Forgiven (18 page)

She giggled. “I love that you tease me.” She pulled him, closer. “Isn’t it fun?

Being married like this?”

He brought his lips to hers and kissed her, long and slow. His chest still heaved from the field work and the fact that he’d probably jogged the whole way across their several acres to the house

When they came up for air, he grinned at her and traced her upper lip with his finger. “I still can’t believe you said yes.”

“I can’t believe you asked.”

They kissed again, and he gave her another hug before moving on to the cupboard.

“I’m starved.” He found a box of Cheerios and set it on the counter. “How was Bailey this morning?”

“Better.” Jenny sat on a barstool. She rested her elbow on the granite top and rested her chin in her hand. “The CKT kids are going to be okay, Things like this only bring those kinds of kids closer together.”

“Mmmm, you’re right.” He poured a bowl of cereal and topped it with milk. Then he took the stool beside her. “Is she still angry about the drunk driver?”

“Furious.” Jenny shuddered. “It scares me a little.”

He put his spoon down and set his hand on her shoulder. “She’ll be all right.

It’s normal to feel that way.”

144

FORGIVEN

“I guess.” She met his eyes. “Dayne Matthews is coming to town. Did you see that in the paper?”

“Yesterday.” He took a bite, his attention still on her.

“It was in again today.” She sat up and laid her forearms on the counter.

“Katy’s spending today with him.”

“Really?” Jim finished chewing, but there was worry in his eyes. “Is that a good thing?”

“I don’t know.” Jenny sighed. She reached out and took hold of his free hand.

“Do you know how much I love you, Mr. Flanigan?”

“More now that the blackberry bushes are down?” His eyes twinkled, and he chuckled despite the bite of cereal in his mouth.

“Well, yes. A little more, maybe.” She laughed. “No, seriously. I would hate to be single again. I think about Bailey and

Katy, and all I want for them is this.”

“Cheerios in the morning?”

She gave him a teasing look, took the spoon from him, and set it in his bowl.

Then she stood and framed his face with her hands. “This, Jim. I want them to find someone who loves God first and them second.”

“Doesn’t sound very romantic, does it?” He made a funny face at her.

“It is, though.” She leaned in and kissed him. “What we have is everything romance and marriage are supposed to be. But it’s rare, Jim. A few people find it, and that’s all.” She searched his eyes, and in them she saw that he understood. “I want this for Katy and Bailey, because they deserve this type of love. It’s what they’ve prayed for all their lives.”

Jim raised one eyebrow. “Bailey’s a little young, don’t you think?”

She gave him a playful whack on the shoulder. “Not yet, but soon. You know what I mean. The years go way too fast. Sometimes I see her look at Cody Coleman or Tanner Williams, and I

145

KAREN KINGSBURY

wonder if any of the guys she knows could ever grow up to love her the way you love me. The way you love God.”

“Honey—” he kissed first her right cheek, then her left”God figured things out for the two of us.” He angled his head, and a lighthearted knowing look filled his eyes. “He’ll figure things out for them too.”

“Even for Katy?” Jenny knew better than to doubt. But Dayne Matthews? What girl could resist a guy like him? Even if being with him made no practical sense at all?

Jim pushed his cereal bowl to the side and pulled her close. They kissed, and then he whispered low to her, “Yes, love. Even for Katy.”

Something in his tone told her that he was right—she had nothing to worry about. Wherever Katy and Dayne spent the day, God would be there. And He would give Katy the same sense He’d given her. Sense enough to recognize when a man was the best thing to come her way.

And sense enough to run like crazy when he wasn’t.

146

147

DAYN AND KATY WERE ONLY a hundred yards into the lake trail when Dayne changed the conversation from talk about the weather and the water and the benefits of living along the shore. He couldn’t keep things surface between them, not when every step he took felt like a dream.

They wore Tshirts and jeans, with sweatshirts tied around their waists in case a wind came up over the water. But a tornado could pass by and he wouldn’t notice. Not when he was completely consumed with her. How could he be here in Bloomington, hiking a dirt trail around a pristine lake with Katy Hart at his side? It didn’t seem real, like something from a dream or a movie. With every minute that passed he felt more taken by her, more aware of her presence. She was everything he’d ever wanted, even if he could never have her.

But now, as they hit the official trailhead and tossed their empty Starbucks cups into a trash can, he had questions. “So what’ve you been doing, Katy?

Seeing anyone?”

He expected her to look away or tell him that she’d fallen in 148

FORGIVEN

love. That would help explain why she hadn’t returned his calls. But instead she giggled, and her arm brushed against his. As laughter filled her eyes, she looked more beautiful than he’d ever realized before.

“Either you’re dating a comedian—” he was comfortable with her, his words unhurriedw”or I missed something.”

“You missed the RPSer.” She caught her breath and grinned at him. “I met him the night of auditions. He was ready to get mar ried the next day, I think.”

“Really?” Dayne could see she was joking and that she had no interest in the guy. Still, he hated the idea of someone else mov ing in on her. “What’s an RPSer?”

“That’s what I asked.” She stopped and turned toward him. “The guy’s an expert at rock-paper-scissors.” She held out her hand and pounded it with her other fist. “Remember that game kids played at school way back when?” She shook her head. “All he could talk about was strategy and talent and whether I’d caught him in the finals on ESPN.”

“You didn’t, right?”

“Of course not.” She made a face at him. “I thought the guy was joking. An RPSer? I tell you, Dayne, the pickings are slim here in Bloomington.”

He stopped and waited until she did the same and their eyes met. The mood between them changed, and Dayne was glad. He might have only one day to tell her how he felt. He didn’t want to spend the whole time joking around. “Can I tell you something, Katy?”

“What?” Her eyes held his, waiting.

“They’re slim in Hollywood too.”

“Well…” A wall went up in her eyes. She gave him a smile that told him she wasn’t ready to bare her heart. Not yet, any way. “Good thing you have Kelly, then, huh?”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Touch, he 149

KARE N KINGSBURY

wanted to tell her. Instead he winced. “Yeah.” He set his feet in motion again, and she fell in beside him. “Good thing.”

They walked a little more, and then Katy glanced at him. “Tell me about your parents. I have a friend whose parents are missionaries. She says it’s sort of like being a pastor’s kid. Lots of scrutiny, that type of thing.”

For all the connections he had in the entertainment industry and all the people he talked with on a daily basis, this was one topic that never came up. The story of his parents and him, the tale of his childhood. But it wasn’t the time to talk about that, was it? Katy wouldn’t want all the details. She was only trying to be friendly.

He made flirty eyes at her. “Yeah, we missionary kids were a lot of work—I can tell you that. Getting our languages mixed up and never knowing first thing in the morning if we should eat or hit the fund-raising trail.”

She laughed but only briefly. “Come on. I’m serious, Dayne. What was it like?”

Her questions had a way of peeling back the layers, exposing another time and place when he was just a kid being raised by strangers because his parents were busy telling people about Jesus. He really didn’t want to talk about it, but they had all afternoon. Clouds had rolled in overhead, and the trees that lined the path cast dark shadows on the trail. He caught her eyes. “You really want to know?”

“Yes.” They slowed their pace. “Can you remember anything else? Before they were missionaries, you know, when you were really young?”

“Funny, I’ve asked myself that.” He kicked at a few loose rocks and slid his hands into his pockets. “But there’s nothing. They signed up for work in Indonesia when I wasn’t quite four years old.”

The look in Katy’s eyes told him she disapproved. “You were just a baby.”

150

FORGIVEN

“I was old enough for boarding school.” He wanted to keep the story light, but it didn’t feel that way. Not after stuffing the details in the dark places of his heart for so many years. He had the outside edge of the trail, and he looked past her through the trees to the lake. “Actually, it was a nice place. Clean and safe, good people working there.”

His story began to unfold, slowly at first and then with more imagery and detail. He was six when he realized that he and the others in his class didn’t live like other American kids.

Dayne and his parents went back home on furlough that year and had three months in Detroit, Michigan, attending the church that supported them. That Christmas, one of the boys in his Sunday school class talked about playing family games at the dinner table each night.

“At school, you mean?” Dayne sat cross-legged in the circle, confused. “Dinner happens at school, right?”

The other children gave him funny looks, and one little girl laughed out loud.

“No, silly,” she said. “Dinner happens at home with your mommy and daddy.”

Apparently the Sunday school teacher knew about Dayne’s background, because she took control of the moment. “Chil dren, some boys and girls live with their friends and their teach ers. It’s called boarding school.” She smiled at Dayne.

“That’s where you live, right?”

He nodded, but he felt strange and different.

The teacher went on. “Dayne’s parents go around the jungles of Indonesia—far, far away from the United States—and they tell people about Jesus.”

One of the girls said it best, said something that had stayed with Dayne ever since. No matter how far he traveled from that time, he could still hear what she said next: “Why don’t his mommy and daddy stay home and teach him about Jesus? That way they could play games at the dinner table.”

Indeed.

151

KAREN KINGSBURY

His next memory came from sometime around his ninth birthday. His parents tried to make it back for the occasion, but they rarely did. They would come a few weeks before or a month after, but almost never during the week of his birthday.

The dorm mother had brought a handful of kids out onto the lawn so they could play and sing happy birthday to Dayne.

But he wanted his parents, wanted them in the worst way.

He pulled the dorm mother aside. “I don’t want everyone to sing this year.”

“Why, Dayne, what do you want?” She was a round woman with a friendly face and warm eyes. “Want me to bake you a chocolate cake?”

“No, thank you.” He squirmed a little. “I want my mom and dad, if that’s okay.”

“Now, honey, you know they’re not coming.” She smoothed his hair back from his forehead. “They’re probably in the middle of a Bible study with the jungle people.”

Even at the time her answer sounded strange. “Why would they be hanging out with jungle people, when they could be home with me?”

“Well, Dayne—” the woman looked troubled—”your parents have made a promise to tell the people in the Indonesian jungles about Jesus. It’s their passion and purpose in life.”

That afternoon was a turning point for Dayne. He might have been only nine years old, but he could see past the dorm mother’s explanation. His mom and dad were parents. Shouldn’t that be their passion and purpose in life?

From then on, Dayne thought so. Once when he was twelve and his parents were visiting, he told them what he thought. “God wants you to tell people about Jesus, right?”

“Right.” His parents sat together on a bench, holding hands. His father smiled at him. “That’s what we’re building our lives around.”

152

FORGIVEN

He tried to keep his tone even, but his anger got the better of him. “Then how come you haven’t told me about Jesus?”

His mother let out a soft gasp. “Of course we’ve told you, Dayne.”

“No. I know who Jesus is because of my classes. But I don’t understand Him. Not even the basics about Him.” He lowered his brow, studying his parents. “Doesn’t that bother you a little?”

“Son, we can change that right now.” His father looked at his wife, and they gave each other a nod. “Go get your Bible and we’ll take a look at the book of John.”

Dayne left but he didn’t come back with a Bible. He came back with a baseball.

With so little time to spend with his parents, he wasn’t about to waste one of their afternoons talking about Jesus. He’d only wanted to make a point, and by the look in his parents’ eyes when they left the next day, his point had been made.

“We might be far away, Dayne,” his mother told him when she left, “but we think about you and pray for you every day.”

Her comment made him sick to his stomach. He didn’t want her thoughts and prayers. Even as a preteen he wanted her hugs and her time, her attention in the evenings, and her advice on everything from the plays he was interested in to the girls who seemed to notice him more often now.

He wanted parents, not distant missionaries, praying for him and thinking of him.

But his parents were determined to finish the work God had given them. They spent more time in the jungles as he got older, visiting him sometimes only three times in a given year. Left on his own, Dayne became best friends with another drama student, a guy named Bob Asher. Like him, Bob had no siblings, and he’d been raised at the boarding school since he was old enough to walk.

Bob had the best attitude of anyone at the school. If his par 153

KAREN KINGSBURY

ents missed a visit, he’d shrug and smile. “So what? So we don’t see our parents much. At least we see ‘em sometimes.”