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

by T. K. Chapin

“I do,” I replied. “Two boys, two and three years old.”

  She nodded as she glanced over at the boy and girl. “Mine are the same age… They can be so difficult!” She laughed.

  I nodded. Seeing her reach over and put her son back into his seat, I noticed she didn’t have a ring on her left hand. “You’re not married?”

  “No,” she replied. “I’ve been a single Mom for a year now.”

  “How’s that going?”

  She sighed. “Honestly? It’s hard…” Glancing over at her kids, she continued, “But I am happier now.”

  More people came down the aisle wanting to get to their seats. “I’ll see ya around,” I said to her and returned to my own seat.

  As I watched the people come down the aisle, I thought of Megan. She loaded our boys up on a plane and took off across the state to leave me behind in Spokane. She had planned the whole thing and was determined. She even cheated on me. And now, after her dad passed away she might want me back? I bowed my head and prayed. I prayed to God to help guide my steps forward. If I were to keep Megan as my wife and make it work, I’d need God to help me move past the mountain of issues between us.

  CHAPTER 17

  The funeral procession down Division Street from the funeral home to the cemetery was the largest one I had ever seen in my life. Firefighters from across Spokane and even across the state came to pay their respects to Tom. Police motorcycles led the procession, followed by a marching band, which included drums and bagpipes. Fire trucks, police cars and the hearse behind them. Friends and family were in vehicles at the very back, followed by more police.

  At the reception that followed the services, one firefighter made his way over to our family’s table. I hadn’t seen him before, but I suspected he was just there like the other firefighters that came to pay his respects for Tom. As he whispered into Megan’s ear, I surveyed the room with my eyes and saw a ghostly expression on Mike’s face as he sat at our table next to Amanda.

  “What?” I mouthed to Mike.

  His eyes widened as he nodded the direction of Megan and the firefighter.

  Turning, I looked at Megan and the guy as anger crept its way into my heart. I zeroed in on the conversation he and Megan were having and listened in the best I could from across the table.

  “I told you not to come here!” Megan snapped at the man.

  “I said I couldn’t get the day off, but I did, and I came straight here after leaving the station.”

  “I don’t care! I never asked you to come. Get out of here and go home!” she insisted. The man stormed out of the reception.

  “What was that about?” I asked as I turned and looked at the door he left through. “Are you guys dating?” I asked Megan with my eyebrows lifted.

  “No…” Megan replied.

  “I need more punch,” I said. Standing up I headed over to the table where the punch bowl was and Megan came up behind me. She grabbed my arm and pulled me around to her.

  “I don’t know why he came here. He called yesterday, and I tried to tell him to leave me alone, but I guess he didn’t fully understand what that meant.”

  I shrugged. “Okay…” I didn’t like him showing up, but there wasn’t much I could do. We walked back over to the table and overheard Amanda talking to Mike.

  “Cole had his chance… it’s time for her to move on that’s why I invited him,” Amanda said.

  Megan grabbed Amanda’s shoulder and yanked her in her seat to face her. “Really?” Megan asked. “After all we’ve went through, and all the help I’ve provided around your house… You know how much I love Cole. Why would you tell Chase to come here?”

  Amanda glared up at me and said, “Yep. I think Cole had his chance with you already. Plus, I don’t want you leaving Seattle, Sis… I like the help.”

  “I can’t believe you!” Megan snapped at her and darted out of the reception hall crying.

  I ran out of the double doors of the church after her and found her in the parking lot. She was sitting on the curb crying into her arms as they were folded over her knees.

  Sitting down next to her, I put my arm around her shoulders and rubbed softly. She began crying harder.

  “I’m sorry for what Amanda did to you…”

  “It’s not your fault,” she said, raising her head. “She’s just being selfish…”

  I nodded.

  Megan looked over at me and the tears stopped for a moment. “You’re so good to me… and I don’t deserve it.”

  “I love you, Megan.”

  She looked back out into the parking lot and I began rubbing her shoulder again. “I know I haven’t done a good job of showing you that love…” I started to say. Then I softly lifted her fallen chin and brought her face towards mine as I continued, “But it’s really here to stay. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving that to you.”

  She smiled through the tears streaming down her cheek and leaned her head against my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to my chest. Comforting her, easing the pain. “I can’t believe my dad’s really gone…” she said with a soft and broken voice. “I don’t know what I would have done without you by my side today…”

  “There’s nowhere I’d rather have been,” I replied, tightening my hold.

  We came back inside and to our table. Rick, Kane and Brian came over to where we were sitting.

  “We’re going to play a round of golf in remembrance of the Captain tomorrow,” Kane said.

  Shaking my head, I said, “Not this time.” I picked up my chair and brought it around the table closer to Megan and set it down next to her. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I said, “We’re going to take some time as a family.”

  Kane nodded and said, “Maybe next time.”

  “Maybe,” I replied with a respectful nod. They walked away from the table and Megan rested her head against my shoulder.

  “You could have gone… I wouldn’t have minded,” she said softly.

  Shaking my head, I turned my sights from the guys and looked her in the eyes. “I don’t want to golf, I want to be home. With you. With the boys.”

  “I love you,” she said.

  Kissing the side of her head, I said, “I love you, too.”

  After arriving home that afternoon we put the boys down for a nap and collapsed from the exhaustion of the day onto the couch. Looking over at me, she said, “I’m glad to be back at home.”

  Looking over at her, I asked with a humorous tone, “You don’t miss Amanda’s?”

  She laughed. “You know her kids are nuts. They were bouncing off the walls the entire time I was there… I hated it.” Her words were soft and delicate.

  “Shouldn’t have left in the first place, I guess?” I laughed.

  She didn’t return the laugh this time. Instead, she got up off the couch and proceeded into the laundry room. I followed after her and grabbed her arm gently and turned her to me. “What’d I do?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry… I’m being too sensitive. I just want to move on past the whole Seattle thing.”

  I nodded as I watched the water pour into the top of the washer. I wasn’t over Seattle, but I knew that she was at home, with me and with our family. The look in her eyes throughout the day, the broken words she was speaking that dripped with regret over what she had done. I brought my hands up to her face and lifted her cheeks up to make eye contact with her. “It’s going to be hard, love, but we’ll get through this, together. I’m sorry about the offhanded comment… I didn’t mean to hurt you with it. I wasn’t thinking, and that was wrong of me.”

  “I have no right to be upset…”

  “Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean I don’t need to treat you with respect and love. And I especially need to quit bringing it up, even offhandedly… that way we can get past this and move forward.”

  Later that evening, while we were eating dinner at the table as a family, Megan asked, “When are you going back to work?”


  “Probably sometime next week,” I said.

  “Oh…” she replied, pushing her corn around on her plate with the tip of her fork.

  “Why? What’s on your mind?” I asked.

  Megan began crying.

  “What’s wrong, love?” I asked, setting my fork down and placing my hand on top of hers.

  She wiped her tears and said, “I don’t want you to get hurt, Cole.”

  I came around to her, squeezing by Bradley’s high chair. Putting my arm around her shoulders, I kissed her cheek and lifted her chin. “I’ll be safe, I promise.”

  She nodded. “I just can’t help but worry…”

  “It’ll be okay,” I said, returning to my chair.

  She erupted in tears again.

  “What?”

  She shook her head as she put her hands against her temples. “I just still can’t believe he’s really gone, Cole. My dad… he’s just… gone.”

  Justin and Bradley were staring at her. I made eye contact with Justin and he asked, “Mommy hurt?”

  “She’s sad Grandpa went to heaven.”

  “Grandpa… heaven?” Justin asked.

  Megan broke out in a smile through the tears and wiped her cheeks as she nodded to Justin. “Yep, he’s in heaven with all the angels and Jesus now and Grandpa James —Daddy’s dad.”

  Wanting to shift the subject, I asked, “Did Mike and Amanda make amends? I saw they were glued at the hip pretty much all day.”

  “No… Mike just came to support his kids and ex-wife through the painful process. He’s done with her.”

  I nodded.

  “Why are you nodding your head yeah?” Megan asked.

  I shrugged. “Just acknowledging what you said.”

  “You weren’t agreeing? Like he’s doing the right thing?”

  “No… I just was acknowledging what you said.”

  “Okay. Do you think Amanda’s stupid for what she did? Getting a divorce and all that?”

  “It’s not my place…” I began to say.

  “Don’t act like you don’t judge people,” Megan snapped as she stood up and quickly made her way to the sink in the kitchen.

  Getting up, I came over to her as she was rinsing her plate in the sink. When I got to her, I noticed she was crying more and I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her, not saying a word. She immediately pushed her way out of my hold.

  “Stop it, Cole!”

  I took a step back. “I’m just trying to comfort you.”

  She shook her head. “Well, I don’t want it right now… Okay?”

  I nodded. The atmosphere between us felt awkward, and I returned to my seat. “I’m only trying to be helpful here.”

  Bradley started yelling from his high chair. “I done. I done!”

  Justin flipped his plate over and his chicken and rice went all over the edge of the table and onto the floor. Megan looked over at me for only a moment as I chewed a piece of chicken. She sighed heavily before rushing over to clean up the kids. “Of course, you’re not going to help,” she said, sighing heavily as she began getting Bradley down from the high chair.

  “What is going on with you, Megan? You didn’t even ask.”

  “It’s all on me, isn’t it? Just like always… I’m so sick of it, Cole!” She took Bradley in one arm and Justin in the other, stomping her way through the house and upstairs to go bathe the boys.

  Hearing each foot stomp on her way up the stairs caused me to flinch. I looked up to the ceiling. Why did I want this woman back in my house? She’s walking around on edge and treating me like trash when she was the one who stepped out. I don’t deserve this. There’s got to be something I’m missing here. I bowed my head and prayed for help.

  Finishing my plate of food, I put the plate in the sink and made my way upstairs to the bathroom. “I can help,” I said at the doorway looking in.

  Megan was bent over the edge of the tub and scrubbing Bradley down with a sponge. “Really?” she asked, her eyebrows shot up.

  “Yeah,” I said, stepping into the bathroom. Bending down, I grabbed the sponge from her hand and said, “Go kick your feet up on the coffee table and relax.”

  “Okay,” she replied, letting go of the sponge. She sounded a bit skeptical as she stood up and began walking out of the bathroom. She stopped and looked back at me and said, “Be sure to clean Bradley’s hair really good; he likes to run anything that’s not a solid through it.”

  I laughed. “Will do.”

  She left downstairs and I turned to my two boys who had devilish grins on their face. “Now you two are going to behave for Daddy, right?”

  Justin began rocking back and forth in the tub, swooshing the water.

  “Don’t do that Justin. You’re spilling the water over the edge.”

  Bradley suddenly stood up and jumped, causing a large amount of water to spill over the side. “Don’t do that!” I said sharply. I turned around to grab a towel and that’s when everything really began to fall apart. By the time I directed my sights back to the boys—only a few seconds later—Justin had my body wash and the lid was off. He was shaking it all over as he ran around the tub.

  “Justin!” I shouted, grabbing the bottle from him. Bradley smiled up at me as blue gel dripped down his face. It was everywhere. All over the curtains, the wall, Justin, Bradley, and some even made its way onto the toilet. I sighed, shaking my head. “You two are trouble, aren’t ya?”

  For the rest of their bath, I made sure not to turn my back again. I watched them play with the toys and splash around the tub, and remembered the lady on the plane, and was bewildered that she does it all alone. Then I thought of my wife. I hadn’t helped with bath time since Justin had gotten home from the hospital. She might as well have been the single woman on the plane. She did everything when it came to our home and the boys.

  Getting them out of the bath and into their pajamas, the three of us took a seat on Justin’s bed and curled up together. Bradley was under my left arm and Justin under my right. I read them a bedtime story about a moon that goes to work when everybody else goes to bed. After the story, I tucked the boys into bed, said their prayers with them, kissed them and then turned off the light. I had the door just about shut when a little voice behind me in the room piped up.

  “Da-” Bradley said from under his covers of his bed.

  I walked back to his side of the room and bent down to see what he needed. “Yes?”

  “Hug?”

  My heart warmed at the words and I smiled deeply. I hugged him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Good night.”

  Justin must have overheard our conversation as he also called out, “Hug.”

  I got up and went over to his bed and bent down. Giving him a kiss and a hug I smiled at him. I could see why now she was able to do it all this time like she did. It was for these precious little moments.

  As I shut the door to the boys’ room, I sighed heavily with relief. I had no idea what my wife went through and I only dealt with a bath and story time. As I came down the stairs, I said, “You truly are amazing, my love.” As the front room came into view, I saw Megan was weeping into her palms on the couch as she was slouched over.

  “You okay?” I asked as I sat down beside her.

  She looked up and wiped her eyes. “I’m just upset… you’re being so kind to me and I’m being so rude…”

  “You have a lot going on… I’m trying to be understanding. Losing a parent is rough.” I rubbed her back.

  “Thanks…”

  “You truly do amaze me.” She looked over at me. “I don’t get how you did it for so long with no help… I could barely handle just bath time.”

  She smiled at me. “That means a lot that you can see that now…” She kissed my cheek and wrapped her arms around me. Gently pulling away, she got up and went over to the bookcase. She grabbed her Bible and brought it over to the couch. “I want to change with you.”

  I smiled. “It’ll be good for you. My thinking has been t
ransformed through reading Scriptures and praying daily.”

  “I know,” she said. “I’m going to start reading my Bible and getting back into God. I need Him so badly right now.”

  I nodded. “We need God to make this marriage work,” I said.

  “I agree,” she replied.

  I went and grabbed our laptop from the bedroom and found a Bible study guide online for couples. As we began working through the first session, answering questions and discussing passages, I could feel our marriage begin on the journey of healing with this single step forward.

  CHAPTER 18

  A week later and it was time to head back to work. I woke up that morning –like every morning that followed my wife’s return home— with a smile on my face knowing she was right there next to me. I still couldn’t get over the fact she was back home. Leaning over the covers, I pulled the comforter back and planted a kiss on her cheek. She came out of her sleep enough to smile over at me before rolling over and submerging deep under the covers. She had time until the boys would be up.

  Placing my feet firmly beside my bed on the carpet, I stretched out my arms and got out of bed. I found myself wondering what my wife would be doing while I was gone for the next solid twenty-four hour stretch of time. I was going to miss her while I was on my shift.

  After I got ready for work, I went back into the bedroom for another kiss. I put a knee on the bed and leaned over the covers again. “I love you,” I whispered into her ear as I kissed her cheek and her neck.

  She kept her eyes closed as she turned her head back towards me and kissed my lips while she smiled. “I love you too. Have a good shift.”

  Shutting the front door behind me, I was down the porch and out to my truck in the driveway. Climbing inside, I turned my eyes back to the house for a second as I thought about calling in sick. I can’t do that, I thought to myself as I turned the key over. That wouldn’t be right.

  “How’s it going, Brother?” Micah asked, greeting me as he shut the door to his little white sedan in the parking lot at the station.