Texas Weddings 3 & 4 (34 page)

“Kellie,
where is your mother this morning?” Mrs. Dennison asked. “I didn’t see her.”

“Oh,
this is her week to teach Children’s Church,” Kellie explained. “She wouldn’t
miss that for the world.”

“I
should’ve known.” The older woman opened her arms for a warm embrace. “She’s
such a worker bee.”

“Yes
she is.”

Kellie
willingly allowed herself to be hugged, and then turned back toward Nathan,
worried that he had grown bored and wanted to escape. Instead, she found him
involved in an easy conversation with Hal O’Keefe. She caught the tail end of
Hal’s story—something about a fishing trip he planned to take the
following week.
 
Was
he.
. .. No, surely he couldn’t be inviting Nathan. Nathan
had never fished a day in his life.

When
the words, “I’d love to, Sir,” slipped from her husband’s lips, Kellie thought,
perhaps, the time had come to get her ears checked.

Hal
slapped him on the back before heading off into a conversation with one of the
deacons.

“You
didn’t have to do that,” she whispered into Nathan’s ear as they made their way
into the lobby. “I’m sure his feelings wouldn’t have been hurt.”

Nathan’s
lips shifted down into a frown and his wrinkled forehead spoke volumes. “But I
want to go fishing. I never get a chance to do stuff like that.”

“You
do?” She stared up at him with a broad smile as relief swept through her. “I
thought you were just afraid you’d hurt his feelings, that you were scared to
say no to him.”

“Do
you think I have trouble saying no to people?” His question was almost
accusing.

Only to me.
She shook her head, frustrated.
“No, Nathan, I don’t. And I’m excited that you want to go fishing with Hal. I
just didn’t want you to feel obligated.”

He
shrugged. “Sounds like fun, actually. And it’s not like I won’t be up at 5:30
next Saturday, anyway. You know me.”

Yes.
She knew him, and that’s what worried her. He hadn’t rested in weeks. But
perhaps next Saturday’s trip to the river with Hal would give him a chance not
only to connect with an awesome man of God, but also to get some well-needed
rest.
With a pole in his hand.

Kellie
squeezed his fingers as a sign of approval and they took a few steps into the
crowded lobby. She quickly found herself engaged in a conversation with Julia,
who’d appeared with Madison in tow. Frankie, ever his wife’s social equal,
gabbed at length with one of his friends off to her left.

“A
bunch of us are going up to the cafeteria on the highway for lunch,” Julia
explained. “I thought you two might like to join us. And your mom, too, of
course.” She bounced Madison up and down on her hip as she spoke.

“Oh,
it
sounds.
. .” Kellie hesitated before responding.
How would Nathan feel about eating in a cafeteria with a small mob of church
friends?
 
She looked up into his
eyes for her answer.

“Sounds
great to me,” he said. “If you think we’ve got time.”

Kellie
glanced at her watch. 12:15. “Dad’s not expecting us till 2:00. Surely we’ll be
done by then. And
maybe.
. .” she smiled with the
thought, “maybe we can take him a plate of food. Offer him something different
for a change.” She nodded in Julia’s direction. “We’d love to meet you.”

“So,
you’re coming with us?” Frankie turned to join them with a broad smile. He
scooped Madison into his arms and she let out a squeal as he lifted her into
the air above his head.

“Frankie,
don’t do that.” Julia gave him a firm scolding, but he seemed to take it in
stride.

“She’s not scared,” Frankie
insisted.

“I
know,
but.
. .”

Kellie couldn’t help but smile as
Madison let out another squeal from above the crowd.

She’s a daddy’s girl.” Frankie
lowered his daughter to his chest and planted a kiss on her forehead.

Julia
shook her head then turned her attention back to Kellie. “Men.”

Kellie
smiled, but didn’t dare look into Nathan’s eyes. She might read too much into
his expression. Instead, she took his hand and they pressed through the crowd
into the parking lot.

“Oh,
wow.” She glanced up at the sky, brilliant blue and as clear as a glass of
water. Not a cloud in sight. “It’s a beautiful day. And I can’t believe it’s
this warm.”

“It’s
spring, alright,” Nathan said. “I’ve been watching the bluebonnets up and down
290 as I drive back and forth. I don’t remember seeing anything like it
before.”

“They’ve
always been there,” Kellie pondered aloud. “I guess we’ve just never really
noticed them before.” Funny, how much they hadn’t noticed before—like the
beautiful, melodic sound of birds singing outside their bedroom window every
morning and the tiny beams of sunlight peeking through the shade first thing in
the morning. She loved every bit of it.

“It’s
kind of nice.” He took her hand and they walked a few steps in silence. Just a
few feet from the car, Kellie’s mother met up with them. Nathan shared their
lunch plans and she quickly agreed to come along
 

“Sounds like fun,” she said. “And
it’s just what Daddy would want me to do.”

Kellie
found herself smiling all the way to the restaurant. She and Nathan chatted
about the service, the people, and the warm reception. He seemed eager to visit
with her father today, and oddly eager to meet with Hal next Saturday. And
something else was different about him, too, though Kellie couldn’t quite put
her finger on it.

Nathan
seemed.
. . relaxed. Yes, that’s what it was. In all
the years she’d known him, she had rarely seen this side of him.

But
what she saw, she clearly liked.

***

Nathan sat across the table from
his wife and chatted at length with Frankie about her new car. The fellow, who
had first come across as a country bumpkin, clearly seemed knowledgeable of the
particular make and model, even commenting on the engine size and gas mileage.

“When
you’re ready for an oil change, just bring it in to me,” Frankie said with an
inviting smile.

“Well,
we get free oil changes for the first year,” Nathan explained with a shrug. “
So.
. .”

Frankie
nodded. “I figured. But you have to take it into the dealership for that,
right?”

“Right.”
Hadn’t thought about that. When could I
possibly.
.
.

“Just
bring it to me.” Frankie said. “I’ll take good care of you.”

Nathan
nodded. “Sounds good. To be honest, it’s hard to find a mechanic you can
trust.
. .” he started to say “in the city” but held his
tongue and let it rest there.

The
conversation shifted to the house and all of the work still undone. Nathan
chuckled as Kellie described, with some sense of drama, their first visit to
the place. Her eyes grew large as she told everyone at the table about poor Mr.
Henderson and his dilapidated home. But those same eyes brimmed over with tears
when she reached the part about his cancer treatments. The whole table grew
eerily silent.

“We’ll
add him to our prayer list,” Julia said. “We have a great prayer chain up at
the church.”

“Prayer
chain?” Nathan couldn’t help but ask.

His
mother-in-law piped in. “When there’s a need in the church, they let Mrs.
Dennison know and she makes a call to the next person on the prayer chain. They
pray together aloud over the phone and then that person
calls
the next one on the list. And on it goes.”

“Ah.”

Julia
nodded. “We’ve seen so many miracles on our little prayer chain.” She reached
to squeeze Kellie’s hand. “And I just know your dad is going to be one of
them.”

Kellie
gripped his fingers and gave him a smile of contentment. For some time Nathan
sat like that—with her hand firmly clasped in his own—tuning out
the conversations around him. He wanted to stay focused, wanted to join in
more, but something else drew his attentions away at the moment.

Hal
O’Keefe.
His father-in-law’s good buddy and soon-to-be
fishing partner.
Nathan had his suspicions about why Hal wanted to spend
a little private time with him. The good-natured older fellow had telephoned
just a few days prior with news that he’d hoped would stay quiet on Nathan’s
end.

The
city of
Greenvine
was in trouble. Financial trouble.
And Kenton, for years the city’s dutiful comptroller, remained blissfully
unaware in his current condition.

“I
just thought you might be willing to give us a little advice,” Hal had said
over the phone. “Not trying to get you too involved. But since Kenton’s in the
rehab and can’t take care of this personally, the rest of us are clueless. We
need someone with your expertise.”

For
once, Nathan was glad his father-in-law wasn’t fully aware of the goings-on
around him. Knowing Kenton the way he did, he’d want to be back up at the
office, fixing things.

But
fixing things this time might take some doing.

Nathan
pondered the situation a few minutes, trying to decide just how involved he
should get.
His plate was so full all
ready. He didn’t have time to think about taking on much more.

A
shockwave of laughter brought him back to the present. Julia’s little girl had
strings of spaghetti hanging from her hair. Her tiny bulb of a nose was covered
in red sauce and she grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Nathan
looked over at Kellie, who laughed so hard her face turned red. She faced him
head-on with a cockeyed grin. “Isn’t that the funniest thing you’ve ever seen?”

He
answered with the most serious face he could muster. “Nope.”

“It’s
not?” Her lips turned down a bit.

“This
is.” Nathan reached to pull a string of spaghetti out of her hair and placed it
on the table in front of her for all to see.

Kellie
gasped and her hands shot up to her hair to search for more. Finally convinced
she was pasta-free, she turned back to the group with cheeks ablaze. “Why
didn’t someone say something?”

Everyone
began to laugh and talk at once. Nathan pushed aside all thoughts of the city’s
financial woes and turned his attention, instead, to the beautiful woman at his
side.

twelve

Kellie sailed through the following week, shocked at the
passage of time. With each new day her father’s condition improved, though ever
so slightly. With each new day, she also faced work-related challenges and
countless phone calls from her office in Houston. Every few minutes she
questioned their decision to be here—in
Greenvine
.
Every few minutes she wondered how—or if—she
would ever be able to leave.

On Thursday afternoon
after visiting her father, Kellie went by the Civic Center to meet with Julia
and the children. All the way there, she praised God for the news. Her father
had taken giant leaps forward over the past week. Just this afternoon he had
eaten on his own. Held the fork in his hand and taken real bites. He was also
starting to speak in clear, coherent sentences.
Almost clear,
anyway.
And he’d taken several steps with the aid of a walker just
yesterday, and seemed to be responding to the daily dose of physical therapy.

Kellie could hardly wait to tell Julia. She knew her best
friend would praise God alongside her.

She walked in on a bustle of activity and quickly shared her
news. As expected, Julia let out a loud, “Praise the Lord,” and lifting a hand
in praise toward the sky. Kellie couldn’t help but smile. Clearly, her friend
was enthusiastic about more than home improvement. Her love of the Lord was
evident in all she said and did.

Kellie looked down at the room full of exuberant youngsters.
They sat at a table loaded with craft items. Colorful beads, sequins and
feathers filled the center of the table.

“We’re making drama
masks,” Julia explained as she placed a bright red and purple sequined mask in
front of her face. The lips curled up in a smile. “This one’s comedy.” She
spoke in a happy voice. She replaced it with a black and gold one with lips
turned down. “This one’s tragedy.” She spoke in a somber voice.

Kellie clasped her
hands together, ready to join the fun. “Cool. Sounds like a blast. Can I make
one?”

“Of course!” Julia’s
shoved several supplies her way and gestured to a seat.
 

Kellie sat down and joined the fun.
 
The children laughed at length as the
project consumed them. On more than one occasion, Kellie sprang to rescue some
little one from near-disaster. She couldn’t help but get absorbed in their
stories as she worked alongside them.

“You’ve worked with kids before,” Julia observed.