Sean Donovan (The Californians, Book 3) (19 page)

"Have I missed Patrick?" Rigg asked about his fatherin-law.

"No, he doesn't sail until morning. What's happened?"

ii ri
RiggS.

Before Rigg could answer, Patrick Sean Donovan II
had come down from upstairs and joined his sister and
son-in-law in the library.

"I'm glad I didn't miss you, Patrick," Rigg breathed
with relief, seeing that his presence had upset them.
"We received news about Sean after you left."

Patrick sat down hard on the nearest chair, his face
draining of color.

"I knew you were going to be here a few weeks before
you sailed, and if I'd missed you I'd never have forgiven
myself for not sending a telegram-but I wanted to come
in person. Then Katie suffered a miscarriage, so I couldn't
leave right away."

"Oh, Rigg," Maureen began, but he cut her off gently.

"She's all right. The doctor just wants her to rest."

Rigg stood for a moment, feeling like he needed to
catch his breath.

"I have a letter, but I think I should warn you-"

"Is he alive?" the older man cut him off, his voice
hoarse.

"Yes."

"Then nothing else matters."

Rigg passed the letter to Patrick and waited while he
read. As soon as he had read it silently, he read it aloud to
his sister, who cried in her handkerchief for some minutes. The room was silent until Maureen contained
herself. Then Rigg spoke.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes," Patrick replied. "You can come with me to tell
the captain of the Silver Angel that I won't need passage,
and then to the stage office so I can buy a ticket for
Visalia."

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God."

Sean could only read the first two verses from the
book of John before his eyes filled with tears. He knew
Charlie had supper on the table, but he felt an urgency to
spend a few moments in God's Word. He bowed his head
and prayed before he left the room. Sean thanked God
for his life, his wife, and his family before his mind
swung back to Charlotte and dwelt there.

"I don't know if this is love, God," he whispered, "but
I care for her so much. Please help Charlotte to understand that she needs to know Your Son personally.
Please save her and use us to Your glory."

The moment these words were out of his mouth, Sean
envisioned them leaving for Hawaii. He stood from his
kneeling place next to the bed and gazed out the window
like a man in a trance.

"Back to Hawaii! Oh, God," Sean cried softly, "could
that thought be from You, because nothing would make
me happier than for me to return to Hawaii with Charlotte, so we could work with Father."

Sean took a moment more to give his future to God
and in doing so felt an indescribable peace fall over him.
He knew he couldn't tell Charlie how he felt, but he also
knew that if the thought had come from the Lord, then
He would work it out.

"Sean," Charlie called from outside the door. He'd
taken more time than he thought. He opened the door to
see her waiting in the hall.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Charlotte. I was reading my Bible. Did I
keep you long?"

"No, but I did wonder what had happened to you.
Sadie expects us for baths tonight, and I'm tired. I'd like
to get over there and home before it gets too late."

Charlie talked as she led the way to the supper table
where the young couple sat down and ate. Their conversation was light. Then over dishes, Charlie brought up a
subject that nearly made Sean drop the plate he was
drying.

"I think we should go to church in the morning."

Sean didn't answer for a moment, and Charlie turned
from the dishpan to look at him. "What do you think?"

"I'd like that, Charlotte, if you're sure."

"I'm sure. I think we should go to Duncan and Lora's
church."

"That sounds fine." Fine was not the way Sean was
feeling. Ecstatic, overjoyed, or elated better described
his mood, but he wasn't sure he would be able to explain
himself to Charlie if he suddenly began to do handstands in the kitchen.

Ten minutes later they were on their way to Sadie's,
and Charlie asked if Sean's family was well.

"They're doing pretty well. I should have read the
letter to you over supper."

"You don't mind if I know what's in the letter?" Charlie seemed surprised.

"Not at all. In fact, I'll read it to you when we get
home."

Charlie didn't reply, but she was so pleased she wanted
to laugh just for the pleasure of it. Sean's family sounded
wonderful, and he didn't seem at all hesitant to share
them with her. She wouldn't trade Sadie for royalty, but
for some reason, Sean's family was fascinating to her.

And the fascination only grew when they returned
home and Sean read the letter. Charlie thought the
names Gretchen and Molly were beautiful, and she felt
terrible over Kaitlin's losing her baby.

Sean made no mention of Charlie's salvation, and so
the letter just read that the family was praying for her.
Charlie had never had anyone say that to her, and even
though she told herself she really didn't believe in such
things, the thought warmed her spirit.

Charlie was still thinking on everything Sean had said
when he told her he would feed the animals in the
morning. She thanked him rather absently and took
herself off to bed. Imaginary visions of how Kaitlin,
Marcail, Gretchen, and Molly might look filled her head
as sleep overtook her.

The next morning Charlie spent over 40 minutes with
her dress and hair, and for a woman who usually dressed
in five minutes, this was quite a task.

Sean's back was to the hallway when she entered the
kitchen. Already regretting her last-minute decision to
leave her hat behind, Charlie had just decided to return
for it when Sean turned.

Sean had not heard her come into the room. He had
been flipping pancakes, and it had taken a moment for
him to realize he wasn't alone. He turned unsuspectingly with a ready smile and a morning greeting for his
wife, but the words died in his throat.

Charlie's hair was swept up on top of her head in a
loose bun that allowed wispy little curls to fall around
her neck and forehead. Sean's eyes traveled from her
slender white neck to the hem of her flowered dress and
then swung back to her face. In those seconds he took in
her slim waist, small breasts, and gently rounded hips.
She was so utterly feminine that Sean was speechless.

"The pancakes are burning," Charlie whispered
softly, having stood silent for his inspection.

Sean spun back to the stove, relieved to have a diversion. She's darling, he said to himself, and she's my darling.

Charlie took a place at the table and waited for Sean to
join her. Sean ate his meal without once looking at his
plate. Charlie's face was flushed with embarrassment
and something else she couldn't quite define.

"You look very beautiful," Sean said at the end of the
meal, easily holding her gaze with his own.

"Thank you." Charlie was so pleased by his words
that she felt tears sting her eyes and looked swiftly down
at her coffee cup.

When it was time to leave for church, it seemed to
Charlie the most natural thing in the world to have Sean
hitch up the buggy and help her up to her seat, an act she
had never before let him perform. She felt like a lady for
the first time in her life as Sean held the reins loosely in
his grip and drove the buggy from the livery.

"I haven't been in church since I was a child. I'm not
sure I'm going to like this."

"What has you worried?" Sean asked her softly, always alert when she spoke of her life before they met.

"Churches are full of hypocrites."

"Give me an example."

"Well, you know, when you see a man in church on
Sunday and then watch him stagger out of one of the
town bars on Tuesday night."

"You've seen that happen?"

"No, I guess I haven't, but I hear things."

"Charlotte," Sean asked as he realized his wife's fears
were causing her judgmental remarks. "Have you ever
been to this church?"

"No," she said softly. She didn't have anything more
to say, but fear was closing her throat and she couldn't
have spoken had she tried.

"Charlotte, try to relax," Sean bent close and whispered in his wife's ear.

"I am relaxed."

Sean smiled at her reply. Her hands were clenched so
tightly in her lap that her knuckles were white. The last
song had been sung, and the minister was now at the
front of the church behind a small pulpit for the sermon.

The Donovans were seated alone in a rear pew, and
Sean was thankful for the privacy. He reached for one of
her hands and brought it to the bench between them,
where it was nearly hidden by the fullness of Charlie's
dress.

Her hand was swallowed up by his own and ice cold.
Something in Sean's heart turned over. Not that this was
an unfamiliar sensation; his heart had been doing funny
things for a week. Sean never dreamed a man could feel
this way about a woman, and his hand tightened thinking how right hers felt within his own.

His thoughts were cut off when the sermon began. He
took a quick peek at his wife and saw that she was
attentive, and not as tied up in knots as she had been.

"I'm going to read this morning from John, chapter 3.
Feel free to follow along in your own copy of God's Word.
'There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a
ruler of the Jews; the same came to Jesus by night, and
said unto him, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God; for no man can do these miracles that
thou doest, except God be with him." Jesus answered,
and said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God."'

"I need to stop here and tell you what I know about
this man Nicodemus. As it says here in verse one, he was
a man of the Pharisees. This was a sect of men who lived
by a very strict code of laws. And the biggest problem wasn't the fact that it was impossible to obey all these
laws, but that even if they could have obeyed them to the
letter, it would not have saved them.

"Nicodemus must have been one of the few to see the
fallacy of the Pharisee's laws. He'd certainly heard of
Jesus Christ and the miracles He was able to perform,
and his heart must have been hungry to know Him
better.

"I find it interesting to note that Nicodemus went to
Jesus by night. It's speculation on my part, but I wonder
whether Nicodemus was afraid to be seen going to Jesus,
or whether he felt an urgency to know the truth and
couldn't wait until morning. You see, I don't believe that
he doubted that this was God's Son. I know that in the
Scripture Nicodemus just says God is with Jesus, but
Nicodemus is no fool. I believe he understood that he
was talking to Jesus the Christ, God's holy Son.