A Moment Like This: A Contemporary Christian Romance Prequel Novella (The Grace Series Book 4)

by Staci Stallings

  A second and Caleb nodded. “It would be a mess.”

  “A marriage would be worse. You’ve got to work to stay on the same team, talk to her, especially about the awful stuff, be there for her, especially when it’s easier not to be. As much as you can, stay on the same page about stuff. The only way you make this work is together.”

  He smiled, nodded, and hugged her. “Thanks, sis. You always know what to say.”

  She laughed. “Not that it’s ever done either one of us much good.”

  Rachel went to visit her mother the next morning, hoping the kids would not add more stress to her mother’s day. She warned them before they got out of the car that they needed to be quiet because Grandma wasn’t feeling well.

  Thankfully when she got in the little house, it was better than she’d feared.

  “Well, you look much better,” Rachel said when she sat on the couch, her mother in the chair.

  “I finally feel like I’m going to live again.” Her eyes were soft and loving. “Did Caleb’s family get in okay?”

  “They did.”

  “I’m so sorry I wasn’t up to having them over yesterday.”

  “Well, they were sorry they didn’t get to meet you, but they sent their love and prayers that you’ll be feeling better.”

  Her mother grinned. “Their prayers must be helping.”

  “I’ll be sure to tell them.”

  Although her mother didn’t come to the evening festivities and they ended up with the children as well, Rachel was touched that her friends and Caleb’s family had thought to throw her a small shower. They had a cake and everything.

  “When did you have time to do all of this?” she asked as she was led into Sage’s living room and given the cake to hold for photos. “You guys were here all day doing the flowers!”

  “Not all day,” Sara said, waggling her knee to the side mischievously.

  Understanding, Rachel lifted her chin. “You said Paige had homework.”

  “Well, it wasn’t homework exactly.”

  All the women laughed.

  “She’s sneaky like you,” Rachel said to Dee who demurred.

  “Me? Whatever do you mean?”

  Again they all laughed.

  “Okay, enough of that,” Sage said, cutting through it all. “We are all standing around accusing each other when we could be eating cake!”

  Jaycee came to take the cake from Rachel. “Let’s eat.”

  As it turned out, there was far more than just cake on the menu. There was a full spread and presents too. When they sat Rachel on the couch, cameras again ready, she shook her head. “You people…”

  “But you love us,” Jaycee said, going to the stack.

  “And you wouldn’t have us any other way,” Sara said, taking a seat between the presents and Rachel.

  “Eep!” Sage clapped. “I can’t believe we pulled this off.”

  Dee laughed. “With you in charge, I think we could’ve pulled off a coronation with six hours notice.”

  Even as Rachel laughed, her heart burst with love for these women. They had become her family. Seeing her tears, Jane who had sat next to her on the couch reached over and patted her shoulder.

  “In case this isn’t obvious,” Jane said. “You’ve got a lot of people who love you.”

  Rachel nodded and the tears started for real then. “Thank you… all.”

  “Ahhhh,” they all said as Jane hugged Rachel.

  A second and Jaycee laughed. “Okay, people enough of the mushy stuff! It’s present time!”

  Across town at Gregory and Emily’s, Sage and Jaycee’s parents’ house, the men were gathered for a spirited game of Texas Hold ‘Em. The game was hardly cut-throat, in fact, they could’ve been playing for M&M’s and it would have been just as much fun.

  As they played, Caleb glanced around, and he couldn’t help but think how grateful he was to God for bringing these people into his life. There was his father who had taught him so much about being a man, his brother-in-law who was showing him how to work out a marriage, his pastor who despite his objections to the contrary knew far more about life and how to live it than Caleb would ever have thought one person could possess, and his two best friends in the world. Just how that had all happened, he wasn’t at all sure, but throughout the evening, he would feel it again and know that God had truly blessed him far beyond anything he could have ever asked for or imagined.

  And in two days, he would be a husband and a father. Sometimes life truly had head-snapping propositions in mind. This week was proving to be one of those times.

  Chapter 27

  Eric & Dani

  “Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Dani said into the phone on Friday morning as they hustled around getting ready for the trip to Ridgemount. “No. No. It’s okay. We’ll just take her. No, Mrs. McGuire. Really. It’s fine. Okay. We’ll see you next week. Okay. Thank you. Bye.”

  She clicked the phone off and let out a hard breath. “Mrs. McGuire is sick. Flu bug or something.” Going over she verily threw the dishes in the dishwasher. “I don’t believe this. Carly went out of town with her folks. We’re going to have to take Ja.”

  “It’s only a couple hours,” Eric said, knowing he was going to get reamed for being practical.

  “It’s two hours there, two hours home, and what are we going to do with her while we’re talking with Mr. James?”

  Eric held the fact that he wanted to say maybe they should scrap the whole idea altogether in check. “So we bring her some colors and a few toys. She’ll be fine.”

  Dani shot him a non-too-pleased look before glancing at her watch. “Well, we don’t have time to do anything else. Ja!” She slammed the dishwasher and started wiping down the cabinets. “You’re going with us, baby! Grab you some things to bring!”

  It was going to be a long day.

  The trip to Ridgemount in their gold-toned Infiniti proved exceedingly quiet. In defense against the accusations and frustrating thoughts parading through her head, Dani flipped on the radio and the air for good measure. She hated taking trips with the two of them. Since this was her vehicle, Eric let her drive, and in the backseat, Jaden always felt a million miles away. Not that Eric in the front felt any closer.

  He was busy on his NotePad. If she asked him something, he would answer but that was it. With a sigh she didn’t let out, she focused on the road and forced her mind to calculate the miles versus the time to get to Ridgemount. They would be on-time or early barring any unforeseen issues. The meeting was supposed to be at eleven.

  Without so much as thinking about it, she calculated the time it might take them to get through the meeting. By two, they could surely be headed back. Two hours home meant being home by four.

  A fleeting thought of her grandmother alighted in her mind, but she shook her head almost without realizing it. They didn’t have time to stop by on this trip. Maybe next time, though even from here, that looked less-than-probable. She thought back and then farther back to the last time she went to her grandmother’s house. Jaden had only been about five at the time.

  Dani still remembered how uncomfortable the tiny house made her feel, how her own mother had sneaked out of going after her father’s funeral saying she had to clean the church center and deal with all the food. Her grandmother needed someone to take the food and flowers to her house, and Dani had complied.

  Her heart fell every time she thought about that house. No one should have to live like that, and she could hardly believe her mother ever had. No, her mother had married up. Way, way up. A lawyer. A businessman. A pillar of the community.

  Until he ran off with his secretary and left them all high and dry.

  The thoughts overran her ability to hold them, and she reached down and turned the radio up just a little louder. A second and Eric’s cell phone rang. He reached up and without a word turned the radio almost all the way off. White hot anger coursed through Dani. He was working. She should be working. Maybe he was right. Maybe th
is wasn’t even worth it.

  Tears stung her eyes, but she would not let them fall. No. She was going to go through with this whether it broke her in half or not.

  “Hey, Joe,” Eric said into the phone, “did you get the cost estimates on…”

  She didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. All she heard was the shattering of her heart. This wasn’t what she thought it would be. He spent more time talking to them than he ever did talking to her, and she didn’t miss the tone in his voice either. He sounded so happy, so enthusiastic. No, when he talked to her now he just sounded depressed and frustrated. That thought didn’t help her mood at all, and she glanced into the back at Jaden to keep the annoyance down.

  Head down, her daughter was coloring without so much as glancing up. Jaden. Maybe she was doing this for Jaden. So her daughter would at least never have to wonder if she was good enough in this world. Yes, Dani decided as she put her gaze back on the road with renewed determination, she would do this for Jaden. That was the best reason of them all.

  Eric couldn’t call his knowledge of Ridgemount, North Carolina extensive. He’d only been there a few times. Once when they were dating for some family get together thing. Once just after they were married to check on his grandfather-in-law who was ill at the time, and the last time when the man had passed away. He couldn’t say he was in love with the place or that he hated it. It was more like a passing thought on the way to much better things.

  And now he was here again because he owned a house here. A house that was falling down, that they had driven by, and Dani had said she would love to own someday and fix it up. At the time he thought she was kidding. He no longer thought that.

  At the last turn on the other side of the town, she went right and just beyond the town right again. Eric was trying hard not to pay attention because each mile she drove made his heart sink just a little more.

  “Mommy,” Jaden said in the back.

  “Yeah, baby?”

  “I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “Oh, baby-girl, not now.”

  Smack in the middle of nowhere, Dani pulled up to what surely had to be a bad joke. This couldn’t be the place they had bought, could it? It looked far, far worse than Eric even remembered. However, out front where they parked on the road stood two pickups and three men.

  “That must be Mr. James,” Dani said, pulling up and parking, and Eric’s heart fell even further.

  “What’re we going to do about Ja?” Eric asked. It was clear there were no bathroom facilities in the area.

  “I don’t know. I guess we ask them,” she said, and her irritation was clear. She shut off the SUV, smoothed down her hair that was in a tight bun at the back of her head, checked her lipstick, and popped her door open.

  Eric looked in the backseat. “Hang on, baby girl. We’ll get you to a bathroom.” With that, he opened his own door and slid out.

  The chill of the sea air washed over them as they headed across the little road with no traffic to the three men standing there. The middle one held his hand out to Dani.

  “Ms. Richardson,” he said.

  “Mr. James,” she replied, shaking his hand.

  “I’d like to introduce you to Derek West,” Mr. James said, turning to the younger of the other two.

  “Please call me, Derek,” the tall man with the smooth voice said.

  “And this is Mr. Gregory Lawrence,” Mr. James continued. “He works for an architectural firm around here. I thought he could give us some insight as well.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Dani shook each hand in turn, and then seemed to remember Eric. She turned to him. “This is my husband, Eric.”

  They all shook hands.

  Eric had the horrible feeling that Dani might forget Ja if he didn’t speak up. “Uh, before we get started, we brought our little girl along, and well, she really needs to use a bathroom?”

  The three of them looked at each other in concern.

  “Rachel’s at home,” Mr. James said. He looked at the others. “I could take you over there, and we could be back in like ten minutes.”

  When Dani hesitated, Eric nodded. “We’d better hurry if you don’t mind,” Eric said.

  “Don’t mind at all.” Without more debate, Mr. James headed with Eric to the SUV. “We could take yours, that way she won’t have to get out, and we don’t have to deal with the car seat thing.”

  “Works for me,” Eric said, hustling back to their vehicle. “We’ll be right back.”

  And with that, Dani Richardson was left alone on a deserted country road with two albeit nice-looking gentlemen by herself. “Well,” she said, dragging her training and chin up as she surveyed them both, “they said you’re an architect? Eric is an engineer. He’s working on a project out in Greensboro right now.”

  The shorter and older of the two, Mr. Gregory she-couldn’t-remember-his-last-name nodded. “Then they might not need me after all.” He looked at Derek and smiled. “I think I just got called along for the ride anyway. These two are really the experts at remodeling.”

  “So, tell me a little about your plans for the place,” Derek West said, and Dani had to choke back how surreal this suddenly was. Sure Mr. James had told her about Derek West, but it was one thing to think about meeting a television star. It was another entirely to meet with him and be expected to have a normal conversation with him as if he wasn’t a fixture in every living room across the fruited plain.

  “Well,” she said summoning her best businesslike voice and demeanor, “we want it for a vacation home, so we’d like it not to look like a haunted house when we come to stay.”

  They all laughed, and she relaxed a bit just as a small silver car pulled up on the other side of the road and stopped. Her gaze went that direction with the other two.

  “Oh, good,” Derek said, waving at the young woman who stepped out. “They must have finished shopping.”

  “Hey,” the young woman with long almond-brunette hair said as she hustled over to them. “Sorry I’m late.” She came right to Derek and kissed him, sending Dani back a space and a half.

  “Jayc,” Derek said, “this is Danisha Richardson.”

  The young woman held out her hand. “Oh. Hello, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Jaycee West.”

  West. Ah. Jaycee West. So she must be Derek’s wife. Dani’s breath let out slowly as she shook the woman’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. West.”

  “Oh, goodness.” Jayce laughed and glanced up at Derek. “That’s a little weird. Please call me Jaycee.”

  “Jaycee,” Dani said.

  “Jaycee’s my assistant and right hand woman,” Derek said, putting his arm around her.

  “And wife,” Jaycee said with a grin. “Don’t forget that.”

  “Oh, yeah,” he said, grinning back. “That too.” He kissed her again.

  Mr. Gregory stepped in front of them. “You’ll have to excuse them. Newlyweds and all of that.” He rolled his eyes as if he was exasperated.

  Dani laughed again. “Oh, my. How long?”

  “Three weeks,” he said as if marriage was a disease. “We expect this phase to wear off any day now.”

  But Derek smiled down at his bride. “Not likely.” She snuggled in under his embrace, and he kissed her hair.

  “I should warn you now,” Mr. Gregory continued, “there’s going to be a lot of… what do the kids call it now? PDA? On this job. You’re going to be dealing with these two, and the two who are going to be doing most of the work who are getting married tomorrow. You might want to bring your boots for all the mush because I’m afraid you’ll be wading through a lot of this.”

  Although Dani laughed, secretly her heart ached just a little. Marriage hadn’t turned out like that for her and Eric. That was probably her fault although his part in it couldn’t be discounted. “It’s okay. I think I’ll live.”

  “Hey, Rach,” Caleb said as he went right up the porch of the cute little house and into the door with Eric and Jad
en trailing him.

  “Yeah?” A young woman with chestnut brown and red hair came into the living room from the kitchen. Two children played on the living room floor in the sunlight.

  “Bathroom emergency.”

  “Oh, gracious!” She came over and put her hand out to the little bathroom next to the stairs. “Please. It’s all yours.”

  “Thank you,” Eric said and turned Jaden for the little room. Going over with her, he pushed her gently inside. “It’s okay, baby girl. I’ll be right here.” With that, he closed the door and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

  He’d already come to the conclusion on the short ride over that Caleb was a down-to-earth kind of guy, amiable and kind. It was one of those instant friendships formed in the heat of an emergency. Now that the door was closed and the emergency was hopefully taken care of, he stood facing two very concerned faces.

  “Eric,” Caleb finally said, “this is Rachel, my fiancée.”

  “Oh.” Eric smiled at her. “Nice to meet you.” He shook her hand. “Thank you for this. Poor Ja. We got to Attabury, and…”

  “Oh, gosh,” Rachel said. “Say no more. That place gives me the creeps just thinking about it. You couldn’t pay me to go in and use the bathroom there. I’d have nightmares for months.”

  Eric laughed. “Well, that’s pretty much my thoughts too.” Then he realized how that must sound. “Dani’s heart is set on it though, and what’s that they say? Happy wife, happy life?”

  Rachel’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Caleb. “You should remember that.”

  He smiled at her. “Believe me, I’m taking notes.” The kiss was barely a peck, but it dragged Eric’s gaze down to the meticulously amazing hardwood floor. In fact, the more he looked, the more he realized everything about the house, save for the cadre of toys in the living room, was pristine. It truly was beautiful, like something you would see in a magazine. Rachel must be an immaculate designer.