Remembering You
| Remembering You |
| Tricia Goyer |
| Guideposts (2011) |
While her grandfather is reunited with the woman he once saved, she is reunited with the man she once loved. Thirty-six-year-old Ava Andrews life interrupted by an unusual request—fulfill her 83-year-old grandfather's last wish by joining him on a battlesite tour of Europe. Ava and Grandpa Jack arrive in Europe and meet up with Paul, her grandpa's best friend, and his grandson Dennis. The Dennis who just happens to be Ava's first love. Before she knows it, Ava and Dennis are swept down memory lane as they visit the sites that are discussed in the history books. While interviewing the aged soldiers, Ava finds the Jewish woman whose life her grandfather saved when she was just a small girl. As Ava begins to understand the things that made her grandfather the man he became, she's also given a second chance at love. Based on a true story, Remembering You is a moving story about how history can change our future.
A NOVEL
Remembering
You
TRICIA GOYER
Guideposts
Remembering You
ISBN-13: 978-0-8249-4812-2
Published by Guideposts
16 East 34th Street
New York, New York 10016
Guideposts.org
Copyright © 2011 by Tricia Goyer. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Distributed by Ideals Publications, a Guideposts company
2630 Elm Hill Pike, Suite 100
Nashville, TN 37214
Guideposts
and
Ideals
are registered trademarks of Guideposts.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version
®
, NIV
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa / Georgia Morrissey
Cover photo of woman by Getty Images
Cover photo of landscape by iStock
Interior design by Müllerhaus Publishing Group |
www.mullerhaus.net
Author photo of Tricia Goyer © 2010 by Jessica McCollam, Jessica’s Visions Photography
Printed and bound in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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RAISE FOR
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RICIA
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OYER
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“
Remembering You
takes you on a scenic tour of Europe with secrets, history, romance, and tension around every bend. History lovers will appreciate Tricia Goyer’s research and detail, and story lovers will delight in four fascinating characters with clashing goals. I highly recommend this novel.”
—Sarah Sundin, author of
A Distant Melody
,
A Memory Between Us
, and
Blue Skies Tomorrow
“I’m a huge fan of Tricia Goyer’s WWII novels. Her unique blend of historical detail, sensitive, likeable characters, and well-crafted plots make all her books a must-buy for me. Tricia’s latest,
Remembering You
, is no exception. Readers are in for a treat!”
—Shelley Shepard Gray,
New York Times
best-selling author
“
Remembering You
transported me to Europe with Ava Ellington, her grandfather, and other veterans of World War II. While Ava thought she was there to create a series of stories about what these veterans had done, she instead embarked on a journey of discovery. A journey filled with mystery, history, forgiveness, and love. A journey that resonated deeply. Tricia uses stories gleaned from years of interviews with members of the Eleventh Armored Division to give the breath of truth and hope to this book. This book is going on my keeper shelf to enjoy again.”
—Cara C. Putman, award-winning author
Table of Contents
Praise for Tricia Goyer's Remembering You
Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?
AMOS 3:3
Chapter One
Ava Ellington pulled the lid off the red Sharpie with her teeth and drew a thick line from one corner of the clipboard page to the other.
As head producer of
Mornings with Laurie and Clark
, Seattle’s top morning news show, she had booked best-selling author Dean Trust to talk about his dad, a fisherman who’d died in 1981 while rescuing a drowning teenager—a heroic father who was said to have inspired Trust’s latest novel. Instead, as the cameras rolled, Trust had blabbered about the Seattle rain and an idea for a script that he was hoping to sell.
Rubbish!
Ava bit her bottom lip as she strode down the television studio hall and pushed open the door to her office, resisting the urge to slam it behind her. She scanned her stacks of files and notes and wondered if she should pack her things now. Returning the lid to the pen, she tossed it on her desk. It rolled off and onto the floor. With a swift motion, she kicked the pen under the bookshelf filled with travel guides of places she hoped to visit someday. Places rimmed with stories she would never hear. Heart-tugging segments she’d never produce.
If Ava prided herself on anything, it was that she knew how to turn seemingly small ideas into breakfast-time entertainment that refreshed people’s hearts. But all it took was one logjam to cause everything else to pile up—one babbling, unfocused guest—or at least that was her excuse today. But what about the last few weeks? Few months? It was hard to want to entertain and inspire people when her own heart was breaking.
Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, and Ava hit
IGNORE
. Yet another task-reminder. She bent down to retrieve the pen, and her fingers brushed something else under the bookcase. A business card maybe? Pulling it out, her throat tightened. It was one of the photos of her and Jay that she used to have pinned on her bulletin board. She brushed the dust from his face with her thumb, and her heart clenched at his smile. She blinked the tears from her eyes and, before she could talk herself out of it, dropped the photo into the trash. It was the never-ending lists of tasks and calls that, perhaps, had cost her what she wanted most—a man who claimed to love her with all his heart.
Jay had seemed like the perfect guy. He was easy to talk to. He laughed at her jokes and e-mailed her funny YouTube videos. He encouraged her to find tales that would inspire people. He believed in her. Or at least she had thought he believed in her.
Ava refused to think about that now. Or about him. Right now she had to think about keeping her job. She’d moved to downtown Seattle to be close to Jay and had bought a condo she couldn’t afford, believing it would be their home together. If she lost her job too, everything would be gone. Then where would she go? More than that—who would she be?
A soft knock sounded, and Ava glanced up to see her boss, Todd, standing in the doorway. He didn’t say a word, but she noticed his tight-lipped grin and furrowed brow.
“I talked to Dean Trust last night,” she tried to explain. “He told me he was happy to talk about his dad and the inspiration for this novel… . I—I don’t know what happened.”
Todd raised his hands. “Listen, I don’t want to burst your bubble, Ava, but even if he had talked about his novel, the critics are giving it a C-minus just to be kind.” He lifted his chin, which always seemed to have a five o’clock shadow. “You know what we need and what our viewers expect.”
Ava slumped into her leather chair. The pressure weighed on her shoulders. “Obviously I don’t. Everything I’ve put together lately has been a fumble.” She glanced up at him under her eyelashes. “I have a worse record than the Seahawks this season.”
Todd nodded and ran his hand through his dark hair. He opened his mouth and then closed it again. From the pity in his gaze she expected the worst.
“Listen, even though we never want our personal life to affect our work, it always does. I tried to explain that to my boss—”
She stood, as if pushed from her seat by a spring. “I’m working on something. Something that’ll knock your socks off. Something viewers will love.”
Todd cocked an eyebrow. Then he crossed his arms over his chest. “You want to tell me about it?” Even if he knew she was fibbing, he didn’t let on.
“Tomorrow.” She brushed her long blond hair off her shoulder. “I have a few details I need to work out.” Ten minutes before, she’d assumed this would be her last day, but now she planned to stick around if she could come up with something good.
She glanced at the photo in the trash.
You can’t take my work from me too
.
You’ve already crushed my self-confidence, not to mention my heart. You can’t have this too.
Chapter Two
Ava pulled the container of leftover Chinese out of the fridge and sniffed it, trying to remember how many days it had been since she’d gone out to dinner with her best friend, Jill. Realizing it had been over a week, she tossed it in the trash and then poked her head back into the refrigerator. Her stomach churned, partly because she was hungry and partly because she had no idea what magical story could save her job. Like the takeout Chinese, every idea she’d generated so far had been far from fresh. Some ideas were just plain rotten.