The Runaway Pastor's Wife (45 page)

He sat back down as he listened to the response
on the other end of the line. He checked his Rolex—it was just after three in
the morning. “Good. I’ll fly out of here in one hour. That should put me at
your airport at five-thirty sharp. Meet me at Hangar 12. We’ll get back in the
air and be in
Pueblo
no later than seven.”

He nodded, the cell phone still at his ear.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a Hummer waiting for us there with a driver who
knows the roads. A little snow isn’t about to stop me now. Just be at that
hanger and don’t be late.”

Elliot disconnected the line. He looked around
his study, inhaling the comforting scent of the leather books that lined his
bookshelves. But in the darkness of this early morning, he found no comfort.
His coffee mug shook in his hand, the sight of it setting his nerves on edge.
He kneaded his throbbing temple. A sob escaped, startling him. He sat back in
his chair, rubbing his hand roughly across his mouth then biting the knuckle of
his fist.

Through blurred eyes, his gaze rested on the
family photographs elegantly framed and lining his credenza. His eyes crinkled
as they caressed the image of his beloved wife. He reached for the picture,
cradling it in his hands. Taken the summer before she died, she smiled warmly
beneath the brow of a large straw hat. She was sipping lemonade while stretched
out on the porch swing of their lake house. Relaxed and happy and beautiful.

He took a deep and ragged breath. His eyes
shifted to the ornate silver frame where Amelia and Michael smiled, proudly
adorned in their wedding attire.
Amelia’s eyes, so like her
mother’s . . .

The last time he’d searched his daughter’s eyes,
they were dull and lifeless and bloodshot. Her hospital gown hung loosely
around her, revealing pale and bony shoulders. She was curled in a fetal
position, her wrists bound in stark white bandages as she rocked slowly back
and forth.

He slammed the frame face-down on his desk and
cried out. After a moment’s thought, he grabbed the picture, holding it tightly
in his hands as he stared at the images through broken glass. He felt the
scorching heat of hatred swell through him again. Carefully, he replaced the
photograph, snapped his briefcase shut, and left the room.

An hour later, seated aboard his Lear jet, he
sipped a glass of orange juice as the plane sped through the ink black sky,
leaving
Houston
’s
skyline behind. After a brief stop at five-thirty to board another passenger,
the jet climbed once more the early morning sky and streamed westward toward
Colorado
.

chapter
36

Eagle’s Nest

Annie woke up, chilled to the bone and
shivering. She got up, quietly leaving her spot on the sofa to put more logs on
the fire. As her sleepiness gave way to reality, she shuddered against the
uneasiness seeping through her. A few moments later, she welcomed the revived
warmth billowing out of the fireplace, momentarily relieving her senses. She
stood against the hearth, her hands outstretched to thaw her icy fingers.

Wake up!

She jumped, startled to find Michael still sound
asleep. She looked around, certain she had heard a voice.

Wake up! Listen to me!

Her eyes grew wide with recognition. There was
no question in her mind. Turning back to face the fire, she fell to her knees
before the hearth. “Oh God—I need You!” she whispered.

Shhhhh . . .

_{It wasn’t an audible voice but one she knew
without question. “Lord, I’m so confused. Please help me!”}

Shhhhh . . .

“Lord, You’ve been so silent. Why did You desert
me when I needed you most?”

I’m here. I’ve been here all along.

Then a rush of guilt flooded her heart. “Forgive
me, Father. I should never have doubted You.”

Words failed her. Yet, in a split second, every
fear in her heart melted away. Every frustration that had rendered her
spiritually powerless for these many months seemed instantly absolved. Every
seed of bitterness and disappointment was plucked away in the blink of an eye.
An overwhelming release sent tears spilling like the currents of a mighty
river. Her body trembled as the incomprehensible warmth of His embrace
surrounded her.

She rested her head on folded arms, warm against
the stones of the hearth. “Thank You, Father. I don’t understand. Why here, why
now? After all of this . . . but oh God, thank You!”

Annie, here’s what I want you to do.
Hear
what I say.

As her mission unfolded, Annie wept with tears
of gratitude. Suddenly everything that had happened before and all that had happened
here in this cabin became clear and focused. She laughed through her tears,
wiping them against the fuzzy wool of her sweater.

“Show me how, Lord,” she whispered, turning back
to Michael’s side.

“Michael. Michael, wake up!” She shook him,
rubbing her hand against his cold cheek. “I have to talk to you. Wake up!”

“What? Who’s there?” he jumped, startled. When
his eyes focused on Annie, he relaxed. “Annie, don’t do that to me! I thought
someone was—what’s the matter with you? You look—”

“I have to talk to you. I finally get it.”

He tried to sit up, grimacing at the persistent
pain in his side. “Get what?”

“This is really important. I need you to listen
to me.”

“I’m listening, I’m listening. What’s this all
about?”

She took a deep breath, kneeling beside the
sofa. “I need to explain something to you. See, the reason I came up here to
Christine’s cabin was because I was dying inside. I realize that now. I was so
frustrated with everything in my life. I couldn’t go on anymore. I’d lost my
way.

“It’s not important for me to tell you
everything right now, except this—the very reason I was here was because I’d
become
so
distracted with all the wrong things in my life! I was blinded
by the stupid stuff. I let all that insignificant junk weigh me down until I rendered
myself absolutely worthless.”

Michael stopped her, impatience written on his
face. “Why are you telling me this? I don’t think I need to hear—”

“Yes, you do. Just let me say what’s on my
heart. I know it sounds ridiculous but, the truth of the matter is, I ran away
from home.”

He yawned. “You ran away from home.”

“Yes. I quite literally ran away from home! I’m
a grown woman who left her husband, her kids, her whole life behind, to come up
here.

“See, I thought I was losing my mind. I thought
if I could just have some time to myself, time to think through everything, I
would be all right. But I wasn’t. I came up here to get a fresh sense of what
my life was all about. But that didn’t happen. All of that ‘stuff’ was still
there, hovering over my head.

“Then I got angry. I kept asking why? Why was
this happening to me? All I ever wanted was to be a good wife to David, and a
good mother to my children. Why was all the rest of it such a stumbling block
to my life? Why couldn’t I handle it? Why was I giving up on David instead of
fighting for him? Where was my backbone! I’d completely lost sight of
everything that was right and good in my life.

“But now I see! It took coming here to this
cabin—and you—and
all
of this for me to see the truth!”

“Annie, I have no clue what you’re talking
about. You’ve lost me.”

She smiled, taking his hand in hers. “That’s
just it—you were lost! Don’t you see? The same thing was happening in
your
life. Maybe the circumstances were different, but in your own way, you were
stumbling all over your life just like I was. You said yourself that your life
was ruined. Your marriage was ruined. Your career was ruined. Why? Because you
tried to do it all your
own
way. You called all your own shots—” She
stopped mid-sentence as a thought occurred to her . . . “—and got shot in the
process!”

“Very funny. But what’s that got to do—”

“It’s got
everything
to do with it. Look,
regardless of whose fault any of it was, the bottom line is that your life was
a total disaster. Admit it! But you knew the answer, even though you didn’t
know
you knew the answer.”

He stared at her, blinking. “You’re not making
any sense.”

She could tell his patience was wearing thin.

Say it, Annie. Tell him.

“You said it yourself. You said that unless a
miracle came along, you were a dead man.”

His eyes narrowed, daring her to continue.

“Michael,” she whispered. “
This
is your
miracle. And you were right about something else. None of this was by chance!
It could never have happened by mere coincidence.
You—me—here . . . together after all these years? What are the
odds? It wasn’t some obscure second chance at a long-lost relationship. We
weren’t brought here to rekindle a romance from way back when. We’re here—now.
You and me. Holed up in this cabin, snowed in, out of touch with the rest of
the world. Why? For this very moment.
This
is your miracle.”

He grabbed her shoulders. “ANNIE! Stop talking
in circles! I. Don’t. Understand!”

“But I do! That’s just it! God had to yank me
out of my pity party and out of my worn-out routine and drag me up this
mountain in the middle of nowhere. He had to let me pour my heart out to Him
and spill out all that venom and anger and hurt and frustration—because
He
needed me
. It was His way to prepare me for something extraordinary.”

“For WHAT?”

“He wants to use me. Like . . . like a life
raft. For
you,
Michael
.
” She looked deeply into his eyes,
searching for some light of understanding. A tenderness so pure filled her with
a love that astounded her.

A very different kind of love.

“Michael Dean, you showed up here shot up like a
piece of Swiss cheese. Dumped on my doorstep half-dead. You are completely at
my mercy. And finally,
finally,
I have a chance to tell you about Someone
who totally turned my life around. Someone who has all the answers, all the
miracles, all the hope you or I could ever need.

“Oh Michael, if only you knew. All those years
ago, you broke my heart. But instead of bitterness, I’ve carried a secret
heartache that had nothing to do with how you left me. Because God changed my
life. He gave me a new slate to start all over. But deep inside, my heart has
always ached that I never had a chance to share Him with you. Over the years,
whenever you crossed my mind—if I heard our song on the radio or saw you
playing ball on TV—I prayed for you, asking God somehow, some way, to get
through to you. To love you like He’s loved me.

“Don’t you see? All that emptiness you feel?
It’s because God made each of us with a place in our hearts just for Him. But He
didn’t force himself on us. He designed it to be ‘by invitation only.’ We have
to
want
Him to be a part of our lives. And He wants desperately to be
invited in. But even when we ignore Him or reject Him, He doesn’t give up on
us.

“And it’s so simple. All we have to do is ask.
Ask Him to forgive us for screwing up our lives, for leaving him out of the
picture, and for all the wrongs we’ve committed in the process. Then we only
have to believe He’s who He says He is. He’s God! And He gave His Son to
provide a way for us to come to Him. It’s all about forgiveness, don’t you
see?”

“No, Annie. It isn’t that simple. You don’t
understand. You have no idea what kind of person I’ve become. You don’t know—”

“But that’s just it. We’ve all made mistakes.
We’ve all made messes of our lives in one way or another. And that’s the whole
point. We’ve tried to fill that void in our lives that was made just for Him.
And we can’t do that with anything else
but
Him.
All the while He
waits for us, and waits and waits, until we come to the end of the rope and
realize we have no place else to turn but to Him.

“Yes, Michael. It really is that simple.”

Tears filled his eyes despite the confusion she
saw there. She knew a fierce and mighty battle raged behind those eyes.

She spoke urgently, barely above a whisper.
“You’ve been in the driver’s seat your whole life, and look where it got you.
Just hand the keys over to Hhim. He wants so much for you to hand over those
keys because He wants
you
. Let go, Michael. Give Him your life. He can
make it whole and pure and good like it’s never been before.”

She searched his eyes for an answer. There was
only one question left to ask. “What have you got to lose?”

He closed his eyes, his chin trembling. Now was
his moment of truth. She too closed her eyes, praying for God’s peace and
presence to overwhelm him and lead him out of the darkness forever.

She didn’t know how long they remained that way.
Finally, she heard him take a deep breath and felt him gently rub her hand. She
looked up, his face familiar but now strangely different. Even the look in his
eyes was different.