by Lisa Wingate
I giggled at the picture of Kemp and Uncle Ronald dancing in the field house while I demonstrated on-screen, counting out the steps. “You did a good job. He was pretty light-footed by the time I got to him.”
“He didn’t start out that way, I can promise you.” Kemp grimaced, as if it hurt to remember.
“Donetta will be so surprised.” I imagined the moment when, after the Captain’s Circle Reception on the Jubilation, Donetta descended the stairs and Ronald offered his hand and asked, May I have this dance?
Donetta would have her Titanic moment on ship after all, even if I wouldn’t be there to see it.
“Yes, she will,” Kemp agreed. “It was worth being Uncle Ronald’s dance partner for weeks.”
“I guess by now your skills are pretty good.”
He grinned mischievously. “If you’re lucky, I might show you.” The invitation brushed anticipation over my skin, and my heart quickened in response. I felt the walls between us melting in the heat, drifting out to sea, disappearing far into the distance, where the sun was trailing into the water.
“I feel lucky.”
“Me, too,” he said quietly.
Studying me, he slipped his hand into his shirt pocket and pulled out a square of yellow paper. “I brought something for you. Uncle Ronald was supposed to give it to you, but he left it behind with the passports. Guess he knew I’d get the chance to give it to you myself.” He held out the colored paper, an envelope. It had my name on the outside. The penmanship was meticulous, but the hand that wrote it had been shaking. Something about it was familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“What is this?” I felt him watching me as I turned the envelope over.
“I went to your grandmother’s house.”
The muscles in my neck tightened, and I felt as if I were choking. The moment seemed to stand still. “You went to McGregor?” My mind spun through the times Kemp and I had paused at the end of his driveway, talking as he waited patiently for me to decide which way to go.
“She sent you a letter.” He nodded at the envelope.
“You saw my grandmother?” Tears crowded my eyes, and a rush of tenderness pierced me, the sensation sudden and surprising. Even when Kemp and I were far apart—physically, emotionally, even when it seemed like we’d never see each other again, he had completed the journey I didn’t have the courage to make on my own.
On the heels of that thought came another. One so powerful it took me back a step. If he didn’t care about me, if what was between us wasn’t something special, why would he have bothered?
Tears welled in my eyes and spilled over. I felt them hot and wet on my cheeks, tasted them on my lips.
He reached across the space between us, trailed a thumb along my cheek, wiping away the tears. Sliding his fingers into my hair, he pulled me closer until our bodies touched. The contact brought a jolt of electricity at first, then a deep, spreading warmth. “I missed you,” I said as I stared into the eyes that had haunted me so many nights. I’d dreamed about him. I’d dreamed about this.
“I didn’t think about you at all.” His breath touched my lips, and then he kissed me, and every question in my mind was swept away. There was only room for this moment, for the kind of emotion that can’t be planned for, or controlled, but only experienced.
When our lips parted, Kemp folded me into his arms, and I laid my head against his chest, watching the sun seep slowly into the ocean. For the first time I could remember, I felt completely at peace.
“I can’t believe you did this for me,” I whispered, holding up the letter and looking at it again.
His chin rested gently on my hair, so that I heard his voice and felt it. “I thought it might give you a reason to come home.”
Home. After a lifetime of wandering, of seeking and failing, I finally understood the meaning of the word. Home isn’t a place, a structure you create from wood or bricks or mortar, building the walls high and strong, to keep out the storms of life. Home is in the things you carry with you, the treasures of the heart, like Gil’s Bible, or the memories of a family baseball game on a sunny summer day, or the feeling of singing “I’ll Fly Away” in an abandoned church as the storm passes over. It is a dwelling place you share with the people who matter most, a refuge in which you’re never alone. The Builder is always nearby, tearing down old walls and adding new rooms, repairing the damage of wind and weather, filling empty spaces with new gifts.
Gifts beautiful and mysterious and unexpected.
Like all beautiful gifts, a surprise to everyone but the Giver, who seeks us in our hidden places and beckons us home from our wanderings. Who knows that nothing adrift is meant to stay adrift forever.
Discussion Questions
1. Donetta, Imagene, and Lucy’s vacation takes a completely unexpected turn, but in the end something good comes of it. Have you ever had an experience in which a vacation gone wrong brought something new and unexpected into your life?
2. When the women are trapped on the side of the road, Donetta finds herself “praying from the foxhole.” Have you ever found yourself praying from the foxhole? When?
3.E ven when her own resources are limited, Kai chooses to stop to help others. Why do you think she chooses to do this?
4. Donetta feels that her marriage as a young woman may have been, in part, an attempt to find the love she never received from her father. How do our childhood relationships influence our adult decisions?
5. Donetta’s marriage began in hope, but over the years slowly grew distant and stale. What causes couples to drift apart? Do you think this is what God intends for us? What can we do to prevent it?
6.I n dealing with her difficult childhood, Kai has cut herself off from her family. Do you think this is healthy? How should we react to those who have caused us pain in the past?
7. Donetta confesses that she was always jealous of certain aspects of Imagene’s life. Have you ever harbored secret jealousy toward a friend? How did it affect the friendship?
8. Brother Ervin’s sermon about juggling contends that an overly busy life is the greatest enemy of good works. Do you agree or disagree? Do our modern schedules keep us from seeing and attending to the needs of those around us? Examples?
9. When the members of the Holy Ghost Church arrive in Daily, Betty Prine quickly becomes determined to run them out of town. Is her reaction typical? Understandable? Why or why not?
10.T he community of Daily rallies together to help the storm victims. Has your community or your church ever done something similar?
11. One of Donetta’s goals for the trip to the coast is to finally learn the truth about Mamee. Have you ever searched for the truth about a family secret?
12. Because of her past, Kai rejects the idea that Kemp could really love her, and she returns to her old life. Have you ever found yourself stuck in one place, unable to take a leap of faith?
13.T he storm changes the paths of everyone involved. How do tragedies change us? Has a storm or unexpected event ever moved your life onto a new path?
Coming July 2010
From New American Library Accent & National Bestselling Author
LISA WINGATE
Beyond Summer
An invitation to readers to return to Blue Sky Hill, where unexpected challenges and new relationships give deeper meaning to “home”…
When Tam Lambert learns that her family’s upscale home is in foreclosure, the life she’s known is forever changed. Tam and her family must move to a changing Dallas neighborhood called Blue Sky Hill… New resident Shasta Williams knows nothing of real estate schemes when she and her husband purchase a home in Blue Sky Hill. To her it’s the perfect place to raise her children. Better yet is getting to know Tam, who lives next door.
When neighbors realize that a corrupt deal could force them from their homes, friendships and loyalties are tested. Over the span of one summer, two young women discover the strength and maturity to do the impossible. They find that even in Blue Sky Hill, l
ife-altering relationships and amazing possibilities can begin to blossom…
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