Claire's Hope: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Love's Enduring Promise Book 3)

by T. K. Chapin

  He was silent.

  “The pay is really good and I could get full time instead of some rink-a-dink part time job.”

  “Hey, my buddy just walked in. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “What? Where are you?”

  “I’m at a late lunch with a friend… I’ll call you later.”

  Matt hung up on me abruptly. Pulling my phone back from my ear I stared at it. Was he mad at me? Did I say something wrong? Ugh… why do men have to be so complicated? A car suddenly drove by and splashed a huge helping of icy cold water up onto the sidewalk, drenching me from head to toe.

  CHAPTER 4

  I screamed in annoyance, “Ahhhhh!” as I shook myself off. My jacket and purse protected me from the brunt of the splash, but my jeans were sopping wet with the icy water from the puddle.

  “You okay?” Joshua asked, stepping out from the shop.

  “What do you care?” I snapped. “Sorry… I just got drenched, I’m seriously over today.” Starting down the sidewalk, Joshua caught up to my side.

  “What do you want Joshua?”

  “Can I give you a ride?” He asked. “You’ll catch a cold if you walk in this weather wet.”

  “What’s your deal? Why are you suddenly talking to me all the time? Is it because you feel bad for me because of my parents? Because I don’t need your pity.”

  “You know what?” He replied with his hands up. “Whatever. I was just trying to be nice.”

  “Well, do me a favor and lay off the niceness.” I appreciated the offer deep down, but I knew Matt would be irate if I got a ride from Joshua. Why was he being so nice? Maybe Matt was right, Maybe Joshua had a thing for me. I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t about to upset Matt.

  “You’re a peach,” he mumbled under his breath going back into the bridal shop.

  I felt bad for how I acted towards Joshua, but dang, the guy needed to back off. As the cold air nipped at my wet legs, I wondered if Nicole could give me a ride home, so I gave her a buzz.

  “Wanna give me a ride? I’m soaked and it’s freezing!”

  “What happened? Why aren’t you at work?”

  “Some car splashed me with water as I was walking home. Leslie canned me today…”

  “That sucks… but hey, now you can come work with me!”

  “For sure, I already told Matt about it.” A gust of cool air brushed against me. “So how about that ride?” I laughed.

  “Sure, you’re on your way home from Slippery Treats, right?”

  “Sure am.”

  “Cool. I just got out of the dentist for a cleaning, I’ll head your way. You know if this was any other day, I would have been working or in school, right?”

  I laughed. “Yeah… Good day to get canned I guess.”

  She replied, “Sure is! Where’s Matt?”

  “Lunch with some friend?”

  “Interesting.”

  Nicole showed up within a fifteen minutes and had her heater on full blast for me as I got into the car. Appreciative, I hugged her and offered to buy her some coffee as a thanks, she was the best friend a gal could ask for.

  As we pulled up to the apartment’s curb, I was surprised to see Todd sitting at the bottom of the stairs. He was bundled up in his black coat he got for Christmas a couple years ago and a hideous looking yellow scarf I had never seen before. Sitting alone, he was rocking back and forth as plumes of breath escaped his lips. How long has he been here? I wondered.

  “What are you doing here? How long have you been waiting? It’s freezing out Todd!” I asked, getting out of the car.

  “I can’t do it.”

  “Jennie and Dale’s? Don’t blame ya on that one...”

  “Call me later,” Nicole said, rolling down the passenger side window.

  “Okay… see ya, thanks again!” I said back to her before returning my eyes to my brother.

  Rubbing tears from his eyes, he looked up at me. “It’s so hard Claire.” He began crying harder and I took a seat next to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

  “I know,” I said, kissing the side of his head. “I’m sure their rules are a bit different than Mom and Dad’s…”

  Pulling away from me, he shook his head. “It’s not that… I’m just missing Mom and Dad so much… and it hurts so bad.”

  “Oh…” I replied softly. I longed so bad to feel the pain, experience the loss and be there for my brother, but that numbness or shock or whatever it was just kept a hold on me and wouldn’t allow me to feel anything. Even seeing my brother in tears didn’t cause me to break.

  “Jennie and Dale are great… the school is even good… I just feel so… broken. I keep waiting to wake up from this nightmare and be at home again in my own bed, and in my own bedroom.”

  I let his head rest against my shoulder and I put my chin on his head as I looked down the street. He was too young to lose his parents… I wish there was just something I could do for him. “I miss home too,” I replied.

  After his crying subsided, he wiped his eyes dry and cleared his throat. “Dale said you were in a bad spot and I wanted to be here for you. That’s why I came today.”

  “A bad spot?” I smiled. “I’m doing great. I live with the man I’m going to marry, I have a job kinda.”

  “You lost the Slippery Treats job?”

  “Well… I’m going to work with Nicole at the call center, the pay is better and I can get full time hours. It’s a good thing.”

  He smiled slightly, “That’s good.” The sound of laughter directed our attention down the street at a group of children playing outside in the snow and Todd asked, “How long will it take to feel okay again?”

  “I don’t know…” I replied delicately. “These things take time. I was a wreck when we lost Grandma… but eventually I figured out how to live without her.”

  “I don’t see that happening,” he said.

  “You’ll get through this bro.” I paused as we watched one of the kids lob a snowball against the wall of the fourplex apartment building. “Is it scary being with Dale and Jennie since you haven’t known them all that much before you moved out there?”

  “It was a little at first, but I got over it. The family is so close and involved with one another that it only took a couple days to feel like I belonged.”

  “Well, that’s good.”

  He nodded as he scooted closer to my side. “I love you sister,” he said, leaning his head against my shoulder.

  I smiled as I laid my head against him, “I love you too.”

  Matt suddenly pulled up to the curb furiously and got out, slamming his driver side door behind him.

  “What’s wrong babe?” I asked, lifting my head to watch him as he walked past the both of us, heading up to the door.

  Stopping, he turned back and said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” I knew what that meant; it meant he did want to talk about it just not in front of anyone.

  As Matt continued up the stairs, I directed my attention back to Todd. “Did you need a ride back out to Dale and Jennie’s?”

  “I got a ride into town with a neighbor, Margret. She goes to the same church as they do. She said she’ll pick me up after she runs a few errands in town.”

  As Matt made it to the top of the stairs, I turned and looked up at him and asked, “Could Todd stay with us until he gets his ride back out to Chattaroy?”

  “Sure.” His tone was sharp and agitated, but I wasn’t going to let him just leave my brother out in the streets in the cold of winter. Whenever Matt said ‘sure’ it meant ‘no’ but I didn’t care this time. I loved Matt with all my heart, but family comes first. My brother was the only family I felt I had left and no guy was going to screw with that.

  “Come on inside,” I said, standing up. Grabbing my brother’s hand, I led him up the cement stairs and into the apartment.

  “Can we talk?” Matt asked as Todd and I walked into the apartment. He was lingering over by the bedroom door.

  “One second, let me ge
t my brother a drink of juice.”

  “I’m okay Sis,” Todd said, shaking his head as he took a seat on the brown recliner. “I’ll just watch some TV.”

  “We don’t have cable, but we have DVDs over there on the shelf next to the entertainment stand.”

  “Thanks,” he replied, venturing over to them. He started taking his jacket and scarf off and placed them on the couch before settling down in front of the shelf to check out our DVD collection.

  Walking into the bedroom, Matt flung the door violently shut, startling me. “Why are you acting so angry?” I asked in a loud whisper getting up in his face.

  “Are you kidding me right now?” Matt shouted. “Max called me and said he saw you talking to that, Joshua guy at a bridal shop outside. I stopped my lunch with Charlie and came straight home. Do you know how embarrassed I was?”

  “Joshua was there with a friend… I don’t know how that’s my fault?” I could not believe my lack of luck. How does this even happen.

  “You’re seeing him behind my back. You didn’t tell me you were with him.”

  “I wasn’t with him, he just so happened to be there.”

  “And what were you doing in a bridal shop Claire?”

  Shaking my head, I looked him in the eyes. I could see something was different about him; he had that same crazy look from earlier in the day. “I’m a girl; I was trying dresses on… okay? It’s what girls do!” I snapped at him.

  Then it happened.

  He backhanded me across the face. It was if time ceased to exist in that moment. As I fell limp onto the bed, tears began streaming from my eyes. My emotions decided to come exactly in that second. He didn’t stop there, he turned me over on the bed and smacked me again, this time it was harder and more violent. Tears continued to stream down my face as Todd suddenly busted through the door. Watching as my brother flew across the room like a super hero I saw him take his best swing at Matt. But Matt caught his fist in the air and shoved him into the wall. He came charging back over to me. I squeezed out the words, “Please Stop,” but he didn’t care. The crazy look grew darker in his eyes as he lifted his fist into the air.

  Then everything went black.

  Waking back up, God only knows how long later, Matt was choking me. Barely conscious, I went for the one spot I knew I could stop him. With the little strength I had left in my body, I jolted my knee upwards and into his groin, causing him to tumble over.

  Choking as I tried to force myself to breathe, adrenaline surged through me and I rolled off the bed to the floor. Scrambling across the floor I grabbed Todd helping him to his feet. Blood was coming from a gash on his head, and his tears and blood mixed as it traveled down the side of his face. Seeing him hurt broke my heart more than it already was and the worse part of it all was knowing it was my fault for letting him come inside with me.

  I felt everything. Pain, indescribable ripped through me. Some of it was physical, most of it was mental, but every ounce of it was rushing over me like a hurricane that blew in from the ocean, destroying and wreaking havoc on everything in its path.

  Stumbling out of the apartment, we made it to the street before I collapsed. My sight was fading in and out as my brother stood over me. His mouth was moving like he was screaming, but I heard no words. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own heart beating as I lay on the cold wet pavement. Neighbors rushed from their apartments nearby in what looked to be slow motion. My eyes felt heavier and heavier until they closed.

  Coming back to, I woke up in the back of an ambulance. Paramedics on both sides of me were poking and prodding at me until they finally let me go. Stepping out of the back of the ambulance, I saw Todd and rushed over to him.

  “I’m so sorry!” I cried hugging him. His head wound had been bandaged up and he held onto me tightly as he joined me in crying.

  “It’s okay, Claire… You didn’t know,” He said, as he sniffled.

  “Excuse me, Claire?” An officer said, tapping me on the shoulder.

  “Yes?” I asked, releasing from Todd.

  “We need to get your statement of what happened.”

  “Okay.”

  The police took their full report and had already begun a manhunt for Matt. Come to find out, he had escaped out the bedroom window and fled. He was a coward. Luckily the police picked him up a few blocks away as he was heading towards his mom’s house that was less than a mile away. The police wrapped up collecting the neighbor’s statements, and that’s when Margret showed up to pick up Todd.

  Rushing from her car while it was still running, Margret hurried her steps up to the cement stairs I was sitting on. She, a complete stranger to me, began crying as she held me close to her chest. While I didn’t know her, I still could feel the love she had and felt the comfort she provided rush over me as my tears ran onto her shoulder. My throat was clenched, and my eyes were swollen and red. I felt everything from my parents dying to the love of my life unleashing his rage. I felt so broken, so lost.

  My heartache was a constant pain that gnawed at what felt like every part of my body. I know some of it was physical as my face throbbed in pain. What did I do to deserve this? I wondered as I watched the last cop car pull away from the curb as he shut off his lights.

  “Come stay with your Brother tonight at the Vander’s farm,” Margret insisted.

  I quickly agreed. I didn’t want to stay in that apartment another minute, the whole place could burn down behind me and I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. As I struggled to stand from my seat on the steps, Margret helped me to the car. As she pulled away from the curb, I stared blankly out the window as it began to rain. Looking at the apartment door that housed the memories of me and Matt, I felt my heart crush under the weight of my failed hopes and dreams.

  CHAPTER 5

  I stayed relatively quiet as we drove down Elk Chattaroy Road heading for my aunt and uncles. The memories of flying down that same road with Matt were almost too unbearable for my heart to tolerate. It seemed that every little thing sent me onto another round of tears and gut wrenching sadness. If it wasn’t something that reminded me of Matt, it was something to do with my parents. They were dead, and I didn’t even care to cry or shed a tear until I was beat to a bloody pulp. What is wrong with me? I wondered glancing at my partial reflection in the side mirror.

  Peering out the window, I felt my world get smaller the farther I got out into the country. I need to get back into Spokane; maybe I can crash at Nicole’s tomorrow?

  When we began pulling into the driveway, it brought me back to my childhood. I hadn’t visited their farm since I was twelve years old, but I remember the last time I was there. We had come out for a family reunion, but didn’t stay long. After my father and Dale had gotten into a heated argument about something, we left. I hadn’t been back since. He never would tell us what it was about, and back then I didn’t care.

  The long gravel driveway was lined with trees on both sides, leading all the way up to the roundabout in front of the house. The back yard was an acre or two big and was lined with trees along the side. Knowing that Copper’s Cove wasn’t too far from here, I wondered how far of a trek it would be through the woods.

  Two golden retrievers came running alongside the vehicle as we pulled into the driveway. They were cute dogs, but their excitement level was a bit much for my current mood.

  As I got out of the car in front of the house, Jennie was standing outside and covered her mouth as tears began streaming down her cheeks. I could feel her sadness and pain and it crushed me as I saw her rush through the loose gravel driveway and up to me. Her embrace was warm and it felt good to be hugged by her.

  “I’m so sorry!” she said. Her perfume was unusually pungent today as she hugged me.

  Coughing slightly, I pushed her back gently. “What’s with the perfume?”

  She glanced back at Dale. “We were going on a date tonight, but not anymore.”

  “Oh, well you should go on your date,” I said quickly. “Do
n’t let me hold you back.”

  Shaking her head, she looked me in the eyes, “No Claire, we already made up our minds. We’re staying here tonight, for you.”

  My uncontrollable urge to cry was set off again at her words. She was so kind, so sweet… and so understanding. “Okay…” I replied.

  “We love you Claire,” Dale chimed in as he came stepping off the front steps.

  I smiled at him, but on the inside I couldn’t help but be a little suspicious of them both. They must have been over compensating because of some sort of obligation they felt to my mom and dad. Dale ushered Todd and I into the house; while him, Jennie and Margret stayed out front and talked. I could hear them faintly speaking amongst themselves through the screen door as I continued inside.

  “Thank you Margret. I appreciate you being there for her,” Dale said.

  “It was no problem. I think any decent person would do it.”

  “Christ showed through you today,” he replied.

  God? Margret was there, not God, I thought to myself, turning the corner into the living room to find Lizzy and Isaac both glued to the television set.

  “Where’s Nick?” I asked.

  The two of them turned and said the same thing in unison, “Playing video games.” When they saw Todd and I’s appearance, they leaped from the floor and rushed over to us.

  “What happened?” Lizzy asked, tugging on my shirt.

  “Who did this to you?” Isaac asked, looking at Todd’s gash on his head.

  Cupping his head, Todd replied, “Don’t worry about it.” He glanced over at me for a moment as he headed over to the couch to sit down.

  “You guys can’t just not tell us! Please…” Lizzy said.

  Jennie came into the front room with a washcloth in hand. “Don’t you two worry about Claire and Todd.” Taking a seat down next to Todd, she began peeling back the bandage. “Ouch,” she said, glancing at it for a moment before pushing the bandage back down. Grabbing Todd’s hand, she said, “We need to keep that clean. We’ll change the bandage out a little bit later.”