Jessie (42 page)

“Did you expect something different?”

“No, but one of these days he's going to ask our Heather to marry him, and then she'll be moving out.”

Jeanette had certainly thought of this, but for some reason Becky's voice putting it in plain terms got her attention. She stared at Becky and was still staring when Heather returned to them. Feeling utterly impulsive, Jeanette spoke her mind.

“Has Nate asked you to marry him?”

“No.”

“Do you think he will?”

“I think so. I think he's waiting for me.”

“What is he waiting for exactly?”

“Maybe he thinks I'm still unsure.”

“Are you?”

“No, but I'm not good at showing or telling such things.”

“Will you say yes?”

“Certainly.”

The look on Jeanette's face so surprised Heather that she had to speak.

“What is it? Have I made a mistake?”

“No, nothing like that. We just don't want you to move away.”

“Well, I don't want to move away either,” Heather said in a confused voice and then caught herself. She looked utterly stunned but didn't immediately speak. Her mouth open a little, she lowered herself slowly into the nearest chair. Her voice was just above a whisper when she continued. “If he asks me to marry him, I'll be moving out of this house.”

“You don't have to,” Jeanette said, knowing she meant it with all her heart. “You can both live here.”

“We want you to,” Becky added in her need to erase all doubts.

Heather looked between them and saw every bit of truth in their eyes. Why she'd not thought this through, she didn't know. It was true that it had been a busy time, what with the shop and Danny, but at some point she should have considered this. She came to her feet, her face serious.

“I have to think about this,” she said. “I'll see you in the morning.”

Jeanette and Becky wished her a good night, even though it was a little early. They knew it unlikely that she would be downstairs again. Becky finished washing the dishes, and Jeanette dried. Neither woman had much to say.

“You're awfully quiet,” Seth said to Jessie after the girls were down that night.

“Just thinking.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“You'll only disagree with me,” Jessie said.

“I might disagree with you, Jess, but I hope I would do so respectfully.”

Jessie knew she couldn't argue with that, so she tried to put into words what she felt. “I just don't think the girls sin. They're too young to know what that is.”

Seth thought about this. He didn't know Jessie believed in sin of any kind, and thought this might be progress.

“Do you think I upset them?”

Jessie had to think about this and realized he hadn't. What she couldn't figure out was why not.

“Jessie?” Seth tried again, not wanting this conversation to end too soon.

“I don't think you upset them,” Jessie admitted, “but I think what you said should, and I'm trying to figure out why it doesn't.”

“We all know when we've done wrong, Jessie,” Seth said, his voice even and matter-of-fact. “And the girls are too bright not to be included in that, even at their young age.”

Jessie looked thoughtful but not angry. Doing his best to be tactful, Seth went on.

“I've been reading in the Gospel of John lately. The amount of times belief is mentioned is amazing. Even when the word isn't used, belief runs all through those chapters. Chapter five talks about a pool in Bethesda. It says that at certain times an angel comes to the pool and disturbs the waters. When that happens the first person into the water is healed. As you can imagine, many ill people are sitting there waiting to be healed. There's a man who sits by the pool, and he's seen the waters move, but others always get in before him.”

“What's wrong with him?” Jessie asked.

“It doesn't say exactly, but I have to assume that his legs don't work very well because when he talks with Jesus, he tells Him that someone else always steps in faster. Oh, I remember now. It is his legs because later Jesus tells him to take up his bed and walk. Jesus ends up healing him.

“But that's not why I told you the story,” Seth swiftly added. “I told you because it occurred to me that we live what we believe. That man believed the pool would heal him, and he stayed nearby. It's the same with me. At one time I believed I had the right to walk away from my marriage, and I did that. If the girls believe they can get away with something, they'll do it. You run this store a certain way because you believe it works. We all live by our beliefs, day in and day out, whatever they may be.”

Jessie had honestly never looked at it that way, but it made perfect sense. She also realized for the first time that she had never read the Bible. Not once had she looked at a single page.

“Why do you read the Bible?” she asked her husband.

“Oh, that's a good question,” Seth said in surprise and then looked thoughtful. “I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that I love it. I love reading about Christ and seeing how God works. I was also taught right after I believed that I can't live for Christ if I don't know what God thinks and expects. It's not always easy—sometimes it seems impossible—but I want to know what God thinks, and the only way to know that is to study His Book.”

“I've never read the Bible,” Jessie admitted.

“Your parents never took you to church at all?” Seth asked because he couldn't remember.

“No. I guess I have heard the Bible read at funerals, but I never listened.”

“Why is that?”

“When I attended funerals with my parents, on the way home my father would use words like ‘ridiculous' and ‘rubbish,' and that's how I began to see the Bible.”

“Is that the way you still feel?”

“I don't know.”

“Tell me this, Jessie. Why are you even willing to discuss it at this point?”

“Because the things you say to the girls don't sound like rubbish to me,” she admitted soberly. “The reason I had to obey my parents was because my father said so. To any question I asked, the answer was always the same, ‘I'm your father and I know what's best.' That might have been easier to believe if he'd treated my mother with kindness. Not until after she died did I even catch a hint of remorse about the way he'd treated her, and then it was too late.”

Seth had never heard any of this and was amazed at the amount of thinking she'd been doing.

“Can you scratch my back?” Jessie asked, her voice sounding tired.

“Sure,” Seth said and shifted over as Jessie angled herself toward him on the sofa. Seth scratched and massaged her back until she grew limp. When he put his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest, she was nearly asleep. Seth simply held her and prayed until he needed his own rest.

With gentle hands and voice he got them both up and coaxed Jessie out of her dress and into bed. Jessie dropped right back to sleep the moment her head was on the pillow, but sleep took a little longer for Seth. He had never seen his wife this way, and at the moment it was more than his mind could even take in.

Tears flooded Bri's eyes as Rylan left the bedroom with Danny in his arms. Her boy was home in the evening and at night, but first thing in the morning he went directly back to Jeanette's. Bri could not have been more thankful for the help of Jeanette, Heather, and Becky, but there was no getting around the fact that she missed her son.

She heard the door open again downstairs and assumed Rylan had forgotten something. She waited for him to call up and tell her what it was, but instead she heard him on the stairs. A moment later, he and Danny stood in the doorway.

“What's wrong?” Bri asked, but Rylan didn't answer. He sat down on the edge of the bed and watched his son scramble for his mother's arms. Bri turned on her side to hold him, and Rylan felt so emotional he could barely watch.

“Rylan?” Bri tried again.

“I just can't take him away from you again,” the pastor said hoarsely.

Bri turned her face into her son's small shoulder and sobbed. Danny looked at her strangely, but quite naturally didn't catch the import of what was wrong.

“You don't complain,” Rylan said softly after a few minutes. “You don't utter a word of discontent, and you even wave goodbye to him every day as though you're happy for him. I couldn't do it again.”

Bri had reached for his hand and the big man held hers tightly with both of his. Danny was unaware of the emotion going on around him. He was just happy to have his parents to himself for a little longer.

“What about your sermon?” Bri finally managed.

“I'll get done as much as I can. The congregation will understand.”

With that Rylan lay down on the bed facing his wife, their precious small son between them. They laughed and played with him until he fell asleep for his morning nap, his head against Bri's round stomach. And while he slept, Rylan and Bri talked, whispering together about the future and the blessings they knew each day because of God's saving grace and goodness in their lives.

“I have to ask you something,” Heather said to Nate when they went for their walk on Friday evening. The nights were cool these days, but there was a hint of Indian summer in the air.

“I can hardly wait,” Nate teased her, since he'd heard this many times and never knew what she would come up with.

“If you followed your heart right now, would you have already asked me to marry you?”

Nate was so surprised by this that he stopped walking. Since he was holding Heather's hand, she stopped with him.

“I'm sorry,” Heather said in a hurry, stealing her hand away. “I didn't mean to ask that.”

“I'm not upset, Heather—not at all,” Nate said, hearing the panic in her voice and taking her hand back. “Do you really want me to answer?”

Heather wished she'd kept her mouth shut but forced herself to nod.

“Yes,” Nate said simply. “I would have.”

Heather took a huge breath and said, “And have you thought about where you would want us to live?”

“I don't know if I had. My place is small, but I didn't think that would bother you.”

“It doesn't,” Heather was swift to say, but she was looking uncertain again.

“But something about this does,” Nate said, knowing she would eventually tell him.

“So you can picture us married?” Heather asked next, not able to come straight out with it.

“Very easily.”

“Can you picture us married and living at Jeanette's?”

Nate stared at her, surprised, but also feeling things fall into place. He would have been the first to admit that such a thing had never occurred to him, but that didn't mean he was against it. He looked at the woman facing him, a woman orphaned as an infant whose only family was Jeanette Fulbright and Becky Liburn. In light of that, such a thing made complete sense to him. And in truth, as long as Heather was his wife, he didn't care where they lived.