by T. K. Chapin
Crystal nodded. “When there’s a secure faith in a person, letting go of a loved one can be easier. You know, the fact that Jonathan is bringing Rose to this school should be a good sign to you. From what you told me about his lack of faith and the fact that I knew him from Bible study? All good signs.”
“Thank you.” Reaching out, she touched Crystal’s hand. “And thanks for taking the time to talk to me.”
“You’re welcome.”
#
Jonathan thanked Tyler on the phone for agreeing to pick up Rose for him at the school. He was in his studio working on a new building re-design of an old decrepit warehouse downtown. A super-rich twenty-year-old wanted to turn the historic eyesore into a new tech startup headquarters.
The front door chimed, and he set his pencil down on the desk. Walking out from his studio, he went to answer it. As he opened the door, he said, “Did you forget you have a key?”
Tyler laughed. “No. I just like making you walk.”
He let go of Rose’s hand as Jonathan bent down, and she leapt into his arms.
“Daddy! I loved school with Kylie!”
“Good, honey. Tell me all about it.”
They walked through the foyer toward the living room, listening to Rose talk about her time with Kylie. Once in the living room, Tyler and Jonathan sat down on the couch while Rose got busy pulling out her toys from the toy box beside the TV.
Jonathan turned to his brother. “What’d she say?”
“Not much more than a friendly ‘hello.’ ”
Adjusting on the couch, Jonathan got on the edge of his cushion. “What else? How’d she seem?”
“Like a teacher?” He laughed. “I don’t know, man. If you care so much, you should’ve gone and talked to her.”
Shoving a hand through the air, Jonathan stood up. “I just need to know how she feels, what she’s thinking. You know?”
“You’ve got to go get her then, man. If you really care, you can’t hide in your house and hope she comes crawling.”
Wiping his face, Jonathan nodded, then turned. “Wait. What if she rejects me?”
“Then you move on.” Tyler stood, patting his shoulder. “You know what, brother? You weren’t ready for that woman when she came into your life. You were a God-hating, workaholic, angry and cold man who had no friends besides me, and that’s because I have to love you. The way God used Rose’s coming here still baffles me to this day. You were a rock that was impenetrable, and God got through to you with this little girl who calls you Daddy. Now it’s time to go get your woman.”
Chapter 41
AFTER THE CHILDREN LEFT FOR the day, there was a bit of cleanup left for Kylie in Mrs. Riley’s classroom. She had successfully made it through the day, despite the train wreck of emotions that showed up first thing in the morning in her classroom’s doorway. Her nerves were settled now, and she had been relieved to see that Tyler instead of Jonathan had come to pick up Rose in the afternoon. She loved seeing Rose again during class, this time as her teacher. It was a painfully sweet reminder of their time together at Jonathan’s house.
A rapping of knuckles lightly knocked on the door, then it opened.
Kylie turned to see who it was.
It was Crystal. She walked in. Her mouth tipped into a smile as she raised an eyebrow on her approach. “How’d it go the rest of the day?” Her voice was sympathetic, her demeanor understanding and caring. “Hopefully, it wasn’t too bad.”
“Our talk earlier helped a lot. Thanks again for that.” Reaching over to the floor, Kylie picked up a pile of blocks that Nathaniel, one of her students, had left behind from his playtime after nap. She dropped them into the crate beside her and lifted her gaze to Crystal. “Why’d it have to work out like this, I wonder? His daughter goes here? What kind of weird coincidence is that?”
Crystal shrugged. “Maybe it’s not a coincidence. Maybe it’s God’s way of nudging you. I don’t want to put words into God’s mouth, but look at it. You get hired on here and then you, on a freak whim, substitute in his daughter’s class? Either tell him how you feel or forget about him and move on, honey.” After a few seconds, Kylie heard Crystal’s footsteps leave the classroom.
Kylie walked over to the counter with a sink in it and grabbed the yellow sponge to clean up the marker that had made its way onto one of the tables. Leaning over, she wiped away the blue and red marks and whispered to herself. “I can’t forget him because I love him.”
Turning her head back to the task at hand, a sparkle caught her eye on the table next to the one she was cleaning.
There was a ring.
Confusion filled her as she walked over to the table. She lifted the ring from the table and looked at it.
“I love you too.”
Her heart pounded as her gaze lifted from the ring to see Jonathan in the doorway of the classroom.
“Jonathan.” Her voice was a soft whisper, and she could feel tingles chasing the length of her spine as she felt frozen in time. He walked between the children’s tables and gently took the ring from her and slipped it onto her finger.
“Think about it. I know I have.” Moving past her, he went to the other table where the sponge was and picked it up. Kylie said nothing but cleaned too. They worked together to clean the mess of the room left by the little angels she had taught. Jonathan wiped everything down while Kylie put craft supplies back into their proper places. By the end of it, the room shined and looked to be in order.
Walking out of the room with Jonathan, Kylie flipped the light switch off.
Once in the hall, Jonathan stopped and turned to her. “I don’t even know if you’re dating someone or married, but I hope not. I can’t ignore what happened this morning. I felt something, the same something I felt way back in Olympia so long ago. I thought my feelings for you were dulling and going away, but when I saw you . . . it all came rushing back to me, stronger than ever.”
Kylie’s heart pounded. She felt scared as she looked at the ring on her finger. “I’ve thought of you too, Jonathan.”
Seeing a few teachers walking down the hallway, Kylie motioned for Jonathan to continue with her down the hall to the room where Peter was located, in after-school daycare.
“Just a second.” Entering the room, Kylie saw Peter playing with cars on a track on the other side of the large stretched room. Walking over to him, she watched as he shared the red car in his hand with the boy who was sitting there. She smiled, her heart melting at the kindness of her son. Scooping him up, she left the room and returned to Jonathan in the hallway.
#
Jonathan smiled at Peter and said hello. He hid his eyes in his mother’s shoulder. She covered the back of his head, smoothing her hand gently over his hair. “He’s just a little shy.”
It stung Jonathan knowing that Peter had forgotten who he was. He began to worry. She still hadn’t responded to the ring, yet she was wearing it. His eyes went to the ring, and she shifted her gaze to the hall.
They walked out of the school and to her parked car under a white willow tree. She strapped Peter in his car seat in the back of her car, and as she came out, he felt the time dwindling. He touched her arm, stepping closer to her as she shut the back door.
“So tell me. What do you say?” Jonathan didn’t want to ask if the answer was ‘yes,’ but he surely couldn’t leave and part ways without hearing an answer.
Her eyes fell away from him, stirring more worry in Jonathan. Her gaze came back to him. “Jonathan, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since the day I stepped onto that airplane. I didn’t like what happened in Olympia. The kiss, the parting we had. But it had to be for a reason.”
He gently pulled her hand into his and kissed the top of it. Letting it down slowly, he shook his head, his gaze still on her. “I learned a whole lot while we have been apart. It had to be that way in order for God to do His work in me, have me love Him first. I came to realize I had loved Marie more than I had loved God. But I have grown spir
itually since then, and God is my Lord and Savior and He will always be first in my life. Kylie, I loved having you in my life every day. Before you and Rose came into my life, I was miserable. You didn’t save me or lead me directly back to God, but you played a big part in my being open to it. I love you.”
“You love Marie still.” He tilted his head, a smile beaming from his lips.
“She will always be in my heart, but she is in Heaven and my love for her isn’t the same as when she was on Earth. God showed me that. I had to love God in a pure and true way first before He led me back to you. I found my reason to live, not in you, but in God through a real and authentic relationship with Jesus. That wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Rose coming to live with me. It wouldn’t have happened without your showing up on my doorstep the Monday after I offered you the job at your old job at Ethan’s.”
With tears in her eyes, she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Jonathan.
“Yes. I will marry you!”
They kissed. As Jonathan deepened the kiss beneath the willow tree, a few of the leaves began to tumble atop their heads, but they paid no attention. They had found a love that they both knew they could cherish for a lifetime. A love that was a friendship at first, an explosion a little while later, and then deepened by their faith in Christ.
The End.
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Love’s Return (Click/Tap here to view on Amazon)
Prologue
THE FIRST TIME I LAID eyes on Kirk was back in our senior year of High School while I was walking the track with Chloe. He was beneath the bleachers lip-locked with Vicky Haggar from the cheerleading squad. This wouldn’t have been an issue outside of the fact that he was dating my best-friend, Chloe. Not exactly a best first impression.
Two years later when I was twenty, I decided to relocate from Albany, New York, to Spokane, Washington. Kirk had found out about the big journey across country through mutual friends and approached me about road tripping together. I quickly rejected him. When he offered to pay for all the gas, I couldn’t help but give in. With over 2,000 miles to reach Spokane and a strong desire not to rely on my parents anymore, I knew his gas money would help me in the long run. I was on my way to Spokane to stake a claim in my independence from my parents and to work at a software company as a receptionist. Kirk had been into hockey and hoped for a chance at the big leagues by trying out for the Spokane Chiefs.
Through the long journey across the country, somewhere between Buffalo and Cleveland, I suspect, Kirk and I became friends. During our time together on the road, we laughed about Mrs. Bovey, our ninth-grade English teacher who hated children far too much to be teaching them in a school. We also shared our hopes and desires for the future.
When we finally arrived in Spokane five days after we left our hometown, I not only had a handful of memories from our road trip but a longing for something more for us. The trip had given me a chance to see past the façade he had put on in high school and see the real Kirk. At one stop along the way, at a gas station out in the middle of nowhere, he opened my car door for me. Then another time, he grabbed me my favorite candy bar without my even having to ask. When I became tired of driving, he’d willingly take over even if he was tired. Beyond those sweet gestures, I learned of a man who held a lot of regret over his checkered past. He had high hopes to start afresh and make a new life for himself in Spokane. Beneath all the muscles, I found a man with a big heart.
I couldn’t give into my desire to see him again, though, or to possibly have a relationship. He was, after all, Chloe’s ex-boyfriend. I dropped him off at the bus stop where his friend was picking him up and said goodbye for what I thought was forever.
Chapter 1-Jessica
FIVE YEARS AND TWO JOBS later, I was on my way to work when I stopped in at a favorite local coffee shop of mine downtown, Milo’s, for an extra boost of caffeine. I had already been running late for work as it was, sleeping through all three of my alarms. There was a reason to the madness. It was all due to my friend Isabella, who had kept me up half the night on the phone. She was like me, single and living on the hopes of someday being swept away by a gallant gentleman who would show us the love we needed. We talked last night about how miserable she was being single in a world full of married men, the only single ones being creeps. I understood the pain of loneliness, but only to a certain degree. My singleness was part of who I was. It had almost become a friend. Sure, I wanted someone to love and hold, but I had to trust the fact that God was in control and knew my heart. Plus, I had my work, which filled much of my time.
Standing in the coffee shop near the counter, I waited for my order. I had on my new white pea coat I had just picked up the other day at the mall. When I saw it hanging on the rack on my way through Macy’s, I instantly fell in love with it. It went perfectly with my red bucket hat, which I was also wearing. Scrolling through emails on my phone as I waited for my coffee, I felt the pressure of the day catching up with me. Already several new messages. Two from Micah, my boss, one from the graphics department on a design mock-up, and a reply from a pastor I had interviewed a couple of months back. Working at a startup magazine was anything but easy, but I loved every second of it. Not only was I a writer and reporter, but my boss, Micah’s, go-to person for whatever he needed. Sometimes, it meant donuts and coffee on my way into work, and sometimes, it meant writing ten articles in five days and spot-checking the print run at two o’clock in the morning, four hours before it went to print. It was hard work, but it carried purpose and I thrived on purpose.
“Kirk,” the barista said behind the counter, setting a cup down.
It took a moment for the name to register in my mind, but when it did, my heart leapt as I lifted my eyes to find the face that went with the name. I didn’t think about him often, but when he did brush across my thoughts, it was always with fondness for the time we’d shared together on the car trip five years ago. Over the years, the man had stayed with me in the depths of my soul, along with regret. Regret over the fact I hadn’t pursued him the day I dropped him off at the bus stop. We hadn’t spent time together before our car ride, but the time we did share over the trip was something special and close to my heart still to this day.
Surveying the coffee shop, I held onto the short string of hope I had carried all these years. It was like a loose thread from a piece of clothing that I knew if I pulled, it would unravel the whole thing. I refused to part with it. There was no certainty that Kirk still lived in Spokane, but it didn’t stop me from holding onto the possibility. My friend Chloe, back in Albany, hadn’t spoken his name in years, understandably, and I’d never found his name on the Spokane Chiefs’ roster (I checked every season), but still . . . I refused to part with the string.
“Thanks,” a man said, his voice rugged, worn.
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One Thursday Morning (Click/Tap here to view on Amazon)
Prologue
To love and be loved—it was all I ever wanted. Nobody could ever convince me John was a bad man. He made me feel loved when I did not know what love was. I was his and he was mine. It was perfect . . . or at least, I thought it was.
I cannot pinpoint why everything changed in our lives, but it did—and for the worst. My protector, my savior, and my whole world came crashing down like a heavy spring downpour. The first time he struck me, I remember thinking it was just an accident. He had been drinking earlier in the day with his friends and came stumbling home late that night. The lights were low throughout the house because I had already gone to bed. I remember hearing the car pull up outside in the driveway. Leaping to my feet, I came rushing downstairs and through the kitchen to greet him. He swung, which I thought at the time was because I startled him, and the back side of his hand caught my cheek.
I should have known it wasn’t an accident.
The second time wa
s no accident at all, and I knew it. After a heavy night of drinking the night his father died, he came to the study where I was reading. Like a hunter looking for his prey, he came up behind me to the couch. Grabbing the back of my head and digging his fingers into my hair, he kinked my neck over the couch and asked me why I hadn’t been faithful to him. I had no idea what he was talking about, so out of sheer fear, I began to cry. John took that as a sign of guilt and backhanded me across the face. It was hard enough to leave a bruise the following day. I stayed with him anyway. I’d put a little extra makeup on around my eyes or anywhere else when marks were left. I didn’t stay because I was stupid, but because I loved him. I kept telling myself that our love could get us through this. The night of his father’s death, I blamed his outburst on the loss of his father. It was too much for him to handle, and he was just letting out steam. I swore to love him through the good times and the bad. This was just one of the bad times.
Each time he’d hit me, I’d come up with a reason or excuse for the behavior. There was always a reason, at least in my mind, as to why John hit me. Then one time, after a really bad injury, I sought help from my mother before she passed away. The closest thing to a saint on earth, she dealt with my father’s abuse for decades before he died. She was a devout Christian, but a warped idea of love plagued my mother her entire life. She told me, ‘What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.’ That one piece of advice she gave me months before passing made me suffer through a marriage with John for another five trying years.
Each day with John as a husband was a day full of prayer. I would pray for him not to drink, and sometimes, he didn’t—those were the days I felt God had listened to my pleas. On the days he came home drunk and swinging, I felt alone, like God had left me to die by my husband’s hands. Fear was a cornerstone of our relationship, in my eyes, and I hated it. As the years piled onto one another, I began to deal with two entirely different people when it came to John. There was the John who would give me everything I need in life and bring flowers home on the days he was sober, and then there was John, the drunk, who would bring insults and injury instead of flowers.