Reuniting His Family

by Jean C. Gordon

  Rhys raised his head. Neal and Renee weren’t in the front of the courtroom any longer. He looked around. Nor were they anywhere else in the room. What had he expected? They’d done what good Christians do. They’d helped prevent a wrong. While he wished Renee had stayed, and longed for the opportunity to pursue the closeness they’d shared Saturday night, he couldn’t expect any more from her. He’d always have the cloud of his past hovering above him. Like his sons, Renee deserved better.

  The judge entered and called the court into session. “Mr. Conrad and Mr. Blake, approach the bench.”

  Rhys’s attorney and the assistant district attorney walked up front and talked with the judge, then returned to their seats. He couldn’t read either of the men’s expressions.

  The judge spoke. “This is the matter of Rhys Maddox, who is here to be arraigned today on grand larceny charges. Do the People want to say anything at this time?”

  “Yes, your honor,” ADA Blake said. “Due to new information regarding this case, the People withdraw the charges at this time.”

  “Mr. Conrad, do you have any objections?” the judge asked.

  “No, Your Honor.”

  “In the case of the People versus Rhys Maddox, the request to dismiss the charges is granted.” The judge looked at Rhys. “Mr. Maddox, you are free to go.”

  Rhys nodded his thanks, taking his first real deep breath since the deputy had placed the cuffs on him.

  The deputy removed the handcuffs and Pastor Connor slapped him on the back. “The power of prayer.”

  “On that note, I can’t thank you and Natalie enough for your prayers.”

  “I have a confession to make,” Pastor Connor said. “I asked a select group of the church prayer chain to join Natalie and me. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “I wouldn’t have minded if you’d told the whole congregation, even those few who think Paradox Lake would be a better place without the likes of me.” And he wouldn’t have. There would always be people who would find him lacking because of his past. But through Christ, he felt secure for the first time in his life.

  His chest tightened. If only he had Renee. No, he wouldn’t go where he had no place being.

  * * *

  “Too bad they removed the cuffs,” Renee said as Rhys and Pastor cleared the front door of the county building several minutes later.

  Rhys stiffened.

  Why had she said the first thing that had popped into her head when she saw him exit the building without the cuffs? Impulse had never served her well before.

  “It makes it easier for me to kidnap you.” She tried to lighten the tension between them.

  Rhys rubbed his forehead, his expression distant.

  Lord, stop me now before I make it worse.

  “I’ll catch you two later,” Pastor Connor said, making a fast getaway to his car.

  “So you want to kidnap me?” The smile that tugged at the corners of Rhys’s mouth shot right through her.

  “At least until Owen and Dylan get out of school. I know a park in Schroon Lake where we can sit by a waterfall and talk.”

  “I seem to recall that we did that before, and it worked out.”

  On the drive to the park, Renee directed the conversation to Owen and Dylan, and Rhys didn’t voice any objections. He lapped up the details of their past two and a half days like a man hitting an oasis after hiking a desert without water.

  Renee parked on the side street next to the park. They got out of the car and Rhys touched her arm. “I got so busy talking about Owen and Dylan that I never thanked you for what you and Neal did.”

  “We did what any good friend would do for someone they care about.” Renee grabbed his hand and laced her fingers through his.

  “You, Connor, Neal. I’ve never had so many people who cared,” Rhys said.

  Renee led him to the chain-link fence along the drop-off to the small waterfall. The light spray cooled her face that was quickly heating. Might as well lay it all out.

  “I more than care. I think—no, I know. I love you.”

  Rhys grabbed the fence hard enough to make it and Renee’s nerves rattle. “You do?” he asked. “Even with my record and everything that’s happened the past week?”

  “I love you. I know actions help define a man. The things you’ve done in the past, good and bad, have made you the man you are today—a good, strong, caring person of faith. A man any woman would be proud to love.”

  “I never... I didn’t... I...”

  Rhys stumbled for words and Renee’s heart plummeted faster than the water rushing over the rocks of the waterfall.

  He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you, too. Although I don’t deserve it, I’m going to accept your love as the most precious gift anyone could give me and my sons, and I’ll do my best to return it double.”

  Her lips trembled. “Once over is enough. I can be the baby brat my brothers and sisters say I am.”

  Rhys’s chuckle reverberated through her.

  She turned her head and lifted her face, giving in to the impulse to seal their love and their future with a kiss.

  Epilogue

  He’d had a lot of bad ideas in his life, but this one might be the worst. Rhys paced the Sunday school room and glanced at the Bridges kids and smattering of parents gathered there for the group’s Christmas party at their last meeting before the holiday break from school. He rubbed the back of his neck. His intention was good, but he’d woken up this morning with the dread that his timing was all off.

  Unbeknownst to Renee, he and Karen Hill had contacted all of the parents last week to invite them to the party to thank Renee for her hard work. They’d asked them to try to arrive with the kids ten minutes early, so everything would be in place when Renee got there.

  She’d been in Atlanta for training this week, which had given him and some of the kids and parents the opportunity to decorate the room last evening, including the “chair of honor” Emma had dubbed the “princess chair.” Emma and her mother had decorated the chair with an overabundance of artificial flowers and holly that Karen had found in the church storage closet.

  He surveyed the room and counted the people. There were so many. He wasn’t a people person. What had gotten into him? Rhys paced to the windows overlooking the parking lot.

  “If the church has to replace the tiles on this floor because you’ve worn them down to nothing, I might have to hit you up for a special donation.”

  Rhys spun around. “Pastor Connor.” His friend was the only person in the room besides Owen and Dylan who knew the additional honor he planned to bestow on Renee, although the honor would be more his.

  He’d talked with Pastor Connor before he’d set anything up or even talked with Owen and Dylan. Connor had prayed with him on it, and Rhys had left Connor’s office full of hope and excitement, without any doubts or the slightest twinge that what he planned was insane. But while he had no doubts, he had a lot of reservations that the venue was wrong, too public.

  Pastor Connor joined him at the windows. “A little nervous?”

  “More than when I was waiting to be cleared of the robberies. Even more than waiting to hear on final custody of Owen and Dylan. Weren’t you nervous?”

  “Scared witless,” Connor answered. “But I knew where to draw strength from, and you do, too.”

  “But what if she...?”

  “Then there’s a reason for it.”

  Rhys’s nerves stopped sparking. He’d have to have faith. Trust the Lord with his future.

  “Isn’t that Renee’s car?” Pastor Connor pointed out the window.

  He swallowed. “It is.” Rhys faced the room. “Miss Renee’s here. Everyone get ready.”

  Melody and her grandmother were downstairs
, poised to appear to have just arrived and would walk Renee to the room.

  The children and parents, except Rhys and Owen and Dylan, took seats at the two tables set up for the party.

  A few moments later Melody, her grandmother and Renee appeared in the doorway.

  “Surprise!” everyone said.

  A smile lit Renee’s face and Rhys’s heart as she took in the decorations and refreshments.

  Rhys and his boys took over from Melody and her grandmother and led her to her seat. “As thanks for everything you’ve done for all of us...” Rhys motioned around the room. “We have a special seat of honor for you.”

  Emma jumped up from her seat. “Mommy and I decorated your chair for the party. Isn’t it beautiful?”

  “It’s lovely. But doesn’t Mr. Rhys have a chair of honor, too?” Renee asked.

  It was one more thing he loved about Renee—the way she always thought about and tried to include others.

  “I wanted to make him one,” Emma said. “But we ran out of flowers. Mr. Rhys said that was okay because the party’s for you. But we all get to eat the Christmas cookies and have punch.”

  Renee settled in the chair, brushing the point of one of the holly leaves off her neck and drawing his attention to her delicate features. She was as beautiful outside as she was inside.

  He cleared his throat. “Owen, Dylan and I have the honor of presenting you with this custom-made thank-you card.”

  Owen drew the oversize card from behind his back and handed it to Renee.

  “As you can see, it’s signed by all of us.”

  “Even me, Miss Renee,” Melody said, loud enough to carry across the room. “I can write my name now.”

  Renee’s eyes went soft with unshed tears. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you all so much. It’s beautiful. But enough about me. I thought we were having a party.”

  “Yes!” the kids shouted.

  “Not yet,” Dylan said. “Daddy has more. Don’t you, Daddy?” Dylan hopped from foot to foot.

  “I don’t know if I can take more,” Renee said with a laugh.

  I hope so. There was no turning back now. All his earlier self-doubts returned. Rhys glanced from Owen to Dylan as he fumbled in his pocket. As they’d practiced, they all went down on one knee.

  Heart banging against his rib cage, Rhys looked up into Renee’s eyes. “I love you. Will you marry me?”

  “Marry us?” Owen and Dylan echoed.

  “Oh.” Renee placed her hand over her heart.

  His heart stopped beating, and he almost dropped the ring box he held open toward her. How did he ever think a public proposal was a good idea?

  Renee stood and opened her arms wide. “Of course I’ll marry you,” she said loudly and clearly, for the whole room to hear.

  Everyone cheered as she hugged Dylan and Owen and held out her left hand for Rhys to slip on the ring.

  “It’s perfect.” Her voice caught. “I love you.”

  He brushed his lips to hers in the briefest of kisses and whispered against them, “We’ll finish this later.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.” Her eyes sparkled. “Now, who wants to party?”

  * * * * *

  Don’t miss these other books from

  Jean C. Gordon set in the town of Paradox Lake:

  SMALL-TOWN SWEETHEARTS

  SMALL-TOWN DAD

  SMALL-TOWN MOM

  SMALL-TOWN MIDWIFE

  WINNING THE TEACHER’S HEART

  HOLIDAY HOMECOMING

  THE BACHELOR’S SWEETHEART

  All available now from Love Inspired!

  Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com

  Keep reading for an excerpt from TEXAS DADDY by Jolene Navarro.

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  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for choosing to read Reuniting His Family. I hope you enjoyed Rhys and Renee’s story and, if you’ve read my other Love Inspired books, returning to Paradox Lake and catching up with other residents.

  We’re all shaped by our pasts. In Renee’s case, it’s having grown up the youngest in her large, loving, extended family, and her experience doing mission work in Haiti. For Rhys, it’s having been shuffled from foster family to foster family and his brushes with the law. Too often, we let preconceived notions generated by our pasts hinder the happiness our Lord wants for us. But, as Renee and Rhys show, with His help we can move beyond those notions.

  To keep in touch with me, please sign up for my author newsletter at JeanCGordon.com. And feel free to email me at JeanCGordon@gmail.com or snail mail me at PO Box 113, Selkirk, NY 12158. You can also visit me at Facebook.com/JeanCGordon.author or Tweet me @JeanCGordon.

  Blessings,

  Jean C. Gordon

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  Texas Daddy

  by Jolene Navarro

  Chapter One

  The rain dripped off the edge of his Stetson as Adrian De La Cruz surveyed the overgrown terrain for stray cattle. The mare moved forward with sure steady steps, her ears twisting back and forth letting him know she was on the lookout also. He enjoyed riding in a light drizzle. An angry bolt of lightning struck at the hills.

  Well, the weather report had got it wrong. The problem? He was too far in the old Cortez place to make it back to the Childress’s barns.

  Thunder rolled through the valley. Lying low over Zeta’s neck, he pushed her into a full run on the weed-covered road. His eyes stung as the wind bit into exposed skin. A series of lightning strikes hopped across the clouds, joined by a chorus of rumbles.

  Adrenaline flooded his body. Over ten years ago he would have sat up and laughed at the sky, consumed by a need to test his limits.

  He couldn’t afford such recklessness. His daughter needed him to come home in one piece, especially now. He closed his eyes just long enough to clear the image of her boot trapped in the stirrup. He hadn’t been fast enough to stop the damage to her leg.

  Mud flew as the powerful strides of his mare ate the earth. Moments like this, he missed the rush of excitement as he sat on two thousand pounds of unpredictable bull and waited for the gate to be pulled.

  Thunder rattled the Texas Hill Country and a flash of blinding light revealed the old cabin on the left side of the abandoned country path. In one motion, Zeta slid to a stop and he dismounted. The shed attached to the rustic cabin looked leak-free, the dirt floor dry. The discarded crates and boxes were o
ld but in good shape.

  Loosening Zeta’s girth, he laughed as she shook like a dog. She tossed her head in a way to let him know she wasn’t happy and scowled at him for being irresponsible.

  “I know.” He patted her neck. “We’ll hang here until the storm passes. Shouldn’t be long.” He pulled his phone out, only to find it had died. He’d forgotten to charge it again.

  School would be out soon. He removed his hat and shook off the rain. Ugh. It didn’t look like he would get back in time to pick Mia up. At least his brother, George, would get his daughter if he was a no-show. The rain hit the old metal roof hard.

  Maybe there was a landline inside the cabin. Dashing to the covered porch, he caught sight of an odd figure coming toward the cabin from the opposite side of the ravine.

  He stepped closer to the edge of the steps. Someone in a fluorescent green jacket was trying to walk across the field. They carried a bike, each step lumbering and uneven. His eyes narrowed trying to make out if the mud-covered body belonged to a man or woman.

  Probably some crazy adventure-seeking city slicker lost. They seemed to think fences were for jumping. They had to be trespassing.

  It wasn’t an easy ranch to get to, and Bergmann had locked it down after his wife had been killed in an accident on this very road.

  Pulling his hat low, he charged into the rain to help. Halfway out, he knew without a doubt it was a woman. One mystery solved. When he got closer, the problem became clear. The chains of the bike were tangled with a large metal knee brace she wore on her right leg. The brace covered less of her leg than his daughter’s, but it had the same knee hinge. One of her hands held the mangled bike while the other wrapped around her middle in an awkward way. Each step looked like a struggle.

  Thunder warned of the next flash of light. He went to her left side to help her move faster. At first she shoved him back with her shoulder, or tried to at least.