“No. I’m pretty laid back, so Angie was good for me that way. Kept me on my toes and motivated.”
“How long were you married before Cammy was born?”
“About a year. We were so excited. Didn’t matter that we were stone broke and working our way through school. We just knew that somehow the Lord would provide for our needs and Cammy’s. He did.”
Meg pulled some long grass and wrapped it around her forefinger. “I’m sure the car accident—and losing Angie—has been devastating for you.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” Vance pulled his arm away and straightened a bit.
Meg knew she’d hit a nerve. But she also knew that they needed to talk about this, to get it all out in the open, if their relationship was going to progress. So she kept silent, waiting patiently for him to either continue or change the subject.
“Angie was my reason for living. I had built my whole world around her. When she died, I felt like I’d lost my very soul. I didn’t know what to do or where to turn for help. But, at the same time, I couldn’t really dwell on myself. My daughter needed me. And so did my father. All this was going on while he was dying of cancer.”
Meg’s heart ached for Vance. She slipped her hand into his. He grasped it, entwining her fingers between his.
“My sister tried to be there for both my mother and me, but she had just gone through a divorce and was dealing with her son’s learning disabilities. It was a rough time for her, too. Liz and Charlie were, and are, a huge help to me. My friends, too. And my pastor, my church family. They’re all good about keeping in touch, being available if we need anything.” Vance paused.
“Then, a little more than a year ago, I began feeling empty, depressed. And one night, it was like the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that He’d been there for me all along. I just needed to turn to Him and ask for His guidance, provision, and healing. Make Him Lord of my life. I made that decision, and at that point, I turned the corner from living in complete despair to—” He took a second to find the right words. “—to being able to laugh again and find joy in raising my daughter.”
“That’s beautiful, Vance. The way God gave you hope.”
“He did. And now, finally, I feel ready to go on with my life.”
Meg leaned her head against his shoulder. She had never felt closer to him as she did in this moment. The feeling surprised her.
“Well, enough about me. What about you? Like it here in Kentucky so far?”
“Yeah, I like it a lot.”
“Think you’ll stay?”
“It’s my every intention.”
Vance shifted and put his arm around Meg again. “Mind if I ask what brought you here in the first place? A public school in Chicago has got to pay more than a little charter school in Stanford.”
“Money isn’t everything.”
“True enough.” He momentarily paused. “I got a settlement after the accident, but it was a bittersweet financial gain. I bought a handicap van and my Sport Trac. Both have come in handy, but neither brought me an ounce of happiness. But there I go again, talking about me.”
“I like talking about you.”
He gave her a nudge. “You were telling me why you decided to move to Kentucky.”
“I was tutoring in one of south Chicago’s roughest schools, and the job was going nowhere. I was also living with a guy, and our relationship wasn’t going anywhere, either.” She turned and tried to gauge Vance’s reaction under the ivory streamers of moonlight. “By the way, I’m not exactly advertising this information. I won’t deny it if someone asks, but I think a lot of people would love to point righteous fingers and say I’m no good because I was ‘living in sin.’”
“I’ll keep it under wraps.”
Meg sensed understanding, not condemnation, in his voice. However, as she explained how her job, her relationship with Dillon, and ultimately her entire existence all unraveled, she began feeling ashamed of shacking up with Dillon in the first place.
“I know it wasn’t—wasn’t right.”
“We all make mistakes, Meg.”
“I know. Nobody’s perfect. But I have to admit that living with Dillon was about the worst mistake I ever made.”
“Why? Because it didn’t work out?”
Meg shook her head. “No, because it wasn’t real between us. There was nothing that bound us together. There was no—” She groped for the right word.
“Foundation?”
“Yes. That’s a good way to say it. Ours was a relationship built on unstable ground, and it all came tumbling down—right on top of me.”
“Ouch.” She could practically hear him wincing. “So now you’re searching for Mr. Right?”
“Actually, I’m not searching. I’m starting over here in Miracle, and the rest is in God’s hands. Providence.” Meg’s gaze traveled to the starlit sky. “You know, I didn’t used to believe in that, but I do now. The fact that I’m here in Kentucky, teaching school; that my dad and I have made amends, and I’m developing relationships with Donna, Kelly, and Ryan—all that is nothing short of one miracle after another.” She smiled, amazed. “Even seeing you in Wal-Mart a week ago was what I’d have to call…destiny.”
“You think?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, I’d have to agree because…here we are.” Vance hugged her around the shoulders a little tighter.
“Here we are.”
An impregnated silence seemed to hover over them.
A second later Vance cleared his throat. “So, um, forgive my being nosy, but I just have to ask—any chance of you and that guy reconciling?”
“Me and Dillon?” She wagged her head with confidence. “Not a single one.”
Vance moved closer. “Maybe he just made a mistake.” His lips were suddenly close to her ear, sending little shivers of delight around her neck and down her arms. “What if he came crawling back to you, begging your forgiveness, and asking you to marry him?”
“I’d tell him to drop dead.”
“Whoa!” He chuckled at her facetious remark and leaned back hard against the oak.
“Okay, maybe I wouldn’t say it quite like that—”
Vance continued to laugh.
Meg sat by, smiling.
Then his tone took on a more somber note. “Are you still hurt from the breakup?”
“Honestly? No, I’m not. I’m relieved. So very relieved. Words can’t begin to describe it.” Meg couldn’t have felt more sure of her reply. “What about you and Nicole? Any reconciliation in the works?”
“None.” He paused as if in thought. “And you want to know the God’s honest truth?”
“Let’s hear it.” Meg scooted sideways a few inches so she could see him better.
“In the few months that I was seeing Nicole, she and I never talked the way you and I are talking now.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. I never felt prompted to share anything deeply personal about myself with her.”
“I’m flattered.” His admission truly did make Meg feel special. “But you and Nicole had to talk about something, right?”
“Sure, but it was superficial stuff, like our kids, jobs, Nicole’s ex-husband, the vacation she always dreamed of taking, the new car she wanted to buy—” Vance seemed to halt in mid-muse. “And speaking of—”
He leaned over and placed a sound but all-too-quick kiss on Meg’s lips. She barely had time to respond before he stood and reached for her hand.
Disappointment and surprise surged through her.
“We’d better get back.” He pulled her to her feet.
“You mean because people might talk?”
“No.” Beneath the glow of the moon, he smiled into her eyes. “Because I just remembered that I gave Boz the keys to my Sport Trac so he could fetch Tara’s jacket. It’d be like him to pull a prank and steal my wheels, leaving us to hitchhike back to town.”
Chapter Twenty
Loretta felt h
er jaw drop when Meggie stepped out onto the screened porch. “You look positively stunning, hon.”
“Thanks, Grams.”
“Mmm-mmm.” She smiled and couldn’t help the maternal inspection of the calf-length black dress with spaghetti straps. It accentuated Meggie’s feminine figure in a flattering yet modest way. “If Vance isn’t smitten with you now, he will be.”
She blushed at the compliment. “And to think I found this dress at the Goodwill store and paid only five dollars.”
Loretta pulled her reading glasses off her nose. “Only five dollars?”
Meg nodded. “It still had the department store tags on it. Brand new.”
“Well, I’ll be.” Loretta grinned. “What a blessing.”
“I’ll say.” She strode forward.
“So, um, you like Vance Bayer, huh?” Loretta closed the Reader’s Digest in her lap and remembered how she glimpsed the two of them sharing quite the passionate kiss last night after Vance walked Meggie to the door. Nothing obscene, just thoroughly romantic in a way that made Loretta miss Jeb. He’d been a passionate man, too.
“I like him very much.” Meggie sat down and crossed her legs. “After the game, he told me about the car accident that killed his wife and injured Cammy.”
Loretta closed her eyes and shook her head. “Such a tragedy.”
“For sure.” Pensiveness shadowed her face. “But he told me about all the good that came out of it, too. I never would have thought it.”
“Satan meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”
Meg nodded. “Vance said Cammy’s spinal cord wasn’t severed. I wonder if she’ll really walk one day.”
“Never know.”
“She wants to—she makes mention of walking at least once during every school day.” Moments later, Meggie shrugged as if dismissing the matter for the time being. “Anyway, it was nice to get to know Vance better last night.”
Loretta smiled. “I’ve always liked him, even though he gave his parents a run for their money.”
“Yes, I heard a number of tales last night. Vance and I had to laugh, because we were such opposites in high school.”
“Amazing how God can even up the score, isn’t it?”
“Definitely.” Meggie smoothed her dress over her knee, and Loretta noticed her bare wrists. She saw the plain silver balls in her earlobes, too.
“Hon, I have a sterling and diamond bracelet with matching earrings—I think they’d complete your outfit.” Loretta stood. “Your grandfather gave them to me on my sixtieth birthday, and I think I’ve worn ’em only a couple of times. Let me fetch the set and you can tell me if you’d like to borrow it tonight.”
Meg stood also. “I don’t think I’ve ever worn real diamonds before.”
Loretta teasingly began to sing a few bars of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” while making her way through the house and into her bedroom. “A kiss on the hand may be quite continental…”
Meggie followed her, laughing. “You’re too much, Grams.”
Reaching her bureau, Loretta opened the top drawer and removed the velvet-encased box.
“They’re beautiful! Are you sure I can wear them? What if I lose them?”
“Well, if you do, you do. And, yes, I want you to wear them.”
“I’m just chaperoning a homecoming dance. It’s not like this is my wedding day or anything.”
“I know, but it’s a special time just the same. Besides, I think your grandpa would like it that you wore this jewelry.”
Loretta helped Meggie fasten the bracelet onto her slender wrist. Then Meggie removed her earrings and replaced them with the diamond studs.
She inspected herself in the mirror. “Well, I guess it’s no more sparkle than some women would wear to an elegant dinner party or upscale restaurant.”
“You like it?”
“Love it.”
“You’ll add sophistication to that homecoming dance.” Loretta felt immensely proud of her granddaughter, who was so caring, smart, and beautiful. “Maybe the kids will be less inclined to spike the punch.”
Meggie smiled. “Fat chance. But luckily Vance knows what to watch for since he’s pulled every prank a teenage male can possibly think up.”
Loretta had to laugh. “And then some, I’m sure.”
Meg drove to the Bayers’ so Cammy could approve of her dress. She was becoming very fond of that little girl. Meg admired her intelligence and spunk and noticed that the other teachers did, too. Even Kent Baldwin. Cammy gave one hundred percent to most of her subjects, and phys ed was no exception. She spurred her classmates on and generated excitement; even the kids whom Kent referred to as the “pee wees,” she cajoled into participating in relay races. They figured that if Cammy played along despite her disability, they could play in spite of their smaller-than-average sizes, un-coordination, or un-athleticism. Cammy had also helped her team win most of the rowing contests, as her arms were stronger than most eight-year-olds from maneuvering herself around in her wheelchair. She’d become a much sought after team player. Meg was proud of her.
She pulled into the Bayers’ driveway, parking over to the side, next to the handicap van as Vance requested. He said they’d drive to the high school in his Explorer Sport Trac tonight.
She walked to the front door and was greeted by a female who looked to be in her fifties. Her short hair was prematurely silver and her eyes, a startling blue. Meg knew at once the woman was Cammy’s grandmother.
“I’m Liz Moffet.” She opened the door. “You must be Meg.”
“Yes. Hello. Nice to meet you.” Meg stepped into the house.
“Cammy’s been telling me all about you.”
“She loves school.”
“Sounds to me like she loves her teacher.” The smile in Liz’s voice sounded genuine, and Meg was touched by the compliment.
“Please, come in.” Liz motioned her to step farther into the house.
Meg glanced around the living room. It had a country theme, blues and creams, with a quaint border pasted on the walls near the ceiling. Then her gaze fell on Cammy, who was propped up with pillows at one end of the sofa. In her lap was a colorful cardboard folder.
“Hi, Miss Jorgenson!”
“Hi, yourself.”
“You look pretty.”
“Thank you.” Meg felt a bit embarrassed to have promised to show Cammy her dress. At the time, she didn’t know Vance’s in-laws would be present.
“I like your dress almost as much as that pretty Mary Poppins dress.”
“It’d be lovely on you.” Meg sat down on the other end of the sapphire-colored sofa and noticed the teeny cream hearts in the woven fabric. “So what have you got in your lap?” She pointed to the folder.
“American Girl paper dolls.” Cammy’s face brightened. “Gramma and Grampa got ’em for me. And they bought me my very own American Girl doll, too. She has blue eyes and short black hair like mine.”
“And like mine, too—the way it used to be, that is.” Liz patted her hair and took a seat in a worn brown armchair that appeared out of place in the room. “My daughter, Angela, had the same coloring.”
“I assumed so, since Cammy doesn’t resemble Vance in that regard.”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s the spitting image of Angie.”
“That’s good, right?” Puzzlement crept across Cammy’s face.
“It’s very good.” Liz beamed at her granddaughter before turning her attention back to Meg. “Vance tells us you’re from Chicago.”
“That’s right.”
“And you’re living with your grandmother for the time being?”
“Right again. My parents divorced when I was just three, so I never got close to my dad’s side of the family. Teaching here in Stanford is giving me that opportunity, and so far I’m extremely happy with my job at Fairview.”
“Well, isn’t that nice?” Liz crossed her legs and seemed pleased by Meg’s reply. “Most twenty-something people I know don
’t want a single thing to do with their parents or grandparents. It’s refreshing to meet a young, single woman who does.”
“Thanks, but I have to admit going through that ‘I don’t want anything to do with my family’ stage. I guess I just needed to find out who I was as a person first, without my mom or anybody else trying to tell me.”
“I understand completely.”
“Who am I as a person?” Cammy asked.
Meg chuckled and put her hand on the child’s blanket-covered legs. “As you grow up, you’ll discover the answer to that question.”
“But I want to know now.” She tipped her head and frowned.
Liz’s smile grew. “Okay, then, you tell us. Who are you as a person, Cammy Bayer?”
For a moment, she seemed confused, but then she prattled off her name, address, phone number, her dad’s name, Vance Elliot Bayer, his work phone number, and his cell phone number. Then she proceeded to list the names of her grandparents, the ones “in heaven” and the ones still “on earth.” She knew her Gramma Liz and Grampa Charlie’s phone number, too.
Meg tried in vain to conceal a laugh.
“Well, I think that, as a person, you’re quite a little computer chip.” Liz chuckled. “And you’ve got lots of memory.”
“I’m smart. Right, Miss Jorgenson?”
“You’re extremely smart, Cammy.”
“Too smart for your own good.” This retort from Vance.
Meg swiveled and found him standing in the archway that led into a hallway. Her pulse quickened at the sight of him in black trousers and a pale green dress shirt with coordinating necktie. She thought the hue of his shirt complemented his hazel eyes—eyes that stared back into hers.
She smiled.
He smiled.
Liz cleared her throat. “If you two want to run along, Cammy and I’ll be fine.”
Vance seemed to have difficulty forcing his gaze away from Meg so he could focus on his mother-in-law. He glanced around the room. “Where’s Charlie?”
“Oh, he went to the store for some snacks to go with our movies.” She waved her hand at him. “He’ll be back anytime.”
Vance hesitated, as if thinking it over, and then glanced at his wristwatch before looking back at Meg. “You all set?”
Love Finds You in Miracle, Kentucky Page 19
