Daddy in the Making
Page 21
“I get that. I do.” A pause. “Jeannie, do you think I can really get my life together?”
Jeannie listened to Jake and the girls down the hall in the living room. She looked around at her brand-new house. “Yes, I do, Carrie. You need to work at your education and get yourself sorted out. I want you to be in the girls’ lives, but not till you’re at a better place in your life. You can take time to work on your future. The twins are happy and doing well.”
“Thanks to you.” Carrie sounded tearful. “I messed up my life. I don’t want to do that to my girls.”
“Your life doesn’t have to stay messed up, Carrie.” Jeannie wanted to speak to Carrie about seeking God’s will but felt that this wasn’t the time. A time would come. “You’ll come through this.”
Carrie began to weep. “Jeannie, I’m so sorry. I never meant for all this to happen.”
Jeannie soothed her sister, wrote down her phone number and promised to call soon. Jeannie hung up and turned at the knock at the door.
Jake halted in the doorway, looking toward her, a question brimming in his expression.
She went to him and wrapped her arms around his chest. She rested her cheek against his soft flannel shirt.
“Is everything all right?” he murmured.
She nodded against him. “Carrie’s in a group home in Milwaukee. She’s getting her GED.”
“She didn’t say anything about taking the girls?” Jake asked in a whisper.
“No, she realized she’s in no shape to take care of them.” Jeannie looked up at him. “She doesn’t want to do anything to make them feel insecure.”
“Glad to hear it.” He kissed her forehead.
“Did you or your dad buy the bedroom set?” She nodded toward the furniture in the room.
“No for both of us. I figured we were either going to move in more family pieces or go shopping together. Do you like it?”
“I love it. What a special gift. I just wish I knew who to thank.”
Jake hugged her close. “I need to get going. I have some important stuff to do.”
Jeannie lifted her face to him, and he obligingly kissed her. “I’m looking forward to your not having to go home anywhere but here.”
“Me, too. A few weeks and I won’t have to leave you every night.”
Jeannie hugged him and he hugged her back. Her heart threatened to burst with the joy of his touch, of his constant love, of this evidence of God’s love for her.
Epilogue
The wedding march was being played on the church organ. In the church foyer, Jeannie slipped her arm into Dan’s. Since she had no father, Dan had volunteered to walk her down the aisle. She had gratefully accepted. She’d also accepted Brooke’s loan of her wedding dress, a long white sheath. Brooke had even altered it a bit to fit Jeannie’s long silhouette by adding a wide ruffle of white satin around the hem.
Ginny and the twins, all three dressed in their Sunday best, waited to head down the aisle. Ginny nudged the girls and they started down the aisle first, clutching their kittens, Twinkie and Peanutbutter, instead of bouquets. They had insisted that the kittens had brought Jeannie and Jake together and should be at the wedding. So Jeannie had gone along with their request.
Then Ginny started down the aisle, carrying a bouquet of red tulips from her garden.
Dan led Jeannie forward. She clutched her bouquet of tulips too, letting the anticipation lift her. Soon the organ struck the signal chords and they began walking toward Jake.
Jake stood at the front of Jeannie’s small church, which had recently become his, too. Beside him stood Mike, his best man, and between them sat Bummer, best dog. Bummer was wearing a white bow tie and looked very solemn.
Dan and Jeannie arrived at the front. Dan placed her hand into Jake’s and then went to sit beside Brooke. The twins stood on tiptoe to kiss her and then went to sit with Dan and Brooke.
Jeannie looked up into Jake’s eyes. Joy such as she had never known rippled through her. She tried not to cry. But she couldn’t hold back a few tears, because she knew that Carrie sat on a rear pew. Someday Jeannie hoped that Carrie would be an everyday part of their life. Today Carrie would be introduced to the twins as an old friend from Milwaukee.
Right now as she and Jake looked toward the minister, she made herself focus on this precious moment, a moment she’d thought would never come.
Jake drew her hand up and kissed it. Then the pastor began, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered together to join this woman and this man in holy matrimony….”
After they had exchanged vows and rings, they turned to face the congregation. The pastor announced: “I present to you, Dr. and Mrs. Jake McClure.”
Everyone clapped. Bummer bayed loud and long—sounding joyful, triumphant. And everyone clapped some more and laughed.
Jake took advantage of the moment and kissed his bride again, making her heart soar. All her hopes and dreams for a life of love were now hers. Her heart sang silently, Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed Jeannie and Jake’s story. I love to write stories of how God’s love can overcome any sorrow, any past pain. In God, all things are possible—even reconciliation and forgiveness.
So who’s sending a new bedroom set to each new Habitat for Humanity homeowner on New Friends Street? You’ll have to read the final book in the series, Building a Family, to find the answer!
I also want to call to your attention to the Winter Carnival where the Mimi and Cindy “adopted” a little girl in Haiti. There are many charities that make this connection. My husband and I have supported Compassion International for over thirty years.
Drop by my blog http://StrongWomenBraveStories.blogspot.com and find the Compassion icon there. Or go directly to www.compassion.com to learn how you can sponsor a child who desperately needs food and education. Or write to Compassion International, Colorado Springs, CO 80997. Your small monthly support can change a life and impact so many other lives. You won’t regret it.
P.S. Thanks to Terry and Sheree for naming the kittens on my blog.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Have you ever donated your time to something like Habitat for Humanity? If so, what and why?
Brooke, or poodle woman, turned out to be much different from how she appeared at first sight. Have you ever met someone whom you didn’t like at first but who became a friend later?
Dan and Jake had been estranged for many years. Have you ever been estranged from a family member? Were you able to bridge the gap between you?
Have you ever lost touch with a family member or friend and wished you could reconnect? Were you able to?
Who do you think was Jake’s mentor? Who do you think was Jeannie’s mentor? Have you had a mentor or been a mentor? Jeannie had tried romance and been disappointed because some men were unable to love her girls as their own. Why do you think some people can love stepchildren and step-parents and others can’t?
Has there ever been a time in your life when God felt very close and became very real to you? Was it a happy time or a stressful one?
If you have a pet, what do you like most about having a pet in your life?
Do clothes make the woman?
Brooke admitted to getting into credit card debt. What advice would you give a person heading in that direction?
Have you ever sustained a shock like Jeannie did when her sister called after disappearing for seven years? How did it affect you?
Weather played a major role in this story. Have you ever faced extreme weather of any kind? If so, when and what?
Jake asked himself why some fathers and sons rub each other the wrong way. What do you think causes this kind of friction?
Who set Dan straight about Jeannie? Have you ever confronted someone in this way?
Do you think this story was realistic, true to life? If so, in what way or not?
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8978-3
DADDY IN THE MAKING
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opyright © 2011 by Lyn Cote
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††Bountiful Blessings
*Sisters of the Heart
**New Friends Street
†The Gabriel Sisters
‡Harbor Intrigue