Finally and Forever

by Robin Jones Gunn

  “Tell me,” Katie said. “How did you know that Evan was the one for you?”

  Callie tilted her head. “I knew Evan was the one for me because I couldn’t picture myself doing life with anyone else. He said he couldn’t picture himself doing life without me. It was easy to say yes and take the next step.”

  “What about your position here at Brockhurst? Did you guys have the same goals? Did you have to let go of your dreams to follow him as he pursued his?”

  “I don’t think it was a matter of having mutual goals or letting go of dreams. We merged our lives and plans and adjusted along the way. I think you’ve noticed that life here is different than in the States. People don’t tend to value their careers or try to hold on to their personal objectives. Everything changes here all the time. What matters is that when God gives you someone like Eli, you say, ‘Thank you, Lord,’ and the two of you get on with doing life together. You work things out as you go. Flexibility is the best gift we can give each other. That’s how all of us survive and thrive.”

  To Katie it felt like Callie had filled up this morning conversation at the breakfast table with a whole bath full of great advice, complete with sweet-smelling insights. Katie wanted to just sit in it and soak.

  However, she had to hop out of the tub of camaraderie and get herself upstairs, because she was scheduled to work at the Coffee Bar that morning and the next two mornings.

  Every one of those mornings, as she made mochas for a lively group of women who were at Brockhurst for an African women’s leadership conference, Katie thought about Callie’s comment that flexibility was a gift. The more she relaxed about her enthusiastic plans for the fund-raising projects, the more she somehow managed to get done, even though her mornings were now devoted to making coffee.

  She also had to be flexible in her texting communications with Eli because he was having phone problems. He sent Katie a text from Dan’s phone. Dan was one of the guys on the digging crew, and Eli said in his cryptic way that his phone had died, they had hit some problems with the well, but now they were only a day away from completion. Then he texted, SOON.

  That was his last message. Katie hoped it meant he would be back at Brockhurst in a day or two, but no one seemed to know.

  Ever since her conversation at breakfast with Callie, Katie had been hanging those memory pictures of what God had done in her life in her mental waiting room. She had fallen in bed at night with whispers of thankfulness on her lips and awaken in the morning with a sweet song of praise echoing in her ears. Somehow, suddenly, just as Callie had described, Katie was on the other side of the obstacles that had seemed so insurmountable with Eli. She was following her heart, and her heart was leading her straight to Eli’s arms. The only problem was that she had no idea where Eli’s arms — or the rest of him—were at the moment.

  21

  The last day of the women’s conference, Katie had pulled her hair back in a ponytail and actually found a tube of mascara that she brushed on her lashes. She put on the beads Eli had bought for her at the Rift Valley lookout and kept her phone well charged and at her side all day, hoping Eli would be back today.

  His message through Dan’s phone the night before had been, ON OUR WAY. Jim said they should arrive before sunset, but there was no guarantee.

  She went through her routine, serving in the Coffee Bar, looking toward the door every few minutes, hoping to see that handsome face that had visited her nearly every night in her dreams for two weeks and a day.

  One of the women who ordered a white chocolate latte thanked Katie by saying, “May the peace of Christ be on you, sister.”

  It reminded Katie of the pastor from the Congo who had stood in the same place weeks ago and prayed for Katie when she was awaiting the antibiotics. She remembered how he had said something about her past catching up to her and that she was supposed to remember the peace.

  Her past had caught up with her. But her present had overtaken everything that was behind her, including Michael, and now she was fully ready for the future. She did feel at peace.

  “Asante sana,” Katie said to the woman. “May the peace of Christ be upon you too.”

  Each time the door opened she looked up, hoping to see the head of windblown brown hair that she missed so much.

  She got the feeling that everyone who stopped by kept looking at her with knowing crinkle lines around their eyes. It was as if they knew her little secret. She was in love. Katie was sure it had to be obvious to everyone. It certainly was obvious to her.

  All afternoon she sat in the office only half concentrating on the computer screen. Her head turned to look out the open window every time she heard anything that resembled footsteps. By midafternoon her neck was sore from her self-induced whiplash, so she kept her face toward the valentine wall and her eyes on her laptop.

  At 4:17 her phone gave a friendly buzz. She grabbed it and eagerly read the text from Eli. The message was from his phone. He must have gone to Nairobi for a new battery. The text read: GREAT NEWS. DAN WANTS TO WORK WITH US FULL-TIME.

  Katie’s heart sank. No communication in several days, and this was his big news? Not an update on when he would be back or any further communication on the personal topics they had texted about earlier in the week. All he thought to tell Katie was that Dan wanted to work with them. Great.

  She texted back, AND WHEN MIGHT I HAVE THE JOY OF SEEING YOU AGAIN?

  SOON.

  Katie was beginning to hate that answer from Eli.

  He texted again. SO NO RING, HUH?

  Now Katie was even more surprised. She was the only one in the office at the moment and was glad Eli’s mom and dad weren’t there to see the exaggerated faces she was giving her phone in response to Eli’s texts.

  NO, she typed. Then she slapped her phone down and muttered, “I refuse to have this conversation with you in text messages, Eli Lorenzo.”

  “How about if we talk about it face-to-face then?”

  Katie turned around slowly and blinked before she dared to believe her eyes. There he was, in the doorway, filling the frame, as he leaned casually against the side with a sly grin on his face and his phone in his hand.

  “Eli!” Katie jumped up and nearly tripped on her way to give him a hug.

  “I need a shower,” he warned her.

  “I don’t care.” Katie gave him a hug, but then suddenly she did care. She pulled back and said, “I’ll catch you on the flip side of that shower. How’s that?”

  “Good.” Eli grinned and took her hand in his. “You look gorgeous, Katie.”

  “And you look …” She tried to choose the right words. His adorable, carefree hair had been cut short. It looked uneven, as if he had done it himself with a sharpened stone while he was in the village. The other big difference was that his goatee was back. She went with that rather than the hair when she finished her comment. “You look like the Goatee Guy I’ve missed like crazy.”

  “So I’m back to being Goatee Guy, huh?”

  Katie reached up and gave his scruffy face a rub with the back of her knuckles.

  “Did you want to finish that conversation now? About the ring?” Eli asked.

  Katie gave him a hesitant look. “You’re not going propose to me right now, are you?”

  Eli laughed. “No, I’m not.”

  “Well, you were so random in your text. One minute we’re talking about jumper cables and phone batteries, and then you throw in a rather significant question. How am I supposed to know what you’re going to say next?”

  Eli pulled Katie over to one of the desk chairs and lowered her into the seat as if she were a delicate princess. He pulled up the other desk chair so that it was facing her, and he leaned back in his very dirty clothes and looked relaxed. Apparently the shower had been downgraded on Eli’s agenda.

  “Dan is going to work with us full-time.”

  “So you said. In your text. Cool.” Katie knew her sarcasm was obvious, but she didn’t care. She kept going. “What other f
ascinating updates would you like to talk about?”

  “I’d like to talk about us. I’d like to talk about this obstacle that seemed to be overwhelming when you and I went opposite directions two weeks ago. And I’d like to talk about what’s next.”

  “Perfect. I have some breakthrough thoughts on that very topic after having several exceptional conversations during your absence.”

  “So have I,” Eli said. “You first.”

  “Okay, here’s what I think. We work it out as we go along. I’m excited to develop the fund-raising project, but that doesn’t mean this is my career for the next fifty years. Flexibility is the best gift we can give each other. If we’re going to go far, we know we have to go together. The together part of us is at the heart level. So even if we’re not in the same place every single day, we’re still together.”

  His confident grin was so strong, so assuring. “That’s the same conclusion I came to. Then Dan decided to come on board.”

  “What is it with this guy, Dan, and his decision to work here?”

  “He wants to do the same thing I want to do. We found that we functioned well as a team in the village, and that means we can tagteam our efforts.”

  “So you wouldn’t have to be gone for months at a time.”

  “Exactly. It’s not an either-or decision for you and me anymore. It’s a both-and situation. We can both do what we feel called to do, and we can go far together.” He paused and set his gaze on her.

  Katie blinked, realizing that they really were on the other side of what she had pictured to be such a huge obstacle. Their small steps of faith had led them into a wide, open place brimming with possibilities.

  When Eli didn’t say anything, Katie said, “Okay.”

  Eli said, “Okay.” He stood and headed toward the door.

  As a brash afterthought, Katie threw out one more line. “So you’re not going to stick around and propose to me now that we have that all figured out?”

  Eli kept heading for the door. He stopped right before exiting. “I’m not in a hurry, are you?”

  Katie felt a dip in her spirit at his response. It wasn’t as if she expected him to get on his knee or anything. Waiting was realistic. It fit with Eli’s way of being on African time. It made sense. She shrugged. “No, I can wait.”

  “Good.” He left and then turned around, came back, and stood in the doorway. “I forgot to tell you. You know the meteor shower we saw in the desert last year?”

  “Yes.”

  “We should be able to see another one tonight. I thought I’d go up to the knoll above the tea fields to watch the show. Do you want to go with me?”

  “Of course. Will you have crocodile meatballs for us to enjoy this time as we watch the sky?”

  “Nope. I’ll see if I can manage to get us some banana pudding though. How’s that?”

  “Lovely.”

  “Good. I’ll meet you in the dining hall later. I thought I’d better take that shower.”

  “Excellent idea.”

  Katie tried to go back to work after he left, but she couldn’t. She kept going over their conversation. Their relationship seemed to fall in place as if the pieces had been cut to fit together. Could it be this easy? This calm?

  At dinner Katie was aware once again that everyone was looking at her. No one said anything, but they all seemed to be hiding smiles and winks, as if they were in on a secret. She wished Eli were there to eat dinner with her since that’s what they all seemed to want to see. Eli didn’t show up for dinner. She didn’t see Jim or Cheryl either. None of that concerned her. It was just that she felt all eyes were on her.

  After clearing her dishes and helping to wipe down the tables, Katie looked up and saw Eli enter the dining hall. He was freshly scrubbed and combed and looking a whole lot better than when he had come by the office.

  He walked over to her with his easy gait and slid his arm around her waist, giving her a hug.

  “You sure cleaned up nice.”

  “Took me a while. Are you ready to go see some lights?”

  “What about dinner? Are you hungry?”

  “No, I’m fine.” He took her hand, and on the way out of the dining hall, Eli picked up a hanging lantern to light their path.

  The evening sky still held tinges of apricot and bronze as they hiked together holding hands. Eli talked almost the whole way about his time in the village and how he saw things lining up for the next few months. He asked Katie about her trip to Lake Naivasha, and she gave a full report on her tour guide skills. She also went through her list of Swahili words and admitted that she hadn’t managed to learn a full phrase yet.

  “I have one you can learn,” Eli said. “Japo kidogo chatosha kwa wapendanao.”

  “Too long. I’m still at the wapi choo level.”

  “This is a good one, though,” Eli said. “It means ‘a little is enough for those in love.’”

  “Oh, that is a good one.”

  Katie was about to say, “So, what do you think? Is that true for us? Are we in love?” But then she knew she didn’t need to ask. It was evident in her heart, in his touch, and in their words.

  Above them a full moon made a leisurely appearance over the tea fields, touching the elegantly curled leaves and leaving them stained with shimmers of buttery light. As Katie and Eli ascended to the lookout knoll, Katie stared down on the tea fields, soaking up their beauty by moonlight.

  “Katie?”

  “Yes?”

  “Look. Over here on this side.”

  She turned and looked down on the Brockhurst side of the valley and drew in a gasp. Spread out across the lawn were hundreds of amber lights flickering like fireflies. “It’s so beautiful! What is it? Is everyone having a party we weren’t invited to?”

  “Not exactly,” Eli said.

  “It looks like letters, doesn’t it?” She tried to make out the shapes, certain that it spelled a word in Swahili. “K-W-Y-M-M. What is that? Ka-why-mm? What does it mean?”

  “It’s not Swahili. But it does mean something.”

  Katie looked at Eli. “You know what this is?”

  “Yes.”

  “So tell me.”

  “Figure it out.”

  Katie tried to remember if anyone she knew was having a birthday or if this was some local custom she had heard about but not yet observed. Nothing was coming to her. The dozens of individual lights continued to flicker in their KWYMM formation. It didn’t make sense to her.

  “I give up.”

  “You can’t give up,” Eli said. “That’s not an option.”

  “Then at least give me a clue. Remember how nice I was to you last year when you were trying to figure things out in California? I gave you helpful clues about cultural customs. So give me a hint or something.”

  “All right. Here. This is about as obvious a clue as I can give you.” In the light of the moon and the glowing lantern, Eli’s expression appeared timid and yet resolved. Taking her hand in his, he went down on one knee and looked up at her with a contented grin.

  The reality of what was happening rushed at Katie like a wild African breeze. The letters in the valley below spelled out a golden message, and the message was for her. Each letter went into her heart like a javelin.

  K = Katie

  W = Will

  Y = You

  M = Marry

  M = Me

  The spinning earth seemed momentarily to pause for Katie, and she was sure the stars above were leaning closer to see what would happen next.

  “Well?” Eli asked patiently from his kneeling position.

  Katie caught her breath. “I thought you said this afternoon that you weren’t in a hurry.”

  “What was I supposed to say? You kept asking me if I was going to propose. I had to throw you off track. So? I’m asking now. Are you going to make me ask you again?”

  Katie pulled herself together and let what was happening sink in. Eli wasn’t messing around. He really was proposing to her. Everyon
e at Brockhurst was in on the secret. In the same way that a single candle had glowed in the window of his parents’ cottage on the night of Eli and Katie’s arrival, now hundreds of candles held by staff and guests flickered for them in the valley below, welcoming them into the rest of their lives.

  “Okay. Sorry. All right. I’m ready now. Go ahead.” Katie adjusted her position and looked into his eyes. “Ask me again.”

  “Katie?”

  “Yes?”

  “Will you marry me?”

  Drawing in a deep breath that was overflowing with a sure and certain peace, Katie answered, “Yes.” Then, as the peace bubbled up into joy, Katie hollered at the top of her lungs. “Yes, yes, yes!”

  Eli rose to his feet and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and whispering in her ear, “I love you, Katie.”

  She closed her eyes and let Eli’s beautiful, life-giving words melt into her soul. “I know. I know you do. And I love you, Eli. I love you so much.”

  He pulled back and looked at her. In the glow of the lantern, she could see tears glistening in his eyes.

  “And you’re sure?” he asked.

  “Yes, very sure. As sure as I’ve ever been about anything. I will marry you, Elisha James Lorenzo, and I will live with you and visit villages with you and have babies with you, and I will cook ugali for you and cut your hair and —”

  “Cut my hair?”

  “Yeah, I was going to tell you that whoever cut it for you in the village really butchered it. I think you should let me cut it next time. I’ll do a much better job.”

  “Okay, I can agree to that. Any other negotiating points before we settle the deal?”

  “I was thinking about our kids the other day. I’d like at least two. Maybe four. No more than four though. We never talked about that. I don’t want only one child, if we can help it. I mean, I know it’s ultimately up to God.”

  “Agreed. Anything else to haggle over?”

  “Nope. I’m good. Oh, wait. I don’t want to live with your parents. I mean, I love them and everything, but …”

  “Already worked that one out. As a matter of fact, I’m moving into Upper Nine this week.”