Love Blossoms: 7 Spring-Fresh Christian Romances

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  Emily soon discovered that it wasn’t just people from the church who had come to the event. They ended up at a table with three other couples, two of whom she knew and another couple who had been invited by one of the others.

  The woman—she’d said her name was Amy—leaned forward. “So how many children do you have?”

  “Four.” Emily looked at Steve when she realized they’d both replied in unison then laughed.

  “Boys? Girls?” Amy asked, a friendly smile on her face.

  “Boys.”

  “Both.”

  Amy’s brows drew together as her gaze went from Emily to Steve and back again. “Um…”

  “We’re not together,” Emily explained to the obviously confused woman. “We each have four children. Our kids go to the same school, and his boys come to my place afterward until Steve is off work and picks them up.”

  “Ah, I see.” The friendly smile returned to her face. She laid her hand on her husband’s arm. “We have two children. Both girls.”

  As the conversation moved on, Emily wondered what Steve had thought of the woman’s assumption. She shifted herself a little further away from him as she carried on a conversation with the woman.

  *

  Steve wasn’t sure what he’d expected of the evening aside from some good food—which indeed there had been—but there had also been a devotional for parents along with a few games. There had been a How well do you know your teenager? game where they’d interviewed some of the teens of the parents who were at the event. The parents then were called to the front where they’d been asked the same questions. It had been a rather humorous time and a little bit revealing as well.

  Of the three couples, only one had had parents who had an equal knowledge of their teenager. The answers of the other two couples showed that the mothers definitely knew their kids better. He had no doubt that had he and Emily participated in something like that, she’d know her kids better than he’d know his. At this point, she might well know his kids better than he did.

  He glanced at her as the audience cracked up at the antics of the parents on stage. Her face was lit up with a beautiful smile, and Steve knew then that he had to at least try. Try to see if there was any chance that they could have a future together. They hadn’t known each other long, but that didn’t matter to him. She and her kids had eased themselves into his life so easily that it was as if it was meant to be.

  He could only hope she’d feel the same.

  As he pulled the truck to the curb an hour later, Steve laid a hand on Emily’s arm to keep her from getting out. She turned to him, the expression on her face shadowed in the dark of the evening. He would have preferred to do this when he could see her face, but he couldn’t exactly do it inside the house with the audience that was waiting for them.

  “Emily, I wanted to ask you something before we go in,” Steve began, relieved to hear his voice sounded relatively steady.

  Emily settled back into her seat. “What’s up?”

  “I was wondering if maybe you’d be interested in going out for dinner with me.”

  He waited for her to make a joke about how they’d already had dinner or something like that, but the silence just stretched on. She knew what he was asking. Feeling confident a no was heading his way, Steve lifted his hand from her arm and turned to open the door.

  “Wait.” Emily grabbed his hand. “I’m not saying no. I just need to…think about it. Is that okay?”

  As long as it wasn’t a flat out no, he’d take it and told her as much. Afterward, they got out of the truck and headed for the house. It was a bit chaotic since all the kids were still up. Emily had apparently decided not to force her kids to go to bed while his boys were still there. Thankfully, Andrea was old enough to drive so she had brought her mom’s car and didn’t need a ride home. Once Steve had paid her—double the rate since there were twice as many kids—she left.

  “Guess we’ll see you tomorrow,” Steve said as he herded the boys toward the front door. “I have another window that I want to see about replacing one of yours with.”

  Emily smiled. “Sounds good.”

  She didn’t say anything more about their short conversation in the truck, and Steve wasn’t going to pressure her. The door was still open—even if it was just a crack—so he’d wait until she opened it fully to him. He just prayed it wouldn’t be too long of a wait.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Emily settled back in her chair and let out a long breath. The kids had been a challenge to settle down even though they should have been tired since it was way past their bedtimes, but finally it was her time. The house was locked up. The kids were in their beds. Peace reigned in the house.

  Drawing her legs up, Emily took a sip of her herbal tea then rested her head against the quilt on the back of the chair. As she stared out the window to the street below, she allowed her thoughts to go to the question Steve had asked her in the truck. It should have surprised her, and on one hand, it had, but at the same time, it hadn’t. Her heart knew what was coming even as her mind had been filled with uncertainties. It remembered Steve’s pronouncement when they’d first met. But now she had no doubt that this wasn’t an invitation for some sort of casual dating. Neither of them could afford to do that with their families so closely intertwined.

  Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to say yes. She so badly wanted to have closure on her life with James before moving on. It was why she’d started sending out the letters even before Steve had arrived in her life. At this point, any type of communication with the people she’d written to might have been enough to consider it closed, but there’d been nothing.

  She closed her eyes. Heavenly Father, You know how much I need to find closure for what happened with James. I want to be able to consider a future with Steve, but I have always felt I needed to close that other door first before getting involved again. I was at peace with that decision. Please send me what I need to be able to move on. Please.

  In the days that followed, Emily said a prayer each time she checked the mail with the hope that there would be a letter waiting for her. Unfortunately, each and every day there was nothing but bills and flyers. She wanted to be able to give Steve an answer to his question, but without something specific regarding James, Emily didn’t feel at peace about that yet.

  Steve had been remarkably patient. He never brought the subject up and didn’t act any differently around her, but she knew he was likely wondering how long he was going to have to wait. The only change in how things were between them was that now he came in each evening when he picked up the kids to chat with her for a few minutes. And she’d started preparing a container of food from their supper for him to eat at home.

  Almost a week and a half after their evening together at the church, Emily was once again sitting at her table preparing to send another letter. It wasn’t quite a month, but she was getting desperate. If only one of them would reply to her. Just one was all she needed.

  When the doorbell went, she was grateful for the interruption. Getting to her feet, she left the kitchen and went to the front door. As soon as she pulled it open, she recognized the man standing on the porch, his stance screaming military even though he wore civilian clothes.

  “Erik?” Shock held her in place.

  The tall man smiled at her. “Hello, Emily. How are you doing?”

  “I’m good.” She stepped back from the doorway. “Come on in.”

  He hesitated only briefly before stepping over the threshold. “I apologize for showing up unannounced like this.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Emily assured him though she couldn’t deny that seeing him in person had caused her stomach to knot. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Coffee would be nice.”

  “Sure. Let’s go into the kitchen. We can talk there.” She went ahead of him and scooped up the papers on the table before gesturing for him to sit. “How’s Celeste?”

  Erik hitched his pants as
he sank down onto a chair. “She’s doing great. She says hi.”

  Emily glanced over at him as she prepared the coffee machine and smiled. “Tell her hi from me as well. And the kids?”

  “They’re growing like weeds. I’m sure you find that with yours as well.”

  Once the coffee maker was ready, she turned and leaned against the counter to wait for it to brew. “Oh yes, I do. Bennett is going to catch me in height before much longer. All of them are in school now which makes things easier.”

  “Are you working?” Erik didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get down to the purpose of his visit.

  Emily nodded. “I work three days a week at the kids’ school. Thankfully, my aunt left me this place so I don’t have to worry about rent or a mortgage.”

  Erik frowned. “Are you getting much from James’s benefits?”

  “I get money each month, but I know it’s not from the military,” Emily said as she turned to grab a couple of mugs from the stand on the counter.

  “Why would you say that? Who else would the money be from?”

  Emily poured coffee into each mug then set them on the table. Before answering, she got the cream and sugar. Once she’d sat down and doctored her coffee to her liking, she answered. “I’m pretty sure it’s from James’s parents.”

  “Is that why you wrote?” Erik asked.

  Emily met his gaze and nodded. “I didn’t figure it out right away, but things just weren’t adding up the way I thought they should. I’m right, aren’t I?”

  Erik lifted his coffee and took a sip before nodding. “I wasn’t sure what to do when I got your letter. Honestly, my first instinct was to ignore it to spare you the details, but then the other guys got letters and were phoning me asking what to do. I realized then that you were searching for something. Closure, perhaps?”

  “Yes. I’ve met someone recently, but I’d decided even before that I wouldn’t move on until I fully understood what had happened.”

  “Are you sure you need to know, Em?” Erik tilted his head, regarding her with a serious expression. “It won’t change anything. It might make things worse.”

  Emily shook her head. “I need to know. I’m under no illusions when it comes to James. We were having trouble even before he died.”

  Erik let out a deep sigh as he lifted his mug to take another sip. He set the mug back on the table and circled a finger along the edge of it. “I’m assuming you didn’t know that he was most likely going to be discharged?”

  “What?” Emily tightened her grip on the mug. “Why?”

  “Apparently there had been one too many instances of misconduct that couldn’t be overlooked. It had evidently gotten to the point where even his father’s position as a senator couldn’t save him.”

  “I had no idea. Misconduct? Like what?”

  Erik took another deep breath. “It had started off with him getting drunk and doing things he shouldn’t—staying off base or showing up for his shifts drunk. Then there were a few rumors of situations of…forced sex.”

  Emily felt the air squeeze from her lungs. “Rape?”

  Erik shrugged. “James would never talk to me about what was being said. He just brushed it aside saying they were rumors by people jealous of him. But there must have been enough truth to the rumors because charges were going to be brought against him while we were in Afghanistan.”

  Emily stared down at the creamy liquid in her mug and wondered if maybe she would have been better off not knowing this information. But she was in this deep now. She needed to know the rest. “How did he die?”

  “I only found out after the fact about the pending charges, but I guess he must have known what was coming because he left the base without permission that night.” Erik swallowed hard as his broad shoulders lifted and fell. “Let’s just say that some family members objected to his treatment of their daughter and took matters into their own hands.”

  Emily had known it would be bad, but she had hoped that whatever destructive behavior he had been indulging in had only affected him. To hear information to the contrary was difficult to accept. “His parents managed to get it covered up?”

  Erik nodded. “When he disappeared, we all figured that he’d been taken into custody or something. It was a couple of days later that we found out he’d been killed. I only heard the whole story because I was friends with one of the guys that had to clean up the mess he left behind.”

  “What happened to him, Erik?” Emily gripped the handle of her mug but didn’t lift it. “He wasn’t like that when we first got married.”

  “I don’t know. I wish I had those answers for you. I figured it would be hard to hear the rest of this without having the answers as to why he ended up like he did.” Erik stretched out his legs. “We all saw the changes but anytime we tried to confront him about them, he’d get mad and tell us to leave him alone.”

  That sounded familiar. “Thank you for coming all this way to tell me this, Erik. I didn’t expect that.”

  “Do you feel better now that you know?”

  “Not really, but I still needed to know.” Emily looked up at Erik and gave him a small smile. “Thank you for being a good friend to him in spite of how he was. I appreciate your and Celeste’s friendship very much.”

  “I wish I had better news for you. Something happened to James that changed him. I don’t know what it was, but I know that prior to that point, he loved you and the kids so much. Hopefully, you can remember those times instead of the later years and how everything ended.”

  Emily nodded. “Certainly I will be sharing those older memories with the kids, not the stuff that led up to his death.”

  Erik leaned forward, resting his arm on the table. “So tell me about this guy you’re seeing. You know Celeste is going to want all the details.”

  Emily smiled as she began to share about Steve.

  *

  Steve wondered if it was possible for the week to get any worse. Yesterday, a mistake on a job site had left them with a ruined counter top which would put them behind schedule and a man short after the person who’d made the mistake had been sent home for the day. It shouldn’t have happened. And Steve would have accepted the mistake if the guy hadn’t reeked of alcohol and looked like he’d just come off a three-day drinking binge. There was no room for that on the job site. Injury or worse could result.

  He’d gone to Emily’s after his horrible day hoping that this would be the day she’d finally say yes to his request for a date. More than anything, he had wanted to have been home when he walked through the front door of her house instead of just picking up the boys. To be able to put the stress of the day behind him and just enjoy being with his family.

  But it had been like every other day. She’d had a bit of supper packaged up for him and handed it to him with a smile as he and the boys had headed out the door. Then he’d gotten home to find an irate message from his ex on the home answering machine. Not sure how she’d managed to get his number, Steve had deleted it before listening to more than the first few words. She had no right to any of his time or emotions anymore.

  Tuesday hadn’t started much better with the boys squabbling with each other as he’d tried to hurry them out the door for school. Just a couple more weeks and this wouldn’t be an issue any longer. He supposed he needed to talk to Emily about how willing she was to continue to watch the kids. If she was able to. Did her job continue on into the summer? Just one more thing for him to have to deal with.

  He’d reached his job site only to discover the papers he’d needed to show the homeowners were still sitting on his desk at the house. Frustration built the whole way back home, and then he’d made the mistake of answering the phone which had rung while he’d been leaning over the desk to grab the papers.

  “You need to tell my parents that they are not allowed to see the boys anymore.” The familiar angry voice took Steve’s frustration to an all-new high. “I don’t want them wasting their time and money on them once my baby a
rrives.”

  “Won’t be telling them any such thing,” he ground out. “If they want to see the boys, I won’t say no. Goodbye.”

  Steve hung up, grabbed the papers and ignored the sound of the phone ringing again as he walked out the front door. No doubt his machine would be full to overflowing with messages when he got home later that night, and he planned to delete every single one without listening to them.

  Pulling away from the curb, Steve wondered what Emily was doing. It was her day off, and she usually had something planned while the kids were in school. Thoughts of her helped to ease his frustration even if she was contributing to it a bit by still holding out on him for their date. He just reminded himself that she would be worth the wait.

  As he neared her house, Steve glanced over, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Shock raced through him when he saw her standing on the sidewalk with a tall man. She reached up to hug him and as he looked in his rearview mirror, Steve saw the hug still going on. Was there someone else in her life? Granted he’d never asked her about her social life and she’d certainly never volunteered any information. Was this the reason she had asked him to wait? To see if she got a better offer?

  Anger ate at him as he sat at the stop sign, his gaze on the mirror. When a horn honked behind him, he looked away and turned the corner and accelerated into traffic. Every other frustration had suddenly dropped to miniscule proportions in light of this latest turn of events. But as the anger burned away, hurt lingered. Steve hadn’t realized how much of his heart and emotions were already engaged in this women. His angel. To have been so close and yet lost her just made his heart hurt.

  Chapter Fourteen