Jamie squeezed Alan’s knee and gushed her answer. “Better than ever.”
Rebecca motioned for Chris to return to the front with Sebastian as Father John emerged from the side of the altar wearing what looked to Alan like a long, white tunic and a scarf, something different than he’d worn for Chris and Rebecca’s wedding. It was missing a layer or something.
Alan relaxed against the back of the pew. He wasn’t quite sure yet where he stood with God, but Chris and Rebecca considered this perhaps the most important day in their son’s life, a day he’d never remember. That had piqued Alan’s curiosity.
Father John directed a series of questions to the parents and the godparents, a thirty-something couple he’d never met who were friends of Chris and Rebecca’s and went to this church. Alan followed along as best he could, but only one thing stood out. Two sentences that nearly knocked him out of the pew.
“Sebastian,” Father John said, “the Christian community welcomes you with great joy. In its name I claim you for Christ our Savior by the sign of his cross.”
Whoa. He’d been claimed. Unabashed power resonated in that declaration. His nephew had been claimed for Christ. Alan couldn’t help but wonder how his life might have been different had he been claimed for Christ. Or how it might be changed were it to happen now.
At the conclusion of the service, while Alan and Jamie waited for the photo-ops to finish and everyone to gather their things, Abby loudly interrogated her children as to who had to use the potty. The preschool-aged girl seemed a likely candidate, seeing as her legs were crossed so tightly the skin on her bare calves appeared a mottled blue.
“No wonder,” Abby muttered. “All that trickling water. It’s a wonder I didn’t pee my pants.”
Jamie failed to hide a smile, her eyes wide. At the same time, from the front of the church, Sebastian let out an angry wail.
“Time for Sebastian’s boob break.” Abby again, with her kids trailing behind her heading toward the rear of the church. Joel followed.
Alan’s dad took a moment to smile at his grandson and congratulate Chris and Rebecca before he cornered Father John. This wasn’t a “hey, thanks for baptizing my grandkid” conversation. This was a back-and-forth with serious thought on either side. Something was going on there, though his dad had been mum.
Jamie wiggled closer to Alan, and he rested his arm on the pew behind her, smiling. He kissed her cheek, savoring every moment of being with her.
“Did you know I was baptized?” She gave him a coy look, seeming pleased she’d discovered something he hadn’t known about her.
He lifted his brows. “Really? When?”
“I was about a year old. At the Evangelical Lutheran church. I didn’t know until Mom mentioned it while she was staying at our place.”
Jamie had been claimed for Christ too. He was starting to feel like the odd man out. Who had laid claim to him?
The small crowd thinned out. Dad and Father John shook hands and parted ways, and Mom helped Chris and Rebecca gather their things.
“But you didn’t go to church, did you?”
Jamie shook her head. “My parents didn’t really follow through after the baptism.” She slid her hand down his forearm and interlocked her fingers with his.
Alan’s gaze shifted from their hands to her face.
“Maybe it’s a good place to start. Y’know, where I was baptized.” Her gaze stayed glued to his face, waiting.
She must’ve been having feelings similar to his. This tug to dig deeper, to anchor themselves to something beyond themselves. “Lutheran, huh?”
She shrugged. “Christian. I don’t know. This church is nice.” She gazed at the altar, the statues, the carved images of the crucifixion hanging on the wall. “I feel like . . . like I’ve been invited to a banquet but I can’t even read the menu.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. I guess we’ll figure it out.”
Mom tapped him on the shoulder as she passed, carrying the empty infant carrier. “You’re coming to the restaurant, right?”
“Yeah. We’re coming.” Alan stood and let Jamie out of the pew.
Chris and Rebecca had stopped at the last row where a middle-aged man—Rebecca’s dad? Yes, Rebecca’s dad!—sat alone. Chris extended his hand, and, after a moment, Mr. Rhodes shook it, his face stoic.
A moment later, Rebecca laid the bundled baby in her dad’s open arms. The man’s head drooped, and his shoulders shook.
Alan squeezed Jamie’s hand, trying to keep his emotions in check.
By twenty-nine, Alan Reynolds had celebrated every Christmas with Santa instead of Christ, rolled his eyes at every use of the word “miraculous,” and mocked the kids who missed Sunday soccer practice for Sunday school. He’d shut the drawer on dozens of Gideon Bibles. When his younger brother Chris had become Catholic, he’d shrugged. He’d never needed God, and no one had laid claim to his soul. Until now.
Did you enjoy this book?
Book #1, Stay With Me, is available at this link!
And Carolyn’s other books:
Rightfully Ours (Teen Contemporary Romance)
All in Good Time (Contemporary Romance
Ornamental Graces (Contemporary Romance)
About the Author
Carolyn Astfalk resides with her husband and four children in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where it smells like either chocolate or manure, depending on wind direction. She is the author of the inspirational romances Stay With Me, Ornamental Graces, All in Good Time, and the coming-of-age story Rightfully Ours. Carolyn is a member of the Catholic Writers Guild, Pennwriters, Catholic Teen Books, and a CatholicMom.com and Today’s Catholic Teacher contributor. Formerly, she served as the communications director of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the public affairs agency of Pennsylvania’s Catholic bishops. True to her Pittsburgh roots, she still says “pop" instead of “soda," although her beverage of choice is tea.
You can find her online at www.carolynastfalk.com
Published by Full Quiver Publishing
PO Box 244
Pakenham ON K0A2X0
Canada
www.fullquiverpublishing.com
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Come Back to Me Page 15