Seasons (42 page)

Not to be outdone, Jaci hurriedly dialed the private line to his office. When he answered, she yelled into the phone. “Why
did you hang up on me? I don’t believe you did that. That was so childish, Jason.”

He didn’t answer for a long minute. “I didn’t have anything else to say and I didn’t want to hear what you were saying. Unless
you’re calling to say you’ve changed your mind, I still don’t want to he—” Now she had hung up on him. There!

Her desk phone immediately rang again. She knew it had to be him. She couldn’t believe they were carrying on like this. As
soon as she answered, he said, “Now who’s being childish? Huh?” Then hung up before she could answer.

Jaci dropped her head into her hands, glad her office door was closed. How in the world had her life gone to hell in just
a matter of minutes? Ten minutes ago, her biggest problem had been the reorganization. Now she was over her head in a marital
standoff.

Any further work today was impossible. She stared out the window for the remaining hours of the workday, vacillating between
wishing she could go home,
meaning her own house
—which was out of the question since the house had been leased—and being ashamed of herself for even feeling that way.

She was tempted to call Jason back and apologize, but knew he would probably just hang up on her again when he learned she
hadn’t changed her mind. She turned the volume up on the radio, which was always set on a Christian station. She needed to
hear something, anything, from the Lord. Satan was winning this battle so far. How had such a small issue grown so big? How
could she justify her refusal when her husband had almost begged her to go with him? She hadn’t even asked why! Her only concern
had been her job, her responsibilities, her need to do well in this new position.

“Oh Lord, help me,” she cried. “I’ve lost my way, Father. Please lead me in the right direction.”

She slowly made her way to her truck when it was time to leave. It wouldn’t do to arrive home late and give Jason even more
fuel to add to the fire. She shook her head as she approached the truck, another issue that should have been resolved but
due to her stubbornness remained a bone of contention. Jason wanted to buy her a new car. He absolutely hated her old unreliable
truck. But because it was hers, something she had managed to get on her own, she refused to let go. She drove toward home,
and for the first time, hated the thought of going there.

J
ason was already home and packing when Jaci came into the bedroom and kicked off her shoes. She sat down on the side of the
bed to watch him place things neatly into his bag. He had nothing to say to her. He was angry and hurt. Why couldn’t Jaci
understand how much he wanted her with him on this trip? For some reason, he felt vulnerable in this fight, as if all that
he stood for was also under attack. His strength seemed small and he couldn’t understand the weakness since he had fought
more intense battles than this one, and hadn’t been affected like this. He needed his wife’s strength to help him through
this battle.

“Are we going to Bible study tonight?” Jaci asked. Jason looked at her and wondered how she could even think about it. “I’m
not. You can do whatever you want.” He answered in stilted words.

“Okay. I think I’ll go,” she told him. “Have you eaten anything? Do you want me to fix you something before I leave?”

He looked at her sharply. “Like I said, you can do whatever you want. You’re going to do that anyway.”

Dang!
Jaci thought. To conclude that this man was pissed off was putting it mildly. She stood, put her shoes back on, and walked
out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door. She still had enough anger to propel her actions.

As soon as he heard the garage door open, Jason almost collapsed on the bed. What in the world had gotten into him? His wife
was trying to offer him an olive branch and here he was acting like a fool. She might have been getting ready to tell him
she had changed her mind. Now that possibility was gone.

If ever he needed to hear a word from the Lord, it was now. He closed the half-filled bag, set it on the floor, grabbed his
keys, and followed his wife’s path out the door and to the church. He got there just as the pastor began the lesson.

“Brothers and Sisters, tonight we’re going to talk about vision,” Pastor Robinson said, looking around the room. “I don’t
mean physical vision and what we see out of our eyes. No, no. I mean our spiritual vision—what we see and understand in our
spirit. The question I’m asking tonight is: Have you lost your vision? your sight? your way? your faith? Have you willfully
taken your spiritual eyes off the One who is your guide, your source, your deliverer? I contend that many of us have done
just that, and are now groping around in the dark wondering which way to go. The Word of God says in Proverbs 29:18 that where
there is no vision, people perish. I further contend that many of us are literally perishing. Perishing in our souls, our
spiritual walk with the Lord, our marriages, our relationships, our finances, our bodies . . . because we have lost our vision.

Jason had taken a seat in the back as soon as he walked in, not even bothering to seek Jaci out. When he heard the pastor’s
opening remarks, he started searching the audience intently, finally finding her sitting near her usual place. He quickly
made his way to her side.

T
he pastor’s words had such an impact on Jaci that tears began streaming down her face before she realized it. Her first impulse
was to get out of there before she made a real spectacle of herself. But before she could move, she felt someone slip into
the seat beside her and a strong arm pulling her close. She looked up to see Jason, his face also wet, looking down at her.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to him. “I don’t know what got into me.”

His arm around her tightened. “Shhhhh! . . . we’ll talk about it later.”

The pastor continued. “This is not going to be a long lesson tonight. I just want to give you some food for thought and prayer,
then I want you to go home and deal with your loss of vision by repenting for choosing your own will over God’s. Everyone
in here knows how you have gone wrong, and that’s between you and the Lord. It’s up to you to find your way back to the right
path. God loves us enough to let us make the decision. He’s not going to force you back into the light.”

Jaci didn’t have to hear anymore. She had already admitted to the Lord that she had lost her way as a wife. She did exactly
what Jason had asked her not to do when he agreed to her staying on her job. She still subconsciously thought unilaterally
instead of as a wife. Every serious disagreement between them had been about her job. Did she in fact put her job first? Did
she hold so tightly to her job because she was afraid to trust her husband—her marriage? Did she value her marriage enough
to put the job in its rightful place? Did she love her husband enough to change?

Oh Lord! Please show me the way that You would have me to take.
Then she cringed.
That’s a dumb prayer, Lord. I already know what I should do.

She drove into the garage, got out of the truck, and, without waiting for Jason, who had pulled in right behind her, made
her way into the house and up the stairs to the bedroom. She went into the closet and began selecting clothes suitable for
the D.C. trip. Jason walked into the room, and, realizing what she was doing, went to her and pulled her tightly into his
arms.

“Sweetheart, I’ll understand if you can’t go. I was wrong to expect you to take off on such short notice. I should have told
you last week that I needed you to go with me, rather than springing it on you at the last minute. Maybe if I had, it wouldn’t
have come to us fighting about it.” He led her to the bed where they sat down.

“I don’t want our marriage to perish because we mess around and lose sight of God and what He would have us to do. But we
also need to stay close and communicate with each other. That’s the only way we’ll know what we need from each other.”

Jaci began to cry. “I know,” she agreed tearfully.

Jaci arrived at work at her usual time the next morning. She waited anxiously for her boss Ed Shannon to get in so she could
talk to him about taking off the next couple of days. She had packed last night and with the exception of clearing things
with Ed, was ready to go. Not going with her husband was no longer a consideration, whatever the outcome. She smiled as she
considered the dramatic change in her attitude since yesterday. Her job was still important, but not to the point of jeopardizing
her marriage. She silently thanked God for His guidance and prayed for favor and understanding from her boss.

“Jaci, what do you expect me to do? Fire you on the spot?” Ed Shannon asked, noticing Jaci’s nervousness as she explained
her need for time off. “You have a lot of surplus built up in your time bank, lady. It’s understandable that you’ll be using
it now that you have a demanding husband.” He paused. “And you tell J.P. to lighten up a little!” he added, laughing. “Jaci,
its not a big deal, and I don’t have a problem with it. I know you’re going to take care of your job responsibilities, and
do them well. And I don’t want to upset the boat in any way and make that husband of yours insist on you leaving just yet.
I like what you’re doing with the division so far. So I’ll see you when you get back.”

Jaci thanked Ed profusely for his understanding, then held a hurried meeting with her staff to assure that things would go
well while she was away. She called to let Jason know she was headed home and wondered why she had made such an issue of going
with him.
Ooh Lord! I’ve got a lot of adjusting to do.

J
ason smiled as Jaci squirmed around in her seat by the window until she found a comfortable position. Her head rested against
his arm while her hand sought for and found his. He remembered their first plane ride together and smiled at the differences.
That time, Jaci had been careful, even in sleep, to stay as far from him as possible. Now, she couldn’t seem to get close
enough. He was happy. Now that he had easily won the patent case, he wondered why he had been so worried. Then he caught himself.

“Thank You, Father,”he whispered. “All Glory to Your Name for the victory today.”

He was surprised when Jaci whispered, “Amen.” He thought she had dropped off to sleep. “Sweetheart, you don’t know how much
I appreciate having you with me today. I know it was a big sacrifice for you to leave your job and come on this trip. I promise
I’ll make it up to you.”

Jaci raised her head and looked into his eyes. “I love you. I know I have some things to learn about being the right kind
of wife, but if you’ll bear with me, I’ll keep trying. By the way, Ed said to tell you to lighten up.” She smiled at his obstinate
look. “He also said there was no way he was going to upset you because he doesn’t want you demanding my departure from the
job. He’s a nice boss.”

Jason snorted with disdain. “He can forget it. I think one of the things we’ve learned is that your departure is inevitable.
That job has to go!” He felt her stiffen. “I’m sorry, honey, but that’s the way it is. I don’t want to fight every time I
need you to go out of town with me. And I don’t plan on going too many places without you.” Jaci looked up with combat blazing
in her emerald eyes. Before she could relay anything, he quickly said, “I guess we’d better pray about it huh?” She laid her
head back down on his shoulder, smiling and choosing to say nothing.

A
week later on Friday evening, Jaci was glad to see the weekend. She hadn’t rested up from the trip to D.C. and her extremely
heavy workload this past week. She rushed home from work with nothing more on her mind than a relaxing bubble bath and a quiet
evening with her husband.

She slipped into the large Jacuzzi tub with a satisfied sigh. She just wanted to sit and let the hot water and fragrant lavender
aroma ease the tension from her body.

She let her mind drift and reflect on all the blessings from God. Life was good and there was nowhere else she’d rather be
than here in this house with her husband. She chuckled. “Oh yeah! This is definitely a moment! Thank you, Father.” The only
thing that could have possibly made it any better was her husband’s presence in the tub with her. The ringing telephone interrupted
her praise-filled reflections. She groaned in irritation. “That was bound to happen,” she said, thinking it was probably Jason
and rushing to get out of the tub to answer it.

“Hello!” she said hurriedly, hoping she had caught it in time. There was a brief pause before she heard a familiar female
voice and felt the bottom fall out of her world.

“Ha! You thought I was gone, didn’t you? Well, I’ve got news for you. I’m not going anywhere, and my sister isn’t either until
we see you dead. You’ve taken things from both of us—things that should have been ours. Well, heifer, just know this: You
better be looking over your shoulder because we’re going to get you. And nothing and nobody’s going to stop us this time!”

Jaci dropped the phone and backed away from it as if it were a snake. “Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!” she repeated over and over,
her mind filled with horror and fear.

An hour later Jason found her curled into a tight ball on the bed. Her eyes were red and swollen, and she looked as if all
the life had been knocked out of her. His heart pounded as he realized that something traumatic had happened to his wife.
Why hadn’t she called him!

“Baby, what’s wrong? What happened? Tell me!” he said, pulling her into his arms.

Jaci hugged him tightly. “Linda . . . called . . . and . . . and said she and Wynola were going . . . to get me. Oh God! Jason,
she’s back . . . I thought that was all over, but now both of them are after me. I’m scared, Jason.” She cried uncontrollably.

J
ason was shaken! He too had believed that Linda and her attacks on Jaci were behind them. But it sounded like Linda, and Wynola,
were as determined as ever to do harm to Jaci. He lay down beside her and started talking to her softly.