Catching Moondrops

by Jennifer Erin Valent

  There’s not a soul in this world that could tell me there’s no such thing as miracles.

  Despite all the goodness that had flooded our town, August came in on a warm breeze, bringing uneasiness to my spirit. We hadn’t seen Luke since he left that day in July, and there was an empty spot in my heart getting bigger every day. He wrote me three times each week, telling me all sorts of things about his travels, but mostly saying how much he wished he could be back in Calloway. There was a change in the way he wrote to me now that he knew I shared his faith, now that there were no barriers between us, and I read those letters ten times over each day they came. Always there was a promise he’d be home soon, but as each day passed, I grew more restless.

  While I waited, I put a million more creases in the Bible Gemma gave me. Most days I found free time to wander off to the meadow in search of some quiet, and I’d settle down under Luke’s oak tree to find out more about what it was that made just believing in God so different from giving my life over to Him.

  Every night, Momma used the prayer book Gemma gave her, and she wrote the names of people in special need of prayer right along the margins.

  Malachi Jarvis’s name was on the upper right-hand corner on the first page.

  I didn’t have a book for writing down who I should pray for, but if I had, there would have been one name sitting right on the top of the first page.

  Delmar Custis.

  Who would have ever thought I’d do any praying for Delmar Custis except to ask the Lord to open the ground and swallow him up? But I did pray for him. Fervently. He’d been in the hospital ever since I’d watched him toted away that night, and though he was expected to live, it was already a certainty he would do so without the use of one leg. Ever since the day I’d come face-to-face with my hate, I’d tried what I could to make amends for it. Delmar wasn’t allowed regular visitors, so I couldn’t do much but send him things like flowers and food. I’d sent some notes to him, too, but I’d never heard a thing in reply. He’d lost half his leg to that bear trap, and even though Tal assured me he would have lost it even if he’d gotten help right off, I got worked up every time I thought about the horror of him waking up to find part of his body missing.

  Sometimes on my walks I would pass by his ramshackle house and stare at the rocking chair on the porch where he usually sat with his moonshine. In all the days that I’d known Delmar Custis and his filthy ways, I’d had bitterness in my heart for him, and I’d never passed by his home without thinking bad things.

  These days, though, even as lingering hostility bit at my thoughts, I managed to utter a prayer for him. And mean it.

  I was learning more about miracles every day.

  * * *

  It was the third Saturday in August when I couldn’t take the dreariness of waiting for Luke anymore and fled the house in search of something to ease the restiveness inside me. Evening was settling in, bringing a coolness that belied the heat of the day. The breeze swept across the grass, lifting my hair from my neck as I stared off into the clouds without a single thought in my head except Luke Talley, and the only place I could think of to find a piece of him was his house. I walked through the fields with the winds whispering through the leaves, the absent cicadas a jarring reminder that summer was on its last legs.

  When I reached his property, I saw the swing from my childhood twisting lightly in the breeze. I ran a hand along one of the ropes before sliding into the seat, digging the tips of my shoes into the dirt to set myself into a gentle glide. The past flooded back to me, reminders of childhood parties, laughter with loved ones, meeting my first—and only—love. In my head I could hear Gemma and me giggling when we were supposed to be going to sleep. I could smell Daddy’s pipe smoke and picture him pulling Momma into his lap to tease her about one thing or another.

  When God enters a heart, He opens the eyes. That’s one thing I’d learned right off. For the first time in my life, I was really seeing what I’d been given—all those blessings Momma had told me about but I’d never fully appreciated. And as I sat there in that swing, holding on to those memories just like I held on to the ropes, I breathed in the true goodness of all I’d had and hoped there was a lifetime of that type of goodness ahead so I could enjoy it all to the fullest.

  I’d strayed so far into the past that I didn’t hear Luke’s truck when it pulled up next to the house. I didn’t hear or see a thing until he leaned against the trunk of the oak tree and spoke my name.

  I jerked my head around to see him standing there, the moonlight casting golden flecks across his hair, and dug my feet into the ground, standing up slowly on legs that had gone rubbery at the sound of his voice. “What took you so long?” I whispered.

  He smiled and whipped me up in his arms just like I’d hoped he would at all his other homecomings. I clung to him until I felt we’d almost made up for lost time and then leaned back to look into his eyes. “I ain’t so fond of these trips of yours, you know.”

  “Neither am I.”

  “I’m gettin’ tired of seein’ you go.”

  “I’m gettin’ tired of leavin’.”

  “Well then—” I slid from his arms and faced him straight on—“you reckon on stayin’ put for a while?”

  “I do.”

  “Good.”

  He took a step away from the tree so that the moonlight glimmered off a shiny silver box he was trying to conceal in his hand.

  I could feel my face light up. “You brought me somethin’?”

  He tucked his hand behind his back. “It ain’t nothin’. Anyways, you’re too nosy for your own good, Jessilyn.”

  “Ain’t my fault you can’t hide nothin’.” I slid my hand around his arm and gave it a tug. “Come on, now, let me see.”

  “You got yourself a big head, thinkin’ everythin’ I ever buy’s got to be for you.” His tone was stern, but his eyes twinkled playfully. “Ain’t everythin’ always about you, Jessilyn.”

  “No, but this is.” I gave his arm another tug so that he had to step forward. “I ain’t never been any good at waitin’ and you know it. It ain’t right for you to tease me like this.”

  “You know, you’re a real piece of work. It’s been weeks since you seen me, and you can’t even take a second to say ‘How you been?’”

  I smiled at him. “How you been? Now can I have my gift?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think I need to be givin’ any gift to a girl as selfish as you.”

  He started to walk away, but I caught him from behind. “Luke, quit teasin’!” He held the box in front of him now, so I stood on tiptoe to peer over his shoulder, wrapping both my arms around his waist to give myself two chances at grabbing it.

  But before I could wrap my hands around it, he took hold of my left hand and slipped something onto my finger.

  I stood there motionless with my arms around him, afraid to take my hand away and find anything less than what I’d suddenly hoped would be there.

  But Luke didn’t wait. With my hand still in his, he turned to face me, cupping my cheek with his other hand. “Jessilyn Lassiter, you’re stubborn and impatient . . . and darned if I don’t love you with my whole life.”

  I looked from his face to my hand. The diamond that decorated my finger wasn’t large. It wasn’t cradled in a fancy setting or surrounded by precious stones. It was a simple, small diamond set in a gold band, but to me it should have been in a museum somewhere, on display for all the world to see. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever laid eyes on, and it didn’t take two shakes for my eyes to fill up with tears.

  Luke laid my hand on his chest, let his forehead settle against mine, and whispered, “Marry me.”

  I couldn’t say a thing. From the time I was thirteen, I’d dreamed about this moment—how it would happen, what I would say. But now that it had happened, I was speechless, a rarity for me anytime, much less at a time like this.

  Luke waited as long as he could stand before pulling his face away from mine.
“Jessilyn? You will marry me, won’t you?”

  The tears that had welled up slid down my cheeks, and it was like the release of them gave me back the use of my tongue. “Ain’t nobody in this world could stop me.”

  The look of relief on his face made me smile. I reached my jeweled left hand up, tracing a line from his temple to his mouth. When he kissed me, the whole world melted away. For just that moment it was only the two of us, our hearts beating as one just as I’d always known they should. I sank into the security of his embrace and tried to make my mind capture every touch, every feeling, every breath we shared.

  When he pulled away, I looked past his shoulder at the moon and held a hand up so it seemed to sit in my palm.

  Luke looked at me quizzically and then peered over his own shoulder. “What’d you find?”

  I closed my hand around the ball of light and smiled at him.

  “My moondrop.”

  Chapter 23

  Luke came across Malachi Jarvis one day as the summer neared its end. Just when we were thinking we’d never see him again, there he came out of nowhere, sitting at the side of the road, staring off into nothing. The way Luke tells it, Malachi was just a shell of his former self, all thin and worn-out so he looked ten years older than when he’d left. Luke didn’t get much out of him about where he’d been or how he was getting by. All Malachi would say was he didn’t know how to go home, how his momma could ever forgive him.

  I figured if he’d been at Cole Mundy’s funeral, he wouldn’t have wondered such things. I’ve read all about the Holy Spirit and what God can do inside of people, but from what I’ve seen, I reckon that some people let Him do His work better than others. Malachi’s momma was one of them. To hear the story told, when Luke got Malachi home, it was a sight right out of the Scriptures, the Prodigal Son being fed the fatted calf.

  Malachi came around every now and again, but he wasn’t the same anymore. Gemma used to fuss and bother over his smart mouth once upon a time, but I could see by her face she wished he’d up and do something annoying like he used to. She worried sick about him. I guess we all did. But I’ve learned from experience that worrying sick won’t make something better and that time does wonders at healing pain even if it doesn’t ever take it all away.

  The cool silence of autumn has a way of making summer seem like a distant remembrance, and as time marched on, my own painful memories quieted along with the crickets and cicadas. There was a normalcy that set in, a day-to-day roll call of everyday things that remind folks that life has a way of moving on to better places.

  And it did.

  It moved on to all sorts of good places that are tacked onto my memory so sharply, I can remember the dates and times.

  On the last day of September, Malachi Jarvis smiled for the first time since he found his brother hanging from a tree. Three days after that, I picked out the fabric for my wedding dress. And on the twentieth day of October, we found out Gemma was going to have a baby.

  Times were changing, all right, but times were good, and as the trees turned three shades of golden, I said good-bye to another tumultuous summer, as glad to see it go as I had been to see it come. With the passage of time comes understanding, and from my new way of thinking, I figured understanding could go a long way to making a heart feel at ease.

  Many days that autumn I walked past the dying oak tree where Noah Jarvis breathed his last, and as I stood there one day in the sunlight, I watched the last brown leaf flutter to my feet. I bent over to retrieve it, holding it up to the sun, twisting it between two fingers. Rays of light bent around it, making it out to be nothing more than a shadow.

  But my memory of a boy full of life and promise would never be lost in shadow. Nor would my memory of all that had brought us to where we were now, mixed up in a world where darkness and hardened hearts do their best to smudge out the light of God’s goodness. Because the memories of where we were remind us of how we got to where we are, and I had no intention of letting Noah Jarvis’s life go unnoticed or forgotten.

  Luke stood down the road waiting for me, allowing me a moment alone to say one final good-bye, and I opened my fingers to let that leaf drift to the dirt, the last vestige of a summer of terror and grief, of hate and forgiveness, of pain and healing.

  And of new beginnings.

  Discussion Questions

  1. In Catching Moondrops, racial prejudice again rears its ugly head in Calloway, and some members of the black community are increasingly unwilling to accept it. While Malachi Jarvis becomes defiant, Tal Pritchett favors a more peaceful resistance. Discuss the different approaches these men take to express their independence.

  2. The Ku Klux Klan reappears six years after they terrorized the Lassiter family. How does Jessilyn’s reaction differ from Gemma’s?

  3. When Gemma’s church is burned, she and Jessilyn have opposite reactions yet again. While Gemma’s main concern is the well-being of Tal and the others at the church, Jessilyn is consumed by a desire for revenge. What does this tell us about Gemma’s heart? about Jessilyn’s?

  4. Jessilyn isn’t the only one discovering love this time around. Tal Pritchett quickly turns Gemma’s heart inside out, and though Jessilyn initially encourages her best friend to pursue him, she suddenly becomes burdened by their relationship. What brings about the change of heart, and how does she move past it? Have you ever been in her shoes?

  5. For the first time in Jessilyn’s life, she’s turning to someone besides her father with her fears and worries: Luke. How has time and age begun to make Jessilyn turn to someone other than her father for security?

  6. Miss Cleta again defies tradition by receiving medical care from Tal Pritchett. Why is Gemma so concerned about her doing this, and what are the eventual repercussions of Miss Cleta’s decision?

  7. Like Miss Cleta’s choice to be treated by Tal, how does the trouble between Delmar and Malachi at the meeting place stir the pot of racial prejudice in Calloway?

  8. A horrifying experience haunts Jessilyn’s dreams and saps her strength. But only one perpetrator behind the despicable act demonstrates true shame. What do you think is the cause of such depravity? How are we all susceptible to evil infiltrating our hearts, and what can we do to keep that from happening?

  9. Jessilyn’s own heart is at risk when she allows bitterness and hate to fill it. What happens to make her see how lost she truly is? How does that moment change her life?

  10. When Jessilyn discovers the darkness of her soul, she reaches out to the God she’s heard about all her life but never truly felt the need for. What’s the difference between believing in God and inviting Him to be Lord of your life?

  11. Mrs. Jarvis’s appearance at Cole Mundy’s funeral is a stunning portrayal of forgiveness and grace. How does that moment affect those present and how do you think it turned the tide for race relations in Calloway?

  12. Jessilyn’s new life began the day she humbled herself before the God. What changes do we see in her as Catching Moondrops comes to a close? Have you experienced a similar moment in your life? And if so, how did that moment affect your future?