Love Everlasting (Isle of Hope series Book 2) (32 page)

Chapter Forty-Five

Tess stirred from deep slumber, the still of the house not quite right. Mind hazy from sleep, she listened, but all she heard was Ben’s soft snores beside her and the deep bong of the grandfather clock downstairs chiming the hour of five. Glancing out the window, she peered into the night, the predawn sky as dim and dark as her soul suddenly felt. Which made no sense at all because since she’d married Ben, she’d never been happier.

A loud snort escalated Ben’s snores to chainsaw level, and she couldn’t help but smile as she shook her head, giving him a gentle nudge to make him stop. Her smile grew to a grin when he emitted several growls before rolling onto his side, hooking her into the spooning position she so desperately loved. His soft moan in his sleep feathered her ear, and tears immediately pricked at the back of her eyes. “Thank you, God, for the love of this man in my life,” she whispered, never believing her future could hold such joy. Ben shifted against her with another contented moan, and the press of his body reminded her of just one of the many ways that love was manifested, quickly spiking her pulse. Releasing a contented sigh, she closed her eyes to attempt more sleep, but something unknown still stood in the way.

Restless, she carefully tugged from Ben’s hold and padded to the bathroom, slaking her uneasiness with a quick glass of water. She headed toward bed again, sleep calling her back, but when her feet detoured to her bedroom door, she eased it open with the utmost care.

And then she heard it—muffled and barely there—but the sound of weeping all the same, and instantly she was awake, a mother in tune with a child’s pain. Pulse pounding, she tiptoed to the end of the hall where grief seeped beneath Shannon’s door and inching her hand forward, she felt her stomach twist along with the knob. Instantly her rib cage shrank, the sight of Shannon weeping while curled beneath the covers shivering Tess’s soul as much as her daughter’s heaves shivered her bed.

“Shannon?” Tess rushed to lay down beside her, cocooning her in comfort and love like when Shan was small, a tender twin too fragile for life’s injustice. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, M-Mom …” Voice breaking on a loud sob, Shannon turned and clung to her mother, her anguish wracking both of their bodies. “It … h-happened a-again …”

Tess’s blood chilled in her veins. “What happened, darling?” she whispered, her head tucked to Shannon’s while she clutched her with all of her might.

“S-Sam … h-he hurt me …”

“What?” Tess whirled, turning on the nightstand lamp to the dimmest level before holding Shannon at bay, searching her tear-stained face and swollen eyes. “How?”

Shannon sat up with a soggy tissue in hand, heaves quivering her body so hard, Tess was tempted to turn on the heat. “He f-found out the f-full story about Eric b-before I could tell him and he—”

Tess’s body deflated with a silent groan just as Cat’s groggy voice drifted from the open door. “Hey, what’s going—” Her sleepy eyes widened when she saw Shannon’s swollen face. “Shan?” She bolted to the bed and squatted before her, grazing a hand to Shannon’s leg. “Why are you crying?”

“Sam,” Tess said in a terse tone far too hoarse, quickly swallowing her shock that Shannon hadn’t told him everything about her past. Sweeping Shannon’s hair over her shoulder, she handed her the tissue box, noticing for the first time the profusion of crumpled tissues littering the floor and bed. “So, who told him, sweetheart?”

Shannon shook her head, sending more rivulets of tears down her mottled cheeks. “I don’t know, Mom, maybe the fraternity brothers he m-met with last night, but he treated me terrible, m-making me feel so dirty again …”

“What a slime bucket.” Cat’s blue eyes snapped, all sleep apparently forgotten.

Tess laid a hand on Cat’s arm, pretty sure the fire in her daughter’s eyes matched hers to a sizzle. “Cat, would you mind fixing Shan some Sleepytime tea with lots of cream and just a touch of sugar like she prefers? It looks like she hasn’t gotten much sleep, and she’ll need her rest.”

Cat rose. “Sure, Mom, but first I want to hear what that creep did to her.”

Dabbing her eyes, Shannon sniffed, more tears welling. “He came by last night, drunk out of his mind, and I couldn’t let him drive like that, so I drove him home.”

Cat strolled to the window, mouth twisting in a dangerous smile. “Oh, good, his car is still here so I can initial it for him.”

Tess fought the squirm of a smile. “Catherine Marie, as tempting as it may be to key that young man’s car right now, that’s not the response of a Christian woman.”

“Wanna bet?” Shannon blew her nose, her snide remark coaxing a grateful smile to Tess’s mouth.

Cat waltzed back over, hands on her hips. “Just give me the word, Shan, and I’ll put a little sugar in his gas tank along with your tea.”

For once, Tess was thankful for Cat’s irreverent humor, relieved when she spied a ghost of a smile on Shannon’s face. “Actually, Cat, I prefer honey,” she said in a nasal tone, “both in my tea
and
on his prized pearlized paint job.” She snatched several more tissues from the box, putting them to good use. “And if you have enough to fill the pockets of that expensive jacket he left in his car, that would definitely sweeten the deal.”

A wicked grin slid across Cat’s face. “Oh, you bet. Even if I have to drive all the way to Kroger to get it.”

“So, what happened after you took him home?” Tess asked, anxious to get to the heart of the matter. “And I sure hope you railed on him for driving and drinking.”

“I did.” Shannon shifted to sit against the headboard with the box of Kleenex securely in her lap. Her mouth hitched on one side. “Right before he spewed his dinner and a bottle of scotch on the side of the road, so I cleaned him up with a bunch of leaves.”

“Ooooo, poison ivy, I hope?” Cat arched a brow.

Another sliver of a smile shaded Shannon’s lips. “Unfortunately, no.” A tiny touch of tease glimmered in her eyes instead of tears, giving Tess hope that this situation would not bring her daughter to the brink of despair like before. “But on the bright side,” she said with a tip of her head, “his new shoes, shirt, and car will smell like a sewer for a very long time.”

“Good.” Cat cocked a hip with a stern fold of arms. “That’s a good smell for rats.”

“So, what happened after you got him home?” Tess shimmied back against the headboard, too, thinking she might need a cup of tea as well.

A weary sigh drifted from Shannon’s lips. “I helped him upstairs to take a shower while I fixed him coffee and breakfast.”

Cat groaned, mouth dangling as she stared at her sister in disbelief. “Seriously? You are
way
too nice of a person, Shan. You sure wouldn’t catch me cooking for any wasted womanizer.” Her smile veered diabolical. “Unless I had ipecac on hand.”

Shannon chewed on her lip, the hint of a guilty smile peeking through. “Don’t think it didn’t enter my mind, but his clothes and car already smelled like a tavern outhouse on a sewage swamp, so I didn’t want his beautiful house to smell like that too.”

“Bleeding heart,” Cat mumbled.

The smile dissolved on Shannon’s lips, eyes brimming with tears once again. “And that’s exactly what happened, sis, because he made my heart bleed. When he didn’t come down to eat, I found him upstairs on his bed in the dark, and he …”

Tess’s body went stiffer than the wood against her back. But when a sob broke from Shannon’s lips, she folded her in her arms, soothing with a gentle hand to her hair. “It’s okay, baby, no wound is too deep for God, so go on, sweetheart ...”

Shannon nodded against her shoulder, fingers gripping Tess with a ferocity that revealed the depth of her hurt. “He p-pulled me into his bed, wanting to make out, and when I wouldn’t, he … he … said …”

“Said what?” Cat’s tone was deadly.

Shannon’s hand shook as she grabbed several tissues to blow her nose before slumping against Tess’s shoulder. “He said, ‘What’s the matter, Shan? You only put out if a guy’s married?’”

“I’m gonna kill him …” Cat paced back and forth several times before returning to the window with a perilous glint in her eyes.

Swallowing hard, Tess caressed a hand to Shannon’s cheek. “He … didn’t do anything else … did he, sweetheart?”

A grunt slipped from Shannon’s mouth, so out of character, Tess had to bite back a smile. “Not after I left the imprint of my palm on that pretty-boy face of his.” Her lip began to quiver as she rubbed her hand. “It still hurts, but not as much as his jaw, I hope.”

“Yes!” Cat shot a fist in the air. “So, what happened next?”

Shannon’s shoulders lifted in a pathetic shrug, the threat of more tears brewing in her eyes. “I left,” she whispered, and I’ve been crying ever since.”

Cat slammed a hard-knuckled fist into her palm. “So help me, I’m gonna murder him …”

Lips twitching over Cat’s dramatics, Tess gave her drama-queen daughter a patient smile. “Tea now, darling, homicide later.”

“Oh, right.” She hustled out, turning at the door with a salty smile. “Don’t worry—I’ll bring the tea before I go to Kroger.”

“Mom, what am I going to do?” Shannon whispered after Cat left. “I love him even still.”

Tess pulled her close, and Shannon rested her head on her shoulder. “Of course you do, darling. That’s the beauty of love gifted by God—it never fails.” She gave her daughter a squeeze. “But it’s also vulnerable to hurt, as each of us knows all too well. What Sam did, sweetheart …” She expelled a wispy sigh. “Well, it was wrong in every way—spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally.” She hesitated, grateful Cat had left the room because she’d never understand what Tess was about to say. “But … I have learned from a lifetime of doing wrong and being wronged, Shan, that the true path of love looks beyond
our
pain caused by others, to the hurt that caused
theirs
.” She softly skimmed her palms up and down Shannon’s arm. “And then,” she whispered, tears pricking over a lesson she’d learned so many years ago, “we have to look beyond
their
hurt to God’s. Because it’s
His
pain that makes it possible to forgive and love others the way He has called us to do.”

“I know you’re right, Mom. I should have told him sooner and I meant to, I swear. But a part of me was so very afraid of this—his lack of respect, his disappointment, his rejection.” Her shiver rattled them both as she held onto Tess more tightly, the gouge of her fingers a true measure of her angst. “So very afraid I would lose his love.”

“Oh, darling, I don’t think so.” Tess pressed a kiss to her tousled hair. “If anything, this will serve to strengthen it.”

Shannon issued another grunt, and this time Tess allowed a smile, her head bent to her daughter’s while Shannon expelled a heavy sigh. “I don’t see how.”

“Exactly,” Tess said with a soft chuckle. “Faith isn’t something we see, darling; it’s something we believe deep in our soul. And I promise you that when coupled with prayers of obedience, that beautiful blindness will open your eyes to all that God can do on your behalf.
And
Sam’s.”

Shannon lifted her head to peer at her with questioning eyes. “How?”

Tess’s low laughter rumbled in her chest. “From the lovesick look in Sam’s eyes over the last month, I imagine the truth of your relationship with Eric came as quite a blow.”

“Ya think?” One edge of Shan’s mouth inched up. “The man puked on his shoes for heaven’s sake, Mom, and for Sam Cunningham, there’s no greater sacrilege than that.”

Tess chuckled, easing the tension at the back of her neck. “The shoes’ll come clean, Shan, just like Sam’s heart after he sees the truth in the light of day. And when that happens—aided heavily by your forgiveness and prayer, mind you—the man addicted to designer clothes and expensive shoes will suddenly realize nobody’s perfect.” She gave Shannon’s waist a light pinch. “Not even the amazing young woman he’s put on that lofty pedestal.” She shifted to face her daughter. “Because you see, darling, it’s the truth that will set both you and Sam free to be all that God has called you to be, not Sam’s pie-in-the-sky idea that you’re the perfect woman. Trust me, I know.”

It was Tess’s turn to grunt as she plopped back against the headboard. “When your father and I were first married, the poor, deluded man had me on a pedestal much as Sam did you.” The edge of her mouth hooked up. “Until I charred both that pedestal and too many meals to count. Year after year, my humanity kept chipping away at it, and when I put my job before him?” Her smile sobered into regret as her gaze trailed into a distant stare. “It cracked that stupid pedestal all together, tumbling both me and my marriage into an awful abyss.”

Shaking off the malaise that always arose when she thought of Adam, she huffed out a cleansing sigh. “So you see, sweetheart, as I have told you countless times, as people of faith, we have a built-in insurance policy to cover all of our disappointments and pain.”

Saltwater brimmed in her daughter’s eyes again, but Tess suspected these were tears of hope when Shan offered a wobbly smile. “All things work together for good for those who love God,” Shannon whispered, “and have been called according to His purpose.”

Tess beamed. “And what are two of His purposes in a situation like this?”