After the Rains (48 page)

“David?” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and focused on his face, waiting for the lightheadedness to pass. “What are you doing here?”

“You look wonderful,” he said quietly. “It’s good to see some pink back in your cheeks.”

“I thought you weren’t coming back … before I left,” she said. “Is everything all right with Dad?”

“He’s fine. He misses you, though.”

“Then … I don’t understand …”

David stood and paced the short length of the room. Natalie sat on the edge of the bed watching him. She started to get up, but when he noticed he came and sat back down, motioning for her to stay. He took her right hand and enfolded it in both of his. Her pulse quickened as their eyes met.

“I … I have no idea how to say this.” He gave a little laugh. “I’m a linguist, Natalie. Words are my business. But I— I can’t seem to find the words I need now. In any language.”

She waited impatiently, daring to hope that he was here for the reason she ached for him to be here.

“I want another chance,” he said finally. “A chance to love you, a chance to deserve the love … the miraculous love … you have for me.” He dipped his head, then looked her in the eye. “But there are some hard things I have to tell you first.”

She waited, her eyes never leaving his face.

“Your dad has helped me see these things in a different light. And for that I will be eternally grateful. But you need to know the truth about my life—my past. All of it.”

He took a deep breath, and his story poured out of him. “Natalie, I was in love once before. Or I should say I
thought
I was in love. I know now that it was a cheap imitation … of what I feel for you.”

She offered a wan smile, but David shook his head, as if he couldn’t accept her warmth until he’d finished his story.

“The girl was my student. She was … a teenager … in her first year at the university, and she had a foolish infatuation with me. I—” David hung his head and swallowed hard before he went on. “We had an affair.”

Now he looked up at her, as if to gauge her reaction. She gave a slight nod, urging him to continue.

“Lily … got pregnant and … told her father I had forced myself on her. The whole affair turned into a scandal on the campus.” David let go of her hand and scrubbed his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry, Natalie. I wish I didn’t have to tell you this … this ugly truth.”

“Please, David. I want to hear it.”

“Her father was furious. He was an alumnus of the college and one of their biggest contributors. He threatened to withdraw his financial support if I didn’t resign. He wanted Lily to get an abortion. And … so did I. Without my teaching job, I was in no position to support a child. My reputation had been ruined, and I was afraid I would never teach again. So I paid for her abortion. I went with her and sat in that waiting room, knowing full well what was happening to her in the back room. I resigned, and I … never saw Lily again.”

Natalie listened, treasuring every horrible, difficult word, somehow only loving him more as she saw his honesty and his vulnerability before her, as she began to understand why he acted and reacted the way he did sometimes.

He paused and inhaled deeply. “I wish it wasn’t true, Natalie. I wish to God none of it was true. I … I made things right with God long ago, but I’m asking your forgiveness now.”

“David, you don’t owe me an apology. That’s all in the past.”

He shook his head. “No, Natalie. My sin
was
against you. Even though I didn’t know you then … didn’t know … that I would come to love you, I should have waited for you. And I’ll regret that for as long as I live.”

“I forgive you, David,” she said simply, reaching for his hand. Oh, what a blessing it was to be the one offering forgiveness instead of the one in need of it. Natalie could see that David was relieved at the mercy she extended, and yet there was one question she had to ask. “You’re not in Timoné to run away from all that, are you?”

He smiled softy. “That’s exactly what your dad asked me when I first came.”

“So, Dad knew about this all along?”

“Not everything. Until a few days ago, I hadn’t told a soul about … the baby.” He took her hand, absently smoothing the soft skin on the inside of her wrist with one thumb. “No, Natalie. I’m not running away from anything. Maybe I was at first. Or at least maybe God’s call was easier to answer because I had good reasons to want to be as far away from her—from Lily—as possible. But I promise you, I am here now because God has work for me here. I believe I have a clear call.”

She nodded, feeling everything he said resonate within her. Hadn’t that been her story as well? But she couldn’t escape from herself. David had helped her see that.

“Oh, Natalie,” he said, “if I could go back and change things, I’d never make the same decision again. I hope you believe that.”

“David,” she whispered. “Oh, David, do you know how much I understand that? I’ve spent four years of my life wanting to go back and make a different decision than the one I made the night Sara died.”

“But we don’t get that chance, do we?”

“No. We only have today.”

“And, God willing, tomorrow,” he said, reaching up to caress her face. “But the wonderful thing is, I truly believe that this has all been part of God’s plan for my healing.”

Her heart soared with the truth of it, and she reached up to place her
hand over his. David cradled her head with his other hand, drawing her close, gently kissing her forehead and each eyelid. Then he leaned away to gaze into her eyes.

“Thank you, Natalie … for understanding.”

She nodded and smiled softly, and he drew her into his arms again and held her as though he would never let go.

Natalie awakened the following morning with a lightness of heart she hadn’t felt since childhood. She dressed and went out to the Middletons’ kitchen. David was sitting at the table, an empty mug and his open Bible in front of him.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he said when he saw her. He closed his Bible and rose to give her an awkward embrace. But his boyish smile told her that his spirit felt as carefree as her own.

“What time is it?” she asked, yawning.

“Almost ten. Are you hungry?”

She nodded, feeling suddenly rather shy with him. “Where are Hank and Meg?”

David pulled out a chair for her and she sat down. “Meghan’s back in the clinic. Hank’s working in the hangar. Meg left some coffeecake for you. Does that sound good?”

“Mmm. Wonderful. I can get it, David. You don’t have to wait on me.”

“I know,” he said. “I don’t have to … but I want to.”

He served her breakfast and waited while she finished eating.

“Do you feel well enough to go for a walk?” he asked as he put her dishes in the sink.

“I’m not sure how far I can go, but I’d love some fresh air. Let me go get my shoes on.”

Natalie went back to her room, brushed her teeth, and tied her hair up in a ponytail. She slipped on her shoes, and when she reappeared in the kitchen, David was waiting by the back door.

“I’m ready. You’re sure I’m not keeping you from something?”

He put an arm around her shoulder in reply and guided her through the door. The air was already warm and the humidity thick, but it was a beautiful morning.

“Hang on,” David said, leading her to the back of the building and into the clinic. Meg was at her desk, deep in concentration over the laptop.

David rapped softly on the doorpost. “Just wanted to let you know I have your patient,” he told Meg. “We’re going to walk a bit.”

Meghan looked up from her work. “Oh, hi. Hey, Natalie! You’re looking great. You feeling okay?”

“Much better … better every day now, really.”

“Good.” The nurse nodded her approval. “Well, have a nice walk. Just don’t overdo.”

“I won’t.”

“She won’t,” David echoed.

He closed the clinic door behind them and turned Natalie toward the west edge of the village. With the sun at her back, her physical strength returning noticeably, and her spirit finally at peace, Natalie didn’t think things had ever felt so right with her world. David’s arm draped lightly around her shoulder made it just about perfect.

“Oh, David,” she sighed, looking up at him, “why do we make things so hard for ourselves?”

“I don’t know,” he said, putting a hand up to run his fingers absently through the strands of her ponytail. “But look at how much we’ve learned along the way.”

She nodded her agreement. “All this time I thought I was coming here to make a difference, to somehow make up for the horrible thing I did. But instead, God brought me here to teach me something about himself. To make a difference in
me
.”

“And yet, you
have
made a difference, Natalie. In Timoné. In me.”

She acknowledged his words with a smile. They talked and walked, and by the time they reached the middle of the village Natalie was growing weary. She knew it would be wise to turn back, but she couldn’t bear for their time together to end, so she said nothing. They walked on through the settlement, greeting villagers here and there, making precious
discoveries about one another as they talked. They came to a pier that jutted out over a small inlet, and together they walked out to the end of it. Taking off their shoes, they sat and swung their legs over the side. The water felt cool and refreshing on Natalie’s toes.

“This reminds me of the pond on our farm,” she told David. “When I was a little girl I used to walk through the pasture to the pond and pretend I was on some great adventure.” She sighed. “I could never have imagined where the real-life journey would take me.”

David gave her shoulders a squeeze. “I’m just glad your journey brought you here.” He gazed across the water, silent for a long minute before he spoke again. “I think the quest I was always on—when I was little—was to know what it felt like to be loved. To be part of a family.”

“Oh, and I had all that and never really appreciated it. I’m so sorry for you, David … I wish …” She let her words fade away, not knowing what else to say.

He gave her a squeeze, as if to reassure her. “I was closer to my parents in their last years. We made things right between us. And God has done some serious healing in my life. But I know there are things about myself—not good things—that are there because of the way I grew up. You need to know that about me, Natalie. I’m not always this easy to get along with.”

She smiled up at him. But she heard the longing in his voice, and though she knew she could never undo what he’d suffered, she wanted a lifetime to love him, to make up for all the love he’d been deprived of. She sighed again. “Oh, David. I don’t want to go back—to the States. I want to go back to Timoné with you. I’m so much better now.” But even as she said the words, a deep cough racked her body, and she was powerless to suppress it.

He patted her on the back and waited for her to catch her breath. “You need to recover completely, Natalie. Go back and spend some time with your family, heal, give things a little time to simmer down politically here, and then you
can
come back.”

She sighed. “But how long could that be, David? Oh, I’m too impatient. And I do miss Mom and Daddy. It will be good to see them again.

But tomorrow? We … we’ve just found each other. I’m not ready to let you go so soon.”

David smiled. “It’ll be all right, Natalie. I promise you. It will all work out.”

He stood and stretched, rubbing the small of his back in that way that was now so familiar to her. “I’d better get you back before Meghan comes looking for you.”

He helped her to her feet and they started back, following the riverbank. Above them, a low droning sound filled the sky. As though their movements were synchronized, David and Natalie both turned and lifted their heads, shading their eyes from the glare of the tropical sun. The buzz grew louder overhead, and Natalie pointed to a dark spot in the sky. A plane circled lower and lower.

“Were you expecting supplies today?”

“Maybe.” There was an expression on David’s face that she couldn’t read. “We’ll go by the airstrip on our way back. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“I’m tired, but I’ll make it.”

They walked on, watching the plane fly lower and lower and finally disappear into the trees. They heard the change in the whine of the engine and knew it had landed on the airstrip that was part of the mission compound.

Natalie watched David. He seemed to be deep in thought, and she felt her heartbeat quicken with fear. What if this was another guerrilla raid on the village? They’d lost so much already. If the invaders took the radio again, how would they let her parents know what had happened—or get word to Dad back in Timoné? Natalie’s breathing grew labored as they quickened their steps toward the airstrip. Fear mushroomed within her.

The Quonset hangar came into view, and they watched the plane taxi slowly toward it and come to a stop. Natalie and David stood at a distance and watched as the Colombian pilot emerged. Natalie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the pilot was not wearing the uniform of the paramilitary. The pilot turned to hold the door for a passenger who was dressed in light khakis and a white shirt. The man stepped from the plane,
head bent. His build and carriage seemed familiar. Natalie’s breath caught. It couldn’t possibly be, but it looked like—