“Well, not this time. At any rate, you can go in whenever you want, I’ve roped off any areas of concern, just know that I’ve got your utilities shut down until the electrician clears them. It’s pretty cold in there due to the clearing out of smoke and all, so you’ll want to wear your coats. So, if you could just complete and sign some papers for me …”
Watson happily jumps in with, “See, the damage is not even as bad as it seemed!”
But Robert’s spirits are only slightly lifted. He thinks to himself, “from your lips to God’s ears.” Not able to stand the separation from his family another moment, he asks to be excused to convey the news to his family. The inspector grants his request as long as he promises to return and finish up the paperwork.
As Robert proceeds toward the house, he is met, midway, by Joseph. He offers his dad a tentative high-five and says, “So, how bad is it?”
“It’s really not; I was just going to go tell you and your mom.”
They walk a few steps in silence, but never one to mince words; his Christianity-litmus-test of a son begins to sweetly interrogate him. “Dad, what were you and Mom arguing about?”
Robert’s head drops even lower realizing that Joseph heard the argument. He says, “It was nothing, it was stupid, really. Your dad messed up.”
Joseph continues, “Then you’re going to apologize?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good,” says Joseph, with relief. “So, Dad, where would you say you failed?”
Robert knew exactly what his son meant. It’s a lot harder a question than it seems. As a minister in their church, Robert had taught the boys that every argument can be traced back to something inside of us; something that causes us to want something we don’t get, and rather than trust God, we attempt to get it on our own; and when we fail, we get angry … and argue. It’s a hard teaching, but it is always verifiably true!
Of the two boys, James is by far the more skilled communicator of their beliefs, but Joseph is the world’s best tester of do you practice what you preach! With a deep sigh he hugs his son, and with his arm around him they both head towards the house. “I don’t know Joe, let’s see, it would appear that I did not show your mom the love and respect I should, according to Ephesians five.”
Joseph chimes in, “Doesn’t it say, forgive and you will be forgiven?”
“Yeeees, but it also says, in first John that we are to confess our sins and repent.”
“Is that what Mom did? She didn’t tell you about calling from inside the house?”
“Um, well, she actually did tell me, just not the way I thought she should have.”
“Then you wouldn’t have been angry?”
“Well …”
Joseph’s face registers confusion, and three steps later he asks, “Dad, does Mom have to say she’s sorry in order for you to forgive her?”
“Uhhh, um, uh, w-well, I– You see I …”
Joseph helps him with, “Got a little angry? But, Dad, you’re supposed to be slow to anger.”
“Yeah.” he scratches his head and takes a deep sigh, “Yeah, I kinda blew that one, too.”
“It’s great, then, that Mom has to forgive you like seventy-something more times today!”
Robert shakes his head and smiles broadly, as they approach the back door of the house he pulls his son around to give him a big full hug and says, “You know what Joey, I really miss you!”
Joanna, who’s cleaning up dishes, sees them embracing through the window and her hurting heart just melts. She doesn’t know why he’s hugging Joseph so lovingly, but it doesn’t matter, she is simply filled with joy! She goes to the kitchen door and beckons her husband to come to her arms. He rushes to close the ten feet that separate them, and embraces her right off of her feet!
It takes only six words, “I’m sorry. I love you.”
Joseph, with a broad smile just like his dad’s, simply looks at his loving parents—that is, until their passionate tender kisses cause him to look away.
They enter the Phelps kitchen. Mary is there, preparing some breakfast for Mrs. Phelps. After some brief morning pleasantries Robert tells Joanna and Joseph the good news about the damage and the not so good news about the delay moving back in.
None of this seems to faze Joanna, she is singularly focused on her husband. Her eyes follow him like he is the most wonderful man, the most wonderful person she knows! They are full of love!
Seeing his dad with such joy reminds Joseph of his dream, and he says, “I had the strangest dream last night. It seemed … really real.”
Robert replies, “Sounds interesting, but I’ve got to head back out.” Catching a glimpse of his wife’s loving eyes, he is inspired to say one thing more before he returns to make good on his promise to the Fire Inspector. Taking her hand the minister says, “Lord, I want to thank you for my wife, my Glory, and the safety of my family. I thank you for the generosity of Mrs. Phelps and the hospitality of …”
Joanna supplies her name, “Mary.”
He continues, “Yes, Mary, and please Lord see us through the rest of this challenging circumstance to your glory. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.”
Joanna and Joseph agree with, “Amen!”
Mary, who was taken completely by surprise at this, says, “Okay, wow; um, that was nice.” She believes in God and all, but she’s not used to the break-into-prayer-at-any-moment disposition of the Markets. She found the experience a little uncomfortable, and quickly excuses herself to go take Mrs. Phelps her breakfast of warm oatmeal and tea.
Robert then kisses his wife and heads back over to complete the house papers for the inspector.
Joanna returns to washing the dishes and without even looking at him, she says to Joseph, “Yes, you can go to the house if your dad’s okay with it.”
Out the door he flies to catch up to his dad. No sooner does he clear the door than Joanna begins to wonder about the dream he mentioned; his childhood prophetic abilities are never too far from her memory. She always wonders when or if they might return.
So Much To Tell, So Much To Conceal
Lauren is eager to get back to the conversation with James. She is excited about the whole thing. The intel she got from Hinton has her really charged up, and she wants to cover her tracks and ask James why he’s going home in such an emergency. Plus, she must admit, she generally enjoys talking to him. He’s a very different young man from just about anyone she’s ever known, and he’s about to become even more interesting.
As she exits from the ladies room, there he stands at the door of the restaurant. He could have been sitting eating his breakfast by now, but he seems to have waited for her. She instinctively smiles at him, approving of his caring gesture. He opens the door for her and they exit together.
Lauren thinks, “Wow, what a nice guy!” When they reach the car, he does it again, opening her door before proceeding to get in himself! No fuss, no fanfare, just a simple natural way of being a gentleman. This is in essence, James R. Market Jr.. She looks at him with an appreciative look that says, Wow, who in the world are you? But she only voices a simple, “Thank you.”
To which James supplies an equally gracious, “You’re welcome.”
He likes that she appreciated the gesture. He doesn’t give a phony, thank you for what? He knows that guys are less and less honoring to women, and that it is a bit surprising when someone bothers to be polite, let alone a gentleman. There is a moment right there where it would appear that they both realize that this may be slightly more than just a timely ride home. At the very least, this would seem to be a friendship developing. What they both seem to be saying, without so many words, is, I think I like you!
So off they go. James briefly bows his head and quietly blesses his food. Agent Lauren, who is driving, just barely catches a glimpse out of the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s not completely sure whether he blessed his food, or just rested his eyes a moment. But she wasn’t going to let that distract her.
She instead gets back on topic as quickly as possible. Her goal is to get him talking, and without her asking a bunch of questions. “So you’ve got a nutty younger brother, and a great dad and mom.”
“Yep, we’re pretty close. In fact I think my leaving for college is a little hard on my mom.”
Lauren with glee, “She misses her boy, who’s perhaps growing up too fast?”
“I guess, like I said, we are not the typical sitcom, can’t-get-along-type family. I really like hanging out with them when I can. My dad’s kinda busy with work, so Mom’s been catching movies, doing the arcades, pizza, and put-putt and stuff right along with us.”
Lauren thinks, now is the perfect time to sneak in the girlfriend question, and she is dying to ask, but she doesn’t want to seem interested in him that way—though she is. But is it for the case or is it for herself? She’s thinking too much, so she quickly adds, “That’s great! Your mom is lucky to have two sons who love her.”
“Well, we try to be a blessing, but sometimes …” He laughs.
“What?”
“You know … guys.”
“You guys get a little rough? I was meaning to ask you, what’s the big emergency? Why did you need a ride home immediately?” With a teasing smile she adds, “Did your brother set the house on fire?”
James turns to her and just stares in shock!
Lauren exclaims, “What? Wha– Are you serious?”
James still surprised says, “You are not gonna believe this, but that is exactly why I’m heading home!”
Lauren, more in the moment than just acting says, “SHUT UP!”
“No, seriously, I think he built too big a fire in the fireplace and it somehow caused a fire.”
“Really? Is it bad?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m headed home, to help out. That is really freaky! What are you, a psychic?”
Lauren, lightheartedly, “Well, I have been known to figure things out before anyone else … do you want your palm read?”
James, hiding his palms and looking at her as if frightened, says, “Uh, no, no thanks.”
Lauren laughs at him and adds, “Wow, I’m sorry about the fire, and I really didn’t mean to make light of it.”
James smiles, “I know, there’s no foul and no apologies necessary, Lauren.”
Then, out of nowhere, Lauren begins to feel a deep need to be honest with James, but she knows she cannot. Something in her is telling her that he can be trusted and to at least tell him that she had reason to guess it was a fire; but such an admission could jeopardize the president’s life. Besides, this was crazy; she can’t feel so strongly about the first guy on her first case! She’s known him for all of six hours! At this point for all she knows, he could be some young anarchist or something!
So she just smiles back and says, “Thanks James.” In those moments there is little said but much shared. Simple phrases like, no apologies necessary, seem to say, “You would never have to apologize” and thanks, seems to say, “I can appreciate a person like you.” There is chemistry here. Lauren clears her head and her throat and says, “So, this’ your first fire?”
James smiles, “Yep, I must say that it is, thank God.”
Lauren thinks, “Strike one!” She had hoped that her question might bridge to a conversation about the church fire Hinton had mentioned.
Then James asks her, “Have you ever been through a fire?”
“Not directly,” Lauren replies solemnly. “I’ve always been afraid of them, and I never knew why until … well, it turns out my dad got killed in a fire.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to– I thought– I assumed when you said your dad was killed in the line of duty–”
“No, you were right. With my major you probably thought he was a police officer shot in the line of duty. He was a police officer assisting the fire department in the World Trade Center on Nine Eleven and …”
“Really! Oh, no. I’m really sorry.” He looks at her and then touches her shoulder compassionately—and something happens.
In his touch, she feels caring and love, and a soothing to her heart that still sometimes aches. It didn’t linger as if to say something physical, but rather light and warm, communicating empathy and understanding. She’d felt a touch like that before and recognized it now. One of the people who prayed with her and her mom at St. Vincent’s hospital, where the families of the victims gathered, had the same effect on her; it caused the same special feeling. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew it well—even longed for it!
Her heart started racing, and she had no idea what to do. She wanted to hug him, or at least touch his hand. She reasoned that there was nothing in returning his kindness with her own appreciative touch. At the moment she goes to touch his hand and say thanks, her cell phone rings. With skills impossible to catch, she diverts her hand motion and whips out her phone before James could even realize what she was going to do.
He removes his hand, but uses the opportunity to get a close look at her face. “Wow, what a beautiful face!” he thinks. What must it be like to have a girlfriend that gorgeous!
She looks all the more lovely as her face brightens with a loving smile as she begins to talk on the phone. “Hi, Mom!” she says cheerfully and with slight relief.
Lauren’s mom says, “Laurie with all your nuttiness last night I forgot to tell you yesterday that Kevin has been calling.”
Lauren, “Really? Huh.”
Mrs. Coles, “Yes, he’s called about three times, have you talked with him?”
Lauren, careful not to reveal the subject of her conversation in her replies says, “No, it’s been some time since we’ve spoken so I guess that makes sense.”
Noticing her oddly cold reply Mrs. Coles asks, “Lauren, what’s going on?”
“Well, Mom, I’ve got that new project that I mentioned yesterday …” Making a face that says this is gonna be bad, she continues, “Right now I’m going to a wedding.”
“A WEDDING! That’s your first assignment? Whose wedding?”
“You know how my projects can be; but it’ll all work out fine. Mom I’m driving right now, can I call you back?”
“Certainly, I just wanted to see if everything was alright between the two of you. You know I think you work too much, and you need to spend some time with friends.”
“I know, Mom, I’m gonna do that, I promise. But I have to– ”
Mrs. Coles interrupts, “I also wanted to tell you that I gave– ”
“Whoops, sorry, Mom, I really need to get off the phone here before I scare my friend I’m driving with to death.”
“Ohhh. So you’re with a friend now, a nice young man? Oh, my! Are you taking a date to the wedding?”
“Mom.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. Well, bye now. And don’t forget to call K–”
“I won’t, Mom.”
“No, wait, he’s– ”
“I love you. Bye,” Lauren interrupts and hangs up the phone. She gives an embarrassed smile at James, to which he merely shrugs his shoulders as if to say, that’s how it is.
Lauren says, “Parents’ love and concern. It’s great … and boundless.”
James, “Yeah, that’s for sure.”
They drive for a moment, both kind of lost in thought about their parents. Then, James supplies, “Family. You know the main reason I’m going home, is ’cause my dad said that having dealt with the fire, my mom will subconsciously want to know that everyone is safe. He thought that I’d merely call, but I thought I would surprise her.”
Lauren, back on task says, “What a good son. So, was your mom home alone with the fire? Oh, I guess with your brother the junior pyro.”
James, with a smile, “Yes, my dad was in the city working late.”
Lauren remembers Hinton’s pointers on getting him to talk about what she wanted. She begins to concoct a story, but again, she keeps feeling that she just doesn’t want to lie to James; which results in the perfect lead in. �
��You know something? Oh! You’re really going to think I’m a psychic nutcase now.”
James laughs and says, “It was only hours ago that you accused me of being a chauvinist pig—Oh, which incidentally, was mere moments after knocking me to the ground—there’s little that you can say now that will make this relationship any stranger.”
They both laugh, and she says, “Fasten your seat belt …”
He interjects, “Bring it!”
“It’s kinda strange but, remember when I told you I was afraid of fires most my of life, even before my dad’s and 911?”
James leans in with interest, “Yeah?”
“Well, you’re not going to believe this, but I kind of had this premonition that fire was going to change my life. Actually I’d felt that way even as a little girl.”
“Humph. That is interesting”
Lauren waits patiently for James to say something more. It was the perfect lead in she thinks … fire, premonitions … why didn’t he pick up on it? She begins to feel concerned. Her desire to add something becomes overwhelming. Her mind screams, “SAY SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR BROTHER!” But she remembers Hinton’s advice to wait.
What feels like ten minutes of silence has been little more than ten seconds when James says, “I have no trouble believing that, what you just said.”
“PHEW” she thinks. Now, trying not to show the nerves and relief she’s feeling Lauren draws him out with, “Really, how come?”
James continues, “Well, this is kind of a family secret, so you gotta promise– Wait a minute.” He puts his hands up to his temples like he’s concentrating, “I’ve got a mental note coming in here, never accept a promise from Lauren Coles.”
Laughing, Lauren says, “Oh, c’mon, you gotta tell me now, you can’t leave me in suspense!”
James, seeing he has a very eager audience says, “Alright, but you’ve still got to promise not to bring this up to any of my family members. Well, Joe’s okay, just not my mom or dad.”
“OH MY GOD JUST START TALKING!” screams Lauren’s mind! But her mouth only says, “Ooh, I feel like I should have popcorn. Spill it!”
The Journal: A Prophecy, A President & Death Page 10
