Amongst The Flames: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Embers and Ashes Book 1)

by T. K. Chapin

  “I promise that won’t happen. I plan on taking them swimming here in a little bit at the hotel pool and then dinner.”

  “I didn’t bring bathing suits,” she said.

  “That’s fine. I’ll get some at the store a block up from here.”

  She nodded. “I better go. Thanks again for taking them.”

  “They’re my kids. You don’t need to thank me for watching them.”

  She nodded as she turned and headed to Amanda’s car that was parked just a couple of stalls down from my hotel room. Watching as she got in, I saw her look up at me for a moment. Her eyes spoke to my soul in that brief moment, saying to not let go of this marriage.

  At dinner that evening at a local fast food joint, I couldn’t keep my thoughts from running in a continual loop. Megan, our marriage, Tom, the family, the boys and the fire station back home. Round and round my thoughts went while Justin and Bradley went round and round the playland at the restaurant. My phone suddenly rang, interrupting my thoughts.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “How’d it go with Megan?” Micah asked.

  “She’s upset…”

  Justin came up to the table, crying.

  “That your boy I hear?” Micah asked.

  “Yep, hold on…” I set the phone down. “What’s wrong?” I asked Justin, searching his body for some sort of injury.

  “Brah hit me!” he shouted with furrowed eyebrows pointing to his arm. I picked him up and kissed his arm.

  “There. All better,” I said. I set him back down and he returned to the other kids in the playland. Picking up my cell phone, I said. “Anyway…”

  “Is Megan with you?”

  “No, I took the boys. She’s at Amanda’s house and I’m staying in a hotel. But it went good with Megan… well it went as good as telling someone their father died can go, I guess. Amanda got a little crazy at the end, though.”

  “Hang in there,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I replied. Watching Bradley climb up the blue stairs with a little girl next to him, I continued, “I think she’ll come around. At least that’s what I’m hoping for…”

  “It’s quite the odd situation you’re in. She’s going through a big thing right now and you’re right by her side. Supporting and loving her through it.”

  “You’re right. I’m just trying to be here for her. That’s all I can do.”

  Justin dashed over from the toys and snatched up a single chicken nugget from the tray. As I watched him eat at the table I spotted Megan pull up just outside the window. “I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up the phone and rose to my feet.

  Her steps quickened as she made her way through the restaurant. When she came into the playland, she spotted me and hurried over to me. She wrapped her arms around me and let her head fall onto my chest. Bringing my arms up, I hugged her. As I held my wife in my arms, I felt like I was doing something to help ease the pain.

  “Mike’s over at the house… do you want to get the boys and we can all head over there?” She asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

  I nodded softly. “Sure. But I thought I was taking them for the night?”

  “I want you to be there… and Amanda is calm now.”

  I nodded. Turning to the playland, I called out, “Justin… Bradley… come get your shoes on. We’re leaving.”

  As I helped the boys with their shoes, I looked over my shoulder at Megan and caught her smiling. Finishing up with Bradley’s final shoe, I picked the boys up into my arms and headed out to the car with Megan.

  When I arrived at Amanda’s house, Mike was in the kitchen at the table, and he stood up to shake my hand. “Been a long time, Cole,” he said, taking a seat.

  “It has,” I replied as I sat down at the table with him. The boys ran up the stairs to the bedrooms.

  “Where’s Amanda?” Megan asked.

  “She’s out on the back porch. She’s upset. Your mother called and told her they weren’t able to change the date of the funeral and procession, so she has to go pick Lexi up from camp early.”

  Megan nodded and stepped out onto the back porch.

  After the sliding door shut, Mike leaned across the table and said in a loud whisper, “I don’t know what to do for Amanda… She asked me to come over, but I’m just sitting here.”

  “You didn’t want to come over?” I asked.

  Shaking his head, he replied, “No… after that other night, I wrote her off.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “They went bar hopping…” He began to say.

  “Oh, I heard about that,” I interrupted.

  “You did?” He asked as his eyes widened. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “Well… It’s just bar hopping and I want my family back. I have to put them first. I know God will help our marriage work out.”

  He scoffed as he shook his head. “It wasn’t just bar hopping, man…”

  Fear nipped in my chest. “What do you mean?” I asked, sitting up a little bit more in my seat.

  He looked towards the back slider where the girls were and shook his head as he looked back at me. “I don’t know if I should be the one telling you…”

  “Come on, Mike! If it’s about my wife, I need to know!” I insisted, leaning across the table.

  “Okay,” he said with a nod. He took a deep breath and continued. “Well… They met a couple of guys at the bar and then brought them back to the house. They sent me packing, and…” His voice got quiet and his words trailed off.

  “What is it?” I demanded, smacking the table.

  “Megan took one of the guy’s up to her room as I was on my way out the door.”

  Paralyzed, I felt my entire body go stiff as a nail. It felt like I was in a fire and someone was tossing gasoline on it. It wouldn’t let up, wouldn’t back down and would not cease until I was dead.

  Mike’s lips tightened as he kept his quiet. I looked up at him and processed his gaze. It was true. Every word he said. I smacked the kitchen table again, this time with more force causing Mike’s diet soda to topple over and spill.

  Rubbing my chin as I felt an immediate desire to shoot out of the front door of Amanda’s house, I sighed heavily. “She didn’t say a word about that… and neither did Tom.”

  Mike said, “Not an easy thing to tell someone.” He grabbed a paper towel from near the sink to clean up his soda. As he began wiping up the spill, he shook his head and said, “These women these days… You just can’t trust them.”

  Peering over to the slider, I saw Megan look over at me. That once beautiful rose I saw when I looked at her was no more. Instead, all I could see was a woman who ripped my world apart and stole my happiness. Standing up, I began to make for the front door.

  “Wait. Don’t go. She’ll know I told you!” He pleaded.

  “There’s no sense in me staying,” I said making eye contact with Megan as I spoke the words over my shoulder to Mike.

  “Cole!” she shouted as she rushed through the kitchen and down the hallway attempting to stop me. Ignoring her, I continued on my way, opening the front door. “Please don’t go! The boys will be devastated!”

  I paused for a moment and looked at her. “You took them away from me and didn’t care. Now I’m leaving and it’s a concern?” I laughed under my breath as I stepped out onto the porch. “It’s always about whatever suits you for the moment.” Continuing down the steps of the porch and onto the broken cement path, I kept my pace to leave.

  As I began my walk up the street towards my hotel, I could hear the faint sound of Megan crying back on Amanda’s porch.

  CHAPTER 16

  The morning after finding out about my wife’s greatest betrayal, I sat on the edge of the bed of my hotel and wept. All the training and the burning buildings I had run into to save this person or that person. None of it could prepare me for the greatest rescue of my life, my own marriage.

  My wife had committed the ultimate sin, and Biblically, I had ev
ery right to divorce her. I could toss her out like the leftover greasy fast food burger that I hadn’t finished from last night at dinner that was sitting on my nightstand. That burger—much like how I viewed my wife in that moment— was cheap, useless and of little nutritional value. Is that what I want? I wondered as I eyeballed the grease ball over on my nightstand. Do I want to toss her out?

  My boys began to press on my mind. Then I picked up the glass coaster on the nightstand and chucked it against the wall, shattering it instantly. I felt trapped. They were just innocent kids caught in the crossfire. They needed me as a dad and a leader in their life. There wasn’t any possible way to do that if they lived in Seattle with their mother and aunt.

  Sitting down on the bed, I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed heavily. Spotting the corner of my Bible in my duffle bag across the room, I felt drawn to the Scriptures. I needed God to be my God. I began reading James chapter one over again.

  2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

  Joy? I paused my reading to reflect inwardly. Was I joyful over my trials? My father-in-law was dead and I had just learned of my wife’s infidelity in our marriage. I picked up my cell phone from the nightstand and powered it back on. I had shut it off the night before after Megan attempted to call me over twenty times. It came back on and I phoned the one man I knew who could help.

  “Hey Brother,” Micah answered.

  “I’m struggling with a passage…”

  “Which one?”

  “James-”

  He interrupted me. “Happiness is not the same as joy.”

  “Wait. I didn’t even tell you where I was talking about.”

  “I know. But I know the exact passage you’re struggling with. James one verse two.”

  I glanced down at my scriptures and smiled. “Yep.”

  “Yeah… That’s a tough one to wrap your mind around. Especially in a time like you are in right now.”

  “I know… so how is joy and happiness different? I always thought they kind of went together.”

  “Nope. Different.”

  “How?”

  “Happiness is always fleeting, never permanent. Joy abides deep within your soul and remains.”

  “Okay…”

  “Are you looking at the passage right now?” Micah asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Read the next two verses, three and four.”

  “Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

  Micah replied, “You get the joy when you remain steadfast in your faith. God is with you and working through trials… that brings you the joy that doesn’t go away like happiness can.”

  “I’m still kind of lost.”

  “That’s fine. It’s a little confusing. Think of it this way, Brother. Joy relies on your faith, while happiness relies on your circumstances."

  I nodded as it began to click. “So, basically I’m not supposed to be thrilled about the trials and difficulties, but instead I’ll find joy as I move through them with God.”

  “Yes. But hey, I got to go. I just walked into the hardware store and need to ask a worker here a question.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

  I hung up and bowed my head to pray. I asked God for joy to fill my soul. Raising my eyes from prayer, I saw a ray of sunshine beaming through the edge of the curtain of my hotel window. It drew me from the bed. I walked into the light and let the sunshine warm my skin. God is with me, I thought as a smile broke across my face and a supernatural peace and quietness came over me. This peace that was inside me was nothing short of a miracle. It was nothing that the world could provide. It was a divine intervention to help me in my moment of need.

  Peering out the curtain of the hotel room, I spotted an elderly couple across the street at a local diner. They were laughing, talking and enjoying a pleasant conversation. The strangest part to me was they were so old. My wife and I were at least forty years younger, but never had that much laughter and excitement over a simple meal. I felt inclined to go meet this couple. I grabbed my coat, slipped on my shoes and headed out of my room.

  In the attempts to not disrupt the patrons of the establishment, I took a table near the couple and ordered a coffee. I listened in on their conversation for ten or so minutes. The conversation was random and about their kids, the pier and the sunset they saw last night. Becoming weary of the idle chit-chat, I got up and went over to their table.

  “What’s your secret?” I asked.

  The man’s gray and wild eyebrows shot up. “Secret about what young man?”

  The woman on the other side of the table said, “The boy is asking about our marriage, Ralph!” Her voice was elevated, but she wasn’t angry, just smiling.

  Ralph looked over at her and grinned as he nodded. “The secret is, you accept her no matter how much she irritates you!”

  “Oh shut it you ol’ geezer!” The woman laughed.

  “Just keep smiling and loving God, that’s all you can do. I will admit it was harder when we were younger, but it got better with age. Like a fine wine.”

  “Thank you,” I said smiling. “I needed to hear that.” Their waitress returned to their table and began clearing plates, and I returned to my seat.

  Sipping my coffee at my table, I retrieved my phone from my pocket and went into my voicemail to listen to Megan’s messages from last night.

  The first voicemail was a few moments of sniffling and crying.

  The second one was Megan trying to talk while at the same time crying. “Cole… I don’t know what I was doing or why I was doing it… And I’m sorry you didn’t hear it from me. I’m so lost and broken right now… Please call me.”

  The third one was a few words of vulgarity.

  The fourth one, she wasn’t crying at all. She was recalling one of our first dates. “Remember when I snuck out of my parents’ house and met you in the back alley? I thought my dad was going to shoot you in the head when you brought me back home that night and he was sitting on the back porch with his shotgun in hand…” She laughed and then began crying. “I miss him so much… babe…. I mean, oops, sorry. I can’t call you that. Goodbye.” She hung up.

  The fifth and final voicemail was Megan in shambles. With broken words and a hurting heart, she said, “I love you, Cole, and I need you. I’m sorry I was so scared to tell you… and more importantly, I’m sorry it happened.”

  Hanging up my cell phone, I set it down on the table and took another drink of my coffee. I needed to be there for my wife, not because she deserved it, not because of the boys, but because I made a vow to God on our wedding day to be there through thick and thin. It was just like Tom was trying to say to me at dinner that one night. And I knew right then with God providing me the peace and strength I needed, I was equipped to stay with my wife.

  Buzz. My phone vibrated with a text message from Megan.

  I’m going to travel with Amanda and Mike to Spokane. FYI… The funeral is in two days, on Tuesday.

  I called her.

  “What?” she answered, her tone was cold and distant.

  “Umm… Bad time?”

  “No. What is it?”

  “I heard your messages… I want to make this work Megan.”

  “Well, I need to be here for Amanda.”

  My waitress came over to my table and set the check down for the coffee. “Did you want a refill?” she asked.

  I shook my head and slid out of the seat. “I’m going to get going, keep the change,” I said. I grabbed my wallet from my back pocket and dropped a five dollar bill on the table. Then I made my way out of the diner.

  “Sorry, you still there?” I said into the phone as I began walking a
cross the street back towards my hotel.

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Okay. I understand you want to be there for Amanda… but your messages sounded like—”

  “I know what they said. I’m just confused right now, Cole. Okay?”

  “I can’t be there for you if you don’t let me be.”

  “Just stop, Cole. Just be there for me… from a distance. I know I’m sending mixed messages… but I don’t know what else to say.”

  I paused for a moment as I searched my mind for words. “Are you at least not seeing the guy anymore?”

  “Heavens no, Cole. It was a one-time thing… It’s over.”

  Her answer created another hundred questions, but I had to refrain from asking more. “Okay…” I let out a sigh. “So you’re going to travel with Amanda back to Spokane?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Alright. I’ll come by and kiss the boys on my way to the airport tonight.”

  “Okay…” she went quiet for a moment before continuing, “Cole?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “For what?”

  “Everything… It’s so hard to process all that’s going on inside of me right now… and I just want to say thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Hanging up the call with Megan, I didn’t feel good. My mind constantly jumped back to this mysterious guy that she had been involved with. Who was he? What was his name? What’d they do? The questions were never-ending, but I knew I might never know. I prayed for God to quiet my mind and help me.

  That evening I boarded my flight back to Spokane and took a window seat near the back of the plane. As I got settled into my seat, I saw a mother with two toddlers coming down the aisle. One boy and one girl latched onto each one of the woman’s hands. They were grabbing at magazines and fighting all the way to their seat. I felt instantly bad for the woman and offered to put her carry-on bag in the overhead compartment for her.

  “Thanks,” she said with a relieved sigh. “Do you have kids?”