“That’s okay,” Rick said. “I can take him.”
“Yeah, Mom,” Daniel said. “I don’t want my parents hanging around when I’m applying for my first job. It wouldn’t look good.”
“Well, don’t you think they know that a fifteen-year-old boy has parents?”
“Mom, please.”
Brenda closed her eyes and decided she was entering a new phase of life that she hadn’t counted on quite so soon. “I’ll go talk to him right now,” she said.
But as she walked back across the street, she tried to formulate her argument so that David would agree with her that Daniel wasn’t ready to enter the workforce just yet.
CHAPTER
Fifty-Four
It took a couple of days for Cathy to get Sylvia on the phone, but when she finally did, she told her what Annie wanted to do. “So, what do you think?” she asked Sylvia. “Do you think you can use her?”
“It’s an answered prayer, that’s all there is to it,” Sylvia said. “We need her, Cathy. She’ll be a big help to us.”
“Are you sure?” Cathy asked. “Let’s face it, she’s not the most spiritually mature person in the world. She’s a little self-centered, as we both know. She’s never done anything for anyone on this scale.”
“Neither had I, when I came here,” Sylvia said. “She’ll be fine. She can stay right here in our house with us. Harry will be thrilled to have her around.”
“She doesn’t have to stay the whole year if you don’t want her to.”
“Well, we’ll leave that open. If she can get herself here and home, then we’ll take care of her while she’s here. Don’t worry about a thing. I think it’s the best way she can spend this year before she goes to college, anyway. You’ll see. It’ll change her life.”
“For the better, I hope,” Cathy said. She heard the pounding outside. The workers seemed to be in a demolition phase, but she couldn’t think what they were destroying. She propped her chin on her hand, wondering why her life seemed to be moving so fast these days. “I seem to be going through a lot of transitions right now, but I’m not sure it’s all going to be for the best.”
“This one will,” Sylvia said. “Trust me. And trust God. If he’s put this on Annie’s heart, you know it can’t be from any selfish motive. Let her come, Cathy. You’ll be glad you did.”
Later that evening when Steve came over, Cathy sat with him on a stack of lumber. “I feel like my life is out of control,” she told him.
“How so?”
“Well, I have no control at all over what’s done with Mark. He’s a ward of the state now, and they’re calling the shots. I only get to see him twice a week. I don’t know what’s happening to him in between. Rick’s moving to campus this fall. And now this with Annie.”
“This with Annie is a good thing,” Steve said. “It’s the best thing that could happen to her. You wait and see.”
“Yeah, well, that’s out of my control, too, pretty much. I may be sending her off to Sylvia for a year, and she’ll be the one taking care of her.”
“Don’t you trust Sylvia?”
“Well, of course, I do. I trust her parenting a lot more than I do my own.”
“Annie’s not a little girl anymore,” he said. “She’s eighteen. Technically, her childhood is behind her.”
“Technically, maybe,” Cathy said, “but we both know there’s still a lot of immaturity there. I don’t know if she can take this. I’m almost worried that Rick is right, that she’ll want to turn around and come home after she’s gotten a good look at the sights.”
“Maybe not,” Steve said. “Maybe she’ll surprise you. Maybe this is God’s way of showing you that the same parent who could raise a child who would wind up serving time could also raise a missionary.”
She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with the tears that seemed to come too often these days. “You know, I’ve thought of that myself. Isn’t that amazing?”
“Sure it is, and we don’t even know what will happen to Rick yet. It could be anything.”
“He’s really been sweet with Daniel,” she said. “Almost like he’s doing penance for all the mean things he did to Mark. He’s going to teach him how to drive, and he’s trying to get him a job.”
“There’s a lot of good in your kids, Cathy. You just need to have a little more faith in them.”
“I know,” she said.
He drew in a deep breath and looked at the work being done on the house. They’d gone too far—there was no turning back.
“This is costing a lot of money,” he said, “and I know it’s one of the other areas where you feel out of control.”
Cathy sighed. “Even the good things seem out of control. The house, and Annie’s plans. But I don’t know why I’m so worried about her. She may not even raise the money.”
“I was thinking maybe I could help her.”
Cathy looked up at him. “Steve, I can’t ask you to do that.”
Steve shrugged. “It’s no problem. I hocked your engagement ring today. I’ll just use that money—”
“Steve!” Cathy sprang to her feet. “How could you?”
He doubled into laughter then and stood up. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the ring. “See? I knew you still wanted it.”
She swung at him, and he ducked and leaped over some piping.
“Oh, no! I dropped it,” he said.
She stopped chasing him and looked down at her feet. “Where?”
“Just kidding,” he said, and held the ring up as he came back toward her. Amazed that she had fallen for it, she grinned and took the ring, gazing down at it. “That was low, Steve.”
He took her shoulders and touched his forehead to hers. “Maybe so. But if you don’t put that back on your finger right now, I’m going to the pawn shop. Annie needs that money.”
She grinned and slapped playfully at him. He caught her hands, took the ring back, and held it up, as if he needed a finger to put it on.
She provided hers. Steve’s smile faded, and his eyes grew serious as he slid it on. “Thank you,” he whispered, then his hand came up to cup her face. He kissed her, making her melt like a candle.
“Nicaragua is a good cause,” he whispered, “but marriage to you is a better one.”
“Annie’ll get over it,” Cathy said.
“Maybe she won’t have to.” He pulled her back to sit next to him on the lumber. “I’m still going to help her. I won’t give her all of it. I think it would be good for her to try to raise it on her own. That way we’ll be able to gauge her level of commitment. But I was thinking maybe I could pitch in a few hundred dollars. Maybe that would go toward half of the airline ticket or something.”
“She’ll be grateful.”
“I know she will,” he said, “but I don’t think I’m going to mention it to her until after she’s raised the rest. Let’s just keep watching to see how she does.”
“I’ve been thinking, too,” Cathy said. “At first, I told her I wouldn’t use any of her college money to help her pay for the trip. I thought this was just a ploy to get out of going to school. But now, I’m thinking that if I did dip into it and help her, I could work a little extra to help her out with this. Maybe stay open all day on Saturdays and stop knocking off at three. What do you think? Would that be spoiling her?”
“Like I said, see how much she raises before you do that. And I’m sure there’ll be times when we’ll be sending money while she’s over there.”
“We?” Cathy smiled. She touched the diamond. It felt good on her finger. “I like the thought of ‘we.’”
He slid his arm around her and pulled her close. “I love you, lady,” he said. “I’m going to marry you. I’m going to move into your house. And you’re going to have a beautiful bedroom and a huge family room, and we’re going to live happily ever after. And your daughter is going to be a missionary, and your son is going to be a successful executive somewhere.”
“And Mark?” she asked.
“And Mark’s going to come out of jail a stronger person. Who knows? Maybe he’ll even find Christ in there.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do,” he said. “And we have to make sure during this down time in Mark’s life that Christ is exactly who he’s thinking of. I’ll help with that.”
Her eyes filled with tears again as she touched his face. She loved the way his stubble felt against her palm. It was amazing how much she loved him and even more amazing that he could love her through all this.
“Marry me, Cathy,” he whispered.
“I will,” she said. “I’m just not sure when.”
“Marry me on July 4th, just like we planned,” he said. “Let’s go in there right now and open all those presents.”
She smiled. “Oh, so that’s what this is all about? You just want to open your presents.”
He grinned back. “Well, some of them did look pretty interesting.”
Her smile faded, and she gave a great sigh. “Steve, July 4th is just a few days away. You know that’s too soon. It’s just a bad time. And I don’t want to open the presents until we’ve set a date. I may have to wind up returning them all.”
“I’m not going to let you return them,” he said, “and I’m not going to let you stop work on the house. And I’m not going to let you cancel our wedding. Not until you convince me that you don’t love me and you don’t want to spend your life with me.”
“I could never convince you of that,” Cathy said, “because it wouldn’t be true.”
It was clear he already knew that. “I’ll wait for you. I know you’re going through a tough time with Mark. I’ll even be here to help you. But make no mistake. This is we, not you. It’s our problem, not your problem. I’m here for you, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“And, like I said, if you get sick of me and want out, then you’ll have this great big nice house and you won’t have to pay for any of it.”
“I didn’t mean for you to have to pay for everything,” Cathy said. “I was really going to help.”
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s all about to go into the same pot, so it really doesn’t make any difference,” Steve said.
The feeling of warm relief washed over her like an ocean tide, and she realized that God had sent her one of the most precious gifts in her life the day she’d looked up at a parents’ meeting and seen Steve standing at the door.
“Be patient,” she said. “I’ll marry you as soon as I know the time is right.”
“That’ll have to be good enough, then,” Steve said. He pressed a kiss on her lips, then on her forehead, then pressed his forehead against hers and combed his fingers through her hair. Cathy knew that, no matter how bad things got, she wasn’t alone this time. God had sent Steve, and he was standing beside her.
CHAPTER
Fifty-Five
Brenda and David sat in their car at the end of the coliseum parking lot and watched as Rick taught Daniel to drive.
“I should be doing that myself,” David said. “I shouldn’t have overreacted to his wrecking the car.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Brenda said. “There are some things that other people can teach your children better than you can.”
He looked over at her and grinned. “I can’t believe this is you talking, the definitive mother hen.”
She grinned back at him. “I’m not a mother hen, just because I home-school. At least I admitted that I can’t home-school him in driving. Look at him! He just made a U-turn.”
David squinted. “Are you sure that’s him driving?”
They both broke out laughing, but Brenda’s mirth quickly faded. “There’s a lamppost coming up.” They both braced themselves, breath held.
He easily swerved around it. They both breathed.
“Rick’s a miracle worker,” Brenda said.
David leaned back in the pickup truck and started to relax. “I say we let him take the job.”
Brenda closed her eyes. She didn’t want to hear this. She had decided on her own that it was too soon, and there were too many reasons not to let Daniel work. “Why, David? He’s too young to go to work. When we start school again he needs to study.”
“Come on. He’s doing great,” he said. “You’ve already got him at an eleventh-grade learning level. He needs a little time to socialize.”
“He does socialize. He socializes at church. He plays baseball.”
“I know, but he needs to learn responsibility. He needs to learn what it’s like to earn money. And it sure won’t hurt him to have to pay off this deductible. I guarantee you, once he learns to drive, he’ll always be careful if he knows how much the insurance is going to cost. And, hey, if he’s able to save up for a car…”
“Come on, David. At minimum wage? How much do you think he’ll be able to save?”
“Don’t underestimate him,” David said. “He can do it. I did it when I was young.”
“But what if he starts going overboard with it? How do we draw the line? What if he starts working nights and weekends and overtime?”
“We can put our foot down anytime we want to. Besides, it’s not going to be such a novelty for that long. After a while, he’s going to get tired of it and want to work less, not more. Mark my word.”
Her gaze drifted back to the car creeping along the edge of the parking lot. “I’m just not ready for this,” she whispered.
“Well, be glad you’re not Cathy sending him off to prison.”
“Oh, don’t even say that,” she said. “David, I’ve been sick about Mark. It’s made me want to cling even harder to Daniel.”
“I know it has,” David said, “but we’ve got to let him go.”
The car screeched, and Daniel jerked to a halt. Brenda threw her hands over her face. “I can’t look,” she said.
“Oh-oh, he’s coming toward us,” David said.
She opened her eyes again and sat straighter, grabbing David’s hand. “He’s coming too fast!” But almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Daniel slowed, then inched forward toward them.
“I’m too old for this, David,” she said.
He nodded his head slowly in agreement. “That’s why we have Rick.”
CHAPTER
Fifty-Six
Cathy took Rick and Annie with her when she went to visit Mark Sunday afternoon.
When Mark came into the visiting room and greeted everyone, Annie made her announcement with a flourish. “I’ve decided to be a missionary in Nicaragua. I’m going to spend a year with Sylvia in León.”
“No way,” Mark said. “Mom, is she?”
“Maybe,” Cathy said. “If she raises the money to get there.”
“I’m going,” Annie said. “It’s practically a done deal.” She reached into her purse and pulled out snapshots of the children in Nicaragua. She flipped through until she found the picture of little Miguel.
“You think you have problems,” she said. “Look at this little boy. See how swollen his stomach is, how vacant he looks?”
“Vacant?” Mark asked. “When did you start using words like vacant?”
“Since your room became vacant, okay?” Annie said irritably. “Look at him, how sick and miserable he looks. And in this one, after he’s been eating at Sylvia’s kitchen for a while, he’s gotten healthier. Do you see that?”
Mark leaned up and looked at the picture again. “Yeah, I see it.”
“Sylvia’s making a difference in people’s lives, and I’m going to go help her.”
“Don’t they have, like, rules? Standards? That sort of thing? They let just anybody go to the mission field?”
“They’re letting her,” Rick said. “Go figure.”
Annie smiled. “Hey, I’m called by God.”
“You sound like Dan Aykroyd in the Blues Brothers,” Mark said. “What is it with her, Mom? Does she know some guy that lives there or something?”
“Hey, I’m going
for the children,” Annie spouted.
“No way,” Mark said again. “There’s something in this for her, Mom. Better figure out what it is before she costs you a fortune.”
“It’s not costing me anything, Mark,” Cathy said. “Annie’s raising her own support.”
“I’ve already raised three hundred dollars,” Annie said.
Cathy shot her a look. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, Mom. I went to the families of each of my friends from my youth group and I told them what I was doing, and they wrote me checks on the spot.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I’ve been so busy doing it I haven’t had a chance.” She turned back to her brother. “So, see? I’m not going for any mercenary reason. I’m seriously doing this because I want to help the children.”
Mark just stared at his sister for a moment, as if waiting for her to get to the punch line.
Annie rolled her eyes. “Just forget it. You’ll see, when I’m writing from Nicaragua.”
His eyes finally changed, and he regarded his sister with a serious look. “Well, if it’s true, I think it’s pretty cool. But, Mom, what are you going to do with both me and Annie gone?”
Cathy looked down at her hands. “Rick and I will get along somehow, until he leaves in August.”
“The house will keep her busy,” Rick said. “They’ve started building.”
Mark looked at his mother. “Really? You’re going ahead with it?”
Cathy’s heart sank. She didn’t want Mark to know of all the changes being done without him, anticipating how depressed he would feel after they left, when he went back to his cell and sat staring into space, aware that the world was revolving at full speed without him.
“We had sort of a run-in with the contractor. I wanted to postpone it, but we would have lost the money.”
Mark didn’t say anything. He just looked down at the table. “So you two are going to go ahead with the wedding?”
“No,” Cathy said, “we’re not. We’re postponing it until you get out, Mark.” She watched his reaction, hoping he would say that waiting was ridiculous, that they should go ahead. Instead, he just kept looking down at his hands clasped in front of him. She wondered what was going through his mind.
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