Under the Christmas Star (Crossroads Collection)

by Amanda Tru

  “He said that?” Emma asked in awe, momentarily forgetting that two red ornaments hung closer together than six inches. “Leo Jacobs said that about God? But he doesn’t even believe in God!”

  “Well, he certainly does now!” Reese said with certainty. “But at the time, I didn’t believe him either. I told him that was all pure coincidence. Then he said that before you came into his office with the pictures, you had come in to finalize your statement about what happened on Black Friday. He said you were struggling because your business depended on those ornaments and now you were hurt and had no ornaments to fulfill your orders. You were also struggling with the trauma of what had happened and frustrated because you pray for each of your ornaments and now felt that the stolen ornaments didn’t have a chance to get to the right person for those to be answered. He said he acted like a jerk and challenged you, asking if you could forgive those who assaulted you and stole your ornaments and car. He said, to his utter amazement, not only did you forgive them right there, but you prayed for them. He said you specifically prayed for the one who hit you with the gun and asked that he come to know God, stop being a thief, and serve God always.”

  Chills raced up and down Emma’s body. Her gaze landed on the starry night ornament, hanging right where it didn’t belong. She reached up, pulled it off the tree, and held it in her hand once again.

  Reese continued speaking, “Emma, it was at that moment that I knew that if God went to so much trouble to have you pray for me and put your ornament in my hands, then He must love me a great deal. Leo said I didn’t need to be good enough for God to accept me. He said that Jesus was the one who was good enough for me and that by dying on the cross, He made a way for me to be accepted by God. Right there in that police car, I held your ornament in my hand and prayed that God would forgive me for all the bad things I’ve done. I believed that Jesus died and paid the price for me, and I asked Him to be in charge of my life and let me serve Him always.”

  Emma sank to the floor, crossed her legs, and reached up to feel warm tears trailing down her cheeks.

  “Emma, are you okay?” Reese cried, rushing over to kneel beside her on the floor.

  Emma nodded, so choked up she could barely speak. “For the first time in my life, I think I really am okay!”

  She reached for Reese’s hand and placed the starry night ornament in her palm. “Let me put this back where it belongs. It was meant for you, Reese, and with you it will stay.”

  Tears squeezed out of Reese’s eyes as well. “Thank you, Emma. For everything. But mostly, thank you for praying for me before you even knew my name.”

  “Did Leo tell you to come here to return the ornament and tell me your story?” Emma asked curiously.

  “No, not at all,” Reese replied. “I saw him after my plea deal, and he returned the ornament to me, saying only that he knew you would want me to have it. I haven’t seen him since I went into protective custody. When they released me yesterday, I didn’t see him, but the officer I saw said that Chief Jacobs was out of town visiting family for Christmas.”

  “He didn’t tell you what else I prayed for?” Emma questioned. “Are you sure he didn’t tell you to come here?”

  Reese shook her head, her face clouding with confusion. “No, I told you everything he said.”

  Emma swallowed, working to keep the tremors from her voice. “Reese, when I prayed for you in Leo’s office that day, I also made a ridiculous request of God. I don’t even know why I did it. I think I’ve just been so discouraged, thinking that God wasn’t using me, my prayers, or my ornaments at all. Then with the theft and being hurt, I thought God was telling me that He didn’t intend to use me at all. So, I asked for something ridiculous, figuring I might as well. The little prayers weren’t being answered, I might as well make a big request and have that not be answered either. It may have also been in response to Leo’s very open hostility toward Christianity. I wanted to show him that even though these things had happened, even though my prayers didn’t seem to be answered, I still believed enough to ask for something big.”

  “What did you ask?” Reese questioned softly.

  “I asked Him to let me see my prayer for you answered. Reese, I asked for God to save you and then bring you to me and show me what He’d done.”

  Reese’s face crumpled up and her shoulders shook with sobs.

  Then Emma did something she couldn’t recall ever doing. She scooted close to someone she’d recently met and wrapped her arms around her.

  Whispering softly, she said. “And here you are.”

  Feeling emotionally and physically weak, Emma laid down on the couch. Orion came up to her and laid his head beside hers on the cushion. She reached out and scratched his neck, wondering how long she had before the rest of her family came home.

  After sharing a cup of peppermint tea, Reese said goodbye, saying she needed to head back to Brighton Falls and get some food before the stores closed for the holiday.

  Remembering her story, Emma had asked Reese, rather bluntly, if she had anywhere to go for Christmas. Reese reluctantly admitted that she would spend the day curled up on the couch watching Christmas movies, simply thankful to be home and not in jail. Emma spontaneously asked her to come and have Christmas dinner with her family tomorrow, and Reese agreed!

  Emma knew her mom would be proud of her for taking the initiative, and Emma was rather proud of herself. Maybe she actually was capable of making a friend. After all, both Brooke and Kate were already her friends, and if Reese became her friend, too, that would be three! Noticing another’s need and inviting her over to dinner was huge for Emma. Now if she could manage to not spend the day hiding in her room because of all the people chaos, that would really be an accomplishment!

  Emma sighed, still marveling about God miraculously answering her prayer. She wondered why Leo never mentioned anything about Reese. It sounded like Reese’s arrest happened a couple weeks ago, very soon after Drake ran her off the road. Emma suspected Leo hadn’t even let them know about the arrest until the plea deal had been reached, and then he still hadn’t provided any additional information.

  Emma understood policies, ongoing investigations, and the need for Leo to be careful about what he said, but she didn’t understand why he hadn’t told her anything at all. If he couldn’t tell her about Reese or the case, then he surely could have mentioned his own change of heart toward God. As it was, she still couldn’t believe it and honestly suspected part of Reese’s testimony must not be accurate. Leo Jacobs could not have led her to the Lord. It was impossible.

  Leo had actually texted her a few times in the past week, mostly to ask how she was. He must have finally felt she was well enough that he no longer needed to ask the question through her father.

  She had responded simply, answering his questions concisely but not knowing how to actually get him to converse. He never once mentioned anything about himself. Even if she did ask how he was, his answer was always, “Fine. Busy.”

  The most difficult part of her recovery was not the physical side of things. Emotionally, she was still a wreck. The trauma affected her so badly that she had trouble even going out of the house, and she didn’t know if she would ever drive again. Nightmares plagued her, and it felt like every time she closed her eyes she relived the moment of being pushed off the road.

  Thankfully, she saw some slow improvement and hoped to eventually feel more normal, but the greatest difficulty she faced emotionally was Leo. Hurting and owning way too much time to think had caused her to realize how much she cared for him. Before her injuries, she’d been busy and pushed thoughts and feelings aside easily, telling herself that his rejection really didn’t hurt because she didn’t consider herself to be romantically tied to Leo.

  Now she realized that she cared deeply for him.

  Even though he hurt her and didn’t feel the same way… Even though she never should have developed feelings for someone who didn’t share her faith…

  None of t
hat altered the reality of caring for him more than she had for any other man.

  The strange thing was that, as bad as she was at reading people, she felt she knew Leo on a deeper level than he showed the world. Beneath the anger and tough exterior, she saw a man who cared deeply for others. She appreciated that, like her, he wasn’t perfect. Even though he proved difficult to get along with, she liked that he didn’t coddle her or treat her differently. When she felt afraid or upset, she would close her eyes and imagine the heavy blanket of Leo’s arms around her again, holding her close as he carried her to safety. Emma didn’t know how it had happened, but she feared she had fallen in love with a man who could never love her back.

  Chiding herself for feeling so melancholy after the wonderful news of God using her prayers, Emma knew she needed a distraction. Normally, she would go up and work on ornaments, but there wasn’t really a reason to now. She had deactivated her Artsi account the night after mailing Woong’s ornament. For the past few days, she’d been adrift, feeling like she had no purpose. Now, with Reese’s news, Emma wondered if she’d made a mistake.

  Is it possible that she had faced so much adversity because God intended to use her work in a powerful way? As incredible as it seemed, maybe she really had been in the exact place God wanted her. If everything that happened caused Reese to get saved, then wasn’t it all worth it?

  Feeling thirsty, Emma got up and went to the kitchen to retrieve a glass. Ever on duty, Orion dragged himself up from the floor and followed.

  Seeing her flowers sitting center stage on the counter reminded her that she’d not yet looked at the card. She reached and pulled the little red envelope from the clear plastic pitchfork and carefully opened it. The corner of the small card depicted red and white flowers with a gold ribbon winding through them. The rest of the card was covered with small, neatly written words covering both front and back.

  I’m not staying away because I want to. I need to deal with some things, and I can’t think straight around you. Not because I don’t care, but because I care too much.

  Merry Christmas.

  Don’t forget me yet.

  Leo

  Emma pulled her coat tight against the night chill. The soft light from the window lent the backyard a little more light than ideal, but the icy pinpricks in the velvet black sky still made for a beautiful Christmas night for star gazing. Emma looked up at the dark sky and then studied the eyepiece affixed to the long barrel, making a slight adjustment.

  “Nice telescope,” a deep voice remarked quietly.

  Emma jumped. “Leo!” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”

  Leo stepped the rest of the way out the back door, coming toward her.

  Immediately recognizing him, Orion jogged forward with happy tail wagging.

  “Merry Christmas, buddy!” Leo said, kneeling to give the dog a good pet before standing back up.

  Emma swallowed, completely forgetting the brand new telescope she’d been so excited about merely a few seconds before. “Reese told me you went home for Christmas,” she said, wondering if the tall, muscular man was a figment of her imagination.

  Leo stopped, surprise registering on his features. “Reese Daniels came to see you?”

  Emma nodded slowly. “Yes, she did.”

  Leo seemed to immediately recognize the weight of her words, and he smiled. “Of course, she did. God answered your other prayers, why not the one where you asked to see His work!” He laughed. “I really think He was just showing off with that one!”

  Emma laughed with him, the noise sounding crisp and lonely in the cold night air. “I think you’re right! But it’s awfully nice when God decides to show off!”

  Leo turned serious, watching Orion nose in some bushes as he said casually. “Reese was right about me being gone. I went to visit my parents for a few days, but I flew home this afternoon. To see you.”

  “Why?” Emma asked cautiously, ignoring the strange rhythm of her heart.

  Leo turned to face her directly, leaving Orion to his investigation of the bushes. “If Reese Daniels came to see you, then you probably already know at least her part of the story.”

  He took a deep breath, sincerity shining from his eyes as he spoke. “Emma, I’ve given my life to God. You’ve been right about everything all along. I told you that I didn’t believe in a loving, all-powerful God who found humanity worth redeeming, and I was fully aware that I was included in that not-worth-redeeming humanity. Then my world turned upside down when Reese Daniels showed up at the department to confess with your ornament in her hands.”

  Emma hung on his every word. She didn’t watch him as he spoke but carefully listened to the tone of his voice, trying to decipher the emotions behind his words. Finding a small pebble on the snow-shoveled patio where they stood, she idly moved the rock back and forth with the toe of her boot, using the menial task to keep her mind focused.

  Leo’s voice continued, “I recognized it immediately and clearly remembered you telling me about it and what you prayed. Right there in front of me was the evidence I didn’t think existed. God, in His loving, all-powerful way created a plan of intricate design to answer your prayers in Reese. It played out exactly as you tried to tell me. After I saw the ornament, I booked Reese into the jail and left as soon as possible. Feeling desperate, I drove to the church because I remembered listening to the pastor while waiting for you on that Wednesday night a few weeks ago. I asked him some questions, and then we prayed. Within two hours of seeing the ornament in Reese’s hand, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Just like Reese, I now see the intricate design with which God has loved me and drawn me to Him. I know I’m not perfect and I still have issues, but I’m now one of those Christian works-in-progress. My prayer is that God will lead me to serve Him and use me, as He did you, to be involved in some of those miraculous plans.”

  Emma swallowed, struggling to wrap her mind around what Leo said. “When Reese told me how you led her to the Lord, I didn’t believe her,” Emma admitted, seeing her own breath in the meager light from the Christmas tree shining in the window.

  “I don’t blame you!” Leo said. “I spoke horribly about your faith, so why should you think that I’d had a change of heart?”

  “I should have known because I prayed for you, too,” Emma lifted her eyes and looked at him, loving the changes she saw in his face. The taut lines of stress now appeared more relaxed, and he seemed almost happy. “I honestly never imagined that God could answer my prayer in such a miraculous way that you would believe and then immediately lead someone else in belief.”

  “Emma, I don’t deserve any of the credit,” Leo said, shaking his head in protest. “I’m not the one who led Reese in belief. Emma, it was all you. When I saw the ornament, I knew God was answering your prayers for her and that he was right then answering your prayers for me as well. You limit yourself so much, thinking that you can’t do certain things because of your autism, but you are not disqualified from anything. God used you in a mighty way, maybe even because of your differences.”

  Emma dropped her gaze once more and again found the pebble with her toe. “Leo, you don’t need to flatter me. I’m happy that God used me in some way, but I believe God used me in spite of my differences, not because of them.”

  Leo shook his head, adamant that he hadn’t made a mistake. “It was your prayers and the testimony of your life that made Reese realize that God disqualifies no one. Even with the sins she’d committed, God clearly pursued her, arranging events and your prayers to lead to the exact moment she turned to Him, realizing that, like you, everyone is acceptable for His grace and can be used to do His will. I gave my life to God in a church with a pastor’s guidance. All of me, with all of my anger and bitterness, all of the scars—I turned it all over to Him. I didn’t try to fix me. I just told God that I believed and that all of me was His. I asked Him to forgive me and use me to do something worthwhile for Him. The next day, I pulled over my patrol car and told Reese about yo
u—about your life, your ornaments, your prayers. It was your testimony I shared. Then I prayed with her through the bars of the car, and her soul became the Lord’s. It was all you, Emma. You are the one God used through all of this. He chose you because you’re you. He gave you those differences so that one day they would be used to do important work for Him.”

  Leo’s voice clogged with emotion. “Thank you, Emma. You have completely changed my life.”

  The little rock scraped along the concrete, Emma rolling it to the edge of the snow and then back to its original position. Emma felt awkward, not knowing what to say or do. She didn’t want his thanks and praise. A “you’re welcome” seemed trivial and accepted credit she didn’t believe belonged to her.

  Not wanting to deal with the emotion, she idly wondered what her brother and parents were doing inside. Leo had come through the house, so they knew he was here. The last she’d spoken to them, she’d announced she’d try out her new telescope and call them out to see when it was ready.

  “I got a telescope,” she said suddenly. She felt the awkward, abrupt subject change, but preferred that to a feeble attempt at the gracious acceptance of his thanks, or worse, even more appreciation.

  “I see that,” Leo said, willingly going along with the topic change with a knowing smile. “Is it a Christmas present?”

  “No, I bought it myself,” Emma said proudly. “I’ve always wanted one and finally saved enough money from my ornament sales that I was able to do everything for my normal monthly budget and still have enough to purchase the one I wanted. It arrived last night. I thought it wouldn’t make it until after Christmas, but they must have worked late for delivery.”