by Delia Latham
“It’s lovely!” Winter spoke in a whisper, and then gave Brady a rueful smile. “Why is it that I always want to whisper inside a church?”
He squeezed her hand and whispered back. “It’s called reverence, and it isn’t a bad thing, or something to be embarrassed about. Come on, there’s more.”
On the other side of the entry space, they found a changing room. Despite the miniscule properties of the venue, brides were honored with their own, private space.
“Oh, Brady…this is beyond charming.”
“I thought you’d like it.” He winked and gave her one of those off-kilter grins. “Women do like their romance, don’t they?”
“Yes, we do, and so do you, Brady Merckle, or you wouldn’t have thought to bring me here. And, just so you know, I’ll never forget the pleasure of seeing this place with you.” On utter instinct, she raised up on her tiptoes and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
He froze, and for a moment she feared she’d blundered into some kind of ministerial no-woman’s land. But the tension passed in a blink. Had it even existed, or had she imagined it?
“We need to get back to Cambria.” Brady placed a gentle hand at the small of her back and guided her to the door. “As much as I’d love for this magical day to never end, I’m afraid reality calls.”
“I agree.” Winter hesitated, but then stepped closer and tucked her hand through his elbow. “It has been magical, right from the start. Mahalo, angel man.”
Brady reached across and laid his free hand over hers. “You’re welcome, Kalani.”
Winter’s heart sighed. Brady Merckle truly was a beautiful man. If he weren’t so wrapped up in God, faith, religion—the whole Bible thing—she might have been tempted to pursue something more than friendship.
If. A little bitty word that packed a mighty big punch.
11
Back in her Paradise Pines unit, Winter settled in for a deeper look at the paperwork from Jeremy. Within minutes, a shadow of uneasiness crowded her mind.
It isn’t Brady. He’s not the only minister in Cambria. It isn’t Brady!
Still, how odd that her first contact in Cambria had been a minister—one she’d briefly mistaken for an angel. And now, although she’d never dealt with the clergy in any previous story, her assignment would require her to dig into the lives of Cambria pastors until she found the right one…the one connected to an ugly scandal surrounding a popular televangelist close to two decades ago.
“Sis? What’s wrong?” Kai entered and stood just inside the front door, a child’s plastic bucket filled with rocks and shells dangling from two fingers. “You’re frowning, and whatever you’re thinking about makes my stomach churn.”
“Sorry.” Winter managed a half smile. “I’m reading the information Jeremy sent over, and I have a feeling I’ll not like this story.”
“I already don’t.” Kai carried his bucket to the kitchen sink and started washing the treasures he’d collected. “What is it, anyway?”
“It’s kind of strange, actually. Ever heard of Rory Cope Ministries?”
Kai turned to face her, his fingers dripping water onto the floor. “It rings a bell, but I’m not sure why.” His eyes glazed over and he stared off into nowhere for a moment. “Wait, wait. Rory Cope…a televangelist, right? Wasn’t he the one who shocked everyone when—?” He grabbed a dishtowel and dried his hands before joining her on the sofa. “It was a really big deal, and devastated a huge number of viewers when someone shone a light on his secret life.”
Winter grimaced. She’d read enough already to have some insight into what that “secret life” entailed. “I don’t understand how a Christian man—especially one who held himself up as a public example to others—could sink so low as to get involved in human trafficking. Selling people, Kai!” Her eyes misted over, and she cleared her throat. “I’ve never attended a church service, but I know that, for the most part, ministers primarily make a case for God’s love. They convince people that a Higher Power exists—the Higher Power—and that He knows and loves each person. I even heard something, somewhere, that suggested we’re all God’s children. Everyone—not just a certain segment of society, but everyone.” She swiped at her eyes.
Why did outrage always bring on tears? Her voice shook with the force of her emotion. “How could a man believe all of that and then get rich off the sale of ‘God’s children’ into dangerous, degrading, life-threatening situations? It’s so wrong! I can’t make sense of it in my head.”
Kai moved close and slipped an arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder, and they sat in silence while she pulled herself together, borrowing her brother’s strength…and calm.
“People aren’t always what they seem, Sis. You probably know that even better than I do, since you’re out there digging into their lives every day. What this guy did was inhuman and—at least for me—unforgivable. But when I hear stories like this, I try to keep a positive enough outlook to counterbalance the horror. Otherwise, life would be too depressing and heart-breaking.”
“And how do you go about this magical counterbalance, brother?”
“By looking around my own portion of the world. You know what I always find?” When Winter said nothing, he gave her shoulders a gentle shake with the arm that still rested there. “You don’t know? Then guess.”
“I can’t. How can you possibly find anything positive about what that evil man did?”
“Well, I don’t find any positivity there. I find it in what I see when I look around. Winter, for every hypocritical preacher, there are ten dedicated, genuine, caring ministers who do it right. For every act of cruelty, I see more than one random kindness being enacted—little things that people do every day. When a man beats his wife and children and everything in me wants to find him and provide an overdose of his own medicine, a look around shows me a hundred men who would die for their families, men who cherish their wives and love their children.
“It’s in the balance, Sis. You can’t dwell on the evil that men do. Think, instead, on the goodness within others.” He kissed the top of her head. “If you don’t, this world will make you crazy in a hurry. And you know why you can’t let that happen, right?”
She giggled. “You’d be the one in a padded room. And how would I live with myself?” Sobering, she gave him a tight squeeze. “Thank you, Kai. I’m glad you’re along for the ride this time. I’m not sure I can handle this one.”
“You can do it, Sis. I manaoio iloko o oukou.” He whispered the Hawaiian words and then repeated them a little louder, in English. “I believe in you.”
Winter smiled. “That means the world to me. What would I do without you, brother mine?”
“Hmm…I really don’t know.” He laughed when she punched his arm. “Thing is, if I have anything to say about it, you’ll never have to find out.”
Winter nodded. “I’ll always be there for you too, Kai, as long as I have a choice. Always.”
“Good.” Kai jumped up and headed for the kitchen. “Popcorn time. This place is too beautiful and…I don’t know…holy, or something, for that kind of ugliness. I’ll man the microwave while you choose a movie.”
“OK.” She sat cross-legged in front of the entertainment center, where a more-than-decent selection of DVDs were lined up in their cases.
Kai found the popcorn and pulled butter from the refrigerator. “Hey, Sis?”
“Hmm?”
“Make it a comedy, OK?”
Winter nodded, in complete agreement. If laughter really was the best medicine, then she needed a double dose. Besides, she refused to allow the perfect day she’d spent with Brady to end in tears. She pulled out a movie guaranteed to sweeten even the sourest expression.
Comedy, do your thing!
In his church office the next morning, Brady squirmed in his chair, just as he’d been doing for the past hour. His Bible lay open on the desk, a notebook beside it—with not a singl
e word written on the blank page staring back at him. With a sigh, he braced his elbows on the desk and rested his head in his hands. He’d been trying to put together a sermon for Sunday’s service, but how could he come up with a soul-stirring message when Winter’s face refused to be ousted from his mind’s eye?
Her smile. The touch of her fingers. Her sweet, contagious laughter. The smooth, glowing skin that couldn’t possibly be as soft as it looked…could it? But it was. His fingertips still burned from their brief journey over the curve of her cheek. He longed to let them trace the line of her full lips. When she smiled, those lips seemed to invite closer inspection—a gentle touch…perhaps even a kiss.
Groaning, he closed his eyes and turned to the Problem Solver.
“God, if You have something you want me to deliver with any kind of lucidity and clarity on Sunday, You’ll have to either slap it upside this cloudy head of mine, or take away my crazy attraction to this woman. I could love her so easily, Lord…but I can’t. She doesn’t know You. Besides, Kalani—I mean, Winter’s got big plans and dreams. She wants fame, wealth, and all that comes with those things. I just want what I’ve got right here in Cambria, shepherding this little portion of Your flock. Surely, even You can’t see a way to blend two such diverse life plans into one.”
He chuckled in the midst of his prayer and lifted his face and his eyes toward the heavens. “I’m sorry, Father. I know You can do anything. You can make a way where there is no way. You are the Way. So Lord, just lead me. Don’t let me take a step in the wrong direction. And above all, keep me from doing or saying anything that would turn Kalani Wonder away from You forever. I’d love to introduce her to You, if that’s in Your plan. For the moment, though, I just need mental clarity, Father, so You can speak Your message into my heart. Let me hear Your voice and feel Your touch so I can follow the Leader. Amen.”
He sat back for a moment and then picked up his pen and started writing the thoughts that finally flowed through his mind. As he reached for His Bible, he grinned and gave a wry shake of his head. If he’d prayed first, as he usually did, his sermon would’ve been all set by now. But his mind had been crowded with one Hawaiian-born beauty.
Brady put a brake on that thought before it could take him down the same road again. For the next couple of hours, he put his heart and mind toward his message. He finished with a time of communion with the Father. At last, he felt refreshed in spirit and satisfied he’d done all he could toward preparing a message that would feed his congregation and keep them strengthened until the next week’s message. Only then did he tuck his notes into his Bible, lock the office, and make his way to Chrysalis.
As he had hoped, Winter was still there. She’d finished her cosmetics workshop, but all ten of the teen girls still sat around the conference table, staring into their mirrors, admiring their new necklaces, or complimenting each other on their “makeovers.”
Brady leaned against the doorframe. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen the girls so jazzed about anything, all at the same time, and all lighting up the room with big, wonderful smiles—the kind of smiles teenaged girls were supposed to wear. Happy smiles.
“Well, what do you think?” Winter wandered across the room to stand next to him. “Did I overdo it? I really worked on keeping their excitement from running away with them and, you know, I’m pretty sure they all liked the end result. I even brought Raine in and did a ‘how not to wear makeup’ on her, so the girls could see the difference in cosmetics done with grace and constraint, and those applied too lavishly, just for effect.” She giggled—a sweet, innocent gurgle of pure pleasure that gripped Brady’s heart like a vise. “I think we convinced them that more is not always necessarily better.”
“Well, if this didn’t convince them, nothing would.”
Brady turned at the sound of Raine’s droll comment. He felt his eyes widen, even as he swallowed hard. He tried to hold it back, but laughter burst from his lips despite his best effort.
Raine lifted over-darkened eyebrows, fluttered false eyelashes, puckered bright red lips…and then sashayed away. “I’m thinking of keeping the new look, so don’t hurt yourself laughing, Pastor.”
Which only made him laugh harder. When he could speak and be understood, he turned to Winter. “I hope you got pictures of all this.”
“Thanks to Miss Angie, yes. She stopped by this morning for the sole purpose of delivering her camera, which she insisted I bring with me, since mine is somewhere between here and wherever that silly plane decided to give up the ghost. Raine got some great shots of the girls and me having fun with makeup, and individual pictures of each of the girls before and after their makeovers. And yes, I managed to sneak in a couple photos of Raine’s new look, as well.”
“Good. I can’t wait to see Dec’s face when he gets a look at them.” He hiked an eyebrow at Winter. “Sounds like the class was a success. And you, Miss News Lady…you’re glowing.”
“I’m in awe, Brady. Working with these girls, seeing them smile—I mean, real smiles that lit up their faces and made their eyes sparkle—it’s been an amazing experience.”
She paused, but Brady said nothing, somehow sensing that she wasn’t finished, but searching for words.
After a moment, she shook her head. “I’ve done a lot of things I thought would make me happy, and yeah, I’ve had good times here and there. A few of those experiences made me smile for a minute or two, some for a day, or a week, or even a month. But none of them gave me this kind of deep satisfaction. I can’t imagine ever looking back on today and not getting this same feeling all over again.”
Brady took her hand, gave it a squeeze, and then made himself release it. “I’m glad, Winter. You put a lot of time and effort into this, and since we can’t give you any monetary payback, I’m glad you’re taking away something.”
“Are you kidding?” She shook her head and placed a hand on his arm. Her gray-green gaze met his, and he had no trouble figuring out that she wasn’t kidding. “I wouldn’t trade this time with the Chrysalis girls for any amount of money.”
“I get it.” He mustered a smile, even as her touch burned into his arm. “I do, Winter. I’ve found that the biggest blessing from an act of kindness most often falls on the person doling out the good deed.”
She blinked. “I, uhm—I’ve never thought of it like that, but it was certainly true today.”
“It’s always true, Winter. The Bible even says so.”
A hint of pink washed her cheeks, and she lowered her gaze. “I’m afraid I’m not too familiar with the Bible.”
Brady pretended not to notice her moment of discomfort…or embarrassment, whatever it was that made her go all shy and flushed. “Well, I’m referring to a single scripture in Acts, where the Apostle Paul quoted Jesus as saying, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
She lifted one shoulder and looked away, tiny teeth nibbling at a full bottom lip. When she returned her gaze to Brady’s, he saw apology in her eyes. “I’m a little embarrassed that I’m so ignorant of the Bible.”
“No need to feel bad, Winter, or to be embarrassed. The Bible isn’t going anywhere. If you want to become familiar with it, you can do that. Any time.”
She nodded. “Perhaps I will, angel man.”
“Oh, please.” Now Brady felt heat in his own cheeks. “I am not an angel.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” With an impish grin, she started back across the room to help the girls return the room to order. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re guilty until proven innocent.”
He watched her interact with the teens for a moment, and then went in search of Raine. She was helping the boys put a puzzle together—and still wearing the mask of makeup that made her look vaguely clownish.
One of the boys spotted Brady looking on, and Raine followed the kid’s gaze. “Wanna play?”
“Not this time.” He squeezed the shoulder of the young man directly in front of him but directed his comment to Raine. “You planning to kee
p that face long?”
Amidst the guffaws and snorts from the boys, Raine kept her cool. She shot one dark eyebrow high. “I might.”
“Lord, deliver me,” Brady muttered—plenty loud enough to be heard.
This time Raine laughed when the kids did. “I promise not to wear it tomorrow. I can’t say I like it much better than you do. But I thought if the girls had to look at it for the rest of the day, they’d genuinely appreciate Winter’s other style of makeup application.”
“Huh.” Brady shook his head. “Only a woman would think that way.”
“True. We’re pretty smart like that.”
Again, the boys found the conversation far funnier than it was.
Brady grinned and shook his head. Then he caught Raine’s eye and jerked his head toward the other end of the room. She gave a subtle nod, and he trekked back across the long common room to wait for her.
She joined him almost immediately. “What’s up?”
“You and Dec have plans tonight?”
“Uhm…I don’t think so. I’d have to ask Dec. Why?”
“I, uhm…” Brady suddenly realized he had no idea how to go about this. “Probably nothing. Never mind.” He whirled, ready to hotfoot it back to his office, but Raine caught his arm and swung him around to face her again.
“You didn’t really think I’d let you by with that, did you?” She gave him “the look,” the one all the teens knew better than to argue with. “What’s going on, Brady?”
“I just thought, you know, maybe you and he could…oh, it was probably a bad idea. Really. Don’t worry about it.”
“Brady Merckle.” Her eyes sparkled, deep gray beneath her black hair. “Did you need us to go with you when you take Winter out tonight?”
His shoulders sagged. “Something like that, yeah. Am I that obvious?”
“Well, you weren’t until you went all school boy on me.” Raine reached up to pat his shoulder. “Of course we’ll join you. Shall we meet you here, or did you plan to pick us up in the woods?”
