Natalie listened, treasuring every horrible, difficult word, somehow only loving him more as she saw his honesty and his vulnerability before her, as she began to understand why he acted and reacted the way he did sometimes.
He paused and inhaled deeply. “I wish it wasn’t true, Natalie. I wish to God none of it was true. I … I made things right with God long ago, but I’m asking your forgiveness now.”
“David, you don’t owe me an apology. That’s all in the past.”
He shook his head. “No, Natalie. My sin was against you. Even though I didn’t know you then … didn’t know … that I would come to love you, I should have waited for you. And I’ll regret that for as long as I live.”
“I forgive you, David,” she said simply, reaching for his hand. Oh, what a blessing it was to be the one offering forgiveness instead of the one in need of it. Natalie could see that David was relieved at the mercy she extended, and yet there was one question she had to ask. “You’re not in Timoné to run away from all that, are you?”
He smiled softy. “That’s exactly what your dad asked me when I first came.”
“So, Dad knew about this all along?”
“Not everything. Until a few days ago, I hadn’t told a soul about … the baby.” He took her hand, absently smoothing the soft skin on the inside of her wrist with one thumb. “No, Natalie. I’m not running away from anything. Maybe I was at first. Or at least maybe God’s call was easier to answer because I had good reasons to want to be as far away from her—from Lily—as possible. But I promise you, I am here now because God has work for me here. I believe I have a clear call.”
She nodded, feeling everything he said resonate within her. Hadn’t that been her story as well? But she couldn’t escape from herself. David had helped her see that.
“Oh, Natalie,” he said, “if I could go back and change things, I’d never make the same decision again. I hope you believe that.”
“David,” she whispered. “Oh, David, do you know how much I understand that? I’ve spent four years of my life wanting to go back and make a different decision than the one I made the night Sara died.”
“But we don’t get that chance, do we?”
“No. We only have today.”
“And, God willing, tomorrow,” he said, reaching up to caress her face. “But the wonderful thing is, I truly believe that this has all been part of God’s plan for my healing.”
Her heart soared with the truth of it, and she reached up to place her hand over his. David cradled her head with his other hand, drawing her close, gently kissing her forehead and each eyelid. Then he leaned away to gaze into her eyes.
“Thank you, Natalie … for understanding.”
She nodded and smiled softly, and he drew her into his arms again and held her as though he would never let go.
Natalie awakened the following morning with a lightness of heart she hadn’t felt since childhood. She dressed and went out to the Middletons’ kitchen. David was sitting at the table, an empty mug and his open Bible in front of him.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he said when he saw her. He closed his Bible and rose to give her an awkward embrace. But his boyish smile told her that his spirit felt as carefree as her own.
“What time is it?” she asked, yawning.
“Almost ten. Are you hungry?”
She nodded, feeling suddenly rather shy with him. “Where are Hank and Meg?”
David pulled out a chair for her and she sat down. “Meghan’s back in the clinic. Hank’s working in the hangar. Meg left some coffeecake for you. Does that sound good?”
“Mmm. Wonderful. I can get it, David. You don’t have to wait on me.”
“I know,” he said. “I don’t have to … but I want to.”
He served her breakfast and waited while she finished eating.
“Do you feel well enough to go for a walk?” he asked as he put her dishes in the sink.
“I’m not sure how far I can go, but I’d love some fresh air. Let me go get my shoes on.”
Natalie went back to her room, brushed her teeth, and tied her hair up in a ponytail. She slipped on her shoes, and when she reappeared in the kitchen, David was waiting by the back door.
“I’m ready. You’re sure I’m not keeping you from something?”
He put an arm around her shoulder in reply and guided her through the door. The air was already warm and the humidity thick, but it was a beautiful morning.
“Hang on,” David said, leading her to the back of the building and into the clinic. Meg was at her desk, deep in concentration over the laptop.
David rapped softly on the doorpost. “Just wanted to let you know I have your patient,” he told Meg. “We’re going to walk a bit.”
Meghan looked up from her work. “Oh, hi. Hey, Natalie! You’re looking great. You feeling okay?”
“Much better … better every day now, really.”
“Good.” The nurse nodded her approval. “Well, have a nice walk. Just don’t overdo.”
“I won’t.”
“She won’t,” David echoed.
He closed the clinic door behind them and turned Natalie toward the west edge of the village. With the sun at her back, her physical strength returning noticeably, and her spirit finally at peace, Natalie didn’t think things had ever felt so right with her world. David’s arm draped lightly around her shoulder made it just about perfect.
“Oh, David,” she sighed, looking up at him, “why do we make things so hard for ourselves?”
“I don’t know,” he said, putting a hand up to run his fingers absently through the strands of her ponytail. “But look at how much we’ve learned along the way.”
She nodded her agreement. “All this time I thought I was coming here to make a difference, to somehow make up for the horrible thing I did. But instead, God brought me here to teach me something about himself. To make a difference in me.”
“And yet, you have made a difference, Natalie. In Timoné. In me.”
She acknowledged his words with a smile. They talked and walked, and by the time they reached the middle of the village Natalie was growing weary. She knew it would be wise to turn back, but she couldn’t bear for their time together to end, so she said nothing. They walked on through the settlement, greeting villagers here and there, making precious discoveries about one another as they talked. They came to a pier that jutted out over a small inlet, and together they walked out to the end of it. Taking off their shoes, they sat and swung their legs over the side. The water felt cool and refreshing on Natalie’s toes.
“This reminds me of the pond on our farm,” she told David. “When I was a little girl I used to walk through the pasture to the pond and pretend I was on some great adventure.” She sighed. “I could never have imagined where the real-life journey would take me.”
David gave her shoulders a squeeze. “I’m just glad your journey brought you here.” He gazed across the water, silent for a long minute before he spoke again. “I think the quest I was always on—when I was little—was to know what it felt like to be loved. To be part of a family.”
“Oh, and I had all that and never really appreciated it. I’m so sorry for you, David … I wish …” She let her words fade away, not knowing what else to say.
He gave her a squeeze, as if to reassure her. “I was closer to my parents in their last years. We made things right between us. And God has done some serious healing in my life. But I know there are things about myself—not good things—that are there because of the way I grew up. You need to know that about me, Natalie. I’m not always this easy to get along with.”
She smiled up at him. But she heard the longing in his voice, and though she knew she could never undo what he’d suffered, she wanted a lifetime to love him, to make up for all the love he’d been deprived of. She sighed again. “Oh, David. I don’t want to go back—to the States. I want to go back to Timoné with you. I’m so much better now.” But even as she said the words, a deep
cough racked her body, and she was powerless to suppress it.
He patted her on the back and waited for her to catch her breath. “You need to recover completely, Natalie. Go back and spend some time with your family, heal, give things a little time to simmer down politically here, and then you can come back.”
She sighed. “But how long could that be, David? Oh, I’m too impatient. And I do miss Mom and Daddy. It will be good to see them again.
But tomorrow? We … we’ve just found each other. I’m not ready to let you go so soon.”
David smiled. “It’ll be all right, Natalie. I promise you. It will all work out.”
He stood and stretched, rubbing the small of his back in that way that was now so familiar to her. “I’d better get you back before Meghan comes looking for you.”
He helped her to her feet and they started back, following the riverbank. Above them, a low droning sound filled the sky. As though their movements were synchronized, David and Natalie both turned and lifted their heads, shading their eyes from the glare of the tropical sun. The buzz grew louder overhead, and Natalie pointed to a dark spot in the sky. A plane circled lower and lower.
“Were you expecting supplies today?”
“Maybe.” There was an expression on David’s face that she couldn’t read. “We’ll go by the airstrip on our way back. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“I’m tired, but I’ll make it.”
They walked on, watching the plane fly lower and lower and finally disappear into the trees. They heard the change in the whine of the engine and knew it had landed on the airstrip that was part of the mission compound.
Natalie watched David. He seemed to be deep in thought, and she felt her heartbeat quicken with fear. What if this was another guerrilla raid on the village? They’d lost so much already. If the invaders took the radio again, how would they let her parents know what had happened—or get word to Dad back in Timoné? Natalie’s breathing grew labored as they quickened their steps toward the airstrip. Fear mushroomed within her.
The Quonset hangar came into view, and they watched the plane taxi slowly toward it and come to a stop. Natalie and David stood at a distance and watched as the Colombian pilot emerged. Natalie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the pilot was not wearing the uniform of the paramilitary. The pilot turned to hold the door for a passenger who was dressed in light khakis and a white shirt. The man stepped from the plane, head bent. His build and carriage seemed familiar. Natalie’s breath caught. It couldn’t possibly be, but it looked like—
He cleared the plane’s wing, straightened, and glanced in her direction. “Nattie!”
“Daddy!” Incredulous, she turned to David, who stood smiling beside her. “David? It’s my daddy!”
She started running, and though her lungs burned in her chest and her head felt as though it would float away from her body, she didn’t stop until Cole Hunter’s arms were wrapped tightly around her, holding her up. She felt another pair of arms go around her, and she looked up into Mom’s blue eyes. Her gaze moved from Mom to Daddy and back again. Tears were streaming down both their faces, and Natalie’s eyes brimmed too. For five minutes, they cried and hugged and laughed, then cried some more.
“Did you know they were coming?” she asked David, suddenly remembering that he was standing there, looking on.
He nodded, grinning.
“You must be David,” Cole Hunter said, reaching out to shake his hand.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Natalie cried, putting a hand to her mouth. “I’m not thinking straight.” She left her mother’s side and stepped forward to put a possessive hand on David’s arm. “This is David Chambers. David, these are my parents, Cole and Daria Hunter.”
David shook each of their hands in turn. “Very pleased to meet you. Natalie has told me a lot about you.”
Hank Middleton walked over from the hangar and joined them now, and Natalie made introductions again.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Hank said.
Cole looked at her with mischief in his eyes. “I’m afraid to ask what she’s been saying about us.”
They shared the nervous laughter of newly acquainted friends, while Natalie looked on in awe, still unable to believe they were actually here.
“Meghan will be anxious to meet you,” Hank said. “Why don’t we go on up to the house.”
With Hank and David leading the way, and Natalie tucked tightly—happily—between her parents, they started for the mission compound.
Natalie napped for several hours that afternoon, but that night they all stayed up past midnight, visiting and laughing and catching up on each other’s news.
Finally Hank and Meghan showed the Hunters to their room and called it a night. David and Natalie were left in the living room, where David was to sleep on the sofa.
“Oh, David,” she sighed. “I’m so happy. You knew they were coming all along?”
He nodded. “It was Nate’s idea, but I was happy to make the arrangements because it bought me several more days with you,” he confessed sheepishly.
Tears filled her eyes. “Thank you, David.”
He crossed the room and took her in his arms. “Oh, Natalie …”
He bent to kiss the top of her head, tightening his embrace. She raised her face to his, and their lips found each other. Tenderly, he kissed her once and then again. Then he held her away from him. “I’d better let you get to bed,” he said, his voice a breathless whisper.
She stood on tiptoe and kissed him once more.
The next three days were a gift, unlike anything Natalie had ever known. There were moments when she didn’t think she could possibly contain the joy that filled her. Besides the precious time with her parents in Conzalez, she experienced a new freedom in her communion with her heavenly Father. In letting go of her self-imposed guilt, a hindrance to her prayers had seemed to fall away with it. Now she praised God with unfettered joy and sought his counsel with a newly surrendered will. She hungered for God’s Word as though she were famished and spent hours reading her Bible and praying.
One afternoon as she sat reading in the cool shade on the Middletons’ patio, she came to a verse in the second chapter of Ephesians that seemed to give voice to everything she had learned over the past few days. It was a scripture she must have read a dozen times before, but suddenly the words had life. They spoke to her as though they had been penned for her alone.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—, she read, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. To think that all along, when she had been trying to work hard enough to earn the right to be forgiven, he had already paid the price. Not only that, but, according to the Scriptures, even the very work she was doing in Timoné had been prepared in advance by the God of the universe—for her! Work that not only would benefit the people of the village, but that would change Natalie’s very being. It was a staggering, humbling thought.
Then there was David. As much as she’d loved him before, she saw him with new eyes now. Each day, as they sat together on the patio or walked the short distance that Natalie could manage about the village, the attraction they’d always felt for each other deepened. Natalie prayed for strength to keep her heart reined in. Don’t let me run ahead of you, Lord, she prayed. But before she whispered the words, she knew in her spirit that David was the man God had made for her—the man who shared her calling, who understood her frailties and loved her in spite of them. The man who completed her.
Each hour they spent together, the friendship that had grown between them matured. And the love they’d dared to declare for each other hardened and set, like strong cement, impervious to the rains that would surely fall in time.
Forty–Two
Natalie carried Meghan’s laptop into the guest room and plopped cross-legged on the bed, placing t
he computer on a pillow in front of her. She opened the e-mail program and typed Evan Greenway’s address into the appropriate field.
Dear Evan, she typed. The words she’d pecked out dozens of times since she came to Timoné, blurred through her tears as she wrote them now, possibly for the last time. It wasn’t that she was having second thoughts about David, or that she had any regrets. But still, it was hard to say goodbye to someone who had been such an important part of her life for such a long time. She blinked away the tears and put her fingers on the keyboard again.
You might have heard that I’ve been ill. I’m in Conzalez right now, recovering from malaria. I’ve never been so sick in my life. It was scary for a while, but I’m much better now. The Lord has used this time to teach me some very important lessons. Mom and Daddy are here with me, and they’ll be bringing me home to recuperate for a while. But I’m coming back to Timoné, Evan, as soon as I can. I know this is where God wants me.
I understand now that Timoné has never held any attraction for you, and I apologize for trying to put my calling off on you. I wanted to have the best of both worlds, I guess. I wanted to be with you, but I felt drawn to Timoné. I still believe it was God who drew me here. I was a little mixed up about his reasons, but I’m beginning to figure some things out now, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.
Because I don’t know for sure how you feel about me after all this time, it’s hard to know what to write. I’m just going to tell you the truth and pray that you aren’t hurt by it. I have fallen in love with David Chambers. David shares my love for Timoné, shares my calling to Colombia, and I believe in my heart that he is the man God intended for me.
You were a wonderful friend to me, Evan, and I’ll always be grateful for the time we had together. I know we didn’t make any promises to each other before I left, but I feel that I owe you an explanation. If this hurts you, if I’ve ever led you on, I’m sorry.
I trust that God is working in your life as he is working in mine.
She scrolled back over what she’d written. Satisfied, she signed her letter and filed it in the outbox for Hank to send the next time he flew into San José. She trusted that, because Evan belonged to God, the events of his life were being divinely charted just as the events of her own life were. She smiled to herself, thinking that now she might even be happy to find out that Candace Shaw had become more than just a tutor to Evan Greenway.
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