by T. K. Chapin
“You’re welcome. By the way, you can get twenty percent off those blouses you were looking at earlier.”
“Really? How come?”
She smiled. “You’re hired.”
“That fast?”
“Absolutely. Serenah doesn’t believe in making people wait. We hire right at the interview. Be here tomorrow at eight o’clock for your first day.”
“Thank you!” Without thinking, I lunged and hugged her. God provided for me, and I was overwhelmed with the time of blessing I sensed was upon my life.
One Year Later…
Chapter 8
HURRYING THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR of my parents’ house with a new bag of freshly picked clothes from the thrift store, I looked for my mother. I quickly passed my dad in the living room and went straight into the kitchen. I had found her a fancy black cocktail dress that I thought would be adorable for her next outing with Dad.
She wasn’t in the kitchen.
I tossed my purse on the counter along with the bag of clothes and went to find her. I checked the laundry room and her bedroom.
She wasn’t there either.
Checking the door that led into the garage, I saw her car gone. Coming into the living room, I sat down on the couch next to the recliner my father was lounging in. “Where’s Mom?”
“She went into Spokane to get some art supplies for when the grandkids come out a little bit later today with Beth.” His tone was laced with annoyance as if that re-run of Gunsmoke was far more important than my silly questions about Mom. Remembering that James was supposed to visit earlier that day, something he hadn’t done in almost a year since I came here, I was quite curious how it had gone.
“How’d it go with James?”
“Not good.” He grabbed his remote off the armrest of his chair and turned the TV off. He brought his hands together and looked at the blank television screen as he continued. “Listen, daughter. I understand I didn’t make a lot of good choices as a parent when you were growing up. In fact, I ask God to forgive me daily for it. But I’ve come to realize it’s not only God’s forgiveness I should be asking for.” His eyes turned to me. “It’s yours. It’s Beth’s . . . and it’s James’s forgiveness I should be seeking. I know now that I put too much pressure on that brother of yours to be who I wanted him to be. I just wanted to do one really good thing with one of you, and I think I ended up driving him right into doing drugs.” My dad stopped his words. Then he balled his fist and brought it up to his chin, leaning on it. “I wasn’t the best dad, but I still wanted what was best for each of you. I had no idea my terrible choices would have such a profound impact on your lives.”
My heart spilled with empathy for my father’s heartache. Reaching out, I rested my hand atop his hand. “I love you, Dad.”
“I’m worried I’m going to lose your brother. I’m afraid that Feather has him wrapped around her finger tight right now and is going to give him the final yank. He told me this afternoon that he plans to move to New Zealand with her.”
“Wow . . .”
“Yeah.” My dad looked blankly ahead, lost for words.
“Did you tell him all that you just told me?”
“No.”
“Well, you should.”
He nodded, and sitting up in his seat, he looked at me. “That’s a good idea. Could you give me a ride over to Joe’s? Your mother took the car and my truck is broke down. James is over there visiting one of his friends.”
“What about the Chevelle?”
He shook his head. “I thought I was done restoring it, but it’s not ready yet.”
“All right. Let’s go.” Going into the kitchen, I grabbed my purse and we headed out the door. I prayed God would break into James’s world and help him realize that moving to New Zealand was a bad idea.
Chapter 9
IN JOE’S DRIVEWAY, A SMALL dog chased alongside my car and barked. Seeing James’s black ‘98 Taurus parked in the back, I parked beside it right in front of a metal shop building. Turning to me in his seat, my dad took off his glasses, letting them dangle by their cord around his neck.
“Listen. I gotta go talk to your brother alone. He’s probably hanging out with that unsavory bunch that likes to hang out in the park in Newport, and I don’t want them sniffing around you. I’ll try to make it as short as I can and be right back.”
“Wait, I thought Joe was a good guy?”
He nodded. “He’s a swell guy, but he’s letting his nephew, Alex, stay with him right now.”
“Alex Shrouder?” I asked, my heart sinking at the mention of his name. Alex was the kid in high school who always threw the parties. He was the guy every dude wanted to be and every girl wanted to date. My brother was friends with him but never went to the parties. Instead, he always spent his time witnessing to Alex and trying to bring him and his friends to Jesus. Through the windshield, I could see the shop, and I highly doubted James was in there leading him to Jesus. I wondered, How did my brother get so far from who he was?
“Yeah, Alex Shrouder. I’ll be right back.” Undoing his seatbelt, he got out and shut the door. As he walked up the driveway the rest of the way to the shop, I noticed Katie, Joe’s wife, sitting on the back porch. I knew them from Church on the Lake.
Five minutes went by, but it felt like an hour. Then ten minutes went by, and still no sign of my dad from the shop. Glancing back over at the porch, I caught the gaze of Katie, and she waved me out from the car.
Getting out of my car, I headed over and up the steps of their porch.
She hugged me.
“How are you doing?” She asked as we pulled away from our embrace. “I always see you at church but never get a chance to talk. You duck out of service pretty quickly.”
“It’s a little crowded in the sanctuary. I don’t mean anything by it. I’m doing really good. Been working at the thrift store and saving up for my own place.”
“I bet Serenah is great to work for.”
I smiled as I thought of Serenah, the owner of the thrift store. She was a sweet gal and now a really good friend. We had grown in our friendship over the course of the last year. She provided me with lots of counseling as I dealt with the hurt of my past relationship with Harvey. “Yeah, she’s great to work for and a wonderful person.”
Just then, the sliding glass door opened, and out came Joe and a familiar face, but I couldn’t place him. He smiled and suddenly, I remembered. It was the man I had encountered on the other part of the lake about a year ago. My heart raced, and suddenly I wanted to bolt off the porch and go hide back in my car.
“I love that girl too,” Katie responded. “I handled all the photography for her wedding years ago to Charlie. She’s a great woman of God.”
“Hi, Grace,” Owen said.
“Hi.” My face turned red as a cherry.
Getting up from my seat, I glared over at the shop as I still saw no signs of my dad. What could be keeping him? I wondered anxiously.
“You two know each other?” Joe asked, smiling at Owen and then over at me.
“Kind of.” Owen paused as he looked at me again, catching my gaze and causing my heart to race. “I found Grace snooping around Grandpa Jack’s old house last year. She’s the one who found the picture.”
“Whoa. That was Grace who found it?” Joe glanced up at Owen, his eyes the size of saucers.
Owen placed a hand on Joe’s shoulder and nodded. “Yep, sure was. So, how do you know Katie and Joe?”
“We go to church together. My dad needed to talk to my brother, who came over here to see Alex.”
Joe’s jaw clenched. Clearing his throat in annoyance, he said, “Alex won’t be here for long. He’s leaving tomorrow whether he likes it or not.”
Katie placed a hand on Joe’s leg to settle his obvious anger about Alex. “He just lost his dad and we felt bad, but it’s been hard. Anyway, Grace. Are you aware that Owen works at the high school? He teaches History. Doesn’t one of your sister’s kids go to Newport High?�
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“Yeah. Elly is a freshman, I believe.”
“Grace!” My father’s saying my name never came at such an opportune time.
“I’d better go. It was nice seeing you” —my gaze lifted to Owen—“all.”
Spinning around, I headed down the steps and toward my car.
“Hey, Ed.” Joe called out to my dad, stopping him in his tracks.
“Yeah?” My dad walked past me and started for the porch.
My insides shrank knowing my dad would talk for hours if someone would let him. That’s what happens when an extrovert only works on small engines once in a while and works part-time at a church in the valley.
I looked at my car and said farewell in my heart to my escape from conversing more with Owen. After a deep breath, I turned around and joined the conversation on the porch. I prayed my racing heartbeat would calm down soon.
Chapter 10
TWENTY MINUTES OF LISTENING TO my father and Joe drum on about the need for an assistant pastor at the Church on the Lake, and then about football, I was beyond ready to cut away. Feeling my throat a little dry, I excused myself.
“Is your kitchen right inside? I’m feeling parched.” My eyes were on Katie, and she looked thrilled to hear it.
Katie stood up with me and motioned a hand my direction. “Come with me. I have some iced tea inside.”
We entered into the kitchen through a set of French doors, leaving the men behind on the porch to continue talking. As she poured me a glass of tea, she asked, “Sorry if this is a bit forward, but is there more to you and Owen than he let on?”
My stomach twisted. My gaze found Owen’s head through the glass in one of the doors.
“Sorry. I don’t mean to pry or anything, Grace. Just saw the way you were looking at Owen and the way he looked at you.”
Tilting my head, I touched my brow and shook my head. “It’s okay. I think you’re seeing things though. Honestly, I haven’t entertained the idea of dating. I don’t feel like I’m ready. I was married to an abusive man for five years. It was really hard, and I don’t think I’m over it yet.”
“I understand. Do you mind if I pray with you right now?” she asked, handing me the glass of tea as she set down the pitcher.
“Wow. Really? I’d love that.” I set my glass down, and she came over to me and placed one of her hands on my shoulder. I bowed my head as she bowed hers.
“God, we are here. We are here, and we are placing our trust and our hope in You alone. I pray that You heal Grace’s heart. Heal her pain and help guide her in the way You desire for her life to go. Let her become aware of Your Spirit in a large way and help her in each step she takes. Help each decision she makes be one by faith. Empower her with Your supernatural power. We love You and pray these things in Your heavenly and precious name. Amen.”
Lifting my head, I wiped a tear away and took the glass from the counter. A calmness came over me in the moment. God was good and I knew it. I felt like the Lord had led me to that house and to Katie in that very moment. I had been feeling great these last twelve months since I had been back in town, but I mostly kept myself distracted, keeping safe by staying busy. I was working a lot, spending time only with friends and family, not daring to venture outside the zone of comfort.
My gaze fell over to Owen out on the porch through the French door once again. I knew I felt something for the man, even if it was only a spark. I could easily sense its presence within me, even on that day a year ago. This reality terrified me, and all that fear boiled up in an instant. Katie’s hand was about on the door handle when I stopped her with a gentle touch on her arm.
She turned.
“How do I let myself not be scared?”
“Fear is simply a lack of trust. You have to put your trust in God. You do that by abiding in His Word and walking in Spirit and in Truth.”
“Thank you. I’ll work on that. I need to read more of my Bible, and I’ve been meaning to, but I’m sure you understand how life can get so busy at times.”
“Yes, I do understand that. But if we want God to be number one in our life, we have to put Him there on purpose every day.” Still with a smile on her lips, she peered at Owen through the door and then brought her attention back to me. “I’ve known Owen a while. He’s a good man, Grace.”
“I just don’t know if I’m ready.”
She nodded and grabbed the door handle leading back outside. “Each of us has a past we have to let go of in order to grab hold of the future God has in store for us.”
As she went outside, my cellphone rang. I slid the device out of my jean pocket and saw that it was my sister.
“Can you pick up my thyroid medicine from the pharmacy? I am running late in Spokane and won’t have time before they close.”
“No problem.”
Hanging up with Bethany, I glanced out the French doors and caught the gaze of Owen. He smiled and I smiled back at him.
Chapter 11
MY DAD DIDN’T OFFER A single word of information regarding my brother on the way home. Instead, he wanted to talk about football. He had always known I didn’t care about football, but he always felt like he should talk about it with me. Here we were in April, and he was going on and on about the playoffs from the previous season and the Super Bowl.
“Dad,” I said, interrupting him.
“What?” he asked, his tone surprised.
“What’s going on with James? How’d it go back there?”
He waved his hand through the air and then crossed his arms. “That brother of yours is never going to understand life until it’s too late. He refuses to use common sense. I swear, Gracie, I feel like he knows what is right and purposely doesn’t do it.”
I nodded slowly. “Sounds like the polar opposite of the James we knew and loved. What of New Zealand?”
“I don’t think it’ll happen.” Rubbing a hand over his face, he shook his head and shrugged. “He’s going to do what he’s going to do. I can’t stop him, but his friends acted like they didn’t have a clue about New Zealand, which makes me wonder if it wasn’t all a lie.”
We pulled back into the driveway at the house. “That’s strange. Hey, I’m running into town for a second to run an errand. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. Thanks for taking me over there.”
He got out and I put the car in reverse, backing down the driveway to leave. As I drove to the pharmacy in Newport, I pondered more about my brother. I missed the guy I had taken for granted when I was younger. He was so close to God, or at least we thought he was. I remember us all being sick to our stomachs over how obsessed he was about Jesus. He’d lecture us daily on Scriptures and pray over us and teach us when we weren’t asking any questions. It made me ill knowing that he left his walk with God and now lives in a sinful lifestyle. He now does what he knows is wrong.
As I passed by the thrift store, my mind drifted to Serenah. She had helped me a lot early in my first year in dealing with the emotions that came with parting ways with someone abusive like Harvey. She even helped me with finding a Christian counselor in Spokane whom I went to for a while. In my talks with Serenah, I learned some of her own struggles with leaving an abusive husband years ago.
Serenah is an inspiration to me in every way. She is happily married now and to a pastor, of all people. She had lost a lot in the process of leaving her abusive husband, including an unborn child, but she also gained so much more.
As I turned the corner onto the street with the pharmacy, it dawned on me deep down that I wanted to date and to someday re-marry a man of God. It was as if God had let memories over the six months float to the surface of my mind to show me the truth of my heart. Five months ago, I had begun watching the Hallmark Channel again. All those sappy romance movies I once hurried by on television, I now sought out. Even in public, I found myself smiling when I would see an old couple sitting together or holding hands as they walked. Neither the Hallmark Channel nor couples in public were something I cared for e
ven a year ago.
Parking outside the pharmacy, I shut the car off and went inside. Being distracted by my thoughts, I quickly said to the pharmacist, “Pick up for Anderson.”
The pharmacy technician returned with five bottles in hand and started to set them on the counter in front of me, one after the other.
“What is this? It’s only supposed to be one.”
“You said Anderson?”
Shaking my head, I touched my forehead. “Oops. I meant Thompson. Beth Thompson. She’s married now.” Peering at the bottles and seeing the name Ed Anderson, I shook my head with furrowed eyebrows. “Wait, this is all for my dad? What’s wrong with him? What is this medicine?”
He grabbed the pill bottles quickly, but not before I caught sight of one. Digoxin.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that.”
“Okay. Well, can I have the one for my sister? I still need that.”
“Sure. Just a moment.”
As he went to get the other medicine, my heart rate skyrocketed. My eyes welled with tears and I wondered to myself, What’s wrong with my dad?
Chapter 12
AFTER BETHANY LEFT AND HER kids were busy painting with Grandma in the playroom, I headed outside to the guest house. Seeing the light still on in the barn, I decided to confront my dad about the medication. I had researched the Digoxin earlier. It was medication used primarily to treat heart failure. This worried me since he and my mother had never mentioned anything about something wrong with his heart to me.
“Hey, Dad.” My words came out weaker than I had intended. They barely made a squeak. He didn’t hear me, I suspected, as I saw him continue to tinker with some part for the Chevelle on the work bench a few feet from me. Again, I pushed the air out from my lips in a strained voice. “Dad.”
“Yeah?” He set the object down on the bench and wiped his hands off with a towel as he turned around. He looked perplexed, a bit alarmed to see my eyes filled with tears.