often he might think, "What if I had done this instead of that?" or "If only I had that to do over."

Well, I don't have time for that kind of nonsense.

I look forward, have always done so. I'm a Scotsman who has lived most of his long life away from the land of his birth. America is my home. I have made my family and raised my children here. I have watched my grandchildren grow. For nearly sixty years I have loved one woman, lived with her, admired her, worked with her. And worked around her, when there wasn't any other way.

My Anna is all that is precious to me. Between us—well, we've had a hell of a time.

I'm a rich man. Oh, not just in dollars and possessions and property, but in family. Family comes first. That's something else that always was and always will be part of my life. 

From the Private Memoirs of Daniel Duncan MacGregor
(in The MacGregor Brides)

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My grandparents lived modestly, still in the narrow two-bedroom rowhouse where she’d raised her family since her husband returned from World War II. They didn’t travel, eat lavish meals or shop at the finest department stores. Neither had careers that followed their passions. (She would have been an amazing teacher, he an exquisite artist.) Yet, she genuinely considered herself rich because she had a husband, children and grandchildren whom she adored.

My grandmother knew what Harvard researchers have since confirmed: Relationships are the key to a happy life.

WASHINGTON POST

"When We Were Young"

"Once I told you I'd thought of you looking around and seeing someone who appealed to you more. I wasn't joking." She gave him a little shake. "You should have been." 

Didn't she realize how lovely she was, how regal? 

Didn't she know how clumsy she could make a man feel with just a smile?

For Now, Forever

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Everybody loves the things you do
From the way you talk
To the way you move...
Everybody here is watching you
'Cause you feel like home
You're like a dream come true

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He took her hand in his. "Last night I dreamed. I dreamed of you. It started on the night we met, that first waltz."

 

"The summer ball," she murmured. She had only to smile to see the moonlight, smell the flowers. Odd, it had been in her dreams as well. "It was a beautiful night."

"You were beautiful," he corrected. "And I wanted you more than I'd ever wanted anything in my life."

"You were arrogant," she remembered, smiling. "And desperately attractive." 

Leaning over, she kissed him softly, lingeringly. The same passion that they'd felt in the beginning hovered over them. "You still are, Daniel."

"I'm old, Anna."

"We're both old."

He pressed her hand to his lips. The ring he'd given her so many years before was cool against his skin. 

"And I still want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my life."

For now, Forever

Grooms' Amazing Reactions to Seeing Their Brides

My grandson took him a wife last week. And I can tell you the scents in the air of the church, the colors of the light that streamed through the windows, the full rich sound of the music that swelled when little Naomi stood at the back in her glittering white gown, with a bit of MacGregor tartan showing and the MacGregor veil covering her shining black hair.

Brides glow. They say that as well. And so she did. It's love that brings that shining beauty to a woman's face. And one more in love I've yet to see.

And Ian, handsome as a prince as he waited for her. They don't say a man glows, but perhaps they should. I can't think of another word for the look on his face as he watched her walk to him. And not being such a pinhead after all, what did he do? He took her hand, and the other as well, and as the music died off, and before the priest could open his mouth to start the business of it, Ian said, "I love you, Naomi," his voice as clear and strong as the bells that rang after the deed was done.

And if there was a dry eye in the whole of the church at that moment, well, it wasn't Daniel MacGregor's.

MacGregor Grooms - Ian

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Burke stood with his hands at his side and his face carefully blank and wondered what in the hell he was doing.
Then he saw her.
Her hair was glowing, warm and vibrant under layers of white tulle. She seemed pale, but her eyes met his without hesitation. How was it he'd never noticed how small she was, how delicate, until now, when she was about to become a permanent part of his life? Permanent. He felt the quick sliver of panic. Then she smiled, slowly, almost questioningly. He held out a hand.
Her fingers were icy. It was a relief to find his equally cold. She held tight and turned to face the priest.

Irish Heart