Truly Yours Contemporary Collection December 2014

by Joyce Livingston, Gail Sattler, Joyce Livingston

  Grace thought that was what she wanted out of a relationship, things her mother and sister never had—the freedom to go her own way and make her own decisions and do her own things. She had those things with Neil.

  Neil was constant. His faith was solid, he never changed, he never did anything unpredictable. She knew what to expect with Neil. Yet, she could date Neil with no restrictions, and likewise, she placed no restrictions on him, with the mutual exclusions of fidelity and chastity.

  Neil was everything she ever wanted in a man. Or was he?

  Phil stepped closer, until they stood toe-to-toe. “Well?”

  “I–I don’t know,” she stammered.

  Phil’s voice dropped to a low rumble. “Then know this.”

  Before she realized what he was going to do, Phil wrapped his arms around her and his mouth was on hers. He kissed her like she’d never been kissed before. With power and strength and confidence, and like he meant everything a kiss implied when holding her so close to his heart.

  Fool that she was, she kissed him right back.

  As quickly as the kiss began, it was over.

  “Good night, Grace,” Phil mumbled. He opened the door and left.

  Too numb to do anything other than what she’d done a thousand times out of habit, Grace stepped into the hall to watch him go.

  Phil didn’t stop to wait for the elevator. He strode to the door for the stairwell, opened it, and he was gone.

  ❧

  “What do you mean, Phil isn’t home? Where did he go?”

  Neil accepted the re-restarched angel from her and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Now that you mention it, it is unusual for him to be gone on Sunday night. If he still isn’t home by the time I go to bed, I’ll put the angel on the tree for him and leave him a note that you were here.”

  Grace stood in the doorway, waiting for Neil to invite her in. He didn’t.

  “This is it, isn’t it, Neil?”

  “Yes. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I’m sure you have, too. We can always be friends.”

  We can be friends. The death knell to any relationship. Except she knew that she really could always be friends with Neil. They didn’t have the type of relationship that could break anyone’s heart once it was over. She knew that now. What she had with Neil, she would always have. Nothing had been different this morning at church. Neil and Phil had picked her up, they’d sat together, gone out for lunch together, had fun together, just like they had in weeks gone by.

  Grace didn’t speak, so Neil continued. “Besides, I think we all know where your heart is, and I can’t blame you. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night when you come to give Phil his guitar lesson. Good night, Grace.”

  “Okay. Good night, Neil.”

  The door closed.

  This time she didn’t wonder why he didn’t kiss her as she left, nor did she wonder why he so seldom kissed her before. It simply wasn’t there to begin with. Therefore, in his own way of saying it, Neil was right. Nothing between them had changed. They had been friends and nothing more, despite her delusions. The only change to their relationship was the title.

  But, last night had changed whatever existed between her and Phil, and it scared her. Whether it was something on the top shelf at the grocery store, an obstacle to be overcome at work, or a challenging ministry situation at church, Phillip McLean always got what he wanted. When he set his mind on something, he worked—and he worked hard—until he got it. Whatever stood in his way didn’t stand a chance.

  Grace wouldn’t be a conquest to be won. She refused to fall into the pattern of her mother and her sister and allow a man to take over her life and crush all her hopes and dreams. Then, when that was gone, she wouldn’t live in fear of doing something wrong when there should have been nothing to be afraid of.

  She didn’t know that Phil would or could be that way, but she didn’t want to take the chance. Up until now, she didn’t have to worry about Phil. They’d had Neil between them, acting as a barrier, saving her from risk and potential disaster. Now, that was gone.

  Grace walked to the car and drove home. Just because she was no longer officially with Neil didn’t mean she had to stop seeing Phil or that she couldn’t enjoy Phil’s company. How-ever, it did mean that she would have to be very careful and see what happened as time went on.

  ❧

  “No, that’s not it. See how I’ve got my third finger? This is a C chord.”

  Phil repositioned his finger and strummed the chord. “Like this?”

  “Yes. Now play the whole song, and I’ll watch you.”

  Grace watched Phil pick through the new song, thoroughly impressed with his progress.

  She also was very impressed by how things had gone since she’d officially broken up with Neil. Over a week had passed and nothing had changed between her and Phil. At least nothing had changed on Phil’s side. After he’d kissed her, he had done nothing more, and he’d behaved the same way he always had. They talked the same way they always had. They prayed together the same way they always had. Whatever the reason for his impulsive action, he’d obviously worked it out of his system, and life went on as before.

  It was she who had changed. At first she thought she would see Phil less because Neil was no longer a consideration. Instead, she found herself wanting to see Phil more, which wasn’t possible, because she already saw him every day.

  The coming of Christmas in a few days almost made her sad, because it meant that, on Christmas Day, she couldn’t be with him. Instead of sitting with her during the service, he would be sitting with his family. Then, after the service, they would all be going together to his parents’ house for the day. Likewise, as soon as the service ended, Grace would begin the long drive to her own parents’ house, which she wasn’t exactly looking forward to. The only bonus was that she could announce that she was officially single again, and her sister would have to stop bothering her about when she was going to marry Neil.

  Phil strummed the last chord of the song, then shook the guitar for added effect.

  Grace smiled. “Very funny, but that was still pretty good. I would think your fingers have had enough and it’s time to pack up.”

  Phil shook his hand in the air. “Yeah, but it’s not nearly as bad as when I first started.”

  “Come on, let’s get your amp and guitar out of here. It was crowded in your living room before, but now with the Christmas tree set up, there’s barely room to walk.”

  Grace stood at the same time as Phil. She reached for his tuning meter at the same time as he stepped around the coffee table to turn off the amp.

  Grace turned to go to the kitchen, but when she took her first step, she could feel the patch cord between the guitar and the amp under her toes moving as Phil picked up his guitar. As quickly as she could move so she didn’t cause him to ruin the plug, Grace hopped up, but in so doing, her toes caught the leg of the coffee table.

  “Ouch!” she yelped and hopped up on the other foot. The sudden movement caused her to back up, but she’d forgotten about the amp, which caught her in the back of her knee.

  Grace felt herself starting to topple. She flailed her arms in an attempt to regain her balance, but she couldn’t stop herself from going down.

  “Grace!” Phil called out. He reached over the coffee table to grab her by the arm, but he missed.

  Grace fell backward, right into the Christmas tree. Before she crumpled to the ground, a strong hand slipped around her waist, holding her up. Behind her, the tree bounced with a crash against the living-room window, then fell to the floor. All around her echoed the tinkling of breaking glass and clunking of metallic ornaments hitting each other before everything came to a rest at various places around the tree, which lay at her feet.

  Strong arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, even though she’d long since regained her balance.

  “Are you okay?” Phil murmured in her ear.

  She was standing, but she didn’t know if s
he was okay. With Phil’s arms around her, some silly misfiring neuron in her brain wanted him to kiss her.

  Grace lifted her hands and pushed her palms against his chest, forcing him to release her. “I’m fine. I’m so sorry about your tree. Let me pick everything up.”

  “We can all do it together. Neil? Can you go get a bag or something?”

  In a few seconds, Neil returned with a plastic grocery bag, and they all started picking up the glass pieces from the broken balls. When enough was cleared that they could get close, Phil and Neil righted the tree and pushed it back into place.

  With the tree once more standing straight, Phil reached down and picked up Dale. He brushed off a few broken pieces and shook the angel out. “Poor Dale,” he mumbled. “That must have been quite a fall. Fortunately, there’s nothing on him that is breakable.”

  Grace nodded. “Good thing. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and you’re taking Dale to your parents’ house Christmas morn-ing, right?”

  “Yup.”

  Phil reached up and returned Dale to her place atop the bedraggled tree. “There. Everything looks better already.”

  Grace looked up at Dale as she began to straighten the popcorn garland. “It shouldn’t take long to. . . Oh, no. What’s that!?” She inched closer and stood on her tiptoes to see Dale better. “Blood! Phil! You’re bleeding!”

  Phil raised his hands, fanned his fingers out, then stuck one finger in his mouth. “It’s nothing,” he muttered around his finger. “I must have cut myself with a piece of broken glass from those ornaments.”

  “Never mind your finger. Look at Dale.”

  All noise in the room faded into a timeless void as all three of them looked up at Dale. A small spot of bright red blood showed vividly on the left wing.

  The three of them groaned in unison.

  “Well,” Grace mumbled, “I guess we’re going back to my house, aren’t we, Phil?”

  sixteen

  “Merry Christmas, Neil!”

  “Merry Christmas, Phil!”

  Phil and Neil patted each other on the shoulders, then went their separate ways to get ready for church. Since Neil had the shower first, Phillip went into the living room and plugged in the lights for the Christmas tree while he waited for his turn.

  Almost reverently, he looked up at the tree and smiled as Dale looked back down at him. At least Phillip thought Dale was looking down.

  It was almost like he’d come to know the little angel on a personal basis, he’d done so much with him.

  With the utmost care, Phillip plucked Dale from the top branch and brought him down.

  It had seemed like so long ago that he’d first brought Dale home. That day had been the start of the best time of his life, and the worst—the start of when he got to know Grace.

  He turned Dale over in his hand, studying the perfect stitches and the perfect uniformity of the shaping, which wouldn’t have been possible without Grace.

  Grace. He didn’t know exactly when he’d fallen in love with her, but the time since he’d been able to admit it to himself had been the most frustrating of his life.

  He wanted to marry Grace, but he didn’t think she wanted to marry him. When he made his decision, he’d promised God that he would wait until the right time to propose, but that time had not come. Instead, he’d used almost all of his inner strength to do nothing except build their friendship as slowly as he could, if seeing her every day could be called slow, especially after Neil told him the other Sunday that he was no longer officially seeing Grace.

  Phil had never prayed so much or so long in his life, but that was never a bad thing. He wanted God’s grace and blessing on his marriage, and he therefore would follow God’s guidelines.

  He’d talked to Grace about marriage in general a few times without actually proposing, and it was a good thing he hadn’t. During those times he’d learned that she had some kind of problem with the structure of her family, something to do with her father. Because of that, Grace was too frightened to take that big step into marriage, which was why she had connected with Neil. Neil didn’t want to get married either. In that regard, the two of them would have been a perfect match.

  Except, Phillip knew Neil wasn’t the match for Grace. He was. But, above all, Phillip wanted Grace to be happy, even if that meant a sacrifice for him. He loved her so much that he knew he would never be able to marry anyone else.

  Again, he studied Dale. The angel truly had become more than a Christmas ornament. Dale really had become his guardian angel. It was because of Dale that he’d come to know Grace. For that reason alone, Phillip had become quite fond of the little angel, and he knew that Grace had become quite fond of Dale, too.

  Suddenly, Phillip’s throat went dry, and his heart began to pound.

  Dale had been the catalyst that allowed them to get to know each other, and Dale could also be the catalyst to see them married.

  As soon as Neil took one step out of the bathroom, Phillip was in. He showered, shaved, dressed, and was out the door in record time.

  Also in record time, he was at the door of Grace’s apartment building.

  He pushed the button, shuffling his feet until she answered.

  “Hi, Grace. Merry Christmas.”

  “Phil? What are you doing here? Oh, and Merry Christmas to you, too.”

  “I’ve got Dale. I have to see you.”

  “Dale? Oh, no. Not today. What happened this time? Or do I not want to know?”

  The buzzer sounded before she finished speaking. Phillip yanked the door open and ran to the elevator.

  When the elevator door opened at Grace’s floor, she was already there, right at the elevator door.

  She grabbed Dale out of his hands. “We’ve got half an hour before we have to leave for church.” She turned Dale over a few times. “What’s wrong? I don’t see anything.”

  Phil stepped out of the elevator and let the door close so it could go to the next person who pushed the button on another floor. He let one hand rest on Grace’s shoulder, and with the other, he pointed to the center of Dale’s chest.

  “Right here. It’s his heart. It’s broken.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you see? It’s Dale that drew us together, and even though he didn’t have to, he’s kept on pulling us together. When Christmas is over, he’s going to be packed up in a box for another year, and his job isn’t done. He’s been trying to tell us something, and we haven’t been listening. He’s been telling us that we should be more than friends.”

  “That’s ridiculous. It’s just a creation made by man, or rather woman. Your granny.”

  “Maybe so, but still, the point is made. I love you, Grace, and I guess what I’m doing is asking if you’ll marry me.”

  “Marry you? I. . .I don’t know.”

  Phillip couldn’t stop his hand from trembling as he reached down and rested his fingertips on Grace’s cheek. It almost hurt to ask, but he had to know for sure. “Do you love me?”

  He could see the interplay of her thoughts in her big brown eyes. Her eyes flickered slightly as she focused on his right eye, then his left, then fixed her gaze on his right eye as she continued to think.

  If she said she didn’t know, like when he asked if she loved Neil, he knew that all would be lost.

  His heart pounded so hard in his chest it almost hurt.

  “Yes.”

  Phillip felt himself break out into a slow, lazy grin. “Then there shouldn’t be a question. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. If you’re still nervous or if I did anything wrong, I’d go for counseling or whatever you wanted me to do. I know you said you wished your mother and father would go.”

  “You’d do that for me?”

  He would have done anything for her. By saying it out loud, he was confirming both to her and to himself how much he loved her. “Yes, I would do that for you. In fact, how about if we start with premarital counseling?”

  Grace’s eyes glassed o
ver, and Phillip cringed inside, thinking she was going to cry, but she blinked rapidly a few times, then swallowed hard.

  “I think that would be a great start. I guess that means that I would like to marry you.”

  No words would come. Instead, Phillip removed Dale from her shaking hands, and with Dale hanging from his fingertips, he wrapped his arms around Grace and kissed her with all the love in his heart.

  The ding of the elevator door behind him caused them to separate. With Dale in one hand and Grace’s hand in his other, Phillip walked slowly down the hall with Grace, back to her apartment.

  “I think it’s time to get your coat on and go to church. I can hardly wait to tell everyone that it’s official, that we’re en-gaged. I guess that also means we have to make up our minds on what we’re going to do today. Do you want to go to my parents’ place for Christmas Day or yours?”

  “I’d love to tell my sister I’m finally getting married, but I think I’d rather go to your parents’ house with your family. After everything that’s happened, I really want to see Dale on top of your parents’ tree.”

  While Grace slipped on her boots, Phillip held up his Christmas angel and smiled. Now, not only did the angel signify the celebration of his Savior’s birth, it also signified the start of his new life together with Grace.

  “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  Phillip couldn’t stop himself. Before they went out in public together, he had to kiss her one more time.

  When he finally released her, he kept his head bowed, their foreheads touching, and gave her one more small kiss.

  “Merry Christmas, Grace.”

  She smiled back. “Yes. It is a Merry Christmas.”

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