Waiting for Daybreak (32 page)
Paige hurried forward. “Clarissa, are you all right?”
Clarissa shook her head, letting her hair fall across her down-turned face. “She’s gone.”
“Who’s gone?”
Clarissa looked up, her eyes full of tears. “Mrs. Vaerge.”
“Gone where?” Paige did not think she wanted to know the answer.
“I went to see her. To tell her how sorry I was about the mix-up, even if she didn’t . . .” Clarissa looked away and shook her head. “She was so gracious about it. So understanding.”
“Where’s she gone?”
“She kept rubbing her forehead, and as I was leaving, she asked me to send the nurse in. They called a code blue while I was still on the elevator.” In the fading light of the day, the final rays of the sun bounced off the tears on Clarissa’s cheeks. “They tried everything, they couldn’t bring her back.”
The strength left Paige’s legs and she felt the sharp sting as her knees hit the asphalt of the driveway. “No. No. She was getting better. We talked yesterday. Maybe you’ve got the wrong person.”
“Paige, I was there. I stood by her bed just moments before.” Clarissa reached down and pulled Paige to her feet. “You need to go sit.”
Paige nodded weakly. “Do you want to come inside?”
The expression on Clarissa’s face said that she very much did not want to, but she answered, “Just for a minute.”
Paige held the door open and Clarissa entered, eyes flickering over the simple furniture, the modest decorations. They lingered on a photo of Paige’s parents. Clarissa closed her eyes for a moment and then took a seat. “She had a message she wanted me to give you.”
“A message?”
“Actually, she said it was for both of us. ‘Romans thirteen, twelve.’ That’s a Bible verse, right? She said you’d know what it meant.”
“I do,” Paige said. “She liked to give me Bible verses she thought could help me.” She could barely get the sentence out without choking up a bit. How was it that words were still coming from her mouth? Her whole being wanted to shut down, to embrace the numbness that followed Clarissa’s announcement. She stumbled down the hall and somehow made it to her room. She walked over to the nightstand and picked up the worn burgundy leather Bible that sat there, unable to believe she was about to read Ora’s final verse of wisdom. She walked back to the living room. “Romans thirteen, verse twelve?”
“Yes, that’s what she said.”
Paige’s hands shook with grief as she turned the last page.
“Here it is. ‘The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.’ ”
Paige’s eyes teared instantly. How could day be nearly here with Ora gone? But the woman was right; Paige felt it. If losing her job had been the blackest night, then these last few days were certainly the coming of dawn. Paige shook her head to herself, amazed that Ora was still speaking to her. Then she heard a surprising noise and looked up.
Across from her, Clarissa was crying, as well. Slow, round drops pooling in her eyes. “Someone new,” Paige heard Clarissa say to herself. Clarissa looked at Paige. “It’s about starting over and fresh chances, isn’t it?”
Paige nodded.
Clarissa stood, embarrassment evident on her face. She quickly headed for the door, but before stepping outside turned to Paige. “I’ve got to get back. But when you say your prayers tonight, will you tell God I could use a little help?”
“Why don’t you ask Him yourself?”
Clarissa nodded, thinking it over. “I just might do that.”
Paige spent the next few hours buried in regret, thinking about all the things she wished she could go back and change. Things she could have done differently.
Then she thought of Ora and her verse. Maybe it was time to stop focusing on regrets. It was time to think about the things she still could change—or at least the things she could at least try to set right.
She picked up the phone. Her fingers were shaking by the time she’d punched the last number, but she refused to give in and hang up. “It’s me. I, uh, called to say I’m sorry.”
For a moment she heard only silence on the other line. And then simply his voice.
“What for?”
“Being too fast to condemn. Clarissa told me the truth, the same truth you tried to tell me, and I wouldn’t listen. I’m sorry.”
This time the silence went for so long that Paige began to wonder if he’d hung up on her. When Tony finally spoke, his voice had a raw edge to it. “You want to prove that by having dinner Saturday night?”
“I . . . I . . . so much has happened.”
“I know. We’ll take it slow and get our footing back.”
“Why would you even want to do that?”
“That day I first met you, I spent half the night afterward walking through waist-high weeds looking for wildflowers—all the while praying I wouldn’t step on a cottonmouth or a copperhead. I knew then you were special. Nothing that’s happened since then has changed my mind.”
“You? You’re the one who brought those flowers?”
“Guilty.”
She couldn’t believe it. Everyone had been so certain they were from Cory that Paige had come to believe it herself. Tony had been the one all along. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I thought a little mystery was more romantic.”
What could she say to that?
“Well, okay then. Saturday sounds good.” She realized then just how much she meant it.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Maybe Ora was right. Maybe the night was nearly over.
Two Months Later
“I wish Dawn could be here for this. Nobody grills baby back ribs like your father,” Paige’s mother said, and Paige watched as she took a small bite. For her second day home, her mom was doing wonderfully. She was still so thin, so frail. But healthy—for now, at least. And today Paige would finally get to take her parents to see her pride and joy. Her mom looked across the picnic table as Paige’s father polished off another rib. “Maybe you should save her some.”
He grinned a messy smile. “There’s plenty. From the look on her face when she left a while ago, she wished she was staying, too. I hope her daddy’s not too hard on her—maybe I should go over and talk to him.”
Paige nudged her father with her elbow. “What would you say?”
“You know, don’t be too hard on your girl, she’s learned her lesson the hard way. Now’s a good time to lighten up.” He reached down to pet Dusty. “What are you begging about? You know we never feed you from the table.”
Tony choked and coughed. “Oops. Sorry, sir, guess that’s my fault.”
Paige’s father looked over at him. “Say what?”
“Well, the young man has such large brown eyes, and when he looks at me, I just can’t take it. I’d give him the steak off my plate if he looked at me long enough.”
“Well then, I just got one thing to say to you. You’re toast.”
Tony smiled at him. “Toast?”
“Cooked. Burnt, if you want to know the whole truth. If Dusty’s theatrics make you cave so quick . . . Paige has always been able to melt me with her big ol’ blue eyes—she had me wearing a tiara and fake jewels when she was little, sitting through jazz concerts when she got older.”
Tony clasped her hand under the table. “There’s a problem I think I’d like to spend the next sixty years figuring out.”
Paige squeezed his hand. “Only sixty?”
“Yeah, I figure by the time I’m ninety, you’ll be getting old. I’ll be looking for someone younger then.”
Paige swatted at him with her free hand. “Thanks a lot.”
“Yep, you’re burnt toast all right.”
Paige felt her heart would surely burst as she finally led her parents through the lobby to the door of the pharmacy. “What do you think so far?”
Her mother’s smile was still weak, but it lit the room. “It’s everything I imagined it to be.” She leaned on her husband’s arm for support as she looked up at the sign. “You couldn’t have chosen a more perfect name, could you?”
Since it was closed on Sundays, Paige had to unlock the door and hold it open. “Welcome to Daybreak Apothecary. Please, come in, look around, make yourself at home.”
“Oh, Norman, look at this.” Her mother’s voice floated across the store.
Paige went back to start a pot of coffee. Today, she would share it with her parents and Tony and drink it in Ora’s honor.
“Oh, honey, this is just beautiful.” Her mother came to sit in the waiting area. “It’s exactly what I always dreamed of for you.”
“It’s more than I ever dreamed for myself.” Paige thought about the truth in that statement. This might have been a fantasy, but she had never allowed herself to dream beyond the HMO job in Atlanta.
It occurred to her then that it had taken every single one of the bad things that had happened to cause her to land here, exactly where she wanted to be, doing exactly what she wanted to do. There was so much truth in what Ora had said. At the time that seems darkest, when the city is surrounded and all apparently lost, the only thing to do is stand your ground and have faith for the break of day.
The next morning, Paige left a bit before everyone else to make a quick detour. She’d made this trip at least once a week and walked to Ora’s grave under a beautiful spreading elm. Like each previous time, she stood and marveled once again at the inscription Ora had requested on her tombstone.
Who knows but
that you have come here for such a time as this? Esther 4:14.
“Ora, I still don’t know what you had in mind when you selected that verse, but I believe God sent you to me for just this time.” She looked at the sky. “Thank You. Thank You for sharing her with me.”
The sun broke over the horizon as Paige reached her car and drove away.
Father in heaven—thank You for once again blessing me with this dream.
Lee, Melanie and Caroline—this was a long and bumpy ride. Thanks for buckling up and hanging on with me. I love you all soooo much!
Mom—you’re the best book promoter, and all-around cheerleader, I’ve ever seen.
Lori Baur—once again, you amaze me with your marketing savvy.
Brother Bill and Barbara Betts—Doris Woodward’s struggles are closely based on Brother Bill’s own journey and Barbara’s amazing journaling and steadfastness through it all.
Dave Long and the Bethany editing team—thanks for the mountains of effort you put into this book.
It’s been over ten years since I last worked in a pharmacy, so I was constantly badgering my pharmacist friends for info: Leslie Litton, Jaci Sharitz, Kristi Harb. Also Kim Tucker, tech and photographer extraordinaire. Special thanks to Leslie for forwarding some questions to Rick Karsten, senior agent. Rick, thanks for your great and patient answers.
Michael Berrier and Shawn Grady—thanks for spending the last year and half helping me work through this book.
The Winklings—John Olson, Jenn Doucette, James Rubart, and Katie Vorreiter, for your unwavering support.
Last but not least—special thanks to Dusty Cushman, for “agreeing” to make a cameo appearance in this book, bad leg and all.
1. Are there times when it is appropriate, correct even, to do the “wrong thing for the right reason”? Do you think Paige’s actions ever fell into this category?
2. Do you think that lawsuits in our current medical system encourage cover-ups of mistakes? Should Paige have told Lee about her past when he offered to hire her?
3. Paige finally acknowledged that she carried “3 percent” of the blame. Do you think she carried more or less? Have you ever carried more than your share of blame for something? How did you deal with it?
4. How is family important in the novel? How has family helped or hindered your own life and faith choices?
5. Clarissa has a noble goal and she pursues it regardless of who is hurt in the process. Paige also has a noble goal, yet goes after it in a much gentler way. Do you think the difference is upbringing, personality, or spiritual beliefs?
6. In times of crisis, has a specific Bible verse or other wisdom ever been of comfort to you? How did you discover it and what did it come to mean to you?
7. Have you ever prayed, claimed, believed, yet did not receive what you asked for? Did it challenge or deepen your faith? Have you ever prayed, claimed, believed and received? How did it affect your faith?
8. During a dark moment in your life, what did you do or how did you manage to make it to your “daybreak”?
9. Have you lived or worked with a person like Clarissa’s grandfather who pushes, sometimes too hard, for results? Did this motivate you? Frustrate you?
More Powerful Drama
From Kathryn Cushman
Melanie Johnston, a struggling single mother, and Andie Phelps, a wealthy socialite, have almost nothing in common. But in the midst of a tragic accident, their two very different worlds collide. As these two wounded mothers search for hope, will their choices bring healing or tear their lives—and community—apart?
A Promise to Remember
by Kathryn Cushman
