by Ginny Aiken
She sensed the looks from some of the students. The paper had been issued that morning. Readership had probably doubled thanks to the story about her and Mason.
Reba looked around, not down. She had been baptized two months before she married Ray. She’d made mistakes, but so had Paul, so had the disciple Peter, so had Dean Steward—she just couldn’t name his.
Jag fell into step next to her. “You okay?”
“Fine; quit worrying.”
“They made Harry Raymond take your picture when I refused.”
“Well, Harry in no way did me the justice you would have.”
To Reba’s surprise, Linda Simms was sitting with the teachers. Was she here for support? Good; Reba welcomed it. Slipping in next to Linda, Reba reached for a songbook and waited. Dean Steward led the opening prayer. After the amen, he paused. His posture and facial expression encouraged—no, demanded—that the room quiet down. “We’re having a special program this morning.”
Mason stepped to the podium. “My name is Mason Clark. Many of you know me as your history teacher. Others know me as a guidance counselor. If you’ve missed meeting me, maybe you ought to check out the Faith/Works class at Shiloh Church.
“Six years ago, I graduated from Shiloh Christian College. I cannot tell you how many times, I, like you, sat in the audience and listened to speakers. I looked forward to being a speaker myself. And, in my visions, the best thing about being a teacher and counselor at Shiloh, was that I could do it better because I was a grand example.”
Reba looked about the auditorium. She’d watched Mason stand at that podium many times, but never had he made her shiver.
Mason continued, “This week I’ve spent a good deal of time in Proverbs. Chapter 11, verse 2 especially hit home. ‘When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.’”
Reba looked about the auditorium. No one was asleep. If the eyes strayed from Mason, they went to her … or they watched the man stepping up the center aisle.
Glenn Fields!
For the next half hour, Mason alternated between quoting Scripture and admitting a mistake from his past. A mistake that really hadn’t been his. The students listened, because in reality, the world was all around them, and drinking was a national pastime they couldn’t ignore.
Before Glenn took over the microphone, he rolled up his pant leg. The artificial limb looked real from a distance, pink up close. Reba closed her eyes. While Glenn spoke, she remembered.
It had been a Friday. Her roommate had gone home for the weekend, and Reba was ready to rock. Glenn Fields was not like anybody she’d met. He’d dropped out of high school. He had a place of his own. He used words she wouldn’t say, and he never ran out of things to do.
They’d gone bowling. Reba remembered how scared she had been when he started drinking—though to her shame, it wasn’t because of the drinking, but because there were other Shiloh students at the bowling alley who were watching. Even the fear was accompanied by a thrill of daring.
Why did Mason face the students this morning as if he owed them an explanation? He’d been at the bowling alley. He’d watched Glenn drink. When the lights of the bowling alley dimmed and Shiloh’s curfew neared, Mason had offered her a ride home.
Reba had no clue whether accepting that ride would have made the outcome different. Mason, ever the good scout, had followed them to Glenn’s car and tried to take the car keys.
Glenn answered with his fists. To Reba’s surprise, Mason didn’t turn his cheek.
She’d been in the passenger seat already. Mason left Glenn and ran to her side of the car. Reba could still see his hands reaching for her as Glenn, furious, slammed himself behind the wheel, jabbed the keys into the ignition, and began to move the car.
Mason ran to his car and started to follow.
Traffic didn’t notice the spectacle edging into its midst. Glenn looked in the rearview mirror, saw Mason, and stepped on the gas. He didn’t look as he pulled out into the street. Metal met metal and—
“Reba, are you all right?” Linda whispered.
Just as Reba still didn’t know how to answer the questions about Ray’s death, being asked “Are you all right?” at this moment wasn’t one easily addressed.
Her ten o’clock class didn’t have an empty seat. Every student made it on time. Reba opened her teacher’s manual and started on adjectives. The students didn’t whisper or pass notes. When the class ended, instead of filing out the door, every student made his or her way to the front. Cindy was the first to offer a hug.
Reba remembered her very first day at Shiloh. She’d gotten out of her mother’s car and had been hugged by many people she didn’t know. It had been a shock. Her family was not one to show physical demonstrations.
When did I stop hugging? Reba wondered. Sure, she hugged Hannah, and she hugged … Who else did she hug?
No one since Ray.
By the time the last young man shook her hand, Reba was ready to sit down. Mason stood at the door of her classroom. With flowers. Glenn Fields was behind him, smiling.
“Don’t tell me you two became friends?” Reba’s voice croaked as she fought the tears.
“Glenn says we have to.”
Shaking her head, Reba took the flowers and asked, “Why?”
“Well,” said Mason, “Glenn expects you to visit often now that you’re this close. If we should happen, to say, get married, then I’ll be around a lot more.”
“I’m not ready to talk marriage.”
“I know. That’s why I brought flowers instead of a ring.”
Epilogue
The last day of school dawned with the sunshine of promise. Reba scanned the church’s flower-decked auditorium as she walked down the aisle on her father’s arm. She felt a little faint. Instead of a typical chapel program, today Shiloh Christian College hosted a wedding.
Hannah held the flower basket tightly, her knuckles white. Thelma and Darrel Payne sniffled from the front row. Reba’s father joined her mother and sisters on the bride’s side; as for Mason’s side of the church, seven rows of Clarks beamed approval.
Reba felt Mason take her hand. His fingers tightened. Never, in her whole life, had Reba felt so secure, so loved, so safe. Hannah didn’t leave; she took Reba’s other hand.
God had even taken her fear of Ray’s murderers away. Instead of facing the world alone, Reba and Hannah had Mason and at least seven pews full of backup bodyguards. And, there was the Greatest Bodyguard of all overseeing the whole shebang.
The minister started, “We gather in God’s presence to unite Rebecca Suzanne and Mason Dean in holy matrimony….”
Pamela Tracy
Pamela Tracy started writing at a very young age (a series of romances, all with David Cassidy as the hero. Sometimes Bobby Sherman would interfere). Then, while earning a BA in Journalism at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, she picked up the pen again (only this time, it was an electric typewriter on which she wrote a very bad fiction novel). First published in 1999 by Barbour Publishing, she has since published more than twenty-five books in multiple genres. She’s a Carol Award winner (from American Christian Fictions Writers) as well as both a Carol and Rita finalist (from Romance Writers of America).
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