As the weeks passed, she found herself wanting more. Not necessarily material things, just a more normal life. A house to call her own, a yard to mow, even an electric bill. She wanted to start moving forward and building a real life with her daughter. And she was pretty sure she wanted to build that life in Seaview.
When she was honest with herself, she loved the tiny town. She loved the smell of the ocean air, the people she’d met and her church. She adored Pastor Tex and his way with people. And she had promised Barb that she would be there for Dave.
But could she stand to live in the same town as Ben? That would mean seeing him, or at least hearing about him, on a regular basis.
As she pulled up, Dave came out of the camper as if on cue. He looked upset and immediately came to her car. She put it in park and couldn’t open the door fast enough.
“Dave, what’s wrong?” she asked, touching his arm as she noticed tears in his eyes.
“I think it’s time, Elise,” he said through a shaky voice.
“Time? For what?” she asked, hoping she was wrong about what he was insinuating.
“She’s real sick, and I don’t think she’s got much longer. God, I love her so much. Why is He taking her so soon?” he said as he knelt on the ground, head in his hands.
“Oh, Dave,” Elise said, kneeling in front of him as she continued to rub his arm.
“I called her doctor. He said it’s time for hospice care, but I just don’t know if I can do it. Take her somewhere with strangers? It just seems wrong. I promised to take care of her ’til death do us part.”
“But, Dave, this is part of taking care of her. Barb told me herself that she wanted to go to hospice when the time came.”
“She did?” he asked, looking up at Elise with tears in his eyes.
“Yes. She said she knew the nurses couldn’t care for her properly in the RV, and she wanted to take the strain off of you. She doesn’t want to die in the RV and taint its wonderful memories for you, Dave.”
“She’s a wonderful woman, Elise,” he whispered through sobs.
“Yes, she is. And she is doing her best to love you ’til death parts you. You both are, Dave.”
Dave pulled Elise into a hug and sobbed a few moments more before doing the “man thing” and drying his tears. He laughed.
“She’d kill me if she saw me out here blubbering to you,” he said as he stood.
“I doubt that, my sweet friend. She’d understand. After all, she’s been through this herself,” Elise said, referring to Barb’s first husband’s death.
“Very true, although I like to think I’m the only love of her life,” he said with a wink. “Would you like to come see her?”
“I don’t want to intrude…”
“No intrusion. You’re like a daughter to us now.” Elise smiled warmly as she thought of her short time with Dave and Barb, but how profoundly they had already changed her life. And Jilly’s.
Elise followed Dave up the stairs into the motorhome. Barb was lying in the bedroom in the back of the rig, covered up in what appeared to be an old quilt patched together many moons ago.
“Elise?” she whispered. It was amazing how quickly she had faded in the last few days, her eyes sunken back in her head and her skin pale. The life was being sucked out of Barb day by day, moment by moment.
“Hi, Barb,” Elise said softly as she sat on the edge of the bed and touched Barb’s frail hand.
“Thank you for coming,” Barb said, coughing mid sentence.
“Of course,” Elise said. She didn’t know what else to say. When someone is dying right in front of you, what can you say? There is no “Hope you feel better” or “How are you feeling today?” Those statements would be stupid. Instead, Elise ran her hand across the quilt. “This is lovely.”
“My grandmother made it when I was a young girl. She gave it to me when I graduated from high school.”
“Well, it’s beautiful…” Elise said softly.
“Dave, shoo!” she said, her “wifey” tone returning as she waved her hand at him to leave the room. Dave smiled and slid the door closed. “He’s been keeping watch over me pretty closely.”
“I’m sure he has. You’re his one true love, Miss Barb,” Elise said smiling.
“I’m lucky to have loved two amazing men in my life,” she said. “Not every woman gets that chance.”
“Very true.”
“Elise?”
“Yes?”
“Dave’s kind of a town gossip, if you haven’t realized that yet,” she whispered.
“No…. Ya don’t say…” Elise said with a chuckle.
“He’s been keeping me up to date on all the gossip, and I heard a little story about you… and a man down on the beach yesterday…”
What was it about Seaview that everyone knew her business?
“Barb…” Elise started to chide, but then she realized she was talking to a woman who wasn’t long for this Earth. A woman who just needed a distraction for awhile. A woman who’d gone through something similar in her life and who just might have some advice for her. “Boy, the news sure gets around fast in Seaview.”
“Yes, ma’am, it sure does,” Barb smiled up at her and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to pry, dear. But can I just give you some friendly, woman-to-woman advice?”
“Of course,” Elise said smiling back down at Barb.
“Sometimes, love only comes knocking once in our lives. But if we’re lucky, it comes around again to heal those old wounds that never got fixed.”
“What are you saying, Barb?”
“Well, I’m going to cut right to the chase because I don’t have much time for dilly dallying these days,” she said with a sigh. “What I’m saying is that we all make choices that might take us off the path God had in store for us, but He is all powerful and He will always make a way for things to be made right.”
“You think I should give Ben a chance to be my friend again? Is that what you mean?”
“Good Lord, no! I think you should give Ben a chance to be the love of your life as he was always meant to be,” she said cocking one eyebrow up.
“Barb, I…” she stammered, unsure of how she knew so much when Elise had told her so little.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” Barb said. “I know you love him now and you always have. Just like I always loved Dave. It doesn’t take away from the love you felt for Ted or the life you had with him, honey.”
Elise’s heart ached. For the fact that Barb would be gone soon. For the fact that her husband was forever gone. For the fact that she was so mean to Ben… because she loved him and couldn’t deal with her own guilt about that.
The admission, even inside her own head, was almost too much to bear.
“But I feel so guilty,” Elise finally said with a sigh. “I’ve loved him since the seventh grade, and I love him now. How will I ever make that work?”
“Why can’t it work?”
“Because there was Ted. And there’s Jilly. And he was homeless…”
“Elise,” Barb said through another cough. “You do what you can do, and let God do what only He can do.”
“Excuse me, ladies,” a man dressed in a medic’s uniform said as he slid open the door. “It’s time.”
Elise knew what that meant. It was time for Barb to be transported to hospice care, and her stomach felt like a knife was plunging through it. This woman, this incredibly strong woman, was about to make a transition into another life. An eternal life. But that didn’t mean it would be easy on Elise or Jilly. Or Dave.
“I guess it’s time to go,” Barb said.
“Are you scared?” Elise whispered as she got closer to Barb’s face.
“Not a bit, sweetie. Will you bring Jilly to see me later?”
“Of course,” Elise said as she stood back so the paramedics could begin the moving process. As they wheeled her into the ambulance, Dave stood there with a stoic look on his face before kissing Barb
and telling her he would be there soon. They pulled away a few moments later.
“Dave, if there’s anything I can do…” she said from behind him, reaching up to touch his shoulder.
“Only God can help her now, Elise,” was all he said as he quietly locked up the motorhome, sighed and got into his car. Elise was left standing there wondering what she was going to do next.
***
Unable to stay at the campground for fear her emotions would overwhelm her, Elise decided to drive to the church instead. Pastor Tex was outside trimming the hedges by the front steps of the church, which made Elise smile. He was just the most regular guy and refused to use the church’s money for “stuff an old country boy could do himself”.
“Well, hello there, Elise!” he said as he turned off the electric trimmers and wiped his hand across his sweaty brow. “What brings you here in the middle of the day?”
“It’s Barb.”
“Oh no. What’s wrong?”
“Dave had to put her in hospice. He’s on his way there now.”
The pastor sighed and shook his head. “We all hoped she’d pull through.”
“I did too.”
“How’s Dave holding up?”
“Not very well, actually. I cannot imagine…”
“Can’t you?” he asked, cocking his head.
“Pardon?”
“You lost your own husband, Elise. I’m sure you can imagine what Dave’s going through right now,” he said as he sat down on the brick steps and patted next to him for her to sit down too.
“That wasn’t the same, Pastor. My husband chose to leave me. Barb didn’t choose this.”
“True, but the pain of losing someone you love is the same, right?”
“I suppose you’re right,” Elise said knowing that something else was on her mind. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” Pastor Tex chuckled.
“Is that some kind of riddle?” he asked, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight as he looked at Elise.
“I guess it sounded like one,” she said laughing. “Sorry. What I’m struggling with is where to go from here. I’ve promised Barb that I will help watch out for Dave, and I am glad to do it. He’s like a father to me now. But I need more, ya know? I need a purpose other than my daughter. I need something to do, and we need a real home.”
“You plan to stay around here?”
“Yes. Honestly, we love it here. The people, this church… even you!” she said as she knocked her shoulder into his.
“Well, that’s a good thing since I’ve been known to run people off a time or two.” Elise highly doubted that. Pastor Tex had one of those larger than life personalities that attracted people like a moth to a flame. “Do I recall correctly that your background was in writing or something?”
“Yes. Actually, I have a degree in Journalism. Dreamed of being a TV reporter,” she said smiling. “Then life happened.”
“Yeah, life happens a lot,” he said. “I happen to know of something that’s kind of related to your field, if you’re interested.” Elise felt strange butterflies in her stomach suddenly. She hadn’t thought about her career in a very long time.
“Really? What?”
“Well, the editor of the Seaview Tribune goes here. Have you met her? Lola Halsenbeck?”
“Lola? Um, no.” Elise was having a hard time not laughing as the name conjured up images of a Barry Manilow song.
“Yeah, and she lives up to her name. She’s the wild one of this church, for sure. She’s about seventy years old, fiery red hair and a personality to match.”
“Ohh… I think I saw her at the homeless breakfast once. She was making the rounds at all of the tables passing out rolls?”
“Yep, that’s our Lola. Sweet lady, but a bit…. spastic and doesn’t really have a filter between her thoughts and her mouth.” Elise laughed at that. “Anyway, she told me the other day that she needs an online reporter and editor because they are taking the paper into the twenty-first century with all that ‘new fangled technology’ as she puts it.”
“Wow, that would be a great job for me! I love technology!” Elise was actually excited about working at the small newspaper, and that fact shocked her. It wasn’t exactly the New York Times, but she really didn’t want that anyway. Her dreams were smaller these days, but the feelings they gave her were just as big.
She wanted a life. A quiet, small town life with her daughter and maybe a dog.
“I’d be glad to put a bug in Lola’s ear about you, if you’d like, of course,” he said.
“Yes, please! That would be fantastic!”
“Alrighty. But you’ve gotta do one favor for me.”
“Favor?” Elise wasn’t sure she was going to like his request.
“Well, yes. And please don’t take offense to what I’m about to ask.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” Elise said.
“It’s just that I heard what happened between you and Ben yesterday…”
“Wow. I don’t think this town needs a newspaper. News gets around fast all on its own…”
“True,” Pastor Tex said with a smile. “But we are a caring bunch of folks, Elise. We like to see people happy, and Ben is someone who deserves happiness.”
“Okay, what is that about, Pastor? Everyone seems very protective of Ben, and I just don’t understand why. Was he the mayor or something?”
Pastor Tex chuckled at that. “No. Really Ben was no one special when he came to town. Just a regular guy who was looking for a new start. When he returned that money, he became the town’s pride and joy. He gave people a sense that something was still right in this world. He gave them hope that good could still happen. A lot of people here really care about Ben and know his story…”
“His story?”
“Not for me to tell, Elise…”
“Please. I feel so out of the loop. People keep saying things like that, and I feel like it’s some kind of riddle I should be solving but I can’t.” Elise was growing frustrated.
“Elise, let me just say this. If God stopped listening to our prayers, we’d be in big trouble, wouldn’t we? I mean, if we were judged based solely on how we live our daily lives, we’d be destined for hell. But He listens, no matter how many mistakes we make in our lives. He listens because He loves us. If you love Ben, you’ll give him a chance to tell you his story. You’ll listen.”
With that, Pastor Tex smiled, stood and walked into the double doors of the church. Elise sat on the steps for a few moments more and then decided that enough was enough. Pastor Tex, and Barb for that matter, were right. She owed Ben. He had been there for so many important moments of her life, and now she needed to forgive him if for no other reason than her own sanity.
Chapter 15
Pulling into his driveway at the Magnolia, Elise secretly prayed that no “weirdos” would be lurking in the dark hallway. Her first experience there hadn’t been pleasant, and she just wanted to find Ben and hash things out.
She stepped out of her car and started up the walkway. “Elise?” Ben’s voice called from behind her as he appeared around the corner of the garage. “What’re you doing here?”
“I… um….” Yep, that public speaking class she took in college was really paying off. “I came to see you.”
“Really? I’m shocked,” he said without cracking a smile. “I thought we were done. At least that’s the feeling I got at the beach yesterday.”
“Can we talk?” she asked softly as her eyes met his. “I promise I won’t push you this time.” Finally, he cracked a smile.
“Good, because I’ve been quite worried about my physical safety.” Ben motioned for her to follow him behind the house. There was a large magnolia tree that looked like it had been there for many decades. One thick branch hung lower to the ground. Ben climbed up and reached his hand down to pull Elise up.
“Are you kidding?”
she asked with her hands on her hips.
“What? I thought you were adventurous?” he said laughing. “Come on. I won’t let anything happen to you, El.”
His words cut her like a knife. How many times had he promised that when they were growing up? She reached up with both hands as he pulled her straight up and onto the limb. After adjusting herself so she was sure she wouldn’t just topple out of the tree, she finally looked at him.
Always There: Christian Inspirational Romance Page 14