Coming Home: (Contemporary Christian Romance Boxed Set): Three Stories of Love, Faith, Struggle & Hope

by Debra Ullrick

  “Of course.” While Audra worked on the tiny pearl buttons at the back, Olivia admired the breathtaking dress in the mirror. Her gown was nearly an exact replica of the one in her dream, but even better. She smiled. Again with the déjà vu. Only this time it was a fabulous déjà vu. Clear beaded crystals swept from her bodice past her waist, showing off her slim figure. The strapless dress sported a dropped waistline with a full, tulle ball skirt. Silk and white rose lace covered her bosom.

  “There. All done.” Audra took hold of her hand and spun her.

  “Oh, Livvy.” Audra squealed. “You look just like Cinderella.”

  She couldn’t keep her mouth from turning upward and her white teeth from showing. “I feel like Cinderella”

  Her friend grabbed her and hugged her. “I’m so happy for you. It’s about time.” She pulled away and looked Olivia straight in the eye. “I told you Jesus loved you.”

  “That you did.” She nodded. “That you did. And to think I used to hate it. Well, not anymore. I love hearing it.”

  “I’m so glad. I was so worried about you.”

  “I know. Thanks for not bailing on me when things got tough and for sticking with me through it all, Audra.”

  “Hey, what are friends for?” Audra winked at Olivia. “Now it’s my turn to have you help me.” Audra walked over to the closet in Olivia’s room and pulled out her maid of honor gown. “Hmm, I wonder why you chose blue instead of purple.” She winked.

  After her friend dressed, Olivia stood back, admiring her and the beautiful gown. The strapless chiffon gown, with a dropped waistline like her wedding dress, had a pale shade of blue around the bodice, and a web of medium blue beads that hugged Audra’s waist and part of her hip. The pale blue skirt flowed to the floor.

  “Okay, zip me up.” Audra backed up to Olivia.

  A knock sounded on the door. “It’s time, Olivia.” Camara’s voice came through loud and clear.

  “Be there in a second.”

  Olivia snatched the headpiece Mrs. Cole had dropped off. The ring of greenery, mingled with white baby roses and tiny white lights shaped like a tiara, reminded her of a crown a princess would wear. “Battery operated lights are amazing, aren’t they?”

  Her friend smiled. “They sure are.”

  She turned for one last glance in the mirror, and her breath caught. Her long hair was pulled back on the sides. One curled strand dangled loosely in front of each ear. The rest flowed down her back, making her look and feel like a modern day Cinderella. And today she was marrying her very own Prince Charming.

  Quickly, both she and Audra slid their feet into their silk flat shoes, picked up their flower bouquets, and headed toward the door.

  “Wait! Stop!” Audra commanded.

  Olivia froze. “What?”

  Audra grabbed a tissue and held out her hand. “Give me the gum.”

  Olivia laughed and let the chewed up wad fall into the tissue.

  “Oh, before I forget...” Audra snatched up her purse and pulled something out of it. “Erik told me to give you this.” She placed the shiny new penny in Olivia’s hand. “And he said to tell you that this penny isn’t for your thoughts. It’s to put in your shoe because your luck is about to change.”

  Touched beyond measure, Olivia sweetly tsked. “Ah-h. That’s so-o sweet. I could just cry.”

  “Not now.” Audra sounded horrified. “You’ll ruin your makeup.”

  Olivia released a nervous chuckle. She shook her head and smiled at her friend, who knew just what to say and when. “I love you, Audie.” She could now say those words without fear. “C’mon.” Olivia looped her arm through Audra’s. “Let’s go. I have a wedding to get to.”

  ♥♥♥♥

  While waiting for his bride, Erik tugged at his tailed tuxedo. Today, he was marrying the woman of his dreams. The day his mother had bought the gown, she’d told him that Olivia looked like Cinderella in it. At that moment, Erik decided he would give her a true fairytale wedding. He couldn’t wait to see Olivia’s face when she saw the setting that he, Aunt Adell, and his mother had come up with. It blessed him that Olivia trusted him so completely with the details.

  On this warm June evening, under God’s canopy of stars, they would be married at precisely 9:00 PM. Erik wanted it to be midnight, but his mother talked him out of it saying, no one would come. He relented. With the help of some men from church, they had built an oblong platform, with three steps leading up to it. The passageway onto it resembled a castle. Only it was just a front. He’d gotten the idea from a renaissance fair he’d gone to one time during a family vacation in Colorado. It served him well now.

  At the bottom of each step, on the side was a tall, specially ordered courting candle, identical to the one he’d given to Olivia. A tall, lit candle with a white ribbon flowed down the length of it. The platform had lattice sides, three feet from the floor with a flat rail on top. Each had hundreds of white lights, greenery and white roses. Seven spindly, lit courting candles were spaced evenly on the flat rail.

  The spindle poles and lattice roof of the structure were covered with greenery, white roses, and tiny white lights.

  White lattice walls encased the perimeter of their wedding site. The walls matched the stage walls with greenery, lights, and roses. Placed on the neatly mowed grass, were rows and rows of white wooden backed chairs with crushed navy blue velvet seats, filled to capacity with wedding guests.

  And now, any moment his bride would enter under a white lattice archway mingled with greenery, light blue and dark blue lights, and make her way up to him on the wooden floor covered with light and dark blue glass tiles. At that moment, it would all be perfect.

  Erik’s insides shook when his dad signaled from the back that his bride was on her way.

  ♥♥♥♥

  “Lands o’ Goshen!” Olivia blurted when she stepped outside her cottage and saw Adell, Camara, and Mrs. Cole sitting on one side of an open, horse-drawn carriage. Tears stung the back of her eyes, but she refused to cry. She didn’t want red, puffy eyes for her wedding.

  “Come on, Livvy!” Audra called as she bounced to the carriage.

  A coachman helped Audra up and then Olivia.

  “Erik asked me to tie this around your eyes. He didn’t want you to see the surprise until you get there.” Camara handed the long silk strip to Audra.

  She wrapped it around Olivia’s head, covering her eyes, and then helped her friend sit down on the velvet seat.

  Then with one quick lurch, they were off. The sound of horse’s hooves clicking on the pavement ticked away the minutes until they stopped.

  The carriage shifted. Olivia waited while the others got out.

  “Your turn now, Miss.”

  She reached for his hand, and the coachman helped her down and guided her about ten steps before stopping.

  “Okay, you can remove your blindfold now,” Camara said.

  Olivia untied the silk. When it fell away, her mouth opened and her eyes widened. This time she was truly speechless. And this time she couldn’t stop the tears.

  With her wedding party surrounding her, she stared at the breathtaking sight. This surpassed all of her wildest dreams.

  Her eyes locked on Erik standing solidly at the end of that aisle, and love, unlike any she’d known before, surged through her. The question on his face melted her heart. How could he even wonder if she liked it? She loved it! Olivia sent him her brightest smile ever and nodded.

  Pure pleasure lit up his face and her heart even more than all the thousands of tiny lights around her could. Her groom was as handsome, if not handsomer, than any prince, in any movie, she’d ever seen. And to think she thought fairytales couldn’t come true. Well, hers was about to.

  Then beyond the thousands of lights, she saw it. She shook her head and laughed. Behind the renaissance platform, looking totally out of place stood the Mad Masher. Leave it to Erik. It was so him. She looked back at him, and his grin said it all.

  If it was
n’t for that monster truck they might have never met. Well, that and the Lord. God had definitely turned what the devil had meant for her destruction into something good. Something very, very good.

  After Mrs. Cole was seated, Adell walked down the walkway and stood on the bottom step opposite of Erik’s brother Tony.

  Next was Camara, who stood on the second step from the bottom, opposite of Chase.

  Then Audra, who stood on the first step, opposite of Erik’s brother, Slick.

  The tiered wedding party was in place. Now it was her turn.

  A violin player, a guitarist, and a flute player joined together in perfect harmony. Sweet music floated over her already heightened senses. She looped her arm through Audra’s dad’s arm.

  “I’m so happy for you, Olivia,” Mr. Darron said, looking down at her with a smile, and somehow, she felt as if her parents were right there with her as well.

  Too touched with emotion to speak, she nodded.

  With each slow step she took forward, she fought the urge to pick up her skirt and run toward Erik. After all the heartache she’d endured in her lifetime, she didn’t want to waste even one more moment of precious time.

  At the bottom of the stairs, Erik stepped forward, his love-filled eyes never leaving hers. When Mr. Darron gave her away, Erik extended his hand toward her, and she laid her hand in his. Her groom looped her arm through his, and together they walked up the steps.

  Facing the love of her life, she said her vows. And when they got to the part of till death do you part, no fear accompanied those words. She was married to the man of her dreams. The man who promised to love her and to cherish her forever. Her very own Prince Charming. God had indeed taken what was meant for evil and had turned it into something good. Only good didn’t begin to describe what was happening to her.

  “You may now kiss the bride.”

  And he did.

  With their lips and hearts joined, Olivia’s soul rejoiced. Déjà vu had never felt so good.

  But as for you, you meant evil against me,

  but God meant it for good.

  —Genesis 50:20a

  Now Available from Debra Ullrick

  Catch Me If You Can

  Book 3, The Racing Series

  by Debra Ullrick

  Chapter One

  Playing chicken with other vehicles sure didn’t top Audra Darron’s list of things to do before she went on to meet her maker.

  Charity, West Virginia’s hot July sun bore down on her back. Her clothes clung to her body, not from humidity and heat but from a bad case of the nerves. Inside the dirt racetrack at Cole Speedway, she glanced around at the various different shapes, sizes, makes, and models of the demolition derby cars. Obviously, quite a few other women were crazy enough to do this demolition derby competition thing too.

  She cut a glance to her right and shook her head at her best friend Olivia Cole. “How did I ever let you talk me into this, Liv?”

  “Ah, c’mon. It’ll be fun.” Olivia winked and tossed her caramel-colored braid over her shoulder.

  “What happened to the gal who once feared adventure? Huh?” Audra asked, tilting her head and hiking an eyebrow at Olivia. There was a time before Olivia met her husband that adventure was something she had grown to greatly fear.

  Olivia looked over toward the bleachers. There on the very top row stood her husband Erik, leaning against the rail with his heel hooked over the bottom rung. Livvy waved at him, and he blew her a kiss. “Need I say more?” Olivia smiled, her face glowed like a ray of sunshine.

  “Drivers, get ready.” The announcer’s voice boomed over the loud speaker.

  Do I have to? Audra’s stomach dropped with the question only her mind heard.

  “You can’t chicken out now.”

  Oh yeah, just watch me, she wanted to say. But instead, against her better judgment, she forced one foot in front of the other and bent her knees, ready to sprint to the souped-up, silver ‘57 Chevy with the ginormous 777 painted in black on both doors.

  If only her legs would cooperate and stop shaking, but that wasn’t likely to happen any time soon.

  “On the count of three, dash to your cars,” the announcer continued, “put your safety gear on, and buckle up. When you’ve finished, raise your flag, and do not, I repeat, do not start your engines until the flagger gives you the green flag.”

  So, this was it.

  There was no backing out now.

  Sweat beads dotted the top of her nose, something that usually happened when she got nervous or scared. Right now, she was both. “C’mon now,” she whispered to herself. “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. So, this is just one more fear for ya to overcome. So buck up, girl.”

  “You talking to yourself again?” Livvy shoulder bumped her.

  “If you must know, I’m quoting scripture to myself. I need all the courage I can get before I do this crazy thing.” She wanted to shoulder bump Olivia back, but her feet wouldn’t budge and felt cemented into the dirt.

  “Ready,” the announcer drew out the word.

  Uh, no, not really. So feel free to take your time, Mister Announcer person. Please.

  “One…”

  “Lord, how’d I let Olivia talk me into this? Is it really necessary that I face this particular fear? I mean really, it’s not like I need it to live or anything,” she mumbled. Okay, grumbled but only she and the Lord heard it.

  “Two…”

  Of all the things she’d confronted before, this one had to be the craziest of them all.

  Well, that is, if she didn’t count the time she had climbed the side of a steep cliff that left her dangling in the air hundreds of feet above the rocky ground.

  Or the time she jumped from an airplane with only a parachute between her and the earth’s floor.

  Or the time she’d ridden a bucking bull. Okay, a small steer, but it was still of the male cow species, and muscle-bound bulls were something she was deathly afraid of.

  Right now, even all of those things sounded better to her than crashing into someone else’s car on purpose and having them do the same to you. Just thinking about it, her focus darted toward the exit. Maybe, just maybe, she could make a mad dash for the gate before the competition started. Surely, this one time of not facing a fear head-on would be okay.

  Head-on?

  Yikes!

  Why did she have to use that particular term at this precise moment? I can’t do this, Lord. I’ll try it another time, okay? Okay? Are ya listening?

  “Three!”

  Guess not.

  Audra’s take off was one even an Olympic sprinter would be proud of.

  Adrenaline pumped through her body as she pushed her short legs to run as fast as they could toward the driver’s side door of her car.

  It only took her a few seconds to reach her Chevy. She splayed her right hand across the top of the glassless window frame. “Ouch.” She yanked her hand off the scorching metal. “That puppy’s hotter than hades.” She tugged her leather gloves out of the back pocket of her slim-fit jeans and slid her hands into them.

  Once again, she held onto the top of the window frame and straddled her leg over the bottom part. Hot metal seared through her jeans. She resisted the urge to yelp out loud. Climbing inside the vehicle proved to be more difficult than she had anticipated, especially since the door was welded shut and the only way inside was through the open window.

  She glanced at the other cars to see if she was the only one struggling to get inside. Two other women must have had the same trouble she was having because they were still outside their vehicles as well. There was no way she wanted to be the last one inside, so she braced herself against the onslaught of pain and quickly dropped herself behind the steering wheel.

  She slipped the mouthpiece into her mouth, strapped her safety helmet with the protective eye gear on, and latched the safety harness just as Olivia and Erik had shown her.r />
  Now for the flag. With more bravery than she possessed, she lowered the red stick with the fluorescent orange flag. It said she was ready, her trembling body said otherwise.

  Riveting her eyes on the flagger, her pounding heartbeat echoed inside her helmet as she waited for the go ahead from him.

  The flagger waved the green flag.

  Time to race.

  With trembling hands, Audra turned the ignition key and the Chevy roared to life, crackling and purring, and sending goose bumps pebbling across her arms. She swiped the moisture away from the tip of her nose.

  She stomped the clutch to the floorboard, jammed the stick shift into first gear, and let out the clutch at the same time she pressed the gas pedal. Dirt clouds shot out behind her as she raced to the other side of the oval racetrack out of harm’s way from all the other competitors. Okay, so she was being a chicken. So, sue me, she thought, mashing the fear down and letting survival take over.

  Crunch!

  Bang!

  Her gaze darted wildly at the other cars ramming and banging each other. “This is insane!”

  A bright yellow station wagon with sinister eyes painted on the front of the hood turned and headed straight toward her.

  Audra’s eyes widened. She stared at the oncoming, hypnotic eyes, unable to tear her gaze away.

  A loud crash to her right and she blinked and shook her head. If she didn’t get out of the way, within seconds that thing would hit her head on. There was that word again.

  Audra threw the car in reverse and spun a loop, barely missing the head-on attack. “Whoa, that gal means business. Well, Miss Sassypants, two can play this game. You’re going be sorry you ever messed with me,” she yelled even though she knew the station wagon driver couldn’t hear her over the loud noise of the muffler-less cars.

  Audra rubbed her gloved hands together. “Now for a counter attack.” Seeing her opportunity, she spun back around, and the back of her Chevy rammed the front fender of that big ole yellow car nice and hard. “Hah, hah, take that!” Audra laughed, feeling rather smug and elated about her victory slam. Somehow, the fear had gotten lost in the exhilaration of the conquest. With that, she took off after her next victim. “This is so-o-o fun.”