The Prodigal's Welcome

by Billerbeck, Kristin; Darty, Peggy;

  One afternoon as she sat with her mother, she said, “Isaac has accomplished so much. He tells me he’ll have the land ready to plant in seeds by the first of the week. And after Mr. Britton came out to see for himself what is being done, he told me we can get another loan next year, if necessary.”

  Elizabeth patted Grace’s hand. “You handled the situation well by paying off the loan but not stooping to say anything about his wife.”

  “I don’t have the strength for another battle, Mother. I don’t think anyone really wins a war. Not when you weigh the cost.” She turned and looked at her mother. “You’ve taught me a lesson I’ll never forget. You never wavered in your faith. You have remained a sweet loving person in spite of all the tragedy. When I compare you to others who are so bitter, I know the value of a close relationship with God.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “Even if everyone in the world thinks I’m foolish to keep sitting here waiting, hoping.…”

  Grace shook her head and looked longingly down the lane. “I would do the same if I thought I could see Jonathan riding up that drive again.”

  “Grace,” her mother said, “can’t you ask God for that and believe He will honor your faith?”

  Grace looked at her mother and smiled. “I suppose I can.”

  The two women laughed together and sat back in their chairs, listening to the whippoorwill begin its evening song.

  Grace was not sleepy that night and remained on the porch long after her mother had gone to bed. As she looked up at the vast sky overhead, amazed by all the stars and their special beauty, her mind moved on to the God who had created this beauty. She felt humbled and awed by such a God, and she stood up and walked over to the edge of the porch. Looking up in the night sky, a prayer began to form.

  “Oh God, please hear my prayer. I want to thank You for sending Jonathan to us. I thank You for what my father did to try to protect and care for us. I thank You for the Bible he sent with his secret code. And I thank You for giving me the wisdom to understand that code.

  “And then the gold, God. Thank You for the gold and for the difference it has made in our lives. But I have one more thing now that I must ask of You. Father, I love Jonathan, and I want to marry him and spend my life with him. I want us to have a family and to raise them in faith as my parents raised Freddy and me. I can better understand Your plan now, because of the way some things have happened. The way Father saved Jonathan, then Jonathan saved Father. Oh God, I know that was in Your plan. And I do believe You want Jonathan and me to be together. Why else did You send him to us? Why him?

  “I know that only You can touch our lives and work another miracle. Only You can heal the awful hate and anger between North and South; only You can patch up lives and hurts to where we can be together, either here or in Kentucky. I don’t know how You could do this, God, but I know that You can. You are a mighty God.”

  She paused, taking a breath. She remembered the other prayers she had asked for—begged for, in fact—which God had not answered. He had not spared Freddy’s life nor her father’s life. And she had been angry and bitter.

  “Father, I know I have offended You at times with all my fussing about life and the war and everything that has happened,” she continued slowly. “But please, forgive me for the things I said and did. You promise in Your Word that if we confess our sins, You are faithful to forgive us. So please forgive me. And please bless Jonathan and me and let us have a future together. Please give us a chance for happiness.” She took a deep breath. Hearing her words, she realized she didn’t make much sense, but sometimes dreams didn’t seem sensible. “Thank You for hearing this prayer and for helping us. And I’ll try to be a better person…”

  She kept her eyes closed for a few more minutes as the night silence settled over the porch, and a lonely little whippoorwill began to sing.

  That evening prayer brought Grace a sense of peace in the days to come. It was good to know she had asked God for forgiveness. Honoring the rest of that prayer was up to God, but she had ceased to fret over the outcome.

  Sitting on the porch with her mother had become part of her daily routine. Grace even began to share her mother’s pot of tea. She was still trying to build her faith, although it seemed that her mother had enough faith for both of them.

  On Friday afternoon, after Isaac had paid the men and everyone had left for the weekend, Grace made sandwiches from fresh tomatoes out of the garden. They were eating vegetables for lunch every day now, and she was planning to go into Whites Creek to buy some chickens.

  The two women had settled comfortably into their chairs on the front porch after finishing their evening meal and were listening for the whippoorwill. Grace could hear Lucky neighing from the pasture, and she smiled to herself, thinking how grateful she was to Jonathan for all he had helped her acquire. And to her father for providing the gold.

  The whinny of a horse caught her ear, then she heard gravel crunching on the drive below.

  “Who’s coming on a Friday evening?” Grace wondered aloud.

  Her mother looked at her with a twinkle in her eyes, but Grace merely laughed and shook her head.

  “Mother, it would be asking a lot for God to see Jonathan safely to Kentucky, get his business in order, then travel all the way back here in a month’s time.”

  In spite of her words, Grace couldn’t resist looking down the drive and feeling the tiny surge of hope that came to her each time a horse and rider drew near.

  Two riders came around the curve and Grace sighed. “See, I told you…” Her voice trailed off into silence.

  The first man rode a gray mare she had never seen before, and he bent forward with a hat low on his forehead so that she couldn’t make out who he was. But behind the first rider, she could see the side of a black horse. It was silly. She couldn’t hope. She mustn’t.

  Her heart defied reason, however, for Grace leaned forward in her chair in an attempt to see around the lead horse and get a better look at the black horse.

  Just then, the horses spread apart on the drive, and for a moment it seemed as though her heart had stopped beating.

  Grace stood, her gaze fixed on the black horse. Then she saw the blazes on his legs and on his forehead. She ran down the steps, all the hope of her life centered in her heart as she watched the black horse come into clear view. At last she could see the rider.

  A cry escaped her, and she stopped running, for tears blurred her vision, and her knees felt weak.

  “Hello, Grace,” Jonathan called to her. He swung down from the saddle and quickly covered the distance between them. They met in a wild embrace. He lifted her off her feet and swung her in the air.

  She laughed and cried at the same time as she reached out to touch his face, feeling the stubble of beard beneath her fingertips. “I can’t believe it,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

  From behind her she heard her mother’s voice. She knew her mother would be pleased to see Jonathan, but she couldn’t share him, not yet.

  “I’ve brought a visitor,” Jonathan said.

  But Grace wasn’t paying attention. She tilted back her tearstained face to look into Jonathan’s eyes. Why didn’t he kiss her? She couldn’t wait much longer.

  Then she heard her mother’s voice again, this time an odd, strangled cry. Grace whirled around with concern. Her mother was running down the lane toward the other horse. The man had swung down and was looking from her mother to Grace.

  Grace reeled back against Jonathan. The world dipped and swayed. She couldn’t believe her eyes…it couldn’t be. But her mother’s voice answered Grace’s doubts. “Fred! I knew you would come back!”

  Grace stood gaping in disbelief. The man was thin and stooped, but he was smiling and reaching out to her mother. As he turned and looked over his shoulder, Grace saw that he wasn’t a dream. He was real. Her father had come home.

  Chapter 14

  It had taken an hour to settle everyone down, and in the end i
t had been Grace’s mother who wisely suggested they go into the parlor where they would be more comfortable.

  Grace hadn’t left Jonathan’s side; she never wanted to be separated from him again. She nestled against him on the love seat while her parents sat together, their chairs drawn close, their faces radiant with love.

  “How?” Grace had asked the question a dozen times, unable to get beyond that single word.

  Jonathan attempted to explain as they drank tea and left the food untouched. “After I left here that day, I couldn’t forget the way your mother had waited so patiently for Mr. Cunningham; she had been so firm in her faith. And something she said to me on the porch that day continued to haunt me although I never said anything about it.”

  “What was it?” Elizabeth asked. Her face was radiant, her eyes glowing, and the love that softened her face gave her the appearance of a very young woman; she looked as though she were only a few years older than Grace.

  “You asked me if your husband was alive when I left him. I had to admit that he was. I thought about that a lot, especially after I left here. I got to thinking, what if there is a chance he’s still alive, just a chance? The more I pondered it, the more I knew I had to go back to the hospital to be sure. It was the only way I could get any peace for myself and for you.”

  He looked at Grace, and she saw that his eyes were filled with love for her. She wanted to cry with joy.

  “When I got to the hospital, he was the first patient I saw. He was sitting out in the sun on a side porch, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

  “I was going to be dismissed in a few days,” Grace’s father interjected, “but I hadn’t wired you, Elizabeth, because the doctor had warned that we must be sure I was over the fever.”

  Grace listened intently as her father spoke. Her eyes drank in every feature of his face: the high arch of his brows, the wide-set gray eyes that seemed haggard and circled. Yet a light twinkled in the depths of those eyes and assured everyone that he was well.

  “Jonathan told me everything that had happened.” He looked from his wife to Grace, then he smiled at her. “He told me how strong and brave you have been, Grace. I am so proud of you.”

  “Father, I want to know how you ended up with that gold,” she said. She had imagined a dozen different ways he could have acquired gold coins, and some of them were less than honorable. Yet she knew her father to be a honorable man.

  “Another one of God’s miracles,” he said, leaning back in the chair.

  Grace thought he was very thin, and he still looked terribly pale to her. Still, she knew if he had survived all that had happened to him, he would soon have all of his strength back, now that he was back at his beloved farm.

  “It was the last week in September, and I was on a scouting patrol with another soldier. We were near Steven’s Gap when we got ambushed by some Yanks. My buddy was killed, and my horse was killed, but I managed to hide in rocks and thick brush until morning. I climbed to the top of a mountain and looked down over the valley. I couldn’t see any soldiers, so I figured they had moved on toward Chattanooga.

  “In the valley, I spotted a bay horse grazing. Not seeing or hearing anyone, I crept toward the horse to investigate. As I got closer, I saw a Yankee soldier lying face down. I slipped up to him, after I was sure no one else was around. Being without a horse, my number one priority was to catch the bay. The horse kept feeding but would glance at me occasionally. Speaking gently, I walked toward the horse and noticed the nice saddle and brown leather saddlebags. The reins were still looped around the horse’s neck, indicating the rider might have fallen from the saddle, possibly from illness or having been shot. Reaching the rein and tightly grasping it, I continued talking to the horse. I petted its neck with my left hand.

  “My eyes were glued on the saddlebags, hoping they contained some ammunition and something to eat. I untied the leather straps of the saddlebag, lifted the flap, and looked in to see a leather bag with drawstrings pulled tight. When I picked the bag up and loosened its strings, I noticed how heavy it was. I looked inside and saw gold coins, a lot of them. Quickly I checked the offside bag. It, too, was full of coins. I hurriedly replaced the bags and retied them tightly. Then I searched the pockets of the dead soldier and found nothing but a small knife. He had no identification, nor any pistols or rifles.

  “So I left him by the creek, mounted my new horse, rode to a thick, wooded area, and dismounted. Finding a clean spot on the ground, I emptied one bag and counted the money—six hundred dollars. The other bag had 720 dollars. That made a total of 1,320 dollars in gold coins.”

  Elizabeth reached out and touched her husband’s hand. “Where do you think the money came from?”

  “He wasn’t an officer, and soldiers didn’t carry that kind of money in their saddlebags. Because he was by himself and carrying money, I suspected it was stolen. I was alone, knowing that Yankee soldiers were in the area and more than likely between me and my outfit back on Lookout Mountain. So what should I do? If I hid the gold there and something happened to me, nobody would find it. I knew I had to find a safe place to hide the gold, a place where I could get a message to my family to go look for it. I sat praying for half an hour.

  “Finally, I knew what I should do. A day’s ride southwest would take me to the farm area where we lived before we moved to Pickens County. I figured if I could get on top of Sand Mountain, I wouldn’t run into any Yanks. I asked God to see me safely there, and He did. I was led to the church and the apple tree. Even found the perfect smooth rock to carve my name on to use as a grave marker.”

  “And then you hid the money and rode back to your army?” Grace asked, completely amazed by what her father had told them.

  “I did. And we don’t need to talk about what happened after that. The best thing was that I met Jonathan there, and I realized he was a man I could trust. And I was right. Jonathan, I’ll be indebted to you for the rest of my life.”

  “I’m just as indebted to you,” he said, looking from Fred to Grace. “It was the only way I could have met your daughter, and I’ll have to admit, sir, that I haven’t had a moment’s peace since I left her.”

  “Nor have I,” Grace said, smiling into his eyes.

  “Fred, why don’t we take your things upstairs? I’m sure you need to rest after the long ride,” Elizabeth suggested.

  “How have you been?” Jonathan asked Grace after her parents had left the room.

  Grace was vaguely aware that her parents had left them alone. She suspected they knew there were important things to be discussed, and this time Grace wasn’t going to let Jonathan ride out of her life.

  “I’ve been lonely. And sad. For all of my bragging about how much I loved this place, it didn’t keep me from being lonely or from missing you with all my heart.”

  She reached forward and pressed her lips to his cheek. He took her in his arms. “Guess your mother will forgive me for breaking my promise, just this once,” he said.

  He drew her closer, and they kissed again and again. Finally he pulled away from her and stood. “Want to go with me to take care of the horses?”

  She laughed. “Of course I do.” As they walked out to the yard to lead the horses to the barn, she was already thinking how awful it would be when he started talking about leaving. She wanted to know how long he planned to stay, but she was too nervous to ask.

  “Your father and I saw the fields and pastures. Everything looks nice, Grace.”

  “Isaac has been a miracle worker.”

  He reached out to pull her into his arms as they led the horses to the trough. “And I expect you’ve been quite the boss.”

  She laughed. “Actually, no. Isaac is his own man, you know. I didn’t want to run the risk of losing him.”

  As they rubbed the horses down, Jonathan asked more questions about the farm, the cotton crop, even Reams and his wife.

  She related everything to him, talking until she was almost hoarse. Then, as they walked back up to the
house, she turned and looked at him.

  “How long can you stay?” she asked, for she had to know.

  “I sent another wire from Chattanooga,” he said, looking serious. “This time I promised to be leaving here within the week.”

  “Oh.” She nodded and looked down at the freshly cut grass beneath her feet. How could she say good-bye to him again? It would tear her heart out to spend time with him again, then watch him leave. She drew a deep breath. “I’ll try hard not to beg you to stay,” she said, but as she spoke, her throat tightened. She cast a glance toward her healthy garden, admiring row upon row of healthy vegetables that were her pride and delight.

  Jonathan took her arm and turned her slowly to face him. “I believe we were standing about right here the last time I asked you to go home with me. You said you couldn’t leave your mother alone. She’s no longer alone,” he said, trying to smile.

  Grace searched his eyes, then turned and cast a glance toward the house. Her mind stumbled over his words, weighed them out, and as she did she wondered if she could really leave the only home she had ever known.

  “I…don’t know,” she said, feeling his arms wrap around her. As she turned and looked into the deep blue eyes, she felt her heart start to beat in the way it always did whenever she was close to him. “I…Father just came home.”

  “Yes. That’s why I planned to stay on a few days so you would have time to spend with him. Then, if you’re willing, I thought maybe there could be a little service over in that church across the road.”

  “They’re already having services—” She broke off as she saw the twinkle in his eyes. “You mean like—?”

  “Like a wedding,” he said, tilting her chin back and smiling into her eyes. “Grace, if you’ll marry me, I promise to do my best to be a good husband, a good father. I promise to be the kind of Christian man you deserve.”

  “You’re already that kind of man, Jonathan,” she said. “Do you really want to marry me?” she asked, suddenly feeling shy.