Summer's Promise

by Irene Brand

  When she laid Bert’s Bible on an end table, two envelopes fell out of it. One of the envelopes had her name and complete New York mailing address on it, and the other was addressed to David in Atlanta. Both envelopes were stamped. She stuck them in the pocket of her slacks.

  Timmy groveled on the floor, kicking his feet and crying, “I want my daddy and mommy.” Nicole wrapped her arms around the Bible. David reached for his handkerchief and blew his nose.

  “Daddy’s coming home. He is coming home, Uncle David! I know he is,” Timmy said.

  David sat on the floor and tried to draw the struggling child into his arms, but Timmy kept shoving him away.

  “No, Timmy, your daddy has gone to Heaven. He won’t come back to The Crossroads.”

  “Don’t he love us anymore?”

  David threw a helpless look toward Summer, saying, “He’ll always love you. For some reason, Jesus was ready for Bert and Spring to come to live with Him. I don’t know why, but that’s where they are now.”

  “Where is Heaven? If they won’t come back to us, we’ll go where they are,” Nicole said.

  “Someday you’ll go to see your parents,” David insisted, “but it may not be for a long time. Until then, you just have to go on living the way your parents would want you to live.”

  “We’re orphans,” Nicole moaned. “Just like some of the kids at school. We don’t have any parents.”

  “You do have parents,” Summer said firmly. “David and I are your parents now. You’re luckier than lots of kids, who only have one set of parents.”

  David threw her an approving smile.

  It took more than two hours to console the children and get them settled into bed. Summer had never been so exhausted in her life. When they returned to the kitchen area, David got a can of soda from the refrigerator. He poured the contents over two glasses of ice, handed one to Summer, and dropped wearily on the couch.

  “I’ve been through a lot of bad experiences in my life, but nothing like this,” David said.

  “And we aren’t finished yet,” Summer said as she took the two envelopes from her pocket. She handed David the envelope addressed to him. “There were two letters in that box—one for each of us.”

  They opened them at the same time. The messages were identical, dated a few days before Spring and Bert had died.

  Dear Summer and David,

  For the past few weeks we’ve felt compelled to make our wills. We don’t have much in the way of material possessions, unless we consider that Spring might someday inherit one third of the Weaver estate. Our most prized possessions are our children. We’ve been trying for days to decide who to ask to assume responsibility for them if we should die before the children are grown. We realize we’re asking a great deal of you, but after praying for several days about it, God has repeatedly brought your names to mind. Will you be willing for us to appoint you as co-guardians of Timmy and Nicole? And will you move to The Crossroads and bring the children up in our home there? This would involve a big sacrifice, but both of us believe that you’re the ones to care for our children and the work we’ve started in North Carolina. We’re very concerned about your lack of spiritual commitment, and living at The Crossroads might bring about a change in your lives. Please let us know if you’ll accept this responsibility. If you won’t, we will understand and make other arrangements. This isn’t a decision for you to take lightly. We’ll be praying for God’s will to be done. We love you.

  Bert and Spring

  Summer twisted the letter in her hand. David cleared his throat. “I feel better to know they’d intended to give us a choice in the matter,” he said.

  “I wonder if I’d have agreed to their requests if I’d gotten this letter before they died. I don’t think I would have.”

  “I feel sure I’d have said no. Fate intervened before I could give my answer.”

  “Do you think fate is the right word?” Summer asked, a smile trembling on her lips.

  “No, of course not. Although I still don’t understand why God didn’t choose to save Bert and Spring in that accident, I believe it’s His will for us to be at The Crossroads.”

  “I believe that, too, but I’m not sure whether He wants us here for a year or a lifetime,” Summer answered quietly.

  “But wherever we are, I’m convinced that God wants us to be together. I’ve been trying to get this out for weeks, and I’m not going to delay any longer. I love you, Summer. Do you care enough for me to become my wife?”

  “I’ve been fighting this decision, but the other night in the hospital, I knew that I want to spend the rest of my life with you wherever God wants us to live. There have been times when I’ve thought I couldn’t love anybody, but I love Timmy and Nicole, and I love you, too, but in a much different way.”

  “I should hope so,” he said playfully. All his concerns that Summer could ever love him were gone. He stood and pulled her upward into his arms. There was a stirring intimacy to his kiss now that he had suppressed before. His lips lingered and Summer savored every moment of his caress. Her eyes glowed with enjoyment when she lifted her head and her lips nibbled the curve of his handsome profile.

  “I’ve been so troubled the past few months over the promise I made Spring, that I thought I’d never make another one. But there’s one more promise I want to make as soon as possible.”

  Mimicking the deep tones of a minister, Summer said, “‘Will you take this man to be your wedded husband, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others keep yourself unto him only as long as you both shall live?”’

  David’s smile was as intimate as a kiss when he prompted, “The woman shall answer…”

  With her lips hovering near his, Summer promised, “I will.”

  Epilogue

  For the third time, the gazebo at the Weaver farmstead was decorated for a wedding. From the window of her room on the second floor, Summer, dressed in a white silk gown, watched her father approach the house driving a black barouche pulled by two Belgian horses. She and David had arrived at the farm a week ago with Timmy and Nicole.

  A year had passed since they’d moved to North Carolina, bringing significant changes in their lives. She and David had been appointed legal guardians for Timmy and Nicole, and a few weeks ago, they’d also accepted permanent appointments at The Crossroads.

  Their dreams to place The Crossroads on a self-supporting basis hadn’t yet materialized although the newsletter had prompted a few people to make sizeable contributions to the school. They’d accepted the appointments on faith just as Edna and their siblings had done. Once she and David had made the decision to marry and to stay at The Crossroads, Summer had never looked back.

  In the distance, Summer could see the cemetery where Bert and Spring were buried. Did they know that today she and David were getting married and that they’d agreed to carry on the work at The Crossroads? She believed they did.

  The day before, she and David had walked with Timmy and Nicole to the cemetery, and they’d all knelt beside the graves of Bert and Spring to make their final goodbyes. It had been a tearful time for the four of them but, after a good cry, even the children seemed ready to cut their ties with the past.

  A knock sounded at the door and Summer forgot the past to rejoice in the present. The time for reminiscing was over. Her sister, Autumn, entered with Timmy and Nicole in tow.

  “Oh,” Nicole breathed. “You’re so pretty, Auntie. No wonder Uncle David loves you so much.”

  Summer and Autumn exchanged amused glances, but Summer’s eyes brightened with tenderness and love, when Nicole said, “We’ll always remember Mommy and Daddy, but Timmy and me…well, now that you and Uncle David are getting married, would it be all right if we call you Mom and Dad?”

  “We want to be your kids,” Timmy added.

  Summer’s voluminous skirt swirled around her when she knelt and gathered the two
children into her arms. “There’s nothing we’d like better. We already think of you as our children, but we’ll make it legal so you’ll have the right to call us Mom and Dad.”

  She and David had talked about adopting the children, but they hadn’t wanted to supplant Spring and Bert in the children’s memories. But since Nicole and Timmy had taken the initiative, they’d go ahead immediately with adoption procedures.

  “Time to go,” Landon Weaver called through the open window.

  Autumn helped Summer to stand and arranged the long skirt behind her sister. Summer took the hands of Nicole and Timmy and started down the broad stairway.

  They joined Landon in the barouche, and in a short time reached the flower-decorated gazebo. Summer took Landon’s arm, and her attention focused on David standing a few feet away, his brown eyes alight with pleasure and tenderness. They exchanged secret smiles, and eagerness marked Summer’s steps as she moved to his side. She had another promise to make and to keep.

  Dear Reader,

  It may be difficult for you to believe that the heroine of this book could have spent over thirty years of her life without having any knowledge of the Christian faith. But after I’d created Summer Weaver as a character, a young woman of thirty-four came to our church and immediately accepted Christ as her Savior. Although she’d lived in a section of our state that has many churches, the only Christian services she’d attended were a few funerals. Without any knowledge of the Bible, she was drawn to the faith through the working of the Holy Spirit.

  Over the past few years, as I’ve worked with youth in our local church, I’m frequently pleased at how rapidly individuals can mature in their spiritual walk with God when they have the desire to do so. Miracles take place when God works through a committed person, as exemplified by the spiritual growth of David Brown and Summer Weaver in Summer’s Promise. I pray that this book will influence each reader to examine his/her relationship to Christ and submit to His Lordship.

  Mail from readers is always encouraging when I realize that through my writing, individuals are quickened to a closer walk with God. To quote from a recent letter: “God can use any venue to bring about understanding of the Scriptures. I personally thank Him that He offers those of us who love romances an alternative. May God keep using you as a voice crying out in the literary wilderness.”

  I send out a semiannual newsletter, and if you’d like to receive copies, please let me know at P.O. Box 2770, Southside, West Virginia, 25187.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-1880-2

  SUMMER’S PROMISE

  Copyright © 2001 by Irene Brand

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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