With You Here

by Sarah Monzon

  Jack stepped into the middle of the group, physically blocking Adam from continuing. “And on that note, I think it’s time to toss the bouquet.” She wiggled her spray of peach peonies and seeded eucalyptus.

  Seth turned to Amber with both hands on her shoulders. He bent down, his lips grazing her cheek as he whispered into her ear. “You know what to do.”

  A wholly pleasant shiver raced up her spine. She knew what to do all right, but just the same, she pulled back to clear her head. This is it. She stretched out her neck on one side and then the other. Nodded to him while bouncing on the balls of her feet.

  “What is this? A coaching session before a big game?” Adam mocked.

  Amber smirked at him over her shoulder. “Eye on the prize.”

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Olivia gasped. “We’re next.” She pointed between her and Adam. “You guys just started dating.”

  Seth shrugged. “Can we help it if we’re a faster study than some?”

  Adam hooted and clapped Seth on the shoulder, moving to the side as more women spilled into the middle of the barn to catch the bouquet. “I think you’re going to fit in just fine.”

  Amber swished back the chiffon skirt of her bridesmaid dress. Whether she caught the bouquet or not didn’t really matter. Seth had already been dropping hints about rings and weddings.

  Olivia crouched a bit, eyes on Jack at the front. “Aren’t you going to be going home soon to finish up your degree? Be kind of hard to do that while your husband is an ocean away and ladies are falling all over him.”

  Amber mimicked Olivia’s stance. “Nice try, but I trust Seth. Besides, I can keep my eyes on those so-called ladies since I transferred to the university here.”

  Olivia glanced at her. “Really?”

  “Yeah. Added bonus—Europeans are a little more progressive when it comes to accepting women in ministerial roles.”

  “So, you aren’t going back to Florida?”

  “To visit.” She eyed Seth. “But my heart and my home are here now.”

  “Everyone ready?” Jack called, her back to the women jockeying for the best position to catch the flowers.

  “Just remember that I’m a chef and highly skilled with a knife,” Olivia warned with a tease in her voice.

  Amber laughed. “Duly noted. As well as the fact that Adam is the best criminal defense attorney around and therefore could get you off no matter what your crime.”

  “Three. Two. One!” Jack’s arm lifted over her head and the flowers arced through the air.

  Up. Over. Down.

  Amber’s fingers curled around the stems, and she grinned triumphantly. Olivia’s face glowed as well, and that was when Amber realized her brother’s girlfriend had a grip on the bouquet just above her own.

  They both laughed but neither one released the flowers.

  Olivia’s brow rose. “Double wedding?”

  Amber hugged her future sister-in-law. “Let’s go inform the guys.”

  Author’s Notes

  Some characters are easy to identify with right away. Is that because I use part of my own experience when creating them? Possibly. Although I’m not sure if that is done consciously or unconsciously. Amber Carrington was one such character. No, I’ve never been a hospital chaplain, and I majored in elementary education, not theology, but I have bemoaned a lack of a testimony. I’d hear these amazing life stories of people who were leaders in gangs or addicted to drugs and how Jesus had brought them up out of that pit and freed them from those chains, and I’d rejoice because, hallelujah, our God is awesome!

  But then I’d cringe if anyone asked me to share my testimony. What could I say? I didn’t have some inspiring life-changing experience that would light a fire in the listeners’ hearts. There was no come-to-Jesus moment. No pivotal crux that sent me into the Savior’s arms. Not even some rebellious teenage years that I could count as a prodigal situation.

  As far back as I can remember, I knew God was my Father. That He loved me. My mom likes to tell everyone that I’m the one who got her back to church. That, as a toddler, I’d ask her if today was the day to go to church. So, to quiet my incessant questioning, she found a church to take me to. Children’s church, VBS, church camp—yep, I went to all of those. I’m not saying my life was perfect because, no, whose is? But it took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that the constancy of my relationship with God (or rather, His with me) is my testimony. Didn’t matter if I was a goodie-two-shoes or not. Through everything, the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, God was always my constant. Those little moments, the ones where I could feel Him wrap His loving arms around me and comfort me, everyone one of those moments is a testimony. I was just too short-sighted to see the truth right in front of my face for too long.

  Likewise with the historical thread of With You Here, you may be wondering what was based on fact and what was purely fictional. While the characters and locations are made up, the events themselves are based on fact. Many experts point to Martin Luther’s nailing of the ninety-five theses onto the doors of the church in Wittenberg as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. A lot of issues contributed to that act, chief among them, the selling of indulgences. Because of his refusal to recant his statements of belief, he was declared an enemy of the state by the Edict of Worms. For ten months, he disguised himself as a knight known as Junker Jörg and hid away at the castle in Wartburg, where he translated the Bible into German.

  Besides Luther, there were other notable leaders of the Reformation. This story mentions Ulrich Zwingli, who was the leader of reforms in Switzerland. Theologically speaking, he is known for his dislike of the term sacraments and his disbelief in transubstantiation—the belief that the bread and wine consecrated during the Mass becomes, in essence, the body and blood of Jesus. Zwingli taught that Jesus’ sacrifice of body and blood happened only once and not continually through each celebration of the Mass.

  Some students of Zwingli grew dissatisfied with the rather slow rate of reform in Zurich. On January 21, 1525, they decided to baptize each other even though the act was considered both seditious and heretical. They adopted the name Brethren and were known as Anabaptists. These Reformers were known as Radical Reformers and not Magisterial Reformers because of their belief in freedom of religion rather than the established commonwealth between church and state.

  The history is fascinating and vast, and if you are interested in reading in more depth about church history, both before and after the Reformation, I recommend The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform by Roger E. Olson. I snagged this book, and a few others, off my husband’s bookcase. No, I didn’t read about all twenty centuries, but the sections I did read I found utterly fascinating.

  As a protestant Christian myself and someone who graduated from a Christian college, I was familiar with the major players of the Reformation. Men like Luther and Zwingli, Huss and Wycliff. What did surprise me, however, was how some of these reformers treated others that were also protesting aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Ulrich Zwingli, for example, and his persecution and execution of Anabaptists and use of such torture methods as the rack. Martin Luther’s anti-Semitic speeches and support of the merciless slaughtering carried out by the aristocracy during the German Peasants’ War. I don’t want to villainize these men by pointing these things out, but too often we white-wash history and tuck the ugly parts of our heroes away while lauding the good they did.

  Reading about the theocracy of the time gave me a fresh appreciation for freedom of religion. Even though the state religion was Christianity, those with differing beliefs were still persecuted for said dogmas. May we always allow others to follow their conscience and conviction with acceptance and love.

  There are a few people to whom I owe explicit thanks for helping me. First, my husband, Jose Monzon, for allowing me to ransack his books on church history. I also need to thank Debb Hackett. She helped me immensely with questions like, “Do Brits use s
uch and such a phrase?” Any errors on cultural speech in this story are my own and probably occurred when I thought I knew what I was doing and didn’t ask Debb. I should have asked Debb.

  Always thankful for my critique partners Toni Shiloh and Janet Ferguson. I couldn’t write a book without you ladies. And who could write a book without an amazing editor like Katie Donovan? The answer is no one. No one should write a book without a fantastic editor on his/her team.

  I am eternally and ever grateful for YOU, the reader. For those of you who have journeyed with me throughout the entire Carrington Family Romance series, and for those of you who have joined me for the first time with this story. Without you, there would be almost no reason at all to write.