Escape to Morning (37 page)
“I think it's time for me to go bug Sarah,” Conner said and stood up. “Hank's here, and she's trapped in a conversation about acid rain and conservation techniques.”
Dannette couldn't respond as he vacated the chair. Will. Here? Had she missed a giant setup?
She glanced at Micah. Oh yeah, he had helmed this; she could tell by the way he grinned wildly at her. And from the looks of it, Sarah was in cahoots also. She raised her punch glass, not looking all that tortured in her conversation with cute, good-old-boy Hank Billings.
Will put a bag on the table, then pulled out the chair she had her leg propped on, sat, and put her leg across his lap. “I brought something for my favorite girl,” he said and reached for the bag.
A gift? He'd brought her a gift? She took it, opened it. Laughed. “Dog biscuits?”
He smiled, and it was so devastatingly sweet she couldn't speak. He looked at her cast. Then he raised those beautiful eyes and quietly asked, “How are you?”
How was she? She ached for his friendship. She'd buried herself in the memory of his kiss, dreamed of tomorrows. And now that he was here, she could probably fly.
It was better to take things slow, right? Not leap into his arms?
“Good. Healing.” She indicated his injury. “How's your shoulder?”
He shrugged. “We make quite a pair, you and I.” His smile dimmed, and he ducked his head.
Silence pulsed between them, and she felt the familiar warmth of just being near him, remembered his strong, gentle hands in her hair.
Please, Will, don't give up on us
. “How's Amina?”
He brightened, as if glad she'd found a topic they could discuss besides the obviousâtheir shattered friendship. “I had to leave for Washington immediately. They wouldn't let me stick around for your surgery. I'm really sorry. But ⦠I called. A lot.”
But he'd never talked to her. Why? She tried not to let that hurt. Because he was afraid she'd say,
Just go
?
“Amina delivered the information, and we extracted her father and brother in time to stop Hayata's planned attack. General Nazar is still being debriefed, but he's given us the names and locations and intimate details of over fifteen international terrorist groups that have been on our A list for years. Many of them have cells in the United States. It's a great victory for the war on terror, Dani. You did a great job. ⦔
He looked away, and his voice thickened. “I'm so, so sorry I left you. I've been sick about it. I was going to drop out of your life, because you don't need a guy like me ⦠but ⦔
He gave a tentative, almost pained grin. “Your friends Conner and Micah tracked me down in South Dakota. I went back there to talk to Bonnie and meet her new husband.”
She felt something like pride take hold. “You did? Will, that's great. I'm so proud of you.”
Her words obviously touched him, for he blushed. She'd forgotten how heart-stoppingly adorable that made him look. The tender warrior.
That was probably not a good thought. Especially if he was trying to close the door on their friendship with a final goodbye. “What did Micah and Conner say to you?” She could hardly believe she'd asked, but he was here after all, and that had to mean something, right?
He traced an outline of one of the names on her cast. “They convinced me that I owed you a face-to-face opportunity to kick me out of your life.” The tremor in his voice told her he wasn't kidding.
Kick him out of her life?
“I know you told me to go, but I was sorta hoping that was just a temporary thing. That maybe I could change your mind.” He was wearing his emotions right there on the outside of his body, and for a second the enormity of it swept the breath out of her.
“Now what kind of search-and-rescue gal would I be if I left you to splutter around in the wilderness without me?”
When he smiled, joy exploded in her heart.
“Really? Because, you know, I was thinking that maybe we could start over.” He held out his hand. “Will Masterson. Guy just trying to do the right thing.”
She laughed, met his grip. “Dani Lundeen. Girl who doesn't take no for an answer.”
“Dani. What a pretty name. Is it a nickname?”
She giggled.
He ran his finger along her cast. After a moment, his face became very, very serious. And, as usual, he couldn't look at her. She could nearly guess at the tenor of his next words. “Dani, you know I'm a soldier of sorts. And I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. I remember you telling me that you could never marry a guy like ⦠well, a guy like me. But I was thinking that if someday you felt you could love meâ”
She touched his arm, cutting off his words. “Oh, Will.” She gathered her courage into a fiery ball of emotion. Sure, she could do this. God was her deliverer and right now her strength. She didn't care if Will was a soldier or a shoe salesman or even a reporter, because she wanted to be with him so much she ached. “Don't you know that God sent you into my life to be the guy I needed?”
He opened his mouth, swallowed, then found a smile. For a wild second, she saw his emotions in his eyes. And they fueled the last spark of courage in her.
“Besides, it's too late. I'm already falling in love with you. At least, I want to try and love you. Because I already trust you.” There, she said it. And it felt good. Like she'd escaped from a dark, lonely place into a gloriously brilliant morning.
“You trust me?” Will whispered. He took her hand. “You're sort of in love with me?”
She shrugged but felt herself blush. “Don't take out an ad or anything.”
“That works pretty great for me, because I think I'm falling in love with you too. Pretty much since you stormed out of my life that first night. You make me want to be the guy I see in your eyes, Dani. If you'll let me, I'll try and prove that to you one day at a time for the next, say, eighty or so years.”
Her heart leaped. Actually jumped in her chest and did a swing dance. “Only eighty?” she managed to say without singing.
He glanced at her leg. “Well, maybe longer, but you have to let me be the boss of you sometimes.”
She laughed. “Okay, but it has to be rare, and you have to tell me why.”
His smile faded, and his gaze studied her face. “I promise you, Dani, I'll never lie to you again. Ever. And if I can't tell you something, you'll just have to believe that I want to, but I can't.”
She ran her fingertips down his check, rubbed his goatee, her smile also vanishing. She poured her love into her eyes, hoping that he read it as he heard her words. “I do trust you, Will Masterson. You found my buried heart, burrowed in, and rescued it with your friendship. And ⦠well, I'd like to let it out ⦠let myself love you. And ⦠let you love me.”
His smile was slow, like honey, and heat gathered in his incredible eyes. He cupped her chin, rubbed his thumb over her cheek, then leaned forward and very, very slowly kissed her. Not urgently. But a kiss that spoke of friendship and pleasures to come that would make the difficult moments bearable.
He pulled away from her but touched his forehead to hers. Wow, did he smell good. Cologne and shaving cream. It had the power to make a girl's eyes water.
Or maybe that was just emotions. Lots of them. And having their way in her heart.
Will gave her his scoundrel grin, then turned and stared at Micah and Conner and Sarah and Andee, who were all huddled in a not-so-subtle eavesdropping posture. He gave them a thumbs-up.
Words left her.
Which was okay, because the next second he kissed her again. Sweetly. Perfectly. Cutting off any objections she might have felt about his behind-her-back schemes.
She probably should get used to that. After all, she trusted the man who was a master of undercover work. More than that, underneath the lies, the black camouflage, and the cowboy swagger, Will Masterson was a real hero. Her hero.
No, her man of God.
SOMETIMES DON'T YOU just want to go to bed early? Climb beneath the warm sheets, pull the flannel blanket over your head, and pray that tomorrow might be ⦠brighter?
It's been a long day. The morning started out bleak, the sky a slate gray, the temperature plunging to a breath-stealing twenty below and a nasty wind picking at the cracks around my windows. It should have been a day for hot cocoa, a good book, and the electric blanket on high.
Except, across the hall one child is fighting the flu, while another is downstairs struggling with a homeschool, creative-writing assignment. Laundry calls my name from the basement, and I'm pretty sure someone is going to want dinner in a couple of hours. Another child has a school report due (why do they always wait until the night before?), and the last one needs help cleaning the bunny cage.
Oh, and I think I might have been trying to write a book in there somewhere.
Is 4:00 p.m. too early to retire for the day?
The theme passage for
Escape to Morning
comes from Lamentations 3:22-24: “The faithful love of the L
ORD
never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, âThe L
ORD
is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!' ”
I need God's mercies to be fresh each morning if I'm going to face my day, because, frankly, life is overwhelming, and if I think too far ahead I won't get out of bed at all.
I love Will and Daniâtwo people who are just trying to make it through life one day at a time. Dannette is a heroine I understand. Driven to do a job well, she was afraid to trust God too much with her life. Because, well, what if He let her down? What if He wasn't there when life turned dark? when she felt at the end of her herself? And Willâhe's just a guy trying to figure out what it means to be a man of God.
As I began to study Lamentations, the word
inheritance
(or
portion
in KJV), stood out to me. It's used in many verses and means not only “reward” but also “sustainer, redeemer, rescuer” ⦠basically everything. Or “enough.” We hope in God because He is enough. Enough wisdom. Enough strength. Enough forgiveness. Enough grace. Enough.
Flee the Night
was about being freed from mistakes and dark pasts into hope.
Escape to Morning
is about walking toward that hope one day at a time in faith, expecting God's mercies anew each morning and trusting Him to be enough for that day.
The Christian life is a journey. One day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time. Some days are successfulâhealthy kids and word counts reached. But others, well, they're days of slogging through until bedtime. Through each, however, we can expect God to be our portion, our sustainer. And finally, our reward.
Thank you for reading
Escape to Morning
. I pray that Will and Dani's journey encouraged you on your own. And may you find God to be enough.
In His Grace,
Susan May Warren
Susan May Warren recently returned home after serving for eight years with her husband and four children as missionaries in Khabarovsk, Far East Russia. Now writing full-time as her husband runs a lodge on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota, she and her family enjoy hiking and canoeing and being involved in their local church.
Susan holds a BA in mass communications from the University of Minnesota and is a multi-published author of novellas and novels with Tyndale, including
Happily Ever After
, the American Christian Romance Writers' 2003 Book of the Year and a 2003 Christy Award finalist. Other books in the series include
Tying the Knot
and
The Perfect Match
, the 2004 American Christian Fiction Writers' Book of the Year.
Escape to Morning
is the sequel to
Flee the Night
and her second book in her new romantic adventure search-and-rescue series with Tyndale.
Susan invites you to visit her Web site at
www.susanmaywarren.com
. She also welcomes letters by e-mail at [email protected].
