A Chance at Forever
Page 33
“You must promise if someone interrupts our next kiss, it won’t take so long to get around to kissing me again.”
“I’ll agree to that.” His eyes roamed over her face, nice and slow. If ever a time came that she doubted he thought her beautiful, all she’d have to do was remember the warmth in his eyes at this moment.
He pulled her to stand, and the height and breadth of him that had once made her tremble in fear beckoned to her. He pulled her close, making her feel more secure than she had in a long time.
The gentle weight of his lips against hers made her feel just as cherished as the evening he’d stolen a kiss in the woods. And the taste of his tears proved the hard heart he’d once possessed had been softened by the omnipotent God who could lovingly use the worst days of a person’s past to make their future exquisite, for He could make all things work together for good to them that love God.
Epilogue
FIVE YEARS LATER
“Oh no.” Mercy groaned. Her two-month-old son had finally stopped squirming and fussing, and warmth now soaked into the shoulder of her dress.
“What happened?” Aaron looked back at her from the driver’s seat as he slowed their Ford in front of Teaville’s newest church, located on the edge of what remained of the town’s red-light district.
She braced her arm against Aaron’s seat back to keep from flying forward with the baby as their vehicle stopped. “Samuel spit up on me.” She pulled her snuggly warm bundle off her shoulder. He’d evidently fallen asleep the minute he decorated her dress.
From where he was sitting up front, Owen handed her a rag from the bag on the floorboards, and Aaron came around to open her door and take Samuel.
She wiped at the spot, but the silk of her nicest dress was soaked. “And I’d wanted to look my best today.”
Aaron smiled. “We could find some water to spill on your other shoulder to make it match.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Just wear the rag, Ma.” Owen leaned over to drape the cloth over her shoulder.
“Not exactly the accessory I was hoping to wear.”
“I think this tiny person makes a rather fine ornament.” Aaron placed Samuel back on her shoulder. His little eyelids didn’t even flutter. “And no one’s going to notice that wet spot since his toes are exposed for all the women to gush over.” He helped her out of the automobile.
“Maybe I should’ve left him with Patricia.” Her sister-in-law had yet to conceive a child and had truly seemed willing to watch Samuel, though there was still a hint of animosity in how Timothy and Patricia treated her whenever they visited. Thankfully Timothy had decided three Christmases ago to stop shunning her family, but theirs still wasn’t the best relationship. “But I wanted Jimmy to see that his whole family is here for him.”
“Everyone’s here for Jimmy, and he won’t care about your dress.” Aaron put his arm around her waist and brought her close as they rounded the automobile. “You look beautiful.”
“I just wish we hadn’t gotten here so late.” Which they were all the time now. Life with a newborn was quite . . . demanding. She looked around at the newly sodded churchyard and couldn’t help but notice how small the crowd was. None of them were strangers, and she and Aaron hadn’t lived in Teaville for the past five years. “I was hoping there’d be people here who hadn’t come solely to support him. He’ll need a congregation if he’s going to preach.”
She forced herself not to shake her head at that last sentence. A preacher—the last thing she’d thought Jimmy would choose as a profession when they’d first adopted him, and it still seemed odd. He was barely nineteen and still rather . . . hardheaded.
Glancing up to the front stairs of the stone church, she caught a glimpse of his slicked-back blond hair. The main building was a beautiful light-stone chapel with a belled steeple and intricate ironwork. In the back was a dormitory of sorts to act as a shelter for abused and abandoned women and children.
Jimmy was talking to Henri near the lectern, where they would address the people who’d come for the dedication ceremony for Kingsman Chapel and Evelyn House. Her boy was stiff and tense, nodding his head seriously while Henri talked to him as if giving instructions.
She cuddled Samuel a little tighter. She’d have a whole eighteen years or so with him. Hopefully that much time would make her feel more confident that she’d done all she could to prepare him for life. Letting go of Jimmy already made it difficult not to worry.
That first year of being wed had been hard enough for her and Aaron to adjust to each other, but they’d also had a rebellious fourteen-year-old to contend with. She’d been afraid they’d sabotaged their marriage by taking on two orphans so early in their relationship, but things had smoothed out around year two, and then when Jimmy dedicated himself to the Lord, year three had felt like a holiday—though he never lost his propensity to be strong-willed.
“How are you, Miss Mercy?” Sadie came over and hugged Mercy from the side. “And isn’t he precious?” she cooed as she ran a finger down Samuel’s wrinkled little nose, then tickled the bottom of his feet. “And look at these toes.”
Mercy caught Aaron giving her the “I told you so” look as he walked away, likely headed straight for Harrison to talk teacher talk.
She turned back to Sadie. How grown-up she looked. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Who’s watching the orphans at the mansion?”
“No one—we brought them along.” She pointed to the lone tree on the property, where Franklin was dislodging a little boy’s foot from where his shoe had wedged into a forked branch. “We’ve decided to attend this church with the children. Some of them have been worrying about their old friends and feeling guilty about escaping this place when others can’t.” A little boy of about five came to stand by Sadie and looked up at Samuel with a curious eye.
Sadie put her hand on the boy’s head and tucked him up against her skirt. “So we’ve volunteered to teach Sunday school. It might only be for our own children and the orphans to begin with, but hopefully some street kids will come.”
Mercy glanced over to the tree where Evelyn had joined Franklin to rescue another little boy too afraid to climb down. “I bet Evelyn was thrilled to hear you’d be ministering to the street children.”
“Yes.” Sadie smiled at the woman the mission was being named after. “I think after hearing our plans, we’ve made her wish she could move back and take over.”
“But she’s needed in Kansas City.” How many reformed prostitutes had the Kingsmans found new jobs for in the past five years? It wasn’t as many as they’d hoped for, but for all those women, it was a new chance at life.
“I agree. She’s definitely needed in Kansas City.” David came up beside them, stopping to watch his wife with his arms crossed over his chest and a twinkle in his eye. “Don’t you dare entice her away from me.”
Mercy laughed. “Of course I wouldn’t, because then she’d be moving away from me too.” She and Evelyn had become close since she’d moved to Kansas City, and she doubted a more loyal wife and friend could be found.
“Attention, please.” Henri thumped a gavel-looking thing on the lectern, and the handful of people gathered about the stairs.
Mercy smiled at Caroline, who was standing behind her mayor-husband with a baby about Samuel’s age cradled in her arms. Five-year-old Katelyn crouched at Caroline’s feet, quietly spinning a top.
“I want to thank all of you for coming today. I know we aren’t much of a crowd, but on behalf of the city, I wanted to acknowledge the time, money, and dedication many of you have sacrificed for our neediest residents so they can have a safe place to go when they have nowhere else to turn.”
He smiled back at his wife. “Many thanks goes to my wife and Evelyn Kingsman, since so much of their lives has been spent tirelessly pleading for the district women to be helped instead of shunned. I hope this place will be the sanctuary you two have worked so hard to provide.” He gestured toward a dark-headed young
man in the crowd. “To Max Milligan, who offered his architectural prowess to design such a lovely place, thank you. No church in this town can rival the beauty of this tiny chapel. Am I right?” He swung his arm back to encourage them to admire Max’s work.
The crowd clapped, and Max shrugged as if it had been nothing.
But it was more than nothing. Despite his young age, his reputation for precision and efficiency had spread quickly, and the young man was never in want of a project. Not only was this stone chapel a beauty, but he and Robert had pieced together the sixteen stained-glass windows themselves.
Once the applause died, Henri gripped the lectern again. “As I pledged when I was first elected mayor, and will pledge again with reelection upon us, I will do whatever I can to keep the needy from floundering when we enforce laws that shut down disreputable employers. I’m proud to sponsor this chapel, for even if I’m successful at stamping out all corruption, there will always be a need for a place of charity and hope. And so”—he turned to gesture for Jimmy to come forward—“let us hear from the pastor of Kingsman Chapel.”
The crowd applauded, but Mercy could barely do anything but keep hold of Samuel as Jimmy strode toward the lectern. He looked confident, with his shoulders back and chin up, but the hand in his right pocket was moving. He was undoubtedly rubbing the indentation he’d made into the little sandstone cross Owen had given him two years ago, on the day he’d been baptized.
Jimmy stopped at the lectern and looked straight at her.
He’d sought her out before his father?
Within a second, Aaron’s arm slipped around her waist, and he pulled her close.
Jimmy shifted his gaze to his father, clearly finding it difficult to swallow. “Thank you . . .”
Aaron gave him a little nod and hugged her tighter.
Jimmy nodded back and then looked at her, his mouth twitching with emotion he so rarely displayed. “Thank you.” And then he looked out over the rest of the crowd, summoning up a tight smile. “You don’t know how grateful I am to be given the opportunity to pastor my first church a stone’s throw from where I grew up in poverty and neglect, and to be able to work with the Lowes, who provided me my first safe place to live.”
He nodded toward Nicholas and Lydia, who were sitting on a bench with their four children, plus the three siblings they were about to adopt. Now that their business was booming again, it seemed Lydia was intent on filling her town house with little ones.
He shifted his attention back to her and Aaron. “And to my parents, who loved me even when I was unlovable.”
Mercy couldn’t help the tears that fell at the soft sound of that word on his lips.
Unlovable. How had she ever called him that? Seeing him so grown-up and taking on such a big responsibility made her heart fill with as much pride as the day the midwife laid Samuel in her arms.
“I’m thankful to work with Queenie, who’s already given me plenty of advice on how to help the people in this area and who will be running the women’s portion of this ministry. And to the Cleghorns, who’ve volunteered to help with the children.” He looked to his paper on the lectern. “With hope and faith, let us dedicate this building to be utilized as a House of the Lord, wherein will be preached the Gospel of Christ, and in which God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit will be worshiped and glorified.”
The crowd answered with a loud “Amen.”
Jimmy gestured for Evelyn to come forward to pray, but Mercy couldn’t focus on her friend’s words.
Oh, Lord, please bless and use Jimmy as you’ve done with Aaron. May there be men and women who’ll come to Jimmy years from now to let him know that his ministry influenced their lives for the better, just as Aaron’s students are already coming back to tell him how his faith in them to do the good, hard things in life saved them from making poor decisions.
Aaron squeezed her shoulder, and she looked up to find everyone had moved toward the church entrance.
Owen looked at her with pleading eyes. “Can I go get cookies before they’re gone?”
“Only if you promise to leave enough for others.”
He nodded and caught up with the crowd. Mercy shook her head. “They’ll think we don’t feed him.”
Aaron chuckled. “I saw the amount of baked goods these women prepared. He can’t eat everything.”
“Don’t challenge him.” Her smile died a little as she watched the crowd head in. “If only we could be sure Jimmy will have people to minister to. There isn’t a single person here from the district, and Jimmy spent days inviting people. He has to be disappointed.”
“You must not have noticed where Caroline went during Jimmy’s speech.” He tipped his head to the left while he started walking them slowly toward the church.
In the shadows of the abandoned building next door, a woman with gaunt cheeks and hollow eyes stood in a defeated slump as she nodded halfheartedly at whatever Caroline was saying to her.
The streetwalker looked over at them, and Mercy quit staring. “Hopefully she comes in,” she whispered, though there was no chance she could hear them.
He rubbed her arm. “She likely won’t, considering the state of her attire compared to how this group came dressed to the nines. But hopefully next week.”
Mercy stared up at the intricate steeple Max had designed. “And to think, a few years ago, we worried that once Jimmy left home, we’d be visiting him in prison.”
“Not sure many churches would be willing to give such a blunt, inexperienced young man a chance at pastoring. We’ll need to pray he keeps his job at the railroad so he can afford to work here.”
The crowd had disappeared indoors, but Aaron barely moved them forward. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Why are we walking so slowly?”
He tightened his arm around her. “Because I’m not looking forward to the hours we have to drive home with you in the back with Samuel. Keeps me from being able to put my arm around you.”
She kissed his shoulder since her one arm had Samuel and the other was pinned under his grip. “You’re silly. It’s only another day of traveling.”
“I wish we would’ve taken the train—then you could’ve sat on my lap the whole way here and back.”
Her cheeks heated. “That’d be quite scandalous, don’t you think?”
He laughed. “Sounds rather nice to me.”
“We’d be kicked off the train.”
“They wouldn’t dare, not with a baby in tow.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
Mercy looked up at the open doorway and listened to the good-natured laughter and conversation going on inside. “It’s going to be hard to go in there and not start trying to advise Jimmy on what to do, how to behave, and all I wish I could be sure he knows before we have to leave.”
“As I always say, God calls us to do hard things.” He wrapped his arms around both her and Samuel and pressed his lips against her forehead. “You’ve got to trust you did your best.” His lips traveled to her temple and then down behind her ear.
A delicious shiver made her scrunch up her shoulders. “What are you doing?”
“Loving you—the one thing God called me to do that’s easy.” He leaned back and smiled at her, his dark brown eyes roaming her face in a way that left no doubt that he did indeed love her more than any other. “Forever isn’t long enough to love you, but I’m glad I have the chance to try.”
A chance to love him forever didn’t seem long enough for her either, but she was perfectly happy she had it.
Acknowledgments
To turn a story into the best book it can be, it takes more than the author to make it so.
This book first went through my critique partner, Naomi Rawlings, who has the guts to tell me when she, as a reader, would lay my book down and choose another. She bears the brunt of my messy drafts.
I am forever grateful for the team at Bethany House and my agent, who read through the book looking for ways to polish the story, along with Bethany
House’s sales and marketing teams that work hard to get this story into readers’ hands. I’m not sure the art department could have made an author happier with her covers than they have made me with this series.
I would also like to thank my team of beta readers this time around: Karen Riekeman, Andrea Strong, and Amy Parker. Even when they feel they aren’t helping because “they just plain enjoyed it,” they help me know the book has gotten to the point it should be.
My family, as always, pays the most for these books. I thank them for supporting my writing though I often stare off into space at dinner and they have to ask me what book I’m worrying about when I don’t pass the salt.
There are days I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into, often facedown on the floor beseeching God to get me out of the writing mess I’ve created. Thank You for listening to this mess of a woman.
To my readers, I’m thankful for your loyalty, the notes you send me, and the reviews that let me know my stories have had a higher purpose than entertainment. It pushes me to keep going when I’m that mess on the floor.
Much to her introverted self’s delight, ACFW Carol Award winner and double INSPY finalist Melissa Jagears hardly needs to leave home to be a homeschooling mother and novelist. She lives in Kansas with her husband and three children and can be found online at Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, and www.melissajagears.com. Feel free to drop her a note at mjagears@gmail.com, or you can find her current mailing address and a list of her books on her website.
Books by Melissa Jagears
A Bride for Keeps
A Bride in Store
A Bride at Last
TEAVILLE MORAL SOCIETY
A Heart Most Certain
A Love So True
A Chance at Forever
Love by the Letter: An UNEXPECTED BRIDES Novella
from With All My Heart Romance Collection
Engaging the Competition: A TEAVILLE MORAL SOCIETY Novella
from With This Ring? A Novella Collection of Proposals Gone Awry