Raising Attabury: A Contemporary Christian Epic-Novel (The Grace Series Book 5)

by Stallings, Staci

  “Hey, you made it!” Caleb said with joy in his voice. He stepped over to shake Eric’s hand.

  Eric had to juggle the suitcases to get that accomplished, but he did it. “We did.”

  “Come in. Come in,” Rachel said as she backed up to give them more room. “We’ve got your two rooms ready to go.” She headed back into the house, and like a trail of ants the others followed her. They went past one bedroom. “This is the master. That’s where Derek and Jayc will be when they get here.”

  “Probably late,” Caleb said. “Their flight out of Dallas was delayed.”

  “I hope they make it,” Dani said with concern.

  Rachel laughed. “I’m sure they’re right there with you on that one. But they fly into Norfolk, and then it’s three hours here so…” One more door down and she stopped. “This room has a queen bed, and the room down there has two twins. We figured you and Eric in here and Jaden down there… if she doesn’t mind sleeping in a strange room.”

  Dani didn’t so much as look at her daughter. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

  Nodding, Rachel continued the tour. “Here’s the bathroom. There’s fresh towels and everything. You’ll have to share the bathroom with Derek and Jaycee. I hope that won’t be a problem.”

  “Yeah. No problem,” Eric said as he deposited the luggage in their room. “We’re flexible.”

  Dani wasn’t sure how she felt about sharing a bathroom with Derek, but she kept that observation to herself.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but we made some dinner,” Rachel said, and she turned the other way and they came out in the kitchen, a wide, amazing room Dani hadn’t at all expected.

  “Wow. This kitchen is to die for,” she said in instant awe.

  Sliding closer to Caleb, Rachel put her arms around him. “Caleb does amazing work, doesn’t he?”

  Next to her but light years apart, Eric put his hands on his waist and appraised the room. “You did this? Wow. I mean, wow. This is phenomenal.”

  “This used to be my mom’s house,” Rachel said by way of explanation neither of them had asked for. “When she decided to sell, Caleb was fixing it up. Then Derek and Jaycee decided to buy it so they’d have a place when they came back to help us with the show.”

  “Great thinking,” Eric said, still appraising. “This is great. Not what I was expecting, that’s for sure.”

  “Makes me excited for our place,” Dani said, and she wasn’t joking. She looked around. “So where are your kids? The two little ones. Rhett and…”

  “Natalie,” Rachel supplied. “They’re with Jane, the pastor’s wife. She’s kind of become our built in baby sitter. She loves those little ones.”

  “That must be nice,” Dani said.

  “Oh.” Rachel jumped with a thought. “We’ve talked to her about tomorrow. I mean, I’m sure Jaden doesn’t want to be out at that old, yucky house tomorrow.”

  “I wouldn’t want her out there,” Eric said, and he anchored his arms at his chest and shook his head. “That place would be dangerous on a good day.”

  Rachel nodded. “I agree, so we talked to Jane and she doesn’t mind watching the kiddos, and that includes Jaden.”

  “Wow,” Dani said, having not even really thought about what they would do with their daughter. “Are you sure she doesn’t mind?”

  That brought a broad smile from Rachel. “Trust me. She loves having the kids around.”

  They ate supper with Caleb and Rachel who had thought to make it and stayed to enjoy it with them. They were such a nice couple, down-to-earth, solid. Loving in a newlywed kind of way but not sickeningly so. In fact, as they ate, Dani watched them, and she couldn’t help but be a little wistful about the easy way they were around each other. The conversation centered mostly on the town and the house and the coming day. It would be work from sun up to sun down and probably enough for Sunday as well.

  Church on Sunday was mentioned, but only that, which was good because Dani really had no intentions of attending. Church was just something she didn’t do any longer if it wasn’t 100-percent necessary. Other than widening her social circle, she saw no real point in going, and honestly, the social circles there made her nervous and uncomfortable. No. It was just easier not to go. Thankfully, Eric agreed with her on that point, so it was a non-issue in their house. She only hoped that come Sunday, they could stay away and not cause a ruckus about it.

  When supper was finished, Rachel stood to clear the table, and Dani followed. “Here, let me get that,” Dani said, scrambling to her feet. “You cooked.”

  “I threw things in a pan and called it a casserole,” Rachel said, reaching for more dishes. “I hardly call that cooking.”

  However, Caleb stood at the head of the table and took the dishes from his wife. “Tell you what, why don’t you show Dani around a little more? I’ll get these.”

  Rachel half-grinned at him. “Are you trying to get on my good side?”

  Leaning in, he kissed her. “I’m not dumb.”

  “No, you are not.” A second and her gaze slid over to Dani. “Come on. I’ll give you the extended tour.”

  When the women left, Eric hung back, quietly collecting the rest of the dishes. He went over to the sink where Caleb was already rolling up his sleeves and rinsing dishes to put them in the dishwasher.

  “This kitchen really is sweet.” He deposited the dishes onto the counter. “I was really not expecting this.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s interesting how our expectations do that to us.”

  As he went back to the table, Eric puzzled at the words. “How do you mean?”

  “Well, it’s just that most of the time, we get what we expect. So if we expect something to be bad, we’re not surprised when it turns out bad, even if it could have turned out to be good if we thought to focus on the right things.”

  Eric raised one eyebrow. “What’re you, a philosopher?”

  Caleb laughed. “Hardly. Just reading. I think the pastor’s warping my entire life if you want to know the real truth.”

  The light-heartedness transferred to Eric. “Well, I hear you there. I’ve been reading that book, the one about wholeness? I think I’m getting about half of it, maybe… if I’m lucky.”

  “Half? Wow. Then you’re doing a whole lot better than I do with this stuff.” Caleb put a dish in the washer. “I have to keep going back over and back over and back over the words, going, ‘Okay, one more time…’”

  “But you get this stuff,” Eric protested as he leaned there watching. “I’m like clueless over here.”

  “Ha. Welcome to that club. I told the pastor the other day he needs to start a Clueless Men’s Bible Study for poor slobs like me that are over here going, ‘Uhhhh… Help?’ when we read this stuff.”

  Eric laughed. “Well, sign me up. I’ll be a charter member.”

  The sound of the back door closing echoed in the room. “Anybody home?” And with that Derek and Jaycee entered the fray.

  “Caleb scheduled the camera crew for tomorrow,” Rachel said as she and Dani finally landed in the chairs by the little fireplace in the living room. There was no fire in it, and part of Dani wished there was as the room though cozy was quite dim. “It’ll be our first time with them, so I think everyone will be feeling their way through things.”

  “There you are!” Jaycee said, coming into the room from the hallway doorway.

  “Jaycee.” With excitement, Rachel stood and hugged her friend. “We thought you guys were going to be super late. How’d you get here so early?”

  “Derek made good time from Norfolk, and that’s all I’m saying.” Jaycee put up both hands and shook her head in consternation. “I’ve been praying for two solid hours.” In her stylish coat, scarf, fitted top, jeans and boots, she looked like she’d just stepped off a runway. She turned to Dani who stood there awkwardly. It was clear she didn’t fit with them.

  “Here, you sit.” Rachel dragged her friend to the chair she’d been occupying. “I’ll go get y
ou something. You hungry, or would you rather have hot tea or cocoa?”

  “Cocoa sounds delish.” Jaycee started pulling layers off, dropping them by the chair as Rachel left. “What a day. I hate traveling in winter. One little snowstorm just throws everything into a tailspin.” She collapsed into the chair and put her foot up on the ottoman.

  For one, split-second Dani thought how at-home-comfortable she seemed, and then she remembered, this was her home. “So is it good to be home?”

  Sitting up, Jaycee laughed. “Well, with us home is kind of relative these days.” She shook her head. “Let’s just say I’m glad to get out of Mississippi. Nice people, pretty area, but that hotel could have used some Derek-and-Caleb up-grades that’s for sure.”

  Rachel came in, handed her a cup, and sat down on the ottoman which Jaycee moved her foot from.

  “Cold showers and creepy-crawly things are not my idea of high-style living.”

  That surprised Dani. She had assumed Derek and Jaycee commanded the best in accommodations wherever they went.

  “That bad?” Rachel asked. “Caleb was saying it was a pretty small place from what Derek said.”

  Jaycee put her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes for a second before looking over at her friend. “You know, if you weren’t so deliriously happy and all,I would steal that man of yours right out from under you.”

  Rachel laughed although Dani’s alarm meter went onto blare mode. “That’s me, deliriously happy. So Alex’s crew isn’t getting any better?”

  “Oh, no. They are not. I’m just hoping this Landon guy they hired to replace Caleb is more like Caleb and less like Alex, or I don’t care what Derek says, I’m coming home to stay.”

  It was strange watching them. They weren’t catching up on the latest town gossip or planning trips to go shopping. Instead, they simply wove their stories together in a seamless design that was beautiful to behold.

  “So are Luke and Sage coming out to help tomorrow?” Jaycee asked. “I talked to her a couple days ago, and she said they might.”

  “I’m pretty sure although we might not get Luke within a mile of the place,” Rachel said with a short chuckle. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think he trusts that place too far.”

  Jaycee took a sip and laughed. “Well, Luke’s never been the brave sort.”

  “Not that I blame him for that,” Rachel said. “The seniors were pretty mean to those guys freshman year, dropping them off out there and making them walk back past that place. I think that would’ve freaked me out too.”

  “True. I don’t think he slept without a light on for a month or more.”

  Rachel shook her head and leaned back. “Lot of stories about that old place. You wonder how many of them were even true.”

  “True or not, they were enough to put the fear of God into most of us growing up.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “The camera crew’s supposed to be here at nine,” Caleb said as the men sat at the table discussing the coming work day. “I figure we’ll do a couple stand-ups and then start cleaning the place out around ten. I think Luke’s coming, and he’ll probably bring his boys. I asked Aiden and Pete to come out too at least to carry the furniture. Some of that stuff is going to crumble when we try to move it.”

  “No doubt,” Eric said, putting his arm on the chair back. “I nominate you and Derek to move that bed.”

  “Ha. Ha.” Caleb came forward and rested his wrists together on the table. “I think that’s a job for the homeowner.”

  “Right. Then I’ll be sure to tell Dani.”

  They all laughed.

  “So how long are you and Jaycee here for?” Caleb asked Derek.

  “We’ve got a solid week until next Monday. We start the next job that Tuesday in Baltimore.”

  Eric shook his head. “Man, I don’t know how you all do it. All that traveling? That would make me squirrely.”

  Derek’s gaze slipped down to his cup. “Yeah, it can get pretty old not being anywhere for more than a month or two at a time.” He sighed. “I don’t think I even realized it until now, you know? It’s like being married… It changes things.”

  “It does that,” Eric said, thinking back to all of the life adjustments he had gone through early on. “Not that it’s all bad,” he added quickly, remembering he was talking with two newlyweds and not wanting to conjure up all the bad experiences they’d had over the years. “It’s just, I don’t know, you’ve got to start thinking about what’s best for them too, and sometimes doing that changes the game plan drastically.”

  “Tell me about it,” Derek said. “And working with her is…” He glanced at Caleb. “Well, it’s just hard to always tell where lines are.” He laughed softly and sat back. “And it doesn’t help that they change constantly.”

  Although he wasn’t sure he should have, Eric laughed. “I don’t think that’s a product of working together, I think that’s just about being together. Sometimes I wish I had ESP, and other times, I’m real glad I don’t.”

  Caleb let out a breath. “So it’s not just me then?”

  The other two laughed.

  “Not hardly,” Derek said. “I thought getting together was hard. That was nothing compared with this.”

  “Wait ‘til you have a kid or two,” Eric said, “that adds a whole new level of complexity to the situation.”

  “I’m telling you,” Caleb said, “if it wasn’t for the pastor, I’d already be sunk.”

  “The pastor.” Eric leaned forward. “He’s the one with the books and all the wisdom and stuff?”

  “Yeah, but to hear him tell it, he’s about as lost as we all are.” Caleb shook his head. “It’s so weird. I always thought, pastor, you know, he’s got to know like everything. But then we talk, and don’t get me wrong, he knows a lot of stuff. But, the more we talk, the more I see he doesn’t have it all figured out either. It’s not all wine, roses, and perfection for them all the time.” Coming forward, Caleb grew serious. “It’s like we got to talking the other day about them and the whole kid thing. You know how the boys are adopted and all of that. It must’ve been really rough on them—on her to be sure but on him too because they’d always thought life was going to turn out one way and when it didn’t…” Caleb shrugged and sat back.

  “So does it turn out how any of us think it’s going to?” Derek asked. “I mean, this isn’t where I saw myself last year or even six months ago.”

  “I hear you there,” Eric said. “How did I get here, talking to you two? Agreeing to be on television tomorrow? I mean, what is that? When did that happen?”

  “You and me both on that one, brother,” Caleb said with a laugh. “Somehow tomorrow I start filming my own TV show. Uh, how did that happen again?”

  Derek tapped his finger on the table. “It’s so weird because before all of this, before Jaycee and Gabriel and everything, I thought we just lived. I never really put a whole lot of thought into decisions or how we got where we ended up. Now I’d really like to know how that all happens because now it matters to me where we end up.”

  Eric nodded, understanding but swallowing what he wanted to say. Things about wondering just how his story with Dani would play out. Would they even be together in six months or a year? One part of him said he wanted to, another part thought he had to be crazy to even think that. Finally he crammed all of it back down inside him. “Well, I just hope this whole thing doesn’t end up being a big waste of time for you guys.” He shook his head. “I ain’t lying. That place could fall down tomorrow, and I wouldn’t be surprised one little bit.”

  “Oh, man,” Derek said. “Don’t even say that. We’ve all got a lot riding on this thing. Falling down would not be the place I’d want us to start off.”

  Caleb nodded. “You can say that again.”

  Chapter 9

  Coffee cups were the only thing warm the next morning when the vehicles all converged on the old Attabury place. There were trucks for the camera crew’s eq
uipment, trucks to haul off whatever they managed to dislodge from the place, and cars, pickups and even a Jeep that was apparently the head cameraman’s rental. Why anyone would’ve thought that was a good idea was beyond Eric’s comprehension. Bleak and just a few degrees over frigid, riding around with no real protection did not scream great idea to him.

  “So, what’s the plan?” he asked, clutching his insulated cup, wishing it wasn’t quite so insulated. His hands could have used the warmth. It wasn’t snowing, but that was the best thing that could be said about the weather situation.

  “I think we do a couple stand-ups out here on the sidewalk,” Caleb said, directing the comment to Aaron, the head of the camera crew. A young guy Eric couldn’t help but wonder how long he’d been out of college or if he even was. “I think we can use these trees for a decent backdrop and get some good shots of the outside of the house before we move the waste bins in and start cleaning it out.”

  “Sounds good,” Aaron agreed with a nod, and with that, he got to work directing his crew.

  Eric and Dani watched with Jaycee from what amounted to the sidelines. Rachel had taken the kids to the pastor’s house, so for now she was spared the chilling experience of watching a semi-make-believe world be set up before their eyes. Derek and Caleb were right in the mix of things, breathing smoke-like fog like manufacturing plants at peak production.

  “So how long do you think this will take?” Dani asked Jaycee.

  “Depends. Could take up to an hour. I have no idea how well this camera crew will do together. I think this may be their first time out like this.”

  “That’s encouraging.” Dani bent and sipped her coffee just as Rachel pulled up.

  Had it been Eric, he would have found a reason to delay getting out, but she seemed not to realize what she was getting herself into. In seconds she was huddled with them.

  “How’s it going?”

  “Slow,” Jaycee said, and her gaze slipped from the knot of people in front of the house up to the house itself. “You know, we could go inside. It’s not like they’re going to catch us on film in there or anything.”