The Rescuer (25 page)

Jonathan stepped over piles of trash to shove open the closet door. The odds Craig had actual y destroyed al the pictures of the jewelry taken over the years as he was ordered were nil. The man took his money and got high. It was a wonder he hadn't had a head-on car wreck, leaving real jewels and evidence of a robbery lying around to be picked up. It was the price of smal -

town crime that he ended up with an excel ent partner in Neil and a

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nearly incompetent partner in his friend Craig.

Jonathan heard the sound of a car that badly needed a tune- up approaching. He left the bedroom and strode through the rooms. He shoved open the front door and walked outside as the car went off the driveway and came to a stop half over a bush.

Craig got out of the car while Jonathan waited. He caught hold of the man's shirt, spun him around, and slammed him against the car. "What have you been doing, Craig? Acting on your own?" His friend's bruised face and knuckles told their own story "You've been out to the farm searching? Getting yourself spotted?"

"The pieces are out there," Craig said, his mouth swol en and his words nearly impossible to make out.

His eyes were stil wild with whatever drug he was on.

"And if we're going to retrieve them, it's necessary that the authorities not know we're looking for them! You think Stephen won't react to you prowling around his land? There wil probably be dogs and every kind of hassle to get past now."

"You can't stop me. I earned the right to those jewels just as much as you."

"Wel you're not looking for them anymore. You are going back to Chicago or wherever you crawled home from and cool your heels. If you so much as think about looking for the gems again, you'l be sporting more than bruises."

Craig tried to wrestle away from Jonathan's grasp.

He pressed against Craig's chest so he couldn't draw a breath. "You listen to me, punk. We don't want a single piece found; we want them al . I'l get them my own way. You push me on this and you wil regret it."

He waited until Craig stuttered an agreement.

Jonathan shoved an envelope into Craig's shirt pocket.

"Go get high somewhere. Just stay out of my way."

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225 Twenty

Stephen lowered his frame into one of the lawn chairs that along with the couch comprised the extent of his living room furniture. A long frustrating day of searching had led to nothing of substance. "It's good that we didn't find anything."

Kate swung her feet up onto the couch and reached to rub her ankle. "Maybe. Neil either had no other pieces to hide or he had a very cautious plan for hiding them.

Meghan and I didn't get very far in our search. If we go two more days without finding anything else, then I'l start to relax." She moved around the pil ows. "I'm impressed with your home. This is going to be a great place."

Stephen set down his iced tea. "Where the wal s wil go is marked on the floor in chalk, and the furniture locations are marked out in squares on the carpet. You have to use a lot of imagination."

"The plan is there." Kate settled back on the couch.

"And Dave real y likes that baby goat you bought. He was cal ing his office to check in, but he was walking toward the barn as he dialed. I bet he's gotten lost playing with the goat again."

"That animal does kind of grow on you. The kid wil have company soon; I've got feelers out for some lambs."

"You couldn't just buy a dog?"

Stephen laughed. "It's cal ed freedom to do stuff I couldn't

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contemplate in the city. I'm thinking a l ama might be a nice addition at some point."

"Stick to raising fish in your pond."

"Meghan wil enjoy the petting zoo more."

Kate studied him. "Any movement on that front?"

"We're both so busy it's hard to get time together." He couldn't hold back a sigh. "We're friends. She's made it pretty clear that's al it wil be until I'm a Christian."

"Good. She's not offering you false hope that she's going to change her mind."

"Thanks a lot, sis."

"She's right. A compromise wouldn't last. You might respect what she believes and the importance of church in her life, but inevitably you'd feel left out. She can't love Jesus and you too without eventual y being forced to choose between you. She won't walk into that quicksand."

He didn't want to have this conversation, but maybe it would be better to simply get it over with. He'd been reading Jennifer's Bible, and his questions were stil much the same. "Why does it feel like God has conditions on loving me?"

"He doesn't. You're projecting your own list of what you think He should expect. It gets pretty intense when you realize He accepts you despite the fact you're a mess at the moment."

He scowled at her. "I appreciate the endorsement."

"Face it, Stephen, you are. You took off after Jennifer died and left in chaos. You came back and you're stil in chaos. Jesus is the kind who moves in, says I love you anyway, and then starts helping repair the mess. He means it when He says He loves you as you are, not based on what you've done. But He loves you too much to leave you in that chaos once you know Him."

"Just like that."

"Pretty much. Stephen, there are not many times in life when we get a chance to hear 'I love you and it has nothing to do with

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what you can do for me.' Don't let wrong assumptions cause you to mishandle the most important decision of your life."

"Al the O'Mal eys believe but me; therefore, I'm missing something."

"We just went first and figured out the ground on this side of believing is safe."

"Is it real y?"

"Yes, it is. Jesus is a good friend. I don't regret for a moment the decision I made to believe." Kate reached for her iced tea. "You and I have been friends for ages.

If I tel you I'm going to do something, you don't waste a lot of time wondering if I'm going to keep my word.

Because we're friends, you trust my word to be good.

And when I suggest to Marcus that he come and help out, when I push you to talk about a bad day at work, you take it in the spirit it's intended. I do it because I care an enormous amount about how you're doing and I want to help."

Kate relaxed her head back against the pil ows. "That's the kind of friendship I have with Jesus. He keeps His word, and He cares about my welfare. You're so tense around the subject of religion and God that you can't envision what a friendship with Him is like. You're waiting to be let down, don't you see? You can't have both. You either trust His word and the fact that He cares about you or you don't. Until you approach Jesus with the intention of finding a trustworthy friend waiting to respond, you'l never be able to connect and get to know Him."

Stephen turned his empty glass in his hand and sighed, then set it on the floor. "I appreciate how real this is for you. I real y do. It just doesn't ring true for me."

Kate tried hard to hide her disappointment. He was grateful for that as she smiled at him. "Wel when it final y does ring true, wil you at least promise me you'l act on it? It's tough watching you stuck there with al your questions and no answer resonating." She tugged one of the pil ows out from behind her. "I know 228

it's not an easy step, Stephen, to believe. It took Dave months to help me figure out answers to my questions.

Please, keep searching for the answers instead of pushing aside the questions. When family keeps coming back to this subject, please understand-it's not because we think less of you. It's because we're convinced life is better this way. We want you to have that peace and assurance too."

"I promise I'm stil listening."

"Good enough." Kate smiled. "What are the odds I might be able to talk you into finding me some ice cream?"

"Decent, assuming I can move to get out of this chair."

"You real y look like someone bopped you one." "It's been too long since I was in a street fight." Stephen pushed himself to his feet. "I'l get you some ice cream and myself an ice pack. I'm glad you came, Kate." "So am I.-

Stephen fol owed Kate and Dave to the bed-and-breakfast where they were staying, lifted a hand in farewel , and drove to the pharmacy. He didn't immediately need the bottle of aspirin and new ice packs he bought, but it gave him an excuse to come into town.

He drove by the jewelry store to check that al was quiet, and then he went around an extra block to check on Meghan's place. He was surprised to see her lights stil on and Blackie sitting on the front porch. Stephen pul ed over to the curb and stopped.

He walked up the sidewalk. Stephen held out his hand to Blackie, rubbed the dog's head, and leaned past him to knock on the door. "Meghan, it's Stephen," he cal ed, wanting to avoid her worrying about who was knocking on her door at this time of night.

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"Stephen?" He heard movement inside, then the door opened. "Is something wrong?"

"Everything's fine. I happened to be in town and saw your lights were stil on."

"I was just listening to a book on tape. Would you like to come in?"

He wanted her advice on what he was thinking about Kate's comments. He knew Meghan would listen and not take offense if he asked some tough questions. He shifted his hands in his pockets. "It's a pretty night. Why don't you get a jacket and sit out on the porch with me."

She hesitated and then nodded. "Give me a minute."

Stephen settled on the top step of the porch. Blackie moved over to join him.

Meghan sat beside him a few minutes later, offering a cup of coffee. "I don't want you getting chil ed sitting out here this time of night."

"Thanks. The moon is about half ful right now, very white, and hanging low in the eastern sky."

She closed her eyes and smiled. "I can see it." She took a sip of tea. "Did you have a good evening with Dave and Kate?"

"I always have a good time with them," Stephen said, switching the mug to warm both hands. "Kate's happy.

When they got married I wondered how smoothly she could make the adjustment to being half of a couple.

Dave's good with her-he's figured out the right mix of giving her space and taking care of her without being smothering."

"She's trying hard to put on a good front, but she's nervous about the idea of being a mom."

"Kate gets very quiet when she's trying to figure out an unknown. She never had a mom around as a role model. I figure her confidence wil go through the roof and she'l get a bit smug after she's figured out what she's doing. Kate feeling

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smug-it just begs for me to tease her a bit."

Meghan laughed. "Stil glad you're going to be an uncle?"

"The idea of a child trailing me around expecting me to know answers to life's questions-like why caterpil ars crawl, the sunset turns color, and raindrops don't col ide with each other- I'm going to enjoy it." Just thinking about it caused him to relax. "There's going to be a second generation of O'Mal eys. That's a good feeling." He set down his coffee mug. "The conversation tonight turned serious with Kate. She pretty much gave me both barrels about why I push away God."

Meghan rested her chin on her up-drawn knees. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay. We dance around the subject of religion every few months. I should have predicted the conversation." He sighed and nudged back Blackie so he could rest his hands behind him on the porch to take his weight. "I don't know if I'l ever believe, Meg. I wish I could say it would be different, but I may never make that step my family has." The reality of that decision was hurting him and his family. It was why they were after him, why Jennifer had left the gift she had.

He didn't know what to do.

"I know Jennifer's primary goal near the end of her life was to help each of you come to believe. I hope her death hasn't been a stumbling block."

"I miss her, and it is part of this. Jennifer's Bible is marked up with underlines and dates and scribbled-in notes."

"Mine is too; those underlined verses and notes are memories of conversations."

"What do you mean?"

"The Bible is a living book, and her notes are records of an ongoing dialogue between her and the Lord.

She'd start reading having a question or with something going on in her life that concerned her, then as she read, verses would stand out that brought answers, comfort, or insight. It's a friendship. God pro-231

vides His side of the conversation through His written words. I know God enjoys my company and I enjoy His.

That's what Jennifer found too."

"You talk as if it's a day-to-day friendship. I don't understand how you get to that point. I've read parts of the Bible, and it's like reading history and a kind of daily journal of Jesus as He traveled through towns around Jerusalem."

Her expression softened. "You keep reading. You listen. You hold onto what you do understand and continue to pursue what's stil confusing. God then steps in and makes that dialogue alive. There's no secret; it's not intended to be hard. The Bible reassures us on that point-those who seek God wil find Him." She reached over and touched his knee.

"Why don't you want Jesus as a friend?"

She was breaking his heart pushing against that question. "He's not always there, Meg. Not when you real y need Him."

"Yes, He is," she whispered. "He was there when Jennifer died, when Peg died, when they came to tel you your parents had been kil ed. Jesus was there." He looked over and caught a glimpse of deep emotion before her expression became calm. "Just like He was there the night I went blind. I know He's good and that He loves me. He didn't give me back my sight, but He gave me something more precious-a ful and joyous life in the midst of this. I would have chosen my sight, but that decision was His to make. I trust Him, even in this."

"I wish I had that peace in spite of circumstances."

"You can't find the happiness you want and the peace you seek by borrowing from mine. It doesn't work that way. As much as you know about Jesus, you've never let yourself accept Him. Please, stop hiding behind the fear that you might be let down. You won't be."