Tomorrow would be a much-needed day of church and rest, and then Monday would begin a new era for her, new opportunities with her career, new household tips to explore.
Feeling better, Jo sailed along in the morning breeze. It was a sunny fall day, the autumn leaves a rich array of deep oranges and yellows and reds. Jo skated down the path through the park, taking the detour to the cemetery. When she reached her grandmother’s grave, she pulled from her backpack a bottle of hydrated lime. On her hands and knees, she sprinkled it around the headstone. Hydrated lime was nontoxic to humans but deadly to weeds.
As she worked, Jo talked to her grandmother. She knew her grandmother couldn’t really hear her, but there was still something comforting about the one-way conversation.
Today Jo felt as though she was on the verge of understanding something important. She hadn’t slept well all night, and now an odd sort of undefined emotion hung over her. This morning Bradford had called, and their conversation had been short and strained. He said he needed to talk to her, in person, after all.
“Why, Bradford?” Jo had asked tiredly. “So you can explain why you ran out of our wedding?”
“No,” he replied. “So I can explain why we were getting married in the first place. There was…more to it…than you realize.”
That wasn’t what she was expecting to hear, and though she tried to press him for more details, he said that was something he could only discuss in person. Against her better judgment, she agreed to meet with him next week. She had a feeling he was only acting to soothe his own aching conscience, but she would let him have his say if it made him feel better.
Now, something hurt, deep inside, and she wondered if it was the pain of pure loneliness.
“Why do I make such dumb choices when it comes to men?” she asked her grandmother. “As if Bradford wasn’t bad enough, for a while there I was considering going out with Keith. A murderer, and a nut to boot. What’s wrong with me, Nana? Am I blind or just stupid?”
The air was still. Jo finished sprinkling the lime and put the container away. She sat there on the grass, wishing her grandmother were here to talk to. Jo tried to think back, tried to remember the conversations they had had about love when she was a teen.
You’re going to have a hard time in life, Jo Jo, if you don’t stop keeping people so far away, outside of your heart.
Jo hadn’t understood what her grandmother meant at the time. Jo had friends. She let people into her heart all the time.
She closed her eyes, thinking of her parents and the cruel way they would uproot her life without a moment’s notice. Maybe over the years, Jo had learned to “connect” with people without really connecting at all. Maybe over the years, Jo had guarded her heart so carefully that these days almost no one got in.
Especially not God, she could almost hear her grandmother say.
“Not God?” Jo asked out loud. “I worship. I pray.”
Let Him in.
Jo was so confused. For the first time in her life, she realized that maybe this was a struggle she couldn’t handle alone. She closed her eyes and prayed, asking God to show her what she should do.
Simon awoke with a start, a steady beeping sound coming from somewhere near his head. He was hurting, deep in his chest, but it was different than before.
He felt coherent now.
He tried to make a sound but nothing came out. That’s when he realized that there was a tube down his throat. There were tubes everywhere. Tubes and wires and beeps.
A man stepped over to the bed, gray hair, black shirt. Collar. A priest. The man wore the collar of a priest.
“My son,” he whispered. “Do you know the story of the thief who hung on the cross beside Jesus?”
Simon couldn’t answer. He only blinked, feeling a terror gripping deep inside his soul. Glancing frantically around, he saw a uniformed policeman standing guard nearby.
“There were two thieves crucified with Him that day,” the priest continued, “and one of them mocked Jesus. But the other defended Him, saying ‘This man has done nothing wrong!’ ”
Beep, beep, beep…beep.
The hesitation in the beeps terrified Simon. He looked up at the priest, eyes wide.
“He asked Jesus to remember him once he got to heaven. And you know what Jesus said? He said, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.’ Do you understand what that means, my son? It means you must ask Jesus to remember you. It means it’s not too late to commit your soul to heaven.”
Ask Jesus to remember him? But how? Simon couldn’t talk. He couldn’t move.
Simon closed his eyes, picturing Edna last Friday evening as she told him about her own miraculous transformation.
“You can’t really understand unless it’s happened to you,” she had said. “But faith is such an amazing thing, if you’ll just take that step.”
A voice was chanting now and Simon opened his eyes, realizing that the priest was giving him the last rites. Simon wasn’t Catholic, but he thought it couldn’t hurt. Most assuredly, he was about to die. One thought pierced him through the fog: What if the ultimate con—God’s con—hadn’t been a con at all, but the truth?
What if Edna had been right?
Simon closed his eyes again, knowing that whether this heart attack killed him or not, he wanted to believe. What had the thief said to Jesus?
Remember me, Simon prayed suddenly. Then again, praying even more firmly, as if his brain were shouting: Remember me, Jesus! Please!
After he prayed, hot, sudden tears rolled from Simon’s eyes. Tears of shame, of forgiveness, of joy. As he slid slowly toward unconsciousness, he had one final thought:
This thing that seemed impossible was actually so simple.
Danny didn’t see Jo at the park, so he kept going down the path, hoping to catch her at the cemetery. He knew her routines so well that he could almost set a clock by her.
He was feeling anxious about this encounter, but when they finally spotted each other, the smile she gave him reached into every single chamber of his heart. He loved her. It was time to tell her so.
“Jo,” he said, gesturing toward a nearby bench. “Let’s sit down. I have to tell you something.”
“Before you do,” she said, “I have something to tell you too. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, a lot of praying, and I just realized something.”
Danny’s pulse surged as they sat. She took his hands in hers, and on her face was an expression he’d never seen before. Could it be, was it possible, that Jo had realized she loved him too?
“Yes?”
“Danny, I’ve decided that I’m going to give up men for a while.”
He swallowed hard, blinking.
“You’re what?”
“I’m going to give up men, give up dating. I’m making bad decisions, doing something wrong, and it wasn’t until today that I realized that this isn’t just about boy-girl stuff. It’s about me. It’s about my own fears of intimacy.”
Quickly, Danny could feel his hopes tumbling to the ground. Yet, deep inside, he had to tell himself that this wasn’t a bad thing. It was time for Jo to tear down those walls inside.
He would just have to be patient.
“For how long?” he asked, hoping his voice didn’t betray more than it should.
“Until I figure stuff out,” she replied. “All I know is that I don’t want to live the rest of my life like this. I need to find out why I keep making such poor decisions.”
“Jo—”
“Danny, I want love in my life, I really do. But I’ve got some things to figure out first. Big things.”
Danny studied her green eyes, wishing more than anything in the world that he could take her face in his hands and kiss her and tell her that he loved her, that he was the guy she’d been waiting for all along.
But it wasn’t the time for that now. Despite this astounding turn of events, Danny realized that God knew exactly what He was doing—and that what he needed mo
st now was patience. In his heart, through silent prayer, Danny surrendered.
“So what’s the news you had to tell me?” she asked. “Go ahead. It’s your turn.”
Danny held on tightly to the hands holding his own. Friendship. For now, all he could have was her friendship. He looked longingly at her lips, and then back at her eyes. Her beautiful eyes.
The eyes of his love, his friend.
“I was just thinking,” he said, inhaling deeply and then letting it back out, “that you and I make a good team. That’s all.”
She smiled, reaching up to tenderly touch his face. Then she sat there close beside him and rested her head on his shoulder.
“We do make a good team, Danny,” she repeated, patting his arm. “Truly, I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.”
They sat there for a long time in a comfortable silence, Danny’s heart soaring with love for this woman. He thought of the argument they had had last week, when he was trying to talk her out of getting married. When he had described what a marriage should be, Danny realized, he’d been talking about them and what they could be to each other.
“Hey, Jo?” he said now. “How about we meet back up this afternoon, go down to the hardware store and stroll around, and then maybe pick up some rocky road and an old Doris Day-Rock Hudson movie?”
It took her a minute, but then she sat up straight and laughed out loud.
“You’re too much, Danny,” she said. “How I like to spend my free time, my favorite ice cream, and my favorite movies. I get your point.”
They shared a smile.
No, I don’t think you do, Danny thought.
But you will, Jo.
In time, you will.
About the Author
Mindy Starns Clark’s plays and musicals have been featured in schools and churches across the United States. Originally from Hammond, Louisiana, Mindy now lives with her husband and two daughters near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Mindy’s fast-paced and suspenseful inspirational writing—with a hint of romance and a strong heroine—are sure to delight readers everywhere.
Visit Mindy’s website at www.mindystarnsclark.com to see a photo of the real Chewie and learn how he made his way into the pages of a novel.
And don’t miss Jo and Danny’s adventures in the next exciting Smart Chick Mystery, coming soon.
Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
THE MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERIES
A Penny for Your Thoughts
Philanthropy investigator Callie Webber has a new work assignment: Go to Philadelphia and present an old family friend of Tom’s (her employer) with a check for $250,000. When Callie goes to his office, check in hand, she discovers him dead on the floor. At Tom’s request, Callie moves into the family’s home and begins a murder investigation. But it’s a dangerous place to be, for the family has secrets they would rather not have uncovered.
Callie’s only hope is that God will help her use her investigative skills to discover the murderer and escape the web of deceit that surrounds her.
Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
Working to provide quality work clothes to women who can’t afford to buy their own, Callie becomes involved with one young woman trying to come out of drug rehabilitation—just as she’s charged with murder.
What appears to be a routine investigation in her sleepy waterside village suddenly becomes complicated amid international intrigue, cutting-edge technology, and deadly deception. In a desperate moment at what could be the end of her life, Callie cries out to the God who is as close as a whispered prayer.
A Dime a Dozen
In Book 3 of this exciting inspirational suspense series, Callie investigates a charity in North Carolina’s beautiful Smoky Mountains. While there, a migrant worker mysteriously disappears. Now Callie must find out why someone wanted him out of the way. But will the villain strike again?
Callie puts her new romance with Tom in peril as she pursues leads that will either bring to light a heart of darkness or end her hope of happiness. Trusting in God, she forges steadily ahead through a mire of clues, believing His hand will hold hers along the way.
A Quarter for a Kiss
It’s April, spring is in the air, and Callie and Tom have just spent a wonderful few weeks getting to know each other after years of a telephone-only relationship. But as their time together draws to a close, they are called to the hospital bed of mutual friend Eli Gold, who has just been shot.
Eli asks Callie to find out who is responsible for the shooting and begs Tom to help her. The search leads Tom and Callie to the beautiful island of St. John in the Virgin Islands. There they face a sinister enemy who’s willing to do anything to keep his identity secret and the past deeply buried.
The Buck Stops Here
When Callie learns that the man she loves is somehow connected to the man who killed her late husband, she confronts Tom. But he informs her that his hands are tied by the National Security Agency and he can tell her nothing.
Despite the secrecy surrounding Tom and the NSA, Callie decides to find out for herself exactly what is going on and how Tom may have been involved in her husband’s death. Using her investigative skills, Callie throws herself into the most important mystery she has ever attempted to solve.
Will their affection be able to stand the strain? And what was God’s plan in bringing Tom and Callie together—marriage or merely answers for her questions about Bryan’s death?
The Trouble With Tulip Page 30