Redemption (39 page)

Kari took a stack of china plates and laid them out around her parents’ table. The entire Baxter family would be coming tonight—the first time since the holidays that they’d all been together for a meal. Kari was looking forward to it.

Tonight was also the first time they’d get to meet Luke’s new girlfriend, who was going to stop by for dessert.

Kari and Erin had discussed the situation at length and jokingly decided that—as always—the girl didn’t have a chance with Luke’s sisters gathered around.

“At least he knows we care,” Erin laughed when they talked about it earlier that day.

“Yeah.” Kari grinned. “The girl has no idea.”

She finished setting the table while Erin and Ashley helped their mother in the kitchen. Already the delicious smells of her mother’s cooking were filling the house: savory roast chicken, fresh steamed vegetables with basil and rosemary, and her mother’s famous whole-grain bread. This was the kind of meal they’d grown up with—designed by their mother to be both healthy and delicious.

“Foods affect the way we feel, the way we look, the way we act. Even the way we love,” Mom always said, and no one doubted her. She had a master’s degree in nutrition and had worked part-time as the hospital’s meal planner for a decade before she got sick. “It’s part of my job to make sure you all know how to eat right.”

Kari’s stomach growled, and she patted her swollen belly.
Guess you like Grammy’s food too, huh, little Jessie
?

Her father got home from work and took a seat next to Tim, who was watching a basketball game on TV. Minutes later Brooke and her family arrived, and the conversations around Kari grew louder. These were the sounds Kari had missed since leaving home, the sounds Erin would miss if her husband took the out-of-state job he was considering.

Luke walked into the kitchen and tossed his backpack on the floor near the table. “I told you about Reagan, right? She’s coming by for dessert?”

Kari watched her mom stop stirring a pot of beans and stare at the backpack. “Take it to your room, please.”

Luke grabbed the bag. “I told you, right?”

“Yes, Luke. We’ll be on our best behavior.”

Kari saw Ashley roll her eyes as she drained the steamed vegetables. “Don’t worry, Luke. We’ll make sure our masks are in place.”

“Don’t start with me, Ashley. Maybe you can be gone when she gets here.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Really, you two. You might try to be nice to each other. It’s Brooke’s birthday, after all.”

“Fine.” Ashley kept her back to Luke.

Kari watched and wondered if their changed relationship hurt Ashley as much as it hurt Luke.
She’s too angry, God. Show me how I can help her.

Luke shrugged and flashed a smile at Kari. “At least my
other
sisters will be nice to Reagan.” He left the kitchen with his backpack and jogged up the stairs.

“Hey, Brooke, check out this play.” It was Peter calling from the next room as Brooke strode into the kitchen, out of breath and frowning.

Brooke glanced at the television screen in the next room and nodded absently. “Mom, where’s Cole’s ibuprofen?” She grimaced. “Maddie has a fever again. We almost didn’t come.”

“When did she get sick? I heard from Thelma across the street that three children were hospitalized with strep throat just last . . .”

The conversations continued until dinner was ready. Then all ten of them—everyone but Maddie—gathered around the table.

“Let’s pray.” Their father bowed his head and waited until the room was quiet. “Lord, we thank you for this family, for letting us gather together, and for Brooke’s birthday. Thank you for creating her to be among us, and let this coming year be one of blessings and discovery for her and her family. Bless this food that it might nourish our bodies. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

The talking began almost immediately.

“Pass the chicken.”

“Mom, you did it again! Everything smells delicious.”

“No one can make bread like you.”

“Dad have you heard anything more about the grant the hospital’s trying to get for a new wing? Supposed to be another forty rooms.”

“Ashley, your old tennis coach is going to our church now. He said to tell you hi.”

The discussions took place simultaneously, yet everyone seemed to understand and be able to participate in all of them. There was talk among Elizabeth, John, and Ashley about an art course she was taking. Erin’s husband, Sam, wanted to know how many weeks were left until Kari’s baby was due, and Erin shared a story about one of her kindergartners who brought a frozen fish into class on pet day. When the laughter died down, Luke filled in by giving them a blow-by-blow report of his debate team’s recent victory.

It was a meal Kari knew she’d remember fondly in months to come, when she was busy taking care of a newborn and learning how to be a family with Tim and the baby. Before long, dinner was over, and dishes were being cleared when the doorbell rang.

“Must be Reagan.” Ashley tossed a contrived smile at Kari and the others. “Everyone put on your mask.”

Erin and Brooke giggled, and Luke nodded at them. “Thanks.” He narrowed his eyes at Ashley before pushing back from the table. “She can sit by Kari.”

Kari looked at Ashley and cocked her head. “Come on, Ash, be nice. How often does he bring a girl home?”

Ashley leaned over the table and whispered, “I am being nice. I’m just saying let’s be on our best behavior.” She leaned back and raised her eyebrows. “After all, not many girls can live up to Luke’s perfect standard.”

When Luke and his new girlfriend entered the room, the discussion stopped and the table fell silent. “It’s a blizzard out there,” Luke said as he tossed Reagan’s coat on a chair and brushed the snow off her head.

All eyes were on Reagan. She was tall and athletic looking, bigger boned than most of the girls Luke had dated. From the easy way they looked at each other, Kari could tell they had been friends for a while. She wondered if this was the girl her brother would marry.

Luke made introductions; then he and Reagan sat down next to each other as far away from Ashley as possible. When everyone was seated, they sang “Happy Birthday” to Brooke.

“Thirty-five, is it?” Luke teased her. She’d already opened her presents, and Luke’s had included a bottle of vitamins for seniors.

“Thirty, thank you very much.” Brooke lifted her chin and smiled.

Peter leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Though you don’t look a day over twenty-one, my dear.”

“Oh, please . . . I hope that’s her birthday gift.” Ashley shook her head and winked at Brooke. “No one deserves a compliment like that, even on her birthday.”

Reagan said little, just watched and listened, responding to Luke’s whispered comments with a sweet smile.

John was the first to draw her into the conversation. “Tell us, Reagan—how’d you get mixed up with this crazy guy?” He elbowed Luke, who was sitting beside him.

Reagan laughed, and Kari decided she liked her. She seemed at ease with the Baxters, and something in her eyes looked genuine, solid. Mom and Erin began serving pie.

“Well,” Reagan looked at Luke, and Kari saw it. However long the two had been dating, their relationship was more serious than any of them had known. The look in the girl’s eyes was unmistakable.

She was in love with Luke.

Reagan continued, “Luke was playing a pickup game at the school gym, and I walked in with my basketball. They were short one person, but—” she cast Luke a teasing look—“someone in the group didn’t think I could play with them.”

“So anyway, Mom—” Luke raised his eyebrows and dug his fork into the pie in front of him—“have I told you what a good cook you are?”

“Go on, Reagan.” John chuckled. “It was just getting good.”

Reagan nodded, and her eyes danced as she made contact with several of them around the table. She certainly wasn’t shy, but she wasn’t bold or obnoxious either. Kari looked at her sisters and saw that they were caught up in the story as well. Even Ashley. This girl was good. She’d won them all over in a matter of minutes.

The tale continued about how Luke had refused to let Reagan play on their team. So a few possessions later, when a spot opened on the other team, Reagan had taken it.

Luke started to stand. “Anyone need anything from the garage? I’ll be in there hiding until—”

Reagan tugged on his sleeve, and he sat back down. She lowered her chin and turned teasing eyes toward him. “You can wait. Your dad asked, after all.”

Luke groaned, and Reagan laughed lightly. “Our team beat his, but I don’t think that’s what won him over.” She cast him a look of mock curiosity. “That wasn’t it, was it?”

Both Luke’s elbows came up on the table, and he covered his eyes. “Here we go.”

Reagan leaned forward. “I think it was the three-pointer I buried in his face to win the game.” She nodded, as if looking for some kind of confirmation from him. “Yeah, that was it.”

John laughed so hard his face turned red. “Well, it’s about time someone showed him how to do it.”

Chuckles rang out across the table, and again everyone began talking at once. They found out that Reagan had grown up in North Carolina and was attending Indiana University on a volleyball scholarship. She attended a church that met on campus, and by all appearances she seemed to have a quiet and genuine faith.

When Reagan and Luke left for a movie half an hour later, Kari and the others waited in silence until the front door closed. Then they all looked at each other and giggled the way they’d done when Luke was thirteen and a neighbor girl would come calling for him.

“I think I hear wedding bells,” Erin squealed and nodded conspiratorially toward their mother. “Don’t you guys?”

Kari grinned. “I like her.”

“Definitely. Give it a year.” Brooke stretched and looked at her watch.

“I’ll second that.” Ashley stood and cleared several dessert plates on her way into the kitchen. Kari was thankful her sister had been polite while Reagan was there, and now she seemed genuine in her response.

Elizabeth just smiled quietly and shrugged. “You never know. God has a plan for everyone’s life. Reagan just might be part of the plan for Luke.”

The conversation continued, but after hearing their mother’s comment, Kari was no longer listening. Was it true? Scripture backed it up, of course, but still—a specific plan? For everyone?

Kari bit her lip as the voices around her faded. Had she really listened to God when she and Ryan were dating? Or had she somehow missed God’s plan?

She looked at Tim, deep in conversation with Erin’s husband. Even now, the sight of him filled her with equal parts of love and pain.

She thought about the slow course of their healing, how painful it really was, how much Tim’s affair had cost them. Physical intimacy, for instance, was still a problem. No matter how badly she wanted to work things out, she froze every time Tim touched her. The counselor said it might be months before that changed.

Lost in thought, she stood up from the table and began to stack the remaining dessert dishes. The counselor had handled the issue carefully.

“We’ll take it one month at a time,” he had told them in a joint session the first week they met with him after the intensive marriage seminar. “A physical relationship has to be rebuilt over time as trust is regained. For now I’d avoid anything too intimate.” He had laid down a set of guidelines to oversee their physical contact for now. Back rubs were good, he told them, and kissing was fine if they were both willing; but beyond that, any physical intimacy was off-limits, at least until the counselor deemed them ready to move on.

The counselor’s mandate came as a relief to Kari. Obviously, one day their lovemaking would be good again. But for now she couldn’t imagine being intimate with Tim. What if he compared her to his former student? What if he had a disease?

That issue had been covered too. It was simple, the counselor told them. Tim would have to be tested. Twice. The first test came a week after meeting with the counselor and was negative. The second test was coming up in a few weeks.

Kari sighed and carried the dishes into the kitchen. A shudder worked its way through her body. She couldn’t imagine how things might have turned out if Tim hadn’t chosen to come back home. They’d probably be going through divorce proceedings about the same time the baby was born.

Her mother was right. God had a plan for everyone.

There was no point looking back, wondering whether she’d gone left on life’s path when God would have had her go right. Whatever wrong turns she might have made, today God’s plan was for her and Tim to rebuild their marriage—no matter how painful the process. Her job was to believe that God could take the broken pieces of their lives and turn them into something beautiful.

The counselor had said something the other day that she hadn’t considered before.

“Recovering from an affair can take up to a year, and during that time you’ll go through seasons.” He looked from Kari to Tim. “You’ve both struggled with feelings for other people, but you, Tim, are the responsible party here. The seasons are bound to affect Kari more than you, at least on the surface.”

The seasons were these: fall, a time for anger; winter, a time for mourning; spring, a time for healing; and summer, a time for new growth.

Which meant that Kari’s anger was normal—a good thing because she still had moments when she was furious. She rinsed a dish at the sink, barely listening to the conversation about Reagan and Luke still going on in the dining room.

She thought about how hard it had been to stay by Tim’s side, even after he returned to her. There were days when she still wanted to hate him, nights when she was disgusted even to sleep in the same room.

But those days were growing fewer and further apart, and she could see the Lord’s handprint all over the growing relationship she shared with her husband. With time and counseling, her emotions seemed to be coming full circle. She once again felt Tim’s love and was convinced they were learning new steps to their relational dance.

New steps. That’s what it amounted to. The two of them were learning the steps that would bring them together, a dance that would take them into forever. A dance that could be nothing less than God’s plan for their lives. She dried her hands on a towel. Her mother was right. God had a plan for each of them, and this . . . this rebuilding time with Tim was part of hers.