War Room

by Chris Fabry

  They stood in Clara’s dining room, where Elizabeth had poured out her heart so often. This room had her tears baked in. Danielle walked in and Mrs. Jones hugged her.

  “We’re going to buy a house from your mom,” the woman said.

  Danielle’s eyes grew wide. “But, Mom, you said people never buy houses on the first day they look.”

  Elizabeth looked sheepishly at her clients. “Well, I’ve never met a couple like this.”

  They drove to the realty office and the couple signed the contract. When they were finished, Elizabeth said she would present the offer in person and get back to them as soon as she had an answer.

  Reverend Jones took Elizabeth’s hand before they left. “I can tell this client of yours has made a big impression on your life.”

  “More than you’ll ever know,” Elizabeth said.

  She hurried to Clara’s son’s house to tell the woman the good news. A man wearing glasses opened the door.

  “Well, hello, come on in,” he said with a slight drawl. “You must be Elizabeth.”

  “Yes, thank you,” she said. There was something familiar about his face—and not just the pictures she had seen on Clara’s mantel. She tried to connect the dots but had a hard time.

  “Hey there, young lady,” the man said to Danielle, smiling.

  Then it clicked. His voice. She had heard that voice on a news report in the past few weeks. Something about the passing of an ordinance in town and the controversy it had raised. Opposing factions of the council had been brought together by the city manager . . .

  “You’re C. W. Williams,” Elizabeth said. “You’re the city manager.”

  He nodded. “I am.”

  The stories Clara had told her about her son, the trouble he’d been in, the ways he vexed her and sent her to her knees—they all came flooding back.

  “You’re Clyde?” she said incredulously.

  He laughed. “I’m Clyde.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Behind her came a familiar voice. “Hey, Elizabeth!” Clara sauntered from the kitchen into the entry with the look of a queen. “Hey, Danielle!”

  “Nice to meet you,” Clyde said. “I’ll let you all catch up.”

  Elizabeth shook Clyde’s hand, then walked toward her friend. “You never told me that your son was the city manager.”

  “I didn’t?”

  Elizabeth shook her head.

  “My son’s the city manager,” Clara said matter-of-factly.

  Elizabeth couldn’t stifle the laugh. Clara was full of surprises, and Elizabeth wondered when she’d get to the end of them.

  “Okay, I’ve got some good news for you,” she said.

  Clara held up a hand to stop her. She closed her eyes in thought. “I bet you’re going to tell me . . .” She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling as if she were reading a script in heaven. “. . . that a retired pastor from Texas and his wife want to buy my house.” She had a twinkle in her eyes when she looked at Elizabeth again.

  “Now see,” Elizabeth said, “that’s the kind of relationship with God I want. I want Him speaking to me like that. What did He say?”

  “Well, it was actually your daughter. She texted me on my new smartphone on the way over here.”

  Elizabeth gave Danielle a look.

  “Don’t be mad, Mom. I hardly get to text anybody.”

  “And this thing is so handy,” Clara said, holding up her phone. “I’ve already downloaded a prayer app and a couple gospel tunes.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. She showed Clara the paperwork with the offer, but all she wanted to know was who the pastor was and why they liked her house. When she heard the man’s son served in the military, Clara made a fist and shook it like she’d just heard the best news in the world.

  “They talked about having picnics in the backyard and mentoring their grandkids in that house,” Elizabeth said.

  Clara closed her eyes. “God is just amazing. I had prayed for some specific things and He did even more than I could imagine.”

  Elizabeth went to the living room while Clara finished making coffee. She passed a plaque on the wall that read, The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you.

  He’s surely done that, Elizabeth thought.

  Clyde’s daughter was a couple years older than Danielle. He opened the freezer and pulled out two Popsicles and unwrapped them. The girls headed for the back deck, giggling together.

  Soon, Clara slowly walked toward Elizabeth, balancing the two steaming cups like they were an offering. “Here we go. Two hot cups of coffee.”

  “Well, if it’s hot, then I’ll drink it,” Elizabeth said.

  Clara set the mugs down on an end table and settled into her seat. There was something in her eyes, something in her heart that was ready to come out. Or maybe it was sadness at the close of a chapter of their relationship.

  “Now we’re still going to get together for our little chats, right?” Elizabeth said, reassuring the woman and herself.

  “Oh yes. But it can’t just be the both of us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, you need to find a young woman to invest in. And I’ll do the same. We all need help every now and then.”

  Elizabeth pondered the change in dynamics. She didn’t know if she could share Clara. She wanted her for herself. And just as quickly, she thought about Cynthia, her sister. She didn’t live far and she needed a deeper relationship with God.

  “Miss Clara, I really can’t tell you how much your friendship means to me.”

  “That goes for the both of us.”

  “No, really. I wasn’t willing to admit how much help I needed. And I needed somebody to wake me up from the insanity of doing the same thing over and over. You’ve been a gift from God to me.”

  Clara smiled warmly. “Don’t you think that this is one-sided. You have meant more to me than you know.”

  “Well, good. I can’t imagine how much your prayers and your passion for God must have meant to your husband. I wish I could have met him.”

  After a moment, Clara looked down. Her eyes began to fill with tears and Elizabeth realized she had touched some tender spot in Clara’s heart. She wanted to apologize or take back the words, but before she could say anything, Clara spoke.

  “No. No, you don’t.”

  Clara was serious now, her lips pursed. Elizabeth thought this was a time for celebration, not tears. But she let Clara steer them toward memories tucked away and hidden in a secret room.

  “See, I wasn’t the same woman back then,” Clara said with regret. “When Leo died, we were not on good terms. I always felt pushed to the back burner. And I was bitter, Elizabeth. I was so bitter.” She clenched a fist and accentuated the feeling as if it were flooding her soul again.

  “But even then God was showing me what to do. He was prompting me to fight for Leo, to pray for Leo, and I refused. And I kept pushing it back and pushing it back until it was too late.”

  The emotion came to her voice now and she choked out words that cut Elizabeth to the core. “There’s no grief as great as denying the truth until it’s too late.”

  Elizabeth felt herself on the edge of some emotional chasm. The clouds were parting between them, clouds of everything she hadn’t known about her friend, about her motivation. The distance had closed so much in the past few months, but now they were even closer.

  Clara paused, then continued with slow speech and punctuated words. “It was my pride, Elizabeth. It was my selfish pride! And I confessed it and I repented, and I begged God to forgive me. But I still have a scar. And then I started spending more time with the Lord and in His Word. And I learned how to fight in prayer first.”

  Every conversation Elizabeth could remember led back to this subject: prayer. Relying on God’s power. Seeking Him above everything. This was the past Clara had come from, and she had let the pain and the regret do their perfect work to propel her forward.

&
nbsp; “I’m an old woman now. And I realized that I have not passed on what I had learned. When I last visited Leo’s grave, I asked God to send me someone that I could help. Someone that I could teach to fight the right way. And He sent me Elizabeth Jordan.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t hold back the tears. Clara clasped her hands and leaned forward and kissed them. Then she sat back and tried to compose herself, reaching out a hand to tenderly touch Elizabeth’s face.

  “So you see, you were the answer to my prayer.”

  Elizabeth sat in stunned silence, tears running freely down her cheeks. Clara had seen her in the mirror of life, a reflection of herself. Elizabeth was not some project but someone to help guide along a different path than she had chosen. But Clara wasn’t the only one looking in the mirror. Elizabeth was also looking at herself and where a few good choices in life could lead. And what a mirror it was. What a picture of the grace of God.

  Clara wasn’t finished. She seemed ready to charge another hill into battle. And with all the conviction she could muster, she reached out to Elizabeth once more with her words.

  “Well now, you’ve got to teach other young wives how to fight.”

  Elizabeth nodded, her heart welling. “Yeah, I will,” she said as if accepting a baton from a tired runner. And like a prayer she whispered it again. “I will.”

  CHAPTER 21

  After the double Dutch championship, Tony felt a letdown. He had been so involved with Danielle and the team that they practically lived at the community center. With no job and no prospects on the horizon—though he had sent résumés to six companies in response to online job openings he’d seen—he found himself growing closer to God and his family.

  Michael met him for breakfast after he’d completed an overnight shift. “I’ve been keeping an eye out for a full-time jump rope position, but I haven’t found anything for you yet.”

  Tony laughed. “You heard about that, huh?”

  “Heard about it? It’s all my daughter talked about. She was at the competition and said you were spinning all over that gymnasium. Flipping here and there and twirling Danielle like a baton. She said you rocked—that was the actual word she used, bro.”

  “There was some pretty stiff competition,” Tony said.

  “No, you’re not getting it. Listen. My daughter is not into sports. She likes to read and draw pictures and stare out the window. But she came back that day and said, ‘Dad, I want to jump rope like Danielle and her dad.’”

  “What did you say?”

  “I got her a rope and told her she could start practicing.”

  “What about you? You going to jump?”

  “My point is, she saw what you were doing and it made her want to do the same thing. You motivated her—the whole team did. That’s a gift, Tony.”

  “Well, if you find a double Dutch position—”

  Michael interrupted him. “Take a look around this place. What is it all about? It’s motivating people to get in the game. Exercise. Take care of your body. Build yourself up. This is like the sweet spot of your life, you know?”

  “What are you saying?”

  “My wife and I were praying for you last night. All of a sudden she says, ‘Why doesn’t Tony apply for the community center job?’ Man, it never occurred to me, but you’d be a perfect fit.”

  Tony had thought about it, at least in passing, but he’d been so concerned about Ernie and his firing that he’d dismissed the idea. “I would think they’re looking for somebody with a lot of experience running a place like this. I don’t have any.”

  “You have experience bringing people together and working as a team. That’s what they need. They don’t need an egghead with ten degrees behind his name. They need somebody who can motivate others to take charge of their lives. What’s the harm in applying?”

  Tony didn’t have a good answer for that one. There wasn’t any harm at all.

  “In fact,” Michael said, “here comes Henry Peterson now. He goes to our church and he’s the president of the board of directors of this place.”

  “Really? I’ve never seen him.”

  Michael cocked his head and gave him a goofy look. “There’s a lot of people at church you’ve never seen.”

  “But that’s changing,” Tony said.

  “Amen,” Michael said. He stood and waved a hand at Peterson.

  “Michael, stop it,” Tony said, suddenly nervous. He wasn’t dressed for an interview.

  Peterson came to the table and shook Michael’s hand. Tony stood as Michael introduced him.

  “I want to nominate somebody to be director,” Michael said. “A guy who would really be an asset to the community center and bring people together as a team. My friend Tony Jordan.”

  The man looked at Tony. “Weren’t you in the double Dutch competition this past weekend?”

  Tony smiled and nodded.

  “That was an amazing performance.”

  “You were there?”

  “My grandson jumped for the Speed Angels.”

  “They were really good,” Tony said.

  “Yes, they were. But I could see how you helped all the kids on your team work together. You did a great job with that.”

  Tony said Trish had been the real coach, and Michael shook his head.

  “This is the problem with Tony. Used to be he wouldn’t pass the ball at all. Now he throws it to everybody else on the court.”

  “Excuse me?” the man said.

  Michael laughed. “Tony Jordan is the real deal, sir. He could get this place organized and running smoothly in about a week. And in a month he’d have a plan in place for growth in membership.”

  Tony couldn’t believe what he was hearing from Michael, but the more they talked, the more vision he had for the center. It was close to home—he could ride his bike in the summer months. He wouldn’t have to travel, so he could spend time with Elizabeth and Danielle like he wanted. Within a few minutes he’d gone from having no prospects to one big one that tugged on his heart.

  “What about it, Tony?” the man said. “Would you be interested in the position?”

  “Of course,” Tony said. “I think I could help get the place in shape in a lot of ways.”

  The man thought a moment. “And are you currently employed?”

  “He just left his position at Brightwell Pharmaceuticals,” Michael said. “He was one of their top salesmen.”

  “Interesting.”

  Tony shook his head. “I didn’t leave. I was asked to leave. You should know that going in.”

  “But you left on good terms?”

  Tony nodded. “I think that’s fair to say.”

  The man looked at his watch. “If you were a top salesman, you probably had a nice salary and benefits package. The salary here couldn’t match that.”

  “How much are you talking?” Michael said.

  Tony gave him a look as if he should stay out of it. Michael shrugged as if saying, “If you don’t ask him, I will.”

  The man gave the salary range and it was about half what Tony had made at Brightwell. He quickly computed what he might take home each month.

  “I think I could make that work,” Tony said.

  Peterson took a card from his wallet and handed it to Tony. “There’s an application online. Fill that out today and let’s set up an appointment to talk at my office tomorrow. I want to get moving on this as soon as possible.”

  Tony took the card and shook the man’s hand. When he left, Michael grinned. “I knew I’d find you a full-time double Dutch position somehow. Congratulations, Director.”

  Elizabeth arrived at the office early. With two closings scheduled that day at opposite ends of the city, she needed to budget her time and make sure all the contracts were signed and ready. Insurance was a common thing that held up a closing, so she made sure that both mortgage companies had what they needed. Melissa Tabor, her client with the two rambunctious boys and the software rep husband, had called her three times already. H
ers was one of the homes closing later that morning.

  She had driven all day yesterday, and in addition to the closings, she had showings of two different properties that afternoon. She was glad for the business and grateful that God was bringing clients her way. Clara had referred a couple people to her already. But she wondered if there would be time to breathe.

  Her cell rang and she stared at the screen. Cynthia. She answered and asked how her sister was doing, how the job search was going for Darren.

  “He actually has an interview today,” Cynthia said. “No guarantees, but at least there’s a little hope.”

  “I’m really glad. I’m going to be praying that this works out for him. For all of you.”

  There was silence on the line. Then Cynthia spoke. “Elizabeth, would you have time for lunch sometime?”

  Elizabeth almost dismissed the request straightaway. She was so busy, so frazzled with her schedule, and Tony and Danielle were expecting her home that evening. But something about the pleading in her sister’s voice moved her.

  “I have two closings this morning—and I was going to skip lunch because of some showings this afternoon, but what about dinner? I’ll need to let Tony know, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Cynthia let out a heavy sigh. “Oh, that would be great.”

  They agreed to meet at a restaurant at five thirty, and Tony was supportive of her meeting with Cynthia. By the time Elizabeth’s last showing was completed, she was late. Cynthia was waiting at a table at the Italian restaurant chain, munching on breadsticks.

  They ordered and Cynthia told Elizabeth about her family’s financial struggles again, how hard it was for her and the kids, and what a heavy weight all of this was for her.

  “I wish we could do more to help,” Elizabeth said.

  Cynthia shook her head. “I know you guys are struggling too, with Tony’s job loss and all. That’s really not why I asked to meet.”