by Caryl McAdoo
“Get a life. I was fourteen, and you were an idiot even back then. Leave us alone.”
“If you think for a minute –”
“No need for speculation here.” Asa stepped between her and her ex. “Do as the lady said.”
Both Carter’s fists balled. He turned sideways then swung from his hip. A big round house hay maker. Asa could have blocked. Countered. But took the blow. Pain exploded in his chin, like a Roman candle touched by a punk on the fourth of July. He righted himself then turned the other cheek.
Carter recovered then swung his left.
A scream pierced the air. The fist connected with his cheek. A hot burn brought tears to both eyes. Another scream propelled Faith from behind. Asa extended his right arm and blocked her. The bully’s right sped toward his nose. He grabbed it with his other hand inches from its target, wrapped his fingers around the fist, and used the man’s momentum to twist him around. He wrapped him in a bear hug.
His mouth almost touched Carter’s ear. “Satan, I bind you off this man by the power and blood of Jesus. Father, give him a season of free will.” Asa released him and stepped back, keeping Faith behind him.
His opponent spun. His face reddened. Fists still balled, he only stood and stared. Opened his mouth, but didn’t speak. Then as though a new threat arose, the loser shook his head, wheeled around, and sprinted to his truck. With lightning speed, he jumped in and peeled out.
Faith ran around him and grimaced. “Are you hurt?”
“Not much, come on. We’ve got a lunch date. I mean dinner.”
Faith could hardly believe it, except she’d seen it with her own two eyes, and Asa had even called it. Turn the other cheek, he’d said. But how had he been able to let DeWayne hit him twice, and never hit him back?
“I’m so sorry.”
He glanced at her then turned right at the square. “For what?”
“Not telling you I’d promised DeWayne that I’d marry him when I was a freshman.”
“I was wondering about that.” He pulled into a spot across from the Bistro. “What’s that story?”
“He had this party at his house. We’d been playing hide and seek. He and I both ended up in the barn.” She grimaced. “You sure you want to hear this?” Surely he wanted to stop her. No way did she enjoy putting any more images of her and Carter into his mind, but if he wanted to know, best to hear the truth rather than let the devil lie to him.
He nodded. “Yes, well no, but yes, go on.”
“We were kissing some, and he wanted to go further than I was ready.” She shrugged. “He put his hands where they didn’t belong, so I slapped him and ran back to the house.”
“That’s good, so when did the promise come?”
“We broke up two days later. That’s when he made me promise I’d marry him one day.”
“How’d that come about?”
“Oh, he claimed he loved me, and I told him I loved him, too, but that I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted, not until we were married. He said he couldn’t wait until then, so I told him to come see me when he was ready to get hitched.”
“Did he ever?”
“No, the rest of that year and the next, he went from one girl who put out to the next and made a point of letting me know how much fun he was having. Then Burk came along. Poor guy. I shouldn’t have used him, but he finally wised up and broke it off. DeWayne never had the opportunity to try anything again. It was just that one time, and even though in Texas a man’s word is binding, a minor can’t legally enter into a contract, if I’ve got it right.”
He pointed his finger. “You watched Perry Mason reruns, too.”
She laughed. “Yes, we did. Daddy loved that show. Mama used to claim he had a crush on Della Street.”
His mouth smiled, but his eyes still dripped pain. “Who didn’t? We best go on in, but thanks for telling me, clearing the air.”
“You’re welcome, and you’re right, and it looks to me like you’re going to have a shiner at our wedding. Great for the pictures.” She gasped. “Pictures! I almost forgot. I better ask Auntie, but the librarian, Lisa, is a professional photographer. I imagine she can take them for us. Talking about stories to tell the grandsugars; how come you have a black eye, Gramps?”
He jumped out shaking his head, came round and opened her door then slipped his hand into hers.
The waitress obviously noticed his face, but didn’t say anything.
Once Tracy joined them, he evidently couldn’t contain his curiosity. “Hey now, thought I was the only cowboy preacher in town. You get a hold of a wild one?”
“No, sir.” Faith intervened on his behalf. She glanced around then leaned closer. “It was something, Tracy.” She related the incident at the Top Rail then stopped and looked at Asa. “Tell him what you heard at Highlands.”
“Turn the other cheek. It was almost audible; at first I thought Faith said it.”
“Tracy, it was like the Babe calling his shot. We hadn’t even seen DeWayne yet. We were still in the store, but Asa said he heard turn the other cheek. Then there was that sorry excuse for a man soon as we got out the door. Just waiting to start some trouble. Asa let the idiot hit him twice, as hard as he could, before catching the third swing. You should’ve seen it. Wrapped his fingers around DeWayne’s fist and spun him around like a rag doll.”
The Double R preacher looked at Asa. “What’d you tell him?”
“I prayed for him.”
Faith decided to let that one lie until later. “Anyway, when Asa let DeWayne go, he just stood there red-faced with his mouth hanging open. You should have seen how he turned tail and ran. He jumped in his truck and sped off like Asa had a gang there to back him up.”
The old man looked from her to her intended. “So what’d you pray exactly? I may need to use that one some day.” He laughed.
Her sweetheart never answered, just laughed with the cowboy preacher and ignored the question. Faith laughed with them until the tears in her eyes blurred the menu. She never could decide what she wanted. She loved everything they served but ended up getting her usual, that yummy Chicken Murphy with its jalapenos and mushrooms.
FIFTEEN
Asa shook his head and studied the fare. “So what’s good?”
Faith’s knee touched his and food suddenly seemed irrelevant.
Tracy smiled like he understood completely.
The waitress came, took their orders, then the man started his inquiry. “So Aunt Iris tells me you two just met?” (Was he a real nephew or one of the town’s many honorary ones?)
Asa nodded. “Yes, sir. Well, twenty-two days ago. Sure been the best three weeks of my life.” He covered her hand resting on the table with his.
The preacher took notice then looked to Faith. “I understand the hurry here, but we’re talking marriage and that estate lasts a lifetime. Not something to rush into, given normal circumstances. You both sure about this?”
Though he couldn’t answer for Faith, he wanted his say. “For me, yes sir. I’ve been thinking about how the world does things. People our age meet at a bar or church, wherever, and they even have a name for it. Hooking up they call it, sex with no strings attached. Try on each other for size I guess, but of course, that doesn’t honor our Holy God. Certainly isn’t His way.”
She looked right at Asa. “This man has saved himself for the wife he knew God would send him. And he believes I’m that woman. I know it’s unconventional and seems crazy. And in my youth, I’d convinced myself I loved DeWayne Carter, but I never did, not like I love Asa.
I want him to be mine, and I want to be his. Yes, sir, bless God. I want him lock, stock, and barrel, all of him. Forever. Today’s little incident was just one more reminder. I don’t even know how it happened, or when, but I love this man more than my life, and want to spend the rest of my days by his side.”
Rendered speechless, Asa sat paralyzed with joy and disbelief. She loved him? She really loved him. His heart had to still be beating, but
if it stopped and he passed that instant, his life on earth would have been fulfilled. She wanted to be his wife. His brain finally found a few insufficient words, and somehow they made their way through his lips.
“Wow. Awesome. I love you, too, Faith, and there is nothing—no thing—I’d rather do than share the rest of my life with you.”
The man laughed and extended his hands. Faith took hold of one and Asa the other. “Lord, bless these two and keep them on the path You’ve chosen for them.” He glanced around the table. “If you’re both sure, after what I’ve heard, that’s good enough for me. Be my pleasure to marry you next Wednesday.”
The waitress came with the bread basket and spiced oil, and for several mouthwatering bites of the fresh baked roll, the old cowboy preacher didn’t say anything. Then he dusted off his hands and looked right at Asa. “God talk to you much?”
“Never before like today, usually it’s more like a thought in my head I knew wasn’t my own. Long as it lines up with the Word, I figure it’s Him. If it doesn’t, well, I suppose it’s from the pits of hell. Sometimes it’s like a heart’s desire, something that I never would have wanted to do before.” Asa shrugged.
“Interesting.”
“Some of the guys at DBU were doing street ministry, going out every Friday night, finding a crowd, and preaching Jesus and Him crucified. Once upon a time, the thought of me going with them horrified me. Then, like the Lord flipped a switch somewhere, I knew I needed to, so I went.” He smiled. “You ever done that? It was fantastic. First time I preached over on Cooper down from UT Arlington, ten kids got saved.”
Faith squeezed his hand. “Wow, that’s great.”
“I thought so, too, but it also broke my heart, not being able to pastor those kids. Don’t know where they are today, or if… Well, God knows, and I’ve definitely kept them in my prayers and trust the Lord with their upbringing in the Word.”
“Sometimes, that’s all we can do.”
“Yes, sir.”
The food came and the conversation went from one testimony to another. Tracy offered a lot of good advice, approved of the plans for an addition, and asked about the colts Junior had referred. Then on the way out, presented a thought Asa didn’t want to hear.
“If it was me, I’d wait on children for a while. At least a year. The little darlings are hard enough. I’d suggest you two get to know each other a little better first, enjoy some time alone together ’fore you go and never hardly have another minute alone ’til you’re fifty.”
Faith didn’t comment until Tracy pulled off in his truck. Seemed to Asa every man in Red River County drove pickups. Maybe he should trade with Faith, but would she want to drive a sedan either?
She smiled. “What’d you think?”
“Nice guy. I like him.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, silly. I mean about his suggestion to wait on having babies. I know Auntie wants us to get busy; maybe Daddy could hang on long enough to see his first grandson.”
“What about you, Faith, what do you want?”
“Oh, I’m getting exactly what I want. You, I want you, Asa, and at some point, a houseful of little yous. But bless God, raising children costs money a plenty. Where’s it going to come from if I’m big and pregnant and can’t train or see to the stock?”
Silence filled the car’s interior like syrup-covered pancakes. Some soaked in, but most ran off. By the time he maneuvered though town then got his Corolla headed north on Highway 82, he could speak again.
“I love your practical side, but the Word says to multiply. It says that children are blessings from the Lord. I say, let’s play it by ear. If He gives us babies, He’ll give us the money to take care of them. I’ve found Him to be totally trustworthy. Just look at what He’s done for me.” He glanced over and touched her beautiful face.
She pressed his hand into her cheek. “You are so wonderful, and I love you so much.”
While his heart did somersaults, and the band played John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, he basked in her confession. “I so love you, too.”
She turned in her seat and faced him. “Okay, it’s just us now. What did you tell DeWayne?”
The peace…Faith saying she loved Asa…right out loud, telling Tracy just like that, chased away every doubt, and a joy filled her that she’d never experienced before. Everything in the songs and the movies was true. The sky was bluer, the air sweeter. And if she didn’t know better, she might swear the birds were singing, but how could she hear them in the car?
“We are about to be one, and you’re going to be my ministry partner. I don’t want to have any secrets between us, but...”
“What? You think I don’t know how to keep my mouth shut?”
“Well, I just wanted… Anyway, good. I bound Satan off him and asked the Lord to give him a season of free will.”
Uh oh, the Baptist was a closet holy roller. Faith pressed into the car’s door and studied him a moment. “Oh wow, I thought maybe you threatened him or something like that. You are a Baptist, aren’t you?”
“That’s who ordained me.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
He gave her a quick look and smiled. “The Bible says for each of us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The Baptists do have it going on, getting folks saved and baptized, but I think their dogma falls short in places.”
“Like where?”
“Dancing for instance. You think we were sinning when we went dancing?”
“Heavens, no. Do you?”
“Of course not. What if we’d had a glass of wine—or even, heaven forbid, a mixed drink—with our supper?”
“No, Jesus turned the water into wine. I mean, I know some people take alcohol to the extreme, but all things in moderation is what Mama always said. Of course, she evidently wasn’t moderate enough.”
“I agree, but there are a lot of folks who consider even a sip of wine a sin.”
“So what do you believe?”
“The Bible, as it’s written. I don’t try to explain anything away. I’m not saying that I fully understand it all, but I’m working on it. I believe God’s Word is divinely inspired just like it says it is and that God is able to watch over it.”
How many times had her mother said almost the same words? She would’ve loved Asa. Faith smiled, scooted around, and leaned back. She believed the Bible, she did, but there were parts she just couldn’t make sense of. “What about miracles?”
“I believe God can do anything.”
Yes, He could, but how many times had she asked the Lord to heal her daddy? Or for that matter, her mother. Seemed to her, healings had stopped with the apostles, just like so many believed, that miracles were for then not now. God had given them modern medicine—vaccinations and psychiatrists.
The car’s wheels turned as did the ones in her head. She was a simple country girl who knew horses and hard work. She didn’t claim to know a lot about religious stuff past that she loved God. Since the age of ten when she got baptized, she’d loved Him and prayed to Him every night. She never got angry with Him even when her mother passed, and Daddy’s terminal diagnosis was hard, but she still didn’t blame God.
Asa believing the whole Bible didn’t bother her either, not that much. Just as long as he didn’t do something stupid.
He turned into her gate and rolled over the cattle guard. Her daddy and his little sister sat on the front porch. The sight warmed her heart, but the prospect of losing him chilled her to the bone. If only it could be true that miracles still existed today. If only he could… A tsunami’s flood choked her instantly and spilled out her eyes.
Oh Lord, is that why You sent Asa? To take away the sting of Daddy’s passing?
Even before he parked, Aunt Iris was on her feet, grinning like she’d just won the lottery. What about gambling? What did he think about playing the numbers?
Like always, Asa jumped out, ran around, and opened her door. Faith sure liked bei
ng treated like a lady. He made her feel such a princess—or the queen. She smiled at the thought. Her mother used to call her Queenie sometimes when she was a little girl. She stepped out wiping her bottom lashes.
Would the royal treatment stop once she said ‘I do’? “Hey Auntie, what are you grinning about?”
She looked right at Asa. “Is it true? Tell me you really didn’t hit that horrid Carter boy back? Even after he punched you twice?”
“Oh Auntie, you should have seen it. Totally awesome.” Faith launched into the story, but of course left out the part about her fiancé talking to the devil.
Auntie touched Asa’s cheek. “Already swelling some, got any ice on it yet? Come inside here and let me tend to you proper. So you turned the other cheek, huh?”
“Don’t make a fuss, I’m fine.”
“No, come on now. Won’t do for your chin to be all swollen up in your wedding pictures.”
“So you have thought of a photographer then? I had forgotten them.”
“I have, sweetie. Lisa’s coming.” She gently turned his face and studied it. “Looks like a shiner’s coming, too. You got any red beef in the freezer, Carl?”
“Does a wild hog root in the pasture, Iris Joy Johnson?”
“Don’t you get snarly with me, brother.”
“Hey, who told you anyway?” Faith bent over and kissed her daddy’s cheek. “It only happened a little over an hour ago.”
The old lady laughed. “The easier question with the shorter answer would be who hasn’t called to tell me all about it.”
Her daddy stood. “News spreads faster than a prairie fire on the Red River gossip line, didn’t you know that?”
“Carl Calvin Johnson, you take that back right now. I am not a gossip, and I resent you implying that I am. Spreading facts is just getting the news out. Do you think watching the six o’clock news on the TV makes you a gossip? Of course not!”