The Runaway Pastor's Wife (26 page)

“Come on in,” David answered. Jeremy opened the
door. His eyes were wide as saucers.

“Jeremy? What’s wrong?”

Jeremy closed the door behind him and sprinted
over to his father. “Dad!” he whispered. “There’re two cops at the door and
they want to talk to Max! What should I do?”

David stood up. “Well, I supposed you ought to
go upstairs and get your brother. I’ll let them in.”

Jeremy bolted up the stairs as David walked to
the front door. “Hello, I’m Max’s father, David McGregor. Come on in. Max will
be down in just a minute. Please, have a seat.” He ushered them into the living
room wondering what this was all about. “Is there some kind of problem,
officers?”

A tall uniformed policeman offered his hand as
he introduced himself, “Mr. McGregor, I’m Officer Todd Kelly and this is my
partner, Phil Brantley. It seems there was a little trouble up at your son’s
school today and we need to ask him a couple of questions.”

At that moment, Max came around the corner of
the room, his hands buried deep in his pockets. David could tell by the
sheepish look on his face that something was definitely wrong.

“Max, this is Officers Kelly and Brantley. They
want to ask you some questions.”

Max walked over to sit down on the arm of his
father’s chair. “Okay.”

Office Kelly began, “We had a call from the
Tall
Pines
Christian
School
today
at approximately
4:00 p.m.
concerning some alleged
vandalism.”

Max looked down at the knee of his jeans and
began to run his finger roughly along the seam.

“A complaint was filed by one of the school’s
teachers, a Mr. Chet Harrison. Now this Mr. Harrison claims that a student by
the name of Max McGregor destroyed the door to his classroom this afternoon
following a heated discussion.”

“It didn’t happen anything like that!” Max cut
in. He shot a look at his father. “Dad, I promise. It was an accident.”

Officer Brantley interrupted, “Max, why don’t
you start at the beginning and tell us just exactly what transpired this
afternoon.”

Max described the entire scenario, beginning
with the harassment from Mr. Harrison while class was still in session and
ending with the shattering glass. He discreetly left out the parting comment
Harrison
made
concerning his mother. “And that’s exactly how it came down. It wasn’t
‘vandalism’ and I didn’t ‘destroy’ the door, it was just an accident.” He
looked to his father, his eyes pleading for understanding.

“I think I can explain at least part of this,”
David began. “You see, I’m the pastor at
Tall
Pines
Community
Church
. The
school is a part of our ministry there on the church grounds. Mr. Harrison is a
member of our church in addition to his teaching position at the school.
Unfortunately, Chet has some bones to pick with me, and he’s apparently allowed
his personal grudges against me to carry over into the classroom. Max has told
me about some of the problems he’s had with Mr. Harrison in the past, and it’s
obvious now I should have done something about this before.”

He put his arm around his son’s shoulder. “I’m
sorry, Max. I should’ve talked to Chet before it came to this.”

Max looked up into his eyes. “It’s okay, Dad. I
shouldn’t have lost my temper and slammed that door so hard.” He looked at the
policemen sitting across from him. “I’ll pay for the broken window.”

Officer Kelly responded. “It sounds as if this whole
episode was just an unfortunate accident. Max, we appreciate your honesty.
However, I think we may still have a bit of a problem. Mr. Harrison wants to
press charges. That means unless you discuss this with him and he agrees to
drop the whole thing, we will have to make an official arrest. But Pastor
McGregor, under the circumstances, I believe we can give you some time to talk
to Mr. Harrison and see if you can’t work this out.”

Eagle’s Nest

“Hello-this-is-the-McGregor’s-home-Jessica-speaking.”

“Jessie? Jess, it’s Mommy. How are you,
sweetheart?”

“Mommy! Oh, Mommy, I miss you so much! When can
you come home?”

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s going to be awhile yet,”
Annie said, hoping to change the subject to evade any more questions. “How is
everything with you, honey? How’s school?”

“School is fine, Mom, but guess what? There’s
two policemen here and they’re talking to Max and Daddy. I think Max must’a got
in real big trouble!”

Annie sat up. “Jessie, what do you mean? What’s
happened? Did Max get a speeding ticket?”
Jessie must be confused. Max never
gets in any kind of trouble
.

“I don’t know, Mommy. They made me leave and
come in here to the kitchen.”

“Sweetie, I think I better speak to Daddy. Can
you go get him for me?” Annie tried to sound as casual as possible.

“Sure, Mom. I’ll go get him. Just a minute,
okay?”

Annie felt another deep stab of guilt.
What
am I doing out here in the middle of nowhere when
—

“Annie? I’m so sorry we missed your call last
night. The kids were—”

“David, what’s going on? Jessie said the police
were there and Max was in some kind of trouble?”

“Honey, it’s nothing to worry about. Max had a
little run-in with Chet Harrison at school today. That’s all. And evidently
Chet wanted to spook Max so he called the police. The whole thing is ridiculous.
We’ve told the police exactly what happened and it’s no big deal. I would tell
you if it were otherwise.”

“But what about Max? Did he get hurt? Is he all
right?”

“Honey, I’m telling you—he’s just fine. A little
ticked off at his teacher, but no more than I am.”

“Chet Harrison . . .”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. It was Chet.”

Silence.

“Annie, what is it? What’s the matter?”

“Oh—I’m sorry. You know how I feel about Chet.”

David softly chuckled. “I know how
lots
of folks feel about Chet. He’s a challenge even on his best days.” He paused.
“Annie, how are you?”

She looked at her carefully wrapped foot propped
upon on a couple of pillows. She truthfully felt no pain at the moment so
answered, “I’m okay, I guess. I’ve had a lot of time for some serious soul-searching
and that’s why I’m here. But it’s even more obvious to me now than when I came
just how much I have yet to work through.”

“I’m glad you’re making some headway. But I miss
you
so
much. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am, sweetheart.
I’ve been such a—”

“No, David, please. That’s not why I called. I
really don’t want to get into that now. We can talk about all of it when I get
back.”

“But I
have
to tell you. You need to
know. I will do whatever it takes.”

“Honey, please. Not now.”

“I’ll walk away from this church if that’s what
it takes. We’ll move if we need to. We’ll find something—”

“I’m going to hang up if you keep this up. I’m
not ready to talk about it!” She didn’t mean to snap at him.

His weary sigh washed over the line. “Okay, okay.
But if you hear nothing else, hear this. I love you, Annie McGregor. I
love
you.” Hearing his voice quiver sent a bruising ache to her heart.

“I know. I love you too. But I know this is
where I’m supposed to be right now. I have to do this.”

“I just wish you’d let me come to you. I
wouldn’t interfere, Annie. I promise you that. I’d just be there with you. Help
you in any way I can. I’d stay out of your way—hey, I can be your butler. How
about it? You know, cook your meals, clean up for you—anything you need. What
do you say?”

Annie couldn’t help laughing. He sounded just
like Jeremy when he was younger, begging for quarters to buy something from the
ice cream truck. “David, I’ve got to do this alone. Please don’t make it any
harder than it already is.”

“Then at least give me a phone number where I
can reach you.”

“No.
Please stop this. Don’t you see? I
came here to get away from the pressures.
All
the pressures. If you keep
this up, I’ll have to stop calling.” She hated the edge in her voice. “It’s
just important to me that you understand my need for this time alone.”

“I know and I’m the one who’s sorry. I won’t
pressure you anymore. At least I’ll try not to. Just don’t stop calling me.
That would make
me
crazy. Promise?”

Annie sighed. “I promise, David.” She wiped her
nose on a Kleenex. “Let’s change the subject. Is everyone else all right?”

“Everyone else is fine. We’re getting by, I
guess. Mom’s been great. Oh—speaking of moms—”

“Oh no.”

“I’m afraid so. Darlene called again. And poor
Jessie—she didn’t know any better. She told Darlene you’d gone away and—well,
you can probably figure out your mother’s response.”

“Don’t tell me. I don’t even want to know.” She
could imagine her mother’s reaction practically word for word. “That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, that bad. But we’ve stalled her as best
as we could. I’m sure she’ll come exploding in here any time now. But we’ll
handle her. I’ve had years
of practice when it comes to dodging
Darlene.”

Annie smiled but didn’t comment.

“Annie, I’m—” He paused.

She knew he was struggling. “David, I’ve got to
go. I’ll call you tomorrow. Give my love to Jeremy and Max and Jessie. Oh, and
Caroline too. Thank her for me, okay? For everything. And tell Max I’ll be
praying for him.” She felt her throat tighten. “I love you, David McGregor.”

“I love you too. Take care, sweetheart.”

Annie slowly hung up the receiver. Her eyes
tracked toward the crackling fire. Out of the dancing flames rose the sneering
face of Chet Harrison. He threw his head back in an evil, mocking guffaw. Her
mind replayed the exchange she had tried so hard to forget. It was, after all,
the final straw. The scene rolled through her mind like a forbidden video.

“Mrs.
McGregor!”

An
invisible shiver crawled down her back at the sound of the familiar voice. She
continued pushing the cart of groceries to her van, hoping and praying that
voice and that man wouldn’t follow her.

No such
luck.

“Why,
Mrs. McGregor—you wouldn’t be ignoring one of your fellow church members now,
would you?”

“Oh
hello, Chet.” She opened the rear door of her van and began to load her
groceries.

He had
purposefully wedged himself between her and her cart, hindering her task. She
could hear him jangling the change in his pockets as he seemed to inch even
closer. It was an annoying habit, his trademark. To maintain her “safety zone”
she backed up until she felt the bumper press against the back of her legs.

She put
her hands on her hips. “Chet, do you mind? I’m a little busy here, okay?”

“Why,
am I bothering you? Have I done something to upset you?” His feigned innocence
pushed her blood pressure through the roof. “You know I would never do anything
to upset my pastor’s lovely wife, now would I?”

“Chet,
it was nice seeing you. A real pleasure, as always. But if you’ll excuse me,
I’d like to get these groceries home before the ice cream melts.”

He
moved in even closer. “Oh, I can assure you the treat was all mine, Annie.
Everyone is always telling me what a fine, friendly Christian woman you are and
I thought this coincidental little meeting of ours would be just the
opportunity for me to find out how friendly you really are. See if you really
are as nice as they all say. Especially to someone like me who’s not one of
your husband’s favorite deacons. In fact, I’ve even heard it said he considers
me his ‘thorn in the flesh.’ Now, why do you suppose he would say something
like that? Or maybe I should ask you. Am I a thorn in
your
flesh?”