But Todd did neither.
The aching she felt inside only grew as they toured the island of Murano. They watched a skilled craftsman demonstrate the ancient art of blowing glass through a long, hollow pipe and then quickly shaping the fiery hot liquid into vases. On the boat ride back, Todd talked with a retired track coach and his wife from Ohio, while Christy stood alone at the rail, watching the lacy ripples the boat produced in the water.
“We need to make some decisions,” Todd said once the three of them had disembarked and found a shady spot to stand.
“I think we should try calling Marcos again,” Katie said.
“I don’t know if we’ll have time to see him,” Todd pointed out. “We need to check out of the hotel by 1:00, which is in twenty minutes. I’ve checked the schedule, and we have a couple of times when we can catch the train. No matter which train we decide on, it takes ten hours to reach Basel.”
“That long?” Katie said. “I thought we were closer. I also think we need to walk while we talk so we can get to the hotel in time to check out. If they decide to charge us an extra night, I don’t know if we could pay for it.”
Todd started to walk and asked Christy, “Do you think it’s okay if we stay at the dorms tonight in Basel?”
“Sure. Then would you take the train to Zürich in the morning?”
“Yes. It’s only an hour from Basel to Zürich.”
“I know.” Christy wondered if that would allow them time for a short visit to her Konditorei. If they could fit that into the schedule, somehow she felt saying good-bye wouldn’t be as hard.
“We could take the 2:00 train and be in Basel by midnight. Three other trains leave after that one. The last one would be the 8:30 train. That one would take us into Basel at 6:30 Monday morning, which is cutting it close for Christy’s class.”
“That’s okay.” Christy wanted to be with Todd as long as she could, and she didn’t mind going to class directly from the train. If she could cut that class, she would. That way she could go to Zürich with Todd and Katie and see them off for their 2:00 flight. But the summer term was so short. If she missed even one class, her grade could be dropped as much as half a grade. Since her grades last term weren’t the best, she knew she needed to do all she could to keep her scores high. Otherwise the partial scholarship she had been awarded for Rancho Corona in the fall could be affected. “We could take that last train. That would give us a few more hours here in Venice.”
Katie, who was agreeing with everything that day, said she thought that was a great idea. Todd suggested they retrieve their packs, go to the train station to see about making reservations, and then, with whatever money they had left, they could fill up on pizza.
After standing in line at the train station for more than two hours, they found out all first-class seats for the 8:30 train were booked. They would have to go in second class, which could mean standing for ten hours. Or at least for the first three hours to Milan.
They bought some pizza at the train station. Christy was down to her last bit of money. With only three more hours left in Venice, none of them knew what to do.
Christy’s feet and her heart felt heavier and heavier. Todd was quiet. The thought of their trip ending was too depressing to even talk about how to spend their final hours together.
Katie was the one who kept them going with her bright, optimistic attitude. She suggested they find their last taste of Italian gelato, and she said she knew just the place. They followed Katie onto a water taxi and disembarked at San Marcos Square. Christy thought Katie would suggest they call Marcos. But she didn’t.
Instead, Katie marched them right up to one of the gondola stands, pulled out the last of her money, and said to the gondolier in the straw hat, “My friends here need to go for a ride. How much do you want?”
24
“Katie, that’s all the money you have left,” Christy protested. “You don’t have to pay for this.”
“Yes, I do. You two don’t have any money left, so this is my treat. Now, don’t spoil it for me. Just take off your backpacks; I’ll watch them for you. And get in the man’s boat.”
The gondolier took Katie’s money while Christy, still protesting, was ushered by Todd into the gondola’s cushioned hull.
Then the gondolier asked Katie, “You are paying for your friends? And this is all the money you have left?”
“We’re going home tomorrow,” Katie explained. “I just thought they couldn’t come all this way and not go for a ride in a gondola.”
“And neither can you!” the gondolier said. “Come. No charge. My honor. You must have your gondola ride, too.”
“Do you guys mind?” Katie asked.
“Of course not,” Christy said, snuggling up close to Todd. It would have been wonderfully romantic for the two of them to be alone for one final hour, but how could she say no after Katie had been so generous?
“Come aboard,” Todd said.
With a burst of glee, Katie climbed into the gondola and reached for each backpack as it was handed down to her. She joked around by resting one of the packs beside her on the seat and putting her arm around it. “Oh, Milton, you are so strong! I always did go for the strong, silent types.”
Christy smiled at Todd. He put his arm around her and drew her close.
“We have many beautiful palaces here along the Canalazzo,” the gondolier said, pushing off from the dock and pointing the gondola down the Grand Canal. “The canal is two miles long, and the water is only nine feet deep. Less, in some places. It is not recommended for swimming.”
Christy could see why. A disagreeable odor rose from the water, and trash floated on top. She kept her attention directed upward, toward the magnificent mansions that lined the canal, each more splendid than the last. Katie carried on a lively conversation with the gondolier while Christy and Todd sat close. Todd turned out to be as strong and silent as Katie’s backpack partner. Christy wondered again when she and Todd would have their heart-to-heart conversation. On the train? So much had happened in her heart these past few weeks. She didn’t know how much she needed to tell Todd and how much he had figured out.
I don’t need you to promise to hold back the sun, Todd. I just need you to promise to always hold me this close.
Their ride ended near the train station, and they clambered out with smiles and waves for their gondolier. Todd took Christy’s hand in his, and they ambled into the very familiar train station. Todd suggested they walk to the platform a little early so they could try to find seats in second class. He held Christy’s hand the whole time they stood waiting in the crowd for the train. She wondered if he was feeling the same sadness she felt.
The train pulled in, but unlike some of the other trains they had boarded on the trip, the conductor wanted to see each person’s ticket before boarding. When they finally reached the front of the line, Christy, Todd, and Katie pulled out their Eurorail passes.
“No!” the conductor yelled. He thrust Todd’s train pass back at him.
“No!” he said again after looking at Katie’s pass and jabbing it into her hands.
“Si!” he said to Christy, handing the pass to her nicely and pushing on her back to hurry her onto the train.
“Wait!” Christy cried out, pulling away from the crush of people. “What’s wrong with their passes?” She maneuvered her way out of the crowd and moved around to where Katie and Todd stood, talking to another uniformed conductor.
“What do you mean expired?” Katie said.
“The date is stamped here,” the man said. “June 5 to June 25. That was yesterday.”
Christy quickly looked at her pass, which she had bought separately from Katie’s and Todd’s. Hers was stamped June 6 to June 26.
“We had them issued a day too early,” Todd said. “We flew out of L.A. on the fifth, but we didn’t arrive until the sixth.” He turned to the conductor. “Can they be extended for one day? We didn’t even use them the first few days.”
“No. You can buy a separate ticket. This pass is no longer valid.”
“We don’t have any money,” Katie said solemnly.
“I cannot help you,” the man said. “Every day I hear the same stories. You should next time plan your trip better.”
He turned to help another frantic student, who was speaking to him in French. The train now was loaded, and the grumpy conductor was giving a final boarding call.
“What do we do?” Christy asked.
“You better get on that train,” Katie said. “We’ll figure something out. This is our problem, not yours. You can’t miss class in the morning, Christy.”
Christy turned to Todd, her eyes wide with panic. He seemed to be frantically searching her face, reading every detail as if trying to memorize it. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he said, “Go, Kilikina, go.”
The train began to move. Christy turned, and the conductor reached out and grabbed her arm as she leaped onto the lowest step. “Ticket,” he said gruffly.
With trembling hands, Christy handed him her Eurorail pass, and he motioned for her to enter the packed second-class compartment. As Christy moved down the aisle toward the back of the train, she saw Todd out the window, walking quickly alongside the train, scanning the compartments for her. She pushed her way through the first compartment and into the second. Spotting an open window at the end, she ran with her heavy pack bumping against the seats. The train was picking up speed, and Todd was running to the platform’s end, waving at her.
Out of breath, Christy reached the open window. Todd was less than twenty feet away, with very little platform left. As tears streamed down her face, she planted one of her very special, saved-up kisses on the palm of her hand and threw it to Todd out the open window.
He reached into the air, closing his fist around her invisible kiss. Then, with a sharp movement, he pounded his fist against his chest, right over his heart, as if he were placing her kiss in that deep place where she already knew he held all her tears.
The train entered a tunnel, and suddenly everything went dark.
Christy spent the longest ten hours of her life on that train out of Venice. For the first hour she stood by the open window. The warm breeze dried her tears. A wild confetti of thoughts sprinkled themselves into her mind. She remembered standing on the boat’s deck on the way to Capri and feeling the warm air behind her. The Lord had felt so close that she could feel His breath. Tonight, He came near again.
The verse Todd had found in 2 Timothy from Paul’s time in the Mamertine Prison came back to her: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength.” Christy found strength in knowing that if she was going to stand on this train all the way to Basel, at least the Lord was standing with her.
She thought of the Alpine meadow and the wild flowers she had picked, pressed, and slept on. Those wild flowers still held dreams that she had not yet extracted. She decided she would frame those wild flowers, now buried in their Italian newspaper envelope.
Closing her eyes, Christy remembered the tingling sensation from when she bathed in the stream at the campground. She could almost taste Tonio’s strong coffee and see the sheer lace curtains at his mama’s house as they fluttered in the breeze the morning Marcos arrived in the taxi. She thought of the brilliant midnight sun pouring through the window of their room in Oslo, and how handsome and adorable Todd had looked right after he had shaved his scruffy face.
She touched her lips and thought of how they had tingled after his kiss in Oslo when he went off to the ends of the Earth without her. Christy missed him with every part of her being. She felt as if now she was the one going to the ends of the Earth without him. Only instead of being apart two days, they wouldn’t see each other for two long months.
Christy managed to sleep after Milan, when a seat opened up and she could lean her head against the window. She missed Todd’s navy blue sweat shirt. It had made the best pillow. She missed Katie’s laugh and the faint scent of chocolate that had followed her through every country.
When the train finally pulled into the Basel train station, Christy experienced an odd sensation. This was “her” train station; the one she was most familiar with. Yet being alone made her feel as if the station was foreign and cold. She walked with weary steps uphill to her dorm room. The only thing that came close to bringing a smile to her lips was the wonderful aroma she smelled as she passed the Konditorei. Marguerite was placing a basket of bread in the window. She waved when she saw Christy and motioned for her to come in.
“I’ll be back,” Christy promised. “Later.”
Later. Now, that’s a laugh, isn’t it? All those years Todd told me “later,” and here we are, going our separate ways again. Will it always be “later” for us?
She made it to class in plenty of time, even after stopping at her room to shower and change. The seven other tour books were still sitting on her desk, untouched for the last three weeks. Christy laughed to herself when she realized she now probably owed a library fine on all of them.
As soon as class was out, Christy headed for the Konditorei. She had borrowed her roommate’s bike to get to class faster, and now she rode the bike’s brakes all the way downhill, bumping on every cobblestone she hit. The front tire wobbled on the old contraption, and Christy laughed aloud at herself when she barely managed to come to a stop in front of the Konditorei.
Securing the bike, and with a smile still on her face, Christy entered. The cheery bell over the door lifted her spirits, and she walked up to Marguerite, who stood behind the counter with a big grin on her face.
“Guten Morgen, Marguerite. Wie geit’s?”
“Gut, gut. Danke. Gut.”
Christy thought Marguerite acted a little odd. After ordering her pastry, Christy turned toward her usual seat in the back of the café.
Someone was sitting there this morning. Blocking the person’s face was a huge bouquet of white carnations.
Christy stopped breathing.
Todd moved the bouquet away from his face. With his easygoing grin brightening the place like a Norwegian sunrise, he said, “Hey, how’s it going?”
Christy ran to the table and threw her arms around him. “What are you doing here?”
“Having coffee with you. Here, these are for you.” He motioned to the carnations that now lay across the table.
“Did you miss your plane?”
Todd leaned back and took a sip of coffee from his mug, ignoring her question. “You’re right. Marguerite makes the best pastry in the world.”
“You did, didn’t you? You missed your plane. Todd, what are you going to do? What about Katie?”
“Our plane doesn’t go out until 2:00.” Todd smiled. “I’m going to have coffee with you, and then go back to Zürich and fly home.”
“What happened? How did you guys get out of Venice?”
Todd slipped his arm around the back of the seat Christy had fallen into and playfully tugged on the ends of her hair. He acted as if sitting there chatting was the most natural thing in the world for them.
“Tell me everything,” Christy said.
“Well, after your train left, we tried to call Marcos. He answered the phone, which was a God-thing because he had just gotten back from a trip to Vienna and was about to leave for a trip to Zürich.”
“So you rode the train with him, and he paid your way?”
Todd shook his head. “We drove to Zürich last night in his Ferrari. Katie and Marcos are in Zürich right now. He let me borrow his car so I could come have breakfast with you.”
“You drove his car here?” Christy hadn’t noticed any fancy cars parked out front, but then she had arrived on a rather wobbly set of wheels and hadn’t been paying much attention to anything outside her immediate path.
“I parked at the train station. Seemed safer than parking in the verboten zones along here.”
“I can’t believe this,” Christy said, smiling at Marguerite as she delivered Christy’s coffee, cream, and pastry to
the table.
“Believe it,” Todd said. “And are you ready to believe something else?”
“What?”
“Marcos became a Christian.”
“You’re kidding! That’s awesome! When?”
“About a week ago. He said he started to read Romans because we told him that was the letter written just for Italians. God’s Word is powerful. Marcos read it, he believed, he repented. You should see him; he’s totally on fire and telling everyone on all his business trips about his new relationship with Jesus.”
Christy shook her head. “God is so incredible.”
“Yes, He is.”
“And it’s so incredible to see you. Todd, I hate to say this, but I don’t know if I can stand saying good-bye to you again. I mean, this is exactly what I wanted—to sit with you here and talk with you from my heart, but it’s only for a moment, and then you have to go again.”
“I know,” Todd said. “I feel the same way. But I needed to see you one more time.”
Todd hesitated and Christy froze. This is it! a torturing voice of doubt chanted in her head. This is when he breaks up with you for good. He’s probably going to leave you and go serve the Lord on some remote island, alone, for the rest of his life.
No, Christy told herself decisively. No more fear. No more doubting. Take each mercy that comes every morning. Whatever happens is in God’s care. He’s the Master Designer of our lives. He’s in control.
Todd looked at his hands and then back at Christy. “I thought we might have had a few more times to talk on the trip than we did. Alone, I mean.”
Christy nodded. “I know. I thought the same thing.”
“I wanted to tell you a couple of things.”
Christy nodded, waiting.
Todd swallowed and looked at her intently. “You have become a part of me. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you and pray for you. When we’ve been on the opposite ends of the Earth, I feel you right here.” He patted his chest. “I hold you, Kilikina. I hold you close in my heart. I always have. I always will.”