A Better Solution (Crowley County Series Book 2)
Page 24
Not any more! He looked at Sue Ann then past her to Penny and Andy. Now he had a family too. And what a beautiful family it was.
That was when he did hear one thing that Gil said in his sermon. Gil said, “Count your blessings every day.”
Floyd almost jumped into the air and shouted. That was exactly what he was doing right now. He was counting his blessings and three of them were sitting right there with him.
He was just starting to come down a little from his high when Gil stopped preaching and they began to sing what they called their hymn of invitation or commitment.
They hadn’t even made it through the first verse when Penny stood and started squeezing her way past Sue Ann and him. What was going on here?
He started to reach out and stop Penny but Sue Ann placed her hand on his arm to stop him. He looked back at her and she was grinning from ear to ear. Then she leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Just watch.”
With that, he leaned back but didn’t totally relax. He’d been about to grab Penny until Sue Ann stopped him. He watched as his daughter walked up to where Gil was standing in front of the pulpit. He hugged her then it looked like they were talking.”
A couple of minutes later, Gil signaled to the song leader to stop the music. When the singing stopped, Gil addressed the whole congregation.
“Brothers and sisters I would like to introduce to those of you who don’t know her yet, Penelope Sue McCracken.”
Penny pulled on his arm and gave him a dirty look.
Gil laughed and said, “But we all know her as Penny.”
She let go of his coat sleeve and smiled out in the direction of the family.
“Penny has come to us today having accepted the Lord in Sunday School this morning and she wants to be baptized just like her father and grandfather were this morning.”
Floyd didn’t hear anything else. He couldn’t wait until he could run up there and take his daughter in his arms. When he did though, there were more arms around him and Penny. It was Sue Ann and Jo both.
* * *
Later, as they all sat around a large round table at the dinner in the fellowship hall, Sue Ann didn’t realize it but her thoughts were running along the same lines that Floyd’s had a little earlier.
She couldn’t help but think about how much her life had changed in the last six months. She too had been feeling lonely especially before her mom came to live with her and Andy. All she’d had before that had been Jo. Yes, even though her best friend had always been there for her in some ways it hadn’t really been enough. She now realized what had been missing from her life. Family! A good man!
She looked around the table now. Floyd was on her left, Penny on the other side of him then his parents, Jo and Gil, her mother then Andy sitting next to her on her right. She finally belonged. That was when she realized that Jo’s little sister Carla was missing. She looked up to see her at a table full of other teenagers. Good for her.
When Floyd turned to face her, she knew exactly what he was going to talk about for that was what she wanted to talk about too.
He smiled and said, “With all that’s happened since the night you said you’d marry me, we haven’t had a chance to talk about the details.”
When she just grinned at him he said, “I mean when do you want to get married?” He didn’t give her time to answer. “And I think it should be as soon as possible. The quicker the better.”
She grinned mischievously and said, “You mean to tell me Floyd Wayne McCracken that you’ve waited all these years to ask me to marry you and now you won’t even give me a little time to enjoy being engaged?”
The look he gave her made her stop laughing and hug him. “Oh Floyd, don’t you know I’m just kidding you?”
He continued to glare at her so she said, “How about the first Saturday of next month?”
He gave her a mock frown. “You can’t do any better?”
She smacked him on the shoulder. “Floyd. Seriously, I don’t want a big wedding. I already had one of those and it turned out bad. But I do want to do it right. Can you give me that much time . . . please?”
He laughed and kissed her. “For you Sue Ann sure. I’ll do anything for you.”
When they kissed again, Penny and Andy brought them back to their surroundings with their giggles.
* * *
Floyd wanted to talk some more with Sue Ann but he waited until she took the last bite of her pie. As soon as she placed her napkin and fork in her plate, he grabbed both of her hands in his and turned her to face him.
“Sue Ann, Honey, I just recently realized that I had a daughter.”
He had to stop to get something out of his eye. It wasn’t a tear. He never cried.
“Now that Penny and I are together, I’ve been thinking about all the things that I missed from the first nine years of her life.”
He snorted and frowned. “At first, it makes me so mad I can’t see straight. But then I realize that I should be thankful that I have her now and I’ll be able to be there with her and for her for everything that comes next.”
He had to stop to gather his thoughts again. With Sue Ann’s big blue eyes staring straight into his eyes, he kept forgetting what he wanted to say.
He shook his head and said, “Dag blast it! Sue Ann, what I’m trying to say is . . .”
He looked down at their hands, which were still clasped. “I watched an old movie one time and maybe it can tell you better than I can.”
When she smiled and nodded encouragement at him, he continued. “Well, this movie, it had Lucile Ball and Henry Fonda in it. And in the movie he already had a whole bunch of kids and so did she when they got married. But they still wanted one that would be both of theirs.”
When her facial expression didn’t change at all, he got worried.
Then she broke out in a smile and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yours, Mine, and Ours!”
Floyd pulled back and looked at her. “Huh?”
She giggled. “Yours, Mine, and Ours was the name of the movie.”
He understood that much now but he still didn’t know what she was thinking.
She pulled her right hand out of his left one and he felt the absence of it immediately. But she placed her hand against his cheek and said, “Floyd, are you saying that you want more kids?”
He didn’t catch what she said for a second but when he did, he nodded his head emphatically and waited to see what her reaction was going to be.
She leaned in and kissed him. When she pulled back, she said, “Floyd Ray McCracken, there isn’t anything in the world that I would rather do than have your baby.”
He shouted out so loud that all the buzzing of conversation in the large room totally stopped. Even the table of teenagers all stopped and stared at him.
Sue Ann placed her hands on both of his shoulders and shook him a little. “But be warned, I don’t want to stop with just one more. I want at least two if not three more.”
His shock must have registered on his face for she giggled and said, “Remember, Floyd, I’m an only child. And I was so afraid that Andy would grow up an only child too. I didn’t want that for him.”
She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I want a big family.”
He laughed loudly bringing more stares their way. “And that’s exactly what I want too.”
She giggled and said, “After all, we have two built-in babysitters already.”
He sure couldn’t argue with that. In fact, he didn’t want to argue with Sue Ann soon to be McCracken ever again.
About the Author
T. E. Killian has been an Army Medic, high school English teacher, pastor, hospital chaplain, crisis counselor, police chaplain, and pastoral counselor.
All of these occupations have helped him to understand how men and women build and keep relationships. He also knows how they repair or destroy those relationships. He has also observed how people interact in all kinds of situations.
They al
so give him firsthand knowledge of how people live and act within each of those types of situations.
Therefore, his characters take on the characteristics and personalities of people who work in all of the occupations he knows so well.
Having been in many crisis situations over the past thirty plus years, he can write about them realistically.
He and his wife, Ann, live in Cottonwood, Arizona, where he writes fulltime and still serves as a police chaplain.
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Please take the time to give this book a review on Amazon.com. Other readers can only know about it if you tell them. Thank you very much and may God bless you.
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He would love to hear from his readers. Each of his novels has a Christian message in it. If you have any questions or comments on those messages, he would love to discuss these with you via email.
If you would like to contact him or if you would like to be added to his mailing list which is only used to announce the publication of each new book, please send him an email at: tekillianbooks@hotmailcom.
Also please check out his webpage at: www.tekillian.com
Look for all the uplifting Christian novels
By
T. E. Killian
The Sycamore P.D. Series
Lost Memories
Accepted Memories
Resolved Memories
Crowley County Series
No Easy Solution
A Better Solution
The Only Solution
Another Solution
Clear Creek Series
Ryan’s Ruin
Chase’s Return
Hunter’s Revenge
Walking Together Series
Walking Straight
Walking Away
Walking the Line