by Delia Latham
Relenting, she nodded and gave her smile tentative permission to come out of hiding. “As a matter of fact, it does. I don’t how or why, but I have a loan! I can get my dating service going. Now.”
His dark brows rose. “No kidding! Then you’ve cleared the first crucial hurdle. Congratulations!”
“Thank you.” Destiny was unable to stop grinning, though it would have been nice if Clay hadn’t shown such obvious surprise at her success in obtaining financing. He clearly lacked confidence in her abilities.
“You’re going to be busy for awhile, aren’t you?” Clay propped an ankle on one knee and leaned forward. At least he seemed interested. “Will you open a physical office, or can you make love online?”
Destiny laughed. “Excuse me? What kind of business do you think I’m running?”
Confusion clouded his eyes for about ten seconds, then a wave of dull red washed over his face from neck to hairline. He groaned. “That didn’t come out right, I’m sorry. I meant, can you make two people love each other online?”
“I know what you meant.” She laughed softly, unwilling to prolong his embarrassment. “I can’t manufacture romance, we both know that. And I can’t force people to love each other, either. All I can do is bring together men and women who seem compatible and let God do the rest.”
He nodded, but she got the feeling he hadn’t a clue what she meant. She stifled a sigh and plowed ahead. “I plan to have a strong online presence, but of course I’m opening a physical office, as well. I want my customers to feel secure, and to know that I’m legitimate. I even have my eye on a location.” She bent to pick up her purse. “Which reminds me, I shouldn’t waste any time. I need to check into that right away.”
He stood with her. “OK, I won’t keep you. Are you going to give me that phone number this time, or do you really not want me to call?”
Laughing, she fumbled an ink pen from a pocket in her purse. She dove deeper in search of a notebook, but a large hand closed around hers, stilling her groping fingers. When she looked up, he opened it to reveal his palm.
“Just write it here, that way I won’t lose it before I get back to my office.”
“Are you kidding? I haven’t written on anyone’s hand since high school.”
“Nope.” He gave her a playful wink. “If it helps, you can pretend I’m your high school sweetheart.”
She bent to scribble her number on his skin, despising the warmth that infused her cheeks as she held his hand. Finished, she took a step back and slipped the pen into her purse. “If you don’t call this time, I’ll know you didn’t want to. I really have to run, but I’m glad you came by. It was nice seeing you again.”
“You, too. Bye, Destiny.”
She walked away, a warm, quivery sensation tickling her spine. And what was up with the ridiculous smile she could feel stretched clear across her face?
“Destiny?” She stopped when he called, and turned to see him standing right where she’d left him, staring after her.
“Yeah?”
“I will call.”
Destiny's Dream
5
She didn’t tell a soul how she came up with the name for her business. Since Destiny had no desire to be fitted for a straight, tight and less-than-fashionable jacket, she thought it best to keep some things to herself.
The truth was, she took the name from a vivid dream.
Verses from the Song of Solomon rattled around in her brain as she lay in bed one night, too excited to doze off. In the weeks prior to opening the agency, she thought of little else besides bringing to life the dream she’d held in her heart for so long. Mind churning away with ideas and plans, sleep had a hard time claiming her, but finally it did.
She found herself standing in front of a set of enormous golden gates, beautifully wrought with intricate scrollwork. Polished to a high sheen, they seemed to glow with a strange, unearthly light. She placed a hand across her forehead like a visor, shielding her eyes from the overwhelming glare without taking them off the shining portal. Finally able to focus, she gasped.
To one side of the imposing entry stood a man whose indescribable beauty hurt her eyes. She recognized the angel for what he was without hesitation. He towered over Destiny and the huge gates, massive wings folded behind him, white-gold hair blowing as if in a gentle breeze, though Destiny felt no movement of air. Now she saw that the blinding light emanated, not from the gate, but from this stunning creature.
“I am Solomon.” He spoke, and his voice echoed inside her head and in her heart. The deep rumble of it washed over her in warm waves, like the soothing rhythm of a tropic ocean on a sunny day. She trembled in awe. “Welcome to my gate.”
She eyed the magnificent entry, daunted by her inability to see through the open scrollwork. Only a murky darkness met her searching gaze.
Behind Solomon, the portals swung open and Destiny took a few tentative steps forward, somewhat fearful of approaching the beautiful being.
“Come inside, my fair one.” Smiling, he gestured her forward. “You have no cause to fear. I have been charged with your safety, and will allow no harm to befall you.”
She obeyed, stepping past the angel and into the space beyond. Solomon reached toward her with one hand, lightly passing his fingertips over her eyes. “Open your eyes. See what you will do.”
Her eyes had been closed? She blinked in surprise, lifted her gaze to the scene beyond the gate, and gasped in awe.
Couples. Hundreds of couples—thousands of them, strolled through a lush pasture growing alongside a clear, gently flowing brook. Some held hands. Others walked with their arms around each other. A few lounged on the green grass. All wore joyous smiles. An almost palpable atmosphere of love radiated from the crowd of paired men and women and washed over Destiny in an overwhelming wave. She raised tear-filled eyes to Solomon.
“Why couldn’t I see them from outside?”
The angel smiled. “The gate’s power is discernible only from inside. One must enter in order to see what they are meant to see.”
“What does it mean? These people…” She shook her head. “What do they have to do with me?”
He inclined his head. “You are the catalyst that will bring them together. Each of these men and women is one half of a perfect whole. You understand?” When she nodded, he continued. “Through you, they will find each other, and be complete.” His sudden glorious smile almost made her forget to breathe. “Some will come to you and find God, Destiny. You will show them His ways.”
She trembled, afraid of being entrusted with such a responsibility. “But I’m not a minister. I don’t know how.”
Solomon smiled as the gates behind them began to close. “Your heart will lead you, child. Just open the gate, and trust your Father to do the rest.”
“I will try.” Tears streamed down her face as her heavenly host backed away, his radiance growing dimmer with each step.
“Swing wide the gate.” His words echoed in her heart as he disappeared from her sight, and when she could no longer see him, she awakened. Moisture from recent tears cooled her cheeks, but she smiled into the deep darkness of pre-dawn.
She had a name for her business.
****
Dating agency claims residence at Moonlight and Romance
Castle Creek CA— Solomon’s Gate, the first dating agency in Castle Creek’s 107-year history, will open its impressive oak doors to seekers of true love at 10 a.m. Monday. At the corner of Moonlight Avenue and Romance Lane, one might wonder if the location for this surprising agency had not been deliberately chosen.
According to Destiny May, owner and founder of the business, the answer is “yes and no.”
“I first noticed this building while Solomon’s Gate was still in the very early, pre-planning stages,” she says. “The beautiful oak entry caught my attention before I even realized the place was empty…and available, according to a For Lease sign in the window. Before I ever arranged to see inside, I knew in my he
art that it would be home to my dating agency, which by the way, didn’t even have a name at the time.”
The 31-year-old love mogul says she didn’t notice the coincidence right away, though she has lived in Castle Creek her entire life. “I guess when you’re so familiar with a place, you stop noticing things like street signs. I simply didn’t think about where I was as far as a postal address (777 Romance Lane) until later. When I did, the amazing coincidence just further cemented my feeling about the rightness of this location for Solomon’s Gate.”
The agency welcomes Christian singles upwards of 21 years old, though May warns the application process will be rigid. “Only a small percentage of applicants will be approved,” she says. “We’ve worked up a set of prerequisites that are written in stone. Seekers (the owner’s chosen descriptor for Solomon’s Gate members) will be required to pass a series of interviews, and submit to an in-depth background check and credit verification, just for starters.”
Each of those requirements is fairly standard, and should be expected at any legitimate dating service. But the requirement of being a believer-a Christian-is rarely found on the Terms of Agreement for a modern-day business.
“Solomon’s Gate is, first and foremost, a Christian agency,” May says, without hesitance or apology. “It is our belief that Christians should not be yoked together with unbelievers. The Bible specifically states as much. It just doesn’t work. So our goal is to bring our Seekers together with other believers who are looking for a lifetime relationship.”
Asked how she intends to perform such a feat, the owner smiles. “I don’t—not by myself. I’ll use a variety of means to find compatible partners for my Seekers, make introductions and nudge the couples toward each other. If it’s meant to be, God will do the rest.”
The attractive entrepreneur defines the word “believer” as one who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Bible His inspired Word. She makes no specification as to a required denomination or specific church attendance. “That’s up to the individual. It is not my place to dictate specifics.”
Asked how she will verify claims to Christianity, May replies matter-of-factly. “I can’t. Membership as stated on each Seeker’s application will be verified with that church’s staff, and character references will be obtained. Beyond that, one simply has to trust. Even the most sophisticated of computer software can’t read the heart of a human being.”
The agency will utilize the latest in matchmaking software, along with a couple of mysterious components the owner insists on keeping to herself. “I’m taking the 5th,” she says, with a smile. “A girl’s got to have some secrets.”
****
“Julie, did you lock the door?”
Her new assistant called out an affirmative reply, and Destiny dropped into the leather chair behind her desk. Her gaze fell on a brass plaque on the corner of the wide, mostly empty expanse. Etched into the metal in elegant script were the words, “I will seek him whom my soul loveth. Song of Solomon 3:2.” As usual, reading the verse brought on a smile broad enough to make her jaws ache. Could she have found a more perfect scripture to use as a company slogan?
Based on Biblical principles, with a motto derived from the Old Testament’s Song of Solomon, she saw Solomon’s Gate as a portal to romance. Through this medium, she would help Christian men and women find the one they would love forever. A quick glance around her modestly furnished office revealed a number of scriptures from the same book, all matted and framed with understated elegance. “Song of Solomon 2:2—As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” Another, which had almost achieved brass plaque status, was taken from chapter two, verse four: “His banner over me was love.”
She looked from frame to frame, reminding herself of her purpose here. “Song of Solomon 2:10—My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” And from chapter six, verse five: “Love is strong as death.” The last framed verse was one of her favorites from the Songs. “Song of Solomon 8:7—Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”
She was doing the right thing. She felt it in the deepest core of her being.
The wall behind her desk held the largest framed verse, and the only one not taken from Song of Solomon. Elegantly presented, tastefully matted, the piece of scripture art had been hand-written by a talented calligraphy specialist—one of her old friends, with whom she was beginning to touch base after her long societal hiatus. She swiveled her chair backward to read it. “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Psalm 91:11.”
Nothing to do with romance, but it would always be her favorite verse in the entire Bible. And come to think of it, it did have something to do with love—the love of her heavenly Father, who adored her enough to provide a whole gang of heavenly bodyguards. Oh, yes. Quite a lot to do with love.
Enough of that. She sucked in a deep, satisfied breath and turned her chair around to face her desk.
A handsome railroad clock on the opposite wall read five o’clock. Friday evening, the end of her first official business week. Between them, she and Julie had conducted twenty-six screening interviews and eighteen follow-up video sessions in their first five days. And that didn’t even include running all the extensive background checks and character references she insisted on before accepting a client. Her first week had been an undeniable success. Despite her near-giddy pleasure in that knowledge, Destiny couldn’t deny being glad to see the weekend. She needed to come up for air.
Even so, her plans for the evening weren’t quite as relaxing as munching on popcorn and losing herself in a good romance novel.
As if on cue, the phone on her desk rang, and the caller ID screen spelled out Clay Gallagher’s name. “I’ll get it, Julie.” She smiled as she picked up the receiver.
“Solomon’s Gate. Destiny speaking.”
“Hello, Destiny.” His deep voice sent little curlicues spiraling down her spine. She felt the heat of an embarrassed blush on her cheeks and mentally derided herself. Was there even one other woman in existence this day and age who blushed? In the next second, she defended her schoolgirl behavior. That voice was one thing this Gallagher guy definitely had going for him. What woman wouldn’t get a curlicue or two, hearing her name on his tongue?
“Hey, you still there?”
It really was time for a break. “I’m here. Sorry, just a little, uh, distracted. It’s been a crazy week.”
“Oh.” The tinge of uncertainty that crept into his voice added no detriment to its appeal. “Um…are we still on for tonight, then?”
She bit back a giggle. Someone had forgotten to tell Clay he wasn’t supposed to let her know it mattered. “Are you trying to back out on me, Gallagher? And here I was looking forward to our date, too.”
A burst of relieved laughter from the other end of the line. “Not as much as I am. I’ll pick you up about seven thirty, if that’s all right. Can’t wait to hear about your first week.”
“I’ll be ready.”
She placed the phone on its cradle, not even attempting to curb the smile that turned up the corners of her mouth.
“Happy happy, joy joy! Sure looks like love to me.”
The mocking voice startled her. She jerked her head up to see a petite, blue-eyed blonde lounging against the doorframe, her expression alight with curiosity. Destiny sprang up, cheeks ablaze, and tossed her long ponytail over her shoulder. She set about clearing off and locking her desk.
“Don’t be silly! Just a friend, Julie. Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Just a friend, huh?” Her assistant narrowed her eyes in blatant disbelief. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you’re a suspicious wench, that’s why. Now come on, let’s call it a day—I mean, a week. Are you as up for a break as I am? ‘Cause I am beyond ready.”
She was babbling, but was at a loss to prevent the ridiculous verbiage. Julie shot her a knowing glance
and whirled away. The girl’s soft giggle brought warmth to Destiny’s cheeks as the front door whooshed open. “See you Monday,” her assistant called out, and then a soft click announced the turning of her key in the outside lock.
****
Clay found it impossible not to stare.
Across the candlelit table, Destiny’s creamy skin had taken on an ethereal glow. Silky auburn locks rested atop her head in a mass of curls, a few strands escaping to hang in tempting little tendrils at her temples and down her neck. Her velvet gown retained a demure modesty while managing to somehow be insistently alluring.
“See something you like?” Her hand brushed over his, leaving behind an electric tingle. The impish grin on her face did nothing to detract from its loveliness.
Oh, well. She’s on to me now. Clay shook his head in resignation. At least he could stop worrying about making an utter fool of himself. “I can’t find anything not to like, Destiny.”
His honesty widened her eyes and brought unexpected color to her cheeks. He forced a light note into his voice. “Forgive my rude stares, lovely goddess…’tis but a mere mortal on which you cast such enchantment.”
For a moment, she seemed speechless. Those green eyes of hers grew round as silver dollars—well, quarters at the very least—and her mouth dropped open. He had to admit it somewhat lessened the previous vision of perfection she had presented. To top it off, the sweet little giggle that was her first response suddenly became an unladylike snort.
So much for that moment. He supposed his foot was firmly wedged in his mouth. But to his surprise, instead of his usual overwhelming embarrassment, he found himself laughing with her.
