Whispers from Yesterday (16 page)

“How can you know?”

Father, give me the right words. She’s looking for You, whether she knows it or not.

“How can I know?” she answered at last. “Well, I believe the Bible is the final authority on everything. It’s infallible, written by men as God directed them. It tells a story of God’s great love for us. So great a love that He sent His own son to die for us. To die for my sins so I could be reconciled with Him.”

“I’ve heard the story. Christmas. Easter. All that stuff. But I’ve never known anyone who lived it the way you do.” Karen gave Sophia’s hand a squeeze, then rose from the bench. “I don’t think I ever could.”

“I thought the same way at one time.”

“
You
did?”

“Mmm. I did.”

A pregnant pause followed Sophia’s response, a pause that caused her to hope Karen would ask another question, give her a chance to say more. But it didn’t happen.

Her granddaughter turned away. “Goodnight, Grandmother.”

“Goodnight, Karen. Sleep well.”

Tuesday, August 24, 1937 Dear Diary,

My heart is filled with joy, I am with child. It explains why I was so miserably ill during the ocean crossing.

Thank you, Father. Thank you for this most precious of gifts. My cup runneth over.

Esther

Thursday, September 9, 1937

Dear Diary,

Mama writes to tell me that Sophia has moved from home and is now living in Idaho where she has found employment doing clerical work. Mama says she has forwarded my letters to Sophia, but still I have received no replies. I fear she has thrown them away, unread.

I will continue to write and hope and pray. I wish very much that I could share my wonderful news with her. I wish she could be with me when the baby is born in March.

If my child is a girl, I will name her Sophia.

Esther

FOURTEEN

Dusty felt a lightness in his heart such as he hadn’t felt before. He’d been a Christian for many years and had loved and served God to the best of his ability. But yesterday something wonderful had happened.

Yesterday, he’d discovered he didn’t have to serve to the best of
his
ability; his own ability would never be enough. Now he understood he could serve to the best of
God’s
ability. And God’s ability—His power, His grace, His strength—was more than sufficient.

Dusty spent his morning prayer time in praise and worship. He couldn’t think of a single thing to ask for, anything more that he needed.

His joy must have been both evident and contagious, for all the boys were in good moods that morning. When they had breakfast in the main house, there was plenty of laughter and good-natured teasing.

Dusty felt the curious glances of both Sophia and Karen. Later, he would find a moment to tell Sophia what had happened to him. Karen … He didn’t know what he would say to Karen.

The phone rang, and Billy hopped up to answer it. “Hello?” After a moment’s pause, he turned toward the table. “It’s some guy asking for you, Miss Karen.”

Her eyes widened. “For me?” She rose. “I wonder who it could be?”

Dusty wondered the same thing as he watched her cross the room and take the handset from Billy.

“Hello?” She listened, then grinned. “Mac!”

Mac? Mac who?

“Oh, I’m fine … I know I should have. I’m sorry … No, it isn’t anything like I expected …”

Obviously it was someone from California. Someone special. Someone she cared about, judging by her smile and the tone of her voice.

“I wish I could, Mac. I appreciate it … I miss you, too.”

Dusty felt like grinding his teeth. Why was that? His eyes widened in surprise when the answer came: He was
jealous!

“Nobody could have done more.” She turned her back toward the table and lowered her voice. “You needn’t feel that way.”

Just what did he have to be jealous about? It wasn’t as if he had romantic feelings for Karen. For Pete’s sake! He hadn’t even
liked
her at first.

“That’s sweet of you,” she said softly.

“Come on, guys.” Dusty stood. “We’re expected at the Echeverria place in a half hour.”

“What’re we doin’ there?” Noah asked.

“Repairing the roof of his barn.” His answer was followed by a trio of groans.

“All right,” he overheard Karen say. “I promise, Mac. Thanks for calling … You, too. Bye.”

He looked over his shoulder as she placed the handset in its cradle.

When their gazes met, she smiled and said, “That was my friend, Mac Gleason.”

Friend? Was that all? Or was it something more? Why had Mac called her? What had he wanted?

“Where are you all going?” she asked, interrupting Dusty’s mental interrogation.

“We’re fixing a barn at the Echeverria farm,” Billy answered. “Why don’t you come with us? You’d like to see the lambs they’ve got.”

She looked at Dusty. “Would you mind?”

“It wouldn’t be much fun for you. The day promises to be a scorcher, and there wouldn’t be much for you to do. You’d get bored.”

“I can help carry lumber. Remember? I did it yesterday without breaking a single fingernail.” Her smile was mischievous, the twinkle in her eyes teasing. “Didn’t I?” Her smile vanished as quickly as it had come. “Unless you don’t want me there.”

What he feared was that he wanted her there
too
much. Seeing Karen as a woman and not only as Sophia’s granddaughter was a complication he hadn’t expected and didn’t want.

At least, he didn’t
think
he wanted it.

“Dusty?”

He gave his head a small shake to clear his thoughts, then turned toward the door. “You can come if you want. Be ready in twenty minutes.” He strode out of the kitchen.

“Well, I’ll be,” Sophia said as Dusty disappeared through the doorway.

Karen looked at Sophia.

Her grandmother chuckled. “It seems you’ve done something no other woman has managed to do.”

“What?”

“Become a bur under Dusty’s saddle.” Karen couldn’t think of a reply.

Sophia glanced at the three boys, each in turn. “I’ll do the dishes today, fellas. Get going. Miss Karen can help me fill the cooler for your lunch.”

Chairs scraped the kitchen floor as Ted, Noah, and Billy rose from the table.

As they left the house, Billy was heard asking the other two boys, “Did she mean Dusty wants to kiss Miss Karen?” Noah and Ted replied with laughter.

Karen sank onto one of the vacated chairs, her gaze on her grandmother.
“Is
that what you meant?” “In a roundabout way, yes.”

“Oh.” Elbows on the table, she covered her face with her hands. “Oh, dear.”

“And what about you, Karen?”

She lowered her hands. “We have absolutely nothing in common. Look at us. He’s lived this Spartan existence since he was sixteen or seventeen, and he
likes
it. I’m used to a totally different lifeindent. He’s a cowboy. I’m a city girl. He thinks a vacation is an afternoon at the swimming hole. I think it’s a month skiing in Saint-Moritz or a summer at a resort on the Cote d’Azur.” She raised her hands in a gesture of futility. “We’re just too different.”

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

She chose not to answer.

Sophia’s expression was both gentle and patient. “The real difference, Karen, is one of faith—what Dusty believes about God and what you believe. If anything will separate the two of you, it’s that one. The other things, while they may seem important now, are actually quite trivial.”

“Are they? All I wanted when I came here was a place to stay until I could get some money and return home. Or maybe a place to hide would be more truthful.”

Her grandmother nodded.

“I never expected to start caring for him.”

“One rarely does plan these things,” Sophia answered.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go with them. If he and I aren’t meant for each other, it would be a mistake to—”

“Don’t hide from life, Karen. You’ll regret it if you do.”

She lowered her gaze. So many things had happened in the past week. Too much to make sense of it all.

“Go with them,” Sophia said as she rose from her chair. “Caring for someone else is worth the risk. Always.”

“I asked Wendy to marry me,” Grant announced just as Dusty reached the top of the ladder leaning against the Echeverria barn.

“You did?” Despite himself, Dusty’s gaze dropped to the barnyard where Karen and Billy were unloading bundles of shingles from the back of an ancient two-ton truck.

“Yeah. The time was right. So I popped the question, and she said yes.”

Dusty hadn’t given much thought to marriage over the years. He’d had girlfriends, of course, but friends were all they’d turned out to be. Eventually, each one had drifted into other relationships. Most were married by now.

Married and happy, with kids of their own.

He watched as Karen set the bundle of shingles near the others she’d helped unload. She placed her fingers against the small of her spine and arched backward. After she straightened again, she wiped the perspiration from her brow with her forearm.

Marriage?

A wife? Kids? For him?

No. Maybe the time was right for Grant, but it wasn’t for Dusty. The Golden T Youth Camp was barely getting by as it was. And even if he
was
looking for a wife—which he wasn’t—Karen would definitely be the wrong woman to fill the bill.

He glanced at Grant. “When’s the wedding date?”

“We decided on Thanksgiving Day. She’s got quite a few relatives coming in for the holiday, and we thought we should take advantage of it.”

“A wedding
and
turkey with dressing.” He grinned. “Good planning.”

Grant laughed as he offered Dusty a hand up onto the roof. “I was hoping you’d agree to be my best man.”

“You know I’ll do it.” Once again, his gaze drifted downward.

“Hey, are you thinking what I think you are?”

Am I?
He shrugged, frowned, then shook his head. “No.”

“Okay. I can take a hint. I won’t ask anything more.”

They set to work, but Dusty found himself pausing after a short while to look in Karen’s direction.

She was pretty. He’d always been aware of that. And despite a lot of negative first impressions, he’d found plenty to like about her during the past month. The way she treated Sophia for one. The way she responded to Billy for another.

But she wasn’t a fellow believer, and the “be not unequally yoked” advice hadn’t been included in God’s Word without a reason. In his years as a Christian, he’d seen the problems caused when people went against that basic principle.

But if she was seeking the truth, wasn’t that …?

No, he’d been right the first time. This wasn’t the time for him to be thinking about things like love and marriage. After all, it was only yesterday God had set him free so he could serve Him even better than before.

Wednesday, November 24, 1937

Dear Diary,

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. It is not a Danish holiday, but Mikkel, Grandfather Fritz, and I shall celebrate it in our home. Our dinner will be nothing like the one Mikkel shared with my family a year ago, for many of those food items are not readily available in Denmark. But that doesn’t matter. We have much to be thankful for, and that is why we will gather together.

We have invited our neighbors to join us. Mr. and Mrs. Abrams are a young Jewish couple with two small children. Mikkel has formed a friendship with Isaac Abrams, and I hope to do the same with his wife, Hannah.

I do miss having a good friend. Another woman with whom I can share my hopes and dreams, my uncertainties and disappointments. Mikkel has tried valiantly to fill the void left by Sophia, but there are some things even he cannot do.

Esther

Monday, December 13, 1937

Dear Diary,

Mikkel had a dream last night, and he remains deeply troubled by it. He fears war is on the horizon. Grandfather Fritz says the dream was caused by nothing more than indigestion from the large piece of pie Mikkel ate before going to bed.