Worth a Thousand Words (27 page)
Brian would face enough regrets, rejection, and loneliness in the days ahead; she didn’t have to crush him.
“I’ll always love you too, Brian,” she said. “You take care of yourself.”
They hugged and returned to the end-of-summer cookout.
Brian wandered off to talk to her father and she resumed her position on the patio, where she had a full view of the entire backyard.
Yasmin sat under a shade tree, making sure she didn’t get too much sun, in case Sasha called with a modeling job. She flipped through a portfolio of recent photos she had taken for various magazines, and her friends oohed and aahed.
Rachelle approached Indigo and extended a soda. She followed Indigo’s gaze and shook her head.
“You know that Taryn wants to model now, right?”
Indigo laughed. “Never say never,” she told Rachelle. “Wouldn’t it be cool to have two supermodels in the family?”
“Hmm,” Rachelle said and grabbed a cupcake from a tray that Aunt Melba was bringing outside for guests. “Too much pressure. I surely wouldn’t be eating like this.”
Gabe walked up and hugged her from behind. “I like everything I see,” he said.
Indigo frowned in mock disgust. “You guys are sickening.” She laughed.
Indigo was preparing to walk away when Rachelle pulled her by the arm and leaned into her ear.
“Don’t worry, Indie, your blessing is coming. You wait and see,” she said.
Indigo smiled. “I know. God’s got it. He’ll send him my way when we’re ready for each other.”
Indigo joined her father at the grill and watched him baste the ribs. She looked toward the fence again, wondering where her special guest was. Brian had shown up and that should be enough, but it wasn’t, no matter how much she wanted it to be.
H
e arrived on Sunday morning, about eighteen hours late.
The doorbell rang as the Burnses were rushing through breakfast so they could make it to Sunday school.
“I’ll get it,” Indigo said, not wanting to hope, but doing so anyway.
She was rewarded.
Reuben had come home.
She wanted to ask him why he had missed the cookout and what had taken him so long to find the courage to return to Jubilant. But she didn’t.
The fact that he was here was enough.
She stood in the doorway and drank in an eyeful of him: tall, ebony, and handsome. The spitting image of their deceased father, whose pictures still graced Mama and Daddy’s walls.
She hadn’t seen her brother since her graduation in May; he didn’t know she had been engaged and was newly single. Before that, she hadn’t seen him since her high school graduation.
Something about being in Jubilant wounded his soul. In all of the counseling that she, Mama, and Daddy had undergone with Dr. Danvers to help Yasmin, they had come to understand that.
Reuben was twelve when their parents were killed in the car crash. He remembered them more than Indigo or Yasmin and had experienced this major loss at a pivotal age. His life had been uprooted when everything in his world should have been steady and rock solid.
Dr. Danvers warned them that he might never come home again, especially if the memories of what he’d lost suffocated him because he hadn’t dealt with them.
This time, though, Reuben had found his way.
In all practicality, she hadn’t done or said anything compelling to draw him here. Her email had been brief:
The family cookout is in three weeks, on Saturday as usual. Would love to have you here with us.
Indigo knew God had answered her prayers.
She held open the door to let him enter and opened her arms wide. She hesitated to verbally welcome him home, lest that whole notion caused him to flee. She just wanted him to know that he was loved.
Reuben scooped Indigo into his arms and gave her one of the bear hugs that had been a trademark of their childhood bond.
“It’s wonderful to see you, big brother,” she said. “You’ve made my day.”
Probably curious about who would be visiting at eight a.m., Mama and Daddy approached the front door.
Mama took just a few steps and fell to her knees when she saw her son/grandson.
“Thank you, Father!”
Daddy stood beside her, trembling.
Reuben approached him and hugged him. Their tender embrace lasted until a cry pierced the air. Reuben seemed to remember he wasn’t alone.
“I brought you a surprise,” he told his parents. “Wait here.”
Seconds later, Reuben ushered in a petite brown-skinned woman with locks that brushed her shoulders. She was carrying a baby dressed in blue.
“This is my wife, Peyton.” Reuben beamed. “And this is our son, Charles David Burns. He’s six months old.”
Indigo couldn’t hold back her tears when she saw that Daddy’s cheeks were wet. When he had composed himself, Daddy uttered the words Indigo had been afraid to: “Welcome home, Son. Welcome to you and to your beautiful family.”
N
othing would be the same after today.
Indigo sat in Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston counting down the minutes until she boarded her flight to New York, to her new life. She couldn’t wait.
So much had happened this summer that she was sure she would someday look back on this summer and believe it was all a dream. But it hadn’t been. She had grown up so much.
She had learned that when life knocked you down, you’d better listen to your Daddy and pick yourself up. She meant both Daddies—her grandfather who had raised her as a daughter, and her heavenly Father, who still had so much to teach her.
She sat here, convinced that when she boarded this flight, not only would she be headed toward a destiny crafted around photography and her growing achievements in the industry; she also would be expanding her world in ways that would resonate for eternity.
Rachelle had driven her, Mama, and Daddy to the airport and had shared how her childhood best friend, Jillian, had been a professional photographer who traveled the world before losing a battle with cancer.
“I eventually decided that the cancer didn’t win,” Rachelle told her. “Because Jillian still lives on through the great photos she took that are displayed in all parts of the world, and through the lives she touched with her friendship and love. She lives on through me, whenever I pull out my list of goals and remember how she inspired me to reclaim my life.
“That’s the thing about this journey, Indigo. We have to remember that we’re only here for a set period of time, and we don’t get to ‘do over’ some things. So it’s for our best to do them well the first time around. That’s a lesson I’ve learned the hard way and continue to learn, even now.
“But you start thinking like that now, at your age, and when opportunities or obstacles present themselves, you’ll figure out a way to either overcome them or plow through them.”
Indigo reflected on Rachelle’s advice and wished she could share it with Brian and Shelby. Both of them were on their way to their respective flight schools. She would see Shelby in six months, when she served as maid of honor in her best friend’s wedding.
She wasn’t sure when she would cross paths with Brian again, but while she was thinking about it, she wanted to let him know she was in his corner.
Hey, future Navy pilot, do your best. Give your all, & remember, u will succeed. Godspeed!
Indigo sent the text and seconds later, received a reply.
Godspeed, Indie. Always yours, B.
He had attached a picture of a red rose.
Always, indeed,
she thought. Nothing would ever change that.
What was the overall theme of this book and how was this thread displayed in each major character’s life?
What was Indigo’s truth, and why was it so hard for her to accept? What could have made it easier?
Was Brian wise or foolish for trying to get help from Craig to figure out who he was?
Were Rachelle and Gabe’s views about marriage accurate? Why or why not?
Was Shelby right or wrong not to share what she knew with her friend? What would you have done?
Why was Rachelle an important role model for Indigo as well as for Yasmin and her daughter, Taryn?
Do you think Brian’s mother knew the particular issue he was struggling to resolve? If so, should she have confronted him?
What did Yasmin’s illness reveal about the impact of family dynamics on a child’s life?
Was Indigo’s forgiveness of those who hurt her realistic? Was it wise?
What was your initial reaction to Brian’s secret?
Do you think Brian’s faith will truly help him heal or was his plan for moving forward unrealistic?
Each of the pastors in the book talked about trusting and resting in God, yet the younger characters seemed to struggle with that. Why is this such a challenge, for Christians at all levels of maturity?
In what area of your own journey has this book caused you to reflect?
What one life lesson will you take away from spending time with these fictional characters?
A
cknowledgments get harder and harder to write, because the list of people I’d like to thank for offering their prayers, encouragement, and support continues to grow.
First and foremost, I offer praise, glory, and gratitude to God for using me as his vessel once again.
I thank my husband, Donald, and children, Syd and Jay, for allowing me to grace their world and for understanding when I steal away to write. As always, I thank Muriel Miller Branch for offering a listening ear and a writing sanctuary so I could hammer out portions of this manuscript. I also thank my friends and first readers, Sharon Shahid, Carol Jackson, and Teresa Coleman.
Gratitude is extended to my agent, Steve Laube; my editors, Lonnie Hull Dupont and Barb Barnes; Twila Bennett, Michele Misiak, Carmen Pease, and the entire Revell Books marketing and publicity team; and Nathan Henrion and the Revell Books sales team. It’s a group effort to birth a book, and your support isn’t taken for granted!
A special thank-you is also extended to Charmaine Spain, Joe and Gloria Murphy and the entire Murphy clan, Deborah Lowry and family, Bobbie Walker Trussell, Barbara Grayson, Henry Haney, Sandra Williams, Patsy Scott, Gwendolyn Richard, Barbara Rascoe, Lori Willis, Toyce Small, Yolanda Butler, Yul Cardwell, Danielle Jones, Lauren Stewart, Carol Mackey, Tyora Moody, Brendan Conroy, Marilynn Griffith, Rhonda McKnight, Tia McCollors, Kendra Norman-Bellamy, Linda Hudson-Smith, Rev. Nathaniel West, Shaun Robinson, Gwen Mansini, LaVera Williams, Helena Nyman, Gloria Thomas, Johanna Schuchert, Delores and Mac McLauchlin, the American Christian Fiction Writers—Richmond Chapter, my extended family and church family, and the Midlothian Chapter of Jack and Jill.
Many thanks to the wonderful book clubs across the country that have been so supportive and have befriended me—if I start listing names, I’ll inadvertently neglect to mention one, so I’ll stop at thank you! Thanks also to the bookstores that continue to sell my work and encourage readers to buy. Thanks to the radio hosts, television broadcasters, and print and online journalists who have honored me by featuring my work.
If I haven’t mentioned your name, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you! Space doesn’t permit it all.
A special thank-you is extended to you, the reader, for journeying with me into a fictional setting and into fictional lives where we all can find kernels of truth and glimpses of God to sustain us. Know that I think of you as I write, and I pray each time I sit in front of the computer that I’m given a story you can learn from or that you need. I hope I have accomplished that with this book, and that from this day forward, you’ll walk in truth and in the joy that accompanies the depth and breadth of God’s love.
Abundant blessings,
Stacy
Stacy Hawkins Adams
is an award-winning author, journalist, and inspirational speaker. She and her family live in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia. Her other published titles include
Speak to
My Heart, Nothing but the Right Thing, Watercolored Pearls
, and
The Someday List
. She welcomes readers to visit her website:
www.stacyhawkinsadams.com.
NOVELS WITH
spirit . . .
Rachelle Covington
has it all. Will she
give up everything to recover the past? Or will she
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Revell