by Lin Stepp
“I don’t know, Zola, but I doubt it.” He took another sip of his coffee. “It seems to me this was an unusual situation.”
“It was a frightening situation. And I know that fear and faith are opposites.” She clenched her hands anxiously. “I didn’t act in faith when I saw this murder, Daddy. I panicked. I ran. I felt terrified. I didn’t act like a good ambassador for the Lord.”
“And that’s worrying you, is it?”
She nodded.
His voice dropped kindly. “Have you taken it to the Lord?”
“I’ve tried. I cast the cares over on Him and then they keep washing back on me like the waves coming in on the beach.”
He chuckled. “It’s like that sometimes. But keep working at it, Zola. Those cares will stay where they’re supposed to eventually and you’ll get your peace back.”
“That’s what I so want, Daddy. I hate being anxious and worried, carrying problems around that I should be able to let go of.” She rubbed a hand up her arm restlessly.
“Well, then, maybe this experience will help you have a better understanding of folks experiencing the same difficulties.” He gave her an appraising look. “We all have troubling seasons. Those times disturb our lives in every way—in the physical, emotional, and spiritual sense.”
“I guess you see that often while doctoring people.”
He smiled and looked at his watch. “Speaking of which, I need to get down to the clinic soon.”
“I can come to help you later,” Zola offered.
“No need.” He folded up his newspaper. “Zola, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.” She smiled at him.
“Tell me about this man you’ve met.”
Zola knew she blinked in surprise.
“Your Nana told me you’ve gotten serious about someone, a photographer in Gatlinburg. She and Vern like him. She says the man is worried about you, upset that you went off without telling him you were leaving.” He took off his glasses to clean them while he waited for her answer.
Zola searched for the words she needed. “I care for him, Daddy. I know he cares for me. He’s experienced problems, too, that he’s been working out. I tried to help him with those. And when I was afraid, it was Spencer who came to find me. I felt his strength then and was glad of it.”
She spread her hands. “But how can I ask anyone to share my life when these hard visions might begin to come my way more often? The publicity grew terrible after this, Daddy. The press learned my part in what happened with Ben Lee’s daughter. It got written up in the newspaper and then the tabloids came hunting for me and hunting for Madame Renee. They wanted to sensationalize the story of the rival fortune-tellers. It was simply horrible.”
Tears started in her eyes, and Zola reached up a hand to wipe them away. “The press began to hound me in the shop and at home. They began to try to interview Spencer and my family.”
She shook her head, upset even to discuss it. “Sometimes in the past the local media picked up on some helpful counsel I gave to someone or some way I was given knowledge of something.” She searched her memory. “Like with the little boy, Eddie, who got lost in the mountains. But it didn’t feel horrible like this. And the publicity passed on quickly.”
Her father dug a handkerchief out of his pocket. He was still a man who carried a handkerchief with him every day. And was always ready to offer it.
Zola wiped her eyes with it, feeling comforted with the familiarity of the gesture.
Stanford Devon crossed his leg again, thinking on what Zola had told him. “It seems to me, daughter, that a man who wouldn’t stand by his woman in a time of trial like this isn’t much of a man. Has your Spencer indicated that he wanted to break it off with you because of what happened?”
“No.” She admitted that with honesty. “He was angry and irritated that I got involved in the beginning. That troubled me. I would like Spencer to be one who believes in what I am, in what I hear. But after the murder came out, he said he believed God wanted to reveal it through me. He even said he thought God showed me what happened to Seng because Ben Lee prayed I would see what happened to her.”
She folded the handkerchief anxiously in her hands. “But how can I ask anyone to share a life with me if I continue to have ongoing problems like this in it? It’s not fair to ask that of anyone, Daddy.”
“You said you shared his problems. Were you always patient and understanding about them?”
Zola dropped her eyes. Leave it to her father to nail her with that one.
“No.” Her answer was quiet. There was no point in trying to lie. Besides, it would have been wrong.
He smiled. “Then perhaps you need to realize that Spencer is human, too. He won’t always be perfectly in tune with you or understand everything you are thinking or feeling. Nor will he always witness clearly with everything you receive from God, unless it is given to him, too. But if he loves you, he will do his best. Just as I’m sure you will do your best to understand him. That’s what love is, Zola. Not always being perfect, but caring and trying. And trusting.”
He leaned over to take Zola’s hand in his. “Perhaps you need to trust your love for Spencer and his love for you more. You need to trust God’s love for you more, too, Zola. I don’t think the Lord expects you to live alone just because He has given you a little more measure of one of His Gifts than most people walk in regularly. And I doubt He will walk you into a place like this—that is so hard—very often in your life. He doesn’t usually ask us to do what we can’t handle.”
He winked at her. “Plus, another time, I think you’ll fight more to stay in a place of faith and not let fear overtake you.”
“Yes, I will.” And as Zola spoke these words she knew they were true. It caused a beginning sense of peace to spread over her.
Stanford Devon came over to kiss his daughter’s cheek. “You enjoy a good day, daughter. Calm down, pull comfort and wisdom from the Spirit of God within you, and listen to your heart. I think you’re ready to do that now.”
Zola offered a long prayer after her father left and then made her way down the familiar winding path through the palms to her hut perched high on a knoll above the sea. She’d first seen a meditation hut on the other side of the island when only a girl and later learned the legend and purpose of building one. She built this and later the one at Raven’s Den in the mountains after her mother died. Her huts had always been special places to her.
A sense of peace flowed back into Zola as she sat on a rough bench, her arms on the rails of the hut, looking out over the beauty of the ocean. Hearing a noise behind her, she turned to see Spencer standing in the shadows.
Her hand went to her heart in surprise. “Spencer! Whatever are you doing here?”
His mouth quirked in a smile. “And where else would I be? Where you are is where I belong, Zolakieran Devon. Whether it be here in Mooréa or in the mountains of Tennessee or anywhere else.”
She felt the tears spill down her face at his words.
Spencer slid onto the bench, took her into his arms, and buried her face up against his chest.
“How could you leave me without coming to me, Zola? Please don’t ever do that again. I love you. You’re my life. I’ve learned I can’t function or be happy without you.”
She reached up to touch his face. “I was afraid being involved with me would hurt you, Spencer—cause you more pain and problems. I thought you’d experienced enough of that in your life.”
“And you wanted to make that decision for me?” He uttered a sound of despair. “Zola, I have no life without you. Knowing you has brought me back to life. You’ve changed me, enriched me. Strengthened my faith. Healed my heart. Brought me happiness. Don’t you know that?”
The words seemed as sweet to her as the smell of the fragrant frangipani blossoms on the nearby tropical trees.
She traced a finger down his cheek. “It might not always be easy living with me, Spencer.”
He caught her fingers
in his to kiss them. “It might not always be easy living with me either, Zola. But we’ll draw on each other’s strengths and help each other with our weaknesses.” He looked deeply into her eyes. “And we’ll always be honest with each other. That’s important to me. We won’t keep things from each other. And we won’t run away when there’s trouble. We’ll run to each other.”
The beauty and rightness of the words swirled through Zola’s being, filling her with gladness.
She threw her arms around Spencer, laughing and kissing him with new joy. “I am so grateful you’ve come, Spencer!” Her genuine laughter rang out. “However did you find me here?”
He grinned. “I went to the clinic and your father told me where I might find you.”
She felt her eyes grow wide. “You met my father?”
“Yes, and I liked him.” He looked around him. “I like it here, too. I brought my camera. I think I’ll take some pictures while I’m here.”
“Is that right?” She gave him a saucy smile.
“Yes, and I thought maybe you’d like to get married here.” He ran his hands down her arms possessively. “We could enjoy a little honeymoon before we go back home. We could have one of those island weddings you were always telling me about.”
She blinked in surprise. “You mean the ones where the bridegroom rides in on an outrigger canoe to meet the bride on the shore. In native dress and everything?”
His hazel eyes flashed. “You are of Tahitian royalty, after all. It seems like it would be fitting.” He grinned mischievously. “And think how great the photographs would be!”
She swatted at him. “Leave it to you to be thinking about photographs!”
His warm eyes darkened and he leaned over to kiss her with passion. “Believe me, Zola Devon, that isn’t all I’m thinking of right now.”
The anxieties of the past seemed to flow out over the ocean waves at last, without trying to return, and Zola felt her inner peace and calm flow back into her.
“I love you, Spencer Jackson.”
“And I love you, Zola Devon.”
After some glorious moments of kissing and rejoicing, Spencer pulled back with reluctance.
They both sat quietly then, elbows on the rail of the hut, looking out at the ocean together.
Spencer broke the silence. “I thought you might like to know that Madame Renee has left town.”
“To get away for a time, like I did?” Zola knew the media pressure on Renee had grown intense, too.
“No, Renee moved permanently.”
“How do you know that?” Zola turned questioning eyes to his.
“Bill Magee told me.” Zola heard him chuckle then. “Someone, probably Aldo Toomey, painted ‘Fraud’ on her driveway and roof again. And the media coverage portrayed her so unpleasantly she decided to relocate. I hear she moved to live near her sister in a tourist town in North Carolina.”
Zola frowned. “I feel mean-spirited to admit how glad that makes me.”
Spencer took her hand. “Nana Etta said it’s an answer to longtime prayer from many people and she told me to tell you that. She said to remind you many things that seem bad at the time work for the greater good in the end.”
“That’s true.” It was wonderful how often God brought good from bad.
Joy rose up in Zola again, and she leaned over to throw herself impulsively into Spencer’s arms once more, kissing him with warm abandon.
He groaned. “We’d better get married soon, Zola.”
“Yes.” She stood up, smiling. “Let’s go talk to Daddy about it right now. And when we get back to the mountains, we’ll have a nice reception at the church for all our friends there.”
Spencer took her hand as they started up the path toward the house. “I can’t wait to see Aston’s face when I tell him I managed to get married before he and Carole.” He looked down to catch Zola’s eyes. “What are the Tahitian words for I love you, Zola?”
She smiled at him. “Ua here vau ia oe. But I am happy to simply hear the words in English, Spencer—and often.”
He squeezed her hand. “I’ll do my best to remember to say them often … and to show them to you always, Zola.”
“I couldn’t ask for more,” she said, her heart singing with joy.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
Makin’ Miracles
Lin Stepp
About This Guide
The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading of
Lin Stepp’s Makin’ Miracles.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Zola Devon has an unusual gift as a seer, often receiving messages or words from God for others. Remembering the first chapter of the book, how would you feel if you were shopping in Nature’s Corner and Zola offered one of her messages to you? Stories of individuals with gifts like Zola’s abound in biblical and other faith-based stories, but they don’t occur as commonly in our world today. Why do you think this is? Do you think it was hard for Zola to be obedient in giving the words she felt God wanted her to share with others?
2. Spencer Jackson first met Zola in her shop, Nature’s Corner. What happened at that meeting? They met the second time at the hut at Raven’s Den. What happened at this encounter? How were the two meetings different? How did these early interactions highlight some of the differences between Spencer and Zola?
3. What did you think about Spencer’s business colleague Leena Evanston? Why was Spencer so drawn to her? Why was he reluctant to contact the police or prosecute her after she tried to rob him? What would you have done in a similar situation?
4. Spencer has a strained relationship with his brother Bowden. What things in the past happened to foster the problems between the two brothers? Spencer has also not been close to any of his family for years. What caused these breaches? Do you have strained relationships with any of your family members? Why do you think problems with close family members are often the most difficult to resolve?
5. Why is the hut at Raven’s Den important to Zola? Why didn’t Spencer tear down the hut when he built his home on the mountain? Later in the book, as a reader, you visit Spencer’s childhood memory spot and Zola’s island hut in Tahiti. Zola tells Spencer: “A person needs a place where they can go to find peace and get collected in their soul.” Do you think this is true? Do you have a special place where you go to find peace or did you have one as a child?
6. Zola Devon is both Tahitian and American, and she has spent parts of her life in both places. How does this multicultural background make her unusual? Was she always comfortable with the aspects of herself that made her different from others? Zola tells Spencer at one point: “The world is not always kind to nonconformists, to those who are different.” Do you think that is true? How has Zola found ways to be more comfortable in her own skin and to accept herself as the unique person she is? How has Spencer fought some of these same battles in being different?
7. Animals can often play an important part in our lives. How did Spencer get his dog Zeke? And how are they bonded as owner and pet? How did Zola get her cat Posey? What was Posey’s story? Both pets played sweet roles as companions and comforts to their owners. Do you have pets that are meaningful like this in your life?
8. What did you think about Zola’s grandparents Nana Etta and Papa Vern? How did they influence Zola’s life positively? Are you a part of a big, extended family like the Devons’? What aspects of their family life seemed similar to yours? How did Zola’s family contrast with Spencer’s in interacting together, sharing in a dinner or family event, and in caring for one another?
9. What kind of photographer is Spencer Jackson? How did he become a photographer, and what brought him to Gatlinburg to open the Jackson Gallery? Why didn’t he choose to work in his family’s photography business?
10. Good friends enrich our lives. Rachel and Maya are two of Zola’s friends. How did these friendships develop and how is Zola’s friendship different with each woman? How did Spencer meet Asto
n Parker? What factors drew them together? In what ways do Spencer’s and Zola’s friends help and support them in the story? Which of your friends are especially meaningful in your life? Do you have close bonds with friends of other races or cultures like Zola and Spencer did?
11. Zola’s and Spencer’s relationship hits many snags as it struggles to develop. What problems hinder their relationship? What things about Zola most worry Spencer? What things about Spencer trouble Zola the most? What events occur that bring resolution to these problems and finally bring the couple together at the end?
12. Two serious problems evolve for Zola in this story in relation to her gift as a seer. The first is with Madame Renee, and the second is with the missing daughter of Benwen Lee. What causes difficulties for Zola in both of these situations? How do both come to a head before the book closes and how are they resolved? What did Zola learn about what happened to Ben’s daughter Seng Ryon Chen? How and in what way did learning this knowledge frighten Zola?
13. Why did Aldo Toomey throw a smoke bomb into Zola’s store? What things happened in his life that led up to this event? Why didn’t Zola press charges? How does Aldo later take revenge on Madame Renee?
14. How does Spencer gain the opportunity to photograph the hoarfrost on the mountain? What new respect does Zola find in watching Spencer work in this situation, and what new appreciation for Zola does Spencer gain from this day? On another photo outing together, Spencer lends a hand to help Zola find a lost child. What happens in this situation? How does finding Eddie bond the couple in a new way?
15. At the waterfall on Buckner Branch, Zola helps Spencer give up and release some of his past hurts and pain. She has him throw pebbles into the water, remembering the sorrows or sins he wants to be free of. What did you think about this scene? How did this time help bring a cleansing and new lightness to Spencer? What criticisms did Zola’s grandmother have about it afterward?
16. Spencer and Zola enjoy many happy times outdoors, both loving and delighting in nature. They share a happy day with Spencer photographing frogs, spiders, and scenes around the farm. Another day Spencer takes Zola with him to hike and photograph outdoor vistas on top of the Smoky Mountains near Mount Buckley. What happened to spoil that day and bring Spencer’s and Zola’s relationship to a turning point?
