by Lea Sims
Too focused on winning to react to his unexpected endearment, Delaney pushed off him and stood up. She suddenly noticed he was holding up the spoon and trying valiantly to keep the egg on it. “Holy cow, you got the egg! We didn’t drop it?! How did we not drop it?!” She squealed with competitive delight. Then she grabbed him under the arm and pulled him to his feet. She tied the blindfold on him quickly, spun him around and nudged him forward. “Listen for my voice, and I’ll tell you where to go, but I am not William Wallace! I won’t be yelling my directions like some kind of deranged Highlander!”
He gave a husky shout of laughter and took off. For days to come, he would remember the sound of her voice breaking through the din and hovering in his ears. “Drew, turn right! Turn right! No—too far, go back! Drew, honey, stop!!!” When she called him “honey,” he stopped in his tracks and turned back toward her voice with his arms open wide in mock surrender, grinning from ear to ear from beneath his blindfold. Delaney simply yelled at him more. “No, silly…turn around!! And don’t drop that egg, Drew Hemming!”
They won the relay race with time to spare. After the races came a highly competitive and hilarious tournament of three-inning kickball. The pastoral care team barely edged out the kids ministry team to take on the worship crew in the final series. The game was close, and in the third inning, the worship team was poised to take the game with runners on first and second. But when Abby sent the ball sailing into left field and everyone took off running, the game was suddenly thrown into confusion by a big black dog streaking onto the field. It was Rogue. She had been lying on a blanket next to Claire’s chair, but when she saw Delaney leave second base, she suddenly bounded across the infield, cutting Delaney off so sharply that the woman stumbled and fell to the ground. Rogue proceeded to jump on her and lick her face enthusiastically. Delaney tried to push her off, jump up and continue to third base, but by that time, the left fielder had run up to them with the ball. Smiling apologetically, Shelly Lasseter tapped Delaney on the arm with the ball, and the game was over.
Players from both teams bounded off their benches and onto the field, laughing and joking. “I keep telling you guys,” Pastor Jason teased the worship team players, “God is always on our side.”
“And I keep telling you that pride goeth before a fall, Jason,” Drew reminded him cheekily, throwing the statement over his shoulder as he headed toward Delaney. She had gotten to her feet and was trying to scold Rogue for her actions, but the dog was sitting so perfectly still and grinning up at her with such unabashed adoration, that it took all the bluster out of Delaney’s reprimand.
“We should have put her in the game and let her run the bases for us,” Drew joked, walking up to her.
“Oh my goodness,” Delaney said. “I’m so sorry, Drew! It never occurred to me that she would do such a thing. I should have put her on a leash with Claire. I’m sorry we lost you the game.”
Drew looked down at her admiringly. Locks of her shiny blonde hair were spilling out from under her Mets ball cap. Her long lashes framed the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, and her cheeks were flushed with color. His breath caught in his throat, and a tender thought took shape in his mind. He was falling in love with her.
He knew it with certainty, and despite all the reasons he knew it was a poor idea to consider it, the realization filled him with hope. It had been a very long time since Drew had felt this way about any woman. He’d spent his college days with a string of girlfriends and temporary hook ups. Only one of them had captured his romantic interest, but that relationship had ended so badly that it had hardened Drew’s heart for a long period of time—years, actually. He gave his life to Christ in his mid-twenties, and over time, his resentments and reservations about love gave way to healing, and he’d told God nearly five years ago that he was ready for a relationship whenever the Lord saw fit to give him one. At thirty-seven, he was ready for a wife and family.
In truth, he’d architected a very specific picture in his mind about who that woman would be. He had few preferences about what she would look like, but as his faith and passion for ministry had grown, so had his desire for a woman with whom he would be equally yoked. He’d even entertained a few dreams about her being someone who was called to worship ministry—he wanted to be one of those married couples that led worship together.
Under the assumption that God would bring him a woman of faith with a call to ministry, Drew had put a pretty narrow set of parameters around any of the opportunities that may have come along in the last few years. A few women had come into the picture here and there, either relatives of friends or new members attending the church, but he’d steered clear of them all. Of late, even his closest friends had started playing matchmaker, but he always shut them down. He was leaving it all in God’s hands, although what he had been putting in God’s hands was an increasingly exacting list of specifications about who that woman needed to be.
And now, as he looked down into the face of a woman who fit almost none of those specifications, he couldn’t help but wonder if God was pranking him. Was he being tested? He had been praying all week for God to guard his heart from her lovely face. But as beautiful as she was, it wasn’t her looks alone that drew him. Everything about her attracted him like a magnet. Could God be rolling his eyes at Drew’s list? Was it possible that he was being drawn to a woman who met God’s list of specifications instead of his own?
If she were a believer—if she weren’t so deeply conflicted about God and faith—Drew would gladly set fire to the rest of his list and watch it go up in a blaze of glory. He wouldn’t care about anything else but hearing God say “She’s the one” about the amazing woman standing in front of him. He knew God was using him to address her doubts, and he also knew that meeting her, learning her story, and taking her to Timber Ridge were not random events. He had felt God’s hand over each of those moments in the last few days, felt the pull of the Holy Spirit in every conversation they’d had, and could not shake the tug in his own spirit that all of it had been orchestrated for a purpose. If that were true, then Drew had to consider the possibility that God was knitting his heart to Delaney for a reason, and that it was by God’s hand and with his permission that he was falling in love with her.
He knew such an assumption required a whole lot more prayer and a continued measure of caution with her, but he found himself greatly hoping God would confirm it. In the meantime, for however much longer she was going to be in Savannah, he would enjoy her company and listen carefully for God’s voice.
“Good lord, you’re injured!” he suddenly exclaimed, looking at the blood trickling down her shin from a large scrape across her right knee.
Delaney looked confused and then followed his gaze to her lower leg. “Oh, wow. I guess I am. Just a scrape though, I think.” She shrugged her shoulders as if kickball injuries were an everyday occurrence for her.
Without asking, Drew suddenly swept her up in his arms, cradling her against his chest and marched her off the infield toward the bleachers, causing heads to swivel and mouths to fall agape all over the field. Claire, who had just opened a popsicle, jumped in shock at the sight of them and promptly dropped it upside down in her lap. She stared in wide-eyed wonder at the pair of them, as Drew settled Delaney on the bottom row of the bleachers and then knelt down to look at her knee. Rogue had followed closely behind and now sat right next to Drew, pressed against his side, looking back and forth between the two of them, tail vigorously sweeping the clay behind her.
The vision of the three of them huddled together grabbed Claire’s heart, and tears sprang to her eyes. She looked over to see Jason watching them with the same unshielded expression. In fact, their entire group had stopped and were watching what was taking place. Drew had no idea how important he was to this group of people nor how much they loved him. He also had no idea how many prayers had been whispered on his behalf by these same people. They were bound to take a keen interest i
n the rather unprecedented spectacle of Drew sweeping a beautiful woman off her feet.
Claire jumped to her feet, grabbing a wad of napkins from her picnic bag and walked over to them. “Is she okay?” Claire asked holding the napkins out to Drew. He took a few of them and began dabbing at the scrape on her knee. There was an oozing gash in the scraped area that was causing the trickle, so Drew folded the napkins and pressed them to the cut to stop the bleeding.
“You’re the one who looks like a murder victim, Ms. Claire,” Delaney giggled. “You might want to keep some of those napkins for yourself.”
Claire looked down at the red popsicle stains soaked and scattered across her white capris and then laughed in dismay. “Oh dear me, I’m going to have to run home and change my pants.” She shot them both a penetrating look and said, “I dropped my popsicle at the sight of you carrying this lovely girl off the field, Drew Hemming. Um…you’ve got quite an audience, by the way.”
Drew continued pressing the wound but looked over his shoulder to see everyone staring. He chuckled and shook his head at them all, causing everyone to look away awkwardly and scatter abruptly. He turned his attention back to her knee, pulling the napkins away to check the wound.
“I think the bleeding has stopped,” he said softly, cupping her calf with one hand and wiping the blood stains from her shin with the other.
“Oh? Are you sure?” Delaney asked breathlessly. “You might need to apply pressure a little while longer, I think.” She smiled into his eyes. Neither of them could stop looking at the other.
Oh dear, Claire thought, watching the exchange with a smothered grin. These two were going to set the bleachers on fire. “Okay, you two. Enough of that. You’re going to have tongues wagging all over the field as it is.”
Delaney blushed and Drew shot Claire a scowling look. But he knew she was right. The way his body had responded just now told him he needed to step back. She had asked him to keep applying pressure to her wound simply for the pleasure of having him touch her. His heart flip-flopped and his body reacted. He smiled to himself and then stood up and stepped back.
“Time for lunch, I think,” he said rather dazedly.
Delaney floated through the remainder of the day with the most amazing joy in her heart. She knew she was on borrowed time. In another day or so, she would leave. She would go back to her job and her life in New York. She would live again as a single career woman in the big city. As she now looked around the field, she sighed. Everyone had separated into groups, team families sitting on blankets and in chairs under the trees to engage in a devotional reading and small group discussion. These people were amazing. She had listened to them all day. The way they encouraged each other and looked after each other’s needs had taken her breath away. Even their ribbing jokes and sarcastic pokes at each other were full of love and respect.
There was such peace and joy in their fellowship. The portrait of life she was looking at stood in stark contrast to the rather bleak and lonely one that currently hung on the walls of Manhattan. She had been quite content with that life, the one that awaited her in New York, or so she thought. She loved her job and the work she did for Blue Muse. It was incredibly fulfilling, but aside from work, nothing about her life in New York came anywhere close to the kind of happiness she saw in this place…in these people. How long can my job be the only thing of value I wake up to every day?
And then there was Drew. She looked over at him now, sitting to the right of her. He was leaned back against the trunk of the large oak tree they were under. He had his Bible open across his thighs, his legs outstretched and ankles crossed. Rogue was stretched down his right side, her shiny black head asleep on his knee. Drew was absentmindedly stroking her side while he read the scriptures being discussed. Delaney breathed in the sight of them, her beloved dog and this amazing man, and she finally resigned herself to a surprising but inarguable truth.
She was falling in love with Drew.
She tucked that confession in the drawer of her heart and simply savored it. She didn’t have a clue what to do with it or where it could possibly lead. The object of her revelation looked up suddenly and held her eyes for a long moment. Neither of them looked away. She knew then that Drew was savoring feelings of his own and that neither of them were ready to put those feelings into words or declarations.
For now, it was simply a gift to feel them.
“I believe in the immeasurable power of love; that true love can endure any circumstance and reach across any distance.”
—Steve Maraboli
“I think that man is sweet on you.”
Delaney turned to see Bethany Foley standing behind her. Bethany was the woman Claire had been praying for at the end of her small group yesterday—the one going through a divorce. Delaney was sitting at a picnic table finishing off a red velvet cupcake and watching Drew and a few others assemble the makeshift screen they would be projecting the movie onto when it got dark. She blushed at the realization that for probably the umpteenth time that day, she had been staring at him like a lovesick teenager, and obviously Bethany had noticed.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Delaney responded with an unconvincing shake of her head, her suddenly rosy cheeks giving her away. “We hardly know each other…barely a week, actually.”
“That’s usually how it goes, honey.” Bethany said matter-of-factly, climbing into the picnic bench and settling in beside her. She set down her bowl of chips and cracked open a Diet Coke. “I fell in love with Wyatt the day I met him. Took him a little longer, but I knew he was the one right away. In fact, I told my sister to mark my words—that I’d be married to that man by the end of the year.”
Delaney laughed in surprise. “Wow, really? I hear stories like that and they always amaze me. I’ve never been one to fall that hard or that soon for any guy.”
“It wasn’t like that with your husband?”
Delaney considered the question, trying to recall the dynamic between herself and Danny in the early part of their relationship. She shook her head. “No, it definitely wasn’t like that. We were introduced by some mutual friends. We all kind of hung out in the same group. Danny and I joked around and flirted for a few months, and then that led to a few dates. There was definitely an attraction, but nothing like a love-at-first-sight kind of a thing. Eventually we moved in together, lived together for about a year and then got married.” She finished with a shrug.
“That sounds…um…thrilling,” Bethany joked.
Delaney stared at her nonplussed for a moment and then laughed. The picture she’d just painted was anything but romantic, she had to admit. “Actually,” she confessed with a sigh, “that’s probably the last word I’d choose to describe my relationship with Danny. It was many things, but it definitely wasn’t thrilling.”
“And what about Drew?” Bethany queried softly, looking across the field at him, drawing Delaney’s eyes back to him as well. He was standing with a group of men by the movie screen, laughing and joking, his handsome face and ready smile warming her insides as she watched him.
She didn’t respond right away, but when she did, her voice was husky with emotion. “I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s…he’s incredible.” She turned to look at Bethany, who nodded in agreement. “But we live in two different worlds, so I don’t see it going anywhere.” She tried not sound as disappointed by that statement as she felt.
“What do you mean by two different worlds?”
“Well, for starters…I live in New York,” Delaney said.
“Oh wow! I didn’t realize you weren’t from here,” Bethany exclaimed. “I used to live in New York, so I get it. It feels like the other side of the world from a place like this.”
“Actually I am from here—grew up in Shady Oaks and went to school at SCAD, but I’ve been in New York for twelve years.” Delaney suddenly remembered Bethany was a dancer. “Claire said you danced fo
r a company in New York. Which one was it?”
“NYCB,” Bethany said. “I was with the company for nearly ten years.”
Delaney’s jaw fell open in awe. New York City Ballet was one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet companies in the country. “Holy cow, really? That’s amazing! I saw them perform a full production of Jewels last year.” She smiled in unabashed appreciation at the woman sitting next to her. “You must be really good, Bethany.”
“I was pretty good back in the day,” she said with a wry grin. “I worked my way up from the corps to soloist and was within a year or so of making principal when I tore my ACL, and by the time I rehabbed back from it, I just didn’t have the range of motion I’d had before. My professional career was pretty much over.”
“Oh man, I’m so sorry. That had to be tough. How did you end up here of all places?”
“My husband Wyatt grew up here. He had an opportunity to come home to work with his brother. They’re both building contractors. So I moved on to the second of my childhood dreams, which was to have my own school and company. I opened Savannah Central Dance Conservatory about six years ago.”
Delaney recalled how fit Bethany had looked in her black leggings yesterday, which she realized in retrospect were probably yoga pants. Even today, in her biking shorts and layered tank tops, the woman had the inarguable physique of a dancer. It wasn’t just that she was lean and muscular. There was a certain way that she walked, sat, and carried herself that announced her as a ballerina long before anything or anyone else did. She was also so petite that she made Delaney feel like an Amazon sitting next to her.