Living Stones (37 page)

“It wouldn’t have mattered what we think, Frank. Ashley just does her thing.”

“I can’t figure her out sometimes. She seems so stubborn once she gets on to some idea. And she is being exposed to concepts out there in Seattle that I don’t like.”

“She has certainly had her share of adventures between what we read and what she tells us.”

“I’m not sure she is telling us the whole story, Dorothy. I don’t think we know what really went on in Israel. She seems to be hiding stuff. Maybe things she doesn’t want us to know.”

“I agree. She hasn’t shared much about how she identified where the bomber lived in Seattle either, only that she tipped off the police.” Dorothy shook her head. “Some things don’t add up.”

“And how did she happen to get lost in the storm on Mount Rainier?” Frank asked. “From what we read, a group of international students climbed up to a base camp on the mountain. It didn’t mention that Palestinian by name, but I wonder if he persuaded her to go.”

“She never talks about him on Skype. But I have my own intuition, Frank. I think she is still seeing him and just doesn’t want us to know.”

“I think you’re right.” As an engineer and businessman in the oil industry, he tended to think logically and make correlations. He turned to Dorothy. “Who accompanied Ashley when the bomb went off? That guy Najid. She had hinted at visiting a family in Galilee—maybe it was his. How did she track down the bomber in Seattle? Was he involved? If all that is true, this man brought trouble on Ashley.”

“Do you think he has ulterior motives?”

He nodded his head. “He may, Dorothy. We’ve got to protect Ashley from this Palestinian guy. I don’t trust him with our daughter.”

Ashley spied them wheeling their carry-on bags as they emerged from the B concourse at Sea-Tac airport. She ran to hug them. Her parents looked tired. After the greetings she’d take them to their motel on 25
^th
Avenue near the university. They hadn’t eaten since their layover in Denver hours earlier. “I know a restaurant on the Ave that you’ll enjoy.”

“It looks like Seattle agrees with you, Ashley.” Dorothy smiled at her daughter as they drove on I-5 toward the Seattle skyline. Ashley sparkled and looked beautiful, her long blond hair blowing in the partially open window. The blue water of Puget Sound glittered as they neared the city, with the Olympic Mountains as a backdrop. Ashley pointed out some of the tall buildings and then the Space Needle. They neared the Mercer Street exit. Suddenly Ashley looked quickly into her side mirror and behind her as she eased the car into
the exit lane.

“I just had a great idea. Let’s have dinner at the Space Needle. It’s still early,so we probably can get in without a reservation. They have a revolving restaurant at the top that completes one revolution per hour. It’s a beautiful day, so we should be able to get a sunset view we won’t forget. You up for it Dad? It’s a tad pricey.”

“Ashley, we’ve come all this way just to see you. And if that’s what you think we’d all enjoy, go for it!”

Ashley emerged first from the elevator looking high over Seattle to Mount Rainier. Frank and Dorothy stood staring at the huge mountain, glaciers draped down its sides like white banners interspersed by rocky ridges of black. The flat top with its mile-wide crater shone in the afternoon sun.

“It would have been nice to have this kind of weather two weeks ago,” Ashley said. “But then I’ve heard the mountain even makes its own weather.”

Led by the hostess, they stepped over the seam in the carpeted floor. Frank noticed movement, a stationary center core, and an outer ring that rotated slowly clockwise. The tables on the ring wound gradually past each window. Being an engineer, his curiosity perked up. As they sat down he placed a cheap ballpoint pen on the window counter, out near the glass.

“Why did you do that, Frank?” his wife asked.

“I want to see how soon the pen returns. Then I’ll know whether Ashley is correct.”

“Correct in what?”

“She said we rotate once per hour. We’ll see whether she tells the truth.” He winked at his daughter. Both women chuckled.

They had just finished their salads when the pen appeared. Frank looked at his watch. “She’s right, one hour and two minutes.”

Ashley pointed out the city lakes as they rotated again north and then east, first Green Lake, Lake Union, and after the Ship Canal, Lake Washington. On the third trip around, as they finished a chocolate mousse, they watched the sun sink. The sky turned red
and the water of Elliott Bay a rose color in the September Indian summer. They left reluctantly.

Over the next two days, as they toured the sites of Seattle and rode a ferry up through the San Juan Islands to Friday Harbor, her parents wanted to know the whole story of her adventures in Israel. Ashley told them everything, except about her visit to Najid’s family. They had many questions. Her adventures and survival seemed hard to believe. They had never heard any of the personal side of the people in the Holy Land. Coming out of Friday Harbor on the rear deck of the return ferry to Seattle, they saw an Orca breech, its striking black and white body brilliant in the western sun, with Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan shining in the east behind it.

“I can see why you like Seattle, Ashley.” Frank became serious. “But you haven’t told us much about your social life here. Nothing about your Palestinian friend. Are you still seeing him?”

“Yes, Dad. I am.”

“Does he go to church with you?”

“No, he attends a small Middle Eastern group.”

“Oh. Then he’s really Islamic.”

“No, Dad! I’ve told you, he’s a Christian. He really is! Can’t you understand anyone outside of our own culture? Why do you close your eyes to people who don’t fit into your particular mold? Why do you close your heart to them?”

“Look, Ashley,” her dad said, leaning forward and shaking his head, “we care for you and don’t want you to continue seeing him.”

Her mother nodded her head. “Sometimes parents see things that their children, in their emotions, don’t recognize. We’re not stupid. We’ve been around awhile.”

“Mom, you don’t even know Najid! You won’t let yourself even get acquainted! How can you learn someone’s character without even talking to him?”

“We just have more experience than you do, Ashley.” Frank stood and paced the ferry deck. “As your father, I have the responsibility to protect you. And I intend to do that. I don’t want my daughter
dragged off to some godforsaken desert in the Middle East to a Muslim culture where women have no rights. I’ve read their stories. It ends up in abuse of the young wife in the family. Her kids don’t even belong to her. I couldn’t bear that for you or my prospective grandchildren.”

Ashley stood up and faced her parents, narrowing her eyes. “I respect you as my parents, Dad and Mom. I love you guys. And I listen to your views. But I am a grown woman now, and it is my life we are talking about, not yours. You have made your choices. I have the right and freedom to make mine. Even if you think I’m making bad ones, you’ll have to accept them. You can no longer tell me what I can and cannot do!”

“OK, Ashley,” her mother softened her voice. “We understand you have the right to choose. But we don’t even know this guy. What kind of man is he anyway?”

“Exactly! You don’t know him because you have chosen not to even listen to him!” Ashley stood up, eyes flashing, brow furrowed. “I know him. We have been through a lot together, and I trust him. He’s a wonderful man with a great family, and I love him. Do you hear me? I love Najid, and he loves me! There is nothing you can do to stop me from loving him! Or seeing him!”

Ashley let her tears fall as she walked rapidly toward the bow of the ship. Then she remembered that Jim suggested she not discuss Najid with her parents. But she hadn’t brought it up. Her father had asked directly. She shook her head, talking to the wind. “Now I’ve really messed it up.”

Frank sank onto a bench, head in his hands. Dorothy wept, shaking her head. “I didn’t want this to happen, Frank. Why did you have to bring it up now? We’ve had such a beautiful trip so far. Now you’ve ruined it.”

“We needed to talk, Dorothy. The visit will slip by without resolving this for our daughter. I will not lose total control of her and let her make foolish mistakes!”

“Maybe we should meet him. We’re going to her church tomorrow. But then he doesn’t go there, so we won’t see him. Anyway, we’ll
have to talk sense into her sometime before we go, and maybe even meet him just to placate her.”

The rest of the trip back in the sunset passed quietly. The blue water foreground and the city skyline with Mount Rainier as a backdrop calmed the Wells family’s raw nerves. They talked little except about where to eat dinner.

Ashley took time on Sunday morning to call Jim at his home before picking up her parents.

“Hi, Jim. I just want to confirm that you will be meeting my parents after church and will take them into your office for a chat regarding Najid.”

“It’s all planned, Ashley. Thanks for providing the information I needed. You might have a brunch with your parents before the eleven o’clock service so we can continue a bit into the afternoon. I’ll talk to them alone at first. But I want you to have Najid there with you by two. Wait outside the office. I’ll come and get you.”

“Really? Have him there? I thought you were going to chat with them without either of us present.”

“Trust me on this one, Ashley.”

“Okaaay . . . I do appreciate your help, Jim. I just don’t want to barge in with Najid and upset your conversation. You know, ‘fools rush in.’ This is so important to us . . . that my parents begin to understand.”

“I’ve got your back, Ashley. Just have them at church.”

Ashley made one more quick call. “Najid, Jim is meeting with my
parents after church today.”

“Good. I’ll be interested to hear how that goes.”

“He wants us both there, at two p.m. Sorry for the short notice. I didn’t know his plan. He wants us at his office in the church.”

Ashley heard nothing on the line. “Najid, are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here.”

“Well, can you come then?”

“I’m not sure I’m prepared to meet your parents yet, Ashley.”

“You mean you won’t come?”

“Have your parents agreed to meet me? You remember last time in the hospital, they didn’t want to even shake hands or talk with me.”

“Najid, I’ve been having a good time with them. Well, for the most part. But Jim asked me to trust him, and he wants you there.”

“Do you think anything good can come from my meeting them?”

“I hope so. That’s why I asked Jim for help, to prepare the way for us. I didn’t expect him to have me or you in the room for the discussion. But Jim says it’s all planned and that I should go along with his plan. I do trust him.”

“What is planned, Ashley?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. I guess we’ll find out later today. You know Jim now, Najid. He respects you. So does Pastor Tom, our senior pastor. Your story prompted a lot of discussions in our church—good ones. None of the leadership had ever personally heard anything like what you told during the debriefing.”

Ashley waited for Najid’s answer. She knew he would eventually let her know after thinking about it. It seemed now or never to her, as though this would be the turning point of her future, with or without the man she loved.