At that moment her pager went off.
She unclipped it from her waistband and stared at the small message window. Urgent, it read. The hospital’s main number followed the word.
Peter looked over her shoulder. “What is it?”
“A hospital call.” She couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice. “Maybe it’s nothing.”
A group of children ran into the foyer and surrounded Hayley and Maddie. Brooke ducked into the nearest bedroom and pulled her cell phone from her purse. “Dr. Brooke West here. Someone paged me.”
The nurse on the other end rattled off the information. One of the patients from their office had been admitted with a staph infection. It looked serious. They wanted a pediatrician from the office in to consult. Immediately.
“I’m on my way.” Brooke hung up the phone and returned to the foyer.
Peter caught her look and raised his eyebrows. “Well?”
“I have to go.” She did a quiet huff. This was the part of doctoring that she hated. The part that interfered with family life. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
Maddie ran up to her. “Natasha wants us to swim, Mommy. Can we, please? Can we right now?”
“Well, baby—” she looked up and saw Hayley standing a foot away, waiting for her answer—“don’t you want to wait till Mommy comes back?”
“We can swim later, too. Please, Mommy? Can we?”
Natasha ran up then and hugged Maddie. Their families had been friends for years, and Maddie and Natasha were best buddies. “Please, can we swim?” Natasha linked arms with Maddie, and they smiled their best smiles.
Brooke could feel the fight leaving her. So she’d miss out on some of the fun. She’d be back in time to swim with them, wouldn’t she? “Okay, but let me talk to Daddy first.”
Peter had moved into the living room, where he and DeWayne were seated side by side, their eyes glued to the television. The play-offs were on, and Aletha had warned that having the party during a game could mean the loss of one or more of the men.
Brooke crossed the room and positioned herself in front of her husband. “I have to go, but the girls want to swim.” The bag in her hands was bulky, and she set it on the floor between them. “Here’re the sunscreen and life jackets. The girls need both before they can go out back.”
“Right.” Peter leaned sideways so he could see the TV. “I got it, honey.”
The term of endearment was for DeWayne’s benefit, Brooke was sure, and she didn’t appreciate the way he looked past her to the game. “Peter, I’m serious. Don’t let them outside without wearing sunscreen and a life jacket. Neither of them is pool safe.”
He shot her a look, one that said she was embarrassing him. Then he yelled out, “Hayley…Maddie, come here.”
The girls scampered into the room and came up close to Peter. “Yes, Daddy.” Hayley spoke first. “Can we swim?”
“Not yet.” Peter looked once more at Brooke and then unzipped the bag. Quickly and with little finesse, he lathered sunscreen into his hand and then tossed the bottle to Brooke. “Do Hayley.”
She needed to leave, but this was more important. Moving as fast as she could, she squeezed the lotion into her hand and positioned herself in front of their youngest daughter. “Here, sweetie. We don’t want a sunburn, right?”
“Right, Mommy.”
Brooke rubbed the sunscreen over Hayley’s arms and legs, her back and neck area, and finally her face. She finished the job just as Peter finished with Maddie. Then Peter tossed her the smaller life jacket. This time he said nothing, and that was fine with Brooke.
These days, the less he said the better.
She took the blue-and-aqua life jacket and carefully slipped first one of Hayley’s arms, then the other, through the holes. Next she latched the buckles down the front and attached a strap that ran from the back of the vest, between her legs, to the front.
Brooke had researched life jackets, and this style was the safest.
When Maddie’s vest was on, Peter gave Brooke one last glare. Again because of DeWayne seated beside him, he kept his tone light, almost friendly. “There you go. See you later.”
Brooke said nothing. Instead she turned and bid the girls a quick good-bye. She found Aletha and promised to be back as soon as possible. A minute later she was in the car, doing a U-turn toward the hospital. With every mile she felt the distance between herself and her daughters, certain that they were playing in the pool by now, and knowing she was missing out.
It took all her effort to convince herself that the party would still be in full swing when she returned, and that she and Maddie and Hayley would have their tea party on the steps of the pool.
Then—other than her relationship with Peter—everything about the day would work out just like it was supposed to.
Peter was grateful the play-offs were on.
Because as much as he liked DeWayne and Aletha, the last thing he wanted to do was spend Saturday with a bunch of doctors. Swimming wasn’t his thing, and this game would be easily one of the most exciting ever. Besides, most of the guests were bound to be Brooke’s friends, people he barely knew. The prospect of catching a game with DeWayne was what swayed him to come.
Especially after Brooke took the on-call assignment.
What had she been thinking? Of course she’d get called on a Saturday afternoon. That was when kids needed doctors most of all. Soccer injuries, illnesses that had brewed all week at school. Insect bites. Weekends were notoriously busy for pediatricians.
The fact that she’d let the other doctor talk her into taking his on-call was further proof that she wasn’t capable. Not nearly as capable as he’d originally thought her to be. Back when they’d met in med school, her confidence and competence had been part of what attracted him to her. But after the situation with Maddie—when she’d insisted that their daughter didn’t need a specialist—Peter had seen his wife in a new light.
One that was far from flattering.
An hour passed, and the sound of children came from the other room.
“Okay,” he heard Aletha tell them. “Dry off, and we’ll have cake.”
It was the seventh inning, and his team was down by one. Peter hoped they could keep the cake thing quiet—at least until the commercial. Not that he didn’t like birthdays, but he’d had one of the longest weeks in his life. He’d gone without sleep for two days, and now he was spending his Saturday at a five-year-old’s birthday party.
At that instant—with the tying run on third and a home-run hitter at the plate—Maddie and Hayley skipped up to him. Their life jackets made a trail of dripping water, and they were shivering cold. “Daddy, can you take off our jackets?”
He glanced at them and then back at the TV. “Just a minute, girls. Daddy wants to see this.”
The pitch was good. The batter cut and connected, but the ball flew over the catcher and into the stands. Another foul tip.
Peter looked at his daughters again. “Okay, now what?”
“We’re dripping, Daddy.” Maddie took a step forward. “Can you take off our jackets, please?”
“Sure, pumpkin.” He unsnapped the buckles on both vests and helped the girls remove them. “Take them to Natasha’s mommy and ask her to hang them near the bathtub.”
The next pitch was a perfect strike, making the count full.
Hayley stepped up. “Daddy, when’s Mommy coming back?”
“Soon, baby.” He leaned around her and watched the man at bat belt one out of the park. The moment it was gone, he and DeWayne stood up and slapped their hands in a high five. “That’s my boys.”
“Bigger than life.” DeWayne gave a few nods and sat back down. “On their way, baby. On their way.”
“Daddy—” Hayley tilted her head—“I love you.”
Peter eased himself back to his seat. He didn’t take his eyes from the game. “Love you, too.”
She was already out of the room when he yelled back over his shoulder. “Don
’t go outside again without those life jackets.”
He focused on the screen. The go-ahead run was on third with just one out. If they won this game they’d take a three-two lead in this series of games.
The game was over, the win in the books, and Peter was thirty minutes into a discussion on the merits of switch-hitting and relief pitching when he heard Maddie calling him from the other room.
“Daddy! Daddy, quick! Help!”
Peter held up his hand to DeWayne and raised his voice. “In here, baby.”
Maddie tore around the corner. Her hair was dry and her eyes round. “Daddy, I can’t find Hayley.”
He was on his feet, his heart suddenly in his throat. “What do you mean, honey?” Fear dug its talons into his back, his neck. It was all he could do to keep from sprinting toward the backyard. “You were supposed to be having cake.”
“We did. Then we ’cided to go swimming, Daddy.” Maddie’s mouth hung open. “But Hayley said she wanted to be first. Now I can’t find—”
Peter didn’t wait for Maddie to finish. He took off for the patio door, not so much because of what Maddie had said, but because of the thing she was holding in her hands. The thing Peter had only that instant recognized.
Hayley’s life jacket.
A WORD FROM KAREN KINGSBURY
MOST OF YOU have read Redemption and Remember, the first two books in the Redemption Series, so you know how the series got its start. But in case you’re new with us, here’s how it happened. When Gary Smalley contacted me about writing fiction based on his relational teachings, I was thrilled. When he said, “Think series,” I went blank.
For weeks I prayed about the series, asking God to show me a group of plots that would best exemplify the kind of love taught and talked about by Gary Smalley and the staff at the Smalley Relationship Center.
Ideas would come, but they seemed too small for something as big and life-changing as the dream Gary and I had come to share. Then one day on a flight home from Colorado Springs, God gave me the Redemption Series—titles, plots, characters, themes, story lines. All of it poured onto my notebook while goose bumps flashed up and down my spine.
The basic heart and direction of the series remain true to that early vision. However, as the Baxter family has come to life, their problems have changed and adapted to fit their personalities, and certainly to fit the landscape of events happening around them.
Our initial view of Ashley, for instance, didn’t include her turning up HIV positive. But much of what we intend to do with the Redemption Series is illustrate the consequences of relational choices. And for Ashley, this is one very realistic consequence to her time in Paris.
We had no idea that the attacks on America would change our world on September 11, 2001, and those of you who read Remember know how those events changed the direction of the Redemption Series and the lives of the characters. The same way those events in some way changed all of us.
Luke Baxter was, from the beginning, the good son. But we discovered something about Luke in the first book of the series—his goodness was untested, his faith shallow and superficial. After September 11, he led the way in determining the strange turns his life would take. Really, as the writer, I merely followed along trying to keep up and allowing God to use him to teach the lessons you’ve seen come to life in Return.
Think about Luke back in the beginning of this series. Cocksure, judgmental, certain that his charmed life was the direct result of his good living. Ah, but how quickly such a fragile faith collapses when trials come. Sometimes such a one goes through years—decades—of pain before returning to the skeletal remains of a faith forgotten.
You may know someone like that. A friend or brother. A lost son or daughter. If so, I pray that you’ve seen a glimpse of God’s faithfulness between the lines of Return. Yes, Elizabeth Baxter was right. God is the Hound of Heaven…always pursuing, seeking, anxious to restore, desperate to redeem.
In some ways Luke’s story illustrates the theme of the series—redemption. God wants to redeem all of us—whether we’ve strayed from a phony faith or never believed in the first place. Remember Jesus? He was the one who told the story about the lost sheep, how a shepherd might have a hundred sheep, but if one strays he’d leave the ninety-nine to find it.
Wasn’t that John Baxter’s heart?
No matter that Maddie was well or Ashley was selling her paintings in New York City, his thoughts were with his son. Funny thing, we didn’t intend for Return to be a modern-day look at the prodigal son story, but that’s what it became. And it’s where many of you are now.
Either running away from the Hound of Heaven, or praying for someone who is.
At the same time, Return showed us that we cannot fully come back to the people we love without first returning to the God who paid for our redemption.
Along another plotline, Return allowed you to see Kari and Ryan marry, promising to live their lives for God first and each other, second. A few of you were frustrated after reading Remember, disappointed to see that Kari and Ryan hadn’t married in that book. But grief comes at a cost. Time is needed to heal the wounds of loss, and a rushed commitment—no matter how wonderful—is not usually the answer.
Kari and Ryan heeded God’s leading in their walk with him and each other—and as a result their wedding was longer coming than some would’ve liked. I hope that by now you’ve agreed that their big day was worth the wait.
I was talking to my 14-year-old daughter, Kelsey, the other day, and she expressed some of the impatience we all feel at times. For Kelsey it was impatience over braces and boys and knowing that her season for love and relationships is far down the road yet. Our discussion gave me the chance to give Kelsey a word picture.
Imagine the last wedding banquet or dinner party you attended. Often before the food is set out, the staff places garnishes of endive lettuce along the white-linen-covered serving tables. How silly would it be to arrive at the banquet and find yourself so impatient for the meal that you settle for the garnish?
Wilted lettuce or a banquet?
Doesn’t seem like a contest, does it? But sometimes in our rush for what we want, we’re willing to settle for the garnish instead of God’s best. In Return, we saw Kari waiting and how wonderful it was, how rewarding for her and Ryan to know that they handled everything about their relationship the way God wanted them to handle it.
Again, normally I don’t leave my readers wondering what will happen to my characters. And though Return offers some answers, clearly it also raises many questions. Questions about Ashley and Landon, and if you read the first chapter of Rejoice…questions about Brooke’s family.
What will become of Ashley and her precarious health? Will she find a way to stay with Landon, or will she feel compelled to release him? And what about the dear people at Sunset Hills Adult Care Home? Will Ashley stay with them, and if so, will Irvel continue her downhill slide into poorer health?
Brooke and Peter are struggling—that much is clear. But why, and how will their fledgling faith be affected if they’re visited by tragedy? How will John and Elizabeth play a role in the next season of the lives of their children?
And most of all, how will God continue to work redemption in the lives of this single Indiana family?
As much as I’d like to answer those questions, I cannot. God is still working the story, making it breathe and grow and change with the characters in a way that he directs. The stories that will come in Book 4 (Rejoice) and book 5 (Reunion) are written across the tablet of my heart, but not yet on the printed page. As soon as they are available, we’ll get them out to you.
In the meantime, I pray that you see the bigger picture in the Redemption Series. That God waits for you with open arms—every morning, every night—wanting you to return to him, return to your first love with Jesus Christ. It might be that you never left him, but still he waits for all of us, wanting us to draw nearer.
My prayer is that the Redemption Series helps you
see Christ at work in a way you perhaps have never seen before.
If you are one who doesn’t understand about redemption and God’s plan of salvation for mankind, please contact a local Bible-believing church and ask one of the leaders to lay it out for you. I believe that if you’re in this situation, you read this book for a reason. You might think you picked it up at a store or borrowed it from a friend or a library. But the truth is God wanted you to read it so he could speak something very important to your soul. The truth that he loves you and has a place for you in his family.
On a personal note, know that my family is doing well. Our children are still between the Ds. No one dating, driving, or in diapers. But nothing stays the same and by the time you’re reading Reunion, Kelsey will be begging us for driver’s training. Life has a way of constantly throwing lessons at us, and with God at our side, the learning is a joyous adventure.
Kelsey and 11-year-old Tyler are involved in Christian Youth Theater, a growing company of talented directors and coordinators who provide top-notch theatrical productions in a Christian environment. CYT just came to our area, and we are blessed beyond words that our artistic children have a Christian outlet where their talents can be used for God and the community. The youngest boys, Sean, Josh, EJ, and Austin, are all still tearing up the basketball court and soccer field. Donald loves coaching them, and the thrill of parenting continues.
We covet your prayers and encouragement. As always, I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at my Web site: www.KarenKingsbury.com, or by writing me at my email address: [email protected].
Blessings to you and yours…in his light and love,
Karen Kingsbury
A WORD FROM GARY SMALLEY
The goal of the Redemption Series is to give you an unforgettable story with a minute or two of relational advice at the back of each book. Return—like the two books before it—touches on some of the most practical relational areas of all, areas many of you are dealing with even now.
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