Come to the Lake

by Macarthur, Autumn

  Such a mass of contradictions. Her blog was a lie. Very probably she’d lied to him directly about any financial benefits from her blog. Yet he still admired her honesty in everything else.

  “I’m sorry to see you so defeated, child. Remember, trust in the Lord and ask him to help you.” Liz wagged a finger as she delivered her homily. “He surely will.”

  “I do believe that. Or I hope in that, anyway. Though he’ll do it in his own time, which may not be till after Sunday. Or could be, his purpose is to remind me he gifted me with different talents, and homemaking isn’t among them.” Samantha Rose stood, carried the mixing bowl to the sink, and ran water into it. “Anyway, I may not have time tomorrow. I promised the girls we’d go huckleberry picking to get the fruit for the pie.”

  The older woman’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “You should find some, though it’s early for good picking. Probably smaller but sweeter this year.” She grinned. “You need a whole quart for an all-berry pie. I’ve learned to have frozen berries on standby or make up the difference with apple.”

  “Mind if I tag along?” The question emerging from his lips surprised him as much as it did Samantha Rose, judging by the puzzled glance she turned on him.

  Her eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t think wandering around the mountain would be your idea of fun.”

  “Why not?” Shrugging, he smiled. “Don’t answer. I’m a city boy to the core, but I’m all for new experiences. I’ll never get another chance to go huckleberry picking.”

  With you. He didn’t add the unspoken words.

  Liz nodded approval. “Yes, good idea. Safer that way, to scare off any bears. You’re in their territory up there, and they love huckleberries, too.”

  Okay. Real bears this time, not a big softy of a dog wanting to lick his face. Time to research bear-avoidance tactics, something he’d never imagined he’d need to know. For her, he’d face down a bear if he had to.

  The one thing he wouldn’t and couldn’t do for her was refuse to tell the truth.

  Meg emailed yesterday, pushing for his article. Not the first time. After today’s lesson, he knew what to write. As soon as he reached his laptop, he’d get it done and send it off.

  He didn’t believe in miracles, and only a miracle could help Samantha Rose on Sunday.

  Sam poked through the berry bushes, searching out the deep, shiny bluish-purple of ripe huckleberries. They’d proved more elusive than she’d hoped. This sunny clearing in the pine forest should be a good picking place, but a pitiful number of berries glistened in the bottom of her pail.

  Nowhere near enough for her pie.

  Liz did warn her.

  Still, though bending over bushes growing not much higher than her knees cramped her back a little, being out on the hillside in the sunshine when the day held just the right amount of cooling breeze wasn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon. Steph would be sorry to miss this, but at least, she’d see some adorable photos of the girls on the blog.

  She could title it “One Perfect Summer Day”.

  Having Daniel with them only made it more perfect. The man was so easy to be around, and the girls loved him. Even if she stopped herself from peeking at him, his deep voice replying to the girls as they danced delighted circles around him couldn’t be ignored.

  Fingers and lips already stained purple, the twins clearly ate far more than landed in their pails. Their berry-level height and sharper eyes meant they spotted the ripe ones easier than she could. But she wouldn’t scold them.

  Though their giggles and chatter told her they were fine, she turned to check on them again. Definitely only making sure they were okay.

  Not looking at Daniel.

  Not noticing how the sunlight brought out blond streaks in his brown hair. Not noticing how tolerant and patient he was with the twins’ incessant questions. Not noticing how his easy smile lit up and an added warmth shone in his eyes when he glanced up from the girls and met her gaze.

  Definitely not.

  But since he’d caught her staring at him, she’d better pretend she had a good reason. A lull in the twins’ chatter when they decided to play chase and dashed across the clearing gave her a chance. “Girls, stay near, please. Out where it’s sunny.” Then she questioned Daniel. “How’s your pail looking? I’m not finding too many.”

  “Sure you aren’t.” He laughed. “That’s just purple lipstick you’re wearing.”

  Her hand covered her betraying mouth. Oops. “So I may have eaten a few. Only to make sure they were properly ripe, of course.” An attempt at dignity smoothed her tone, though she couldn’t stop her lips quirking behind her hand.

  If his eyeroll and headshake were any guide, she hadn’t fooled him for a second.

  “It’s okay.” Popping a berry from her pail into her mouth, she smiled. “Using all apple tomorrow, or maybe frozen blueberries, might be wiser than wasting good huckleberries, anyway. Though it’s just possible the latest batch of pastry I’ve set chilling in the fridge may actually work.”

  His smile widened. “As Liz says, you’ll surely find it all clicks into place sometime. Tomorrow would be a very good sometime.”

  She eyed him. Almost looked as if he hoped she’d get it right as much as she did. “Tomorrow would be the perfect time. It would save me the embarrassment of the scathing exposé you’ve been itching to write since you got here.”

  That bright smile vanished. “You know I have to tell the complete truth.”

  “I know.” She wouldn’t let her certain knowledge of what he would write dull her joy in this afternoon. “Maybe tomorrow it really will all click.”

  Regret dulled Daniel’s eyes. “My editor got impatient. She’s been pushing me to get an article to her for the Tuesday edition. I sent off a description of yesterday’s cooking lesson.”

  Tears stung her eyes. She would not cry. Even though he’d already stamped her report card “Fail”. Straightening her slumped shoulders, she faced him. “That’s not fair. If you’ve already sent it, you’re not giving me a chance.”

  So she sounded like Emily or Rose throwing a hissy fit. It wasn’t fair.

  “I can see why you’d think so.” He blew out a long, low breath and rubbed his chin. “But if things go well tomorrow, I’ll rewrite it.”

  “So no pressure or anything. You’ve already assumed I’ll fail.” She scrubbed at her eyes, then loosed a sigh. “Sorry, that was childish. If you can rewrite the article, then our deal’s the same as always. Once I can cook the recipes I’ve shown on the blog, then I haven’t deceived anyone.”

  “Right.” His clear gaze held more than a hint of apology.

  Certainty she wouldn’t like what he’d written knotted her throat.

  Way to ruin her lovely summer day.

  Well, she’d just have to deal with it. Daniel and her as a couple was never going to happen. God would help her through, no matter what. In the meantime, she could pray for a miracle — everything to go right tomorrow. And hope that for the girls’ and Steph’s sake, she could stand up to Nancy if she tried to take the twins.

  When, not if.

  Daniel’s focus shifted to somewhere over her shoulder, and his eyes widened. “Emily and Rose,” he called. “Play statues. Stay very still and very quiet. Whoever is best at it will win a prize.” Raising his arms, he waved them over his head. Without shifting his gaze from whatever he’d seen, he took a step forward. “Bear,” he whispered softly.

  Lord, please… The girls…

  Turning, she saw it. On the edge of the clearing, under a towering pine. A huge brown bear, standing on its hind legs, staring straight at them and sniffing the air. Her height, with clawed paws the size of plates.

  And though the twins hadn’t strayed far, they were closer to the bear.

  As a burst of adrenaline spiked her bloodstream, her heartbeat accelerated and her mind went blank. Struggling to recall what Maddie told her about bear safety, she could only remember that running away from or at a bear could trigge
r an attack.

  So she had to suppress her instinct to rush to the girls and snatch them up.

  Thankfully, Daniel seemed to know what to do. “Girls, you make great statues. If you keep playing it till I say to stop, you’ll both get a prize.” Keeping up a steady stream of words in the same calm, soothing tones and keeping his arms moving over his head, he paced toward them.

  Following him, she inched a step forward, then another, mimicking his arm movements.

  After what felt an eternity but was really no more than ten or twelve painfully slow steps, they reached the twins. The bear stayed put, small eyes intent on them, but making no move to attack.

  “Okay, still keep playing statues, but we’re going to pick you up,” Daniel told the twins. He scooped up Emily while she took Rose. “Good girls. Now, Samantha and I will play at crab walking sideways.”

  Slowly, so slowly, they edged away from the bear. Either losing interest or recognizing they were no threat, it dropped to all fours and ambled off.

  “We’ll put you down now, girls,” Daniel said. “Don’t make any sound, but look under the trees. You’ll see something very special.”

  “Oh, wow. A bear.” Emily breathed the words.

  “Big bear,” Rose echoed.

  Since the twins were out of danger, Sam could feel awed by the creature’s magnificence and the privilege of seeing it in the wild. She giggled weakly. “I guess it didn’t want us eating its huckleberries.”

  Then reaction set in. Legs shaking, she trembled all over.

  Daniel grasped her arm in a warm, supportive clasp. “Let’s get you home. Though maybe a detour to the store first, so I can treat these brave girls to ice creams?”

  Standing there clinging to his support, she realized.

  In a few days, he’d be back in New York. And though she hoped, he hadn’t said anything about staying in touch.

  The article he’d sent his editor would be scrupulously honest, but could also destroy her business, disappoint her mom, and wreck the rest of the girls’ summer.

  And she couldn’t pretend she didn’t care for him. Not just because he knew what to do about the bear, then thought to give the girls ice cream. Because of the man he was.

  His passion for the truth was part of that. He had to be true to himself.

  Thank You, Lord, for getting us through that. And thank You for Daniel. I know now You brought him here for a reason. He kept the girls safe. No matter what he writes about me, I’ll always remember that. And him.

  Chapter 9

  Daniel wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to attend the Sunset Point community church service and the shared breakfast afterward.

  Maybe the entreaty in Samantha Rose’s gaze when she asked him yesterday as he walked her and the twins home after ice-cream sundaes at the café.

  Maybe curiosity. He hadn’t set foot in a church since Dad’s funeral. But people here, especially Samantha Rose, seemed to practice a more loving brand of Christianity than the eternal hellfire Dad preached. Discovering more about their idea of God intrigued him.

  Maybe because he’d be leaving first thing Monday morning and this was the last event he’d attend in Sunset Point. He hadn’t wanted to come here, but the relaxed pace of life, the beauty of the place, and the friendliness of the people had kinda grown on him.

  Very likely he’d regret it, but whatever persuaded him, he joined the congregation in the lakeside park on Sunday morning.

  Groups gathered on picnic blankets, on folding chairs, or in clusters talking. Kids ran around playing. A surprising number of folk welcomed him as he wove through the chatting assembly to the buffet table to deposit his bring-and-share contribution.

  Cinnamon buns from the store. Too much sticky icing for his taste, but the store wouldn’t stock them unless at least one person here enjoyed them that way. The other breakfast breads on the long trestle table almost all appeared home baked. Especially the plate of lopsided muffins. But someone else had brought along the same store-bought offering.

  No wonder Maddie gave him a knowing look when he purchased them a few minutes earlier. The matching set of cinnamon buns were Samantha Rose’s, for sure. So she must be here already, with the twins.

  Before he’d done more than turn to look for her, Emily ran up to grab one hand and Rose the other, both whooping his name. “Come sit with us and Auntie Sam.” They tugged him away from the coffee and toward Samantha Rose.

  A fair trade. He could get coffee anywhere, but he wouldn’t see her again after today.

  The path he’d had to choose.

  Though she sat with her back to him, he recognized her. Sitting cross-legged on a red-checked picnic rug. No mistaking her bright hair gleaming in the sunshine. Then he chuckled. He’d been wondering if she’d look more beautiful than ever wearing a dress today.

  Seemed even church didn’t get her out of her trademark jeans.

  Well, a come-as-you-are church made more sense than his father’s church. God was supposedly everywhere all the time, so he’d never understood why they had to put on clothes more suited to a funeral for worship.

  And he’d been told often enough as a kid that God looked at the heart. In her case, God probably wouldn’t mind jeans in the least.

  If the past four weeks taught him anything, it was that, despite her deception with the blog, she didn’t have a trace of his father’s hypocrisy. He’d even decided to give her the benefit of the doubt about the laptop. Though doubt still niggled, he had no proof. He didn’t add suppositions to his stories. Only facts.

  Fact — her heart shone clean and bright all the way through. Her strong, vibrant faith made sure of that.

  Unlike his.

  Dad used the “God looks at the heart” verse to shame and guilt him for his small acts of disobedience, thundering as if he preached from the pulpit. “And yours is black, black with the stain of sin right to the core.” Then he’d jab him in the chest with a finger, painful and hard. If he was lucky, that would be all. If he wasn’t, a beating would follow.

  Until he looked the verse up for himself, after Dad died and the charity shut down, he’d always believed the second part was there in the Bible right after the first.

  Another thing Dad lied about.

  As the girls towed him nearer, she broke off from chatting with Liz and Hiram, both seated on folding chairs beside her rug, and turned toward him and his excited guides. A smile of astonishing sweetness lit her face. “Daniel! I’m so glad you joined us today.”

  “I am, too.” He meant it.

  Hiram smiled. “Guests are always welcome here. Though don’t expect a long fancy service. Pastor Roberts keeps it short, so there’s plenty of time for talking and sharing afterward. You may find we do church differently from what you’re used to in those big city churches.”

  “I hope so.” Daniel barely suppressed a grimace. If they did church here anything like Dad had, he’d be done with church for life.

  And done with God.

  “That sounds as if you speak from unhappy experience.” The older man’s shrewd eyes examined him as if peering straight into his soul. Summoning all his willpower, Daniel held his steady gaze. “Don’t make the mistake of judging God by his people. As long as we wear these fleshly bodies, we’re all flawed and broken. Every one of us.” Hiram slapped his own thigh. “If we say otherwise, we’re deluded.”

  Could it be, he made a mistake when he rejected his heavenly father as having the same impossible-to-meet double standards as his earthly one? Frowning, Daniel loosed a long, low breath.

  He didn’t see much in a world filled with lies and hypocrisy to suggest that. But okay, he’d come here today. No harm giving the big guy upstairs one final chance.

  A few of the teens moved through the group, rounding up the younger kids. “We’ll take them for their own little church with treats and games,” one explained.

  The twins still clung to his hands, refusing to let him go.

  Samantha Rose nodded. “Emily
and Rose, please go with Bethany.”

  “We want to stay with Daniel.” Emily pouted. “He only just got here.”

  “I’m sure he’ll still be here when you come back.” Samantha Rose pointed to the other children clustered behind the teens. “Look, Jacob is going with them. You’ll miss out on the special things Bethany and her friends have arranged. It’ll be like Sunday school at your usual church.”

  He loved how patient and calm she was with the twins. She didn’t overindulge them or let them get away with disobedience. But he’d never once heard her shout, bully, or belittle them, the way Dad had with him. He’d been college age before he discovered beating, shaming, and shouting wasn’t what all parents did.

  The Sunday-school comparison seemed to convince the twins. “Okay then.” Emily’s sigh and world-weary air as she and Rose followed Bethany left him chuckling.

  Liz looked around. “If Jacob is here, Brad and Maddie must be, too. They can’t always get away from the store in time. Oh, there they are.” Satisfaction rang in her voice as she waved.

  Waving back, they pointed to the ground where they stood, indicating they’d stay where they were.

  “Perfect timing,” Liz said. “Here’s Pastor Roberts now.”

  A battered and dusty SUV, blaring a few raucous toots of the horn, pulled up on the road beside the park.

  “That’s the pastor?” His questioning tone betrayed his disbelief.

  “It is. I think you’ll like him. We’ll be starting soon.” Liz beamed as though the thought of the actual service gave her joy.

  The only thing getting him through interminable services as a kid had been knowing every minute took them nearer the end of the ordeal. Along with most of Dad’s congregation, he suspected. He’d never seen smiles like Liz’s there.

  And the stocky man his age, clad in jeans, checked shirt, and a cowboy hat, who emerged from the SUV and surveyed the gathering with a wide smile before strolling to the food table, looked nothing like his idea of a preacher, either.

  Seemed Hiram was right. They really did do church differently here.