A Place Called Home (A Place Called Home 1)

by Lori Wick

  Luke reeled under the weight of the news. He leaned against the wall, feeling as if the pins had been knocked out from under him.

  Mark let Luke catch his breath before saying, “I don’t know how to tell Christine without upsetting her.”

  “We won’t tell her,” Luke replied after some moments.

  “What?”

  “I said we won’t tell her,” Luke repeated calmly.

  “Luke, that’s not fair. She has a right to know.”

  “It will only frighten her. Anyway, the man is in custody. It’s over now.”

  “Luke, it’s not over. Christine is not dead and I’m sure whoever wants her that way will not give up so easily.” Mark knew the words were harsh, but he could see the need to be blunt.

  “I’ll be here to take care of her.”

  “Luke, be reasonable. Even if you two were married, you wouldn’t be with her all the time. She needs to know about this so she can be on her guard and less vulnerable. She’s not a little girl, Luke. We can’t protect and treat her like

  one.”

  Mark continued on in his argument, but Luke was adamant. Mark even considered going to Christine himself, but put the idea away when he saw how single-minded Luke

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  was to keep the information from her. He watched his brother leave, a heavy feeling in Mark’s heart.

  The ride to his grandmother’s house was short, but in that span Luke was even more determined to keep the recent developments from Christine and to proceed as he hoped. By the time Luke arrived and found his grandmother in the kitchen, he had nearly succeeded in pushing the barn fire from his mind.

  “I found this on Christine’s bedside table when I checked on her.” Grandma Em handed him the note.

  Grandma Em, please wake me if Luke comes. Don’t let him leave.

  “Is she awake yet?” Luke asked, still holding the note.

  “I don’t think so. It’s pretty quiet up there.”

  Luke began to pace. “Was she upset? Did she tell you why she had to see me?”

  Grandma Em opened her mouth to answer when they both heard a sneeze. Luke gave his grandmother a small smile and walked with a determined stride up to Christine’s room.

  The room was chilly and Christine was settled back against the pillow, the quilts tucked in tight around her. She heard someone on the stairs and watched as Luke came in. He was without a doubt a man with a purpose.

  Not a word was spoken as Luke moved the desk chair to the head of the bed and leaned close to Christine, much like yesterday.

  “I’ve done a lot of thinking since yesterday, Christine. I was insensitive to your needs and I’m sorry.” Luke leaned a bit closer, his voice almost urgent. “I realized after I left yesterday that we’ve had almost no time together.” Luke hesitated, knowing it was too soon to tell her he loved her.

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  “I care deeply for you, Christine. And I want you to stay in Baxter. Stay and give us time to get to know each other. I can’t believe how little I know about you. We’ve both lost our parents and I think we have a lot to share. Please stay, Christine; give us a chance.”

  A tiny bubble of laughter, in contrast with the tears sparkling in her eyes, sounded from Christine’s throat. “I had the same speech planned for you.”

  “You mean about staying in Baxter and getting to know each other?”

  Christine gave him a happy nod. Luke’s laughter sounded through the upstairs and Christine joined him. Their relief was more precious because they had both asked for God’s guidance.

  J Christine touched Luke’s arm. “I need to say something else. I’m sorry about the way I acted yesterday. I’ve never been a good patient.”

  “Oh, really! I hadn’t noticed.” Christine bit her lip in an effort to keep from smiling, knowing that if she did he would only be encouraged to tease her more.

  When Christine asked Luke to give her a few minutes alone he left the room, shutting the door behind him, and waited in the hall. Supper aromas were drifting up the stairs, and he decided that he and Grandma Em should bring their plates up and eat with Christine.

  “All set!” Luke turned in surprise at Christine’s voice as she came out into the hall, dressed and wrapped in a quilt. She smiled at him as she moved toward the stairs. “I’m starved.” Christine spoke again and was partway down the stairs before she realized that Luke had not followed.

  Christine stopped and spoke without turning, “I’m fine, Luke. My throat doesn’t hurt, and if I have to stay in that bed another minute I’ll go out of my mind.” Christine was relieved when she heard Luke move onto the steps behind her.

  His presence was so comforting. She had to stop herself

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  from leaning into him as he reached her on the stairs and put his hand on her back to guide her to the parlor.

  “I rather thought I’d see you down here tonight, Christine.” Grandma Em’s eyes twinkled with mischief as she kissed Christine’s cheek. “Your room is lovely, but 24 hours a day gets to be a bit much.”

  Grandma Em went back to the stove. Christine put her quilt on a chair, intending to follow. She had only stepped twice before she felt the quilt drop back onto her shoulders and Luke’s hands guide her to a seat.

  “I need to help,” she protested after he had sat her down.

  “I’ll help her.”

  “Luke, I can’t just sit here.”

  “Yes, you can.” Christine heard the words correctly but knew that his look and tone were really saying, “You had better.”

  Luke, who was bent over Christine to talk quietly into her upturned face, saw the exact moment she gave in. His knuckles brushed feather-lightly down her cheek before he moved to aid his grandmother.

  Christine’s earlier statement of being starved had not been far from the truth. She filled her plate twice and had two pieces of pie.

  “That was delicious.” Christine sat back with a sigh.

  “Did you think I had forgotten how to cook?” Grandma Em asked with feigned indignation.

  “No!” Christine laughed.

  “Well, the truth is, you do have me pretty spoiled.”

  “What I’d really like to do is spoil you some more by doing the dishes. But,” Christine continued quickly as Luke began to protest, “your grandson has other ideas. So I’m headed to the parlor so I won’t have to watch you work.”

  After Christine left, Luke began to gather the plates, but Grandma Em waved him away. “I can get them, Luke. Go sit with Christine.”

  Luke, much to his grandmother’s amusement, didn’t

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  even hesitate. He found Christine curled up on the couch and he joined her.

  “Are you warm enough?”

  Christine nodded in contentment, willing to just sit with Luke in comfortable silence. She was feeling tired and Luke also was content to just be near her.

  As the silence between them continued, Luke grew pensive. His thoughts were turning bleak before he realized that Christine had leaned forward and was looking into his face.

  “Did I cause that scowl?”

  “No.” Luke reined his thoughts in and smiled into Christine’s eyes. Christine realized she was leaning rather close. Hastily she sat back and began to nervously pleat the quilt in her lap. “Tell me about your ranch.” Christine spoke, wishing she couldn’t feel his eyes on her.

  “No.”

  “What!” Christine felt a bit taken aback at his abrupt answer.

  “I said no, because I want you to come and see the ranch. Next Friday.”

  “I’ll have to check with Grandma Em.” Christine smiled with relief. “But I’d love to.”

  The next few hours flew by. Grandma Em finished the dishes and the three sat in the parlor. Talk moved rapidly from one subject to the next.

  When Luke was ready to leave, Christine walked him to the door. With his coat and hat on, he leaned against the door and took Christine’s hand.

  “I won’t see yo
u tomorrow. But,” he said with mock sternness, “I expect to hear that you rested and took it easy when I get here Sunday.” He pointed a finger at her. “Do I make myself clear, Christine Bennett?”

  “Yes, sir!” Christine spoke with exaggerated sweetness.

  Luke only groaned and rolled his eyes, knowing she would do exactly as she pleased. This groan brought a smile to Christine’s face.

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  Suddenly Christine knew she was about to be kissed. She couldn’t stop the tensing in her body, the clenching of her hands at her side.

  Luke didn’t miss her stance. She looked like a frightened animal about to bolt. Slow down, Luke, he told himself-don’t rush her.

  Careful not to move toward her in any way, Luke let go of her hand and reached for the door handle. “Good night, Christine. I’ll see you Sunday.”

  “Good night.” Christine stood for a long time after the door shut, the cold air no longer swirling around her legs. “If I didn’t want Luke to kiss me, why am I so disappointed that he didn’t?”

  Long after Christine bid Grandma Em good night and took herself off to bed, the question plagued her.

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  “Come in,” Christine called to the knock on her bedroom door, assuming it was Grandma Em this early on a Sunday morning. “Oh, Mark! It’s you!” Christine sent up a quick prayer of thanks that she was dressed.

  Mark came into the room and saw that his brother’s suspicions had been right: Christine was ready for church. He also wondered absently how Christine was able to tell him and Luke apart, no matter what they were wearing.

  “I’m on a mission for my brother,” Mark said.

  Christine laughed, feeling quite certain she knew what that mission was. “Why don’t you tell me about it over a cup of coffee.”

  “Lead the way,” Mark said as he gestured gallantly toward the door.

  “So,” Christine said after she had put the coffee on, “what’s up? I assume when you say ‘brother,’ you are referring to Luke?”

  “Correct. Luke wants me to make sure you are well enough to be out today, and if not, to make you go back to bed.”

  Again Christine laughed. “What would you like to know? My throat feels fine. My eyes and nose no longer burn. My leg is still tender and I think the skin is going to peel. I must admit I tire easily, but I just rest when I feel the need. Other than the fact that the animals are not here to feed, it’s almost as if the fire never happened.” Christine shrugged and moved to get the coffee.

  Mark watched as she poured two cups. “Yes,” he thought, “she’s ready to be out again.” Unbidden, another thought followed: “It’s easier to keep her safe if she stays in.”

  “Mark, if that look on your face means you’re about to tell me to go back to bed, then I best warn you, you’ll have a fight on your hands.”

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  Mark looked up to see that Christine had put the coffeepot back on the stove. Her hands were planted on her hips, her chin was thrust out, and she was ready for a battle.

  Mark could not keep the smile from his face. “Luke, my dear brother,” he thought to himself, “you have met your match.”

  Christine’s battle stance turned to confusion upon seeing that smile. She watched as Mark drained his coffeecup, amazed that he could drink it so hot. Standing, he said, “I’ll see you in church, Christine,” and then he was out the door.

  “And men think women are hard to explain,” Christine said to a supposedly empty room some minutes later.

  “There’s no hope for you, Christine, if you’re talking to yourself at 19. What are you going to be doing at my age?”

  The women shared a good laugh and Christine explained Mark’s visit, none of which was news to Grandma Em. She didn’t miss much of the goings-on in her family.

  The women took some time to pray and share a verse before starting breakfast. Christine had begun to memorize Scripture. Reading Psalm 121 for the first time the night before, she had determined to put all eight verses to memory.

  Luke and Silas came in to find Grandma Em setting the table for breakfast and Christine stirring the cooked cereal with one hand and holding a Bible in the other, completely engrossed. Luke asked his grandmother what Christine was doing, and he was not surprised at the answer, for he was learning that Christine did most things with a fierce sense of purpose.

  Silas had stepped to the stove to pour a cup of coffee.

  “Memorizing is hard work.”

  “I think so, and it gets harder as you get older,” Silas replied. “I can’t believe how fast the kids can learn those verses. Of course Julia is an exception-she can memorize today as well as she could when we were kids. She used to beat the pants off us boys. Maybe it was the Lord’s way of

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  making her extra-special. Being raised with three older brothers who were always a little faster and stronger has a way of discouraging a girl. Even when she stopped competing with us and began to grow up, we teased her for putting her hair up or wearing ribbons. Not until she turned 15 and fell so hard for Mac did we have any compassion.” 1 Luke came out to the kitchen, and he and Christine exchanged a smile before Christine turned back to Silas.

  “Were you really compassionate toward her?”

  “I don’t think we ever said anything to her, but I sure remember the day after she told Mac she couldn’t see him again. All the sparkle went out of her.”

  Luke joined the conversation at this point. “She did her work and never complained, but when we teased her, there was no reaction. It went on like that for nearly a month before our father blew his stack.”

  “That was a bad night,” Silas went on. “It was at the supper table. He really raked her over the coals. Told her to stop moping around and get back into the family or he’d find so much work for her to do that she’d have no time to pout.”

  “Julia was already doing the work of a grown woman and had been since her mother died.” Grandma Em had come in and talked as she cracked eggs into a pan. “We all make mistakes, and I’m afraid that was one of Joseph Jr.‘s worst.”

  Breakfast preparation was finished in silence and the four sat around the table. Prayer was said and they began to eat before Luke continued the story.

  “Julia came around after that. She would laugh and talk with us when we were around. But she also lost weight and spent more time alone than she ever had in her life. It was as if she decided on her own to take Dad’s word and to work to forget Mac.”

  Silas shook his head and took off where Luke had finished. “She never stopped working. Dad began to see that he’d been too harsh with her. Then she got sick. She was down to skin and bones and collapsed one day in the

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  kitchen. Paul found her and came for us in the stable. She burned up with fever for three days. It was during this time that we found out just how painful it had been to tell Mac she couldn’t see him.

  “She kept saying, Tm sorry, Mac, I had to obey my father. I don’t think I’m too good for you. I love you, but I have to obey my father. Please, God, please save Mac and help him understand.’ It never came out at one time, but she would cry and talk. Paul never left her side, and he heard most of it.

  “Paul became Julia’s champion. He told all of us, including our father, that we’d been unfair and that we owed her an apology and some help with the work around the house.

  “He cried, didn’t he, Luke? And he told the family that if things didn’t change, he and Julia were going to move into town to Grandpa’s. He was so upset after his speech that he wouldn’t even speak with us.”

  It was time to do the dishes or they would be late for church. As they worked, Luke finished the story.

  “It took Julia some time to get back on her feet. While she convalesced, Silas did most of the housework and we helped. He became a very good cook, by the way. Anyhow, after Julia was up and about, we all apologized to her and promised to help her with her work. We also began to pray daily as a family for Mac’s salv
ation. Having us behind her turned Julia around. She became her old self, and it wasn’t long afterward that Mac came to church. He began to eat Sunday dinner with us, and one day Paul led him to the Lord. Now, eight years of marriage later and two little boys down the road, it’s just like Silas said-she can still memorize with the best of them.”

  Christine was amazed at Julia’s story. Julia had said that things had been hard, but she had never once hinted at the real pain she had experienced. These thoughts stayed with Christine until the four of them bundled into the wagon and headed for church.

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  The proximity of Luke on the rear seat with her drove away all thought of Julia as Christine reached between them to steady herself on the seat. Luke took her hand, holding it all the way to church.

  He released her hand only after the wagon had stopped in the churchyard.

  They had arrived in time for the service, and in the few minutes before it started Luke asked Christine about her memorizing.

  “Gram tells me you’re working on Psalm 121. How is it going?”

  “Well, I just started last night. I read it and read it, then close my Bible and can’t remember a thing.”

  Luke laughed softly and Christine studied his face. He looked so tan against the crisp whiteness of his dress shirt. His hair was a little mussed from the wagon ride and a few stray locks fell on his forehead. His teeth and smile were beautiful. And those eyes! Sapphire! Christine looked away-how would she ever concentrate on the sermon?

  Mrs. Nolan had started the piano prelude, and Luke quickly leaned over to Christine. “I worked in Psalm 121 when I was a kid. I could use a refresher course. Why don’t we work on it together?”

  Christine’s look was uncertain and Luke misinterpreted it. “If you’d rather not…”

  “No, it’s not that…” Christine was not allowed to explain because Pastor Nolan had stepped to the front.

  The sermon was on fear-specifically, the giving over of fear to God. Christine and Grandma Em had talked on this subject several times, and Pastor Nolan confirmed much of what she had said. “When we start to feel that some fear will overwhelm us, we should immediately pray and keep praying until we’ve given that fear to God and can rest in Him,” Grandma Em had said.