Inspirational Christian Fiction Boxed Set: Embers and Ashes Series (Books 1 - 4)

by T. K. Chapin

  A knock on my back door startled me slightly. Who could that be? I wondered, standing up. I wiped my eyes and cheeks and then headed over to the door. Opening it, I saw it was little William. With a gash across his head and tears running down his cheeks, he asked, “Mister. Could I come in?”

  “Sure, William,” I said opening the door fully to let him inside. He came inside and we went into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, I said, “What’s going on?”

  He sniffled and began crying. “Charlie . . .”

  “Yeah? What happened?” I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  “You made him nervous. He’s really mad now and said if he catches me hanging out with you again he’ll send me away forever.”

  “I see,” I replied.

  William’s eyes fell onto the open Bible and a smile shone through his tears. “Whatcha reading about?” he asked, being entirely drawn to the Bible and out of his sadness.

  “Job. He’s talking about wisdom.”

  William got down on his knees and began to read the passage out loud.

  “Don’t you have to get back home?”

  “Charlie went to the church for a bit. He’ll be gone for at least an hour.” Turning his attention back to the Scriptures, he continued to read the chapter, sounding each word out when he got stuck. When he finished, he said, “See, Micah?”

  “What?” I asked, leaning over his shoulder to look.

  “It’s right here, Micah. God’s so big and wonderful and amazing. He’s doing something in our lives. Each one of us. We have to trust that.”

  “You sure seem wise for a kid,” I replied with a raised eyebrow.

  “According to Job, wisdom is the fear of the Lord and shunning evil. There isn’t an age requirement on wisdom.” He glanced toward the back door as he continued. “Since my parents died I’ve spent a lot of time reading the Bible and trying to understand why my parents died. I felt like God took them from me and left me with my mean old grandpa. But I’ve realized through promises like in Jeremiah that God has a plan for our lives. God knew I was going to meet you on the beach that day. He knew we’d be sitting here right now. He’s in control more than we sometimes think.”

  I nodded. “You’re right.”

  “I need you to do something for me,” he said, looking at me with those big, brown eyes. “I need you to stay away from me. I don’t want to upset Charlie again and I need to stay there.”

  “Okay. But why won’t you tell the cops the truth?”

  He shook his head. “If I do, they’ll take me away and my brother might never find me.”

  “Your brother? Where’s he at?”

  “I don’t know . . . he was older when my parents died. He wasn’t living at home at the time. I lost contact with him after Charlie moved into our house. If I leave Charlie’s, he’d never find me.”

  My heart broke into pieces at the hope I could sense in William’s voice and see through his eyes. He was waiting for his brother to come back. “Do you ask your grandpa about him?”

  He nodded. “I have, but he just says he died. I don’t believe him, though. I think he just tells me that so I don’t talk about it.” He looked over at the clock on the wall near the hallway. “I better get back.”

  “All right,” I said, standing up with him. We walked over to the door and I looked outside as I opened the door for him. Seeing the ocean in the distance, I said, “Don’t give up hope, William.”

  He smiled and I closed the door. I watched as William walked down the steps and onto the path that led to the road back to the beach. Curious what the deal was with his brother, I went back into the living room and called Joe.

  “What happened to William’s parents?”

  “Why you asking about that?”

  “I’m curious.”

  “They died. Not much else to know.”

  “Okay. Do you know what happened to their other son?”

  “Blake vanished after the night of the accident. His girlfriend at the time said he left town on a bus and she never saw him again.”

  “Who was his girlfriend?”

  “Jessica Sanders.” Joe cleared his throat. “Charlie’s the only family that boy has. It’s best if you don’t poke your nose where it doesn’t belong or he might even lose him.”

  I hung up on him. I didn’t need the manipulation I was sensing from his end of the phone. Bowing my head, I prayed for God to help me understand what I’m supposed to do.

  I don’t know if you want me to pursue this boy’s freedom or if I need to be focused on You alone, Lord.

  A voice from within my soul whispered into my thoughts, Why not both?

  Thank you, Lord. Help me walk in the light and the Spirit and not in selfishness. Amen.

  I had peace flowing through me as I lifted my head. Pursuing a solution for William was something I needed to do.

  After dinner, I phoned Denise to update her on what happened with William coming over and the decision I’d made to pursue helping the boy. She listened quietly until the end.

  “If you help this boy, you’d better be praying every step of the way, Micah Freeman. You must also be aware of the consequences.”

  “No need to sound like my mother,” I replied curtly.

  “Hey, now. I’m far from being your mother, but I am your wife, Micah! It’s my duty to be your help mate. I’m trying to help.”

  She was right. “I’m sorry. Thank you. I’m just nervous.”

  “You should be. I called Betty after our phone call earlier to see what the deal was with this Charlie guy. She informed me that Charlie Prescott is not only a deacon in the church, but a member of the city council and a highly regarded figure in the community.”

  “Hmm.”

  “It’s serious, Micah. Betty even said he has ties with the chief of police in town and the judges. You’d better tread lightly with whatever you do moving forward.”

  “If God is for us, who can stand against us?”

  “Romans 8:31,” she replied. I could hear the smile in her voice on the other end of the phone.

  “Exactly.” Looking over at a family picture of her, myself and Jasmine that sat on the entertainment center, I said, “God’s up to something with all of this. I can feel it.”

  “He is always working on something, isn’t he?” she said. “It makes me so happy that you’re getting back in your Bible. I can hear it in your voice.”

  “I feel better. I was doing my study in Job today. Job 28 and how wisdom was put into place, just like when God measured the waters and set the path of thunderstorms into place. It makes me think about how small of an existence we truly have on this earth. We are like a speck of sand on the beach, and yet we sometimes get hung up on our own speck so much that we forget how we ended up on the beach to begin with. Our Creator put us there.”

  “Mmm . . .” Denise replied. “Keep talking.”

  “What?”

  “Your voice. It’s comforting.”

  I smiled and continued on. We cried, we laughed, we talked for over an hour about a lot of different things. We both figured out we weren’t really sure how to proceed after our daughter passed away, but we knew God was with us. Our talk even touched on the possibility of going to the Congo for a missionary trip later the next year. And as the night’s talk was wrapping up, Denise asked a question I’d never forget.

  “How do Christians as devoted as we are sometimes lose perspective of who God is?”

  It was such a deep and yet simple question. It challenged me to my core. It forced me reflect inwardly and analyze my actions following the death of our daughter. I replied, “Even the best of us lose perspective at moments of weakness. The enemy exploits those weaknesses and if we don’t have God’s strength to hold us up in that area, we fail.”

  “I love you,” she said. “That’s such a good way to look at it. Hey, you know what just came to mind?”

  “What?”

  “I think the passage that tells us to keep
our minds renewed daily parallels what you just said.”

  “Corinthians 4:16: ‘Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ It does go well with it, but it goes deeper. I’ve been praying and reading my Bible every single day, yet even though I was renewed, I failed.”

  “I disagree. You came out of it. You were renewed. You didn’t fail,” Denise retorted.

  “True, but I did fail. You weren’t inside my mind, honey. I wasn’t very happy with God and what happened to our baby girl.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “I think my weakness with our daughter was the fact that I thought she was mine to begin with. She was the Lord’s all along. He knew when I held my baby girl in my hands the day she was born that she would die in that car accident, on that day and at that exact time.”

  Denise began crying. “Stop.”

  I relaxed my neck into the back of the couch and looked up at the ceiling. “God’s in control, and while I have always believed that, I failed in trusting Him for a bit after losing Jasmine. Remember when Cole and Megan went through all that stuff in their marriage?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I told him that he needs to funnel everything in life through God first. I failed to do that with our daughter.”

  “I think you’re being a bit harsh with yourself, Micah.”

  “I don’t think so, Denise. God is above all. Not above some, but all!”

  “Okay,” Denise replied. “I’m going to do some reading and turn in for the evening. I enjoyed talking to you.”

  “It’s been a while since we talked.” I smiled. “I enjoyed it too.”

  Hanging up with Denise, I thought about God and how He was in control of everything. God’s insight to the world around me was far greater than even a sliver of my understanding.

  I wasn’t ready to turn in for the evening yet, so I phoned the Chief to see how he was doing.

  “How are you?” I asked.

  “Still recovering. I feel like an idiot hugging this teddy bear every time I need to cough.”

  I laughed. “It helps the pain, I’m sure.”

  “It does. It does. Heard you took off to Ocean Shores?”

  “Yeah. Needed some time to get away.”

  “I see. I’m glad you called. I wanted to tell you something. When I was counting down backward as I went under, I focused on one word that you said to me in that conversation earlier.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Hope.”

  I smiled.

  “I just wanted to pass that along to you. After all that’s happened . . . I felt like I should share that with you. Your being there for me meant a lot. And I’m truly sorry about Jasmine.”

  “Thank you,” I replied. “Hope is what we have as Christians. Someday down the line I will see my daughter again in Heaven, and that does bring me comfort. That hope brings me unspeakable peace.”

  We chatted for a while longer about how the recovery was going for him and how the guys were suspicious about his extended vacation since he hadn’t missed more than a few days of work in all the time he had worked there. He told me he was going to say something, but he just wanted to wait for the perfect time to do so—maybe get a bit more healed up before breaking the news to the guys. I think he was just scared to admit that he wasn’t the man of steel that everybody at the station thought he was.

  CHAPTER 15

  My investigation was in full swing the next morning. The first stop was the Community church to see if Pastor Clarkson could shed any light on the situation with Charlie and William. Getting out of my truck in the parking lot, I headed up to the doors of the church. I tried to pull it open, but found it surprisingly locked.

  That’s strange, I thought to myself as I looked through the glass doors. Seeing the Pastor’s office door open, I saw someone look out at me and then shut the door. What’s that about? Maybe they didn’t see me, I thought, giving the door a few firm knocks.

  The gentleman came out and over to the door. Unlocking it, he pushed it open and stepped to the side to let me in. “Sorry about that. We were just having a little business meeting.”

  “It’s all right,” I replied, stepping inside.

  The gentleman continued out to the parking lot and I went to the pastor’s office. Knocking on the door gently as I pushed it open, I smiled as my eyes fell on Pastor Clarkson.

  He looked up at me and returned the smile. “Micah,” he said, standing up and extending a hand to shake mine.

  We shook hands and sat down.

  “What brings you by so early? It’s barely past eight in the morning.”

  I nodded. “It’s William.”

  “Hmm . . .” he replied. His attitude shifted dramatically as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “What about him? Was he breaking windows with those darn rocks again?”

  “What? No.”

  Pastor Clarkson dropped his hands down to the desk as he leaned in and lowered his voice. “That boy is trouble. We caught him breaking windows at Mrs. Ellis’s house back a few months ago.” The pastor shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “Kid has been trouble ever since his parents passed a few years back.” He looked at me with narrowed eyes. “What’d he do?”

  “It’s not what he did.”

  The pastor raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

  “I’m trying to find his brother.”

  He shook his head. “Blake skipped town the night their parents died and nobody has seen or heard from him since. There are a few rumors floating around town that he’s the one that killed the parents.”

  “Caused the car accident?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. And now he’s gone. Was there anything else I could do for you?”

  “Yeah. There’s one more thing. Could you tell me where Jessica Sanders might be?”

  The pastor tipped his chin and then gave me a hard look. “Don’t know.”

  “She stopped coming to church?”

  “Yep.” Leaning back in across the desk, he asked, “What’s this all about? Why are you trying to figure out any of this?”

  “I’m just worried about William.”

  “Why? Charlie’s been a blessing for that boy since his momma and father passed onto glory. He moved into their house and has been providing a life for William ever since.”

  “I’m just worried that Charlie might be hurting him.”

  “Charlie Prescott hurting him? I can guarantee you that the only hurt that boy is feeling is on his backside for misbehaving! But I’ll look into it,” he replied. “I did notice a bruise on him the other day.”

  “Yeah. So you saw that?” I asked.

  “Sure did. I’ll talk to Charlie. We go way back.”

  “No,” I said. “Please don’t. I’m afraid it’ll cause more issues for William than it would solve.”

  “Okay. I’ll ask around elsewhere. You don’t worry about it anymore. I will take it from here, son.”

  “All right.” I stood up and shook his hand. “Thanks for all the help, Pastor.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” he replied, smiling. “How’s everything else going?”

  “I’m fine,” I replied. “Thanks.”

  After lunch, I went over to a gas station to fill up. While waiting in line to pay for my gas, I overheard the guy in front of me talking to the man behind the counter.

  “Jessica’s not going to the party tonight. She said she’s sick of that whole scene.”

  Could that be Jessica Sanders? I wondered. The pastor was pretty curt about the topic of Jessica Sanders; it wouldn’t hurt to at least ask the gentlemen in front of me.

  “When you gonna drop her, man?” the guy asked as he rang up the man’s soda.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Hey,” I said, interrupting. I smiled as they both looked at me. “I know this is a long shot, but could that Jessica you two are talking about be Jessica Sanders?”

  The guy with
the soda took a sip through his straw and furrowed his eyebrows at me. “No. I know the Sanders girl, though. Why?”

  “I just need to ask her a question.”

  “And who are you?” The guy behind the counter asked.

  “I’m Micah. I just have a question about an old boyfriend she had.”

  The guy with the soda looked over my shoulder and saw the growing line. “Let’s talk outside. I’ll give you what you need.” He turned around and paid the cashier.

  “Hey,” I said, coming out of the gas station.

  He turned around. “I don’t know where Jess lives, but I will tell you this, though: she works over at the hotel restaurant down by the water. She’s been pretty busy there lately, so you’re bound to see her if you go there. She’s a bartender.”

  I nodded. “Thank you,” I said.

  “No problem,” he replied.

  Going back to my truck, I smiled and looked to heaven as I thanked God for the coincidence. I pumped my gas and took off, heading for the only hotel on the ocean front that also had a restaurant.

  Hurrying from the parking lot, I headed straight through the hotel lobby and went into the restaurant.

  “How many are in your party?” a young girl asked at the hostess station up front.

  Shaking my head, I approached her. “I’m not eating. I’m just looking for someone. Jessica Sanders?”

  The girl turned and looked into the restaurant. She stood up on her tippy toes as she scanned the room. “She’s right . . . there!” Dropping her heels back to the floor, she led me through the crowded restaurant and over to a young brunette woman that looked exhausted and a bit on edge. The hostess said, “This guy was asking for you,” and then she went back toward the front of the restaurant.

  “Jessica?” I asked, leaning across the bar top.

  She lowered an eyebrow. “Yeah? Who are you?” she asked, taking a step back.