by Neta Jackson
* * *
The prayer time with Grace and Estelle Tuesday night somehow fortified Michelle for the days that followed. She had asked them to especially pray for her and Jared as they took a hard look at their schedules and responsibilities and finances to find ways they needed to reshuffle their lives.
She’d taken the whole week off from Bridges, even though Jared felt he had to go back to work for his remaining three shifts that week. Tavis was released late Wednesday afternoon, and she’d been playing nursemaid the rest of the week, keeping up with medications and dressings and trying to keep both boys entertained. She and Jared still had a lot of decisions to make, but at least he had turned in his application for a new position at the O’Hare Airport tower and said he planned to talk to Pastor Q on Sunday about stepping down from the deacon board and that he needed to put the whole idea of seminary on hold. Indefinitely.
But what sacrifices would she be required to make?
Jared agreed she should go ahead with her Hope and Healing group on Saturday, said it would give him some good time to “just be” with the boys—something he hadn’t done for a long time. When she left, Destin was trying to teach Jared and Tavis how to play chess.
Huh. Good luck with that.
Michelle had just planned to do the session they’d missed last week, but all four women said they were willing to stay a little longer if they could also move on to the next session on “relief and denial.” That prompted a lot of discussion and honest sharing: about the relief an abortion brought, to not be pregnant anymore, and how much they’d wanted to deny that it was any big deal, deny that it was human life—their child—they’d aborted. The hardest thing to deal with was the clash between relief and denial with the nagging regret and even anger that had also followed.
After sharing some relevant scriptures, Michelle mostly listened. It was all she could do to finish the session. That could so easily be me . . .
By the time Sunday morning rolled around, both boys were so bored staying home they begged to go to church. Michelle dreaded parading Destin and Tavis into church and the fuss people would make, but she had to admit it felt so good to all be sitting together in the “Jaspers’ pew.” Even Jared. Stepping down from the deacon board wasn’t official yet, but Jared told Pastor Q that sitting with his family that morning was symbolic for him. Something he needed to do not only for his wife and children, but for himself.
Michelle squeezed her husband’s hand as the choir stood up to sing. After the usual rousing gospel praise number, she was surprised to see Shareese Watson, her reddish-brown weave freshly coiffed, come down out of the choir and take the handheld mike from the choir director. As the keyboard launched into the gentle strains of an old hymn and the choir hummed, Shareese began to sing . . .
’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take him at his word
Just to rest upon his promise
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord” . . .
Michelle was surprised at how clear and strong the young woman’s voice was. Didn’t know the girl could sing like that! The rest of the choir joined with Shareese as she came to the chorus . . .
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!
How I’ve proved him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more.
A lump formed in Michelle’s throat, remembering the five pennies lined up on her dresser. Her silly penny test . . . yet God had honored it. Given her those little reminders that he did care and that he would take care of them. And the promise seemed to fill the whole sanctuary that morning as Shareese closed her eyes and put her heart into the last verse . . .
I’m so glad I learned to trust thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend.
And I know that thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.
The whole congregation joined in with Shareese and the choir on the chorus, but Michelle’s heart was still stuck on the last verse: And I know that thou art with me, Wilt be with me to the end.
As Shareese made her way back into the soprano section of the choir, Michelle had a revelation. Shareese Watson . . . that’s who should take over the women’s ministry at Northside. Yes she was young, but she was enthusiastic and had a lot of ideas. When Michelle had come in that morning, several women told her how much they were appreciating the video series. “Too bad you missed it. Best thing we’ve done in a month a’ Sundays,” Sister Paulette had declared before bustling off.
Shareese’s idea. Shareese’s initiative.
Michelle grinned as she thought about her first step to simplify her schedule. One less thing to organize and worry about. And it was going to be fine. It was going to go forward. Might even be better with Shareese’s zeal at the helm. Though hopefully Norma and the other committee members would hang in there. Even fresh wind needed a few good rudders.
“You boys ready to go home?” she asked Destin and Tavis as they waited for Jared to finish speaking to Pastor Q after the service.
“Home?” Tavis looked shocked. “But we always go out to Old Country Buffet after church. I’m starving.”
“Me too.” Destin was demonstrating his dexterity with the crutches for a few admiring preschoolers in the foyer.
Tabby rolled her eyes. “Showoff.”
Jared didn’t take long speaking to the pastor. He gave Michelle as nod as if to say it went okay. As they made their way out of the church and headed for the minivan, Michelle held Jared back a few steps and whispered in his ear. He looked at her. “You sure?”
So it was over soft-serve ice cream sundaes, loaded with bananas and candy chips and hot chocolate fudge, that Jared cleared his throat. “Hey, guys, listen up. Your mom and I have something important to tell you . . .”
Destin and Tavis listened to their mother’s announcement open-mouthed, ice cream forgotten. “A baby?” they chorused in unison, faces registering mock-horror.
But Tabby gave a fist pump and yelled, “Yesss! ’Bout time I got me a little sister. Can I name her?”
Michelle didn’t bother to tell her daughter it could just as well be another brother. Leave well enough alone for now. Boy or girl, she was sure of only one thing:
She could trust God to work it out, and he would be with them to the end.
THE END
Acknowledgements
In memory of Lee Hough
Our exceptional agent and friend at Alive Communications
Special thanks to Tish Suk, whose own “penny test” and testimony of God’s faithfulness inspired an essential part of this story. Tish, this story is for you!
Much appreciation to Brenda Shuler, a post-abortion counselor at Bridges of Hope and Life Network in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who not only served as a resource for this story, but graciously read the manuscript and gave us helpful feedback. Brenda, you and Clarence are such an encouragement to us with the way God is using your “Building Lasting Relationships” marriage seminars, and we also treasure your heart investment in racial and cultural diversity.
Many thanks to Jennifer Stair, who has edited many of the novels that make up the “Yada Yada world” and remembers details about our characters that we’ve forgotten! Thanks, Jen, for dropping everything to edit Penny Wise in spite of your busy schedule.
Thanks, too, to Janelle Schneider (fellow author and friend), Michelle Redding, Lelia Austin, and Krista Johnson for your willingness to proofread the edited manuscript on a tight deadline, as well as offering many helpful questions and comments. Add another star to your crowns!
To our son Julian, Director of Experience Design at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, thanks for being a sounding board for cover and design ideas! And special thanks to grandson, Elijah, age seven, who found a glaring typo on the cover!
A disclaimer: None of the above are responsible for any mistakes, goofs, or typos that slipped past. Those we take full credit for ourselves!
Last but n
ot least, to our faithful readers . . . we so appreciate the reviews you leave on Amazon.com, B&N.com, ChristianBook.com, and other online bookstores—they help more than you know. And thanks always for your letters, emails, FB, and Twitter posts of encouragement! It’s because of you that we keep writing.
Book Club Discussion Questions for
Penny Wise
1. In Penny Wise, the Jaspers are the third family we meet on Beecham Street in the Windy City neighborhood. (We met Grace Meredith in Grounded and Harry and Estelle Bentley in Derailed.) What were some of your first impressions of the Jasper family?
2. What do you see as the strengths in Michelle and Jared Jasper’s marriage? What do you see as the weaknesses in their relationship? Give examples of both.
3. Michelle and Jared are not just “pew warmers”—they are faithful, committed church members, the kind of people pastors can count on to be there every Sunday and during the week, ready to serve. At what point did you begin to suspect that this is not always a good thing?
4. If Harry and Estelle Bentley moved into your neighborhood—purchasing a home that had been foreclosed by the bank—how would you feel about their efforts to get to know all the neighbors up and down the street, even though they are the newcomers?
5. How do you feel about how Jared and Michelle handled the situation with Destin, who wanted to go to an elite basketball camp early in the summer, before he had a chance to work and earn the money to pay for it? How would you have handled it? What particular circumstances would influence your decision?
6. Michelle encountered a wide variety of at-risk families in her job as a social worker for Bridges Family Services. What was your gut reaction to some of these cases? Was there a person or situation that touched you in particular? Why?
7. Social workers can only do so much. How might local churches come alongside to help in some of these situations? Neighbors? Friends and family? You?
8. Did you have any sympathy for Michelle’s temptation to act against her conscience (and everything she stood for as a volunteer at the Lifeline Care Center) when she faced a personal crisis? Why or why not?
9. Are you aware of any post-abortion support groups in your area? What would be the hindrances to someone seeking out this resource? If you or someone you know has had an abortion, in what ways do you think such a support group would be helpful?
10. Who do you think was to blame for the scary mess Destin and Tavis got themselves into? How do you feel about Greg Singer’s role in what happened? (You will get to know Greg and Nicole Singer in the next Windy City Neighbors novel, Pound Foolish—see the excerpt at the end of this book!)
11. Have you ever “tested” the Lord, putting out a “fleece” in a similar way to the story of Gideon in the Old Testament? What did you think of Michelle’s “penny test”? Did it speak to you in any special way? If so, how?
12. Like many of us, Michelle and Jared “let the urgent crowd out the important.” What do you think of the changes Jared and Michelle plan to make in their personal and family lives? What else might you suggest to them to deal with their “over busyness” and distraction from what’s “important”?
13. Do you need to step back and evaluate if you are over-busy—at work, at church, at home? Is it hard for you to say No when asked to take on more? Do you keep busy to avoid an unpleasant situation or relationship? What important things or relationships might you be neglecting?
Excerpt from POUND FOOLISH
Book 4 of the Windy City Neighbors Series
Chapter 1
From the moment Nicole Singer saw the long black Lincoln sliding toward her down Greenleaf, she knew it was the same vehicle that had almost hit her and her two children a few minutes before as they dashed across Western Avenue in the rain. She gripped Nathan’s and Becky’s hands, lifted her head a little higher, and picked up the pace, ignoring the approaching stretch limo and the large drops that were making their way through the branches of the overhanging elms.
The black Lincoln eased over to her side of the street—the wrong side of the street, though there wasn’t much traffic in this quiet neighborhood—and slowed to a stop as it came even with her. A dark rear window hummed down. “Excuse me,” a man said.
Nicole kept walking, looking straight ahead to the far end of the sidewalk.
The car began backing up to keep pace with her. “Excuse me. Do you live on Beecham Street?”
Her six- and eight-year-olds were lagging, twisting to look at the speaker. “Mom, it’s the McMansion man,” Becky said in a stage whisper.
Nicole relented and looked.
The man in the limo chuckled, an easy smile spreading across his handsome boyish face. “She’s right, you know . . . big house across the end of the block? I suppose you could call it a McMansion, but to me it’s just home. I’m Lincoln Paddock, by the way. And I’m really sorry my driver gave you a start back there on Western. I don’t know why we were going so fast. I’m not in any kind of a hurry. Here . . .” He swung open the door to the plush limo. “I’m so sorry, and the least I can do is offer you a ride and get you out of this rain.”
Nicole hesitated. But Nathan tugged on her hand. “Can we Mom? We’ve never ridden in a real stretch limo.” At least her son knew what to call it. She hesitated, but Becky began to whimper. “Please, Mommy. I’m gettin’ cold.”
Nicole stepped across the parkway grass toward the curb. “Well, I wouldn’t want to put you out, Mr. Paddock.”
“Just Lincoln, just call me Lincoln. But it’s no problem giving you a ride. Please.” He stepped out and held the door open like a gentleman ushering them into his coach. He was tall, taller than Nicole and a real hunk under his black business suit. Nicole felt herself blush at taking note. How would she like it if that was his first note of her?
Both kids had claimed the long side lounge seat, stretching out each way with their heads together in the middle. “Look, Mom. A TV in the car and a little kitchen with things to drink.”
She could have walked all the way to the front and taken that seat, but it didn’t seem dignified, all bent over from the waist, so she sat down on the far side of the back seat. “Kids, get your feet off the seats . . . now.” They complied just as their neighbor closed the door and sat down beside her.
“Don’t worry about it. The seats are leather and wipe right off with a damp cloth. Here, kids, let me find something for you to watch.” He pressed buttons on the controller until a cartoon came up on the flat screen.
The car began to move, the driver proceeding without being told.
Paddock turned to her. “Guess we’ve never met. But I’ve seen you in the neighborhood with your kids. So you are . . .?”
“Nicole, Nicole Singer.”
He extended his hand, and she shook it awkwardly. “Nicole. That’s nice. Do they call you Nikki?”
She shrugged. Her husband, Greg, was really the only one who used that pet name for her, but it had been a while.
“After we almost ran you over, I thought I recognized you, so I told Robbie to go around the block until we found you. But . . .” he chuckled, “what I wanna to know is, what you three were doing this far from home in the rain.”
Nicole was going to brush off his question by saying it wasn’t that far and it hadn’t been raining when they started out, but Nathan seemed to have two-track hearing. “We were at Indian Boundaries.”
“Not Boundaries, dum-dum, Boundary, Indian Boundary Park,” corrected Becky, proving she, too, was tuned in to more than the cartoon.
“Oh, I know where that is,” said Paddock. “No wonder you were rushing back across Western.”
“Yes, we probably should have driven. You can never tell how fast rain’ll come up with this spring weather.” Nicole grabbed her damp blouse at the corners of the shoulders and lifted it away from clinging to her like a second skin, only to realize her actions drew Paddock’s attention.
“Mom, can we have something to drink?”
“Honey
, we’ll be home soon. You can wait.”
Paddock chuckled again. “That’s okay, but the bar’s dry. We haven’t restocked it for awhile.” He pushed a button. “Robbie, head on up to Howard and swing by McDonalds to get these kids something.” He turned and glanced out the back window. “There’s another McDonald’s back there a couple blocks, but turnin’ this thing around is like a battleship in a canal.”
“But he . . .” Nicole let her eyes go wide. “He can get it through a McDonald’s drive-thru?”
Paddock’s chuckle was becoming characteristic. “Not a chance. We’ll stop across the street, and he’ll run our order over. I usually take one of our smaller limos. You can’t even jockey it around in our cul-de-sac. Robbie’ll have to back it out of Beecham.”
“Oh, I don’t want you to go to any trouble on our account. The kids don’t need anything, and we can walk.”
“It’s no problem, Nikki. We’ve got plenty of time, and he was taking me home anyway.” Lincoln Paddock looked at the children. “So why aren’t a couple of bright kids like you in school today?”
His questions seemed far too personal, but when the kids didn’t answer, she said, “We homeschool.”
“Homeschool? That means you do your own lessons and, and . . .”
“And we get to go on fieldtrips,” Nathan offered, still staring at the cartoon.
“And your fieldtrip today was . . .?”