Tender Love Page 20

  “I love him so much,” Alice sobbed. “He can’t die.”

  During most of their relationship, Alice had always been the one who’d comforted Mark, but Mark had become the protector now, and how good it was to lean on his strength!

  Kristin tugged at Alice’s hand. “Don’t cry, Alice,” but tears were pouring from her eyes, and Alice left Mark’s embrace to kneel beside Kristin. She wiped Kristin’s tears. “I’m sorry I was away when this happened.”

  “We’ve missed you so much—you always make things better.”

  “Mark,” Gran called excitedly. “Eddie is moving.”

  “Maybe the sound of your voice brought him around,” Mark said, as they all gathered around the bed. “Talk to him, Alice.”

  Alice perched on the bed, took Eddie’s right hand, careful not to dislodge any of the tubes connected to his little body. She caressed his face and brushed back the curls that had fallen over his forehead.

  “Eddie,” she whispered. “I’ve come to see you. Won’t you wake up and talk to me?” She bent over and kissed him.

  Mark’s hand gripped Alice’s shoulder. Slowly, Eddie licked his lips. His eyes fluttered a little, finally opened, and they brightened when he recognized her.

  “Alice,” he whispered, and the weakness in his voice distressed her. “I’ve missed you.”

  Alice heard a sob escape Mark’s lips, and she lifted her fingers and covered his hand on her shoulder.

  “I was only gone a few days.”

  “It seemed like a long time. I don’t like to go home from school when you’re not there. Aunt Margaret is fun, but I wanted you.”

  “You hurry and get well, and I’ll be waiting when you get home from school.”

  “Alice, I’ve been asleep for a long time and I’ve been dreaming a lot. One time, I dreamed I was talking to Jesus, and he took me by the hand and told me He would show me my new mommy. And it was you, Alice—it was you! He wants you and Daddy to get married.”

  Overcome, Alice slumped on the bed beside him, and everyone cried except Eddie. Mark put his arm around Alice. “We won’t wait any longer, Son. As soon as you’re well enough to come to the wedding, I’ll give you a new mama.”

  Eddie was released from the hospital a few days later, still weak, but definitely on the mend. Each night, Alice stayed at the hospital with the boy, so that Mark could continue his work, because his resignation would soon be effective, and he wanted to meet his obligations before then.

  He was able to sit at the table and eat his meal the first night he came home. Alice watched him anxiously even though the doctors had assured her that he was out of danger. Mark went upstairs with Eddie and kept him company for an hour, but before he went to sleep, Eddie asked for Alice.

  “Are you going to sit with me tonight?” he asked.

  “I don’t believe that’s necessary. Your daddy will be right down the hall, and he’ll be listening for you to call if you have trouble. Also, I’ll leave my bedroom door open and you can ring your bell if you need me. I’ll check on you again before I go to bed.”

  “What’re you going to do until then? Why don’t you stay with me?”

  “Because I’ve been spending every night with you for over a week and I’ve had no time with Mark. Daddies need to know you love them, too.”

  “All right,” Eddie said, “but you will come back before you go to bed?”

  “You can count on it.” Alice bent over and kissed his soft hair.

  Mark waited at the bottom of the stairs. He put his arm around her, and they went into the family room and sat together on the couch.

  “When can we get married?” Mark said.

  “The sooner the better,” Alice answered with a smile. “The doctor said that Eddie can go back to school in a week, so any time after that.”

  “Do you want a big wedding?”

  Alice shook her head emphatically. “No. Let’s go to Tyler Memorial and have a short ceremony with only a few friends and relatives.”

  Mark hesitated. “Since I’m returning to the church as their pastor, I believe the members will be disappointed if they aren’t invited to come. We could have the current pastor perform a simple ceremony, without fancy clothes or attendants, but invite anyone who wants to come.”

  “You’re right, of course—I hadn’t thought of it that way. Will your parents come?”

  “I’m sure they will, if my sister has time to look after the business.”

  “My family will want to attend too, so we’ll have several relatives.”

  Mark stretched out his long legs and relaxed beside her.

  “I’ve been so worried over the past few weeks that I wondered if I could ever be happy again. And now, you’re here in my arms, and Eddie is upstairs asleep in his own bed.” He drew her head down on his shoulder, and caressed her hair.

  “Mark, I want to legally adopt Kristin and Eddie. I don’t want to be a stepmother—I want to be their mother. Do you think they’ll mind, or do you object?”

  He laughed lowly. “Why would I object? You’re paying me a compliment to adopt my children so they will be ‘ours.’ That’s wonderful, but what if we have a child? That would put Kristin and Eddie on the same legal basis as your child, and, considering your assets, that’s a significant decision.”

  “That’s one of the reasons I want to adopt them.”

  As soon as the wedding was over, Eddie started calling Alice, Mama, but the matter of how to address Alice seemed to be a major problem for Kristin. For several days, she didn’t call her anything, but one evening when she was helping Alice prepare the evening meal, and they were alone in the kitchen, she said, “Why can’t I call you ‘Mother’?”

  “I’d be happy to have you call me ‘Mother.’”

  “Mama sounds too babyish, and besides that’s what I called my other mother.” Alice was gratified that she didn’t say “my real mother.”

  “I prefer to be called Mother, rather than Mom, so that sounds like a good choice.”

  Alice didn’t report the conversation to Mark, but the first time he heard Kristin address her as “Mother,” he lifted his eyebrows, and his dimple deepened. He was pleased.

  When Alice awakened on the Sunday morning that Mark was to preach the first sermon of his renewed pastorate, her husband was seated in a chair near the window, a Bible in his hand. She sat up in bed, and he turned toward her. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your meditations. Shall I go back to sleep?”

  “No, come join me,” Mark said, and he held out his arm to her. She slipped on a robe and went to sit on his knee.

  “Nervous?” she asked.

  “No. I’ve prepared my sermon well, and I’ve been praying just now for the Spirit’s leadership when I face my congregation. It’s strange that even though I was their pastor for years, it still seems like a beginning.”

  Alice caressed his face, feeling the roughness of his beard beneath the fair skin.

  “I’m looking forward to hearing your sermon, and I know you’ll do great. But we’d better get a move on if we want to get our whole family gussied up for the day. We don’t want you to be ashamed of our appearance.”

  After a quick breakfast, while Mark helped the children to dress, Alice went across the hall to see if Gran needed any assistance.

  The older woman was struggling to put on her stockings. “I’m getting slower all the time, Alice. I can’t be ready in time.”

  “I’ll help you. Mark is taking care of the kids.” Alice knelt before her and pulled on the hose, then she lifted a dress over the older woman’s head and secured the zipper.

  “I wish I had a new dress, since this is such an important occasion, but I haven’t bought anything for a long time.”

  “I’ll take you shopping someday soon, so you can buy new clothing, and you might find some new items under the Christmas tree.”

  Gran patted Alice’s hand. “You’re good to me, Alice, as much as if I were your own grandmother, but I’m a burden to you.
I think it would be better if I just go into a nursing home when you move.”

  Alice laid her arm around the angular, stooped shoulders.

  “Gran, when I said ‘I do’ to Mark, I said ‘I do’ to his family. You’re family, and unless you get completely disabled to the place that I can’t take care of you, you’re welcome to stay with us. So stop fretting about it. You’re the nearest relative the children have, except their father, and it’s important for them to have some ties to the past.”

  Alice had bought new clothes for Mark and the children in honor of this special occasion. Kristin wore a burnt-orange sweater with a brown skirt. Eddie had on a pair of blue trousers, a white shirt, and a light-blue silk tie. And Gran, in spite of her disability, presented a neat and gracious appearance in an aqua woolen dress. Before her stroke, she’d been above average in height, and Alice believed that in her youth, Gran had been a beauty.

  Alice didn’t have new clothes, but she dressed in the most expensive wool suit she’d ever owned. She’d bought it on sale a few months before she’d met Mark and his family. Mark whistled when Alice pirouetted in front of him for inspection. With the dark-brown suit, she wore a pink blouse that emphasized her pink-and-white complexion. She put on coral pendant earrings and fastened a matching brooch to her suit lapel.

  Kristin and Eddie came running in the room and lined up beside Alice. “Do you think your family will do you credit today?” Alice asked. “We don’t want you to be ashamed of us.”

  “I wouldn’t be ashamed of you if you wore rags,” he said. He knelt to hug Kristin and Eddie.

  “Daddy, be careful—you’ll muss my clothes,” Kristin said as she backed away, but Eddie threw himself into his father’s arms. When Mark stood, he took a long look at Alice, and hugged her so tightly that she squealed.

  “Maybe I don’t want to be mussed, either,” she teased, but he only squeezed her harder. With his lips close to her ear, he whispered, “I don’t deserve you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  Alice and her family were ushered to a front seat in the crowded sanctuary. When Mark entered and took his seat on the platform, his eyes searched the congregation until he found them. He smiled broadly and surveyed the other worshipers with a sweeping glance. There were no empty seats, and the ushers were scurrying around trying to seat latecomers in the balcony.

  “I want to thank you for calling me as your pastor, giving me a second chance to take up the cross I’d laid down,” Mark said in his opening remarks. He read the text for the sermon.

  “‘But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’” When she heard the text, Alice surmised that his sermon would be a personal testimony.

  Since this was the first time Alice had heard Mark preach, she tried to be objective in her appraisal, and that was difficult to achieve when her heart was stirred at his physical appearance. He was more robust now than he’d been when she’d first met him, his color was better, and his erect stature hinted of strength and confidence. His voice was deep and compassionate, and he spoke with an authority and firmness that kept the audience’s attention.

  “Oh, God,” Alice prayed inwardly, “thank You for Your perseverance in bringing Him back to You and Your service.”

  In a trembling voice, he told of the trying days during the illness of his son and wife. “I let my troubles overwhelm me, and for months I neglected the ministry I’d been called to. I was in the depth of despair when I cried to God, like David of old, asking Him to ‘bring me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, and set my feet on a rock and give me a firm place to stand.’ That’s when He sent Alice to our home as a nanny for the children. She encouraged all of us to a higher plane of living, and the fact that I’m back in the place God wants me to be is due primarily to Alice, whom I married a month ago.”

  A hush settled over the sanctuary—he held everyone’s attention.

  “This time last year, I’d never heard of Alice. Some of you know what our situation was like when she came to us in May, and if you compare it to our home life today, you’d understand why I’m so grateful to Alice and why I love her so much. She’s been God’s instrument to work a miracle in our lives.”

  Mark discussed his personal goals, his aspirations for the church, and how he had submitted his life totally to the will of God.

  After he completed his sermon and had the closing song, Mark paused significantly. “I feel that it’s necessary for me to once again refer to a personal matter, which I will never mention before this congregation again. It’s no secret that there has been some question about my morality in the past few months, and I’m happy that all of those matters have been cleared up, and any ill will between me and others has been completely resolved. I can’t have scandal soiling my life if I’m to serve God the way I intend to.”

  Alice couldn’t help wonder if it was wise for Mark to broach this subject, and it embarrassed her, but on the other hand, this public announcement of his feelings toward her might set to rest, once and for all, any question about their past relationship.

  “Until I met Alice, I didn’t suppose that there was any woman who could epitomize the wife cited in the last chapter of Proverbs, but I believe that Alice does. I want to read a few select verses from that portion of Scripture, and if you other men feel about your wives as I do about mine, reach out and take their hands as I read.

  “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good and not harm, all the days of her life…. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy…. She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come…. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed.”

  Two little hands reached for hers, and Alice thanked God for her family, as Mark continued to read.

  “Her husband also, and he praises her: Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

  When he finished reading, Mark held out a beckoning hand to Alice, and she joined him in front of the congregation. Mark hugged her tightly with one arm, the huge audience rose to its feet, and applause resounded throughout the room.

  Mark and Alice had been accepted, and they publicly committed themselves to a life of service.

  Epilogue

  Alice stood in the large hallway and watched as Kristin came down the stairway, wearing Clarice’s wedding gown, which Alice has preserved carefully for this day. She kissed her daughter when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “Thanks, Mother, for giving me this beautiful wedding. You’ve been so good to all of us, and I hope I can be as good a wife and mother as you’ve been.”

  Alice’s throat was too tight for words, but she went with Kristin to the rear door where Mark waited for her. In his black tuxedo, he was more handsome than ever. In ten years, most of his hair had turned a beautiful gray, with only a few dark streaks to remind her how he’d looked when she first entered his Richmond home.

  Mark wanted the privilege of escorting his first-born to the improvised altar they’d arranged in the white gazebo of their elegant flower garden. His associate minister would conduct the first part of the ceremony, but Mark would take the vows of Kristin and the young man she’d chosen.

  As she watched them, Alice was suddenly swept off her feet.

  “Stop it, Eddie,” she cried, as he swung her high and planted a big kiss on the back of her neck, a habit he’d started when he became as tall as she was. When he released her, he grinned, his blue eyes sparkling. “I thought it was customary to kiss the mother of the bride.”

  Alice kissed his cheek, her heart overflowing with love for this boy who’d been such an
important part of her life.

  Eddie offered his arm and escorted Alice to her seat and joined the minister and groom to wait for the bride. Looking at Eddie’s broad shoulders, she could hardly envision him as the sickly, scrawny kid he used to be. Although only a high school junior, he was already under consideration for scholarships by many colleges due to his track record.

  Some melancholy mingled with her happiness as Alice watched her family gather. The ten years had not all been easy—Mark had undergone many crises in his ministry; during his childhood, Eddie had several physical relapses; and Kristin had often been rebellious. But time had a way of healing the hurts and problems, and during it all, the love she and Mark shared had never wavered.

  Alice noticed Grover Tatum and his family in the group of assembled guests, many standing on the outside of the picket fence when the seats were filled. After Alice had saved his son, Tatum and his family had returned to the church’s fellowship, and he’d become one of Mark’s most vocal supporters.

  The organist started the processional and Alice turned slightly to watch the wedding party. Susie, Kristin’s longtime friend from Richmond, was the maid of honor, followed by seven-year-old Melissa, who took seriously her role as flower girl. Dressed in a pale-pink dainty dress that set off her blond features, she was almost an exact image of what Alice had been at that age. As Melissa took her place before the altar, Mark and Alice exchanged glances, and he smiled.

  Alice knew that he, too, had remembered the day she’d bolted into his church office, although she never bothered him when he was on duty there. When she saw Mark, she’d burst into tears, and he’d rounded the desk immediately to take her in his arms.

  “Why, sweetheart, what’s the matter?”

  Swallowing a sob, she said, “I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”

  Mark was silent for a few moments. “And that makes you unhappy?”

  She shook her head back and forth on his shoulder. “No. No. I’m happy. I’ve wanted to have your baby, but I’d given up—I decided I couldn’t have children.”