Until the End of Time (11 page)

When they reached Moose, Clay drove him past all the places he had mentioned, the restaurants, the post office, the general store, and then drove another fifteen miles out of town, to where the church was. And as they approached it, Bill could see the steeple of the white wooden structure rising into the sky with a bell tower on top. The building looked freshly painted and in good order, and there were neat hedges, flowerbeds, and a picket fence around it, and two huge trees providing shade. And just behind it was a small neat yellow house, with white shutters, its own picket fence, and red roses in the front garden. Clay explained that the women in the community took care of the garden. He said they had provided the basics, a bed, a chest, some lamps, a desk, a kitchen table, and some chairs. But Bill would have to provide the rest of the furniture. He said that they would find what they needed at a shopping mall fifty miles away. Bill said he wanted to pick up some things so that Jenny would not arrive to an empty house.

They got out of the truck in front of the church, and Bill walked inside with a feeling of awe. It was his first ministry, and he wanted to shout. There were beautiful stained-glass windows, some statuary, simple pews, and a dignified altar. It was a plain building, but lovely in an unpretentious way. And the rectory was right behind the church, with a small waiting room, and an office for the pastor. And right out the back door was the little yellow house that was about to become their home. He walked through it with Clay. There were three bedrooms upstairs, in case the pastor had children, a big living
room downstairs, a cozy country kitchen with a dining area, and a playroom in the basement. It was all they needed. And Jenny could use one of the bedrooms as her office. Bill could see that the house was freshly painted. The bedroom was pale blue, and everything else was white, except the kitchen, which was yellow. It was bright and cheerful. There was a washing machine and a dishwasher and two bathrooms. It was more than adequate, and had a warm, cozy feeling to it. Bill turned to look at Clay with a happy smile.

“It’s perfect,” he said, feeling like a kid with his first bicycle.

“I’m glad you like it. Call me if you need anything. I left one of our trucks from the ranch out back so you can get around, but you’ll need to buy your own, and I put one of our horses in the stall. He’s a good, solid ride named Navajo. He’s sure-footed, which is useful around here.” Bill nodded. They had thought of everything to make him feel at home. Clay jotted down his phone number and handed it to him, and as Bill looked around the kitchen, he realized that there was food everywhere, in casserole dishes, baskets, and bowls, with cellophane around it, with big red bows. The refrigerator was full. Bill looked at Clay in surprise, and he laughed. “Your congregation will take good care of you. At least you won’t starve. They wanted you to feel welcome.” He felt
very
welcome, and he shook hands with Clay and thanked him again. And after he left, Bill looked around again and did a little jig all by himself. And then he walked back into the church, knelt down at the altar, and said a prayer of deep thanks. Sts. Peter and Paul had been worth waiting for, and he could hardly wait for Jenny to see it.

He called her that night and described everything to her, and hearing him so elated told her that their decision had been the right
one. She had spent the day explaining to her clients that she was taking a year off to support her husband in his ministry. Everyone was shocked and couldn’t believe she was moving.

It made the front page of
Women’s Wear Daily
a few days later, and all her clients were in a panic. Two of them told her that they couldn’t manage with reduced creative input and asked her to help them find new consultants, which she agreed to do. And five of them agreed to try and work with Azaya, and Jenny herself long distance, if she would agree to fly in to help them occasionally if a crisis came up. She promised to be there for Fashion Week, and a week before that to set up their shows. She was impressed that they were willing to stay with her, despite her unexpected relocation to Wyoming, and it made the move considerably less traumatic for her. She didn’t have to give up everything and everyone, and she and Azaya had endless meetings to brief her on what she didn’t know. She went to all of Jenny’s meetings with her before she left, so the clients would start getting used to dealing with her when they needed face-to-face meetings in New York.

And on her last weekend in New York, Jenny’s mother came up from Philadelphia to spend a few days with her. Helene was sad to see her leave, but Jenny was so excited about it that Helene was hopeful for her that it was the right thing to do. She tried not to compare it to her own dark memories of moving to a coal mining town thirty years before. And from everything Bill was telling her, Jenny said the area was beautiful, and their new home looked like a dollhouse. He had taken photographs of it, and she showed them to her mother. And it did in fact look like a very nice place. And between preparing his first sermon, and driving around the area to
meet the members of his congregation, he had managed to go to the shopping mall Clay had told him about, and he had bought a truck, so he could return Clay’s, and some basic furniture for their new home. None of it was stylish, but it was functional and modern, and he was sure that Jenny would somehow add her own touches and turn the house into a home when she got there.

She could hardly wait to do that, and after seeing the photographs, she had shipped a few small decorative items, and some photographs and watercolors for their walls. The house had a light, airy feeling, and her mother said that if she sent the measurements, she’d make curtains for them. It was the kind of thing her grandmother would have done, and it touched Jenny when her mother offered to do that. Jenny promised to send the measurements as soon as she arrived.

Bill had bought them a couch by then, in a soft beige velvet, and two comfortable armchairs. There were hardwood floors, and he had gotten a simple hooked rug in neutral tones. It was like starting out and getting married all over again. And Jenny felt that way too. Going to Wyoming with him was like renewing their vows, for better or worse, richer or poorer, until death did them part.

And during the weeks while he waited for her, Bill delivered what he thought were three very strong sermons, and he read them to Jenny over the phone before he gave them. The first one was about what home meant to him, and how grateful he was to be there, and how home was a place in their hearts, more than a physical structure. The message was simple but heartfelt, and a number of people commented on it when they shook his hand and introduced themselves
after the service. He had already met several of them, from dropping by their homes as he made his rounds.

His second sermon was on resurrection, being reborn and starting fresh, after something bad happens, and having the courage to start again. That moved a number of people too, and Jenny thought it was excellent when he read it to her. And the third one was on forgiveness, and how vital that was in all relationships, particularly in marriage, and even in friendships, business relationships, or family relations. Several people thanked him for the sermon on the way out after church.

He had also managed to visit the elderly and the sick, and a young widow managing with three teenage boys. And he found that his brief time as chaplain before leaving New York had served him well. He discovered that there were a number of children in the community, and a very pleasant woman ran the Sunday school, which was full every week. Bill wasn’t sure, but he had the feeling that the numbers in church increased slightly every week, as people came to hear his sermons. And everyone said they were looking forward to meeting Jenny and anxious for her to arrive. So was he. He was lonely at night without her and had so much to tell her every day, while she was busy wrapping things up in New York. He had explained to several of the women who had asked that she worked in fashion, and was a consultant to several designers, although he found it difficult to explain to people who were so far removed from the fashion industry and knew nothing about her job. It was hard enough for him to understand the intricacies of it, even though he had lived with it every day for nearly six years.

And he was surprised when his brother Tom called him a week after he arrived. “So are you ready to come back yet?” he asked as soon as Bill answered the phone, and they both laughed.

“No, it’s great here. The Grand Tetons are gorgeous, the church is just what I wanted, and the house is very cute. And my congregation is full of nice people. They keep bringing me enough food to feed an army.”

“Good lord, you sound like a country minister. Wait till Jenny gets there. That should stir them up a little. She’ll be teaching them about fashion trends in New York. I hope your house has enough closets.”

“It doesn’t. But I bought a few old armoires at a yard sale.” For the time being, he had turned the second bedroom into a dressing room for her, and the third bedroom into her office. If they had a baby, she’d have to give up one or the other, but for a nursery he was sure she wouldn’t mind. “I bought a truck, and I have to visit some of the congregation on horseback. It’s beautiful country, Tom.” Tom had never heard his younger brother so relaxed and so peaceful. Clearly, he had done the right thing. Tom just hoped Jenny thought so too when she arrived. It was an enormous leap of faith for her. It had endeared her to him, as nothing else ever had.

“I’ll have to come out and see for myself when I have time,” he promised, and he hung up a few minutes later. He didn’t bother telling his brother or father. He knew they wouldn’t understand. He had had a hard enough time understanding Bill himself over the years, but he was beginning to get glimpses of the kind of man he was, and how different he was from them. He wasn’t a misfit, as Tom had suspected for so long. He was a much, much better man
than any of them. It had taken him all thirty-five years of Bill’s life to figure that out.

Bill rode Clay Roberts’s horse, Navajo, for his home visits over rough terrain, and Clay had told him to keep the horse for as long as he wanted. He was reliable and solid, and Bill enjoyed the rides. There was a small horse stall behind the house, and he was coming back from feeding Navajo one morning, before going out on some visits, when he saw a young boy standing outside the house, afraid to go in. He was wearing jeans and a cowboy hat, and well-worn cowboy boots. He had come on foot, and he had the gangly look of a fourteen-year-old, as he looked nervously at Bill. And there was a Lab puppy sitting patiently at his feet, gnawing on the toes of his boots as the boy shooed him away.

“Hi there,” Bill said with a broad smile, as the boy looked at him with wide eyes. “What’s your name?”

“Tim Whitman,” the boy said cautiously. “People call me Timmie. My aunt wanted me to bring you a cake, but I brought you something else,” the boy said. He had wheat-colored hair, green eyes, and freckles.

“Do you live nearby?” Bill asked pleasantly. It was early for a visit, and the boy had surprised him. The Lab was the same wheat color as his hair, and he could tell the boy was shy.

“Just over that hill,” he waved vaguely.

“It was nice of you to come by for a visit. Would you like something to eat?”

Timmie shook his head. “I just had breakfast. Thank you, Reverend.”

“You can call me Bill.” He didn’t want to be formal with a boy that age, and wanted to put him at ease.

“I liked your sermon last Sunday,” the boy said with a serious expression, as the puppy scampered around his feet. “The one about forgiveness. Sometimes it’s hard to forgive people who do bad things.”

“Yeah, I know. And sometimes it takes a long time, but it’s nice if you can do it. It kind of lightens the load,” Bill said, leaning against the fence, and then he bent down to play with the puppy. “How old is your puppy?”

“He’s three months old. My dog had three of them. One died. I’m keeping the other one. My aunt says three dogs is too many … so I thought maybe … I wondered if … you know, I wondered if you’d like to have Gus,” he said, pointing at the puppy, who was running circles around Bill by then, barking and wagging his tail.

“You mean to keep him?” Bill looked shocked. He hadn’t had a dog since high school. It had been too much trouble to keep one in New York, because he and Jenny were too busy.

“Yeah, if you like dogs and all. He’s a good dog. I’ve been training him a little myself. His mother is really smart. I bred him to our neighbor’s dog, who’s a Lab too, so he’s purebred, not a mutt or anything.” Bill looked at the boy with gentle eyes filled with gratitude for the generous gesture. “My aunt said you might not want a dog.”

“I’d love him,” Bill said, picking the dog up. He was all gangly legs and his tongue was hanging out from running. “Are you sure you don’t want him?”

“No, I’m fine with the two I’ve got.” The boy smiled at him then, and Bill could see sadness in his eyes.

“You live with your aunt?”

Timmie nodded. “Yeah, my mom’s sister. My parents were killed in a car accident last year, going to Cheyenne.” Bill wondered if that was what Timmie had meant about forgiveness. If so, he had a lot to forgive, if he had lost his parents at thirteen. “It was hit and run,” Timmie explained. “No one knows who did it. Probably just someone driving through the state. My little sister was with them, but she’s okay. She was in the hospital for a long time. She hurt her legs. But she’s walking fine again.” And then he rolled his eyes, appropriately to his age. “She’s kind of a pest. She’s seven. But I’m glad she’s okay now.”

“Me too,” Bill said warmly. “Can I give you a ride back to your place?” He thought it might be a good opportunity to meet his aunt and sister, and to know where Timmie lived. Timmie hesitated and then nodded.

“Sure.”

Bill put the new puppy in the house and closed it in the kitchen, still amazed by the kindness of his gift. He couldn’t wait to tell Jenny. And he came back out with the keys to the truck, and waved to Timmie to get in.