She and Cole turned and watched the clock together as the second hand made the climb past nine and ten and eleven. And just like that it happened.
Midnight.
Elise closed her eyes and let her forehead fall against Cole’s chest. But instead of tears, she felt the most beautiful peace. As if God Himself was standing beside her, cheering her on, holding her up. She pictured Aaron and Lucy—the couple who had given her little girl the most beautiful name. Gracie Anne.
And Elise smiled. Because from this minute on Elise’s baby wouldn’t only be a child Aaron and Lucy got to name.
She would be theirs.
Forever and ever and ever more.
• • •
COLE HAD NEVER known anyone braver than Elise Walker, the way she had handled this night. Everything from her humor earlier to these last five minutes. Watching the clock forever erase any chance of Elise being able to change her mind.
Watching her let her tiny daughter go. For always.
It was a few minutes after midnight, and he needed to leave. Elise had to finish packing and Cole had to do the same. Their futures were waiting for them.
“You okay?” Cole felt like he’d been asking her that all night. But he wanted to know. Especially now. With the two weeks behind them.
“Yes.” Tears welled in her eyes. She blinked and shook her head a little. “I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.”
He chuckled. “Me, too.”
“Crazy, right?” She laughed even as two tears made their way down her face. “I’m so happy, Cole. Really. There’s no reason to cry.”
It was one of those moments when the best thing he could do was listen. He searched her eyes. “Mmmm.”
“I mean it.” She released him and did a spin in her aunt and uncle’s living room. “My baby girl’s going to have the best life.” She raised her brow, her eyes bright. “Can you imagine how happy she’s going to be? Aaron and Lucy will tell her about Jesus and about how I loved her enough to let her go.”
She was celebrating the moment, and Cole thought the world of her for it. But tears streamed down her face even while her voice filled with joy. Rivers of tears.
“Gracie Anne has parents now! It’s official.” Elise raised her hands in the air and a few sobs slipped from her lips. “Cole. Gracie Anne has parents!” The wind in her happiness seemed to fade. She came to him again and fell into his arms. “Maybe someday, right?”
He wasn’t sure what she meant so he eased back and searched her eyes. “Maybe someday?”
“You and me.” Her tears wouldn’t stop. “When you have your medical degree and I’m a famous artist in SoHo or Chelsea.”
Tears blurred his eyes now, but he smiled. With his thumb he pushed her dark hair off her forehead and stared into her eyes. “Yeah, Elise.” He wanted her, wanted her to know that he loved her more than a friend. “Maybe someday.”
“Will you do something for me, Cole? Before you go?” She was shaking, clearly dreading the goodbye ahead as much as he was.
He took a step closer and framed her face with his hand. Her skin was soft beneath his touch. The attraction between them had never been stronger. “Will you kiss me, Cole? Just once?”
Long before this moment, Cole had made up his mind. He wouldn’t kiss her. No matter how bad he wanted to, he couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to either of them. Not when their futures were taking them in such different directions. But that plan was out the window now. There were only the two of them in this empty house, Elise looking like a vision and wanting just one thing from him. “Elise . . .” His resolve was wearing thin, his breath soft against her face. “We shouldn’t.”
“I don’t mean like that.” She closed the distance between them, her eyes never leaving his. “A kiss goodbye.” Her smile was the saddest he’d ever seen. “God would be okay with that. Don’t you think?”
Cole didn’t need any more convincing. He took gentle hold of her face with his other hand and brought his lips to hers. The kiss lasted longer than he intended, a handful of seconds when there was only Elise and him and a life and love that had almost been.
But would almost certainly never be.
He drew back, the feeling of her lips fresh on his, the heat in his cheeks something he had never known before. He was more sure than ever that he needed to leave. Now. Before he kissed her again.
She walked him to the door and they hugged once more. She wasn’t crying now and he wasn’t, either. As if—in the end—they both had agreed to this goodbye. Because it was the best decision.
Just like Elise’s choice to let Gracie Anne go to the adoptive couple.
“I love you, Elise.” He touched his lips to hers one more time. Not the hot kiss from a minute ago. But the final way he wanted her to remember him. As someone who had always liked her more than a friend. Someone who loved her.
“I love you, too.” She touched his face, and the feel of her fingertips lasted long after she took a step back.
They both waved and he walked to his car. As he climbed in and drove away, Cole thought about the kiss, his first kiss. Their last kiss. And he felt something grab hold of him, something he’d never felt before. He didn’t have to wonder what it was. He would remember this feeling forever.
The feeling of a broken heart.
24
They decided to hand off little Gracie Anne at the local social services office. Mr. Green had set up the meeting for ten that morning. The two weeks had ended, just hours before, at midnight.
Gracie Anne belonged to her adoptive parents now.
Theo and Alma had taken shifts holding her since she woke up that morning. It was Theo’s turn now. He cradled her against his heart and closed his eyes. For one more minute the baby wasn’t a foster child headed to her forever home.
It was his Vienna. The way it felt to hold her when she first came into their lives. He steadied himself and looked at the baby. Her eyes were open. Pretty, and full of light and love and hope. She was almost smiling at him.
“You know what you did, little one?” He nuzzled his face against hers. “You changed our lives.”
Alma walked up. She was ready, her purse over her shoulder. “You tell her, honey.” She leaned over the infant and smiled. “Uncle Theo is right, baby girl. God knew we needed this time with you.”
Together they loaded her in the car seat and set out for the state office. Theo still couldn’t believe all that had happened these past two weeks. From the first night, having Gracie Anne was perfect proof that Vienna was right.
They were supposed to get back into foster care.
But with Vienna gone, they had taken the idea a step further. Alma gave her notice at work. She wouldn’t return in the fall. Not only that, but there was a For Sale sign in the front yard.
Vienna wouldn’t want them drifting around this house like a couple of ghosts, lost in memories of yesterday. Aching for her, missing her. Seeing her in the kitchen getting an apple from the refrigerator or in her bedroom doing homework on her bed. Dancing across the foyer and grinning at them from the dining room table.
What sort of life would that be? How would it honor everything Vienna stood for?
So three days after they brought Gracie Anne home, Theo had made a call. He’d heard about a Christian children’s ministry a few miles away, not far from Clear Creek High. The campus was made up of fifty acres and six houses. Each house needed parents willing to make a full-time job out of caring for teenage foster kids. The ministry was in dire need, actually.
Theo grinned at the memory. He took Alma’s hand and looked at her. “First of September.”
“Yes.” Alma’s smile started in her eyes and filled her face. “I can’t wait.”
The house they would run had an office so Theo could carry on his job, doing sales from home. And Alma would work full-time with the teens. The ones who didn’t have parents.
All because of Gracie Anne and these last two weeks.
“God is good, Alma.” The S
pirit of the Lord was all around them. Theo could feel Him. “Vienna would be so happy.”
“She is so happy.” Alma looked back at the baby in the mirror on her visor. Then she turned to Theo again. “He knew exactly what we needed.”
“A little baby girl who helped us remember how to love again.” Theo blinked back happy tears. “Even if only for two weeks.”
• • •
ON THE WAY into the social services office, Lucy stopped and stared at the door. Just stared at it. “I . . . I can’t believe it.”
Aaron stood beside her. He glanced at the knob and then at her, clearly anxious. Their baby girl was waiting on the other side. “Honey . . . can we, you know, talk about this later?”
Lucy uttered the softest laugh. “I mean, I can’t believe it.” She looked into his eyes. In all their marriage she’d never felt more in love with him. “Thank you, Aaron. For trusting God. For never giving up.”
“You’re welcome.” He gave her a quick kiss and put his arm around her. “We don’t want to be late, Lucy. Come on.”
She laughed again. “You do realize our entire life is going to change when we walk into that room, right?”
“Yes.” He looked ready to explode with happiness. “Please. This isn’t the time.”
He was right. Lucy followed behind as they approached the door and stepped into the office.
A kind-looking couple in maybe their late forties sat in a pair of chairs. The man was holding Gracie Anne.
Lucy wondered if she might collapse here on the floor. Her heart would stop and she’d never get the chance to hold her daughter. God, please, give me the strength. Ten years had led to this moment.
But there was no script on how it would play out.
The man stood and shifted the baby to one arm. Then with his free hand, he shook Aaron’s. “Theo Brown.”
“Aaron Williams.”
Lucy introduced herself to the man’s wife and as they finished their hellos, Theo looked into Gracie Anne’s eyes. “God used this little girl to save us. In more ways than anyone will ever know.” He smiled at Aaron and then Lucy. “She’s a miracle baby, for sure.”
You have no idea, Lucy wanted to tell him. And for a moment she thought about the way this couple must feel. It wasn’t only Elise who had to give up her beautiful baby girl. But this couple, too. She looked from the man to his wife. “Thank you. For stepping in. For helping us this way.”
“The pleasure was ours.” Alma put her arm around her husband. “Honey.” She smiled. “I think they’d like their daughter now.”
Mr. Green stepped into the office. “You’re here!” He grinned at Aaron and then Lucy. “I have to tell you, I really wasn’t sure about this one.”
“I was.” Aaron looked at their daughter and then at the attorney. “God told me we were going to have a baby. He just waited till now so we’d have the right one.” Aaron turned to little Gracie Anne again. She was still in Theo Brown’s arms. Aaron touched her cheek then turned to Lucy. “You take her first, honey.”
Lucy stepped up and held out her arms. She wasn’t shaking or trembling. She didn’t feel cold or sick to her stomach. She felt perfect. Whole and content and like she was standing smack in the middle of the happiest moment in all her life.
“Bye, little one.” Theo handed her to Lucy and eased back. “Someday, my wife and I would love to get dinner with you. So we can tell you our story.”
The feel of their daughter in her arms was like nothing Lucy had ever known. Like she’d been given permission to breathe fully for the first time. Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off the infant. She’s Yours, God. And You gave her to us. How can I ever thank You?
Aaron was talking to Theo, telling him that yes, of course, they’d love to get together, love to hear the couple’s story, and he was saying how their Gracie Anne could never have enough aunts and uncles. But all Lucy could think about was the infant in her arms. And that no one could ever take her away from them.
She was still consumed by that single thought when Aaron came alongside her, one arm around her shoulders, the other under Gracie Anne. Their baby. Their daughter.
The Browns said goodbye, and Mr. Green had final papers for them to sign. But the moment didn’t last long, and in a rush of joy and gratitude and disbelief, they were snapping Gracie Anne’s car seat into their SUV and heading home.
The three of them.
Everything about the morning was about to be full of firsts. Gracie Anne’s first car ride home, her first time inside their house. Her first bottle with the two of them. First nap in the nursery. All of it was just ahead.
Through every minute of the ride home, Lucy couldn’t stop smiling. Aaron, too. They were like a couple of kids whose every wish had finally come true. Most moments Lucy didn’t believe it was really happening. Yesterday they were at work and wondering if Elise would change her mind.
And today they were parents.
The day after Gracie Anne was born, Lucy had talked to her supervisor. She wanted to give a tentative two weeks’ notice. If the birth mother didn’t change her mind, she would be done on August 14 and she wouldn’t be back. Not for the foreseeable future.
She was a mother now. There wouldn’t be enough time in the day for her new job. Not enough moments to rock her daughter and feed her and sing to her. Aaron had already been given permission to work one day a week from home. This was where their happily ever after would begin.
Page one in the best chapter of their lives.
They arrived at their house, walked inside with Gracie Anne and looked at each other. Aaron couldn’t stop smiling. “There’s something I want to do first, before anything else.”
Not for a moment did Lucy have to ask what. She already knew. And with Gracie Anne in her arms, she followed Aaron upstairs to the nursery. The room that had for years caused Lucy so much pain.
The room where Aaron sought the heart of God day after day. Never once giving up.
“This place will always be sacred to me.” Aaron’s voice fell to a whisper. Gracie Anne was sleeping. They would tell her later about the day they brought her home, and how they could do nothing but come here first.
“For me, too.” Not because Lucy had always believed God would come through. Most of the time she was racked with doubt. But because this room was where she watched her husband fight for their family. Where his faith grew stronger with every passing season.
And because of that, in time so had hers.
Aaron lowered himself to his knees and he helped Lucy do the same thing. And there, with their baby daughter nestled between them, they whispered the words that mattered most. They thanked God for His faithfulness and for working out every detail of this adoption, and they praised Him for the fact that all along, Aaron had never given up.
They whispered thanks to God for helping Elise make the decision that adoption was best for both her and her baby girl. And they prayed for Elise, that in the years ahead she would know this was the right decision and that God would comfort her whenever she doubted.
Finally they thanked the Lord for every wonderful day ahead and the privilege of raising their very own daughter. Gracie Anne. Through all the seasons to come, the learning to walk and talk and ride a bike and the school days. The teaching and singing and playing together. They thanked God for all of it. From now till her high school graduation.
A million years from now.
25
Ashley could remember what it was like, being a young mother and feeling sure the day Cole would move off to college was still a million years away. At least a million.
But now, as she watched Landon and Cole pack the last of his things into his SUV, it didn’t feel like that at all.
A blink. That’s all it was on the journey of raising a child. Just a blink.
All the kids had taken turns moving things to Cole’s Explorer and now they were gathered around the dining room table. One final breakfast with Cole before he left. That was the plan.
<
br /> Ashley didn’t want to spend Cole’s last hour making food. So Amy was cooking instead. Scrambled eggs and sausage and sliced oranges. Janessa and Devin were in charge of the toast.
And Ashley, well, she was doing what she had planned to do this morning. She was leaning against the doorframe watching Cole and Landon pack. Watching the easy way they had with each other, and the smiles that came more readily for guys on a day like this.
She wasn’t crying. Not yet. She’d had this date circled on the calendar since Cole had been accepted to Liberty. Along the way there were whole months when she wondered if Cole might really move to Louisiana with Elise. But God had heard her prayers and Landon’s. Cole’s and Elise’s.
Things had worked out in the best possible way. Not that it was easy. The night Cole said goodbye to Elise, he’d come home and broken down in her arms. Ashley didn’t have any clever sayings or easy answers. Heartbreak was hard.
It broke her own heart to see Cole so upset.
But the next morning he had found her and Landon again. His eyes were clear and he smiled at them. “Elise landed safely in New York. She had an early flight.”
Ashley had waited, not sure how Cole was handling all this.
“How do you feel, Son?” Landon had spoken up first.
Cole nodded and thought for a moment. Then his smile fell off a little. “Sad.” He shrugged. “That’s just honest. This whole thing has been sad.” He paused for a few seconds. “But I feel good, too. This is the right thing. For both of us.”
That had been yesterday, and now here they were living out the moment Ashley had dreaded since she’d brought Cole home from the hospital. Back when she thought she had forever.
Cole and Landon came up the walkway, laughing about something. When they reached the door Landon nudged Cole. “Tell your mother.”
“Girls.” He shook his head, still laughing. “Carolyn Everly texted me. Her car broke down. Like completely.”
“Her dad thinks it’s the transmission.” Landon chuckled. “So good thing Cole’s SUV isn’t totally full.”
Two Weeks: A Novel (The Baxter Family) Page 25
