“Eh.” Rachel waved at them. “I’m getting kind of used to it by now. Please, come on in. Jaden needs to finish her lunch anyway.” She held out her hand for the little girl who with one quick glance at her parents took it and went back to the table.
“Looks like you invited the neighborhood,” Eric said, perusing the group.
“Oh.” Rachel laughed. “Family in town for the wedding.” Quickly she went through the introductions ending with her soon-to-be mother-in-law Dee. “And this is Dee who got up early this morning to make this delicious lasagna for us. Are you sure you won’t have just a bite or two? It’s an hour before you’re even going to get to a descent food place if you’re going back to Raleigh.”
Once again, Dani glanced at her husband. She’d been doing that a lot since they’d gotten here. He looked at her, and his eyes said he thought it would be okay. “Uh, well, if you don’t think it’s too much trouble.”
At that, the whole table seemed to jump into action. Dee and her daughter Sara and Rachel all moved to make room and get their meal. Dani’s heart jumped with them.
“We’d hate to put you out.”
“Oh, no trouble. No trouble at all,” Dee said. “Here, you can have our spots. We were just sitting around chatting anyway.”
“We have breadsticks too,” Rachel called from the kitchen. “Would you like one?”
“Uh, yes?” Dani had no idea.
“We’ve got tea and lemonade and water,” Sara said as she cleared the old dishes from the table. “What can I get you?”
Dani’s head started to spin. “Uh, tea is fine.”
“Sweet tea?” Eric asked when Sara looked at him.
“Got it.”
The sounds in the kitchen around the wall increased as did the voices. Looking over at Eric, Dani fought to figure out how to extract herself from this crazy dream she was clearly in the middle of.
“So, who do we have here?” Eric asked Jaden, indicating the others at the table as his daughter retook her seat.
One by one, their daughter named the children who ranged in age from just older than her all the way down to one who was still in a high chair.
“Have you been having a good time?” Eric asked.
“We played duck, duck, goose with Ms. Dee.”
“You did?” he asked as if she’d said they built the Sears Tower.
She nodded. “I beat Paige once.”
“She did,” Paige, the oldest, said, “she’s very fast.”
Jaden kicked her feet and grinned.
“Jaden,” Dani said in horror. “We don’t fidget at the table.”
Her daughter’s eyes instantly lost their shine, and her head bowed. “Yes, Ma’am.”
“Here we go,” Rachel said, coming in with two plates. “Lasagna ‘a la Dee. Best meal you’ve ever had.”
“Thank… thank you.” Dani sat and picked up her fork, staring at the steaming concoction.
“One sweet tea and one regular tea.” Sara put the glasses in front of them. “Can we get you anything else?”
“Uh… no.” Dani could hardly find the words. “This looks… great.”
Eric was having as much trouble processing all of this as his wife clearly was; however, at least he’d spent five minutes in the house. She hadn’t.
“So,” Sara sat down on the other side of the table as the children began to finish and leave, “you’re the ones doing the house, right?”
“Hm. Um. Yes.” Dani took a drink.
“Oh, I should mention that Caleb is my dopey little brother.” She put up her hand. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s great with houses. Just please don’t think he represents our whole family.”
“He seems very nice,” Dani said.
“He has his moments,” Rachel said. Then she softened as she looked around. “But believe me, he can work miracles. You should have seen this place before he got his hands on it.”
Choking on the noodle, Dani glanced up. “He… he remodeled this house?”
“Remodeled?” Rachel asked. “He practically rebuilt the thing. You know the hurricane that went through here, right? Well, it was a dump before that, but the hurricane about took it out for good. But Caleb and Derek…” She shook her head and grinned. “You seriously couldn’t be in any better hands than theirs.”
As the others talked, Eric let his gaze go to the workmanship evident in every piece and corner of the house. Had he not known it had been remodeled, he never would have guessed. Although it had an old house feeling, in the workmanship and details it looked built-from-scratch.
At that moment the door opened and in walked none other than Caleb James himself. His gaze swept the house now bursting with activity and people. “Wow, looks like we’re having a party.” With a grin, he went right over to Rachel and planted a kiss on her head. “I think I missed my invite.”
Rachel’s hand went up onto his that rested on her shoulder. “Your mom made lasagna.”
“Lasagna? There any left?”
“It’s on the island.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” And with that, he headed around the corner.
“Some things never change,” Sara said, shaking her head and laughing.
As the conversation continued, Eric had to admit he really liked how just baseline comfortable they all were together. It was the same vibe he had felt at Attabury, one he had not been a part of for a long time.
Caleb came back and joined them though mostly he ate, Eric couldn’t help but be curious. So much activity, and yet Caleb didn’t seem bothered by it or worried about it at all.
“So what else do we need to get ready for tomorrow?” Sara asked as Eric and Dani quietly finished their meal. “Sage and I are meeting at the church tomorrow morning to do some of the flowers on the pews and stuff. Jaycee might come too. She wasn’t sure what you all were doing tomorrow. What time is everyone planning on getting to the church for the wedding?”
“Wedding’s at seven,” Rachel said, “so, like six or so. I don’t want the kids to have too much time to get crabby. If we have them up there too long, that’s pretty much a given.”
“And you’re doing the cake?” Sara asked, and Rachel nodded.
“I’m just doing a simple one. It’s not like we’ve got a 100 people invited. It’s just going to be family and a few friends.”
Dee nodded. “Do you have a photographer?”
“A photographer?” Rachel glanced at Caleb. “Oh. No. I didn’t really plan on that.”
“I brought my camera,” Sara said. “I don’t mind taking some pictures.”
“Well, I don’t want you to have to do that,” Rachel said. “You’ve got enough to keep up with. Your kids, my kids.”
“Besides,” Caleb said, “it’s not like we’re going to be posing for a cover or anything. A few pictures here or there…”
That’s about the time that Eric caught that his wife was looking at him, staring would have been a better word for it. He looked at her in confusion, but she widened her eyes and tipped her head at the conversation. Suddenly he knew what she wasn’t saying, and he shook his head in panic. Her gaze said yes. His replied no. They didn’t even know these people. She couldn’t be serious.
“Hm,” Dani said before Eric could think of a way to stop her without saying something out loud. She turned to the others. “You know, Eric used to take pictures in college.”
What was she thinking? He couldn’t believe she was going to tell them, like this.
“It was just a side thing. Passing fancy, really, but he’s pretty handy with a camera,” she said. “Not that he’s ever shot weddings or anything major. Mostly posed stuff for fun.”
“I just took a few classes when I first went to school,” he said dismissively. “I’m really not…”
“What would you charge?” Dee asked, and Eric’s eyes nearly shot out of his head.
“Charge?” He gulped. “Oh. Uh. Nothing. I wouldn’t charge anything, but…”
“Great,” Dee said wit
h no more discussion. “We have our photographer.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow night,” Rachel said as the three of them bundled up by the door before going out into the winter chill.
“What? About four or so?” Dani asked, and Eric really wanted to ask what in the world had gotten into her.
“Four’s good. Just come here first. It’s not like there’s a big plan.”
“Okay. We’ll be here.”
“Oh, and bring Jaden,” Rachel said, patting Jaden’s shoulder. “We’d love to have all of you.”
“Thank you,” Dani said, and although it made no sense, Eric saw the glimmer in her eyes once again. He couldn’t account for it no matter how hard he tried.
“Thanks for everything,” he said and turned his family for the curb and the SUV. Somehow he managed to get them all into the vehicle before he let the freak-out into his voice when he got in himself and closed the door. “What in the world was that?”
“What?” Dani asked as she snapped her seatbelt on.
“What? I’m not a wedding photographer!” He started the vehicle, checked the street, and pulled out.
“You heard them. They don’t have anybody else.”
“That doesn’t mean it needed to be me.”
She sighed. “I know. Listen, I’m sorry. It’s just… they’ve all been so nice to us, and I just wanted to find a way to pay them back. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
Hearing the sadness return to her voice, Eric sighed and dragged his frustration into check. “No. It’s… It’s okay. It’s just been a really long time since I’ve done any real photography.”
“That’s not true. You did that set of Ja a couple years ago. Those were amazing. And you did the ones of me when I was pregnant with Ja.”
Although he knew it was deadly, Eric’s thoughts took him back to that special day. So many hopes and dreams all wrapped up in just a few hours. He let out a breath. “You really think I can do this?”
When her gaze came over to his, it tore his heart right out. “I really do.”
A second and he nodded. “Okay. But I’ve never done a wedding before. You up for being my assistant?”
She grinned and the sparkle came back to her eyes. Without another word, she dug into the glovebox and came out with a paper and pen. “What are you thinking for the poses, shots, whatever they’re called? I always love the ones of her looking down and him looking at her. I think those are so romantic.”
Eric shook his head and put his hand to his mouth, his elbow on the windowsill as they headed out of town. How had he gotten talked into this?
Chapter 30
Derek & Jaycee
Everyone gathered at Luke and Sage’s on Friday night for one, last meal together before the big day. Despite the cold, Derek had agreed to grill burgers with Caleb and Luke keeping him busy at the grill. With so many people to feed and Luke’s grill not being big enough to accommodate all of the food at once, they were forced to do the meal in stages. That meant doing one set and retooling for the next.
Inside the women were busy serving the potato salad Sage had made along with beans and brownies. It would have been nice if they could have done a picnic in the back, but only Derek was fool enough to be outside as the temperature dropped.
“You frozen yet?” Caleb asked, coming out with the third set of fresh burger meat.
“It gets any colder, you can call me Elsa.” Derek removed the cooking burgers on the grill to make room for the new ones. “So how do you think it went today?”
Caleb nodded as he held the plate. “Good. In fact, I think they’re coming back tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Before the wedding?”
“Actually for the wedding.”
One patty slid sideways off the spatula, and Derek had to chase it down. “They’re coming for the wedding?”
“Well, long story short, Mom and Sara think we have to have someone to take pictures, and apparently Eric is like a good amateur photographer or something.” He shrugged. “I’m not asking.”
Derek transferred the last patty and took the plate of new ones from Caleb to put on the grill. “Good plan.”
Laughing Caleb took the plate and headed back in.
As he stood over the grill, Derek shook his head. Life. It was such an enigma. There was no rhyme or reason to it sometimes. “Well, God, seems maybe this wasn’t a random thing after all. Can’t wait to see where we go from here.”
When the majority of the party left sometime after ten, Jaycee made sure to help her sister clean up from the fun. The Christmas tree still stood in the corner, winking the brightly colored lights in a kaleidoscope of peace and joy across the dimly lit living area. At the little piano that stood on the wall, she stopped with cups and the last of the debris in her hand.
Her smile turned upward as her heart turned over inside of her. Lined on the instrument were frames of various makes and sizes, each holding a precious memory. A freshly added one was of her and Sage, at her wedding only a few weeks before. Both smiling. Both radiant in their love for each other.
It hadn’t always been that way, and Jaycee now realized how very different life would have been if she had gotten her way all those years ago. That picture, smiling back at her, was a miracle unto itself. It gave visual testimony to what the pastor always said, God still works miracles every day. She would never be able to be grateful enough for that, and standing there, looking at one miracle, she dared to ask God for another.
Flanking that miracle were visual proofs of all the others in Sage’s life—the kids, their mom and dad, Luke. Jaycee’s heart surged for how very far her sister had come, and she was sure not a single step of it had been accomplished by anything less than faith. In fact, her sister had become her touchstone over the years, praying for her when her life fell completely apart, and then as God put it back together, piece by piece. She was quite sure it was her sister’s prayers that had convinced God to hold onto her, even when she let go of him.
“Anything else?” Luke asked, coming in the room, and Jaycee spun, her eyes going wide at having been caught. However, he simply smiled.
After all they had been through, he still held a very special place in her heart.
“This is it,” she said, lifting the few things she held.
Nodding, he came over and gave her a hug.
She let him for a moment and then backed up in surprise. “What was that for?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. Everything. Just cause you’re you, and I’m me. Do I have to have a reason?”
Jaycee laughed at that. “Same old Luke.”
He grinned back at her. “Same old Jaycee.”
For that one moment they simply stood and regarded each other. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
Chapter 31
Caleb & Rachel
It’s here.
Those were the first two words that flashed across Rachel’s mind as she came out of the gauziness of sleep Saturday morning. Although she had a myriad of things to do, she allowed herself one more moment to breathe in the day. So many obstacles to getting here, so much heartache, struggle, hopelessness, helplessness. So many nights alone and mornings spent wondering how she would ever make it through the day in one piece. And now, somehow she was here. Hours from tying her life to the man of her dreams.
She grinned at the thought. “God, why did I ever doubt You?”
“Nervous?” Sara asked, coming into the kitchen in what was now their mini-routine.
Caleb laughed as he turned from cooking breakfast. “Should I be?”
She slipped over to the counter by him and let her gaze slide over him. “No. It’s gonna be great.”
With the cake finished, Rachel turned her attention to herself which was a much bigger challenge. Luke’s sister, Hannah, had agreed to come and do her hair, but that meant she had to be ready for her arrival. In the living room, Aidan and Pete were keeping her children entertained. They were such good boys, so much like their parents in
their quiet manner and sweet natures.
“I’m just going to go up,” Rachel said, pointing up the stairs. “If Hannah gets here…”
“We’ll let her in,” Aidan said with a grin. “I think Pete can manage opening a door.”
“Hey!” Pete said from the floor, and Rachel laughed.
“Okay, as long as you think you’ve got this.”
“We’ve got it. Don’t worry about us.”
Getting everyone at Mrs. Murphy’s through one shower suddenly looked like a bigger challenge than Caleb had realized it would be. Living as a bachelor for most of the last 14 years, he’d forgotten how challenging the simplest things could get to be when you multiplied it by eight. His mother told him to take his time, but his mind calculated the time and number of people without even trying very hard. So he cut his time in the bathroom down to the bare minimum, and showered and shaved, he decided it would be better to dress in the bedroom where the kids had been sleeping.
“I’m out!” he called to the rest of the house as he traipsed down the hall in his sweats.
“Well, that was quick,” his mother said, meeting him as she came the other direction.
“Yeah, tell everybody I don’t know how good the hot water heater is here. If they take too long, somebody could wind up with only cold water left.”
She grinned. “Always my practical kid.” Hugging him, she disappeared into his embrace. “In case I don’t get to tell you later, I’m proud of you.”
Somehow he hadn’t realized he would get blindsided with the emotions right there in the middle of the hallway. “Thank you for everything.”
A nod and she backed up, swiping at her eyes.
“Oh, no,” he said in horror. “Don’t start that already.”
His mom laughed. “Go get ready. I’ll be fine.”
However, he hugged her once more and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
“Thank you for doing this,” Rachel said as she sat in her bedroom. Luke’s sister Hannah was just as spritely as she had ever been. Now married with a child, living in Greely, she was the picture of happiness.
A Moment Like This: A Contemporary Christian Romance Prequel Novella (The Grace Series Book 4) Page 17