“I saw her earlier with Ethan. They might be seated already.” He held his hand out toward the doors leading into the sanctuary. “Are you ready to go in?”
She walked with him through the sanctuary doors then headed to the section where Makayla and Ethan usually sat. Tami was with them, but Keenan wasn’t which likely meant he was playing a game that day. They all smiled at her as she slid into the pew beside Tami with Bennett behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she found herself encircled by her friends.
As the service progressed, Grace was grateful that she’d made the effort to come, and as they stood to sing the final hymn, she felt as if it had been chosen just for her.
Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.
God will take care of you,
Through every day, o’er all the way;
He will take care of you,
God will take care of you.
Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you;
When dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you.
All you may need He will provide,
God will take care of you;
Nothing you ask will be denied,
God will take care of you.
No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast,
God will take care of you.
Once the service ended, Makayla gave her a tight hug then held her at arm’s length. “You’re coming out to the house for lunch, right? Mom told me to call you after the service if you weren’t here.”
Grace nodded, needing the beauty of the rural home that she’d been to more times than she could count. It had been her second home for many years. Many more years than she’d lived in Franklin’s condo. It would feel more like going home.
“Good,” Makayla declared. “I was pretty sure you’d want to. Dad is barbecuing.”
Her stomach growled in anticipation. She’d been sick again that morning and hadn’t dared to eat anything but a couple of crackers before leaving the condo. Hopefully, she wouldn’t get sick again that day. So far, for the most part, the sickness was now only coming in the morning when she first woke up. She wasn’t sure that she was ready to share the news just yet, and running for the bathroom to be sick would be a sure giveaway.
As she drove outside the north part of the city toward the Callaghan home, the chorus of the hymn continued to play through her mind.
God will take care of you,
Through every day, o’er all the way;
He will take care of you,
God will take care of you.
It was something she found herself clinging to, the promise that God would take care of her. She knew that He had taken care of her so far, but she sure wished that her life could just cease to be one of loss. The mantle of grief that had overshadowed her life was getting heavy. Too heavy. The grief from her family’s deaths had eased over the past decade or so but had never completely disappeared. And now it was back, heavier than ever.
But as she pulled up to the sprawling country home, Grace wanted to just put the grief aside for a couple of hours. She just wanted to be able to feel the love of the family that had supported her before when she’d been lost and alone, and she knew they would do it again.
“Good afternoon, Mom,” Bennett said as he bent to press a kiss to his mom’s cheek. He stole a pickle from the bowl she had in front of her.
“Hello, sweetheart.” She looked up at him with a smile. He couldn’t miss the signs of age on her face, and yet she looked as beautiful to him as ever. No small wrinkles by her eyes or strands of gray in her hair would ever detract from the beauty of her smile and the love in her eyes.
“Ben!”
He turned to see his youngest brother, Dalton, coming toward him, a wide grin on his thin face. He wore a white T-shirt underneath a plaid shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His skinny jeans made him look…skinny, and Bennett was once again concerned for his young brother. He didn’t remember any of them being as small at that age as Dalton was.
He wore a bracelet made up of several leather strands on his left wrist, and his hair was longer than it had been in recent months. No doubt it was because he was just about out of school for the summer so the school rules on hair length wouldn’t apply for a few months.
“Hey, buddy,” Bennett said as he slipped an arm around the teen’s thin shoulders. “How’s it going?”
Dalton returned his hug then hopped up to sit on a stool at the island counter. He reached across and also snagged a pickle from the bowl. “It’s going good. Almost out of school, so I’m cool.”
Their mom pushed the jar, bowl and a knife across the counter to Dalton. “Wash your hands, and you can cut the rest of the pickles since you insist on eating them.”
“One for the bowl. One for Dalton,” he said with a grin as he went to wash up. “You’ve been warned, Momma.”
Though Bennett was happy to live in a space of his own, there were times he missed hanging out with his family in their home.
“Is Grace coming?” she asked as she handed Dalton a towel to dry his hands. “Makayla said she would ask her.”
“Yes, and Tami’s coming too, but we might have to turn the football game on for her.” Bennett sat down on the stool next to Dalton and stole another pickle. “Keenan is playing.”
“So they’re serious then?” His mom looked up from the potato salad she had just removed from the fridge.
“Sure seems like it. You’ll like him.”
“I can’t wait to meet him, but I guess it won’t be on a Sunday, eh?”
“Not while it’s football season most likely.” Bennett watched as Dalton cut the pickles, following through on his promise to eat a piece of a pickle for every one that went into the bowl.
The noise of approaching vehicles drifted through the open window above the sink. The engines quickly silenced and were replaced by the sound of voices as the front door opened, and then Makayla, Tami, and Grace appeared in the doorway of the kitchen with Ethan right behind them. His mom moved to embrace each of them.
Bennett moved to a stool on the far side of Dalton, watching the group gathering in the kitchen. Most specifically, Grace. It had been awhile since he’d indulged in a little Grace-watching. He hadn’t done it since Grace had started dating Franklin. Not that he sat and stared at her—that would just be creepy—but he allowed himself to notice things about her that he might not otherwise have.
Like how the dark smudges under her eyes hadn’t lessened much in the month since Franklin had died. Or that the smile she gave people still didn’t quite reach her eyes. She looked as lovely as ever. He’d always thought she was beautiful, even as a teenager, and that had definitely not changed over the years.
He had seen a similar sadness in her when her grandmother had passed away. It had taken a long time for that sadness to fade, only to reappear off and on over the years. He had a feeling that the sadness would be around much longer this time.
He hadn’t been able to help her with the sadness after her grandmother’s death, and she probably wouldn’t accept his help this time either. So he’d do this time what he’d done the last, and that was to just be present. And to pray. He no longer doubted the power of prayer after seeing the changes in Franklin.
“Take this out to your dad, sweetie, please.” His mom gestured to a tray covered in tin foil.
7
With one last look at where Grace stood talking with Sierra and Danica, Bennett picked up the tray and went out to join his dad. He found him at the large barbecue in the outdoor kitchen area his dad had built when he’d built the house. Ethan eventually joined them as did Mitch and Tristan. Bennett loved it when the family was all together.
Unfortunately, it
rarely happened anymore. Mitch’s twin, Gabe, was off who knew where. Ryan, his younger brother, was currently in Minneapolis working with BlackThorpe Security. He was usually home for holidays and sometimes a weekend here or there. Kenton, of course, was in LA even though it was the off-season for him. The guy barely made it home for Christmas let alone any of the other holidays since his career in the NHL had taken off.
Bennett knew that Makayla was hoping that everyone would be there for her and Ethan’s wedding. He was pretty sure that Gabe and Ryan would make the effort, but it remained to be seen if Kenton would tear himself away from sticks and pucks and whatever model he was currently dating, long enough to show up. Or maybe he’d bring the model along. Wouldn’t be the first time.
“What’s up, buttercup?” Mitch asked as he jabbed Bennett in the ribs. “You look like someone stole the last of your favorite ice cream.”
Bennett relaxed the frown that had obviously come from his thoughts of Kenton. “If someone has stolen the last of my ice cream, they’d better hope they can run fast.”
“Well, it wasn’t me,” Mitch said with such an innocent expression on his face that for just a moment, Bennett wondered if his brother had, in fact, raided his freezer.
“Will you please go tell your mom we can eat in about ten minutes, Bennett?” Steve Callaghan asked with a wave of the long, heavy duty spatula he held.
“Sure thing.” Bennett headed back to the house, climbing the steps to the large porch that ran all around the house. He reached the back door that led into the kitchen just as the women were headed out. With a smile, he opened the door and held it for them as they walked out with food in their hands. Then he poked his head into the kitchen and passed on his dad’s message. “Anything else that needs to be carried out?”
A few minutes later, he headed over to the food table to add the pitchers of juice his mom had given him. When his dad called out that the meat was ready, everyone gathered around the long picnic table, falling quiet when his dad had them join hands for prayer. Bennett took Tristan’s hand in his right then held out his left to Grace.
His dad’s prayer wasn’t long, but as Bennett held Grace’s much smaller hand in his, he was reminded of how fragile and delicate she was. But that was only how she appeared physically. He knew she was strong inside…much stronger than a lot of people. Maybe even than him. Though he had lost his dad at a young age, his memories hadn’t been strong or plentiful since his dad hadn’t been around much.
Being in the military had meant he was on deployment more than he was around. And unfortunately, the strongest memories he had of his dad were of his last time home when the man had spent the majority of his time yelling at all of them, particularly his mom. It had been a relief when he’d headed back out on deployment. So, while he’d grieved the loss of his father, his grief had more to do with losing the man he’d once been rather than losing the man he’d been at the end of his life.
As they sat together in the shade of the big tree in the backyard of his parents’ home with only sounds of birds as nature’s playlist, Bennett felt a deep sense of contentment. Franklin’s sudden death had really brought home the fact that neither another day nor another hour was promised to any of them. He was grateful for his family—both those related by blood and those who had been absorbed into it.
He glanced down at Grace, noticing that she was pushing around the potato salad on her plate. The thought came back to him about Makayla’s concern that Grace might be pregnant. There’d been no further mention of it, so he wondered if that had been confirmed one way or the other. Hopefully, if she was, she’d begin to eat more. He understood how her grief might rob her of her appetite, but if she was pregnant, she’d need to find a balance.
“Did Kenton get back to you about the wedding, sweetie?”
Bennett’s attention snapped back to the conversation at the sound of Kenton’s name. He looked past Grace to where Makayla sat in time to see her nod.
“Yep. He said he’d try to come in for that whole week.” Makayla smiled then glanced at Bennett. “He said for sure for the wedding, but he hoped to spend the week before here too.”
Bennett looked away from Makayla, only to find Grace watching him. He hoped that the frown that previous thoughts of Kenton had brought to his face was absent now. Over the years, family members had tried to dig and figure out what had happened between him and Kenton. He had never revealed what had led to their estrangement, and he doubted that Kenton would either. Though he tried to keep from letting the tension between them spill over too much into family get-togethers. It wasn’t as if he wouldn’t stay in the same room as the man. He just didn’t plan to have long talks and share confidences with Kenton the way they used to many years ago. That ship had sailed not long after high school.
“You plannin’ to talk to Kenton this time around?” Dalton asked, a dark brow arched as he stared at Bennett.
“I always talk to Kenton,” Bennett said without looking away from his younger brother’s gaze. He refused to be intimidated by a teenager. “Just because we’re not best friends doesn’t mean we don’t talk.”
Dalton rolled his eyes dramatically—as only Dalton could. “Yeah, right.”
“Dalton,” their mom spoke in a cautionary tone. It was one that Bennett had heard many, many times throughout his life, but Dalton seemed to have more nerve than he—and most his siblings—had ever had.
“What?” Dalton asked indignantly. “I was just asking a question. What am I supposed to do? Google for the answer?”
Bennett fought the smile that threatened to overtake his face.
“Well, Google is your friend,” Makayla pointed out while keeping her gaze on her plate.
“Sure, I’ll get right on that.” Dalton propped his elbows on the table and pretended as if he held a phone between his hands and was tapping on a screen—because they weren’t allowed phones at the table. “What did Kenton do to tick Bennett off?” He paused. “Huh. Look at that.” He held the invisible phone toward his mom who sat across the table from him. “No answer.”
His mother sighed as she regarded her youngest son. “Dalton…”
Bennett knew he wasn’t the only one fighting the urge to laugh. If nothing else, his brother was always good for a chuckle. The guy liked to entertain and be the center of attention. Lucky for him, being the baby of the family guaranteed that he usually was.
“Fine.” Dalton glanced around the table and let out a long sigh. “I’ll just ask Kenton.”
Bennett did laugh then. The chances Kenton would spill the details were even less than Bennett doing it. Dalton could certainly try, but he was pretty sure that if Kenton was going to divulge any details, it wasn’t going to be to the person who could spill every detail of his life over every possible social media platform. Yeah, that was so not going to happen.
“Ryan and Gabe have also confirmed that they will both be there. Although Gabe gave me a lecture on springing it on him with such short notice.” Makayla shrugged. “I told him to just suck it up and be here.” She grinned. “And he said he would be.”
He knew that there were likely a lot of people who wondered about the dynamics of their rather large, blended family, but the relationships between all of them—well, with the exception of him and Kenton—had pretty much continued on in the same vein in which they had started. Makayla had been the drama queen who had made sure all the boys—between the two families there had been six boys and two girls—had done her bidding whenever she could. Things hadn’t changed a whole lot, only now Ethan was also there to do her bidding. Although, from the look on his face, the man was happy to pledge himself in servitude to the queen.
Maybe it would give the rest of them a break.
“I’ll have a list of things for you to do, Bennett, since you’re the best man,” Makayla said, as if reading his mind.
Or maybe not…
“Your wish is my command,” Bennett muttered.
“And don’t you forget it,�
� Makayla replied.
“Oh, I wasn’t saying that to you, sis. I was hoping that Ethan would pick up on the line he’ll be saying over and over once he says I do.”
“Wait,” Ethan said, holding up his hand. “I was supposed to wait until after we were married to start saying that?” His shoulders slumped as he sighed dramatically. “Someone could have told me.”
“Sorry there, bud,” Bennett said with a shake of his head. “I tried to warn you.”
Makayla’s head whipped in his direction. “You tried to warn him about what?”
“That you were a ‘special woman’ who needed to be loved and cherished.” Bennett made sure she saw his air quotes.
Before he could pull back, she’d reached around Grace and thumped him on the shoulder. “Just you wait. One of these days, you’ll date someone who actually wants to be around all of us and then we’ll have a ball filling her in on all dirt about you.”
Bennett accepted the jab about Ellie without complaint. “Is that a threat or a promise? I mean, if you’re willing to tell her all about me, it sure will save on having to carry on conversations. You like to talk so much more than me.”
Their mom propped her elbow on the table and dropped her head forward onto her fist. “Where did I go wrong?”
Even Grace joined in when they all laughed at the woeful tone of his mom’s voice. It was moments like these when he didn’t understand how Ryan, Gabe and yes, even Kenton, could choose to stay away from home so much. Granted, Ryan came home the most of the three, but even in his off-season, Kenton rarely made an appearance. Of course, that could be partly Bennett’s fault. A pang of guilt went through him at that thought. Maybe he needed to make more of an effort to not be so distant when Kenton was around.
Maybe…
8
August
Grace stared at the vase sitting on the desk in front of her. When she’d walked in earlier, it was the first thing she’d seen. A crystal vase with three roses. One was blue, one pink and the other white. There was a small envelope held in place by a long clear plastic florist pick. She reached out and pulled the white envelope free but hesitated a moment before opening it.
For the Love of Grace: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 2) Page 7