The Ride of Her Life (22 page)

Why was she being so intolerant? Eugenia was improving, and she should give her credit for doing so.
Lord, help my words to be filled with kindness and grace toward Eugenia. Help me remember to be patient with her just as You are patient with me.

Lilly found Levi outside playing with a toad. After he’d washed, the two of them headed for Marguerite’s. Levi needed some playmates, and she could use her friend’s good cheer.

Levi skipped beside her, and Lilly drank in the sunshine. Spring filled the air with a sense of hope. Every bud ached to burst forth, but only the bravest had done so already. A few more warm days like this, and Lake Manawa would begin to sport its floral finery.

She and Levi found Marguerite at the beach near the Grand Plaza, lounging in a deck chair on the boardwalk. She flipped a page in her copy of
The Virginian
, a Wild West story by Owen Wister, while Tate and Faith used a stick to put windows in their sand castle on the beach.

“Lilly.” Marguerite motioned to another chair. “What a pleasant surprise.”

After removing Levi’s shoes and socks, Lilly set him free to join his friends, then sat on the chair beside Marguerite. She drew in a deep breath of fresh, unskunk-scented air and released it slowly.

“What’s going on?”

“All Eugenia had to do was brown the roast and peel a bunch of carrots and potatoes, but the process took so long, I’m afraid the roast might not be tender by the time the men arrive for supper tonight. I asked her why she was taking a month of Sundays to peel the potatoes, and do you know what she told me?”

“What?”

“That she didn’t want to poke a potato in its eye.” Lilly moaned. “Sometimes watching Eugenia learn is downright painful.”

Marguerite set her book aside. “Is she that bad in the kitchen?”

“Worse, but she has such a good heart. Yesterday she started a fire. Didn’t Mark tell you?”

Marguerite shook her head.

“It’s not Eugenia’s fault. Her mother never taught her any of this, and she’s trying so hard to learn. I keep praying for more patience.”

“You?” Marguerite adjusted her wide-brimmed hat with a grin.

“I know. You’d think growing up with you would have taught me all the patience I’d ever need.”

Marguerite turned to her. “I’m glad you stopped by. I was thinking of you.”

“Why?” Lilly leaned back in the chair and lifted her feet.

“The sand castles.” She glanced at the shore where the children continued building their structure and sat on the edge of her chair. “Remember when your mama took us swimming and we made one? You said someday you’d have a home as fancy as the one we made that day.”

Lilly squeezed Marguerite’s hand in thanks for her ministrations. “I will have that home, but I doubt it will have any turrets.”

“Maybe Nick likes turrets.” Marguerite leaned back in the deck chair and cracked one eye open toward Lilly.

“Marguerite Andrews, you are incorrigible.”

Marguerite sighed. “I prefer to think of it as unsinkable.”

Lilly rolled her eyes. “You would. Before you get to thinking your life is all peaches and cream, Mrs. Unsinkable, did I mention who Eugenia has her eye on?”

“Please don’t say it’s—”

“Your sweet little brother. Only he’s not so little anymore.”

“And he’s never been all that sweet.” They both laughed. “I’m so glad to see he’s outgrown his impetuous nature.”

“Gives me hope.” Lilly sighed. “If he could give up his critters and footraces to become a respectable attorney, maybe there’s hope for my Levi.”

“Your Levi will be as wonderful as his daddy was.” Marguerite turned her head toward Lilly. “Speaking of my brother Mark, Trip and I are having a welcome-home picnic in his honor tomorrow. I’ve already asked Emily, and I want you and Levi to come too.”

“I’d love to, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I asked Eugenia to attend church services with me and told her we’d grab a bite to eat afterward.”

“Bring her along.”

Lilly lifted her brows. “Some welcome home for Mark.”

“It would serve him right. Payback for all the trouble he was growing up.” Marguerite giggled. “I think it’ll make the day all the more fun.”

“I believe you have an incurable evil streak.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” She laughed again. “So you’ll come?”

“What should I bring?”

With a flick of her wrist, Marguerite dismissed the thought. “Nothing. This time you’ll have to suffer through my cooking.”

“So you want me to bring bicarbonate of soda?”

“And you call me a friend.”

“Just speaking the truth in love.” Lilly smiled as the words came out of her mouth. Ben used to make jokes about “speaking the truth in love,” and even in the midst of intense discussions, it made her smile every time.

Glancing at the beach, Lilly spotted Levi again. The tip of his tongue protruded from his mouth as he concentrated on his sand creation. It didn’t look like a castle. Curious, Lilly stood. She took the steps down from the boardwalk, and her shoes sank in the shifting sand of the beach. As she drew closer, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Levi’s creation was the clear beginnings of a roller coaster. Her chest warmed. Nick would like seeing this.

Nick.

Only a minute ago she’d been thinking about Ben and how much her son was like him. Guilt rubbed another raw spot on her heart, and she crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes misted as she looked out over the choppy lake. How had Nick Perrin crept into the lives of her and her son and made them feel like he belonged there?

But he didn’t belong there. And she’d actually encouraged the man in the last two days. What was she doing? She wasn’t ready to care about anyone.

She glanced at her son’s sand coaster. For his sake, she needed to put some distance between the two of them and Nick. She needed to think. If it was God’s will, maybe Nick would be too busy to notice her efforts to push him away.

But what would she do if it wasn’t God’s will?

23

After Saturday’s extra-long workday, Nick’s muscles ached. The comfort of the feather ticking and the cool spring morning made crawling out of bed harder than usual. Even the cacophony of birdsong hadn’t bothered him. Nick stretched. Surely the fact that it was Sunday made sitting upright worth the effort.

It didn’t take Nick long to bathe, dress, and shave. He grabbed his striped tie off the chair. If he didn’t hurry, he would miss the start of church services—and miss seeing Lilly and Levi. Today was the first Sunday that tent services were being offered at the lake. The bright sun filtering through the dotted curtains on the window promised a day he’d not soon forget.

He grinned as he recalled yesterday’s visitors to the coaster site. Before he’d quit working, Marguerite and Emily had come to invite him to a picnic lunch after services. They’d subtly mentioned that Lilly and Levi would be there. Dangling that particular carrot before him made refusal impossible.

He wrapped the tie around his neck and knotted it before adding a stiff linen collar. He drew a comb through his thick hair one more time, then slid his arms into the sleeves of his dark gray sack coat. Grabbing his felt hat from the dresser, he said a prayer asking God to bless the day.
And if You see fit, Lord, let Lilly open her heart to me. I know she’s holding back, and I don’t want to push her, but would enjoying an afternoon as a little more than friends really do either of us any harm?

“Brothers and sisters, Jesus was tired.”

Lilly nodded in agreement toward Brother Hamilton as she stroked Levi’s sandy hair. Jesus wasn’t the only one who was tired. Only minutes into the sermon at the Sunday tent service, Levi had laid his head on her lap and fallen asleep. Last night it had taken him a long time to fall back to sleep after the nightmare, and even now, Brother Hamilton’s rousing sermon had not awakened him.

“How tired do you have to be to fall asleep in the bottom of a boat during a storm?” Brother Hamilton held out his large, wrinkled hands to his sides in question. “Jesus was physically exhausted. And when his disciples saw the storm, they panicked. They woke the Lord, saying, ‘Jesus, don’t you care that we’re going to die?’ They saw the waves coming over the sides of their boat and felt it rising and plunging and were afraid they were going to drown. Wouldn’t you be?”

Emily, who was seated on Lilly’s right, touched her arm and motioned to the other side of the tent. When Lilly looked between the outlandish ribbons on Eugenia’s hat, she spotted Nick looking in her direction. He nodded and flashed a rakish smile that tilted her heart. She quickly diverted her attention back to Brother Hamilton and waved a silk fan in front of her flushed cheeks. Did she still feel Nick’s gaze on her, or was it her imagination?

Brother Hamilton moved to the front of his podium. “The disciples had been with Jesus day after day. They’d seen him heal the sick and give sight to the blind. They’d seen his hands break bread and feed thousands, but in a moment of crisis, their faith evaporated.”

Lilly stiffened. When Ben died, her whole world had dissolved in an instant. Had her faith gone with it? No, she believed in God. Her faith had been the one thing in life she could count on. She obeyed the Scriptures. She was a good person. She did as God asked. Nothing had changed, had it?

Brother Hamilton’s gaze swept the believers gathered before him. “Our faith takes a backseat to the storms of life. The disciples questioned the Lord when the storm came, and so do we. But the Lord questioned their faith.”

A cool breeze snapped the flaps on the tent. Lilly tugged the hem of her yellow bolero jacket more snugly around her waist. Levi stirred on her lap, scratched his nose, and settled again. She laid her hand on his back, trying to ignore the twinge of guilt stirred by the preacher’s words.

“Brothers and sisters.” The preacher’s voice rose. “I don’t know what storms each of you faces, but I can tell you one thing is for certain. Jesus doesn’t still every storm, but He is in the boat with you.”

Unable to stop herself, Lilly glanced again at Nick. This time he seemed to be listening intently to Brother Hamilton’s words. A Bible lay open on his leg. He’d told her Sean had led him to the Lord and had even been the one to baptize him, but she’d not spoken of his faith with him since then. Although she’d considered it, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. If she asked him questions of that sort, then he’d have the right to do the same, and since Ben’s death, her walk with the Lord hadn’t been an easy one.

Brother Hamilton paused for several seconds before continuing. “We’re so busy managing our lives for ourselves, we forget that it is God who is in control. His plans for you may include some storms, but He will be with you through them. Have faith. Trust the Lord to still the storms either in the world or in your heart.”

The congregation rose for the closing hymn, and Lilly tried to shake Levi’s shoulder to awaken him, but he was simply too tuckered out. Remaining in her seat, she softly joined in the singing. An unfamiliar man’s baritone voice seemed to fill the tent. Was it Nick’s?

“All to Jesus I surrender; Lord, I give myself to Thee,” the deep voice rang out.

Glancing back, she saw Nick singing the words from memory. So the voice as smooth as chocolate belonged to him. Of course it did.

As sweet as her Ben was, he couldn’t sing, nor had he ever sung any hymn with much feeling. His faith had never grown to where he wholly depended on the Lord. He had never needed to. Everything in his life had come easily.

Nothing in Nick’s had.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she attempted to lift her own soprano to join Nick’s strong voice. But the words refused to flow. She simply couldn’t say, “All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”

After the closing prayer, Lilly coughed to clear her throat. What was wrong with her?

Emily turned to her. “Are you all right? I didn’t hear you singing, and you have such a lovely voice, I missed it.”

“I had a frog in my throat.” She offered a reassuring smile first to Emily and then to Eugenia. “Did you enjoy the services?”

Eugenia nodded, and the bows on her hat bobbed. “Yes, and thank you for inviting me. It feels like a family.”

“Speaking of family, we’d better get going to the picnic to welcome Marguerite’s brother home.” Lilly looked around. “I think she and Trip have already left.”

Baby Kate lifted her drowsy head and stared at her mama with round brown eyes.

“Katie will want to eat before the picnic, so I’m going to hurry back to the cabin and feed her.” Emily brushed a kiss on the top of the baby’s head. “Tell Marguerite I’ll be along shortly.”

Lilly smoothed Levi’s hair. “I will—as soon as I can figure out how to wake my own sleeping little prince.”

“I can help with that,” Nick said from behind her.

Before she knew what was happening, he scooped Levi up. Levi’s eyes flickered open. He looked at Nick, smiled, and tucked his head into the space between Nick’s neck and shoulder.

Lilly stood and shook the wrinkles from her skirt. “I’ll still need to wake him. We have plans.”

“I know.” Nick’s smile made his blue eyes light. “With me.”