Redemption 03 - Return

by Smalley, Gary; Kingsbury, Karen

  Kari and Ryan were about to be announced as husband and wife when something near the back of the tent caught Ashley’s attention.

  By then, the flaps had been pinned open so the Baxters’ yard was clearly visible through the entryway. Ashley studied the spot, and something shadowy seemed to hover near the right side. But the longer she looked at it, the more it seemed to be her imagination.

  The wind, probably. She shifted her attention back to Kari and Ryan. The wedding was beautiful so far, the ceremony like something from a storybook. How fitting, after the love the two of them had shared and the rocky journey that had led them from that first backyard barbecue to this moment.

  One of Kari’s friends came up from the side of the tented area and sang a Steven Curtis Chapman song, while Kari and Ryan lit a unity candle. The words fit Kari and Ryan perfectly, declaring a type of love that would be there for the other person, no matter what.

  Ashley’s throat tightened. That was the type of love she would have had with Landon had things worked out differently.

  She shrugged off the thought. She couldn’t give in to her sorrow. Not here, not at Kari’s wedding. Next week she had an appointment to meet with her doctor. Her father had done extensive research and learned that because of the university, Bloomington was as good a place as any to receive treatment for HIV. She’d scheduled a blood test for Cole also. Just in case.

  Everything weighed like a steamroller on her shoulders, but there was no point thinking about it now. Other than Luke, her siblings still didn’t know, and neither did her mother. Ashley had begged her dad to keep quiet about her situation, at least until she could figure out a plan.

  Tonight, one last time, she wanted to be only Ashley. Not Ashley with HIV. She would laugh at the wedding toast, and dance with Cole, and marvel in the love that surrounded her. Because time was a thief, and after next week there was no telling when she might have a night like this again.

  Ashley cleared her mind. The song was over, and Kari and Ryan were beaming at each other.

  “And so—” Pastor Mark took a few steps back and directed his attention toward the guests—“by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” He paused and smiled at Ryan. “You may kiss the bride.”

  Like a scene from a movie, Ryan moved a step closer to Kari and lifted her veil. For a moment, time seemed to stand still as the two of them looked at each other. Ashley smiled right along with them as Ryan leaned closer and gave Kari a gentle, tender kiss, a kiss beyond passionate.

  The guests broke into applause, and Pastor Mark waited until quiet fell over the group once more. “It is my great privilege to introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Taylor.”

  The crowd was on its feet, and Ashley glanced at her parents. Their eyes shone with unshed tears, and Ashley did a quick scan of the rest of the guests. It was obvious everyone felt the same way about Kari and Ryan—that they simply belonged together.

  Every single person was smiling.

  Kari and Ryan led the way down the aisle toward the tent exit. Ashley and Luke were next. She looked at her brother and they both grinned.

  “You’re gorgeous, big sister.” Luke linked his arm through hers.

  “Thanks.” Her voice was soft, meant for his ears alone. He complimented her often lately, as though he sensed the heaviness in her heart and wanted to do whatever he could to help relieve it. Especially since he was moving to New York City in a week to be with Reagan and the baby.

  They walked arm in arm down the aisle, out the exit, and into the next tent, where they set up a receiving line along one side of the reception area.

  One at a time the guests filed past first Erin and Sam, then Peter and Brooke, Ashley and Luke, and lastly, Kari and Ryan. Their parents were seated at one of the round tables near the front of the tent, next to Ryan’s mother, and a few other close friends.

  Ashley had thought she would find this part of the wedding annoying, telling a stream of people hello again and again. But now that the moment had come, she was enjoying herself. The line was filled with cousins she hadn’t seen in years, former teachers and school friends, neighbors from the old house, the one that had been down the street from the Taylor family, and several of her father’s colleagues.

  Each person’s face carried with it a memory, the ways they’d shared in the Baxters’ lives. And as such, the receiving line was almost like a living scrapbook of happy moments. Moments Ashley would need to hang on to in days to come.

  The last of the guests were making their way past the wedding party when Ashley realized a hush had fallen over her siblings. She felt Luke stiffen beside her. At that same instant she glanced down the line and saw her.

  Reagan Decker.

  She was dressed in a tan-colored long skirt and a white blouse, her hair in a loose ponytail. And in her arms was Luke’s son, Tommy.

  “Reagan…” Luke’s eyes grew wide as he went to her. With gentle fingers he took hold of her elbow and leaned close enough to brush his lips against her cheek. When he pulled back he nuzzled his face against Tommy’s and kissed his forehead. He searched her eyes. “What…how did you…?”

  Her cheeks looked flushed, and Ashley noticed something else. Reagan’s hands were trembling.

  Ashley remembered the isolation and fear of her first hours home from Paris. God, let her feel loved. Please. She stepped forward and put her arms around Reagan and Luke and the baby. “Welcome, Reagan. I’m glad you came.”

  “Thanks.” Reagan’s face filled with gratitude, and her voice fell a notch. “And thanks for telling him, Ashley.”

  “I thought you might be mad.” Ashley hadn’t spoken to Reagan since, but things seemed fine between them, and she was glad.

  Sam and Erin drew closer, as did Brooke and Peter, and at that moment, Kari and Ryan saw what was happening. In a rush they followed Ashley’s lead and took part in the group hug. When they each pulled back a bit, the love that was directed at Reagan and Luke and Tommy was enough to move Reagan to tears.

  “He’s beautiful, Reagan.”

  “It means so much that you came.”

  “Can I hold him…please?”

  Everyone was talking at once. Ashley took a step back so her siblings could see Luke’s son. She’d already had a chance to hold him. The commotion they were making alerted her parents, and Ashley watched as first her mother, then her father stood from the table and headed toward the wedding party, which was now fully surrounding Reagan and Luke and Tommy.

  Her mother took hold of her father’s hand and the two of them stopped, frozen in place. Ashley could see by their expressions that only now did they fully realize what had happened. That Reagan had brought Luke’s son to the wedding so they could be with the rest of his family.

  Where they belonged.

  Slowly, her parents made their way into the circle, and her mother drew Reagan close in what was a long, rocking embrace. They were both crying when they separated, and her mother reached out her hands toward little Tommy. “May I?”

  “Yes.” Reagan sniffed and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “That’s why I came.”

  Their mother took the baby and cradled him close for a long while, then passed him to their father.

  Ashley felt tears in her eyes again and wished for the tenth time that day that she had an easel or a sketchpad. Anything that would help her capture the moments playing out before her. She could read her mother’s face as easily as ever. Enamored of this little miniature Luke and yet desperately sad that in a week, Luke and his son and fiancée would be gone—maybe forever.

  Other than visits, her parents would not get to watch Tommy grow up the way they’d watched Cole. But then, at least Tommy would have Luke.

  Fatigue swept Ashley, and she pulled away from the group. She scanned the crowd and saw Cole with Maddie and Hayley at the table where her parents had been sitting. Ashley made her way across the tented area to the beverage cart and took a glass of water. Then she found a quiet plac
e near the back of the tent, at a table no one had yet claimed.

  The day had been so wonderful, and now this. Reagan…here with Tommy. It was more than Ashley could’ve imagined. Telling Luke had been the right thing to do. And what better time than now for Reagan to bring the baby to Bloomington, with everyone gathered for such a happy occasion.

  Ashley lifted her glass and took a sip of water when she sensed something move at her side. Before she had time to look up she heard his voice.

  “You have the most beautiful hair.”

  Slowly, as though in a trance, she set the glass back on the table and turned toward the sound. As she did, her heart stopped. “Landon…”

  “Really—” he locked eyes with her and touched his fingers to one of her curls—“has anyone ever told you that? You just have the most beautiful hair.”

  Her heart melted, and she was in his arms before common sense could stop her. With the rest of her family and the wedding guests distracted at the other end of the tent, she and Landon held on to each other until Ashley caught her breath.

  “You’re here.” She leaned back and studied him, taking in the black slacks and white button-down shirt, the tie that held a hundred shades of blue. The sight of him made her heart do a double beat, the way it had in dozens of dreams since she’d left New York City. But this wasn’t a dream, because she could feel him in her arms, smell his cologne and the familiar scent of his shampoo.

  He held her eyes and gave her a weary smile. “I told you I would.”

  “Landon…why? I thought we decided—”

  “You decided. I told you I’d be back.”

  As wonderful as he felt close to her, as much as she wanted nothing more than to never let him go, she knew better. The test results were still the same. “I can’t offer you anything; don’t you see that? You deserve someone different. Someone healthy…with a future.”

  “Oh, but Ashley—” he wove his fingers through her hair and seemed to search the deepest parts of her soul—“you’re forgetting something.”

  “What?” She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, mesmerized by his presence, the nearness of him. “What am I forgetting?”

  “You’re forgetting how unfair that would be.”

  She opened her eyes. What was he saying? And why had he come, when this next good-bye would only be more painful than the last? The lump in her throat made talking all but impossible, but somehow she found her voice. “Unfair?”

  “Yes.” He was still looking at her, still searching her eyes with that focused, captivating intensity. “Unfair for me to find someone else…when for the rest of time I will never love anyone the way I love you.”

  There.

  He’d said the thing she’d wondered about since the moment she’d watched him step onto the hotel elevator that awful night. No matter that she might get sick, no matter that marriage and forever might not be in their future, he loved her. It was as simple as that. He loved her, and nothing was ever going to change his mind.

  “Really?” She searched his face. “Really, Landon?”

  He brushed his knuckles against her cheekbone, along the line of her jaw. “Yes.”

  She looked for some sort of crack, a fear or a doubt that might be lodged somewhere in his heart.

  There was none.

  The truth sent wildly varying emotions racing through her. She was terrified at what his determination could cost him, what he could be missing by choosing her over someone healthy. But at the same time she was desperately relieved, as though a dying part of her had suddenly and swiftly come back to life.

  A dozen questions demanded her attention, but one was louder than the rest. “How, Landon? How do we do this?”

  He took her hands in his. “We start by holding on. To each other. To this moment. To every day God gives us.” His eyes grew damp, but a smile played on the corners of his lips.

  “Then what?” Her words were a choked whisper, tainted with all the joy and torment welling within her.

  In the distance, Cole’s voice rose loud above the mingling guests. “Landon!” They watched as he jumped up from the table and headed toward them at a full run. “You came back!”

  Ashley glanced at her family and saw that they had turned her way now, smiling and nodding to each other, surprised and clearly happy to see them together. Sam and Erin waved, and Kari and Ryan began moving closer, probably intent on welcoming Landon to the party.

  She looked at Landon, desperate for him to finish what he’d been trying to tell her. Even if they found a way to hold on, how could they move ahead from here? “What, Landon…what then?”

  He brought his face close to hers so she could hear him even above the nearing shouts of joy from Cole.

  His clear, calm words told Ashley he’d thought them out long before coming here. “We never let go, Ash. No matter where tomorrow takes us, we just never let go.”

  As long as she lived, Ashley was certain those words would continue to play in her head: “We never let go, Ash. We just never let go.”

  It was true, wasn’t it? No one knew the future. And wherever the next day or even the next hour took them, if they never let go of each other, of God, they might never have to. They could face her future together, taking every step with God, begging him for a miracle.

  If they kept holding on, it could happen.

  “Landon!” Cole reached them and jumped into Landon’s arms. “I’m so glad you’re here.” His little-boy vest rode up and gathered near his chest as he wrapped his arms around Landon’s neck.

  Ashley watched them, memorizing the picture they made, these two she loved more than any others in the world. And in that instant Ashley knew Landon had to be right. Because after being with him now, after knowing that he had returned to her and loved her despite her frightening future, one thing was certain.

  She could never again let him go.

  MORE ABOUT THE BAXTER FAMILY!

  Please turn this page for a bonus excerpt from

  R E J O I C E

  the fourth book in the

  R E D E M P T I O N S E R I E S

  by Karen Kingsbury with Gary Smalley

  From

  R E J O I C E

  by Karen Kingsbury with Gary Smalley

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE SWIM PARTY seemed like a great idea, the perfect ending to a perfect summer.

  Brooke Baxter West’s partner at the pediatric office had a daughter Maddie’s age, and to celebrate her birthday, the family had decided to invite ten kids and their parents over for an afternoon in their backyard pool.

  For two weeks Maddie and Hayley had been looking forward to it, seeking out Brooke every day and tugging on her arm. “Mommy, when’s the swimming party again?”

  But two days before the big event, one of the other doctors in the office received word from the West Coast that his aging grandmother had only days to live. Before he caught an emergency flight to California, he asked Brooke if she’d take his on-call duty for the weekend.

  “You’re my last hope,” he’d told her. “My family needs me.”

  Brooke hated being on-call when she was spending an afternoon with her girls. But other than the swim party, the weekend was open, and she could take the pager with her. The chances of getting a call on a Saturday afternoon were fairly slim.

  Now the big day was here, and Brooke was having doubts. She should’ve called around, found someone else to take the on-call duty. Her kids needed her at the party, and if she was called away, she’d miss out on the last hurrah of the summer.

  Brooke slipped on a pair of shorts over her swimsuit. She was raising the zipper when she heard Peter’s voice ring through the house from downstairs.

  “Let’s go, girls.” Frustration rang in his voice. “The party starts in ten minutes.”

  Brooke grabbed her bag—the one with the life jackets and sunscreen—and rolled her eyes. What was wrong with him, anyway? He was constantly grouchy; the two of them hadn’t had a normal co
nversation in weeks. Their home was so tense that even little Hayley had noticed it.

  “Is Daddy mad at you, Mommy?” she’d asked earlier that week.

  Brooke had mumbled something about Daddy being tired, and that yes, they should pray for him. But in all truth, she was sick of Peter’s attitude. He treated her like she was incompetent and irritating. The same way he’d treated her ever since Maddie’s diagnosis.

  Didn’t he get it? Maddie was better now; no fevers for more than two months.

  Brooke ran into Hayley and Maddie in the hallway and grinned at them. “I’m wearing my swimsuit!”

  “Goodie, Mommy.” Maddie jumped up and down and reached for Hayley’s hand. “We can play tea party on the steps.”

  They joined Peter downstairs and rode in relative silence to the house across town where Brooke’s partner, Aletha, and her husband, DeWayne, lived. On the way up the steps, Hayley took hold of her hand and squeezed it three times. The sign Brooke used with the girls to say, “I love you.”

  At three years old, Hayley was still small enough to carry, so Brooke swept her into her arms as they headed down the walk toward the front door. The love from her youngest daughter was the perfect remedy for Peter’s coolness.

  “You’re a sweet girl, Hayley; do you know that?” Brooke shifted her pool bag to her shoulder.

  “You, too, Mommy.” Hayley rubbed her tiny nose against Brooke’s. “You’re a sweet girl, too. Know why?”

  “Why?” Brooke and Hayley trailed behind Peter and Maddie, but Brooke didn’t mind. She loved moments like this with her girls.

  “Because—” Hayley tilted her head, her pale blonde hair falling like silk around her little face—“I love you, that’s why.”

  The door opened and Aletha smiled at them from the front step. “Hi. The party’s out back.”

  Peter pulled out a smile, the one he wielded whenever they were in public. Brooke wanted to take him aside and ask him why he couldn’t smile that way at her, but she never had the chance.