Authors: Nancy Hopper
“
It's been awfully bewildering and hurtful for Tim, and I; I can only imagine what it's been like for you. Just reading the headlines and hearing it all from your son, after the fact. It must have been awful."
Gloria's eyes filled with tears. "He never called." She blurted, and then shut her mouth tightly.
"I beg your pardon?" Tasha asked quietly.
"Oh, it's nothing, really. Forget I said anything." Gloria insisted. "Don't give it another thought. It's all behind us, now."
"Please explain what you meant. Don't sweep this under a rug. I want to be friends with you. I don't want anything between us. Please, tell me what you meant." Tasha urged gently.
“
Can you trust me enough to share this with me? What are you saying?"
Gloria turned hesitant eyes on this woman who had so captivated her son. She was so beautiful, so perfectly elegant. She looked every bit a lady. And, her eyes were filled with worry and concern.
"Mrs. Rain, I want to become a part of your family. I'm not trying to pry, I just care. I'm concerned. I never want to come between you and Timothy. Please, can't we talk about this, and try to settle it?"
Her words pierced Gloria's heart. She could see that it was too late to back out of this. She sat down in Timothy's recliner, and forced herself to look at Tasha.
"I am so sorry." She said quietly. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea, Tasha. We don't hold anything that has happened against you. Things just happen. I think that Jerome and I would have weathered the storms just fine, except that we just didn't have any warning. We never knew we needed to batten down the hatches.”
"When all of these awful stories broke, we were so very shocked. Tim has always been above reproach. So, we called his office, and we were told he was on his way to Salt Lake City, and then New York. We waited, but he never did call us. Then, he went to Europe, and South America. We never saw him, or heard from him. Just an occasional postcard."
She sighed. "Then, the press started calling us. And calling us. We didn't know what to say, so we just refused to comment.
"I simply couldn't understand what had happened, or why he just left us hanging that way. It seemed he'd forgotten our very existence, for quite some time. He's always been so thoughtful, and caring. We were reeling, after awhile. We didn't know what to think."
She turned hurting eyes up to Tasha's. "We did watch the television broadcasts, both his and yours, and we felt a little better. At least then, we could be fairly sure that he'd done nothing wrong.
But, it was so amazing to us that Tim could consider getting married, and simply never mention it to us. It just wasn't like him. I mean, he lives next door here, with us.”
“And then, he finally called from Los Angeles to tell me about Dana. After waiting all that time to hear from him, and then when he did call, he was so unwilling to give me even five minutes. It was just too much. My heart was breaking for my daughter, and it was the first time I'd really heard from my son. But, he said he had no time to talk to me. So I went to get Dana, and I brought her home. Now, I understand that he was trying desperately to secure his bank accounts and such, from Rick Snyder."
She sighed. "We finally decided that we couldn't just sit still and wait, anymore. We called Jerome's brother Paul, in Venezuela. He'd been on the campaign with Tim, before he left South America for Los Angeles. We didn't know what else to do.”
"Paul didn't know much more about things than we did, except to tell us that Timothy had been depressed and despondent enough that he wasn't sleeping, or eating. Paul had been very concerned about him. He said he'd sat up with Tim all night, the night that he'd called you, and you two had pretty much called it off. He said that Tim was ..." she shook her head. "That he was not sure Tim was going to get over it. Then, we knew that he simply wasn't thinking clearly enough to talk to us. We knew that we had to just love him, and wait for him to pull out of it. But it was very difficult. We have always been a close family."
"When he came home, he was a not the same man. He's been surly and moody, and quite distant. Though he wouldn’t say so, I think that he was angry with us for asking him to come home for Dana's sake. Maybe he was just so worried about her. I don't know.”
"But, we couldn't do anything with Dana, either. Tim was the only one with any answers for her. The morning after he arrived, Jerome tried to get him to talk about you. He told us a little. Then, he got Jerome to play the videotape of your broadcast in Los Angeles. Apparently, he'd never seen it. Watching his face was quite revealing. We began to understand the devastation that he'd been through.”
"We don't want to add to his burden, or force him to talk to us, but ... we surely would like to have our son back." She said. She forced back tears. “I am certain it will come, with time.”
Tasha was moved with compassion. She went and sat on the floor at Gloria's feet, and took her hand.
"And now, he comes here with me, and you've got just about a week to get ready for the wedding." She added with empathy. "Mrs. Rain, I think I can help, without tipping anyone's hand. I feel certain that Tim doesn't have a clue. I have to beg your forgiveness for my part in this, and ask you to forgive Tim, too. He's been through such a time, that I'm certain he just lost track of things.”
"He has told me so much about you, Mrs. Rain. I know that he loves you, and that you have his deepest love and respect. He would never do anything to hurt you, on purpose. I just don't think he realizes how much he's left you in the dark. Things happened very quickly. He's been in the battle of his life."
She smiled up at her future mother-in-law, and squeezed her hand. "Tonight, I am certain I can get him to talk about it. I'll just guide the conversation that way, and we can explain it all to you, bit by bit. I think that before we go too far, Tim will begin to realize how little he's told you. Your questions and the looks on your faces, should tell him. And I really think things will take care of themselves. He needs to realize. It's important."
Gloria took a deep breath, and squeezed Tasha's hand. "That would be lovely, dear. Thank you. You're very understanding."
Tasha smiled. "Look who's talking." She challenged. "You know, I'll bet you could use some help in the kitchen, with dinner."
Gloria smiled at her. "Perhaps a bit." She admitted. "I put the ribs in before we went to the airport, but it is about time to start the rest."
An hour later, they were sitting down to juicy beef ribs, oven browned potatoes with gravy, broccoli and salad. Gloria's home-made rolls were the crowning touch to a wonderful meal.
Tim insisted on having Tasha beside him. James and Dana took the other side of the table, leaving the ends for the parents.
It was a wonderful, relaxed time. Tasha could almost feel Tim's parents unbend, as they responded to she and James.
After dinner, James was coaxed into sitting down at the piano to play for them. He was truly very impressive. In addition to being gifted and accomplished, he was extremely creative.
James and Dana later decided to go to a movie, and so Tim and Tasha found themselves in the living room with his parents. Gloria smiled at Tasha as they all sat down together.
"Well, you two. Tell us all about your whirlwind romance, will you?"
Tim looked as though it was one of the last things he'd like to talk about, but Tasha pulled him to the couch, and cuddled under his arm.
"We'd be happy to." Tasha answered, smiling up at Tim. She took his other hand in hers, and held it. "I live in Salt Lake most of the year. I spend a lot of time on the ski slopes. Tim was there for a conference last year, and we happened to ride a ski lift together. Then, we ran into one another in the lodge, that afternoon. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I was at a Christian conference, trying to figure out who this Timothy Rain was." She teased with a smile. Tim saw the pleading look in her eyes, and sighed. She clearly wanted to talk about it all again.
"There was nothing chance
about
it." Tim corrected her darkly. He looked at his parents. "When we were on the ski lift, the Holy Spirit began to speak to me. It was obvious that she wanted nothing to do with the Lord. She was completely determined to ignore us, once we told her why were in Salt Lake. Reuben was snapping at her heels with his evangelistic barometer going wild. I began to see that she was a prodigal who knew Him very well, but that she was deeply wounded, and frightened. I let her go when we got off the lift, because I had no choice. But I had no doubt that I'd see her again, somehow. He wanted her at that conference, and He had every intention of bringing her back to Himself."
"That afternoon, the guys and I went into the lodge when we got done skiing, and there she was. So, I went over and talked to her. I asked her to come to the conference."
Jerome shook his head. "How were you able to convince her that you weren't just looking for female companionship?" he asked incredulously.
Tim rolled his eyes. "I'm really not sure that I ever did." He admitted dryly. "It was immediately obvious that she spent a lot of time convincing men that she was not interested in male companionship. If the Holy Spirit hadn't helped me by telling me a couple of things about her, I don't think I would have gotten anywhere.”
"I think she was intrigued by my prophetic knowledge about her, and by my persistence. I'm not sure why she didn't call Security. She could have, and they would have
made
me leave her alone. She's everybody's sweetheart, up there."
Tasha blushed. He was right, she had been tempted to call Security, and they would have indeed made him leave her alone. She was an important patron of the resort.
"Instead, she found herself inviting me home for dinner. So, I got a home cooked meal, met her kids, and I showed up for the first night of the conference with Salt Lake's most beautiful, glamorous, sexy and eligible woman on my arm."
Tasha blushed, and Tim just laughed. "I was an extremely envied man." He told them with great satisfaction. “You wouldn't believe the ribbing I took from the guys, about her.”
"So, did God touch her that night?" Jerome asked with interest.
"No. He just let her look things over. He had some other things to accomplish, before He blasted her. And even though she tried to run, she kept coming back for more; and she kept inviting me home for dinner. Which was a real treat, let me tell you. Wait 'til you meet Lucinda. She is a true wizard in the kitchen.”
"We skied together a little bit, and sparred a whole lot. She was fighting the line, but the hook was very securely lodged in her jaw. We both realized, I think the first night, that it was possible we'd be … quite attracted to one another; but we were still dancing around. A few nights in, He hit us both with fire like I've never experienced. It came and stripped us both bare. I began to see that we were both trying to run, but it was impossible. I was falling in love.”
He chuckled. "I was as scared as she was, but I knew better than to keep fighting. The following night, I finally got the green light to minister to her. I took Tom with me, and the Lord started reading her mail, big time.”
"We found out that she was not only a wounded prodigal, but that she had also been a pastor's wife. I was truly shocked by that one. I'd never in a million years have guessed that about her. Then, we got hit by a lightning bolt, and we all ended up on the floor. While we were laying there laughing, the Lord told both me and Tom that she was the one He intended for me."
Jerome's eyebrows went up. "I've never heard of anything quite like this."
"Neither had I, but I was extremely sure. I had been falling hard for this girl for the past few days. I couldn't believe it, couldn't understand it. But it didn't go away, and I couldn't get away. Neither could she, though she wanted no part of Him, or of me. So, I went after her, with all I had in me."
"And?" Gloria asked pointedly.
"And
nothing
. She ignored me." Tim shrugged. "I retreated and left Salt Lake. Dumb move. I should have stayed there and battered her door down. I had a few weeks before I had to go on tour. But I left, thinking that time would be on my side.”