Over Her Head

by Shelley Bates

  Anna looked out over the dark rush of the water as Colin bowed his head. “Father God, thank you that we can stand here together as a family, whole and complete. I pray that you’ll be with us this morning, and especially that you’ll give your strength to Anna. Thank you for protecting her and for bringing her through this experience and out the other side. Thank you for reminding us that we can count on you, no matter what. Amen.”

  Laurie slid an arm around Anna’s shoulders. “Father, I’m so glad that you’re with us today, just the way you promised. Thank you for helping me realize that even when the water goes over my head, and over Anna’s head, too, you’re there with us. Thank you for loving me back to you, and for making me see that it’s all about you, not about me or the church or anything else. Thank you for keeping Anna safe, and for bringing us together again. Help me go to Tanya today and ask her to forgive me for taking offense at Thanksgiving. Help me be a good friend to Janice, the way she’s been such a good friend to me. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

  She nudged Tim. “Thank you that we can be a family,” he said, the way he always did when he said grace at the table. Then he added, “Thank you for bringing Anna home. Please help her be quick so we can get off this bridge and not look weird. Amen.”

  Anna snorted, then sobered. “Father in heaven, I’m not sure how I’m going to get through today, but I’m asking for your help. I’m sorry I was so stupid about the pills. Thank you for not letting me get away with it. Thank you for Kyle, and for my mom and dad, and even for Tim. And, Father, thank you for Randi, too.” Her voice broke, and she swallowed. “If she can see us, tell her I’m sorry, and that this is for her. Amen.”

  Laurie lifted her head and watched as Anna raised her arm and tossed the pink rose out into space as far as she could. It tumbled gracefully through the air, end over end, until it landed on the surface of the river. The water caught it up in a joyful swirl, like a delighted girl with a treasured gift, and ran away with it under the bridge and out of their sight.

  Laurie took a deep breath, the air plunging into her lungs as clean as cold water. “Amen,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  It took only a minute to drive the two blocks to Glendale Bible Fellowship, where people streamed through the front doors as the bells rang a welcoming peal overhead. As Laurie took her seat, she caught Cale Dayton’s eye while he fussed with his lapel microphone. His eyes were comforting and warm, and she let his assurance that they were doing the right thing soothe her as they sang the opening hymns. He had told her that what he’d planned would happen in lieu of their usual “prayer and praise” time after the sermon, so instead of dashing off to Sunday school, Anna and Tim stayed with her and Colin.

  Was it just a coincidence that Cale’s text was Psalm 124? Since she’d talked to him about it yesterday, Laurie thought not. His encouragement comforted her, gave her courage for what was to come.

  When he was finished, Cale laid his Bible on the table he used in lieu of a podium and descended the three stairs from the stage so that he stood on the same level as everyone else.

  “We’re going to do something a little different today,” he said. Behind him, Dorinda Platt began to play soft notes of praise on the piano. “In light of what you all might have read in the papers this morning or watched on TV last night, I think this congregation needs some healing. Would Colin, Laurie, Anna, and Tim Hale please come up here?”

  She’d prepared the kids as best she could, but it still surprised Laurie when Anna led the way. When they’d gathered up at the front, Anna’s hand found its way into hers, and she squeezed it, as though strength could flow between them.

  Maybe it could.

  Cale took a deep breath. “I would like to be the first in this congregation to publicly apologize to Anna Hale.” He held out his hands. “Please forgive me for thinking for even one moment that you might have been in some way responsible for Randi Peizer’s death.”

  Anna’s lip trembled, and a tear tracked its way down her cheek. “I forgive you,” she whispered, and was enveloped in Cale’s big bear hug.

  “Forgive me for the same, sweetheart,” Laurie said.

  Anna nodded, and Laurie folded her into her arms. When Laurie stepped back, Janice Edgar took her place.

  “Please forgive me for believing that you told a lie about my son,” she choked.

  Anna barely got the words of forgiveness out before she burrowed into Janice’s arms, hugging her tightly.

  When Janice went back to her seat to cry on her husband’s shoulder, with awkward pats on the back from Kyle, Tanya Peizer stood up in the very last pew near the door.

  Laurie swiped at her wet cheeks with one hand as Tanya marched up to the front. She seemed to move in slow motion as Laurie’s brain worked frantically. What would Tanya say? Would she take advantage of this public opportunity to repeat the things she’d said at Thanksgiving?

  Well, let her. After Laurie spoke first.

  She stepped forward and took Tanya’s hand. “Please forgive me for offending you at Thanksgiving, Tanya.”

  Tanya shook her head, and from the front pew, where Maggie and her family sat, Laurie heard a gasp.

  “I should never have said those things,” Tanya said clearly. Her voice, which Laurie had never heard raised above a murmur, could be heard throughout the sanctuary. “Yes, I was grieving and angry and wanted to strike out at whoever took my girl from me. But I shouldn’t have struck at you. I want to ask forgiveness from both you and Anna for the things I said, and to tell you that I want to start all over and be friends. Real friends, who stand by each other and support each other, no matter what.”

  Anna was the first one to throw herself into Tanya’s arms, and Laurie’s own arms stretched wide as she hugged them both. After that, it seemed as though the entire congregation needed to cleanse itself of all the suspicion and gossip and innuendo that had been seeping through it over the past few weeks.

  Laurie lost count of the people who asked her for forgiveness. She was just hugging Debbie Jacks when she saw her cousin Nick step in front of her.

  She blinked, gulped back her tears, and tried to speak, but nothing came out.

  “I know,” he said. “Big surprise, huh?”

  Her throat still wouldn’t produce any sound. Speechlessly, she nodded, and then the light dawned. “You’re here with Tanya,” she got out.

  “This must be my day for learning about forgiveness,” he said, and glanced at Anna, who was getting a bear hug from two of her classmates.

  “Mine, too,” Laurie said.

  “Forgive me for having to investigate her?”

  “Of course. You were doing your job.”

  “Think she’ll feel the same?”

  “You’d better ask her.”

  Anna chose that moment to turn, and her jaw dropped as she took in the sight of her cousin, who hadn’t been in church since he was her age.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice raspy from too many tears.

  “I’m here for you,” he said. “I want to be sure you don’t hold it against me for making you part of the investigation.”

  “Of course not,” she whispered. “You had to do it.” She looked from him to Laurie. “And between you and Mom, you made it all come out right when I was so scared I couldn’t say anything.”

  “The truth has set us free.” He glanced at Laurie and grinned.

  God had promised it would, and so it had.

  “I wish we could do Thanksgiving over.” Tanya touched Anna’s hair, then let her hand drop.

  “Why can’t we?” Deep inside Laurie, anticipation kicked into high gear, and with it a fresh to-do list. She began to herd them all down the center aisle. “I’ll pull the turkey leftovers out of the freezer, and we’ll have turkey-stuffing sandwiches with all the trimmings.”

  “When are you going to do that?” Nick wanted to know. “Everyone goes back to work tomorrow.”

  “Today. Tonight. All of us—the Edgars, too.” She
spoke to her family, but gazed at Tanya. “What do you say?”

  Tanya smiled, and Laurie realized she had never seen her smile before. “That is so like you, Laurie—and I’m thankful for it. So I say yes.”

  Janice finished whispering to her husband and caught Laurie’s eye as they reached the door. “We’ll be there. Just once, I think we can overlook the grounding rule for Kyle.”

  Smiling, with her friends and family knit together all around her, Laurie walked outside into the bright morning.

  Reading Group Guide

  1. Psalm 124 comes to mean a lot to Laurie Hale during the course of this book. Have you ever experienced the feeling of the waters overwhelming your soul? What did you do about it?

  2. Laurie enjoys organizing church activities, her home, her friends, and her family. Is it possible to be involved in the church and be busy with the work of God—and yet not have a relationship with him? Has that ever happened to you?

  3. Laurie didn’t realize the extent of the emptiness in her soul until her daughter attempted suicide. Do you think God used this experience as a wake-up call?

  4. Do you think Kate Parsons intended for Randi to die? What do you think will happen to Kate now?

  5. Do you think the “mob mentality” is a reality? What would you have done if you had been on the bridge that night?

  6. Tanya Peizer is a single mother doing the best she can to support herself and her daughter. Do you think she was partly to blame for Randi’s being out the night she was killed? Tanya thinks she could have changed things if she’d been home. Do you?

  7. Is Tanya’s forgiveness of Laurie at the end of the book realistic? Do you think she will be able to forgive Kate Parsons?

  8. Forgiveness is an important part of the Christian walk. Have there been times in your life when it has been particularly difficult to forgive?

  About the Author

  Shelley Bates holds an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania. Grounds to Believe, her debut CBA novel and the first book in her Elect Trilogy, won the 2005 RITA Award for Best Inspirational Novel of the Year from the Romance Writers of America. The second book in the trilogy, Pocketful of Pearls, was a 2006 RITA Award finalist. Shelley is a freelance marketing communications editor and enjoys playing the piano and Celtic harp, making historical costumes, and spoiling her chickens rotten.

  Also by Shelley Bates

  POCKETFUL OF PEARLS

  Dinah Traynell is trapped in a life that is not her own. Though she dreams of escape, this is the only world she’s ever known . . . until Dr. Matthew Nicholas arrives at the family ranch. Instantly drawn to Dinah, he is torn between wanting to help and the fear of getting too involved. Somehow these two lost souls must learn to trust and open up to one another—if they ever hope to taste freedom.

  A Sounding Brass

  Claire Montoya enjoys her new job as book-keeper for handsome radio evangelist Luke Fisher. But she soon begins to realize that certain things about this powerful personality don’t add up. Complicating matters, investigator Ray Harper is hanging around the studio, asking disturbing questions—and making an impression of his own on Claire. Who’s right: the nationally known evangelist or the suspicious cop? And more important, to whom can Claire entrust her heart?