Always Tried and Proven (42 page)

     “I think … oh, boy.  I
know
that I was head over heels in love with you.  Sam, I just remembered sitting by a river and looking up and seeing you standing there, watching me with such a look in your eyes.”

      Sam smiled and bowed his head.  “Yeah.  I remember that, too.”

      “Sam, you said I work for you.  What in the world do I do?”

     He laughed.  “You, Sean, Dalton and Jeremy play some incredible music every night.  What else would I hire you to do?” he asked teasingly.  “But that’s not exactly true.  You’re not an employee.  You’re a volunteer, and you work very hard.”

      She shook her head, thoroughly confused.  “How do we live, then?”

      He shrugged.  “We do all right.  Now, listen, you need to settle your brain and get some rest.”

     “No, Sam.  Wait a minute.  Just what business are you in?” she insisted.

    A young man came to the door of Callie’s room, just then.  “Reverend Stringer?” he asked with a shaky voice.

      “Yes.” Sam answered immediately.

     “My father is in a room just down the hall.  They don’t think he’s going to live through the night.  I’m sorry to impose on you, but I don’t have no one to call.  Do you think you could come see to him?”

     “I’d be honored.”  Sam assured him.  He looked at Callie and grinned.  “I’ll be back.”

     She watched him stand, and kiss her cheek; watched with open mouth as he walked out the door. 

     “A preacher?  I’m madly in love with a blooming
preacher
?” she gasped.

    “You sure are, darling.”  Sadie confirmed from the doorway.  “Madly, totally, head over heels, out of your mind, in love.”

    “Oh, God.  The
tent
.”  Callie gasped suddenly.  “The revival.  Sam!” She groaned.

      Sadie looked at the ceiling, tears in her eyes.  “I can’t say that I am at all sorry to hear you say those words.”  She admitted, laughing and trying not to cry.

       “Oh, my God!  I accepted Jesus, I came back to the tent; I
did
want to marry Sam.  I came to join the tent, just praying that he’d forgive me, and give me another chance.  I even swore to you I’d that leave for good, if he wouldn’t.  Oh, my God!  And today, I basically told him to forget marriage, and I cussed like a sailor.  Oh, Sam.  What he must think of me now!”

     “Now,” Sadie soothed, “don’t you worry.  Sam was shocked and upset, but he understands.  He’s going to ride out this storm with you, darling.  He’s no limp dishrag, you know.  Now, you just let him know you’ve remembered everything, and do your best to get him to kiss you, and who knows what will happen before the day’s over?”

      Callie laughed through tears and shook her head.  “Sadie, you’re incorrigible.  I would have lost Sam for sure, long ago if not for you.”

     “Naw.”  Sadie denied with a cheeky grin.  “Love covers a multitude of sins.  Sam’s been waiting a long time for you to come along and grab him by the heart.  He wants you.  You just hang in there, and you’ll win the prize.”

     Sam rejoined them, and gave them a grim smile.  “Well, the boy was right.  He’s not going to last much longer.  Sadie, will you go down and sit with him?  I think he’s going to go, at any time.  I’d like to hang out for awhile for the boy’s sake, if you don’t mind.

     “Sure, Sam.”  Sadie agreed immediately.

     “Thanks.  He’s in 306.” He informed her.

    Sam sat in the chair, and smiled tiredly at Callie.  “You need some rest, Cal.  We’ll come back tomorrow.”

     “You know what, Sam?  I remember.”  She said, with a trembling voice.

     “You remember what, honey?”

    “You.  The tent.  Jesus.  I think I remember just about everything.  Hearing that guy call you reverend shook my brain up, and dropped all the memories into place again.  Sam, I said some
awful
things to you this morning.”

     “It doesn’t matter, Cal.  I know you didn’t realize.”

    “Sam; it does matter.  Please, just accept my apology and know that I was recalling a moment in the past when I said those things.”

      Sam closed his eyes, and sighed.  “Okay.”  He agreed, knowing she needed to know.  “Callie, I understand.”

      “Please, forgive me, for everything.”

     Those words hit Sam hard.  He felt his heart constrict.  He looked at the floor.

“Callie, of course I forgive you.” He answered in a low voice.

     “Thank you, Sam.”  She said brokenly.  “You don’t have to love me, or want to marry me, or anything.  But please, try to forgive me.”

     “Callie,” he objected.  It hurt just to hear her say these things.  He wasn’t ready to think about them.  “Callie.  Listen, I’ve got to get back to that man.  Honey, you get some rest and I’ll see you tomorrow.  All right?”

      “All right.”  She agreed meekly.

     Sam met her eyes briefly, and squeezed her hand.  She reached up with eyes that cut to the quick, asking for a hug.  Sam steeled himself and took a deep breath.  Then he put an arm around her, and hugged her head against his shoulder gently.

      She turned her face up to his, and put an arm around his neck.  She found his mouth and kissed him softly.  “This morning you kissed me.  I want more.”  She whispered with longing.  She kissed him again, and was pleased that his shock gave her more room to convince him.  She took all she could get, and was pleased that he didn’t pull away.  Her hands stroked his hair, his neck.

     Sam was in agony.  He was too raw to deal with any more, in one day.  She was shredding his defenses, tearing open his heart’s wounds.  Yet, he couldn’t deny her.  To do so would upset her terribly, and he honestly couldn’t resist the feel of her lips hungrily seeking his, the touch of her soft fingers in his hair.

     “Now, you come back tomorrow to see me, Sam.”  She teased softly.  “I won’t last the day without it.  It’s high time you made hospital rounds, anyway.”  She chided.

     He chuckled.  “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”  He promised in a husky voice.  “Now, I really have to go.  That man is dying.  I’ll stop by and see if you’re still awake before we leave, if I can.  All right?”

     “I’d like that very much.”  She agreed.

    He pulled out of her arms, unable to tear his eyes away from hers.  There was such hope, and longing in the depths of her soft eyes.  Her long lashes were wet with tears.  Sam couldn’t bear it.  He smiled at her, and leaned down to give her one more, little kiss. 

     “Bye.” he whispered.

     “Bye.”  She answered, and watched him walk out.

     The man in 306 was almost gone.  He managed to rally one more time while Sam was there, and Sam talked with him briefly.  He told the son that he believed his father was saved, and at peace during that time.  Then he led the son to the Lord.  The father died a short time later.

     The son, named Lloyd Atkinson, asked Sam if he would do the graveside words.  The boy had no family, no money.  He had come from Georgia to see his father because he’d been told he was ill. 

      The boy had no job, and was destitute.  He’d been living in a charitable home for the past few weeks.   Sam agreed to go to the burial and help him, and got the son in touch with some local churches for immediate aid, for himself.  He told him how to get to the tent, if he needed Sam.

     When they were done, Sadie asked after Callie.  “She’s all right.” He assured her.  “I told her we’d check on her before we left.”

     They did, and found that she was asleep.  They slipped out again, and headed for home.

      “So, how was your visit with Callie?  As rough as you feared?”  she asked lightly.

       “No.  It went very well, actually.”

      “Sam; talk to me.  You know that she remembers everything, right?  Doesn’t that make you simply ecstatic?”

       “I need to call Rose again before it gets too late.”  He evaded worriedly.

      “You men are no fun at all.  You aren’t going to tell me nothin’, are you?”

      “That’s exactly right.”  He agreed evenly.  He wouldn’t even look at her.

     Sadie rolled her eyes and watched him dial his cell phone.  He was being extremely aggravating, but she bit her tongue.  She figured that when she told him a little bit more about Callie’s past, he’d split wide open.

     Sam was a bit nervous that Sadie was so quiet, actually.  She stopped badgering him, and was quiet until they got on the turnpike. 

       “So, Sam.  Are you ready to listen?”

       “To what?”  he drawled apprehensively.

      “To the reason Callie was so hard to get hold of, why she was afraid of you and didn’t want anything to do with Jesus?”

       “You know?” he couldn’t help asking.

      “Of course, I know.”  She boasted.  “I do have my ways of finding out what I need to know.”

       “All right, let’s hear it.”  He agreed tiredly.

      “Do you recall a word of knowledge that you received about a young woman one night at the tent?  A young woman who was twenty-three years old, had long dark hair, had a father named Willy, and a lover named Dexter who had hurt her very badly?”

     “I do.” He agreed shortly.  No one needed to remind him that Callie was the girl, either.  “Except I missed it with her mother.  Her name is not Suzette, it’s Rose.”

      “Actually, Suzette is Rose’s first name.  She’s never used it, though.”

      “Why didn’t you tell me
then,
that it was Callie?”  Sam demanded.

     “I didn’t know. She never talked about her father, I had no idea of his name; I didn’t recognize the name Suzette, and I never knew anyone named Dexter.  Anyway, I found out tonight what that was all about, from Dalton.”

     It didn’t take long before Sadie could feel Sam reacting to the information she was giving him.  He was incredulous.  He pulled off the road, and slid down in the seat so that his neck was against the headrest, and closed his eyes.  He was so heartsick.  Waves of pain kept slamming into his heart as he listened, and realized just what Callie had gone through.

    “You felt such a burden for her that last night, when you discovered her identity, Sam.  It was because of the depth of her wounding.  It really shook Callie up, too, if you remember.  I thought she was upset the night before when she left, but she wouldn’t admit a thing.  Poor doll.”

     “Sadie.”  He interrupted. “I’d like to know more.  Will you see if you can find out from Dalton who her doctors were, which police were involved?  I don’t want to bother Rose about it, for obvious reasons.  I’d like to understand a lot more without Callie having to tell me.  Will you help?”

     “Sure.  But Sam, Dalton may be suspicious.  He’s still a bit protective of Callie, you know.”

     “Yeah.  Well, send him to me, if he is.  I’ll talk to him, myself.  In fact, I’d welcome talking to him about it, if he’s willing.  I don’t plan to do anything with the information except understand, and pray.”

       “I’ll ask him, Sam.”  She promised.

       “Thanks.” He said quietly.

      “Sam, she’s going to be all right now.  It’s all coming out in the wash.  She’s facing it.  She’ll get over it.”

      “I know.” He agreed tiredly.  “I’m just concerned for her.  Sadie, she is a very young, pretty unstable Christian.  I worry that she is going to suffer, being thrust into the level of pressure and battle that we take in stride.  Dear God, I don’t want her to be destroyed because of me!  She’s got a great deal to manage, just getting her life straightened around, and dealing with this awful thing with her father, and this man she was involved with.  She’s clearly pushed it all deep inside, and I am yanking it right back to the surface.”

     “Well, Sam.  She’s tougher than she looks, and she’s a fighter.  Don’t worry too much.  Just concentrate on loving her, and she’ll be fine.”

      Sam sighed.  “Sadie, one thing at a time.”  He objected.

     “No, Sam.  You both need a lot more love in your life.  Don’t hide anymore.  You went after Callie with a vengeance.  You wanted her, and it was clear that you intended to have her.  Well, doggone it!  She had a good reason to run, and she is facing that squarely now.  You love her, Sam, and you’d better let her know it.  She needs you desperately now.  By God, if you don’t come through for that girl, her soul will be on your conscience!  She’s come through hell to lay herself at your feet and beg you to forgive her, and give her another chance.”

     Sam stared at Sadie with mild irritation.  “Bold, aren’t you?”  he snapped.

   “Yep.”  She agreed forcefully.  “I have to be.  And so do you.”  She added sweetly.

     Sam made a sound of pure exasperation, and pulled the car back onto the road.

    Clyde was waiting outside the car door when they parked at the tent.  “Samuel!  How is she?”

       “Well, Clyde.  She’s darn near perfect now.”  Sam grinned.  “Got a rock hard head, and a constitution to match.”

       “When is she coming home?”