Until Forever (Women of Prayer) (32 page)

“Hi, Mark, it’s Jessi. I wanted to call and thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful.”

“You are welcome. I was hoping you would like them.”

“Yes, I do like them. They were the envy of every woman at work today. I was wondering if you would like to come to dinner on Friday night? I know we talked about the three of us going out to dinner, but I thought I would make something here instead. Would that be okay with you?”

“Well, sure, but will Olivia be disappointed? I told her she got to pick where we eat this time, and I’m fairly sure we were going to that pizza and game restaurant.”

“No, I don’t think she will be upset. She’s spending the night with a friend on Friday night, so it will just be us. I think it’s time we talk. Things seem to be changing between us so fast, and I want us both to be on the same page regarding our relationship. I’ve done nothing but think since Sunday night. I need to share some things with you.”

“What time do you want me to come?”

“Say six?”

“I’ll be there.”

“See ya Friday.”

“See ya Friday.”

Mark hung up the phone wondering where this was going to lead. “Lord, I hope I didn’t mess things up with that kiss.”

***

Each day seemed to crawl for Mark. He might not be so antsy about having dinner with her alone if she hadn’t told him she wanted to talk with him. Now he spent each day wondering and worrying about what she wanted to say. On Friday he stopped on the way to her house and bought a pie. He couldn’t think of anything else, and he didn’t want to show up empty-handed.

***

Jessi watched Mark get out of the car with something in his hands. He looked horrible, like he hadn’t slept all week, the cause of which was probably her fault. She should have told him that what she wanted to say wasn’t bad. As a matter of fact, she guessed he would think it was very good news. Jessi held the door open for him as he climbed the front porch to the door.

“I brought pie.” He handed her the box that held the peach pie and walked in the front door and kicked off his wet shoes. After hanging up his coat, he followed Jessi into the kitchen, where she had the table set and some wonderful smells coming from the oven. “What are you making? It smells delicious in here.”

“We’re having stuffed pork chops with twice baked potatoes and honey-glazed carrots. I was just going to cut up a loaf of French bread to eat with our salad when you rang the doorbell. Grab whatever you would like to drink out of the fridge. I’ve got a glass of water already.”

Mark grabbed a Pepsi from the fridge and set it on the table in the place where he normally sat and waited on Jessi to finish slicing the bread. Jessi placed the salad on the table, and Mark prayed over their meal. He didn’t walk on eggshells around Jessi regarding his faith. She knew what he believed, and he wasn’t going to diminish how much it meant to him for anyone’s benefit. He didn’t push it on her, so it surprised him when she brought up the subject as they started eating their salad.

“Mark, I’ve been thinking about us and how God fits into the equation. I mean, if we were to get back together, would you expect more out of me in the faith department than what I’m willing to give?”

Leave it to Jessi to just blurt out whatever she was thinking. Mark put down his fork and took a deep breath to give him some time to think. What was she saying “if we get back together”? Mark walked around the table to the open chair closest to Jessi. He took her fork from her and set it on the table; then he took both her hands in his. “Jess, what are you saying to me? I mean the ‘us’ part.”

Jessi looked from the table to Mark. Then she lifted up her left hand so he could see the ring she had put back on her own finger. She never knew why she had kept it. For some reason she couldn’t bring herself to throw it away, and after seeing Mark wearing his old ring, she found hers in the bottom of her jewelry box. It was a plain band. They didn’t have the money for a diamond engagement ring when they’d first gotten married. She knew it would send the message she didn’t trust herself to deliver by voice—that she too wanted her family back.

“Do you really mean it, Jess?”

She couldn’t trust herself to speak, so she just nodded her head yes.

He had to answer her questions before going any further. “Jessi, I am going to trust God in bringing you to him. If you are willing to keep doing as you are doing, I believe we will still be honoring God in being together. It’s how we started. I won’t expect any more of you until you are ready to give it. Does that answer your questions about faith?”

“I can accept that. I don’t know that I’ll feel differently, but I will still go to church each Sunday with you and Olivia. I just don’t know how much more I have to give right now. I’m trying to see God in everything. It’s just hard for me to accept him being so powerful yet unwilling to intervene.”

Mark got down on his knee before her. “Jessi, I have to do things right this time.” He pulled a box from his pocket, one that he’d been carrying around for the past six months, hoping and praying that the right time would come to use it. “Jessi, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? I promise that I will love you and honor you for the rest of my days.” He opened the box, and Jessi gasped. Inside was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen.

Tears sprang to Jessi’s eyes when she looked at the ring and thought of all that it meant. “Yes, Mark! I’ve been happier these past months than I’ve ever been, even more than when Ethan was here, and I’m not sure I like the sound of that, but I can’t help it. I’m happy, Mark, and I want to be happy forever. I like being happy. You and Aunt Merry and Olivia have been right all along. Forgiveness brings a freedom that I’d never expected. I forgive you, Mark, and I love you. I think I forgave you some time ago. I just felt if I let go of those hard feelings, I’d be letting Ethan down somehow. I didn’t realize until I talked with Aunt Merry that Ethan would want me to forgive you. It’s what he would do if he were here today.”

Mark took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. They would have to take it in and have it resized. Her fingers were smaller than the original bearer of the ring, so the ring was a little loose. “This ring belonged to my grandmother, Jessi. I was very close to her up until she died, and I wasn’t made aware that she’d left this ring for me until we moved here. When Julia was going through her things, unpacking, she came across it and the letter from our mother. I believe it’s God’s perfect timing in her finding the ring now. I want to grow old with you, Jessi. I want to hear children’s laughter in our home for as long as we live.”

Jessi noticed the smoke first. It was rolling out of the oven door. She jumped up and threw the oven door open. When she pulled the pan out of the oven, they both knew this would be a story to pass down for generations to come. The pork chops were completely black and rolling with smoke. She turned off the oven and looked at the mess sitting on top of her stove. Jessi looked at Mark and couldn’t help but laugh. “So much for a nice homemade supper.”

Mark couldn’t agree more. “Put your coat on. I’m taking you out to celebrate. We’ll stop by the mall and have the jewelry store resize the ring for us.”

The rest of the weekend flew by in a blur. Plans were made for an early June wedding and a family honeymoon to Oklahoma City. Aunt Merry and Julia cried when they heard the news, and Olivia jumped up and down screaming. Finally, she was going to have a real family.

Chapter 37

On Wednesday the unpredictable March weather brought in a snowstorm. Jessi had spent most of the winter worrying about Olivia going to and from school on the bus, especially when the weather turned nasty, but nothing had ever happened, so she rarely thought of the road conditions anymore. She’d pretty much gotten used to the weather and the roads, like most native Wisconsinites.

Stan tried to keep his eyes on the road ahead. Looking around and thinking about the poor conditions were not going to do him any good. He had to keep his concentration on climbing the hill in front of him. The hill he was climbing was the steepest hill in the county, and it was part of his normal route. Usually it wasn’t a problem, but with today’s surprise snowstorm, the road had become a problem. The snow had blown over onto the road, and while he could gauge where the road was, he wasn’t able to see if there was ice on the pavement. He still had fourteen kids on the bus who were heading home. Why did they send him out in this? He yelled back to the kids. “Everyone sit down and be real quiet, okay?” He was starting to lose momentum. The bus was slowing down. If the bus came to a stop on this road, he would never get it going forward again, and being halfway up the hill, he was sure to slip backward. He was scared to death. He tried to accelerate, making the tires spin. The bus started rolling backward, picking up speed as it went. He tried to use the brake, hoping he would hit a dry patch in the road and at least keep the bus from falling off the side of the road. The road must be a solid sheet of ice. The bus started to slide sideways. He could feel it. Braking wasn’t doing anything.

Stan looked at the direction they were heading. “Oh, Lord, help us!” He cried for the kids to brace themselves, not that they knew what that meant. The bus slid to the side of the road where there was a decline in the terrain. Stan felt the bus begin to tip over. The bus did a half roll and ended up on its top, wheels still rolling in the air. Stan never knew what hit him. When the bus rolled a young tree trunk pierced his driver side window, killing him instantly. The small children were thrown about in the bus. Some were still conscious but didn’t know what to do, while others were knocked unconscious.

A driver heading down the hill was the first person on the scene. He dialed 911 as soon as he saw the bus. He ran to the bus, still talking to emergency, trying to get a grasp on how much help was needed. “Oh no! We need ambulances now. Children are laying everywhere. The bus driver is hanging upside down, bleeding.” Whimpering was coming from the back of the bus. He kicked the door as hard as he could and tried to get to the children who were crying. “Some of the children are crying in the back. I’m trying to get to them. Hurry!”

He shut his phone off so he could use both hands. Another car pulled up behind his, and the driver got out to help. Together they were able to get the door to give. Not wanting to move the kids, in case they would injure them more than they already were, they tried to calm them down by talking in quiet tones to them, all the while praying that help would get here quickly. The sirens coming from a distance were welcome sounds. It took eight ambulances to get everyone to the hospital.

Mrs. Richards was the first person to call for Jessi. “Hi, Jessi, I’m sorry to bother you at work, but I’ve been waiting for the bus to drop off Olivia and it hasn’t come yet. I’m beginning to get a little bit worried.”

Jessi looked at her watch. The bus should have dropped her off almost a half hour ago. “I’ll check into it and call you back. If you hear something first, will you call me and let me know?”

“Of course I will.”

Jessi hung up the phone and dialed Olivia’s school’s number. The secretary answered the phone. “Hi, this Jessi Jensen, Olivia Jensen’s mother. Olivia hasn’t arrived at home yet, and I’m just wondering if anything has happened?”

“The bus driver did call and say that the roads were pretty bad and they were running late. I’m sure it’s just the snow keeping them from being on time.”

Jessi was persistent. “I would feel better if you tried to radio your bus driver to make sure that things are okay.”

“I’ll have to call the bus company and have them contact him. If you don’t hear from me, assume they are just running late from the snow.”

The secretary hung up before Jessi could say anything else. She walked down to the office of her own school. Susan, the assistant principal, was walking out of the office as Jessi was nearing the door. “Jessi, the bus Olivia takes home from school was involved in an accident. She’s been taken to Mercy Hospital in Janesville with the other children.”

Jessi began to shake. Susan, not knowing what Jessi had been through with Ethan, tried to calm her down. “Jessi, sometimes these things happen. Most of the time the children are just taken to the hospital as a precaution and they are released as soon as their parents arrive. I’m sure they slid into a ditch or something and they are all fine. I will go down and take over your class so you can get to the hospital. I’m sure Olivia is scared and needs her mom.” She smiled at Jessi and patted her shoulder as she left her standing in the hallway.