Book Read Free

More Than This: Contemporary Christian Romance Novel

Page 18

by Stallings, Staci


  She nodded, looking better than his heart could take. With a swallow to crush everything rising in him down, he spun, grabbed the doorknob, and fled. If he stayed even one more second, he was done for.

  The second Jake left, Liz raced to her room. Logistics— bus schedules, opening times, hours of operation. They were all integral to her plan. Sitting at her computer, she wondered if she had ever been so excited about anything in her life. Her tenth birthday, maybe, but beyond that, she couldn’t think of a time. She rubbed her hands together, trying to contain the excitement bubbling through her, but it was not to be squelched. He was going to be so surprised.

  “Seriously. You’re not going to tell me?” Jake asked as they went out into the chilly weather the next morning.

  November had turned decidedly cooler in the past day or so. He hated that. Winter was coming, and with it, the holidays. The holidays. Lonely never meant as much as it did this time of year. Sleek. Gray. Cold. It was a metaphor for his life, and he fought not to laugh at that miserable assessment. Then his gaze slid over to her, and a soft, warm glimmer of hope flickered through the depressing thoughts. For this one moment, he wasn’t alone, and that was far more than he could ever have believed possible.

  “Nope. I’m not telling you anything.” She pulled the cable-knit, pale blue sweater closer around her to block out the cool wind that spun down the street. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”

  He walked next to her, his hands stuffed in his coat pockets. He wanted to hold her hand again, but for some reason it always took him more than a little while to get his courage up around her. She was always so beautiful, and she was even more so today.

  “Just a hint?” he asked, feeling the magnet of her on him. “One hint. Please?”

  “You don’t give up, do you? Trust me. You’re going to love it.”

  Walking next to her, Jake couldn’t argue. He already loved it— the being with her part. Everything else was gravy. Her hair was up in some fan-looking thing on the back of her head. It made her look casual and glamorous at the same time, and he wasn’t at all sure how she did that. Even more, he couldn’t believe someone who looked like her would want to spend more than five minutes with him. It was something not to even be imagined or hoped for.

  “Did you write last night?” she asked as they walked.

  Surprise slammed into him as his gaze traced over to her. “Uh, no. I… didn’t really have time.” No way was he going to tell her that he had taken the notebook and slid it up on the closet shelf with the laptop. How could he explain that he couldn’t really even read the notes she had made for him? That would crush her. No. It was better if he simply skirted the issue until she lost interest, which she would eventually. Of that, he had no doubt.

  “Yeah, I guess it was probably pretty late when you got home, huh?” Suddenly she banked and swung their steps to the curb where she stopped.

  The bus stop.

  Concern and confusion drove into him. “Why are we stopping?”

  She looked up at the sign. Her gaze was mysterious and filled with mirth. “You’ll see.”

  He kept asking. For some reason she had thought he would quit, but he didn’t. All the way downtown, he asked, and then asked again. She knew he would be curious, but she had no idea he would be this curious.

  “You’re seriously not going to tell me?”

  “You know, you are not a very patient man.” Reaching over to his hand which rested on his leg, she pulled his hand into hers. “Relax, and enjoy the ride for a change.”

  He seemed surprised for one second, and then he relaxed into it. “I am patient. I just want to know where we’re going.”

  She shook her head. “You said I get to choose, so I chose.” And then, just wanting to be closer to him, she pulled his arm right next to her. “Trust me.”

  “Hm.” The sigh was soft and contented as she leaned into him, laying her head on his shoulder. He glanced down at her. “Remind me not to let you chose again.”

  She angled her gaze up to him. “You complaining?”

  He smiled. “No.”

  “I didn’t think so.” Liz snuggled into him, really liking what it felt like to be with him, next to him. His world intrigued her. He intrigued her.

  He was so quiet yet incredibly intelligent. As they had worked on his story the day before, she had gotten glimpse after glimpse into just how intelligent. Historical references were like water off his tongue, and he knew them all— going back to the French Revolution. Louis the Fourteenth had never been so interesting. He was going to love today. She was sure of it.

  “This is our stop,” Liz said, sitting straight up next to him and getting ready to disembark.

  “This?” That confused Jake further as he looked up. He’d never been to this side of the city even though he had lived here his whole life.

  “Come on. You’re going to love it.” Once again she took his hand, and he couldn’t adequately explain how incredible that felt.

  The bus swayed to a stop, and together they exited. He thought to ask ‘what now,’ but she didn’t give him the chance. It was like she had a gyroscope set on their destination, and she needed no real help from him. That was all right. He kind of liked her leading, kind of liked watching her in take-charge mode. It made him feel safe and less intimidated by the world around him.

  Suddenly she banked to the right, crossing right across his path, and he very nearly ran into her.

  With a satisfied excitement dancing in her eyes, she glanced up at him. “Here we are.”

  Fighting to regain his balance, his gaze slid up to the light gray building in front of them, all the way up to the lettering which swam before his eyes high above. Fear hitched in his soul. The center of his brain ached with the knowledge that he should never have quit school. What did that even say? There were too many letters to catch any one of them. Fear gripped him. She was going to think he was a complete idiot.

  However, she seemed not to even notice his hesitation as she shrugged. “I know. It’s kind of sixth grade, but I’ve always wanted to come down here and see the exhibits.” Her gaze came up to his, holding only hope and joy. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  Jake managed a smile down at her. “So why are we standing out here? Aren’t we going in?”

  That was all it took for a bright smile to break through the trepidation in her eyes. She led him forward to the turnstiles which lined the sidewalk. Beyond that, she paid— for both of them. That didn’t seem or feel quite right, but Jake hadn’t realized there would be money involved, and he was already peering beyond her into the lobby that soared to heights he had never imagined possible. The arches and architecture were unfathomable. Beautiful. Intricate and ancient.

  “Come on. They have a real dinosaur in here somewhere.” She grabbed his hand, and his fingers entwined with hers because he was afraid he would get lost if he didn’t hold on. With no more discussion than that, she strode into the space as if she really did know right where they were going. His gaze held on the intricate arches high above them even as she dragged him forward.

  “Would you like a map of the museum, ma’am?” an elderly man offered, holding the tri-fold paper out to her, and Jake’s gaze crashed down to him.

  She took the paper from the man with her free hand. “Yes. Thank you.”

  “Ma’am.” He bent his head and smiled.

  The museum. Ah. Finally Jake could breathe. No wonder. His soul opened as he gazed around them again— at the soaring ceiling several floors above them. It was a lot like the library, only it was a soft putty color rather than the stark gray and white. Standing next to him, Liz studied the brochure carefully. Jake let his head tilt to the side to look at it over her shoulder, but he didn’t even try to read it. There was no point in that. Instead, he put his hands on his hips and shadowed her, liking how good it felt to have an excuse to be so close to her, or at least no reason to move away.

  “How about we start with the 1800’s Villa
ge?” she asked without really looking at him as she turned the map this way and that. “I think it’s that way.”

  “Sounds good.”

  With that, she folded the map and slid her hand back into his. When she looked up at him, sparkles emanated from her eyes. He loved that look. His smile had as much to do with the look and the feeling as anything.

  “You lead,” he said, and the words sounded husky in his ears. It wasn’t his fault. She had that effect on him, and he suspected at that moment she always would.

  “Oh, wow!”

  Even Jake stopped short when they entered the inner sanctum of the museum. Towering above them was the exhibit extraordinaire— a life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex. Wow didn’t begin to describe it.

  “It’s huge.” Liz walked forward without looking at anything other than the massive skeleton. “I had no idea.” She went right to the little, shiny black exhibit explanation as Jake had learned she always did. Once there, it was like she absorbed rather than just read.

  He had learned to step behind her, shadow her, and pretend to read over her shoulder. She never even questioned it. After only moments, she exhaled.

  “Fossils have been found in a variety of rock formations dating to the upper Cretaceous Period, 67 to 65.5 million years ago,” she read softly, and he picked up on just enough of it to know a few things to add to the conversation if she referenced it later.

  The only thing he wished was that he could simply concentrate on her, on being with her, but making sure she didn’t suspect or catch on was too important.

  “Wow,” she said again, stepping back to look up at the thing, but somehow neither of them had realized just how close they were to it. “Ah!” Her gasp sounded as she spun into his arms and away from the menacing teeth that were barely a few feet away. “Oh, my gosh. That thing scared me to death.”

  Jake laughed, not minding at all. In fact, tucked next to him was exactly where it felt she had been made to be. He had heard that old, sappy saying about someone completing you. Until that very moment, he had never understood it. Now he did with utter perfection. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, pulling her even closer. “It won’t get you.”

  Her gaze came up to his although she never moved from his embrace. “You sure?”

  Captured in her eyes, his heart slid away from him. “I won’t let it.”

  A moment, a smile, and she snuggled deeper into his embrace. “Good.”

  He wrapped himself all the way around her, closed his eyes, and sighed the feeling into his soul. Nothing had ever felt so good, so right, so perfect. As they stepped away from the exhibit together, he looked up at the TRex and said a silent thank you. Somehow the TRex seemed to be smiling at them, and Jake wondered if he had worked his magic on just them or if there had been other couples who had stood here as they had— apart when they came, but together when they left.

  All the way through the museum, amazed by one bit of history after another, they went. Liz couldn’t remember ever having so much fun in her life. Sure, it had taken him a little while more than she had expected to embrace the experience, but once he had, everything had gotten easier, natural in fact, as if they had been doing this kind of thing together their whole lives.

  “Oh, this is it.” She led him into a large room and over to a huge case that spanned the whole of one wall. “This was on the website. Oh, wow.” Carefully she leaned toward the case which was Plexiglas and filled with miniature figurines— thousands and thousands of them. Houses, people, and in the middle, the Palace of Versailles. It was breathtaking.

  “What— what is it?” he asked from right behind her, and she looked back at him in incomprehension. Her gaze traced up to the large lettering up on the wall. The French Revolution. However, she simply leaned back in.

  “Versailles,” she said, taken with the intricate detail of the display. “See, down there is the guillotine. Up there is the Palace.”

  “Versailles.” Jake let out a soft, slow breath as life opened up in front of him. He’d seen countless History Channel documentaries on the time period. It had captured his imagination ever since he was very young though he’d never known just why. Something about the desperation of a king, hell-bent on keeping his power and his wife hell-bent on enjoying everything as the kingdom crashed around them brought him back to the story repeatedly. So many people had lost their lives— cogs that were discarded as no more than obstacles to a power-hungry monarch. And yet, in the end, it was the people who had won, the people who overtook the rule of an unjust, selfish king. Good finally winning out in the face of utter greed and pure evil.

  “Did you see this?” Liz asked, leaning in to see one of the streets.

  Jake shadowed her movement, coming so close to her that he had to put his hand on her back to judge the distance between them as he leaned forward to see. “What?” It was the best space in life he had ever before inhabited. He glanced at her, captivated by her enthusiasm and passion.

  “Look at them fighting. You can actually see the anger on that guard’s face.” She pointed into the case. “Look. He’s dragging a prisoner to the guillotine. Man, that would be a long walk.”

  “They were protecting the king,” Jake said, pulled from her into the little scene in front of him. “Trying to stop the riots.” The amazing thing was, there were thousands and thousands of such tiny little scenes throughout the menagerie. A million stories just waiting to be told. “Do you think they believed it would ever end?”

  “The Revolution?” she asked, looking back and up at him.

  He nodded, taken with the details of each tiny figurine. “I’ve wondered about that, you know? Like the people in the World Wars. I mean, we know how they all worked out now, but in the middle of it, did they? Could they see how it would ever be okay again? I mean, how do you keep moving when evil seems to so have the upper hand? People lost their lives. Real people. Fathers, brothers. Mothers and sisters even. They’d come get you in the middle of the night, and that was just… it. No trial. Just ‘you’re guilty. Off with your head.’ How does a society go on like that? How do people not go insane? How do you keep living in the face of that kind of fear and grief?”

  Liz had never considered the question and certainly not to the depths he obviously had. That scrambled together with the fact that his warm hand was heating through the base of her spine twisting and twining her thoughts and feelings until she couldn’t be sure which way was even up.

  “A million stories,” he whispered next to her, his gaze settling on each little figure spread out in front of them. He sounded transported back to that time, like he wasn’t even still standing here with her anymore. “A million of them right there, waiting to be told.”

  “Maybe the book is somewhere in one of those houses,” she whispered not to herself but to him as she leaned closer to him. It was why she had brought him, and as they stood so close together they were practically in the same space, she wanted him to know how close she felt to him, how close his soul was to hers. Like what was in his made a difference to hers.

  His gaze swung to her with confused concern. “The book? What book?”

  “The Treasure of Vincent St. Patrick. It was written during the French Revolution, right?”

  Shock split through Jake as his gaze snapped from her to the little scenes and back again. “R-right. But…”

  She smiled, shrugged, and went back to the scenes. “I thought so.” Leaning even farther forward, she pointed to a set of figurines. “Maybe it’s in that house or that one over there.”

  Jake followed her gaze down, his honing to the first house she indicated. The rest of life dropped away from him as unreality took over.

  “Maybe Vincent St. Patrick is in there right now as the guards take the prisoners down the street. Maybe he’s in there writing,” she said, in barely a whisper. “What part do you think he’s writing right now?”

  The book wasn’t even real. It wasn’t anywhere other than in his head, and yet…

  “
Look at that woman,” Liz said, pointing one out, and it was like they had ceased to be outside the little world but had rather entered into it. “Look, she’s screaming, and the kids there with her are crying. Maybe that’s their father, her husband, they are taking away.”

  “They’re watching him being led away to his death.”

  She exhaled. “I can’t even imagine.”

  And yet, Jake could. It was like he was right there, with the woman. “He’s in this house.”

  “Which one?”

  He pointed to another just across and down the street from the horrific scene. “He can hear the woman’s screams. He knows her. Not close, but they’ve been neighbors for many years. The man was his friend.”

  “What did he do? Why is he being taken?”

  “Because he’s a dissident. He spoke out against the king. That’s what Vincent is writing— that the man’s only crime is speaking out against the rulers, and he knows if anyone ever finds this page, he too, will be put to death.”

  “Is he alone in the world, or is his family there with him?”

  Jake thought into the scene. “There is a family, but it’s not his. Still, he knows they too will be in danger if his writings ever come to light.”

  “But how… how does this tie with Jasmine and our government? How could his book bring down what’s happening?”

  “It exposes them. It explains what they are doing and where that leads.”

  “To the guillotine?”

  “To chaos.”

  “Can she stop them?”

  “She has to.” He shrugged with barely a movement. “She has to.”

  Chapter 11

  Long after they left the museum and Liz was in bed, she relived what it was to stand there by him as he worked through his story. It felt like so much more than a story to her. It felt real, like he was simply relating the events from a parallel universe in exquisite, elaborate detail. As she rolled over and closed her eyes, she said a prayer for him and one for Jasmine that she would find the key to stop evil from winning once again.

 

‹ Prev