Family (40 page)

when she saw a For Sale sign. She followed it to another and another, which led her to a house that took her breath away.

It was a rustic cabin-style structure, with porches and decks, all made from oversized logs. The place was big enough to be a lodge, and maybe it was. It was situated in the middle of a giant field of overgrown grass and weeds on a bluff overlooking the most beautiful part of the lake. Katy parked and got out of her car. The building looked empty, and as she walked closer she could see the structure better.

Someone had let the old place fall apart. The decks and railings sagged, and in some places they were broken in half. Two of the windows were cracked, and an old screen door hung from one hinge. The exterior of the house needed painting, and the roof looked damaged in some spots. Katy had a way of looking at things not as they were but as they might be. That’s exactly what she did as she stared at the old house.

She jogged over to the For Sale sign and pulled a flyer from the box.

Six-bedroom, jour-bath lodge-style home in as-is condition, it read. The price was in the seven figures, but the property alone had to be worth that. She looked around the field. The house sat on at least ten private acres, bordered by huge maple trees on two sides and a worn-out, split-rail fence near the road.

Nothing blocked the view on the lakeside.

Suddenly Katy had to see it. Since the house appeared abandoned, it couldn’t matter if she took a peek at the backyard. She hurried toward the edge of the bluff and angled in closer to the house. The backyard was a mess also-a broken hammock, an overturned wheelbarrow, a rusty swing set, old dilapidated furniture scattered about. Beyond that was a damaged staircase down to a private dock.

Again she felt her heart soar. She could picture the house cleared out and cleaned up, with new decking and windows. She could almost hear the voices and laughter from family and friends who would come here one day for a barbecue or a 342

birthday party, almost see Dayne and her, side by side sharing their hearts, mesmerized by the view. She turned and studied the abandoned house. Why would someone let it fall apart this way?

Then suddenly Katy remembered. Yes, this was it. There had been an article about the old place in the paper last Sunday. It had belonged to one of the most established families in Bloomington, the offspring of whom had moved to other states. The house had been built by the family’s elderly grandparents, and though they had been in separate nursing homes for the past five years, the kids and grandkids hadn’t wanted to sell the house.

But six months ago the aging grandmother died, and last month her husband followed. Their deaths made the house part of an inheritance. The kids had taken a vote and decided that no one in the family was able to restore the structure.

Better to sell it and split the proceeds.

Katy folded the flyer and headed back to her car. She could hardly wait to talk to Dayne.

Now she had to focus on the meeting at hand, get the work done first so she and Ashley could talk. All her life, Katy had wanted a sister, someone to share her heart with, someone who would have another viewpoint of family matters and relationships. She had Rhonda and Jenny, but a sister would be more than a confidante and a friend. A sister was family.

She leaned back in the driver’s seat as she made her way to Ashley’s house, and as she darted up the sidewalk to the Blakes’ front door, she thanked God. This was just one more way He had blessed her through Dayne’s love. Ashley was already a friend.

One day very soon she would be a sister.

Having lunch with Randi Wells was a mistake.

They had a two-hour break between scenes today, and Randi was having more trouble with her husband.

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“Give me an hour, Dayne.” She used her famous whirry voice, her head tilted.

“You always have the best advice.”

He hesitated. He could study their next scene in his trailer, call Katy, even take a nap. Anything but give the paparazzi a reason to think something was happening between Randi and him.

But before he could say anything, Randi grabbed his sleeve. “I know what you’re thinking.” She looked over her shoulder at the cameramen waiting just outside the cordoned-off area. “Don’t worry; they think we’re fighting.” She rolled her eyes. “Trust me, Dayne.”

The reasons for resisting fell away. She was right. The press thought they were fighting. Why not share a public lunch, let the cameras catch them laughing and talking like old friends?

Pictures like that would be good for the film, and besides, being > off the set for an hour would feel good.

Randi dangled her keys. “I’ll drive.” She had a convertible BMW, and the weather was perfect for a drive with the top down.

Dayne lowered his brow. “Lunch and back, that’s it?”

“One quick stop by my house.” She grinned at him. “Don’t worry, Dayne. I don’t bite.”

“Yeah, but-” he pulled out his keys and dangled them near hers-“I need to stop by my house too.” He nodded toward the parking lot and set out. “Follow me.”

At one point on the way to the restaurant, Dayne checked his rearview mirror and counted a parade of eighteen paparazzi cars trailing them.

The parade stopped at Bella’s, a cafe on Pacific Coast Highway. Management in the restaurant wouldn’t let the cameramen inside, but Dayne and Randi made it easy on them. Some press would, of course, be good for the film. They sat outside and ate grilled chicken salad and drank green tea.

An hour later, the photographers swarmed in the parking lot. Dayne gave Randi a brief hug in plain view of the cameras; then he climbed into his Escalade while she climbed into her

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convertible. Randi didn’t live far from him, so they headed out of the parking lot in the same direction. But this time Dayne followed her.

They were three miles north when three of the photographers’ cars sped by him and tried to squeeze in on either side of Randi. Dayne understood what they were doing. Randi was blonde and pretty, with her BMW top down and her designer sunglasses, a shot of her driving along PCH was bound to bring in good money.

Still, the move was dangerous, and he watched her react to the nearness of them.

At first she jerked her car to the right and then to the left. He could see her grab the wheel with both hands, trying to maintain control.

Alarm coursed through Dayne’s body. God … if she swerves … help her, God. Please!

He sped up, trying to intimidate the paparazzi, but still they hounded her. And now, in the flash of an instant, another photographer zipped around him and into the lane of oncoming traffic. Only this time a sports car was coming straight for him. The photographer snuck back into traffic at the last second but not before the sports car swerved hard to his right.

At the same time, a delivery truck in that lane jerked out of the way, lost control, and shot across both lanes and straight for…

Dayne had no time to think, no time to realize that the craziness playing out before his eyes might somehow come flying at him, no time to brake or turn the wheel. The truck was heading toward him like a runaway train, and in an instant he realized that this was how it happened. Every day, in every city in the country someone stumbled into a moment like this, and that was all there was.

The way life suddenly ended.

A hundred questions screamed at him. What about the wedding? What about the plans he had for later today and tomorrow and that coming Thanksgiving?

In the final split second before the impact, Dayne had just 345

enough time to grieve everything he was maybe about to lose. But only one face filled his heart and mind as the truck slammed into his SUV, as glass exploded and the sound of twisting metal filled his ears. And then, as something sharp and burning tore through his, body, as everything was going black, the saddest thing of all. The fact that he might never see that face again this side of heaven.

The face of his forever love Katy Hart.

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347 The Best-Selling REDEMPTION SERIES

by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley

Novelist Karen Kingsbury and relationship expert Gary Smalley team up to bring you the Redemption series, which explores the relationship principles Gary has been teaching for more than thirty years and applies them to one family in particular, the Baxters. In the crucible of their tragedies and triumphs, the Baxter family learns about commitment, forgiveness, faith, and the redeeming hand of God.

a story of love at all costs

a journey from tragedy to healing

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a story of tenacious love and longing for a lost son REJOICE

a story of unspeakable loss and the overwhelming miracle of new life REUNION

a story of God’s grace and redemption, His victory even in the most difficult times

348 The Best-Selling

by Karen Kingsbury

Catch up with your favorite Baxter characters from the best-selling Redemption series. Dayne Matthews is an A-list Hollywood actor with a bright future. But his heart is pulling him toward a woman and a family who have no idea how their lives are tied to his. Katy Hart, the director of Christian Kids Theater, finally feels content and at home in Bloomington, Indiana. But that changes when she meets Dayne Matthews and he promises a future she left in her past.

Meanwhile, John Baxter struggles to fulfill a promise he made to his dying wife-a promise to reconnect the entire family, including the one child they never spoke of.

3ame

A story of hope, healing, and God’s divine leading-even in the face of impossible circumstances

A story of God’s divine leading and the realization that peace comes only after forgiveness

A story of God’s divine leading

and the truth that God rewards those

who seek Him with all their heart

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A story of the search for renewed hope and the desperate need to be loved and to belong

A story about surviving tough

times and drawing strength and

hope from family and deep faith

(coming spring2007)’../”%-. ..,’Ś

349 Other LifeChanging Fiction by

To see what readers are saying about go to www.KarenKingsbury.com and Karen Kingsbury’s fiction, click the guest-book link.

Redemption Remember Return Rejoice Reunion FIRSTBORN SERIES

Fame

Forgiven

Found

Family

Forever (spring 2007)

SEPTEMBER 11 SERIES

One Tuesday Morning Beyond Tuesday Morning RED GLOVE SERIES

Gideon’s Gift Maggie’s Miracle

Sarah’s Song Hannah’s Hope

350 FOREVER FAITHFUL SERIES

Waiting for Morning

A Moment of Weakness

Halfway to Forever

A Time to Dance A Time to Embrace

A Thousand Tomorrows

Oceans Apart

Where Yesterday Lives

When Joy Came to Stay

On Every Side

Even Now

Divine Like Dandelion Dust

CHILDREN’S TITLE

Let Me Hold You Longer

A Treasury of Christmas Miracles A Treasury of Miracles for Women A Treasury of Miracles for Teens A Treasury of Miracles for Friends A Treasury of Adoption Miracles

Stay Close Little Girl Be Safe Little Boy

www.KarenKingsbury.com

351 ary Madison was a child of unspeakable horrors, a young woman society wanted to forget. Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring lifechanging hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation’s capital.

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359 KAREN KINGSBURY is currently Americas best-selling inspirational author. She has written more than 30 LifeChanging Fiction titles and has nearly 4 million books in print. Dubbed by Ti/iu1 magazine as the Queen of Christian Fiction, Karen receives hundreds ol letters weekly and considers her readers as liiends.

Her fiction has made her one ol the countiVs lavoiiie storytellers. One of her novels-Gideon’s Gift-is under production for an upcoming major motion picture release. Her emotionally gripping titles include the popular Redemption series, the Firstborn series. D/\//ie, One Tuesday Morninp,, Beyond Tuesday Morning.

Oceans \jkoI. and A 77k>usciiu/ lomouows. Karen and her husband. Don, live in the Pacific Northwest and are parents lo one girl and five boys, including three adopted from Haiti. You can find out more about Karen, her books, and her appearance schedule at www.KarenKingsbury.com.