Grace Alive: a Christian Romance (21 page)

“How was work?” she asked.

“It was pretty good, though a couple girls
from my old church showed up. Pretty sure they ripped something
off.” I sat down on the couch beside her.

“Hmm…what are you going to do?” she asked as
she reached over for her glass of juice on the end table.

“I didn’t actually see them steal it. But I
went down the aisle I’d just cleaned up, and a thirty dollar makeup
kit was gone. They were talking to me about Branson too,” I said
and realized I was a little upset about what they said. I didn’t
mean to be, but I felt like they were throwing rocks at me.

“Just ignore them. People who are under the
law love to throw stones. Do you remember the story about the
adulteress that the Pharisees dragged through the streets and threw
at Jesus’ feet?”

I nodded as I rested my head against the back
of the couch.

“They were so eager to throw stones at her.
By the law they had every single right to kill her. When they asked
Jesus what He would do He just simply said ‘if you have no sin go
ahead.’ Jesus then told the woman her sins were forgiven. The heart
of God is always to restore, not condemn. The Father God is not
condemning Branson, but you will still have people wanting to throw
stones at him.”

Where did these people get this kind of
stuff? I was amazed. I’d barely gone to Grace Alive, but everything
Branson’s friends said to me was just pure love. It overwhelmed me.
I’d never been around people who talked like they did. People from
Light on the Hill just simply picked up rocks and chucked them at
each other. They didn’t look at their own mess ups; they just
wanted to point out everyone else’s.

“Good point, Alison.” I gave her a small
smile. I felt weary of this battle going on in my head. Law verses
grace. Things my dad taught me were ingrained in there. Branson had
told me something that I would remind myself of.
Zoe, good
things happen to those who know God loves them.
When I simply
thought about it my condemnation seemed to leave me. I started
studying the Bible like I’d never done before too. Grace was all
over the place. How come I’d never seen it before?

“I’m going to bed; I’ll see you tomorrow
after church. Some stuff is going on at Light on the Hill, so I’m
not going to make it to Grace Alive tomorrow.”

“I’ll pray for you, Zoe,” she said and turned
back to her book.

“Thanks,” I said as I walked toward my room
for the night.

Sunday morning rolled around, and I could
feel my tension growing. I took a shower, blow dried my hair,
curled it, put my makeup on, and picked out an outfit. I ended up
changing my clothes twice. For some reason showing up at Light on
the Hill was making me feel like I wanted to vomit. People were
going to see Branson and me together with his kids. Was I ready for
their evil looks that I was bound to receive from them?

I thought about the story Alison and I had
talked about last night. They would chuck stones at me in a
heartbeat. I brewed some coffee and tried to calm my nerves. After
reading my Bible, praying for awhile, Branson picked me up with the
kids, and we rode to church. The twins babbled in the back and
tickled Bree. Their laughter lightened my mood but didn’t ward off
the feeling of coming doom.

We got to Light on the Hill and went inside.
I showed Branson where the nursery and the children’s rooms were,
and he dropped his kids off. I got some really heated looks from
holding his hand as we walked back toward the sanctuary. Mia came
in with her load of children and Tomas. A heated anger ripped
through me as I looked at her.

“You okay, Zoe?” Branson asked as we went
down the forth pew.

“I’m okay.” We sat down. Pastor Mike got up
and began the praise and worship. I hadn’t really wanted to be an
hour early to church today. The music sounded good, but unlike
Grace Alive there was no passion behind anything. I never noticed
that before until I had gone to the barn church. It felt hollow.
After worship ended, Jacob’s dad, Kyle Whitmen, came up on the
stage. Crap. This was it. He was going to do it.

“Good morning!” he said cheerily and clapped
his hands once. He shot a look at my dad, and his eyes narrowed. “I
know you all must be wondering why I am up making announcements
today.” Silence filled the sanctuary. A couple people coughed.

“I just wanted to publically announce my
membership removal from Light on the Hill.” Gasps echoed around the
building. The Whitmens had been part of our church for years. My
palms began to sweat, and I grabbed Branson’s hand.

“Pastor Daniel is an unclean preacher of the
gospel. I caught him committing adultery with Mia Fellan. I didn’t
want to say anything about it at first, because we have such a
wonderful church here at Light on the Hill, but I can’t sit by idly
knowing that the man of God we trust is freely committing sin.”
Kyle crossed his arms over his chest. “I am starting my own church
on Edward Lane, if you’d truly like a preacher of righteousness,
join me there.” He walked off the stage, and you could feel the
tension in the room.

Suddenly people started standing up and
shouting things at my dad. Several people up and walked out. It was
chaos. I gripped Branson’s hand and prayed to myself. I watched my
dad’s devastation hit him. My mom came up to him, slapped him,
screamed at him, and started crying hysterically. It was over.
Everything was over. I looked around at the church that was my
home. I found Mia in the crowd and saw tears running down her face.
Tomas just stared at her in horror. The church started emptying.
Pretty soon no one was left in the sanctuary. They’d all left. My
mom ran out of the room tears pouring down her cheeks. My dad fell
to his knees, curled up in a ball, and sobbed. Branson still held
my hand as all this happened. I saw Tomas slip out of the aisle and
walk away. Mia cupped her face in her hands.

“Go to your dad, Zoe,” Branson said. “I’m
going to get the kids, okay?” He looked toward the direction of the
nursery.

“Okay,” I said and couldn’t contain the tears
that were pouring down my face. My dad was still sobbing, Mia was
sobbing. My heart began to break for my dad, for Mia. Yes, they’d
screwed up; yes they’d sinned against all these people and God, but
God still loved them. He still loved them! The revelation of grace
began to flood my mind. All the laws that my dad had heaped on me
as a little girl began to fade as the grace of God filtered into my
thoughts. I was not here to judge them. I bent down to my dad and
wrapped my arms around him and held him. It made him sob harder, a
broken, broken sob that broke my heart.

“I can’t ever be enough for Him, Zoe, I can’t
fix myself. I judged you so harshly, and God’s judgment is going to
fall on me. He doesn’t want me anymore. I…screwed everything up,”
he said through his tears.

“Dad…God still loves you. It doesn’t matter
what you’ve done. You made a mess, but God’s not going to kick you
when you’re down. He loves you!” I stroked his hair like I would a
child.

He pressed my face against his wet cheek.

“I read the book, Zoe, I read it,” he said
and looked at my eyes. “It wrecked me. It completely wrecked me.
I’ve been…so wrong! I did everything so wrong! Look at this! Look
at the mess I created! I hurt God’s people. I hurt your mom. I
don’t deserve the grace of God, Zoe.” His shoulders shook.

“Dad, none of us do!” I held him tight
against me as he cried. Branson came back into the sanctuary toting
his kids with him. The twins ran to me and wrapped their arms
around my dad too. He laughed as they started kissing his face.
What was this? I giggled as they climbed all over him. I stood up
and came to Branson.

“I told them to do a kissy fest with Pastor
Daniel. We do them all the time at home.” He bounced Bree up and
down and rubbed her tummy with his head.

“Right, Bree Bree! Kissy fest time!” He
started kissing her neck, and she giggled and squirmed. My dad
started laughing as they kept kissing him.

“Wow! You girls sure know how to sweep a man
off his feet!” My dad held them in his arms, and they snuggled
right up against his chest. He looked up at me, and I saw something
change in his expression. All my fear, my pain of his rejection
just left my heart. Love. Pure, pure love began to shine through
his eyes, and I saw a look of acceptance toward me.

“Zoe?” he said. “I love you, Zoe.”

Tears started pouring down my face. That’s
all I ever wanted from my dad. Just love and acceptance for who I
was, not what I did.

“I love you too,” I said and joined the kissy
fest that was going on. I heard Mia get up off the pew, her
shoulders hunched, and her face beat red from crying. I ran over to
her, and she looked at me in fear.

“Zoe, I…I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for
this to happen.” She covered her face in shame. I put my arms
around my best friend.

“I forgive you, Mia. I forgive you. God
forgives you. He loves you so much. I love you so much.” I held her
for a long time. How could I be angry at her? How?

“Tomas…he hates me now. He hates me, Zoe. I
can’t face him. How am I going to go home and face him?” Her pale
face was splotchy.

“You can do it, Mia,” I encouraged her. I
squeezed her hand. I walked back over to Branson. He was in a
conversation with my dad. I didn’t hear what they said, but at the
end my dad pulled Branson into a big hug. His little girls clung to
my dad’s legs. Bree grabbed the collar of my dad’s suit and started
sucking on it.

“You guys ready to go home?” I asked the
kids. The twins jumped off my dad’s legs and came into my arms. I
hugged them tight and kissed their cheeks.

“Let’s go!” CC said and tugged at my hand.
Branson and my dad followed us down the main aisle of the room and
out into the foyer.

“I have to go find your mother.” My dad
looked at me with deep sorrow. “I love you, Zoe.” He kissed my
forehead and walked down the hallway. I grabbed Branson’s hand as
we headed toward his car.

“I’m almost ready!” Branson said over his
shoulder as he ran around his house. I was standing at the doorway,
ready to head over to Grace Alive. The twins looked like Daddy had
let them dress themselves. They were both in dress up clothes and
princess crowns. I put a hand over my mouth to hide my smile.
Branson was throwing Bree’s stuff in her diaper bag.

“Do you need any help?”

He looked like he was creating more of a mess
than actually throwing anything useful in Bree’s diaper bag.

“I’m good!” He finished whatever he was doing
and picked up Bree. “Sorry, we woke up late,” he apologized to me.
I was always early.

“No problem.”

He was still rushing about. He grabbed his
wallet, shoved it in his back pocket, picked up his phone, and
grabbed his keys, while clutching Bree in his other arm.

“We’re good!” he said with a bright smile. My
jaw dropped open, and I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing.

“Branson,” I tried to say through my fit of
giggles. It wasn’t working. I just pointed to his shirt.

“What?” He pulled Bree away from his chest
and held her out. He then looked down at his nice clean shirt,
which wasn’t so nice and clean anymore. A big huge smear of what I
would assume was poop was running down his shirt and down Bree
Bree’s leg. Oh man!

“Ewwwwwwieeeee!” the twins said together and
started waving their hands in the air near their nose.

“Bree Bree is poopy!” CC said and then tugged
on my hand. “Are we going to church now?”

“Um,” I said through my chortles. “Um, in a
minute, sweetie.” I’m sorry, I’m sorry it was just so funny; I
couldn’t help but laugh my head off.

“I’ll be right back. Can you…clean up Bree?”
Branson asked in the calmest voice I’d ever heard. “You just wait,
Zoe Grace, until she poops on you.” He raised one eyebrow, and the
corner of his mouth turned into a smile.

“I can’t wait,” I said as I took the stinky
baby toward the bathroom. I managed to get her yucky outfit off and
used about 100 baby wipes to get the poop off her legs. I then
carried her to the bathroom and began to fill the tub with
water.

“Bree, did you make a mess?” I asked and
kissed her cheek.

“Zo—ey…” she said and started clapping. I
tested to make sure the bath was the right temperature and stuck
her in it. I washed her up as fast as I could then wrapped her up
in a big fluffy towel. She was so cute! Her red hair was a big mess
of wet curls as I dried her off. I could hear Branson moving around
as I headed toward Bree’s room. I picked her a fluffy dress with
butterflies on it and a headband for her head. I got her dressed,
and we walked back into the living room. Branson was waiting. He
was brushing off the front of his shirt self-consciously, even
though he’d already changed.

“Thanks, Zoe, I really appreciate that.” The
clock read 9:39, so we weren’t late for church. I motioned toward
the door when Branson looked at his twins.

“Oh man, what are they wearing?”

“I’m wearing my Belle dress, Daddy, and Evie
is wearing Ariel!” CC informed him. “And we are princesses.”

Branson started laughing. “Yes, you girls
are, CC. Come on, let’s go to church,” he said, and we headed
toward his car.

***

We got to Grace Alive in one piece with lots
of silly songs.

“I’m singing a song today,” Branson said as
we unstrapped the girls from the backseat.

“You are?” My eyes lit up as he pulled Bree
up into his arms. The twins kind of jumped out of the car and took
off running toward the playground. The air was cold, but those
girls never cared.

“Is it okay if they play outside?”

“For a few minutes, but church is going to
start really soon,” Branson said as we walked toward the big barn.
I spotted the girls jumping around with a few other little girls
their age. I came over to them.