The Living Room (32 page)

“You’ve changed,” Natalie said.

“How?”

“When you warned me about Noah’s field trip and saw the vase of flowers in my house, you didn’t want to know anything at all about the future.”

“Yeah, and I’m still not sure I can handle it, but I don’t really have a choice, do I? Ignoring my dreams isn’t an option.”

After Natalie left, Amy cooked a batch of corn muffins. Megan liked Natalie’s beef stew, and Jeff finished three bowls before licking his spoon and pushing the empty bowl a few inches away from him.

Amy checked on Ian several times during the night and gave him pain medicine. She fell into a sound sleep at 4:00 a.m. and woke up to gentle pressure on her left shoulder. She cracked her eyes open and jumped. It was Ian.

“What are you doing out of bed?” she asked.

“I’m hungry. Did I eat supper last night? I don’t remember coming home from the hospital.”

Amy went downstairs and fixed a snack that she brought up to his room. The following morning he felt so much better after breakfast that Jeff said it was okay for Amy and Megan to go to church while he stayed home with Ian. Amy hesitated until Megan spoke up and said she wanted to go.

“We’ll only be gone an hour and a half,” Amy said. “I’ll keep my phone on vibrate so you can text me if I need to come home.”

“Don’t worry,” Jeff said. “While you’re gone, I’ll help Ian take a bath.”

Before the church service started, Amy fielded questions from several people about Carl Fincannon.

“I didn’t hear anything about that,” Megan said as the last person left and they headed to their seats.

“You’ve had plenty to deal with in your life this week.”

“You were dodging those people’s questions. I can tell when you’re not telling the whole truth.”

“And I can tell when you’re not telling the whole truth,” Amy replied. “That makes us even.”

Shortly after they sat down, Amy glanced around the sanctuary. Most of the faces were familiar. A young couple in their late twenties who were seated a few rows ahead of Amy raised their hands when the pastor recognized first-time visitors. The woman turned to the side as a packet of information was passed to her by one of the ushers. When she saw the woman’s profile, Amy gasped.

twenty-one

D
uring the sermon, a debate raged inside Amy. Every so often, she shifted in her seat so she could see the woman, and her heart raced ahead a few beats. Megan seemed to be paying attention to Reverend Harbough’s sermon based on the story of the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed. As much as she wanted to follow along, Amy didn’t have the ability to concentrate on anything except the image that flashed through her mind each time she saw the young woman’s silhouette.

At the end of the service, Reverend Harbough invited anyone who wanted to receive prayer to come forward. The woman slipped from her row and made her way down front. Distance diminished the uncomfortable compulsion Amy had to speak to her. The music from the final song ended, and everyone started toward the aisles. Megan was in front of Amy. When she reached the aisle, she turned around.

“Is it too late to go to the front and ask someone to pray with me?” she asked Amy.

“No. What’s on your heart?”

“The yucky stuff that has happened to me at school has made me feel sick on the inside. I know it’s not the same as the woman in the story, but I want Jesus to take the bad feeling away.”

Even though she wanted to get out of the sanctuary as quickly as possible, there was no way Amy could deny Megan’s request.

They wove their way through the crowd. A trained group of prayer counselors had positioned themselves near the pulpit platform. The young woman Amy saw at the beginning of the service was on the right receiving prayer. A middle-aged woman who was one of the volunteer leaders with the youth group came over to Amy and Megan.

“Hi, Megan,” she said with a kind smile. “How can I pray for you?”

While Megan talked, Amy’s attention was distracted. The volunteer leader and Megan bowed their heads to pray. Amy closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them to make sure the young woman to her right hadn’t left. An older couple who had been members of the church for a long time were praying for her. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry. Amy closed her eyes and focused on Megan, who was sniffling. Amy pressed a tissue into her hand. The youth leader finished praying and gave Megan a hug.

“Thanks for coming forward,” the woman said. “It took a lot of courage. Is there anything else you want me to pray about with you?”

Megan hesitated. Amy glanced over at the young woman who was standing with the older couple. Her eyes were now open.

“No, I guess not,” Megan said.

“I’m here for you,” the woman said, then motioned to Amy. “And I know your mother is, too.”

“What?” Amy asked.

“You’re here for Megan.”

“Yes, of course.”

Amy and Megan turned away at the same time as the young woman. She had been crying and held a wad of tissues in her hand. Their paths crossed at the beginning of the aisle.

“Good morning,” Amy said, her mouth dry.

The woman looked at her with red eyes.

“Hello,” she said.

They took a couple of steps together.

“I’m Amy Clarke, and this is my daughter, Megan.”

Megan gave Amy a questioning look.

“Uh, I’m Stacy Kennedy,” the woman said. “We’re in town visiting a friend from college who goes to this church.”

Amy was unable to let the conversation die a natural death.

“Who’s your friend?”

“Kat Brown. She was Kat McCollum when we were in school together.”

Amy knew the dark-haired, petite woman. She was married to a man who worked for an engineering firm. They had two small children and a baby on the way.

“Kat’s pregnant, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to have a baby boy,” Amy blurted out. “And he’s going to have red hair.”

The woman stopped in the middle of the aisle and stared at Amy. Megan continued for a second and then returned to her mother’s side.

“How can you say that to me?” the woman asked, her lower lip trembling. “Do you know what I’ve been through?”

“No.” Amy swallowed. “But you’re pregnant right now.”

The woman turned and walked rapidly down the aisle without looking back.

“What are you doing?” Megan asked Amy. “That was crazy!”

Amy stayed where she was, as immovable as if her feet were stuck in cement. She watched Stacy reach her husband, who was waiting with Kat Brown and her spouse. The two women had their heads close together. Kat looked over her shoulder at Amy with a deeply troubled expression on her face before heading toward the exit.

“Why did you say that?” Megan asked.

Amy sighed. “I saw that young woman in a dream the other night. She had a smile on her face and was holding a baby with red hair. The baby was wrapped in a blue blanket.”

“Why do you think it was her?”

“I saw her face from the side during the service and just knew.” Amy pointed to her heart. “I had to say something to her.”

“She didn’t have red hair,” Megan said.

“Neither did her husband.”

“And what you said really upset her.”

“I know.”

“This is too weird.” Megan started walking down the aisle.

Amy followed at a slower pace. Several people greeted her before she reached the door, and she mumbled in reply. In the parking lot, Megan was talking to a group of her friends. Amy got in the car. She leaned her head against the rest and closed her eyes.

What happened in the church was exactly the reason Amy didn’t want her nighttime trips to the living room to change from times of personal encouragement and experiencing God’s love to a download of bizarre information. She hated talking to strangers. She didn’t want to upset people. She didn’t want to be weird. She didn’t want to embarrass her family. She didn’t want to open her mouth and say something wrong. She didn’t want to ruin someone’s life.

But Stacy Kennedy had looked so happy as a mother. There was nothing in the picture that flashed before Amy’s eyes that communicated anything negative. And few earthly joys can compare with a woman welcoming a wanted child into the world. The pressure of the message in Amy’s chest when she stood at the front of the church made her think she would explode if she kept silent. She tried to imagine how she would feel if she’d not said anything, but it didn’t compute. Megan opened the door on the passenger side of the car and got in. Amy braced herself for another onslaught.

“Promise that you won’t ever say anything crazy like that to one of my friends,” Megan said.

“I wasn’t trying to be crazy,” Amy said, her mind going back to how she’d felt as a little girl who innocently talked about her wonderful dreams. “I wanted to encourage her.”

“You don’t do that by freaking someone out.”

“I’m glad you went forward for prayer,” Amy said, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah.” Megan looked out the window of the car.

“How was church?” Jeff asked Amy and Megan when they came inside the house.

“Part good, part superweird,” Megan replied as she continued through the family room and up the stairs.

Jeff stared after her.

“Where is Ian?” Amy asked.

“Asleep in his bed. The second dose of pain medicine made him drowsy.”

“Do you think he’ll be able to go to school tomorrow?” Amy asked, talking unusually fast.

“Not if he has to take the pain medicine. He’s not complaining, but I don’t want him to be uncomfortable.” Jeff motioned to the stairwell. “What’s Megan talking about?”

Amy plopped down on the sofa in the family room and told him about Megan going forward for prayer and what happened with Stacy Kennedy. Jeff’s eyes grew bigger.

“Talking to strangers is taking things to a new level,” he said.

Amy hadn’t told Jeff about her conversations with Chris Lance at work, but approaching someone whose name she didn’t know was even more outside the box.

“I know,” she said. “And it didn’t go over well at all.”

Amy put her head in her hands. “Megan said I was acting crazy, and part of me agrees with her.”

Amy waited for Jeff to speak, but he didn’t. The phone rang in the kitchen. Amy didn’t look up.

“I don’t want to talk to anyone,” she said.

Jeff answered the call.

“Just a minute,” he said, then came to the opening between the kitchen and the family room. “It’s Kat Brown. She says it’s important.”

Amy shook her head. “Tell her I’m unavailable.”

Jeff relayed the message and was silent as he listened to a response.

“She didn’t,” Amy heard him say before growing silent again.

“Okay, I’ll let her know. Bye.”

Jeff returned to the family room.

“Is she going to report me to Reverend Harbough?” Amy asked.

She could see herself being summoned to a Tuesday night meeting and dragged in front of all the leaders of the church where she would be subject to a Salem-style witch-hunt inquisition that resulted in her banishment from the church and complete humiliation from one end of town to the other.

“She didn’t mention it but wanted to let you know they bought a pregnancy test at a pharmacy on the way home from church, and Stacy Kennedy is pregnant. She and her husband have wanted to have a baby for years but weren’t sure they could because of three miscarriages. A couple of weeks ago her doctor told her the chances of her conceiving again were remote. That’s why Stacy went forward for prayer this morning. She wanted the Lord to touch her and either heal her or take away her desire for children.”

“She was already pregnant?” Amy asked flatly.

“Yeah, that’s a safe bet,” Jeff replied. “But she didn’t know it.”

“Why did she get mad at me?”

“Kat said she thought you were eavesdropping on the prayer time and barged in with a well-meaning but badly timed attempt to give Stacy hope.”