Come to the Lake

by Macarthur, Autumn

  But she’d left nothing out of the confession of her nonexistent homemaking skills, and the way she’d always felt shut outside the magic circle of “real” homemakers. How she’d longed so much to be one of those women who could cook, women with sparkling organized homes, women like Mom and Steph.

  She added that, though all the food in the photos was what they’d actually eaten, she’d cooked none of it — apart from the photos taken of her disaster dinner after she walked home from the lake last night. With all the rest, she knew she’d done wrong allowing readers to assume she’d prepared it and think she was a better homemaker than she was.

  Finally, she ended with a plea for forgiveness and understanding. For them to consider blessing her with the same undeserved grace God blessed us with. But if they didn’t, she’d understand, because she had done wrong. That the biggest blessing she’d received was realizing how much she loved blogging and the chance it had given her to meet so many lovely people — her readers.

  She truly meant it. Those readers who commented on every post, who wrote funny, sweet, and kind things. They were the people she hated deceiving. So, no more deceptions. Nothing more to confess. Nothing but unvarnished honesty from now on.

  No pretenses. And especially, no implying what wasn’t true. Her words weren’t polished, but they poured from the heart.

  Nodding, she hit the Publish button. She’d done the best she could to set things right.

  Okay, Lord, it’s in Your hands now. Help me to trust You with whatever happens.

  A deep sighing breath escaped her. She trusted God, but she didn’t feel quite as brave as she’d like to about this. In the morning, anyone who wanted to could read what she’d admitted to. And anyone who wanted to could read Daniel’s article. Maybe her confession would soften the effect of his raw truth a little.

  Thinking of Daniel hurt. She loved him, but she couldn’t like what he’d done. His determination to tell the truth about her? No, he was right to do that. Choosing his career and his quest for justice over her love was the painful part.

  A choice she had to respect, no matter how much it hurt.

  More than ever, she had to believe God intended her for singleness. Impossible to imagine loving any other man the way she loved Daniel. And he’d made it clear — he wasn’t coming back.

  Foolishly, she’d still hoped to see him again before he left. But when she arrived at the store to collect the girls, he’d gone. The most she’d seen of him was his rental car disappearing into the distance. Emily and Rose had cried over his departure, and she had, too.

  But it would pass. God could bring good out of this, in His own perfect time. The best thing she could do was trust Him.

  Despite her restless sleep, she woke early when the girls did. Somehow, she managed to keep busy in the garden most of the morning. The blessing of a garden in summer — always something to do. Weeding, picking, planting. Despite her heavy heart, the simple tasks gave meaning and purpose to this waiting time.

  The sooner she could get the ordeal of reading Daniel’s article over with, the better. Seeing in black and white how he considered her a liar and a cheat, a terrible homemaker, and unfit for marriage would only break her heart all over again.

  Both because he didn’t love her enough, and because every word was true.

  True or not, she had to wait to read it.

  The article didn’t appear on the newspaper’s website, no matter how many times she hit Refresh to bring up new content. And the delivery van carrying fresh groceries and newspapers to the store didn’t reach Sunset Point until nearly noon.

  So she waited, less and less patiently.

  Finally, she could gather up the girls, clip Bear’s leash on his collar, and walk to the store.

  As soon as she walked in the doors, Maddie rushed to give her a hug. “Are you okay? You look tired.” Concern softened her hug.

  Doing her best to paste on a smile, Sam shrugged. “I am tired. I didn’t sleep too well. But I’ll be fine. Once I read Daniel’s article, I’ll pray and then put it behind me.”

  “It’s today? Extra hugs.” Maddie located the bundle of newspapers, snipped the tie keeping them together, and handed her a copy of the big national paper. “Here.”

  Sam took it as gingerly as if accepting a bag of spiders. “Thanks.” She met her friend’s eyes. “I can’t read it here. I know I’ll cry. I’ll go home to weep in private.”

  “I’ll be praying for you.” Maddie’s brow wrinkled. “What are your readers saying on your blog?”

  “Um, right, my blog.” Biting her lip, she ducked her head. Shame at her lack of courage heated her cheeks. “I posted a confession there during the night, but I haven’t dared read any of the comments yet. Maybe later. Once I’ve read this.” She waved the newspaper.

  Her friend patted her hand. “If you need to talk, you know where I am. Brad can mind the store.”

  “Thank you! You’re such a good friend.” Gratitude warmed Sam’s heart. Maybe she really would move here, if Maddie still wanted to give her a year-round lease. “I need to scoot now and get this read.”

  As Sam headed for the door, Maddie called her back. “I just thought, why don’t you leave the girls with me, so you can have some time by yourself?”

  A refusal hovered on her lips, but Maddie kept talking, giving her no chance. “Hey, girls, would you like to stay here for lunch and play with Jacob?”

  “Can we?” Emily looked to Sam for permission. “Please?”

  Of course, her thoughtful friend did it that way. No need for her to feel guilty or selfish for needing time on her own. Smiling her thanks, she nodded. “Sure.”

  “I’ll call when they‘re ready to go home.” Pulling the stack of papers toward her, Maddie began sorting them. Probably once Sam left, she’d grab one to read Daniel’s article for herself.

  No problem. Maddie would read whatever he’d written, no matter how bad, with a friend’s caring heart.

  Sam hurried home, poured a glass of iced tea, and sat at the kitchen table. Before she’d found Daniel’s article, her cellphone rang. The caller display was not reassuring.

  Nancy. And probably on the warpath.

  Please help me do what’s best for the girls, Lord.

  Normally, any confrontation melted her into a helpless puddle.

  Today had to be different.

  Shaking a little, she took the call. Patiently, she listened to Nancy’s accusations and insistence a grandma couldn’t stand by and leave the girls in the care of a self-confessed liar with no homemaking skills.

  So she’d been right. Unfortunately, Nancy and forgiveness didn’t fit in the same sentence.

  When she finally had the chance to say anything, Sam prayed her voice wouldn’t squeak from terror. “I appreciate your concern for the twins. You’re a good, loving grandmother to them. But Steph trusted me to look after them for the summer. I have a signed note giving me guardianship in her absence. I can’t and won’t hand them over to anyone but Steph.”

  Thankfully, her words emerged strong and calm. Very like the tone Daniel had used on the bear. Maybe later, she could chuckle over that.

  Nancy spluttered.

  Sam let her. When the splutters lessened, she spoke again. “Though the girls love their grandma very much, they’re happy here and wouldn’t want to leave. I’m ending the call now. Goodbye.”

  Phew! Thank You, Lord! That went better than I expected.

  Though just in case, she flicked her phone to unavailable. And quickly prayed her refusal hadn’t upset Nancy badly, too. Wrong though the older woman was to want to take Emily and Rose away, her intentions were good.

  Sam turned back to the paper, leafing through it fast. Only one article interested her. There. Daniel’s article. Her hands flattened on the page.

  Oh no. The title alone induced a cringe.

  “Im-Perfectly Proverbs 31”.

  Dragging in a deep breath, she started reading. What he’d written did make her cry
, just as she’d expected.

  In a good way she hadn’t expected. Not tears of shame. Tears of joy, amazement, gratitude. Yes, he’d described her disasters. But instead of a scathing exposé of her deception, he’d written about the pressures to live up to images of perfection and the ways we compare ourselves to others and find ourselves lacking, ignoring our own talents.

  How what truly matters and makes a home are things far deeper and more important than surface perfection and organization — love, kindness, and compassion.

  He’d even included a Bible verse from Proverbs 31. One she’d never thought applied to her, any more than all the others.

  She speaks with wisdom and teaches others to be loving and kind.

  Covering her mouth with her hand, heart alight with joyous disbelief, she read on.

  That’s my idea of a true Proverbs 31 woman. Knowing Samantha Rose has forced me to reconsider all my values and change them for the better. She’s taught me to balance justice with mercy. What truth really means. And most of all, how to be loving and kind.

  Yes, Samantha Rose deceived her readers, implying she’d cooked the food she photographed. But what she didn’t realize was that she had no need to pretend. She’s already a homemaker of the very best kind. Not a good cook. Not well organized. Not any of the things she and so many others measure homemaking skills by. What she offers is a home filled with love, laughter, and faith. A home that invites you in and makes you want to stay there forever.

  She sat open-mouthed, staring at the page. Could this be how Daniel really saw her? If she didn’t know better, she’d read the article as a love letter. Somehow, she had to send him one in reply.

  Not that it meant he’d chosen her. She mustn’t assume that. But she did want to say thank you.

  Braver after reading the article, she opened her laptop. Maybe the comments on the blog were better than she’d dared hope, too. They were, mostly. She chose to focus on the kind and sympathetic ones. The readers relieved to hear they didn’t need to try to live up to an image of perfection anymore.

  She loved the phrase Daniel coined — imperfectly Proverbs 31. That was her exactly, and she could joyfully embrace it. Time to make a new header image for the blog. Now that she’d confessed, she owed it to those readers to keep it going, truthfully this time.

  But first, to email Daniel. She started to write the email a dozen times, then erased it every time. All she really wanted was to tell him, “Thank you! And PS, I love you.” The words sat there on the screen, but dared she send them?

  While she hesitated, someone knocked at the back door. Probably Maddie, bringing the twins home and wanting to check on her.

  “Come in. It’s open,” she called, ambling into the kitchen as she did.

  Instead of Maddie, Daniel opened the mudroom door and stood there, painful uncertainty filling his eyes and creasing his brow. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me.”

  Sam didn’t hesitate. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. “Daniel, you came back!” All the delight she felt at seeing him again chimed in her voice.

  His hands rose to cup her face, and her skin tingled at the touch. “Sweet Samantha Rose. God gave me a second chance to make up for my mistakes, and I hope you will, too.”

  “Gladly. So gladly. I loved you before I read your article, and I love you even more now.”

  Smiling as if she’d handed him the sun and the moon in a pie pan he stared into her eyes. She poured all her love for him into her own gaze, hoping he’d see and believe it. She’d never realized till this moment he hid insecurities of his own.

  He leaned closer, closer, a question blazing in his darkening eyes. Her lips parted. But he didn’t make the final move she longed for, to lower his lips to hers. Then she realized — he waited for permission.

  Raising onto tippy-toes, she didn’t wait. Pulling him nearer, she kissed him. Tentative and exploring at first, then with added confidence as his lips responded to hers and he deepened the kiss.

  The sweetness of it took her breath away and left her trembling.

  “You really do love me.” Emotion and wonder roughened his voice.

  “Of course, I do.” She grinned, grabbing his hand. His warm fingers tightened on hers as she led him to the screened porch. “And I can prove it.”

  Sitting beside him on the loveseat, she woke her laptop then showed him the email she hadn’t been brave enough to send. “See!”

  “Oh, Samantha…” His fingers tangled gently and deliciously in her hair as he gazed into her eyes. “In case you haven’t guessed, I love you, too. I thought I’d lose myself if I didn’t go back to New York and my job. Instead, I found myself. I made such a mistake going away from you.”

  She smiled up at him. Heart overflowing, she slipped her arms around his back. “You didn’t stay away.”

  “I couldn’t. You helped me find God. Then He sent me back to you. I couldn’t stay away, and I didn’t want to.”

  At last, his head dipped to hers, and he kissed her again. A long, tender, heart-pounding kiss, holding a promise she knew he’d never break.

  For a while, no words were needed.

  Then he pulled back, frowned and glanced away. One hand rose to rub his chin. “We need to talk.”

  Her joy fled. Had she kissed him back too enthusiastically? She’d never been kissed like that before, so she didn’t know what the proper response was. “What’s wrong?”

  “I have a confession to make. I suspected you’d taken an endorsement deal to get the girls’ new clothes and your new laptop.” He gestured at the screen.

  So he still doubted. Pain twisted her heart. “I’ll find the invoice for it, if you want. It was expensive, sure. But I need a top-of-the-range laptop to run the programs I use for my job. These things depreciate fast enough to almost count as a tax deduction.” She jumped up from the seat.

  Catching her hand, he drew her back. “No. I don’t need to see proof. I’m willing to trust you. I didn’t say it to accuse you, but to apologize and ask you to forgive me. I was a fool, and I’m sorry.”

  She dropped back into the seat beside him. “I forgive you.”

  Again, he beamed that joy-filled, heartwarming grin. “Thank you. I don’t deserve it.”

  Taking his hand in hers, she returned his smile. “None of us do. That’s what makes forgiveness the blessing it is. So, what happens next?”

  “That’s up to you.” He squeezed her hand, his thumb brushing her left ring finger, his blue eyes enveloping her in more sunshine than a summer day. “I’ve made some decisions. I’m leaving my job and will either rent or sell my apartment. We can live wherever you want to. Maybe it’s time to write the books I always planned to. Maybe I’ll get into magazine journalism. All I know is I want my future to include you. Marry me?”

  His summery-warm blue gaze said even more than his lips had, showing her she didn’t need to compare herself to anyone else. God created her as she was, with the talents and abilities He wanted her to have.

  And wonderfully, amazingly, unbelievably, she could be loved by a man like Daniel.

  But just in case, she needed to be sure.

  “You know what you’re letting yourself in for? I can’t cook. I can’t iron clothes. If it’s domestic, I’ll be useless at it.” She stared up at him. “I can’t remember if I already told you this, but when I flunked my junior high homemaking class, the teacher told me no man would marry a girl who couldn’t keep house.”

  Daniel laughed, shaking his head, then realization dawned in his eyes. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You really believed her.” Gently, as if she was the most precious thing in the world, he drew her into a comforting embrace. “Any man who’d think that way doesn’t deserve you. We can hire a cook and cleaner and even a nanny if we need to. You offer so much more than just housekeeping. I wish you’d start believing it.”

  She stared into his eyes, searching for truth. Joy and gratitude expanded her heart. At last, she could believe.


  Epilogue - The Following Summer

  “Daniel, I’m in the kitchen. Please come look!”

  Samantha Rose’s excited words shouted up the stairs pulled Daniel out of drafting his next Lakeside Life column for Northwest Outdoor Living magazine, but he didn’t mind at all. Despite his deadlines, writing could wait.

  Seeing what made his wife so happy couldn’t.

  His wife. Even if they lived to be a hundred, he’d never tire of saying those two wonderful words. And by Christmas, they’d have a baby to add to their joy. God had blessed him so much more abundantly than he’d imagined or deserved.

  The blessing of grace. If they had a girl, they’d already agreed to name her Grace.

  As soon as he opened his study door, he smelled it. The delicious scent of baking wafting up from the kitchen could only mean one thing.

  Pie.

  And by the sound of her excitement, her pie might even be edible this time.

  He bounded downstairs, into the welcoming yellow kitchen of the cottage they’d purchased from Maddie as soon as he sold his city apartment. His wife’s beaming smile shone even brighter than the summer sunshine.

  “It’s taken me almost a year, but I think I’ve finally done it.” She lifted a pie dish from the oven in her mitted hands, held it out for him to see, and then deposited it on the counter.

  Sliding an arm around her and pulling her close, he chuckled as she nestled against him. “You had those same floral oven mitts on your hands the very first time I saw you. I’m sure I fell in love with you right there and then. I simply needed a little longer to figure out the fact.”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “It wasn’t me you fell in love with that day — it was the cookies.”

  “The cookies were good, sure. But no, it was you.” Taking her face in both hands, he kissed her. Long, deep, and infinitely satisfying. “Definitely far more delicious than any cookie.”

  “Flirt.” Smiling up at him, she gave him a playful tap on the chest. “I know what you’re up to. You just want to sweet-talk me into giving you a slice of pie, don’t you?”