Return to Harmony (27 page)
Something in her tone caused Bethan to turn back around. A funny fear coursed through her. “Why, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Jodie replied.
Bethan studied her friend’s face. She did not look troubled or anxious. In fact, there was a tranquillity in her eyes that Bethan had not seen before.
“I was just wondering if you’d walk me down to the station. I’m catching the five o’clock train,” Jodie continued.
Bethan set the pot down before she dropped it. “Back to Raleigh? Now?”
“I’ve got some decisions I can’t put off any longer. About work and what I’m going to be doing next. I’ve already been gone far too long.” The words spilled out, tumbling over one another in the hurried effort to be said and done. “I have work waiting, Bethan. It’s important to me, and it’s what I do best.”
Bethan had to struggle to find the words. “But I thought, I hoped—”
Jodie did not allow her to continue. “It wouldn’t work,” she said. “It’s not right.”
“Not right? I’m sure he still loves you, Jodie. At least, he could come to love you again. I can see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice.”
Jodie’s gaze was steady. “And what about Kirsten?”
“Kirsten—I think she’d—get over it,” Bethan said, almost desperate. “And Dylan would—”
Jodie stepped forward and placed her hands on Bethan’s gingham-clad arms. “Listen to me,” she said, her voice urgent. “Kirsten loves him. She
loves
him. The children too. And they love her. You’ve seen her with them. She’s the one who has been there, cared for them, brought order and security back to their lives. She loves them like they were her own.”
Bethan blinked back tears. “I know,” she whispered.
“I can’t do it,” Jodie said. “I could never break another woman’s heart like…”
“Oh, Jodie.” Bethan hugged her close. “You don’t know how sorry—I never meant…”
“I’m sorry too,” Jodie interrupted. “But not for the reason you are thinking. You were right. It would have been all wrong,” she said, then paused before continuing, “It’s taken me a long time, too long, to learn what forgiveness really means.”
They held each other for the longest time, neither willing to let go, as though both were storing up a closeness deprived them for far too long. Finally Jodie whispered, “We need to be going.”
Bethan nodded, wiped her eyes, and took a long breath. “Where are your things?”
“This is all I’m taking. I’m leaving my case here. I plan to be back more often nowadays.” She smiled as she walked down the path to the main road. “I’ve been thinking about maybe buying myself a car.”
“A car!” Bethan was glad for a reason to laugh. “Jodie Harland, what on earth will you think of next?”
“Daddy needs me to keep reminding him there’s a world out there.” Jodie hesitated, then went on, “And after these past few weeks of thinking and praying, I feel like maybe I might have found the answer he’s been needing to hear.”
Bethan reached over, took her best friend’s hand. “I’ll be praying for you.”
Jodie nodded. “I know now how much I need it. I’ll never deny that again.” She hesitated, then added quietly, “I already see a lot of places where I need to put faith to work. And there’s someone who has long needed to hear me practice the lesson of forgiveness.”
Bethan started to ask her what she meant, but something in Jodie’s faraway gaze held her back. They walked on in silence for a time, until Bethan said quietly, “I don’t know who this mysterious someone is.” She stopped and stole a sideways glance at Jodie. “I have the feeling that you are going to go out there and accomplish great things.”
Jodie pushed open the train window, pulled out her lace-edged linen handkerchief, and whisked the tears from her cheeks with one quick motion, as though defying them to dampen her skin again. She leaned forward and looked down to where Bethan stood and managed a smile. “Don’t you dare let me go,” Jodie said. “Not from your heart. Not from where it matters. If you don’t hold on, I’ll fly off with no past and no direction.”
“Not ever again,” Bethan promised. “What will you be doing?”
“I’m not certain. The university and two companies are all pressing me for an answer. Politely, but pressing just the same.” Again there was a new sense of hesitation, a moment of reaching beyond herself, as though it was finally all right not to have all the answers. “I feel like maybe it’s a decision I need to make only after some more prayer.”
“You don’t know,” Bethan told her, “how wonderful it is to hear you say those words.”
The whistle blew a single long blast. Jodie reached down with both hands and grabbed hold of Bethan’s upstretched fingers. “You have to promise to let me be the second person to know whenever a little Connor or another sweet Bethan is on the way.”
“I promise, I promise,” Bethan said, walking down the tracks as the train started chuffing away, still holding to Jodie’s outstretched hands. “But it won’t be a Bethan.”
A final squeeze, and Jodie felt the train’s speed pull her hands free. “I love you!”
“I’ve already talked to Connor,” Bethan called. “If God ever blesses us with a girl, we’re going to name her Jodie, after my very best friend.”
The train moved on, picking up speed, sending out great gusts of billowing smoke. Bethan pulled out the hankie and waved it over her head. Jodie leaned from the window of the moving passenger car watching the young woman and the town of Harmony grow smaller. Her eyes misted, but there was comfort in knowing that she’d be back. Soon. She’d be back.
Bethan stood and waved as the forests and the sunlight and the distance swallowed up the train and her friend. She kept waving for a long time afterward, even though her eyes were dimmed by tears, and all she could make out was a shining golden haze.
Books by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn
Return to Harmony • Another Homecoming
A
CTS OF
F
AITH
The Centurion’s Wife • The Hidden Flame
The Damascus Way
S
ONG OF
A
CADIA
The Meeting Place • The Sacred Shore
The Birthright • The Distant Beacon
The Beloved Land
Books by Davis Bunn
The Book of Hours
The Great Divide
Winner Take All
The Lazarus Trap
Elixir
Imposter
All Through the Night
My Soul to Keep
H
EIRS OF
A
CADA
*
The Solitary Envoy • The Innocent Libertine
The Noble Fugitive • The Night Angel
Falconer’s Quest
*
with Isabella Bunn
C
ANADIAN
W
EST
When Calls the Heart • When Comes the Spring
When Breaks the Dawn • When Hope Springs New
Beyond the Gathering Storm
When Tomorrow Comes
L
OVE
C
OMES
S
OFTLY
Love Comes Softy • Love’s Enduring Promise
Love’s Long Journey • Love’s Abiding Joy
Love’s Unending Legacy • Love’s Unfolding Dream
Love Takes Wing • Love Finds a Home
A P
RAIRIE
L
EGACY
The Tender Years • A Searching Heart
A Quiet Strength • Like Gold Refined
S
EASONS OF THE
H
EART
Once Upon a Summer • The Winds of Autumn
Winter Is Not Forever • Spring’s Gentle Promise
W
OMEN OF THE
W
EST
The Calling of Emily Evans • Julia’s Last Hope
Roses for Mama • A Woman Named Damaris
They Called Her Mrs. Doc • The Measure of a Heart
A Bride for Donnigan • Heart of the Wilderness
Too Long a Stranger • The Bluebird and the Sparrow
A Gown of Spanish Lace • Drums of Change
M
ORE FROM
B
ESTSELLING
A
UTHORS
Janette Oke and
Davis Bunn
