He didn’t want to startle her, so he stopped fifteen feet from her. “Shannon.” He spoke softly, gently, the way he used to do when he’d wake her up for school. The other woman broke into a wide smile, nodding in his direction. Shannon seemed frozen for a moment, then she dropped the clipboard in the laundry bag and turned around in the slowest of slow motion.
He closed the distance between them in four long strides. Shannon fell into his arms and sobbed. The prepared speech evaporated from his mind. “Baby, I love you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He kissed her forehead, her hair, and rocked her in his arms as he held her, mingling his tears with hers.
She dug her fingers into his jacket, clinging as if her life was at stake. “Daddy, I’m sorry . . .” She hadn’t called him Daddy since the third or fourth grade.
“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s all okay.” As he patted and rubbed her back, she seemed so thin now. His heart ached with guilt for all that she’d been through in the last few months, all of it faced alone.
“But I . . . you don’t know, Daddy, I—”
“Doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except I found you, I love you, and I’m taking you home.”
“I can come home?” She looked up in his face with heartrending disbelief and wiped her eyes.
“Of course you can come home. Right now.”
“So the billboard . . . you did that?”
“You saw it?”
She nodded and wiped her eyes again. “This morning.”
“I meant it. There’s no reason for you to stay away anymore.”
She stiffened and pulled away from him. “Wait, we have to talk first.” Her eyes darted to the other woman then back to him. “Daddy, I . . . uh . . . I did something . . .”
“If it’s about Dylan, I know, and it doesn’t matter.”
“You know? How?”
“He told me.”
She hung her head. “And you still want me to come home?”
He took her by the shoulders and leaned down to catch her eyes. “Honey, I love you. I love you because you’re my little girl, not because of what you do or don’t do.” Shannon looked away and wiped her eyes. “I loved you just as much the day you left home as I did when we brought you home from the hospital, probably more even.” He took her in his arms again. “That has never changed.”
“But you were so mad at me.”
“I know, honey. I wish I could take back every bit of it. I hurt you, I hurt your mother because I lost my temper with you. I am so sorry. Can you forgive me?”
“Me?”
“Yes, I’m asking you to forgive me. I was wrong, Shannon. I didn’t listen to you. I assumed the worst—”
“About that . . . Dad, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Daddy, I’m not saved.”
* * *
Bobbi shuddered violently when the telephone rang, but she snatched it up and answered it immediately. “Chuck?” Jack watched her eyes, anticipating.
“No, ma’am. This is Detective Rick Ramirez. Is this Mrs. Molinsky?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I was expecting someone else.” She shook her head at Jack.
“I’m sorry to bother you this early on a holiday, but I thought you’d want to know the state police picked up Antoine Miller.”
“Are you serious?” She held the phone down and mouthed to Jack, “Brad’s killer. They got him.”
“Yes, ma’am. The DA’s been on him already. He wants to plead out.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“He wants to make a deal, a plea bargain.”
“He murders my son and . . . and he gets to bargain? How is that right?”
“It guarantees Miller goes to prison.”
“So it’s this or nothing.”
Ramirez sighed. “No, but it would save you the strain of a trial.”
“Well, thank you. Thank you for all your hard work, and for keeping us posted.” Bobbi set the receiver back and looked at Jack. “That was Detective Ramirez. Antoine Miller was arrested. He’s trying to negotiate a plea deal.”
“Negotiate? That’s just wrong. Brad—”
“Brad would be ashamed that the guy was going to prison at all,” Bobbi said with a sigh. “God will have to fix it now.”
“Mom, I’m sorry.” Jack draped an arm around her shoulder.
“Shannon’s still coming home. Nothing is going to take away from that.”
* * *
Chuck took his daughter’s hands. “Honey, what are you talking about? Of course you’re saved. I was there—”
“I never really believed it. I mean, I thought I did. I said all that stuff . . . but it wasn’t real.”
Just then the other woman spoke up. “Here, let’s get you all outta the hallway.” She unlocked the closest room and held open the door.
“Good grief, Esther. I’m totally rude,” Shannon said. “Daddy, this is Esther Parker. She . . . she’s a lifesaver.”
“Thank you,” he said as he walked past her, shepherding Shannon into the room. “I’m Chuck Molinsky, Shannon’s father.” He held out his hand, and Esther shook it vigorously.
“Yes, you are,” Esther replied with a smile. “Nobody gonna bother you in here. Take your time.”
“Thanks,” Shannon said as Esther eased the door shut. “She knew Brad. That boy Julius that he talked about, she’s his mother, and Brad led her to Jesus. How crazy is that?”
“It’s not,” Chuck said. “That’s the way God works. Now listen, I want you to understand something. Just because you . . . made some mistakes—”
“Dad, God has never dealt with me like He has since Christmas.” She dropped onto the bed. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can’t think about anything else.”
“That still doesn’t mean—”
“Then Esther told me to read Joel chapter two.” She waved her hand toward the door. “That’s what Brad used on her, and it’s got this part in there about ‘turn to Me with all your heart.’ I’ve never done that, Daddy. Not like that.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
She tried to smile as tears filled her eyes. “I had to be sure you would take me back. If you wouldn’t . . . I didn’t see how God would either.”
“Oh, honey.” Chuck knelt in front of her and took her hands. “How could you think I wouldn’t take you back?”
“It’s a long story.” She pushed the tears away with her fingertips. “Then I was coming to work this morning and I saw this billboard some psycho put up.” She laughed through the tears that choked off her words.
He smiled at her. “And then you knew?”
She nodded. “I knew you were coming today. I knew it.”
“Honey, God wants you back home even more than I do.”
Shannon nodded and pushed her hair back behind her ears. She took his hands, bowed her head, and with a quiver in her voice, she prayed. “Dear God, I’m a mess. I’ve sinned against You, against my parents. I’m sorry.” She sniffled and let go of his hand to wipe her eyes again. “I want You to take that all away, for real this time. I want to live Your way from now on.”
Chuck wanted to pray with her, pray for her, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything but the sound of her voice and the touch of her hand. Finally.
She raised her head and smiled at him with a sparkle in her eyes just like her mother’s, and he hugged her to himself. “Thank You, Jesus. For bringing her back. All the way back.”
“I want to go home.” He kissed her and kept one arm around her, then pulled his cell phone out and handed it to her. She quickly punched in the number. “Mom? It’s Shannon. I’m with Daddy. I’m coming home.”
* * *
Miles away, in her suburban St. Louis living room, Bobbi collapsed into the recliner before Jack’s eyes.
“Mom? Was that Dad? Is she coming home?”
“Thank You, Jesus,” she murmured. “Thank You, thank You, Jesus.”
“She’s on her way?” Jack aske
d.
“Yes!” She popped up out of the recliner and threw her arms around his neck, then kissed him on each cheek. “She’s on her way! Dad’s got her, and they’re on their way home!” She realized she was still holding the telephone. “I need to call Joel.” She stared at the handset, then handed him the phone. “Here, dial for me, then give me back the phone.”
Jack smiled, pushed two buttons and handed her the phone. “He’s number five on speed dial, Mom.”
“Yeah, I know. I can’t think right now.” She held up the phone and listened to it ring. “Joel . . . answer . . .” She paced to the entry hall and back. “Joel! She’s on her way home. Dad’s got her!” She smiled broadly and nodded. “See you in a few. I love you, Joel.” She clicked off the phone. “Oh, Rita. Which one is she?”
“Four.”
“Right.” She hit the buttons and nodded while she waited. “Gavin! Chuck’s got Shannon! They’re on their way home right now! I know, God is good. . . . You absolutely should come over. . . . No, bring them, too. Love you guys.” She laid down the phone and looked at the mantel clock. “How long has it been?”
“Five minutes, maybe.”
“How much longer, then?”
“Today, twenty or thirty.” He pointed to the front window. “You know, you can pace over there and still see out the window.” Bobbi picked up a throw pillow from the recliner and tossed it at him. “I was just trying to help,” he teased.
“Oh, Glen and Laurie! I should call them.”
“They’re not on speed dial.” Jack took the phone and called the pastor’s number, then handed the phone to his mother once again.
“Glen? This is Bobbi . . .” Tears choked off her words once again. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “Chuck has Shannon. They’re on their way home.”
* * *
This is what freedom feels like, Shannon thought as her dad took the on-ramp out of the downtown. Light. Safe. Unburdened. Sheltered. Her father reached over and squeezed her hand again. “You nervous?” he asked.
“It’s a little of everything. Anxious, ashamed, exhausted, excited.” She sighed. “Then I keep thinking things went smooth with Mrs. Wolfe. I’m not sure my landlord will be so easy to deal with. There’s still five months on the lease.”
“Don’t worry about any of that. There’s plenty of time to handle all that stuff. Right now, I just want you to focus on one thing.” When he pulled up to a stop sign, he looked into her eyes. “Focus on how much the people in your life love you. I don’t want you to think about anything that’s happened in the last six months. None of it. Today, you soak in that love. That’s what’s real.”
“Why didn’t I see that before? Why did I have to go through . . . this before I understood that?”
He smiled at her. “You got more of my genes than any of us realized apparently.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“What was it like when you told everybody, you know, about the affair?”
“Terrifying . . . Sickening.”
“Great.”
He gave her a gentle smile. “Yeah, like that. But you’ll see what love really is. It’s not just some gooey emotion. It’s deep and it’s intense. And you see that it’s you that they love, to the core of your soul, not what you do or what you do for them.”
“Wow.”
“You don’t take it for granted anymore. When somebody chooses to love you, that means something.”
“I love you, Dad.” He patted her knee and turned onto Danbury Court. Shannon saw her mother standing on the porch, waving. “She looks beautiful.”
“You ought to see her up close.” Her dad grinned and then honked the car horn like a maniac.
Her mother left the porch and ran to the edge of the driveway by the road. She wasn’t going to wait for them to pull in. Before he brought the car to a complete stop, Shannon threw the door open and jumped out of the car into her mother’s waiting arms.
“Baby . . . I love you.”
“Mom, I’m so sorry . . .”
“Shh . . . Doesn’t matter. Not now.”
“But, Mom—”
“You’re home. You’re safe and you’re home.”
“But I—”
“Came home.” She kissed her and hugged her once more, then she turned and pointed to the front porch where her brothers stood. “Now, I think those boys are anxious to see you.”
Joel met her halfway up the walk, lifted her off the ground with his hug and spun her around like she was nine again. “Welcome home, Squirt.”
“Thanks, Jellybean.”
Jack stayed on the porch, though. She couldn’t blame him. They weren’t on the best terms when she left. She took a deep breath and walked carefully up to the porch. “Jack, what I said to you . . . I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?”
“I need to ask your forgiveness, too,” he said.
“What for?” He pulled her spark plug wires from behind his back and smiled sheepishly. “That was you? I thought it was Dad!”
“After the things you said about my mother . . . well, I was pretty angry with you.”
“Oh, Jack.” Her own hateful words flooded back into her memory. “I was . . . I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for ever talking about another person like that, especially someone you love so much. If things are not the same between us, I understand.”
“I doubt they’ll ever be the same.”
Shannon nodded with resignation.
Then he grinned. “Can’t they be better?”
She returned his smile and hugged him. “They already are. Much, much better.” Her parents and Joel stepped up on the porch as she let go of Jack. When she reached for her mother’s hand, she noticed the cars lining the street. “Who’s here?”
“Come and see.” Her mother pushed open the door for her.
Before Shannon saw anyone she smelled breakfast. Pancakes. And bacon and sausage. And coffee. Home. Aunt Rita was making breakfast, and all her cousins were there. Even Danny. Seeing him made her miss Brad, but not in a bad way. He had a greater homecoming than this one.
Katelyn squealed as she hugged her, bursting with the news of her parents’ remarriage. “What else did I miss?” Shannon asked.
“Joel and I are expecting,” Abby announced, and Joel and Ryan beamed.
“Seriously?”
“Just found out Christmas Day.”
Shannon hugged Abby and Joel again, whispering in her brother’s ear, “I hope it’s twins.”
Even Pastor Glen and Miss Laurie were there. “We’re glad you’re home safe,” Laurie said.
“Thank you. Pastor Glen, we need to talk if you have some time in the next day or two.”
“You bet. Just let me know.”
Her mother, never more than an arm’s length away, laid a hand on her shoulder. “Baby, let me have your coat, and we can sit down for Aunt Rita’s breakfast feast.”
But she was wearing her housekeeping uniform and had no intention of sitting through her homecoming breakfast with everybody staring at it. Even the prodigal son got to change clothes. “Ummm, actually, I think I’d like to run up and change. Into my own clothes, you know.”
“Of course,” her mother said and followed her up the stairs. After a moment’s hesitation and a deep breath, Shannon opened the door to her bedroom and stepped inside. That wonderful home-from-vacation smell wrapped around her, and every detail was just the way she remembered it. “We didn’t move anything,” her mother said.
Shannon dug through the box in the back of the closet until she found an old University of Missouri sweatshirt that had belonged to Joel. Then she got jeans and her favorite old sneakers. She quickly threw off the uniform and got dressed. Even the smell of the fabric softener was wonderful.
Her mother stood against the doorframe, smiling, on the verge of tears again. “Mom, I’m so sorry.”
“Not today.” Her mother hugged her tightly. “Nothing but good stuff today.”
But as she let go, her mother winced.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar,” Shannon said with a raised eyebrow and a grin.
“All right. Sit down.” Her mother sat on the bed and patted the spot beside her.
“You’re kinda scaring me.”
“The scary part is over.” Her mother reached for her hand, a kind seriousness in her deep brown eyes. “I wasn’t going to tell you this for another day or two, and I threatened everybody downstairs not to breathe a word of it.”
“Mom, just say it.”
“I had surgery on the seventeenth to remove a small tumor from my right breast. It was cancer. Radiation starts Monday.”
“MOM!” She . . . cancer . . . radiation? She leaned forward, trying to catch her breath, trying to make the bed stop spinning. “And I . . .”
“Had no way to know. Shannon, it’s okay.” Her mother pulled her over into her arms. “The surgery was a complete success. I feel fine. A few little treatments and we’ll move on like it never happened.”
“But Mom . . .” The tears of guilt and shame came with no way to stop them. No rationalizing or justifying this one. As if the direct pain she caused weren’t enough.
“Baby, I know everything inside you is telling you ‘shame on you.’”
Shannon nodded. “And that’s the nice stuff. The rest is worse.”
Her mother smiled and pushed the hair back from her face. “Don’t listen to it. The people who love you aren’t shaming you. Don’t do it to yourself.”
* * *
Bobbi cleared the throw pillows from the family room sofa, making room for the family to settle in for an afternoon of watching the bowl games. Shannon said she wanted everything to be like a normal New Year’s, so football and snacks became the order of the day.
Precedent: Book Three: Covenant of Trust Series Page 29
