God's Gift (4 page)

There was a crash from the front of the house and the roar of a surprised man.

Lace was laughing. “Good job, Rae.” She came back and dropped into one of the plush chairs. “We’re going to need to get more ice,” she remarked, reaching down to pick up her soda. “Dave is sitting in it.”

Dave came in brushing water off the back of his jeans and
shaking ice out of the back of his sweatshirt. “Rae, that was excessive,” he mildly remarked, scowling at her as she slipped under his arm.

“That was two years of interest,” she replied with a twinkle in her eyes. “You want a towel?”

He tweaked her ponytail. “Bring me two.”

She came back with two bath towels, draped one around his shoulders. He took the other and rubbed under his sweatshirt.

“You know I owe you one now.”

She laughed. “Got to catch me first.”

She dropped into the chair opposite Lace. “Lace, he’s got six days to retaliate. I think I should have waited a few days.”

Dave came in carrying a soda and Rae ducked when he stopped behind her chair, half-afraid she was going to get a bath with it.

James chuckled.

It was going to be quite a week around these three friends.

“T
ranquil morning.”

It was the crack of dawn. Rae, seated on the porch steps, turned, surprised. She knew neither Dave nor Lace were likely to be moving at this time of the morning.

James.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked, concerned. He was in pain, she could see it in his movements and his face.

“Overdid it yesterday. I pay for mistakes like that,” he replied, sinking down onto the porch steps beside her. “Thanks for making the coffee.”

She smiled. “Not a problem. I don’t wake up without it.”

“These days, neither do I,” he replied. “Why aren’t you sleeping in?”

How was she suppose to answer that? The truth or something that made sense? Rae shrugged a shoulder, then changed her mind and decided to tell him the truth. “Ever have one of these experiences in life that just stops you in your tracks until you figure it out?”

She liked his smile and the frank way he turned and met her gaze. “Like God just grabbed your jacket collar, tugged, and said ‘No, think about this’?” he asked softly.

Rae nodded. She drew her knees up and folded her arms around them. “I woke up about 2:00 a.m. with Psalm 37 running through my mind. I don’t know why. Feels important.”

He leaned back on his hands, his expression thoughtful. “It’s an interesting Psalm. Trusting God with your dreams, the security He provides, the promise of refuge in times of trouble. What were you thinking about when you went to bed—if you don’t mind me asking?”

Rae smiled at the room he was trying to give her. She didn’t know if it was the conversation topic or the fact it was her that had him slightly uncomfortable. “Nothing earth-shattering. The book I’ve been writing.”

He looked surprised. “I didn’t know you were a writer.”

“Have been for years. I’m not published, just enjoy doing it.” She tipped her coffee cup to see if there was any left.

“Sounds like fun.”

She smiled. “It’s a different kind of work.”

A blue jay dropped down past the porch steps to land on the flagstones and check out what looked like a dropped dime. He took back to flight with a raucous cry.

“Most of the time when a scripture comes to mind like you described, it’s because it is an answer to a question you were asking.”

The only things I’ve been asking lately is where do I go now that Leo is dead….

“Could be,” she replied, knowing he was right. She nodded toward his coffee mug. “Want some more? I need a refill.” She didn’t want to think about Leo and the past. Not on this vacation.

He knew. It was there in his eyes. He knew she was avoiding something God wanted her to deal with. He handed her the mug. “Sure,” he said.

He’d probably never been afraid to face anything in his life. Rae wished she had that kind of courage. She didn’t. Not when it came to saying goodbye to what she might have had. “Black?”

“Please.”

When she came back out with the coffee, he had moved, stretched his legs out fully, was slowly working his right knee. He was doing his best not to grimace with the movement.

Rae felt an intense sense of empathy for him. He was like Kevin, a man accustomed to days of physical work. The pain had to be hard to cope with. She sat back down beside him, leaving a foot of space between them, turning slightly so she could lean against a porch post. “Patricia said the bug was damaging your joints,” she remarked, handing him the refilled mug.

“It’s doing damage like lupus, fibromyalgia, or the aggressive forms of arthritis. The joints lose the ability to move freely.”

“Is it getting better?”

He grimaced. “At a snail’s pace. They don’t know what bug I picked up, and they don’t know how long the symptoms are going to last.”

“Is it the pain that messes up your sleep?” she asked, curious.

“Yes and no. The sleep study showed there is a lot of alpha wave activity during what should be delta sleep. My body isn’t sleeping properly anymore. They don’t know why.”

“You weren’t praying for patience by any chance, were you?”

He smiled. “I was praying for someone to show up in Africa who knew how to train medical staff. We were building clinics faster than we could staff them.”

“What’s the problem with getting staff?”

“Money. Doctors who have been in practice for a few years have grown to like the income and don’t want to go, doctors straight out of medical school are so deep in school debts, they can’t afford to go.”

“I don’t know why that surprises me. We’ve got the same problem staffing the Crisis Centers here.”

The door behind them opened. “Would you two like a hot or cold breakfast? We’ve got everything from fruit and cereal to bacon and eggs,” Patricia asked.

“I want you to give me another pancake making lesson,” Rae requested, scooping up her mug. “The squirrels can eat the ones I burn.”

James laughed. “Rae, she’s not the best at it either.”

“She’s better than I am. That’s all I care about,” Rae replied with a grin as they both went inside.

“Dave, Rae is
cooking.
” It was a whispered warning overheard from the hall. James had to smile at Lace’s reaction. No one could be that bad a cook.

He changed his mind thirty minutes later. Rae had tried, but the pancakes were not like the ones his mom made.

Rae chuckled at the expressions on her friends’ faces around the table, pulled back the plate of remaining pancakes she had set on the table and reappeared with a plate of pancakes Patricia had fixed. “I’m getting better, you didn’t try to stifle a gag.”

“Rae, why don’t you just give up?” Dave asked. “It’s not your fault your grandmother refused to cook. Cooking is something you either learn as a child or it’s a lost art.”

“Nope. I’m going to learn how if it kills me,” she replied, helping herself to two of the pancakes Patricia had fixed.

“It might kill one of
us
one of these days,” Dave replied, then yelped when someone kicked him under the table.

“David Hank McAllister, be nice.”

“She knows I’m teasing, Lace.”

“Hank?” Rae burst out laughing.

Dave turned to Lace. “Now see what you’ve done? You promised you wouldn’t tell.”

Rae’s laughter intensified. “Hank. Oh this is rich.”

“I’ll give you rich,
Amy.
”

Rae wrinkled her nose at him and did her best to stop her laughter. “I can’t believe I’ve known you ten years without knowing your middle name.”

“What’s so funny?” Emily had joined them, wiping sleep from her eyes. James lifted her up into his lap, his own laughter hard to contain. “Just adult stuff,” he told her, smiling.

The threesome quieted down. “Sorry, Dave,” Lace whispered, then giggled.

He snagged his coffee mug to get a refill, his head shaking as he walked to the kitchen. “Women.”

Rae leaned across Dave’s empty chair toward Lace, a smile dancing across her face. “I think I know what we should get him for his birthday.”

Lace had to stifle her laughter at the whispered suggestion. “Think we could still find the CD?” Lace asked. “He hates country music almost as much as he does jazz. It’s perfect.”

“You knew?”

Lace grinned. “He hides a cringe every time I choose track four. He is so easy to get.”

“Lace, you are good,” Rae said, sitting back in her chair and looking at her friend with new respect.

Lace leaned back in her chair. “I’m better than good,” she replied with a smile. “He’s never going to know what hit him.”

Laughter was good medicine, James thought. He hadn’t felt this good in weeks. Watching Rae and Lace, he couldn’t contain his smile.

Rae caught him watching her and grinned. “You’ll get used to us, James.”

“I’m enjoying it,” he replied, watching her blush slightly.

Lace saw the blush and turned to look at him. He winked. James saw Lace hesitate a moment and glance back at Rae. Then a wide smile crossed her face. “Dave,” Lace called, “we want to go canoeing this morning. But I’m riding with you. Rae sent me into the drink last time.”

Dave appeared in the doorway, munching on a piece of bacon. “Only if I’m steering.”

“You can steer,” Lace agreed, getting up to clear her place.

“Lace, I wanted to lounge on the patio with a book,” Rae remarked, stacking the plates.

“No, you don’t. You want to go canoeing.”

Rae looked at her friend, puzzled. “Okay.” She glanced over at Patricia and James. “Either one of you want to go canoeing?”

“The kids and I have a date with a pair a horses,” Patricia replied, smiling.

“Can I steer?” James asked quietly.

Rae looked at him, finally caught the byplay between him and Lace, flushed, then laughed. “Sure.” She snagged her friend’s sweater. “Come on, Lace. You need to put those plates in the sink.”

Lace let herself get tugged out of the room. “I need to put these plates in the sink,” she agreed, winking back at James.

Dave watched them go with a rueful smile. He tugged out his chair with his foot. “It is going to be a
long
week.”

James laughed. He had a feeling both he and Dave were going to enjoy it.

“Do you want to beach the canoe and rest your wrists for a while?”

James smiled. “Relax, Rae. I’m fine. That’s the fourth time you’ve asked.”

“You’re here to recover, not make matters worse.”

She rested her paddle across the bow and leaned over to watch a school of sunfish slide by near the surface.

She had a nice back. He’d been admiring the view for the last hour.

His wrists were sore, but not intolerable. His shirt was almost dry. There had been a laughter-filled water fight between the two canoes about forty minutes back. He hadn’t felt this relaxed in months. Nothing to do but drift with the current and spend time with a beautiful lady.

The canoe way ahead of them rocked wildly and Rae ducked her head so as not to look. “Tell me she isn’t trying to stand up.”

James chuckled. “Okay, I won’t.”

Lace somehow managed to turn around without tipping the canoe over. “Want to catch up with them?” James asked.

Rae shook her head. “They are probably debating the ethics of civil litigation again. I’ll pass.”

“What does Lace do for a living, anyway?”

Rae resumed paddling, her movements sure and smooth. It added a slight sway to her back. “It’s more a question of what she hasn’t done. She’s the daughter of a federal judge
and a district attorney. She’s got a law degree, but more because it’s what the family does than anything else. She’s forgotten more law than most lawyers ever learn. She doesn’t like to settle down. She’s worked in international banking, edited textbooks, worked for Senator White. She’s currently doing some consulting work for a sports management firm downtown.”

“Was that where you three met? College?”

“I’ve known Lace since I was nine. We met Dave and Leo at Northwestern. We made an awesome foursome. Dave the fighter for justice, Leo the energy, Lace the constant new interests, and me the practical planner.”

James smiled. “You’re also the hub they revolve around.”

“That’s because I’m always there doing the same thing,” Rae replied with a smile. “I’m a creature of habit.”

“You grew up with your grandmother?”

“My parents died in a car wreck when I was nine. We were living in Texas at the time. The next day this wonderful lady in her fifties appeared and said, ‘Don’t worry. You’ve still got me.’ I had heard about her all my life, got Christmas presents and birthday gifts, but not seen her since I was about five. The day we arrived at her house in Chicago, five inches of snow fell. I thought I had moved to another planet.”

James smiled. She had loved her grandmother a lot, he could hear it in her voice. He caught a glimpse of golden brown and dipped his paddle deep, turned the canoe twenty degrees to the left. “Look behind that fallen tree.” A deer had come down to the water’s edge to drink.

“She’s beautiful,” Rae whispered.

The animal raised its head, paused, then went back to drinking.

They watched for several minutes. The animal picked its way over driftwood, then slipped back into the woods.

“Want to try out those sandwiches Patricia sent?” There was a clearing up ahead of them.

Rae picked up her paddle. “Sure.”

“So, did you have a good time?”

Rae rolled onto her side in the spacious bed, half smiled at the question from the other side of the dark room. “I can’t believe you set me up.”

“He’s a nice guy.”

Rae smiled in the darkness. “Yes, he is. He’s also leaving the country in less than three months,” she pointed out, being practical.

“That’s tomorrow’s problem,” Lace replied. “It was good to see you enjoying yourself.”

“Lace, I always enjoy a vacation.”

“Not since Leo died.”

Rae bit her bottom lip. “I really miss him, Lace.”

“I know you do,” came the soft reply. “You okay?”

It had been a nice day, but it had been hard. The cabin was yet another place filled with memories of Leo. She had missed Leo’s tap on the door, waking her up at 5:00 a.m. to go fishing, missed having him fix breakfast for them. She had enjoyed the afternoon with James. He didn’t seem to mind the silence or the space she preferred. It was almost better, knowing he was going back to Africa—easier at least. The last thing she wanted to even consider was risking getting hurt again. “Yeah, I’m okay.” She would be. When God helped her fix the hole in her heart. “Remember those canoe races Leo and Dave used to have?”

“Holding that rope across the water for a finish line was not one of our more well thought out actions,” Lace replied.

Rae laughed softly. They had both been pulled into the water when the guys reached up and grabbed the rope. “They had to have been planning that one for weeks ahead of time.”

“You got Dave good last night, by the way.”

“Thanks. Watch my back for me, okay? I have no idea how he’s going to retaliate.”

“I’ll do my best,” Lace promised. “’Night, Rae.”

“’Night, Lace.”

Rae wished she had brought her jacket. It was late afternoon. The breeze coming up from the lake made it cool in the shade. She had hiked to the highest point near the cabin, a hill that let her look out over the water. They had been at the cabin for three days, and the slow, easy pace had taken away a sense of strain that she had not been aware she was carrying.