Texas Weddings 3 & 4 (36 page)

“I’ll be there.” He sat back down on the edge of the bed. “I
promise.”

“Okay.
Well.
. .” she turned and walked from the room. He heard the front door slam just as
his head hit the pillow once more.

Can I help it if I’m worn
out?
 
Can I help it if my head is
killing me?
 

Nathan pouted in silence. He
didn’t want to get up. He didn’t want to face a church full of carefree,
smiling people. Not today.

No, today he wanted to lie right
here, snoring peacefully. The world could go on spinning without him for
awhile
longer. Kellie
could.
. .

He punched the pillow and fought to
get comfortable. Kellie could surely face her friends and family without him
just this once. After all, it wasn’t like she’d been the one working
twenty-four seven. What more could she expect?

And of course he’d be there to see
her father at 2:00. What kind of person did she think he was?
 
An internal argument began, one he
couldn’t seem to squelch. It wasn’t like she’d spent any time with his family
over the past month. It wasn’t like she’d spent a lot of time talking to him
about his struggles, his thoughts, or his concerns.

Nathan rubbed at his aching head
and tried to still the frustrations that had erupted from out of nowhere.
Lord,
I don’t know where all of this is coming from. I had no clue I was this bugged
about things.

“I’m just tired.” He spoke aloud
to the empty room, and then let out an exaggerated yawn. “That’s all that’s
wrong with me.”

Nathan immediately thought about
his work back in Houston. The company seemed to be going a thousand different
directions at once. He had hoped the meeting with Mr. Abernathy would bring
some order to the confusion in his mind, but things had only grown worse. Chaos
reigned at
Siefert
and Collins
. And
somehow he managed to be stuck in the middle of it all. This coming week he’d
have to spend at least one or two nights in town in order to accomplish all
that
needed to be done
. He’d stay at the condo.

The condo. Nathan slapped himself
in the head, remembering. He’d received a call on his cell phone on Friday
about a problem with the condominium. Something about a leak in the bathroom
that had caused flooding for a neighbor downstairs. The maintenance people had
stopped the flow of water, but he still needed to hire a plumber to fix the
problem.

I’ll take care of that first thing
tomorrow morning. Right now I need to get some sleep.

He gripped the pillow with both
arms and clamped his eyes shut. Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the
wood shutters at the window. Outside, a congregation of birds continued to
chirp in a crazy chorus, nearly driving him out of his mind.

“Why is it so
stinkin
’
noisy in the country?” He rolled over the other direction and put the pillow
over his ear.
And why in the world is Kellie so infatuated with this place?

He pondered
the thought
,
eyes still squeezed shut
. She loved it here. The
thought plagued him. At the root of his headache, his frustrations, his pent-up
anger, lay that one, horrible thought.

Kellie loved it here. And perhaps
she always would.

But what could he do about
that?
 
How could he begin to
counteract it?
 
Clearly, something
needed to be done—and quickly.

An idea formulated; one that
wouldn’t leave him alone. She had forgotten what it was like to be in the city.
He would take her back to Houston for a couple of days. They’d have a night on
the town at that great little French restaurant. They would talk about the
condo and their investments. They would start planning that trip they had
always talked about. Everything would be just like it was.

He punched
the pillow again
,
sleep a distant dream
. Did he want life to
return to normal?
 
Wasn’t Kellie
more peaceful?
 
Didn’t he enjoy
getting to know the people at church?
 
Wasn’t the Lord providing for all of their needs?

Nathan groaned and then sat up in
the bed. He swung his legs over the side once more and bowed his head in shame.
Lord, what’s wrong with me?
 
What
in the world is going on?

With turmoil still eating at him,
Nathan slipped down onto his knees.
Enough with all of this
arguing.
What he wanted—what he needed—was time with the
Lord.

***

Kellie cried as she drove along
the country road toward town. Frustration drove her tears, not anger. At least,
not anger at her husband.
At the enemy, perhaps.

She didn’t blame Nathan for not
getting out of bed. She understood his need for rest. She could certainly
relate to his exhaustion. She’d lived in an exhausted state for the past three
years.

In truth, she didn’t hold any
grudges; she just missed him. And it seemed the more she tried to create times
together,
the more he seemed to pull away from her. Or was
that just her imagination at work?

With a heavy heart, Kellie
continued her drive to the church. Alone.

fourteen

“How does this sign look?” Nathan
stretched his arms up as high as he could, lifting the banner above the front
door of his in-laws’ home.

Kellie
clasped her hands over her mouth,
then
released them
triumphantly. “Oh!
 
It looks great.”

He
scrambled to get the large vinyl banner hung straight. After he was sure he had
it up properly, he stepped down from the stepladder and climbed down for a
look.

“Welcome
home, Kenton.” He whispered the words, thrilled at the joy they brought.

“Can
you believe it?” Kellie slipped her arm around his waist. “He’s actually coming
home.” A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye and she brushed it away with
a fingertip. “I’m not sad,” she assured him. “I’m just so happy.”

“I
know, Babe.” Nathan’s heart swelled as he pressed a kiss on her forehead.

Kellie
glanced at her watch. “We’ve only got ten minutes. Mom called when they left
the rehab and said 6:30.”

The
front door swung open and Mrs. Dennison stepped outside. “I’ve got everything
ready in the kitchen.” She beamed with pride. “Do you need my help out here
with anything?”

“I
think we’ve got it covered.” Nathan folded up the stepladder and carried it to
the garage as she headed back inside. Even from here, he could hear the bustle
of the crowd in the house. The noise level was at a cheerful high. At least ten
or twelve of Kenton’s nearest and dearest friends awaited his arrival. They
would welcome him home in style—with good food, good conversation and
even a few tears. Nathan could see it all now.

It must be nice to have friends like that,
people who would stick with you through thick or thin.

He
had friends, of course—men he played racquetball with, co-workers he’d
grown to admire and converse with on a personal level. And then there were the
guys he’d grown up, his buddies from high school. Of course, they hadn’t seen
one another for years. They had no
. .
.
what
was the word?
 
Longevity. They had no longevity. He had temporary friends. Well,
near-friends, really.

This more intimate type of
friendship had somehow eluded him. For a moment, Nathan wondered who might be
waiting in the living room for him, if he were in Kenton’s place.

“Everything
okay out here?” Kellie appeared at his side.

“Yes.”
He pressed the ladder against the wall and turned to pull her into his arms. “I
was just thinking.”

“About
what?” Her beautiful face filled with concern immediately and Nathan knew why.
He’d done more than his share of grumbling over the past week. The plumber
over-charged him for work at the condo, a tire blew out on his car on the trip
back from town Wednesday night and—to top it all off—Kellie hadn’t
been able to join him for that in-town romantic getaway he’d planned.

Not
that he blamed her. With all of the excitement surrounding her father’s
upcoming release she had been needed here, in
Greenvine
.

He
turned to face her. “I was thinking about how blessed your dad is.” Nathan ran
the back of his index finger along the edge of Kellie’s cheek. She responded by
leaning into his chest as he continued, “He’s got some great friends.”

“Yes.
They’re awesome.” She paused,
then
came alive with her
next words, “Oh, speaking of friends—Frankie said to tell you that those
new wheels you ordered are in. He said they look great. You’re really going to
love them.”

“I
can’t wait.” He had happily ordered them at Frankie’s suggestion, knowing they
would dress up his vehicle.

“Speaking
of Frankie, he and Julia are inside with the others. They just got here.”

“Great.”
Nathan smiled and took her hand. They walked in the house arm in arm,
then
separated to greet the crowd. He couldn’t help but grin
as he made the rounds from person to person. There was no lack of
conversation—or love—in this room.

When
his father-in-law arrived at last, the atmosphere changed immediately. Tears of
joy sprang up in nearly every eye and his friends ushered him in like royalty.
After he took his place on the sofa, Kenton looked over the room, his own eyes
filled.

“
It’s.
. . it’s good to be home.”

Nathan
felt Kellie’s hand tighten in his own.

“We’re
happy to have you home, Daddy.” Kellie sat next to him and planted a tender
kiss on his cheek. The sight of Kellie with her father warmed Nathan’s heart.

The
room came alive once again as people made their way over to the sofa, one by
one. They offered warm words, prayers, encouragement and even a laugh or two.
Nathan watched it all from a careful distance—close enough to let Kellie
know he wasn’t going anywhere, far enough away to give her the space she needed
with her dad.

As
the food began to flow, the people in the room filled plates, chatted merrily
and ate with abandon. Nathan filled a plate with meatballs, some little
sausages, cheese and crackers, and an assortment of fresh veggies with dip.
He’d come back for dessert after.

On second
thought.
. .
He reached to
grab two peanut butter cookies and a piece of cheesecake while they were still
there to grab. In this kind of crowd you could never tell if what you wanted
would still be there when you got back.

Balancing the plate in one hand,
Nathan popped a piece of cheese in his mouth.

Hal slapped him on the back,
nearly sending the piece of cheese down his throat. “Getting enough to eat?”

Nathan nodded, then reached to
pick up a paper cup from a stack on the table.

“Here, let me get that for you.”
Hal took the cup in his hand. “What did you want in it?”

“Some of that punch would be good.
I’m not in the mood for soda.” He took a bite from a meatball and watched as
Hal filled his glass.
This guy has a real servant’s heart. Then
again.
. .
he looked around the room,
they all do.

With the plate firmly gripped in
his left hand, Nathan took hold of the cup of punch with his right. He
swallowed down a big drink. “That’s good stuff.”

“My wife made it,” Hal confided,
his voice a bit concealed. “I’ve had that same punch at over twenty parties
this year alone.” He laughed so
loud,
his joy
reverberated around the room. “I can’t stand the stuff, but she loves it.” He
gave Nathan a knowing wink and his voice softened once again. “These women of
ours. They’re good at what they do, aren’t they? And their hearts are as big as
Texas.”

Nathan looked across the room at Kellie,
who held Madison in her arms. “Yeah.”

Hal dove off into a conversation
about goings-on at the church and Nathan found himself squarely in the middle
of a debate over whether or not the Primer Timers should replace their worn
chairs with new ones. He didn’t mind, really. In fact, he rather enjoyed the
one-on-one time with Hal. Felt
almost.
. . natural.

At
one point he shot another glance in Kellie’s direction. Her face was alight
with joy as she bounced Madison up and down on her hip.
It was a side of her he’d never seen before. She looked
really.
. . natural.
In fact, nearly
everything about Kellie felt natural here. She fit in here. She was at home
here. And there was a glow about her, something he couldn’t quite place.
Perhaps it was the joy of being in a place where so much love abounded.