Finders Keepers (34 page)
“No more secrets,” Zachary said, stepping away from Elizabeth. “Of all the men I’ve ever met, there’s not one I’d rather claim as my father than you.”
“Yes?” The old man’s eyes glistened.
“Yes.” Zachary gathered Boompah into his arms and pulled him close. “With your permission, I plan to tell the whole world that I am the son of Jacob Jungemeyer.”
“Ach, God is too good to me,” Boompah mumbled as his gnarled hands slipped around the broad back of his son. “Even from my sin, he can bring a blessing.”
“And speaking of blessings,” Elizabeth said as she brushed at her damp cheek, “I’d better go get Nick.”
“Not so fast.” Zachary caught her hand. “Boompah, wait here. Elizabeth, come with me.”
“But I promised Luke—”
“This way,” he said, tugging her down the porch steps and across the lawn to the back of the old mansion. “I’ve got something for you, and at the rate things are going tonight, I might never get around to giving it to you.”
“Zachary, what’s going on?”
“You’ll see.” He led her up the steps. “Now sit down.”
“Are you bossing me around?”
“Yes.” He pressed her shoulder until she was forced to sit. “I had this made for you almost three weeks ago, and I’ve been more than a little irked that you went off to Florida without it.”
“Well, excuse me. It appears Boompah and Grace weren’t the only ones with a few secrets.”
“All right, close your eyes.”
Her heart hammering, Elizabeth shut her eyes and took a deep breath. What could this be? She could hear him huffing a little as the sound of scraping moved across the porch behind her.
“OK,” he said. “Open your eyes and turn around.”
As she swiveled on the porch step, Elizabeth saw that Zachary was supporting a large wooden sign complete with a pair of heavy brass chains. Coming to her feet, she moved to where she could see the inscription more clearly in the dim light.
“Finders Keepers,” she read aloud. “100 Walnut Street. Elizabeth Chalmers, Proprietress.”
For a moment she couldn’t speak. Again, she read the sign, this time in silence. Finally, she lifted her head.
“100 Walnut Street?” she whispered.
“Just the downstairs, though.” He was grinning that lopsided grin she had come to love so much. “That other sign will direct my clients upstairs.”
Her focus shifted to a smaller, neatly painted sign leaning against the balustrade. It read Zachary Chalmers, Architect.
“You mean you aren’t going to tear the house down?” Elizabeth asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“Nope. I’ve hired Luke Easton to restore the entire building. The house will look exactly like it did when it was originally built, but it will be structurally sound and have all the modern conveniences—plus updated heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical systems. So … what do you think?”
Elizabeth looked into his eyes. “But this sign says my name is … is … isn’t Hayes.”
“Well, that part is negotiable.”
“Negotiable?”
“If you put it in business terms.” He laughed. “Which it isn’t.”
“No?”
“Nope.” Dropping to one knee, he took her hand. “Miss Elizabeth Hayes, I profess to you my undying love. I promise faithfulness, honor, protection, and—” he paused—“I’m no good at doing things the old way, Elizabeth.”
Standing, he took her into his arms and kissed her lips with all the passion she felt in her own heart. “I love you, Elizabeth,” he murmured, his breath warm against her ear. “I love you, and I want you. That’s all I know. I want you past, present, and future. You certainly don’t need me, and the Lord knows I’m far from perfect. But if you can see beyond my bullheadedness and … and my occasional cockiness … and even that ugly church in Jefferson City … I want you to be my wife.”
“Oh, Zachary.” The tears of her pent-up loneliness finally pushed past the dam she had built, and Elizabeth wept on his shoulder. “Zachary, I gave you up. I surrendered us to God. I didn’t believe we could ever find a place of common ground, a place where we could touch each other. Somewhere between the past and the future—”
“And it was right here under our noses the whole time,” he said. “So what do you think about the new sign? And, uh, the new name?”
“Yes,” she said, her cheek pressed against his and her fingers threading through his hair. “Elizabeth Chalmers. I like that.”
“Finders Keepers,” he said. “I like that even better.”
Arm in arm, Elizabeth and Zachary climbed onto the porch behind the antiques shop. Seated together on the swing, Boompah and Nick were each enjoying a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. The boy glanced up and gave his mother a sly smile.
“Mommy, you were kissing Zachary,” he said. “Boompah came to Magunnery’s house to get me because he said you were busy. And when we got here to the porch, I saw that you were busy kissing.”
“Well, that’s rather nosy, Nick.” Elizabeth considered moving toward her son, but she decided she liked her current location better. “You’re not supposed to spy on people.”
“I’d say he’s observant,” Zachary countered. “And that is a very good thing.”
Nick giggled. “You look happy, Mommy.”
“I am happy.” She looked at the man she loved. “Zachary asked me to marry him.”
“Did you say yes?”
“I certainly did.”
“That’s what I told Magunnery!” Nick cried, nearly upsetting the ice-cream bowl. “I told her a long time ago that Zachary was going to be my dad. Remember, Mom? I put Zachary on the family tree for the father, and you for the mother, and Boompah was the grandfather, and Grace was the grandmother and—”
“Oh, Zachary!” Elizabeth gasped. “He did write all that down!”
“That’s my boy,” Zachary said with a laugh. “I wonder if he somehow knew.”
“He knows that God’s plans are greater than our own,” Boompah said. “And in Christ, we are all one family, no matter who is our father or mother.”
“That’s why Magunnery told me to write my family down in Grace’s old Bible with the other names on the list,” Nick said. The moment the words were out, he clapped his hand over his mouth. The ice-cream bowl tumbled off his lap, splattering green droplets across the porch.
“Nikolai Hayes,” Elizabeth said, finally stepping out of Zachary’s embrace. “Where did you write down your family tree?”
“On a paper,” Nick whispered, his green eyes growing round.
“You said you wrote it in Grace’s Bible. You said Montgomery told you to do it.”
Nick nodded.
“Is Grace’s Bible at the Eastons’ house?”
Nick nodded again.
“Young man, I want you to march right over there this minute and get that Bible. It belongs to Zachary.”
Nick gulped and slid down from the swing. “Mommy, I should never disobey you, but I can’t get the Bible. It doesn’t belong to Zachary or you anymore. It belongs to Magunnery.”
As Elizabeth’s ire rose, she felt Zachary slip a calming arm around her shoulders. “You gave your friend the Bible?” he asked. “How come?”
“Because she needed it. But it’s OK because I wrote down everybody from my family tree on the page with all the lines. I wrote down Elizabeth Hayes for my mother, and Zachary Chalmers for my father, and Boompah—”
“Nick, you shouldn’t have written in the Bible,” Elizabeth said.
“No, it’s all right.” Zachary took the child’s hand and pulled him close. “Boompah’s right. We’re all in the family of God, aren’t we, Nick? And I guess Montgomery needs that old Bible right now a lot more than we do.”
“Oh, yes,” Nick said. “She does. You see, she remembered that when I took the Bible to the park, it helped us find her father. So now that Bible is going to help Magunnery get a new mother.”
Elizabeth gazed into her son’s eyes as Zachary drew the three of them close. There had been so many surprises on this night of wonder that she would believe almost anything. Two sons on this porch had found fathers. Two fathers had welcomed sons. And a man and a woman had been blessed with love beyond imagining.
Perhaps an old Bible inscribed with the names of those whom God had chosen to form into a family could somehow bring a little girl a brand-new mother. And maybe, just maybe, it could lead a broken man into the arms of a forgiving grace and a healing love.
Dear Friends,
I write these words in my office—a turreted room inside a beautiful brick mansion much like Chalmers House. My windows look out on blossoming dogwoods and fragrant lilacs. Gentle breezes drift across the nearby Missouri River.
When I moved into this office three years ago, I decorated the limestone walls with sprays of ivy, lengths of crocheted lace, and photographs of my family and friends. This is my creative cocoon.
Last weekend I learned the building had been put up for sale, its future undecided. My first reaction, of course, was total panic! My second was to remember my favorite verse: Jeremiah 29:11. Like Elizabeth Hayes, I’ve learned that God knows the plans he has for me, plans for good and not for evil, to give me a future and a hope. Though it’s not always easy, I surrender my own will in the matter of my little office, my writing, my family, my future. And I lay all these things in the lap of Christ, my Savior.
My deepest thanks to those of you who faithfully read each of my books and to those who write to share such wonderful words of encouragement. I praise God that my stories touch your lives and help you grow in your faith walk.
Watch for my first hardcover novel, due out in the summer of 2000. The sequel to
Finders Keepers,
to be titled
Hide and Seek,
is due for release soon after that. Meanwhile, be sure to read my novellas in
With This Ring
and the Victorian Christmas series:
A Victorian Christmas Cottage, A Victorian Christmas Quilt,
and
A Victorian Christmas Tea.
We’re also planning a Prairie Christmas anthology for Christmas 2000, in which you’ll be able to get reacquainted with the characters from A Town Called Hope.
May God Bless you with peace of mind and heart, Catherine Palmer
Catherine Palmer lives in Missouri with her husband, Tim, and sons, Geoffrey and Andrei. She is a graduate of Southwest Baptist University and has a master’s degree in English from Baylor University. Her first book was published in 1988. Since then she has written thirty books and published more than twenty. Catherine has also won numerous awards for her writing, including Most Exotic Historical Romance Novel from
Romantic Times
magazine. Her novel
Prairie Fire
was a finalist for both the Holt Medallion Award and the
Romantic Times
Reviewer’s Choice Award. Total sales of her novels number close to one million copies.
In addition to
Finders Keepers,
her Tyndale House books include
Prairie Rose, Prairie Fire, Prairie Storm, The Treasure of Timbuktu, The Treasure of Zanzibar,
and novellas in the anthologies
A Victorian Christmas Tea, With This Ring, A Victorian Christmas Quilt,
and
A Victorian Christmas Cottage.
Catherine welcomes letters written to her in care of Tyndale House Author Relations, P.O. Box 80, Wheaton, IL 60189-0080.
Current HeartQuest Releases
- A Bouquet of Love,
Ginny Aiken, Ranee McCollum, Jeri Odell, and Debra White Smith - Dream Vacation,
Ginny Aiken, Jeri Odell, and Elizabeth White - Faith,
Lori Copeland - Finders Keepers,
Catherine Palmer - Freedom’s Hope,
Dianna Crawford - Freedom’s Promise,
Dianna Crawford - Glory,
Lori Copeland - Hope,
Lori Copeland - June,
Lori Copeland - A Kiss of Adventure
(original title:
The Treasure of Timbuktu
), Catherine Palmer - Prairie Rose,
Catherine Palmer - Prairie Fire,
Catherine Palmer - Prairie Storm,
Catherine Palmer - Reunited,
Judy Baer, Jeri Odell, Jan Duffy, and Peggy Stoks - A Touch of Betrayal,
Catherine Palmer - A Victorian Christmas Quilt,
Catherine Palmer, Debra White Smith, Ginny Aiken, and Peggy Stoks - A Victorian Christmas Tea,
Catherine Palmer, Dianna Crawford, Peggy Stoks, and Katherine Chute - A Whisper of Danger
(original title:
The Treasure of Zanzibar
), Catherine Palmer - With This Ring,
Lori Copeland, Dianna Crawford, Ginny Aiken, and Catherine Palmer
Other Great Tyndale House Fiction
- As Sure As the Dawn,
Francine Rivers - The Atonement Child,
Francine Rivers - The Captive Voice,
B. J. Hoff - Cloth of Heaven,
B. J. Hoff - Dark River Legacy,
B. J. Hoff - An Echo in the Darkness,
Francine Rivers - The Embers of Hope,
Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford - The Fires of Freedom,
Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford - The Gathering Dawn,
Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford - Home Fires Burning,
Penelope J. Stokes - Jewels for a Crown,
Lawana Blackwell - Journey to the Crimson Sea,
Jim and Terri Kraus - The Last Sin Eater,
Francine Rivers - Leota’s Garden,
Francine Rivers - Like a River Glorious,
Lawana Blackwell - Measures of Grace,
Lawana Blackwell - Passages of Gold,
Jim and Terri Kraus - Pirates of the Heart,
Jim and Terri Kraus - Remembering You,
Penelope J. Stokes - Song of a Soul,
Lawana Blackwell - Storm at Daybreak,
B. J. Hoff - The Scarlet Thread,
Francine Rivers - The Tangled Web,
B. J. Hoff - The Tempering Blaze,
Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford - Till We Meet Again,
Penelope J. Stokes - The Torch of Triumph,
Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford - A Voice in The Wind,
Francine Rivers - Vow of Silence,
B. J. Hoff