By the time Chad worked his way through several women who wanted to speak to Kara, he was ready to head home. As they walked across the parking lot, Kara said, “Mama.”
“Who are you talking about, baby?” He frowned. You don’t have a mama. Your first mama died, and Mandy walked away from us. The bright September sun did nothing to brighten his life.
Throughout the second week of school, Chad forced himself to concentrate on the history lessons as he lectured and gave out assignments. Wednesday, he warned his class, “There will be a test Friday over the material we’ve studied so far. It’s not an important part of your grade, but it will give you points you may be thankful for later. Also save these short tests to use as a study guide for the longer tests. Doing your best now will pay off in the long run.”
Even as the words left his mouth, he felt a tug in his soul. What was his best? The answer came as if spoken to him. “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ” Had he memorized this verse as a child? Probably. He’d look it up tonight. See if Jessica had written any comments in the margin.
He did look up the verse and found it in Mark 12:30. In Jessica’s handwriting, he read, How can I do less than love Him with everything that is in me? He gave everything for me. Without Him I would not exist. Jesus, I love You.
He didn’t know he was crying until a tear fell on his hand. Longing he’d fought since he drove away from the farm pressed against him. Amanda. His love for her would never leave. Seeing her again had brought her back to him in a way he could no longer ignore. Surely she was the cause of this emptiness inside his heart.
Thursday he made arrangements for a substitute teacher to take his classes the next day. Soon he would see Mandy, and then everything would be set right.
He rose early Friday morning. Kara must’ve sensed his excitement, because she woke early, too. Why wait any longer? They headed south as soon as he packed a couple of bags and fed Kara.
As he drove, Kara went to sleep, and the silence in the truck became a perfect breeding ground for troubling thoughts to grow in his mind. The comments from Jessica’s Bible and the verses he’d learned as a child brought back the restless feelings he’d fought for two weeks. He snapped on the radio, hoping for a distraction. An old song, beautifully sung, filled the cab of his truck: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found—”
He twisted the dial, cutting off the music, as sweat broke out on his forehead. What was going on? He couldn’t get away from this. A rest area appeared ahead, and he took the exit, parking away from other vehicles. He leaned his head against the steering wheel and cried. “Lord Jesus, help me. I need You.”
Chapter 17
A manda watched her last small student board the bus that would take him home, then turned and walked back to her classroom. She picked up a wadded paper from the floor and tossed it into the wastebasket. The last few weeks had proved one thing to her, or maybe two things. She loved teaching almost as much as she missed Chad and Kara. She stepped behind her desk and faced the door. If he walked through that door, she’d throw herself into his arms and never let go.
At that moment a man stepped through the open doorway, and she gasped, her heart racing.
“Hello, Amanda.” Dan Hunt smiled at her and pushed his glasses into place as he neared her desk.
Her breath left in a rush, and she plopped into the chair behind her. “Hi.”
“How’s kindergarten?” He leaned against the wall and folded his arms as if he planned to stay awhile.
“Fine. Fun, actually.” She straightened and pushed Chad from her mind. She couldn’t let a fantasy rule her life. “And what about your domain? How’s sixth-grade science?”
He grinned. “This year has all the earmarks of the three W’s. Wild, weird, but wonderful. Can’t think of a thing I’d rather be doing. Well, except for one.”
“Really? What would that be?” Not that she cared.
His eyes appeared large behind his glasses. He blinked. “Dinner with a beautiful woman. How about it, Amanda? Will you go with me?”
Had he just asked her out? On a date? Dan was nice. In fact, he was a wonderful Christian man, and he did remind her of Jeff in an abstract sort of way. Maybe she should go out with him and forget Chad. Why not?
She opened her mouth to accept but lost the ability to speak when Chad stepped into her classroom. Unless her longing and dreams had brought him to life, Chad Randall stood two steps inside her room smiling at her. Kara sat on his arm looking from one bright display to another.
Amanda stood and walked around her desk. Don’t let them disappear. Please Lord, let this be real.
She saw movement from the corner of her eye. Dan! She’d forgotten all about him. She turned to apologize and explain.
Then Kara saw her. And squealed. “Mama.”
The baby lunged and Chad grabbed her to keep her from falling. Amanda ran to them and lifted her into her arms where she belonged. She squeezed her close, laughing and crying at the same time. She couldn’t stop but covered Kara’s face with her kisses.
“Hey, save some of that for me.” Chad growled, but his eyes looked especially bright, and his smile grew wider.
“Oh Chad.” Amanda stepped home as his arms drew her close. His lips barely touched hers as if he were asking permission. Her response must have been the answer he needed as the kiss deepened.
She pulled back to look into the face of her dreams and search for answers. “Why are you here?”
“We came for the weekend.”
“Oh, to check on the farm?” She started to pull back, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Sure, we’ll go to the farm, but this was our first stop.” He still held her in the circle of his arms. “You’re our first priority, Mandy. Always will be. Don’t you know yet how much I love you and always have?”
She looked at a button on his chest. “I think so, but…”
He chuckled. “There’ve been some changes. Are you finished here? Kara’s hungry and I’m starved. Let’s go eat somewhere so I can tell you everything.”
They left Amanda’s car and stopped at Sonic. After he prayed over their food, Chad told Amanda about his experience at the roadside park. “I met the Lord for the first time today, Mandy. I was raised in church, but I never accepted the sacrifice He made for me until today.”
Amanda gave him a soft smile. “I’m glad, Chad. Too many people think lip service is all that’s required. Christ gave everything for us, why can’t we understand He deserves and even demands our all in return?”
“I understand what you’re saying.” Chad smiled. “I thought I was all right until you challenged me. I’ve been going to church in Rockford, but I still resisted God’s call. In fact, I started down here today to talk you into marrying me. I thought that was the cause of my unrest. I thought I needed you to make me complete. I still need you. That’ll never change. But…I don’t know.”
He shook his head. “After I prayed back at that park, it’s like I made a complete turnaround. I’m not like I was, Mandy. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
“ ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation is come: The old has gone, the new is here!’ ” She smiled. “Yes, I understand exactly what you’re talking about. I feel as if these last few minutes have been a dream come true.”
Chad chuckled. “Then how about making my dream come true?”
Amanda’s breath caught while her sandwich lay on her lap untouched. Her heart danced in place. “Your dream?”
He nodded. “And yours, I hope. More than fourteen years ago, we were supposed to get married. Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough?”
The intensity in his eyes held her in place as she nodded.
“I hope that means yes.”
“Yes?” How could she answer without the question he hadn’t asked?
He said he
was starved, but he hadn’t so much as touched his food. He took her hands in his, as she faced him. “Mandy, you hold my heart in your hands. I’ve never felt so vulnerable, so scared. How many times does a man have to ask the woman he loves if she’ll marry him before it really happens? Mandy, will you marry me?”
“Yes. As soon as possible.” He started to pull her forward for a kiss, but she cried out, “No, I can’t.”
Distress drew her brows together. How could she have forgotten? She bowed her head and tried to pull her hands back, but he wouldn’t let go. “I can’t marry anyone.”
“Why?”
She owed him an explanation. What did she have to lose now? She’d already lost him. She relaxed her hands. He’d let go soon enough. With a show of courage she didn’t feel, she met his gaze and opened her heart to rejection.
“I lost more in the accident than a husband and child, Chad.” He watched her in silence. She spoke barely above a whisper. “I was hurt inside. By the time I woke up enough to know what had happened, I’d had a few operations, including a hysterectomy. I can’t have children.”
His expression softened, and he released her hands to slip his arms around her shoulders. He pulled her as close as he could in the confines of the truck cab. Without a word, he kissed her face, her cheeks, and her forehead. Then he kissed her lips and with another hug pulled back to look into her eyes. “Do you honestly think I’m marrying you for children?”
“Are you saying that isn’t important?”
He shook his head. “We aren’t kids anymore, Mandy. Besides, if you’ll look in the backseat, you’ll find a child. Why don’t we just take that one and raise her as ours? In fact, why don’t we adopt her so she’s ours legally? She already calls us Mama and Dada.”
Tears sprang to Amanda’s eyes. Tears of joy rather than rejection. She laughed and nodded.
Chad chuckled. “I hope that means what I think it does.”
“It means yes, I’ll marry you. As soon as possible.” She threw her hand over her mouth. “But what about school? I have a contract.”
“That could be a problem, but we’ll figure something out. First thing Monday see what it takes to get out of your contract. That leaves us this weekend to pray for God’s will. I guarantee He’s got it covered.”
“Oh Chad, I love you.” Amanda took the initiative and kissed him. When she pulled away, she remembered something. “When you came into my classroom, was there a man there?”
Chad chuckled. “Don’t you remember?”
She shook her head. “He was there before, but I didn’t see him leave. I started to apologize to him, but Kara called me mama. Did he leave?”
“He left.” Chad grinned. “He acted surprised by our presence. I guess he didn’t know you already had a family.”
“Oh dear.” Amanda looked in the backseat where Kara sat quietly shredding the bun from her sandwich. “I can imagine the rumors that will be going around next week.”
“Who was he? An erstwhile suitor?”
Amanda giggled. “He’d just asked me out to dinner. I think he had something a little different than this in mind, too.”
Chad dug in his pants pocket. “I brought some wolf repellent with me. I want you to wear it all the time. If it doesn’t keep guys like him away, let me know, and I’ll make sure they don’t bother you.”
Wolf repellent? Mace? Amanda’s heart set up its tap dance again when she recognized the jeweler’s box in his hand.
“You gave your ring to Susan, and I guess she deserves some credit for returning it to me. Although that was probably part of her plan, too.” He opened the box and Amanda forgot to breathe.
The wedding set he’d bought while they were in college sparkled as if the rings had only now come from the store. He lifted the engagement ring out and snapped the box closed, hiding the two matching wedding rings, one for her, one for him. He held her left hand and positioned the beautiful solitaire over her third finger. “Just so you know, Susan never saw this ring after she returned it. I kept them, not because I thought this day would ever come, but because they were all I had left of you besides memories and pictures. God has restored what the tempter took. Do you have any objections to using our original rings?”
Amanda’s breath rushed in with her nod. “Yes, no.”
She laughed. “Thank you. I want my ring back. I love you.”
“I love you, Mandy. Always and forever.” With that declaration, he returned her ring to its rightful place.
Sunday morning, Chad gave his testimony of God’s saving grace before the church. He stood to the side of the pulpit, looking so handsome Amanda wanted to stand and tell everyone he was hers.
“I especially want to thank this church for everything you’ve done for me and Kara.” Chad looked out over the congregation. “I’ve learned a valuable lesson from your example. Maybe you didn’t know what you were doing last May when you drove to Lakeland and volunteered to help clean up after the tornadoes that ripped through the area. But God knew. He directed you to me and to Kara. We needed you for more than removing a tree from the house and fixing the roof. For cleaning up the yard and the house. A brand-new barn stands now as a testimony of this church’s missionary vision. You reached out and performed miracles, but you let God work through you to bring about the greatest miracle of all. That of a sinner saved by God’s grace. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for that.”
Saturday morning Chad and Amanda stood in the Lakeland Cemetery before the two graves. Already new grass covered the disturbed ground. Chad knelt with Kara in his arms to see the headstones. He traced the lettering as he talked to his fourteen-month-old niece.
“Kara, we can’t see your mommy and daddy now because they live with Jesus, but we can come here and feel close to them because this is where their bodies are. Someday we’ll join them in heaven. I know you’ve already forgotten so much about them, but I promise I’ll do my best to help you remember and know how much they loved you.”
Kara babbled words known only to her. Chad hugged her and looked up at Amanda. She laid her hand on his shoulder, love for him and Kara filling her heart. A verse in the Old Testament came to her mind. “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…” Surely God had given back what had been taken from them.
Epilogue
L ate Saturday after Thanksgiving, Amanda stood at the closed double doors leading into the sanctuary of her home church. Her dress was not the extravagant, typical wedding attire, but she wore a simple pale green gown that touched the floor and brought out the green of her eyes and the red highlights in her hair. Or so Sarah said. She’d been thrilled when both her best friends, Tessa and Sarah, had made the trip to her wedding just as they’d promised they would.
Tessa steered Sarah toward the door. “You’d better give that baby to your mom before you have to carry her down the aisle.”
“Oh no you don’t,” Amanda said. “Not until I get one more kiss.”
“Why do I think you would spoil my daughter if you lived close enough?” Sarah held little Andrea Nichols close to Amanda.
Amanda touched her tiny hand and kissed her forehead as she slept. She smiled at Sarah. “Because I would. I’ll be out of reach in Rockford though, so you can rest easy. Looks like I’ll be staying home this winter with my own little one.”
Kara stood to the side with her new cousins, who were older, but still young enough to be quite fascinating to a sixteen-month-old.
“How’d you get out of your teaching contract, anyway?” Tessa asked.
Amanda shrugged. “It pays to know people. Linda has a friend. A retired teacher who missed the classroom and needed the money. She was glad to take over the rest of the year. She sat in on the class with me this last week and seems very nice. The kids took to her right off. Chad and I will both be applying back this way for next year.”
“Then you’ll live here?” Sarah asked.
Amanda smiled at her two best friends. “We have a farm that si
ts close to Route 66. We thought we’d like to stay in the area.”
Sarah gave her a quick hug. “We’ll get together more often then. I’m so glad.”
Linda slipped through the door and took her granddaughter from Sarah. With a smile and wink for Amanda, she went back into the sanctuary.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Tessa said. “The three of us. I mean, what is it with the Mother Road and second chances? You’d think there might be something special about the road itself.”
Amanda nodded. “Maybe there is. But I think Someone had a hand in each of us coming back where we belong. He just used Route 66 to bring it about.”
“That’s true.” Karen turned from talking to her dad to add her opinion. “Considering Chad, Sarah, Kevin, and Blake all became Christians because of it.”
“Amen,” Sarah murmured.
“I agree.” Tessa nodded. “Thank God for what He has done.”
The church organ had been playing softly. Now the tune changed, and they took their places. Tessa stood in front of the door waiting, while Karen moved closer to Amanda and their dad.
Amanda said, “Tessa, we’re right behind you.”
Tessa grinned over her shoulder. “You aren’t nervous, are you?”
Amanda waved her forward with both hands and gave an exaggerated nod as Tessa laughed. But then the ushers opened the doors and Tessa began the long walk to the front with Sarah not far behind. Karen followed ahead of Brad’s daughter and son who carried a basket of flowers and a pillow cushioning the rings. Karen’s girls came next, each holding one of Kara’s hands as she toddled between them. As she went through the door, she looked back at Amanda and said, “Bye, bye, Mama.”
“Bye, precious. I’m coming right behind you.” Amanda smiled at her dad when he patted her hand on his arm.
“I’m proud of you, Amanda.” He spoke in a soft voice. “You’re getting another good man.”
“I know, Dad. God has blessed me twice in spite of my failings.”
He simply nodded as they stepped forward and walked the aisle toward Amanda’s future.
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