He gazed at her thoughtfully before consenting. “Okay.”
The sun had set and the women started gathering miscellaneous shoes, diaper bags, and other items into their arms, asking their husbands to collect the children on their way out. They expressed their pleasure in meeting Pierce and went inside. Little Amy had taken an instant liking to Pierce and tugged on his arm to show him her favorite doll. Pierce gave Amy an indulgent smile and followed along, winking at Noelle as he passed her.
She smiled and moved to follow them when she felt a hand on her arm. Looking up, she saw Blake, whose face still bore beads of sweat from the game they’d played. “Just a minute.” He watched his daughter lead Pierce into the house, then turned to her. “How’d you meet Pierce?”
“He and I have been neighbors for a few years. And he used to be my home teacher.”
“But the opportunity to get to know him didn’t show itself until Chase was out of the picture?”
Noelle swallowed. Chase was still very much in the picture in one capacity or another. “Yeah. Something like that.”
His next words surprised her. “He’s a good match for you.”
“And you can tell that simply from meeting him a few hours ago?”
“Yeah. It falls in the ‘older brother’ job description.” He winked at her. “Seriously, Noelle, the two of you have ‘the look,’ if you know what I mean.”
She didn’t. “ ‘The look’?” she echoed.
“That you’re right for each other. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the guy can’t take his eyes off you.”
Her cheeks grew hot at her brother’s assessment. “You didn’t think that Chase and I made a nice couple?”
Blake was already shaking his head before she’d finished asking her question. “He’s too serious for you. He’s a much better fit for our lovable but uptight sister. I’m already feeling sorry for their kids. They’ll suffer from high blood pressure before the age of ten.”
Noelle giggled. Trust Blake to sum up the situation so candidly. He, like their dad, saw people and conditions so clearly. “Mom doesn’t like Pierce. And neither does Melody,” she felt obligated to inform him.
Blake’s brows dipped down when he frowned. “In case you haven’t noticed, Mom and Melody are two peas in a pod. So, of course they’re going to want your husband to be more like Chase. Don’t let them get to you. They’ll come around.”
His words lifted her spirit like nothing else could have. She embraced him, sweat and all, telling him, “Thanks, Blake. It’s been rough. I needed to hear that.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Just doing my job.”
She thought about his advice long after everyone, including Pierce, had taken leave for the night. Pierce, with his uncanny ability to see straight into her heart, had apparently won the approval of the majority of her family. It was time to devote some meaningful time on her knees.
TWENTY-TWO
PIERCE SHOWED UP on Noelle’s doorstep at precisely eight thirty the next morning, looking very handsome in his white shirt and tie. They’d agreed to attend her parents’ ward. After the block, they would leave for Flagstaff.
The time she spent with her mom and sister in Relief Society made up for the lunch she’d missed with them the day before. She couldn’t help fretting over how Pierce and Chase were faring in the elders quorum. When she became too fidgety, Melody leaned over and whispered, “Hold still, Noelle. You’re keeping me from listening.”
“Sorry,” she whispered back.
She knew she needn’t have worried, however, when she saw the two men walking down the hallway after church, Pierce with an easy smile on his face. “Hey, beautiful,” he said, taking her hand. I could get used to this, she thought, liking this feeling of being cherished by such a wonderful guy. She gave him a bright smile and tucked herself into his side, loving the feel of his arm as it came around her waist.
They went back to her parents’ house and ate a dinner that her mother had prepared ahead of time. Then Melody and Chase loaded up her luggage and left for Flagstaff in Chase’s car. Noelle gathered her belongings as well. While Pierce took them out to his Explorer, she hugged her parents good-bye. “Be good to Pierce,” her dad told her. “You’ve found a man whose heart, when it is finally given to a woman, will stay true.” He turned to his wife and asked, “Wouldn’t you agree, Brenda?”
Noelle didn’t miss the slight tilt of her mom’s nose as she stated, “He has potential.”
“You and I have potential to become what Heavenly Father wants us to be as well,” Noelle reminded her serenely.
Her mom looked surprised by Noelle’s observation but acquiesced without argument.
On their way out of the Valley of the Sun, Pierce asked her if it would be all right with her if they stopped by his mother’s house. She agreed, though inwardly she wasn’t sure if she wanted to meet his mother right then. He drove for some time before pulling off the freeway and meandering to a neighborhood on the outskirts of Glendale. He parked in front of a small home with neutral colors and desert landscaping. He rapped on the door and waited for his mom to unlock it.
An attractive woman with dark shoulder-length hair opened the door for them to come in. While Noelle’s eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, she slowly made out the woman’s features. A soft round face accompanied by sparkling blue eyes that were fanned with tiny wrinkles at the corners met her gaze. “Hi, Mom,” Pierce said. “I wanted you to meet Noelle Jensen. She’s the one I’ve been telling you about.” Grabbing her hand, he said, “Noelle, this is my mom, Sarah Logan.”
Her smile was just as beautiful as Tamara’s, if a little more reserved. Then again, Noelle supposed it would be difficult for anyone to top Tamara’s wide smile. “Hello, Noelle. I’m glad to meet you. After so long, I can hardly believe that someone has finally caught my son’s eye.”
Noelle’s smile slipped momentarily before she could school it into submission. Noelle hated lying to the beautiful woman who had welcomed her so warmly. “It wasn’t easy. I had to be dumped by my ex-boyfriend before Pierce noticed me,” she quipped.
“Men don’t always see what’s right in front of them,” Sarah sympathized with her. “You’re a lovely young woman. I’m sorry you had to go through such a trying experience. But I must say I’m glad for Pierce’s sake that you did.”
After Noelle thanked her, Pierce winked at Noelle and added, “So am I.” Suddenly, her cheeks felt hot.
Sarah led them to a nearby seat. “So tell me about yourself, Noelle. Pierce told me that you were visiting your parents this weekend.”
They visited amiably for another hour before Pierce and Noelle decided that the time was getting late and they needed to get to Flagstaff. As they walked out the door, Sarah took Noelle by both hands and told her, “I really am thrilled that you’ve come into my son’s life, Noelle. I’ve never seen him this happy before.”
“Mom, you’re embarrassing me.”
Sarah patted his cheek and said breezily, “That’s what mothers are for.”
Two hours later, they were reaching the outskirts of Flagstaff when Pierce glanced over at Noelle. They’d already agreed that the weekend had been a success as far as convincing Noelle’s family that they were dating went. Not only that, but he had felt like this was a turning point in their relationship. They had really bonded.
But now Noelle sat on the opposite seat from him with her head turned, as remote as ever. She hadn’t committed to giving their relationship a real try. She hadn’t even spoken ten words to him since they’d left. He wished that he could figure out how to reach her.
“Noelle?”
“Hmm?” She still hadn’t turned to face him.
“I’ve got a question to ask you.”
“Okay.”
“Yesterday during the football game, when I asked if you were all right and you said yes . . .”
“Yes?”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re not all right?”
; She turned to him, open-mouthed. “What do you mean?”
“I want to know what put that frown on your face.”
Silence met his demand. “Noelle?” he pried.
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
Pierce tried not to let her evasiveness bother him. “How about the truth? It had something to do with me, didn’t it?”
“Maybe.”
“Noelle,” he growled.
“Okay, okay.” Her voice held a note of panic. “I had a really fun time with you this weekend, all except for dealing with the wedding stuff, of course. But I’m wondering what the future holds for us.”
“Probably more than we’ve bargained for. But that’s the purpose of life, isn’t it? To learn to trust in the Lord through the good times and the bad?”
“I’m afraid.” The whispered words were so soft that Pierce almost missed them.
He could definitely understand that. “Of getting hurt again?” he asked gently.
She nodded doubtfully. Pierce sighed. He couldn’t ask her to be honest if he wasn’t willing to be honest as well. “Guess what, sweetheart? I’m afraid too. Not of getting hurt, but of being the one to hurt you.”
“Because of your parents?”
“Yeah,” he said heavily. “I wish I could change the past. I wish that things would have been different for my family. For a long time, I’ve been afraid of marriage because of what I’ve seen. I didn’t want to go down that road. And even though I’m still nervous about the idea, I do know that I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about another woman. It’s been really hard to watch you struggle through this breakup with Chase.”
She looked at him in awe. “Really?”
“Yeah,” he said emphatically. “I don’t want to push you into a relationship that you’re not ready for, but you can’t deny that we click in a lot of ways.”
The ironic thing was that she was trying to deny it, judging from the war of emotions playing on her face. Finally, she said, “My brother Blake told me the same thing. He told me to go for it.”
This came as a nice surprise to Pierce. “I’ll have to thank him next time I see him. Maybe we should name our future son after him.”
That got a reaction from her. Pierce loved the way her eyes grew wide and her cheeks reddened. “Pierce Logan!” she gasped, her nostrils flaring. “This is not a fairy tale!” she hissed.
Suddenly he was glad that he was driving at seventy miles an hour, that he was safely buckled in, and that she was too, for that matter. His mom would have thrown him out on his ear if he’d said that in front of her. Noelle would undoubtedly do the same if she had the chance. “Okay, forget I said that. We’ll save that discussion for later.”
“Much later!”
Pierce bit back a grin. Now they were getting somewhere. “I’m glad to know that he approves. But I need someone else’s approval to earnestly date you, and that’s you.”
She was silent for so long, Pierce wondered if she would answer. “I don’t know, Pierce. I see the way you give one hundred and ten percent in everything you do, and I feel like I’m falling short of that mark lately.”
He chuckled, laughing harder at her angry look. “I’m not laughing at you, I promise. Contrary to what you told my mom, I did notice you two years ago. I would have dated you back then, but I didn’t feel like I was up to your speed. I think we hit different times in our lives when we feel weak. I’ve heard Craig say that the times when he is down, Marissa’s able to pull him back up and vice versa. That’s what a good marriage partner can do for you.”
“Part of me wants to explore this feeling I have for you. But I don’t know if I can handle another rejection.”
“I understand that your confidence in men drastically went downhill with your broken relationships, but I had a talk with your dad, which you knew about beforehand, I’m guessing.” She nodded sheepishly. “He helped me realize that my parents’ mistake was their own. You and I can have a different outcome as long as we have faith and pray and work it out. We’ll hit some rough patches every now and then, but we’ll be okay if we keep the Lord in the picture.”
Was it his imagination or had the doubt in her eyes receded just a bit?
“What do you say, Noelle? We’ll take it one day at a time. Let me take you on a real date. Your choice of anywhere you’d like to go.”
She mulled that one over before saying, “Well, you did offer to take me to Walnut Canyon, remember?”
“Yeah. I’m cool with that, but is that really where you want to go? I could take you to a nice place for dinner instead.”
A determined look came over her face. “That sounds totally boring. No, I choose Walnut Canyon. I want to see if I can keep up with your adventures.”
Now she was talking. Just being around this woman was an adventure for Pierce. “Honey, I have a feeling that it’s going to be tough for me to keep up with you.”
TWENTY-THREE
WALNUT CANYON WAS amazing, Noelle discovered as she and Pierce hiked a steep trail and toured the ancient ruins of the Sinagua people who had inhabited this land dating as far back as the 1100s. Noelle and Pierce opted for the steeper Island Trail to get closer to the cliff dwellings, but many tourists, particularly those with young children, were still able to see the canyon rim and ancient ruins on the Rim Trail. Her brain whirled with field trip possibilities for her future students.
It was hard to believe that this canyon was over sixty million years old. Pierce was right. The Grand Canyon wasn’t the only natural wonder in northern Arizona. Awestruck, Noelle took pictures of the pottery that had been preserved by these farmers who had grown crops at the top of the canyon while hiking to the bottom to retrieve their water. They also had built stone walls around the alcoves that had been naturally carved into the rock walls of the canyon, forming their homes.
Toward the end of their visit, she gave her camera to an elderly couple and asked them to snap a picture of Pierce and herself. Pierce wrapped his arm around her and smiled. After retrieving her camera, Noelle scrolled through her pictures, thinking that this had been a perfect date.
The following week, Pierce took her and their roommates rappelling off a bridge where they dangled on the rope before releasing their hold and splashing into the aqua-shaded waters of Chevelon Canyon between Winslow and Joseph City. Noelle had been nervous at first, but after watching Pierce and a few others go ahead of her, she gathered enough courage to try. When she let go of the rope and fell into the icy water with a big splash, an adrenaline rush like she’d never experienced swept over her. The water was cold, but she couldn’t wait to do it again!
Pierce met her as she climbed to the edge of the canyon. Seeing his soaked hair splattered against his skin reminded her of their near-kiss at SeaWorld. Lifting her hand, she twined a brown lock of his hair around her finger. He kissed her proudly, ignoring the catcalls of the others.
Stepping around Pierce, she caught Melody’s speculative gaze. Noelle smiled at her warily, noting how forlorn Melody looked from missing Chase, who’d had to work. If she truly didn’t want to be here, she shouldn’t have come. Yet Melody had claimed that she’d come simply for the company. It was silly to think that Melody had appointed herself as Noelle’s watchdog, wasn’t it? Maybe her overactive imagination was running wild again.
Noelle and Pierce also went to Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered. Their nonstop conversation made the two-hour wait under the stars for their turn to view Saturn through their giant telescope seem like ten minutes. The early May sky was incredible, the night air crisp. Noelle was glad she had brought a jacket. Of course, the cool night air was also a good excuse for letting Pierce wrap her in his arms.
Pierce took her to nice restaurants for dinner periodically as well. Eventually, Noelle even began making a few dinners for him and was having fun trying out new recipes. One of them, chicken cordon bleu, didn’t turn out so well. Pierce shrugged and smiled and escorted her out to his Explorer to pick
up some Chinese food to go. Noelle loved being with this man. They’d even become running buddies when they could coordinate their schedules. Pierce was so considerate, so caring. She was starting to get used to having him around.
Noelle was quickly brought back down to earth as the time for a bridal shower approached. She and Lori had debated what to do about this, since Melody had been away from home for so long while serving a mission. They decided to hold a bridal shower for close relatives and friends in Gilbert, which Lori would be in charge of, and Noelle and her roommates would do the same at NAU. Noelle scrambled to gather decorations, recipes, and invitations. It was not her idea of fun, but to her surprise, the bridal shower they held for the college girls turned out all right, even if the gifts they gave Melody were a little embarrassing.
Pierce opened his mailbox and extracted the mail, including two thick envelopes, each bearing the official logo for a university that he had applied to for graduate school. Flipping through the junk mail, he sighed as he realized that the one he was hoping for was not there. The semester was almost over and he needed to make a decision soon. How was he going to tell Noelle that he’d be leaving the state in the fall?
He took her to dinner. Afterward, he took her to Wheeler Park where they’d shared their first kiss. Pierce faced Noelle on the bench and told her, “Noelle, I have something to tell you and I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
Her worried expression did nothing to calm Pierce’s nerves. “The last time you said that, I ended up kissing you after we decided to try this whole dating thing out. Should I even ask what it is that you have to tell me this time?”
Pierce sighed. “I know you’re going to be moving in with your parents soon and we’ll have this summer to spend together. But starting next fall, I’ll be moving out of state.”
The look of shock on her face pierced his heart. He would spare her this pain if he could. “What?” she whispered.
“I’ve been accepted into two different schools, Stanford University and the University of Idaho.”
Pierced by Love Page 20