by Lois Richer
“Thanks.” Cory showed her some leaflets. “We’re passing these out in case anybody here wants to hire us. Then we’ll be able to raise more money for the travel club.”
“Get busy then,” she said. “I’ll buy your lunch when you’re ready.” They hurried away, chatting between themselves as they spread their leaflets.
Brianna spent a few moments surveying the room decorated in red, white and green—and its very engaged students. Zac had done an amazing job in the school, and she felt a surge of pride and rich satisfaction in having been part of his goal to turn around the town’s young people.
That combined with the change he’d wrought in Cory had helped her face her anger at God so that she now realized He was there with her even though she didn’t feel Him. She’d gained a new relationship with her father and her mother, thanks to Zac. He’d helped her cleanse the failures of the past.
But not even Zac could erase the failure she felt in her work.
Brianna had tried so hard to help kids, to ensure that they had someone there to listen to them. But it seemed all she’d done was create barriers between parents and the children whose aspirations they couldn’t accept.
“I want to talk to you,” Peter Larsen said, standing in front of her, his face belligerent.
“Let’s get out of the way where we can talk more freely.” Brianna’s heart sank as she led him to a quiet spot behind the stage. “What’s on your mind, Peter?”
“I like to be honest and up front so I’m telling this to your face. We’re circulating a petition to have the school board remove student-counseling services from Whispering Hope Clinic.”
“Because of Your World?” she asked, trying to stem the pain at this new evidence of her failure. “But I thought that once you saw what the students are learning—”
“Because of you.” His jaw thrust forward. “We don’t want our kids to waste their lives dreaming of something they’ll never have. You’ve got my Eve out there, her head in the clouds as she talks to those state people about going to medical school. We both know she isn’t smart enough. It’s not going to happen.”
“But it can—”
“You think running away from this place solves everything. I don’t want my kid running away, trying to achieve something she can’t get. I know all about that.” Peter clamped his lips together, as if he’d said too much.
“Is that what this is about?” Brianna murmured, stunned by his words. “Is what’s bothering you the fact that you didn’t get your dreams, and you don’t want Eve to experience the disappointment you did?”
“Yes.” His anger flared. “I found nothing but pain when I left this place. I thought I could make something of myself but all I managed was to get caught up in drugs because then I didn’t have to feel the disappointment.”
“There’s no guarantee Eve will go through that,” she told him, feeling his pain.
“There’s no guarantee she won’t. I came really close to killing myself once,” he admitted in a very soft voice. “I will not lose my baby girl.”
“But that’s what you’re risking by not sharing her dream and helping her find a way to achieve it.”
For a second Brianna thought he’d recant, but then laughter from the other room intruded and his face hardened.
“I just wanted to warn you,” he said. “We’re going to talk to the school board after this thing is over. We don’t want you around our kids anymore.”
Brianna watched him stomp away. She heard someone approaching. Quickly she moved to stand behind the stage drapes, hidden as tears of bitterness rolled down her cheeks.
“This has been an amazing display, Zac,” one of the state men said. “You’ve taken the worst of the schools in this area and turned it around. We wanted to let you know that if you’re interested, we have room for you in our office. Whenever you like.”
“Thank you very much. I’d enjoy the chance to enhance curriculum.”
Brianna tuned out the rest of the conversation, didn’t even notice when they left. All she could think about was that Zac had achieved his goal.
And she had failed to reach hers.
Her heart was glad for him. He’d worked so hard. He deserved every success.
She loved him, but it was futile.
Zac would leave Hope. Brianna couldn’t.
She finally accepted that they had no future together.
Chapter Fourteen
Zac returned to the auditorium elated that as he’d escorted the state men to their vehicle, they’d assured him he’d have a job offer on his desk in the New Year.
Jubilant that he’d finally achieved his goal, he couldn’t wait to find Brianna and share the news with her. Then he realized that after he left, he wouldn’t be able to share anything with her ever again. The realization knocked him for a loop.
Brianna would be out of his life forever.
Was that what he wanted?
“We have to talk to you, Zac.” Peter Larsen stood in front of him, his face set in angry lines. Behind him several other parents were nodding.
Aware that the confrontation was causing a disturbance in the room, and embarrassed that they were now the center of attention, that he was being targeted this way, Zac needed to get them out of here.
“Uh, sure.” Zac glanced around. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”
“We can talk right here. Other parents need to hear this.” Pete glared at him.
Trepidation crawled up Zac’s spine and took root like a hammer in his head. Everyone was staring. He was caught like a deer in the spotlights with the entire room looking on, the center of attention—the very last thing he wanted.
“I’ve already told Brianna that we’re going to ask the school board to cancel the contract for counseling with Whispering Hope Clinic.”
“What?” Zac blinked. Peter’s face was white. An angry line creased his forehead. “You’d do that—after what you’ve seen here today?” he asked, keeping his voice low, moderated.
“This fair doesn’t change anything. In fact, it makes it worse,” Peter sputtered. “Now other people have latched on to the fairy tale and that’s wrong. We all know nothing’s going to change. Somebody has to deal with reality here in Hope. So I’ll be the bad guy. We don’t want Brianna filling our kids’ heads with silly impossible dreams anymore. It’s too hard on us parents when we can’t make them come true.”
“Too hard on you?” Fury banished any trace of awkwardness Zac felt at being on display. That the Larsens and other parents would do this to the caring woman who’d tried so hard to help them and their families infuriated him. Every single eye in the gym was on him, but Zac was barely conscious of the audience. He looked Peter straight in the eye.
“Have you lost your memory?” he demanded. “Can’t you remember four months ago when your little girl made a desperate attempt to escape the misery of her life here in Hope because she had no goals, no dreams?”
The other man paled, but Zac couldn’t stop. They’d impugned the integrity of a woman who’d gone way beyond anything in her job description to help their children. He could not sit back and allow that.
“You think dreaming about a career as a doctor is harmful to Eve because you can’t make it come true? Why is it up to you? It’s Eve’s dream.” He faced the next man. “And you, Martin? You think your son’s aspiration to get into the space program is silly? And Grant? You don’t want that brilliant kid of yours to go into cancer research? Why? Why would any of you want to kill such laudable goals as these?”
The group squirmed but they didn’t back down.
“They’re impossible goals,” Grant mumbled.
“Who says they are?” Zac shook his head. “Four months ago your kids aspired to nothing. They were failing in school, destined to fail in life becaus
e nobody gave them hope and nobody told them they could have a dream and achieve it. You, their parents, had failed them and you know it. Yet not one single one of you came running to me, asking me to help you change things. You were content to let them share your apathy.”
“We were not apathetic about our kids!” Martin was red-faced now. “We wanted better for them.”
“Just not the better they want, is that it?” Zac shook his head. “I think you’ve let yourselves get so bowed down by your own unfulfilled dreams, you believed your kids didn’t have what it took to change the status quo. And when they challenged that, you reacted by letting fear control you.” Zac paused. If he was going to connect with these angry parents, he was going to have to be brutally honest. “The reason I believe that is because I was in the same position, believing a lie because I feared the truth.”
Zac let the images of the past four months flood his mind, the certainty that he had to leave here to be successful, the conviction that he had to escape teaching and the spotlight to make a difference.
“I was just like you, caught up in escaping my own failures, certain I could change nothing—until Brianna pushed into our lives. She’s challenged us, you, your kids and me, to look beyond our safe little world and see what is around us. She defies our rigid mind-sets and dares us to be better than we are, to look beyond Hope to the world and imagine how we can affect it. To feel our fear, acknowledge it and push past it.”
The room remained utterly silent. Zac knew he was the focus but it didn’t matter. What mattered was making these parents see the truth.
“Yes, Brianna and I helped your kids begin to dream, Peter. We asked them to see themselves in a world where their contributions matter. And this—” he waved a hand “—this is the amazing answer your kids gave.”
“But it’s just a dream,” Grant protested.
“What’s wrong with that? Didn’t space travel, the United Nations, the internet all start with a dream? The how and why of it came later.” Zac let his emotions run free as he studied the other men, then moved his arm to indicate the various displays. “This is your chance for success, Peter. And yours, Martin. And Grant’s. In this room lies the best chance we in Hope have to impact the world around us by equipping our kids with our wholehearted support for whatever they dream, by not being afraid, by embracing it, by pushing them toward it.”
Zac slung an arm around Peter’s shoulders, the man who as a teen had berated him so often. For Zac that past was gone. The hurt was over. The need to prove himself had been replaced by the need to help the kids.
“Your businesses in Hope are important, of course, but your real legacy lies in your kids, great kids who want to change the world whether they decide to stay here in town or whether they want to move away. But their success hinges on you and me getting rid of our fear.” He decided to take a risk. “Think about how different your world and mine would have been if we’d had a counselor like Brianna when we were in school, someone who told us to believe in ourselves, someone who pushed us beyond our fears to our dreams.”
“But how can they do it?” Peter demanded. “It’s impossible.”
“That’s fear talking. Fear of failure. It’s what a lot of people said about going to the moon.” Zac stepped away, shook his head. “And if you think like that, you’re already defeated. That’s why we need Brianna. She doesn’t say it will be easy or fast or any of that. All she’s saying is try. If it weren’t for her selflessness, her vision, her foresight and most of all her courage and determination, you parents would have little to feel proud of today. But because of her, your kids’ futures are wide open for whatever they aspire to. All they have to do is reach.”
Zac glanced around and realized he wasn’t a bit nervous. He loved Brianna, loved her more than anything. He would do whatever it took to defend her. It had never been that God couldn’t use him. It had been his fear that prevented God’s work. No more.
He stared at the assembly, let the silence stretch until every eye in the place was on him.
“How sad that you’re rejecting the one person who’s put hope back in Hope. But if that’s truly the way you feel, I’m tendering my resignation. Effective immediately.”
A collective gasp went up.
“No. We don’t want that. You’ve done a great job for us, Zac.” Martin shook his head. “I’m not willing to go along with you on this anymore, Peter. My kids have done a one-eighty in school. I didn’t like hearing their grandiose plans because it made me feel a failure and because I was afraid they were doomed to the same. But my mess isn’t theirs.”
“But you don’t—”
“No, I don’t know how we’re going to pay for my son to go to college, but he’s going, Peter. He’s going as an emissary of Hope into a world where he’s needed.” Martin’s shoulders went back and his chin lifted. “I say we keep Brianna doing what she’s doing. I didn’t trust my kids enough to believe in them, or her. I’ve been walking around in fear, but that ends now.”
“I agree,” Grant said, his voice quieter. “My mom died of cancer. Imagine if my kid found a cure. What a legacy. I don’t know how we’ll manage. I have no money to send him to college. But if my boy wants to go, I’m sending him. There’s got to be a way.”
One by one other parents in the group murmured their assent. Somehow Peter seemed to sink back into the crowd as Kent stepped forward.
“I say we owe Zac a big round of applause. When my kid goes to this school, he’s going to benefit from all the work Zac’s done.”
Zac cut short the clapping. “I think your thanks should be to Brianna.”
Everyone cheered and called her name. Zac worried she’d run away until finally Brianna appeared from behind the corner of a stage drape. She looked stunned by the attention and accolades as she moved to the stairs. Zac walked forward and held out a hand to help her dismount.
“Three cheers for Brianna. Hip, hip, hooray!” the crowd shouted with their approval.
Zac had never been more proud.
Or more certain of what he had to do to prove himself to her and finally be free.
* * *
Brianna gulped down her tears as Cory’s two friends stepped forward with a sheaf of roses. She hugged them both, then tried to think of what to say to express what was in her heart.
“Thank you. Thank you all. I know I’ve tried your patience.” She smiled as the room erupted into laughter. “But I believe, as Zac does, in our kids. They are our future. They are so much smarter than we were. They see the world as their responsibility and they are determined to make a positive impact on it. I applaud you, students. Congratulations.” She shifted her roses and clapped for them. The parents joined her.
The kids in the room laughed and bowed, their faces beaming when their parents rushed over for a hug.
Awed by the response and that her prayer to be able to help kids had been so completely answered, Brianna tried to slip away, but Zac prevented that by taking her hand. She studied his face, amazed at the transformative glow that softened the angles and edges.
“Thank you,” she said and tried to lift her hand free. But Zac wouldn’t let go.
“I’m not finished, Brianna. I have something else to say,” he said more loudly, drawing the attention of the room. Every eye turned on them.
Brianna shifted uncomfortably, wishing she knew why Zac had done this. It was so unlike him to draw attention to himself.
“Bear with me now, folks. Everyone knows I’m the worst public speaker this town has ever seen.” He paused to let the murmur of laughter subside. “I’m also the slowest learner. For years I thought that if I could make a big enough impact, I could show everyone that I’m not the nerdy failure I thought they saw when they looked at me. Then you came back to town, Brianna, and I had to face the fact that my true failure was that I was afraid to believe in us
, even though I loved you. Even though I never stopped loving you.”
Brianna gasped. She glanced around the room, quivering under the interested stares. Her knees began to shake. What was Zac doing?
“I’ve just stood here and criticized Peter for not taking a risk on his daughter, but that’s exactly what I refused to do with us. I want a future with you but I was too afraid to tell you I loved you in case you turned me down or changed your mind. Again.”
A soft whiff of laughter rolled around the room.
“Zac, this—”
“This is me, Brianna. Warts and all. And I am in love with you. Still. Forever.” Zac knelt on one knee. “Brianna Benson, will you marry me?”
Chapter Fifteen
Zac waited, kneeling, holding her hand.
Brianna found not a trace of embarrassment on his face.
But how could she answer? If she said yes—well, he was leaving. And she couldn’t leave.
But if she said no he’d be horribly embarrassed in a town where she’d already done that to him once.
“I’ve never known you to be at a loss for words, Brianna.” Zac’s eyes held hers, strong, determined and brimming with love. For her.
And then it dawned on her. She’d learned to trust God, even when she didn’t feel Him. She believed He had been guiding her to reconciliation with her mother, to help Cory change, to her own healing. This second chance at love was her test, the biggest test of all. She could accept it and believe God would work out the details, as she’d told the students so many times, or she could run away again.
Brianna wasn’t running anymore.
“Yes, I will marry you, Zac. Whenever you want. I love you.”
In a flash she was in his arms and he was kissing her in front of the entire assembly, to the wild applause of students and parents. He finally drew away, but refused to release her.
“I hereby declare Your World fair over,” he said in a clear firm voice, a grin stretching his mouth. “But you’re welcome to stay for coffee and Christmas cookies. The travel club could use your support. Merry Christmas everyone.”