Bamboo and Lace (27 page)

“I was hoping you would see us come in.” Bailey greeted her husband with a kiss and handed him a bag of groceries.

“Of course you were. You just love me for my muscles.”

“Among other things,” she teased him.

“Lily bought gum,” Peter said to his father as he started to walk toward the kitchen door. “And we're going out to eat for lunch.”

“We are?”

“Yeah. It was Gabe's idea.”

“Is Gabe paying?” Evan asked with a wiggle of his brows, but Peter only laughed as the two trooped toward the house, groceries in tow.

“All right, Miss Celia,” Bailey instructed as she took her from her car seat and gave her a job, “you find Ash and tell him we're going out to lunch. Can you do that?”

“To lunch.”

“That's right. Check in his room, and if he's not there, look all over the house, but don't come back outside without him. All right?”

“Right,” Celia agreed but continued to stand where she was.

“Get going,” Bailey instructed.

“I has to carry,” she told her mother, her little brow furrowed with worry.

“Oh, right. Here,” Bailey handed her a roll of paper towels. “You can take this to the kitchen and then find Ash.”

Bailey was still laughing at Celia when Gabe and Lily showed up. Lily's face was red, and for a moment Bailey was distracted. Lily had taken some bags and started toward the house, but Gabe had climbed into the back of the van to pull things forward. Bailey suddenly realized they had a moment alone.

“Lily looked a little flushed, Gabe. What have you been doing to the girl?” she teased.

“Making a complete mess of things, I'm sure.”

Gabe's voice was so serious that Bailey dropped all teasing.

“What happened?”

“I don't know,” he answered her, sounding frustrated. “She must think I'm waiting to pounce on everything she says, but I want her to see that she doesn't have to live like that with us.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, you know, never saying what she wants, always going along with every idea. Did you know that she didn't feel she could tell me she wanted to go to the grocery store instead of golfing? She felt she was being disdainful of my taking the time to golf with her.”

At the same moment the couple heard the house door open, so the subject was dropped, but Bailey had heard enough. In just a matter of seconds she realized she could be doing her part too.

Lying back on his bed, a smile on his face, Ashton read Deanne's latest letter. They talked on the phone every week, but it wasn't enough. Deanne wrote to him at least twice a week, and Ashton usually wrote just as often.

This letter told about a Christian concert Deanne had attended and how it had taken her mind from wanting to be home. But then she recalled the verse about not grumbling and realized she hadn't been all that thankful about this opportunity to finish her college education.

I've taken it all for granted, Ash,
she continued.

How often did I dream of being able to do this, and then when the Lord gives me the chance, I'm not thankful. Since falling in love with you my future looks different than I originally planned, and at times I wonder why I'm even going for my degree. But whether or not I'll ever use it as I thought I would, I'll have accomplished my goal, and only because God afforded me this opportunity. I think that alone needs to be at the front of my mind. Does that make sense? Maybe we can talk about it next time you call.

Did my mom call you? Mic had two touchdowns in his last game. Isn't that great?

The letter went on about general things but then ended with comforting news:

Not long now, Ash—2 months, 24 days, and 13 hours until I'll be home.

All my love,
Deanne

Ashton set the letter aside and just lay thinking about what she had said. He hadn't been as thankful these days, either. He naturally missed his fiancée, but that didn't excuse the way he
had been moping around since she left.

“Well, no more,” he whispered to the Lord. “I'm going to be thankful for every day, and not because of Deanne, but because You saved me.”

The words were no more out of his mouth than someone banged on the door.

“Ash,” a little voice accompanied this pounding, and he knew he was getting a visit from Celia.

“Hey, you,” Ashton said when he opened the door and she rushed at his legs.

Arms up to communicate her desire, Celia looked up and waited for her uncle to reach for her. Once in his arms, she put her little hands on his cheeks and spoke directly into his face.

“We're going lunch.”

“We're going to lunch?”

She nodded.

“Where are we going to lunch?”

“Out.”

Ashton kissed her cheek and held her close for a moment.

“Am I invited?”

This was met with another nod.

“All right. Tell your mom I'll be down in a minute. Okay?”

“'Kay.”

Ashton watched her run down the hall, fall without mishap, pick herself back up, and then take the stairs on her stomach, feet first, at a speed that was frightening. He turned back into his room to ready himself to leave, thinking that Celia had been a good reminder of what he had just told the Lord.

Even that little girl needs my example so she'll find You, Lord. I can't show her the joy I have in You if all I do is wander around and wait for Deanne to come home.

Gabe was starting to know “the look.” It was another hour before he realized what he had witnessed in the car with Lily, but now he had her figured out.

Whenever Lily grew very still and watched everything very carefully—her face a picture of composure, he knew she was in a new situation. Sometimes she would be so taken by surprise that she would forget herself, but from the moment they walked into the restaurant, Gabe knew that any peace he read in her expression was forced.

“What are you having, Peter?” his mother asked.

“Do they have hot dogs?”

“Let's see.”

Lily watched Bailey lean toward her son and study his paper place mat. Lily looked at her own place mat, but it was not the same. She watched Evan reach for a booklet of some type and look in it, but still she hesitated.

“What are you having, Lily?” Ashton asked.

“I don't know. Can you recommend something?”

Gabe hid a smile. She was covering very nicely.

“I heard you went shopping today,” Evan said before Ashton could answer.

“We bought gum!” Peter chimed in. Lily smiled.

“It was very interesting. I learned quite a few new things.”

As Lily said this, Gabe laid down his “booklet,” and she was able to see that various food items were listed inside. She reached for one, and as though the knowledge emerged from a hidden corner of her mind, she knew what she was supposed to do.

“I'm having the taco salad,” Ashton proclaimed as he set his menu aside. He then noticed Lily again. “Lily, did you cut your hand?”

Lily looked confused for a moment, and then her face swept with color.

“Oh, no, I just, um, that is, I wanted to see what it was like.”

Ashton tried to follow but failed miserably. He didn't say anything but watched as Lily swiftly peeled off the pink strip and rolled it in her fingers.

“There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Lily,” Gabe said quietly from beside her. “Ash would understand that Band-Aids are new to you.”

“Is that it?” Ashton asked with a smile. “Did you buy those this morning at the store?”

Lily nodded, smiling at his understanding eyes.

“I thought you were going golfing,” Ashton said, having just remembered.

Gabe smiled. “There was a change in plans.”

“So when will you golf?”

“I was going to ask Lily about that later.”

“We can anytime you wish,” she told Gabe.

“Okay,” he said simply, still planning to ask her about it and not just tell her.

“Okay, folks.” A woman came on the scene in a clean uniform and apron. “Can I start anyone with something to drink?”

Lily was unprepared for this. They had already been given water, and it was her turn to answer the woman much too soon.

“I'll have the same,” she said, thinking she had had a moment of genius, but the person before her had been Bailey who wanted only water, and Lily hadn't caught that.

The waitress, however, took it in stride and moved on. Evan, on the other hand, finally saw what Gabe had been witnessing.

“Lily,” he asked kindly, “is this the first time you've eaten in a restaurant?”

She nodded, feeling quite tense and hoping she hadn't done anything wrong.

“Honestly, Lily,” he went on, “you're so good for me.”

Lily only stared at him, wondering what that could mean.

“I live so much of my life without giving a moment's thought to the everyday aspects. Will you please do me a huge favor and explain something that I wouldn't understand or naturally know how to do if I came to Kashien?”

Lily looked surprised, but pleased too.

“Gabe and I saw Mrs. Stringer in the grocery store, and she was asking me how we did our marketing at home. I think that might be a little bit different for you.”

“So what would I have to learn?”

“In our village you would need to understand that Cam sells cheese and butter, but he won't accept any trades. He only wants coins. Jenai sells fabric, but we can always pay her with wheat or flax. Yau Ta is one of the few men who will give us coin for our wares, but that's because he goes into the city and can peddle them for much more than he paid to us. And most things are negotiated, but not all, so one has to be careful not to give offense.”

“And what happens if someone gets offended?”

“It can cause quite a stir. Feelings get hurt, and then the person assumes he's lost respect with you or the whole village. The repair work is so difficult that one learns at an early age not to offend.”

“So how do you ever tell anyone that he needs to be saved from his sins?” Bailey asked.

“We don't attempt to open any doors. We wait for a door to open for us. The church has over 50 men, women, and children now, and when someone sees a difference in us and inquires about it, we see that as an open door. When Jeff went off to college in California, he wrote back and told me about the practice of greeting strangers and handing them a booklet or a piece of paper that explains the gospel and then walking away.

“It's not that easy in Kashien. Your life has to be different enough to open the door, or you must keep your mouth closed.”

“And what differences would the people of the village see in you and your father?”

“We are honest in our trade. We don't use drugs or alcohol. My father does not beat me. We do not grow angry and shun the neighbor with whom we are upset. We give away some of our time and wares without expectations of reciprocation. I am an honorable daughter in that I am not seen out at night with men, nor am I known to speak back or be disrespectful, especially before the men of the community.”

“And is the color of your skin ever a barrier?” Gabe asked this question.

“When my father first came he was not trusted, but all he did was buy a plot of land, build a home, and begin to work the land. It took almost two years for someone to ask him why he was so honest. Six months later he led that man to Christ, and the church began.

“Then he met and married my mother, and more walls came down when the village realized they could trust a white woman. By the time Jeff and I came along, we were very accepted in the village. Visitors sometimes have a hard time, but we deal with it as best we can, and the walls come down if they stay among us long enough.”

“What do you miss the most?”

Bailey had no more voiced this when the drinks arrived and the waitress stayed to take their orders. When it was her turn, Lily was ready.