The thought of their future made Nicole feel all lit up inside.
She pictured her parents one day not too many years off having the chance to be grandparents, and she smiled . . . but just as the image took root, it changed, and Nicole remembered Matt’s concerns about Charlene Denton.
There’s nothing to be worried about. The woman’s a floozy.
Her mood cooled considerably. Nicole crossed over to her dresser and pulled out two pairs of shorts she’d need for the campout. Charlene wasn’t a threat to her parents’ marriage. No way. Her father was deeply devoted to her mother and would be forever. They were in love. Busy maybe, but in love all the same.
Still, the more Nicole tried to shake the idea, the more threatened she felt by thoughts of the other woman. Finally she released a loud sigh and dropped to her knees near the foot of her bed.
“Fine.” She hung her head and began praying out loud, in a whisper only she and the Lord could hear. “Okay, God, I don’t like my thoughts, but maybe I’m having them for a reason. Maybe there’s something about that woman that’s causing my dad and mom some trouble.” She struggled for a moment. “I mean, I don’t think so, really. But still. Whatever this feeling is, I want You to take it, Lord. If Charlene’s a problem, make her go away.” She hesitated, allowing God’s Spirit to lead the prayer. It was something she’d learned years ago when she first realized her habit of rushing ahead of Him. As she waited, she felt led in a specific direction. “What I’m really trying to say, God, is be with my parents. They’ve had a lot on their minds and . . . well . . . make their love new again. Use me and Matt if it’ll help. Whatever it takes, just make sure they love each other forever. And help me not to waste any more time thinking about my dad and that . . . that woman. Love is from You, Father. And love is always what we’ve had in this family. Make it grow so that it’s greater than ever before.”
A peace came over her and calmed her anxious heart. Nicole smiled, relieved and grateful at the same time. “I can always count on You, God. Thank You ahead of time for what You’re going to do on this camping trip.” She was about to stand up when she thought of one last thing. “Oh, and make the hours fly, Lord. Please.”
Abby lugged her suitcase into the hallway and leaned it against the others as she looked around for John. He had promised to load up the van, but as usual lately he had busied himself in the garage—his most common hiding place in the hours when he absolutely had to be home.
The others were already in the living room, talking in unison and swapping stories of earlier camping trips. Originally there were to be six of them, but Nicole’s friends were both sick with the flu. That left Abby, Nicole, Jo, and Abby’s sister, Beth, who had flown in for both the campout and the wedding and who was in an uncharacteristically upbeat mood.
Abby walked down the hallway and opened the door to the garage. “We’re ready.”
She didn’t wait for John’s reply, but let the door shut and turned to join the others in the living room. In seconds she could hear him moving luggage outside, and in no time he found them in the living room, slightly out of breath. “You’re all loaded up.”
He refused to make eye contact with her, but his tone was cheerful and she was sure the others hadn’t picked up on it. Jo was on her feet first. “I declare John Reynolds—” she walked up to him and patted his cheek much the way a favorite aunt might—“you haven’t aged a bit since your playing days in Ann Arbor, Michigan.” She winked at Abby and then turned back to John. “Oughta be against the law to look that good at your age.”
The others laughed at Jo’s directness. For the briefest moment John caught Abby’s gaze and she looked away.
Get me out of here, God.
What am I supposed to do, stand around and agree with her?
So what if he was good looking? She and John were counting down the days until the divorce.
Abby led the way out to the car with the other women trailing behind. The foursome piled into the van and bid good-bye to John. Abby was grateful that Nicole didn’t comment on the fact that John hadn’t kissed her as they left. In five minutes Abby merged onto the highway, and Jo seized an almost imperceptible break in the conversation.
“Well, girls, I think I need to tell you about the miracle of God.” She was sitting next to Beth in the backseat, with Nicole in the passenger seat up front. Jo tapped Abby on the back. “You girls already know about this, but Beth here hasn’t heard, and besides—” she giggled loudly—“I can’t stop talking about it. I mean really and truly. It’s worse than my fish stories. Everywhere I go it just sort of leaks out all over the place—”
Beth broke in. “What leaks out?”
“Well, my love for God and Denny and being together and marriage, and all the things I’d given up on long before I . . .”
This should be good.
Abby leaned back in her seat and focused on the road. There couldn’t possibly be anyone more cynical about the virtues of marriage than her sister. Beth had been married at twenty-one, had two baby girls at twenty-three, and been deserted at twenty-five. Beth liked to say joining someone for life was less marriage and more psychological warfare, and that if she were ever tempted to make a mistake like that again she hoped someone would have her committed for insanity. Beth was one of those If-I-get-lonely-I’ll-get-a-dog women, and so far she hadn’t even done that. Every time the topic came up she’d explain that being married three years cured her of loneliness for a lifetime.
Not until just now had Abby considered the sparks that might fly if Jo and Beth chose to get into the faith issue that weekend.
Well,
God, whatever happens work it out for us . . . this is Nicole’s campout
.
The prayer came easily, as though she’d been in conversation with the Father for months on end.
The appointed time is for you, daughter.
Abby’s breath caught in her throat and she tightened her grip on the wheel. It was one thing to let loose an incidental prayer, but to sense what seemed like an answer so quickly and surely in the depth of her heart . . . Abby blinked hard and pushed the words from her mind. She must be imagining things. The campout had nothing to do with her. Abby tuned out the Lord and honed back in on Jo’s conversation.
“And so I just kinda leak all over about the Lord and His goodness and how He done worked a mighty miracle for me and Denny, and how He could do the same thing for anybody willing to take Him at His word.”
Abby glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Jo grab a mouthful of air. Beth used the opportunity to clear her throat. “Well, I hate to be a kill-joy, especially when we’re getting together for Nicole’s wedding, but I for one found my miracle in being divorced. Something about making dinner night after night for a man who can’t keep his pants zipped around other girls just doesn’t smack with the feel of a miraculous God, if you get my drift.”
Nicole shifted uneasily in the front seat and shot Abby a glance. Abby nodded.
Great
. She’d probably be playing referee all weekend at this rate. “Anyone want to stop for coffee before we head out toward the cabin?”
The drive to the cabin took two hours, but the last thirty miles were so remote Abby didn’t think there was another person within fifty miles of them. The cabin belonged to a friend of her father’s, and at least once a year the Reynolds family had use of it, even if only for a weekend of fishing. Abby knew the spot represented quiet and utter solitude to Nicole and the boys, and when Nicole requested it in lieu of a bridal shower, Abby hadn’t been surprised. After all, they’d already had the couples’ barbecue.
After they arrived, the four of them unpacked, after which Abby stood up and surveyed the group. “Okay, who wants to go for a walk?”
Beth was on her feet almost instantly. “Me.”
Jo waved toward the door. “You go ahead.” She patted the cover of her Bible. “Me and the Lord have some catchin’ up to do.”
Nicole looked at Abby as she spread out on the now-empty bottom bunk. “Mom, why don’t you and Aunt Beth go this time. Jo had a few verses she wanted to share with me, okay?”
Abby felt a pit form in her stomach. If she and Beth were going to be alone, then maybe it was time to tell her the news. She nodded. “Sounds good, we’ll take the path around the lake and be back in an hour.”
They headed north on the gravelly trail that circled the water, walking in silence until the cabin was out of sight.
“Sure is beautiful.” Beth was trim like Abby but more rugged, earthy almost. She spent her days as an advertising executive, but she’d worked her way to a position of seniority so that getting time off was not a problem. Although Beth could be cunning and brilliant in a business meeting, she was far more at home with hiking boots and walking shorts, taking in a few days on Silver Moon Lake.
“Hmmm. I love the trees. Especially this time of year.” Abby fell in place easily beside Beth and in no time the cabin was out of sight. “Like they’re shouting the fact that summer is here.”
Beth chuckled. “That’s my sister. Always the writer.”
They walked in silence for a moment, stopping to spy on a family of deer drinking at the lake’s edge. The evening was cooling quickly, nightfall descending like a quiet blanket over the woods. Abby’s heart beat so loud she was sure Beth could hear it.
Do I tell her
now? Should I wait?
“Beth, I—”
“So what’s the—”
They laughed because it was something they’d done since they were children, rushed into conversation at the exact same moment. Abby nodded toward her sister. “You go.”
Beth’s smile faded. “What’s the deal with you and John?”
An alarm sounded near the surface of Abby’s heart. If Beth could sense a problem, what had the kids been feeling? Had she and John been that obvious? “What do you mean?”
Beth raised one eyebrow sardonically. “Look, big sister, I’ve been around the block a few times myself. Back at the house you and John were the only people still stuck in winter, like you were afraid you’d catch something if you exchanged so much as a passing glance.”
Abby was silent, horrified that Beth had seen through what she and John thought was a perfect act. “We . . . we have a lot on our minds.”
Beth said nothing, just cast Abby the look of a younger sister waiting for the whole story. She resumed walking and Abby joined in beside her. They went on that way for another five minutes while Abby’s stomach churned with the truth. When she could take it no more, she stopped and hung her head. The tears weren’t something she thought about, just an overflow of emotion that had gotten too great to contain.
Beth saw the first teardrops splash against the gravel below and she reached out, wrapping Abby in a hug that felt safe and warm and familiar. It made her miss the fact that she and Beth hadn’t been closer over the years, and with a suddenly sure realization she understood that the distance had been her fault. When Beth and her husband divorced, Abby had basically written her off. What kind of Christian woman couldn’t make things work with her husband? Abby had wondered. And there had been nothing in the past decades to indicate Beth was drawing closer to God, so Abby had chosen to let the relationship wither.
The truth of her own judgmental spirit was almost more than she could bear, and in Beth’s arms Abby’s tears became heart-wrenching sobs that tore at her and uprooted all that remained of her belief that things worked out for the best.
“Tell me, Abby, it’s okay . . . what’s wrong?” Beth, normally tough and flippant, was now—in their own private world on the backside of the lake—as kind and caring as their mother would have been.
“You’re . . . you’re right about me and John.” Abby kept her face hidden in Beth’s shoulder. “Beth, we’re getting a divorce.”
As many times as she would have to say the words in the months and years to come, this was perhaps the only time when her statement needed no explanation whatsoever.
“Oh, Abby, I’m so sorry.” Beth stroked Abby’s hair and, thankfully, refrained from saying anything even remotely sarcastic. “Do the kids know?”
Abby shook her head. “We’re waiting until after the wedding.”
Beth exhaled through pursed lips. “Boy, Abby, I don’t envy you.” She paused and shook her head. “I mean who’d have thought . . .”
After a few minutes, Abby’s tears subsided and she pulled away, wiping at her wet cheeks, unwilling to make eye contact with Beth. Was this how she would always feel when someone asked her about her failed marriage? Like she had let the entire world down?
Love is patient and kind . . . love never ends.
The words from 1 Corinthians 13 ran through her head as they had so often these past months, and Abby shook them off. No matter how she had prayed about her marriage in years past, this time love was ending. Her husband wanted to be with someone else. It was over and there was no turning back, nothing to do but figure out a way to go on.
“Is there someone else?” Beth angled her head so she could make eye contact with Abby. “For either of you, I mean?”
Abby shrugged. “John’s been seeing someone at work, but honestly our marriage died before she came into the picture.”
Beth shuffled her feet absently in the gravel along the path. “You, too? Seeing someone, I mean?”
Abby thought about her editor. “No, nothing like John’s situation.”
They moved on in silence, more slowly than before. “Men can be such scum.” Beth’s statement wasn’t meant to belittle Abby or the marriage that she and John had shared over the years. She was merely sharing her heart on the matter. “Still . . . you and John? I mean, I could sense something was wrong but I had no idea . . .”A sigh eased from Beth’s lips, and she stared up through the trees as she walked. “Makes you want to warn Nicole, doesn’t it?”
Abby’s defenses reared up at Beth’s suggestion. No, she didn’t want to warn Nicole! Marriage was still a good thing, the right thing for most people. What had happened to Beth and her husband, what was happening now with Abby and John, was still the exception. It had to be. Abby couldn’t imagine a world where all hope for lasting love was nonexistent. “Nicole and Matt’ll be fine.” There was certainty in Abby’s voice, and Beth raised an eyebrow.