Rest Thy Head (27 page)

Jake touched the scars on his face and gave her a good view of his scarred hand too. “If you’re willing to overlook my scars, who cares what anyone else has to say about them.”

“I was always willing to overlook it. You were the one who had the problem.”

Huh? What was he doing? Peyton gasped when Jake dropped to one knee right there in the lobby. “Will you marry me, Peyton? I’ll spend all the days of my life trying to make you happy. I need you as much as I need air to breathe and food to eat. I want to grow old by your side. I want to sit on the front porch at Rest Thy Head and watch our children and then our grandchildren playing. I’m so sorry I was willing to let you go, so sorry I hurt you.” A brief grin crossed his face. “I decided if you loved me just the way I am, I must be okay. It kills me that I judged you by … someone I once knew. You’re nothing like her.” He kissed her hand. “So, will you marry me?”

A slow smile spread across Peyton’s face until it virtually shone with happiness. And she forgave him everything. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Jake Douglas.”

Jake’s eyes looked moist as he took a ring from his pocket and slipped it on her finger. “Can we have a really short engagement?”

“Yes, we can. Now get up and kiss me!”

Jake complied while everyone in the lobby whistled and clapped. Patty rushed to Peyton’s side. “Oh, Peyton, congratulations. I want to give you a shower.”

Peyton beamed at her. “That sounds great. Now, let me introduce you to the most wonderful man on earth.”

Patty laughed. “Oh, I already know his name.”

“How could you?”

“Because you leave little bits of paper with the name Jake Douglas lying everywhere.”

Peyton didn’t even bother to blush as she linked her arm through Jake’s. “I won’t need those anymore. I’ve found the real thing now.”

She looked into Jake’s eyes, and they sealed their engagement with a kiss.

***

“Ashley! Don’t you dare sit down! You’ll wrinkle your dress.”

“Sorry, Mother.”

Eleanor turned to Peyton and made a few last minute adjustments to her veil. “There. It looks perfect.”

As she stood back and looked at her daughters, her face filled with joy. “Be happy, my darlings. You’ve both found good men to love you, and I know you’ll have beautiful lives together.”

Peyton and Ashley teared up. “Oh, Mother,” Peyton cried. “This is so different from my first wedding. Well, almost wedding.”

Everyone laughed and wiped their eyes. “You may be next, Mother,” Peyton said. “Mr. Simpson at the Burning Bush Restaurant can’t take his eyes off you.”

“Oh, hush,” Eleanor scolded, but Peyton saw her mother’s blush and the soft expression in her eyes. Oh, yes, Mr. Simpson had made a good impression.

Peyton and Ashley had decided on a double wedding at Rest Thy Head, and today the old inn looked beautiful. Two marvelous cakes and an array of succulent dishes lovingly prepared by the kitchen staff sat in the dining room awaiting the conclusion of the ceremony.

A profusion of yellow and orange roses decorated the gazebo, which stood underneath a canopy of orange and gold autumn leaves; they planned to be married there. Peyton peeked out the window and saw that some of the guests had already taken their seats. She had worried they’d get their dresses dirty as they walked across the yard, but Jake had made a pathway of gleaming white satin for the brides to walk on.

“Let’s go, girls,” Eleanor said. “It’s time.”

Peyton glanced in the mirror to be sure everything looked okay. Those earrings. “You and Ashley go on. I’ve decided to change my earrings after all.”

“Okay, but hurry.”

They closed the door behind them, and Peyton quickly changed her earrings. She was about to go downstairs when she heard a sound from across the room near the window. Her heart leaped into her throat when she turned around. “Annie! You scared me! Where did you come from?”

Annie laughed. “A long way from here. I came to introduce you to my fiancé, George.”

George stepped from the shadows created by an old wardrobe. He wore a soldier’s uniform. “Why, you’re the man I saw on the porch back during the summer.”

George nodded, but he didn’t say anything.

“George and I were childhood sweethearts,” Annie said. “He asked me to marry him when we were eleven, and even though my parents laughed when I told them, I always knew George and I would be together forever.”

She sighed. “George was killed on D Day. His unit was one of the first to land on Omaha Beach. It took weeks before the army confirmed his death, but I knew anyway. On the morning he died, I was raking leaves when I saw him jogging across the yard toward me. I ran to meet him, but he just vanished. I knew then that he was dead.”

Peyton forgot she was in the presence of a real ghost. “Oh, how horrible!”

“No, it wasn’t horrible. It made me feel better to know his spirit survived the Nazi bullets on that dreadful beach. I knew it was only a matter of time until we met again.”

“What about you?” Peyton asked. “When did you…ah…die?”

Annie’s laughter pealed around the room. “You don’t have to be afraid to say it. I died two years after George did. A car accident. A drunk driver hit my car head on. I died instantly.”

Peyton’s heart bled anyway. Both of them had been cheated of so much! “Why did you haunt Rest Thy Head?”

“Because that’s where George and I last met. I promised I’d wait for him forever if I had to. It took him a while, but he finally found me.” She turned around and took his hand. “Be happy, Peyton.”

“Wait! Will I see you again?”

“No, I don’t think so. George and I are moving on. Take good care of Jake.”

Peyton smiled at the mention of Jake’s name. “You were right about Jake. He’s every bit as wonderful as you thought he was. I haven’t thanked you yet for showing Drew’s note to him.”

“You don’t have to thank me. It’s what a friend would do for a friend.”

The air shimmered, and when Peyton blinked they had gone. “I’m glad you found each other,” she whispered.

She wiped her eyes, and somewhere in time she heard the echo of Annie’s laughter.

About the Author

Elaine Cantrell
was born and raised in South Carolina where she obtained a master’s degree in personnel services from Clemson University. She is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary society for women educators, Romance Writers of America, and EPIC authors. Her first novel, A New Leaf, was the 2003 winner of the Timeless Love Contest. When she’s not writing or teaching, she enjoys movies, quilting, reading, and collecting vintage Christmas ornaments.

Find Elaine at the following locations.

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Also from Elaine Cantrell

The Sterling Weekly

October 10

Upstate Edition

Judge Shocks Community

by Thomas Bell, Staff Writer

Controversial Judge Marion Lowe shocked every person in his packed court last Wednesday when he passed sentence in the Clint Hayes case. Hayes, twenty seven, who works for Bud Parsons at Bud’s Private Club, was found guilty of burning Saved By Grace Community Church last April.

Originally, Hayes was arrested for arson. His fingerprints were found on a beer bottle in the church parking lot the night the church burned, but a sheriff’s investigation revealed the fire was caused by a cigarette that Hayes threw into an azalea bed. Authorities believe the cigarette caused the dry mulch around the bushes to catch fire, and the flames spread to the church. The building was a total loss.

After consultation with Reverend Neal Amos, the pastor of Saved By Grace, Judge Lowe sentenced Hayes to six months in the care of Reverend Amos, who in effect will be his jailor.

“The verdict was a surprise,” admitted Rachel Amos, twenty four, the minister’s daughter. “My father discussed the situation with my mother and me, but to be honest, we never dreamed the judge would go along with it.”

Several members of Saved By Grace have expressed their support for Reverend Amos’s decision, but they admit there are some who want nothing to do with Hayes.

Local civil rights groups have announced their intention to get the verdict overthrown, but so far Hayes says he wants the sentence to stand.

Until the new church is constructed, Saved By Grace is meeting at Sterling High School. Sunday School is at ten o’clock followed by worship at eleven. Anyone wishing to make a donation to Saved By Grace’s building fund may do so at People’s National Bank.

CHAPTER ONE

Rachel Amos sighed as her best friend Christina Dean inspected herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the bedroom door. “Christina, you’ve stared at that mirror ever since I got here. Why won’t you believe me? Your new capri pants look great.”

Christina rolled her eyes. “You don’t understand. You can’t because you’re a size two. When you’re a fourteen like me…well…you don’t understand, that’s all.”

“What does size matter? Paul must think you look okay, or he wouldn’t be spending every free minute with you.”

Christina smiled and sat on the pretty, white-washed pine chest at the end of her bed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.”

“See? Now stop worrying. You look great, but you do need a different necklace with that tee-shirt. Something a little longer.”

“But what?” Christina wailed. “This is the best I have.”

“We can run over to my house,” Rachel offered. “Josh gave me a coral necklace for my birthday that’ll be dynamite with your turquoise capris.”

“Uh, what time is Clint Hayes supposed to get there?”

“Around five, I think. Why?” Rachel asked as she pulled her embroidered denim jacket on.

Christina flushed. “Well, he’s a criminal, Rachel. He smokes and drinks, and he burned the church, which is, by the way, the place I planned on getting married one day. Think how many nice people were hurt by his actions. I don’t know if I want to go anywhere near him.”

“I don’t like it either,” Rachel admitted. A little line appeared between her eyebrows. “But I’m praying about it, and you should be, too. Isn’t this man’s soul more important than our feelings?” Rachel kept telling herself that it was, but she wasn’t sure if she believed it herself.

“Yes, but…”

“But nothing.” Rachel grabbed Christina’s arm. “Let’s drive over to my house to get the necklace.”

Christina chatted away as they drove across town, but Rachel didn’t hear much of what she was saying. She was busy praying for the strength to forgive Clint Hayes because she knew her father was right. God loved Clint no matter what he had done.

But oh, it was so hard to see past the hurt he had caused the entire congregation. Saved By Grace had held services in their little white church for a hundred years, and in one night of drinking and debauchery Hayes had taken their church home away. She knew her father was right when he said the church was the people not the building, but her memories ran too deep to ignore.

All of the hard work and loving care that had been lavished on the church had erupted into thick, black smoke that was borne away on the hot winds of the fire. It broke Rachel’s heart to think of all the wonderful fellowship the old building had seen. She’d been in Christmas plays, attended Bible School, gone to dinners, made a profession of faith, and been baptized by her father in that little building. It didn’t matter what the new church looked like. No new structure would ever, could ever, take the place of the old one.

Rachel poked her lip out. Yes, she wanted God to save Clint, but he could have been saved without bringing him into their home. What had her father been thinking? He had even lectured her on how he expected her to behave around Hayes!

“You’re pretty, Rachel,” he’d said. “It would be easy for you to tempt Clint because you’ll come in close contact each day. I expect you to conduct yourself like a lady. Put your day clothes on before you come to the breakfast table. No more robes and pajama pants. Speak pleasantly to him, but don’t flirt with him. None of those little smiles and glances out of the corner of your eyes like I’ve seen you give your boyfriend. Don’t be alone with him either. We know nothing about this man, and until we do, stay away from him.”

Rachel’s face flushed when she remembered that conversation. “You’re young, honey,” her mother had joined in. “You may not totally understand, but trust your father and me. Be smart about Clint Hayes.”

Rachel remembered how she had laughed at them. How could her parents think she’d be attracted to a man who’d taken away something she loved so dearly? Didn’t they know how much she disliked Hayes? She had seen her mother and father break down and cry when the church roof crashed to the ground! Still, her feelings didn’t matter. Whether she liked it or not, she’d keep praying that she’d want to forgive Clint, and that God would use this chance to save his soul.