Moonlight on the Millpond (25 page)

“You'll work it out,” he said confidently, and Jace knew it was his way of saying it was time to get back to work.

“Did you have a good visit with your sister?” Maddie asked when she saw Jace again. It was midweek, and Maddie was a little tired. She had just put the kitchen to rights and now sat in the other chair adjacent to the kitchen table.

“About like last time,” Jace said cryptically, more interested in Maddie than thinking about his sister.

“You're going to think I'm silly, but I was worried that she didn't like me.”

“She doesn't like anyone,” Jace sighed with a comical look, making Maddie laugh.

“That's what Cathy said, and not to worry about it.”

“That's good advice.” Jace smiled at her. “You should be worried only about my opinion of you.”

“Which is?”

“I'm not sure I should say,” Jace teased her gently.

“But you want to,” Maddie coaxed, her fingers brushing softly along the back of his hand.

Jace had to look away. They didn't have great privacy tonight. Doyle and Cathy were in the parlor, but the door between the rooms was open. When Jace looked back, Maddie was watching him, her eyes shining with love and teasing.

“My opinion,” he whispered slowly, his eyes caressing her face, “is that you're sweet and beautiful, and I think we're sitting much too far apart.”

Maddie leaned toward him a little. “The door is open.”

“I noticed that.”

Maddie laughed softly, not because Jace had been funny, but with delight. Just being with Jace did that to her.

They looked at each other, able to hear the rustle of Doyle's newspaper in the next room and the occasional comments the older couple made to each other. They didn't kiss or do more than hold hands on the top of the table, but the longing was there, and they both knew it. They also knew there would be other times, and for those they could wait.

“I read the most astounding thing in my Bible this week,” Douglas Muldoon told his small congregation on Sunday morning. “Look with me at Genesis 5. I've read these verses before but not really thought about what was here.

“I'll read starting in verse 21: ‘Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.' Now this is the part I want you to catch—verses 23 and 24: ‘And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years, and Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.'

“My friends,” Douglas preached from the corner of the kitchen that allowed him to see into the parlor as well, because both rooms were full of worshipers. “We are called to faithfulness, are we not?

“Now, let's see.” Douglas scanned the two rooms, his eyes lighting on one of the older men. “Doc MacKay,” Douglas began with a smile, “would you mind sharing with us how old you are?”

To the sound of some laughter, the kind doctor smiled and admitted, “I'm 52.”

“Did you hear that?” Douglas asked the group. “He's off to a great start, but he still has 313 more years to walk with God.” There was more laughter as Douglas went on. “How about you, Alan, how old are you?”

“Almost 33.”

“Great! You have 332 years to go. I have 328 years, and my wife has—” Douglas stopped and smiled in her direction, his grin widening when she wagged a finger at him. He then waited for everyone to stop laughing before he continued.

“I hope, dear friends, that you have caught my point, and that Enoch amazes you as he does me. He's a hero of the faith. I think I'm weary and can't go on after 37 years, but I'm a novice, a pup. Enoch was a master. Enoch knew what it meant to walk with God, and he did this all the days of his life.”

Douglas went on and shared what it meant to him to have an example like Enoch. He explained that life was no easier or harder in the days of Enoch, but that man has always wrestled with sin, and God has always provided a way of salvation.

Alison listened to her husband and was filled with thankfulness for that man. He didn't get up on Sunday morning and try to be someone that he wasn't all week. She glanced at her children's faces just then and prayed with all her heart. She prayed that they would walk in their father's footsteps because he would lead them down the path that always led to God.

“Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God?”

Sunday afternoon found Jace and Maddie on a walk. Maddie hadn't asked any questions of Mr. Sullins, but as usual, being in the service got her to thinking.

“I don't know,” Jace admitted. “I've never thought too much about it.”

“Can you think about it now?”

To please her, Jace did as she asked, but he wasn't overly successful.

“I guess I don't see it as all that important, Maddie. Why do you?”

“Well, only because if it is the Word of God, it should be taken seriously.”

“True,” Jace agreed with her and then shook his head. “Actually, I don't feel that way. I think the Bible could be God's Word, but it's an old book. I'm not sure it relates to anything today.”

Maddie nodded, thinking about what he'd said. The problem with his statement, however, was that many things they already did were because of God's Word. Maddie said as much.

“What do you mean?” Jace asked.

“Well, I think we all know it's wrong to steal and kill, and that's mostly because of the Ten Commandments. We accept those commands as being right, but is it okay just to pick and choose what we want to follow or obey?”

“So you would want to become a religious zealot?” Jace asked, not unkindly.

“No, but a little direction would be nice.”

“Direction for what?”

Maddie looked away. “You'll only be irritated with me.”

“No, I won't.”

But she still didn't share. She had been asking about death and heaven for so long that she knew it angered people. Doyle had grown flustered with her on more than one occasion.

“You can tell me,” Jace encouraged, trying not to be distracted by the way her hair escaped in little curls from the braided bun she wore.

“I still have questions about heaven and death. I don't know why I find those concepts unsettling, but I do.”

Jace stopped walking, and because they were holding hands, Maddie stopped as well.

“Do you fear death, Maddie?”

“Not death itself, but what happens afterward concerns me.”

Jace stepped back a little and looked at her. He was much more concerned with life, working hard, and having money to show for it. What happened after death was not something he thought about at all. He knew he was not perfect, but he didn't think he deserved to be in hell. He didn't know what more he had to worry about.

“Are you angry?” Maddie asked when he was silent for so long.

“No, just thinking. Just trying to understand why it's so important to you.”

Maddie looked almost embarrassed. She glanced away, wishing she'd kept her mouth shut. Jace's hand to her cheek brought her face back to him.

“I'm not angry.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you look upset?”

“I just wish I could talk to someone who understood why it's so important to me. In all these years there's only been one person who has.”

“Who was that?”

“Mr. Muldoon.”

“Who is that?”

“He's the other pastor in town. I think I told you about him.”

“Yes, you did. Why don't you talk to him again?” Jace urged.

“He doesn't come into the store that often. In fact, I've only seen him once.”

“You can't go to his house or meetinghouse?”

Maddie remembered that he had invited her to do that.

“I might do that,” she said at last.

Jace began walking again, this time drawing Maddie's arm through his to have her closer. He fingered the bracelet at her wrist, pleased that she was wearing it every time he saw her.

“What are you thinking about?”

Jace's thought had strayed to an impure place, so he hesitated. Maddie misread this and stopped.

“You were touching the bracelet,” she said, her voice quiet. “You want it back, don't you.”

“No,” Jace protested, trying to take her hand. “I just like the fact that you wear it.”

“But you don't want to tell me what you were thinking?”

“It was nothing,” he said, thinking she looked vulnerable.

He wasn't sure that sharing his intimate thoughts of her was a wise idea. “Nothing's wrong, I assure you.”

Maddie nodded, telling herself she was being foolish. Jace leaned down and kissed her gently—not the least bit worried about privacy but only glad to see her smile at him.

“Shall we go back or walk on?”

“It doesn't matter,” Maddie told him, thinking that as long as he was with her, she didn't care where they were.

Jace tucked her close to him again and resumed the walk. He too was thinking that their location was only a detail. The company was everything.

Jace woke in the night to a dark and silent house. The days were long enough to keep him asleep all night, but tonight was an exception. Tonight he felt achy and sore, and as soon as his body woke, his mind came awake.

Not strangely, his first thoughts were of Maddie. He was ready to have her beside him all the time. He was ready to marry her. He knew they had things to work out, but he was confident their love would see them through anything.

It was in the midst of Jace's thoughts about Maddie that he noticed the quiet. The walls of the farmhouse were not so thick that noise was never heard, and it wasn't at all unusual to hear Woody snoring. Jace now listened for it but heard nothing.

Jace slipped quietly out of bed and into the hall. He didn't want to wake or alert his uncle, but it was too quiet for comfort. He was almost to Woody's bedroom door before soft snoring met his ears. Relief filling him, he returned to his room and slipped into bed, his mind now fully on Woody's health.