She was crying now, but she kept on. "Both Craig and Rita said that in ten years we would be gone. We would be at college or married, and I didn't believe them because I'd decided I was going to be here with you forever. Then there I was, teaching a class in my mind and everyone calling me Miss Riley, and using chalk and-"
She was nearly gagging on her tears now, and Alec moved so that he could pull her onto the sofa with him. He cuddled her close against his side, and Tory sobbed into his shirt. Rita slipped into the family room and put a box of tissues on the table and then shot out again. Tory never saw her, but Alec snatched one from the box and pressed it into Tory's hands.
"Rita said I was selfish, but I didn't believe her. And now Sophie's been alone all week, and I haven't been able to talk to her. Rita doesn't do things like Sophie does, and Craig leaves more messes in the kitchen and in the bathroom when Sophie's not around."
"So you just want Sophie back to keep things clean?"
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Tory tipped her head back to see her father's face.
"No, I want her back because I miss her as much as I miss Mom. I can't do anything about Mom, but if I could apologize to Sophie, she might come back."
Alec wanted very much to ask what she needed to apologize over, but forced himself not to.
"And what about Sophie and me, Tory? How do you feel about that?"
She cried a little more. "I still think Mom will be hurt, but I don't want you to be alone."
"Tory, what do you mean?"
The story came out then. Tory told her father that she believed her mother could see them and would be hurt, so Alec was given the chance to assure her very gently that this would not be the case. He told her that Vanessa was very busy praising and serving God, and that she understood like never before how God was the One in control.
"So you see, Tory," he finished, "your mother is not up there trying to do God's job. God placed Sophie in our lives for a purpose, and if God does discuss it with your mom, He'll tell her that Sophie loves us and takes good care of us. But most of all, God will be able to assure your mother that Sophie loves Him and wants to serve Him with her whole heart. Your mother would never be hurt or object to that."
Tory needed to cry some more, but these were tears of relief. She asked herself why she hadn't talked to her dad earlier. He had made it so clear, and Tory's little heart was comforted for the first time in many weeks.
"I want to talk to her, Dad. I want to talk with Sophie."
"I know, Tory, but I'll tell you what we're going to have to do. We're going to have to wait until Saturday. Sophie asked for some time and, as hard as that is, I want to give it to her. On Saturday morning I'll go and see Sophie and bring her here. How will that be?"
"All right," Tory said as she reached for another tissue. "I have a headache."
"I'll bet you do. Come on. Let's head upstairs."
They mounted the stairs together to find Rita in Tory's room. She hugged her little sister very gently and the tears came again. Craig appeared in the door, and when Tory looked at him, he spoke.
"You all right, Tory?"
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"Yeah." But she cried again when she saw Craig's tears. It had been a hard week for all of them. Alec was hugging Craig when Rita asked, "Is Sophie coming back?"
"I'm going to go see her on Saturday," Alec explained. "If her week has been anything like ours, I think she'll be back."
Alec then reminded everyone that they had school in the morning, and for the moment sleep was all he wanted them to be worried about. The house was hushed and very still a half hour later. After locking up downstairs, Alec retired to his bedroom. He took the chair by the window and prayed. He praised God because it felt like he'd been given a new beginning, but he also humbly asked God to help him use this new start wisely. By the time he climbed into bed, he knew that he was going to have to move carefully. He certainly wanted to court Sophie, but Tory's problem with it had taken him completely by surprise. He realized he was going to have to be more available than ever before if he was going to meet everyone's needs. The thought caused a moment of panic, but God reminded him gently that He would enable him. On this peaceful thought, Alec dropped off to sleep.
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Sophie was awake early on Saturday morning. This was the day she could call Alec. She had told him the eighth or ninth, and this was the eighth. She looked at the clock: 5:40. She didn't suppose he would want to hear from her just yet.
"What if he doesn't want to hear from me at all? What if he doesn't understand why I needed some time?"
The thought was enough to make Sophie sob. It was tempting to turn to other things in order to block out the prospect of pain, but she made herself concentrate on it so she could see that Christ would be at her side. She read her Bible then and took over an hour to pray, finally climbing into the shower at 7:00. Her hair was still wet when someone knocked on her door at 7:30. Sophie's heart thudded in her chest when she saw Alec. She opened the door wide and stepped back. Sophie watched as he shut it and then leaned against the portal. She looked up at him, unaware that her heart was in her eyes. She swallowed and made herself speak.
"Have you come to say good-bye?"
Alec shook his head. "No, I've come to say, 'Welcome home.'"
Sophie couldn't hold them. Tears flooded her eyes and a trembling hand went to her mouth. Alec stepped forward and gathered her close to his chest. Sophie sobbed. She didn't cry or weep. She sobbed.
"I am sorry," she gasped at one point, but still could not control herself.
"It's all right," his deep voice came to her. "Everything is going to be all right."
"Tory," Sophie barely managed. "I have to speak-"
"You will. She wants to see you, too."
"She does?" Sophie raised her head. "She wants to talk to me?"
"Yes. When I say that we've had a miserable week, I don't mean maybe."
"Oh, Alec. I missed you so."
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He hugged her again and then caught her hand to lead her to the sofa. Sophie had grabbed a few tissues on the way and now used them. When they were seated together on the sofa, Alec once again claimed her hand.
"How was your week?" Alec asked very gently when Sophie turned to him.
"Long and lonely."
"Mine, too. Tory was ready to talk to you on Thursday night, but I made myself wait. I was awake at 6:30, so I'm proud of myself that I actually waited until now."
"You could have come," Sophie told him. "I was up before 6:00."
He looked into her eyes. "Do you feel like you've had enough time now?"
Sophie nodded. "It was needed, Alec. I was feeling very emotional, and I could tell that Tory was feeling crowded. I want to see you, but not at Tory's expense."
"Had you been able to tell that Tory was struggling?"
Sophie shook her head. "Not until right before I left. I thought she was only tired from the start of school, but she said some things." Sophie cut off. It was really between her and Tory, and she felt funny telling Alec.
"She said she needed to apologize to you."
Sophie only nodded.
"That bad, was it?"
"Oh, Alec," Sophie whispered. "I was so hurt. At first I thought I was running rather than facing her. But she would not even talk to me, so I think the time apart was healthy. How has she been?"
"Miserable. I know she misses you terribly. Craig and Rita are in the same state."
"I miss them, too."
They fell quiet for a time, and then Alec looked at his watch. It wasn't even 8:00.
"Have you eaten?"
"No," Sophie said with some surprise. "I did not even think of it."
Alec stood and pulled her up beside him. "Come on, I'll take you to breakfast, and then we'll head home and you can see Tory."
"All right. Give me a few minutes."
Sophie disappeared into the bedroom and shut the door. Alec heard the blow dryer, so he settled down with the paper fro
m the
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day before. He had read all that interested him, but browsed it with a lazy eye. However, only a few minutes passed before he realized he didn't want to look at the paper. He laid his head back and closed his eyes so he could think about Sophie. How wonderful it was to see her again. For an instant Alec thought about the way she felt in his arms: too wonderful to describe. He was fully relaxing for the first time all morning and the sofa was so soft...
Alec woke slowly. The blow dryer was quiet now. Then Alec frowned. What blow dryer? Where was he? Sophie! He sat up swiftly and found the woman he loved across the room sitting in a chair smiling tenderly at him. Alec's heart melted.
"I'm sorry."
"It is all right. You were tired."
"How long?"
"Only about ten minutes."
He rubbed the back of his neck. She had been sitting there for ten minutes! A swift glance at his watch told him it was after 8:30, so he knew he'd been asleep for at least a half hour.
"Are you ready to eat now?" she asked, and Alec could see that she was laughing.
"I've had a hard week," he told her as he stood.
Sophie laughed knowingly, and Alec shook his head. Going to the van, Alec asked Sophie where she wanted to eat. She stopped and turned to him.
"I need to see Tory, Alec. Right now. Could we, please?"
He looked at her for only a second.If I was wrong, Vanessa, and you really can see this, then you know that you have nothing to worry about. Sophie adores our children.
"Certainly," Alec said, and within ten minutes they were pulling into the driveway. The kids were just rolling out. When Sophie appeared in the doorway of the family room, Tory flew at her. The little girl held onto the housekeeper with all her might and tried not to cry. It didn't work.
"I'm sorry, Sophie, I'm sorry," she wept. Sophie only hugged her close and kissed the top of her head.
"I'm here, my Tory. It's all right now."
"I'm so sorry," she continued.
"I forgive you, Tory, and I love you."
Sophie was crying now, too, and she led Tory to the big chair where they sat side by side. When Sophie smoothed the hair from Tory's wet face, the girl looked up.
"I said such awful things."
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"Yes," Sophie said honestly, "but now you have apologized."
"And you forgive me."
"That is right."
The whole family was watching now, but Sophie and Tory did not notice.
"Sophie," the little girl now said, "you can marry Dad if you want to."
Sophie smiled very tenderly and bent to kiss Tory's brow.
"Thank you, my Tory, I am glad you approve. But your father and I are going very slow. We will all have much time to get used to the idea, or to see that it will not work. Do you see?"
Tory nodded, and then Sophie looked at Craig and Rita. "Get dressed now. Your father is taking us to breakfast."
"He is?" Tory asked.
"Yes," Sophie said and shot an impish glance at Alec.
"All right!" Craig shouted as all the kids shot from the room.
"It wasn't enough that I was going to buy two meals. Now it's five," Alec complained.
"You will get over it," Sophie told him, and he laughed.
"I hope you know that Rita will want to fuss with her hair. It'll be ages before we get anything to eat."
Sophie shrugged. "Well, we have some catching up to do ourselves."
Alec's brows rose with pleasure. "That sounds to me like you would like to be hugged. Do I come over there or are you coming over here?"
Sophie tried not to smile as she shook her head. "I was talking about your work. How have things been?"
"Just peachy," Alec said dryly. "Here I'm thinking you want to cuddle for a while, and instead you want to talk about closed wall construction."
Sophie really had to fight laughter now. He looked so chagrined and attractive all at the same time. Not sure what to say, she wasn't given a chance. Tory joined them again, climbing right back in the chair with Sophie. The older woman turned to talk with her, but she could still feel Alec's eyes studying her from across the room. It gave her the most wonderful feeling- one that lingered all the way to the restaurant.
***
"I have an idea," Rita announced after they'd placed their orders.
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"Oh, no," Craig teased her. "Will we love it or hate it?"
"You'll love it," Rita assured him. "I would like to stay home for Christmas. I mean, it isn't that I don't want to see anyone.Ijust don't want to leave Middleton. So I think this year that Christmas, or at least the celebration afterward, should be at our house."
"Considering this is September," Alec said kindly, "I think we have plenty of time to decide, Rita."
"But that's not all, Dad," she went on. "I think we should go to Chicago for Thanksgiving. I mean, we never have, and I think everyone would enjoy the change."
"Your Uncle David's family is always there for Thanksgiving," Alec now pointed out.
"I know. Wouldn't it be fun to be there with all of them?"
"But, Rita," Alec began and stopped. He was about to tell her they couldn't do that. But he'd almost said that last Christmas, yet the changes she had suggested had worked out great.
"Will you at least ask, Dad?" Rita successfully read his mind.
"Yes, I will, and I'm glad you did say something now, since your Aunt Janet may want to think about it. Their house is large, but they may just want to come up here for Christmas, which means we'll have to do Thanksgiving on our own."
"I wish we could go to Grandpa and Grandma Frazier's," Tory commented.
"I know, Tory, but we need to be happy for them that they can go on this cruise."
"I got a letter from your Grandma Frazier," Sophie told the group now.
"You did?" Craig seemed amazed.
"Yes, it was very kind. She misses the three of you very much, and also said she will write when they go on their cruise." The letter also apologized for the list Peg had sent, but Sophie kept this to herself.
"I think they're going to come and have an early Christmas with us," Alec added. "Jim said something about the first weekend in December."
At some point in all the discussion, Alec slid his arm along the back of the booth and around Sophie. Alec left his arm there and even dropped his hand to Sophie's shoulder a time or two, all the while monitoring his kids' reactions. They all noticed, but there were no uncomfortable grins or stares. Indeed, it seemed that they saw it as normal. Alec remembered to shoot a glance at
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Sophie as well to see what she thought, but she seemed as natural as ever. She even scooted a little closer to him when her food was set in front of her, and easily offered her hand when Alec reached for it before asking a blessing on the food.
It was the start to a great day and weekend. After not having been together for so long, it was hard for all five to get enough of each other. Sophie arranged private times with all of the kids to see how they were doing and if she wastrulyaccepted back. She was, and it made her heart sing. The future looked bright with promise and hope. The only cloud that Sophie ever saw on the horizon came in the form of homesickness-not for Czechoslovakia, but for a small, elderly woman who tenderly held her heart across the Atlantic. Sophie was still saving her money and praying, and she told the Lord on a regular basis that someday she would see her grandmother again.
Iwould settle for heaven,she told Him,but I wish it could be here. Please show me the way, Lord. Maybe I should make a trip there if she won't come here, but please show me the way.And Sophie left it at that. She was never anxious over the matter, but trusted, believing with all of her heart that God would come through and give her the strength to handle whatever His answer might be.
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"Well, Sophie, come in," Mrs. Kent bid her renter, andSophie slipped into the house from the backyard and followed her through the kitchen to the living room
.
"How are you, Mrs. Kent?"
"Well, now that I'm back on this foot again, I'm better. Got to my nerves, having to hobble like that."
"I am so glad you are better, Mrs. Kent," Sophie told her kindly and sat in the chair she always took.
"What have you got?" Mrs. Kent had also sat down and now eyed the tin in Sophie's hands.
"Muffins." Sophie held up the container. "Pumpkin Cranberry. The combination sounds different, but they are my favorite, and I think you will like them." Sophie then placed the tin on the coffee table and sat back.
"The cold weather's headed in," Mrs. Kent told Sophie.
Sophie smiled. "I have all my warm clothes spread out in the living room. I had them bagged up, and now I'm giving them air."
"I need to get mine out," the older woman agreed.
"Could I help you?" Sophie offered, and as usual, Mrs. Kent looked surprised.
"Oh, go on with you. You don't want to do that."
"I do, Mrs. Kent. I have an hour before Alec is coming. I would like to, really."
"Your boyfriend's a nice one," Mrs. Kent commented as she led the way to a back bedroom. "You two gonna have any kids?"
Sophie answered her landlady's back. "We're not married, Mrs. Kent."
The woman stopped with her hand on the bedroom door. "That doesn't stop young people nowadays."
"It stops me," Sophie told her gently.
Mrs. Kent eyed her. "Is it because of your religion?"
"No, it's because the Bible says it is wrong, Mrs. Kent, and I want to do things God's way."
"That's the same as religion."
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Sophie shook her head. "I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Mrs. Kent. I do not call that a religion. I have hope for tomorrow and peace about life after death. It is more than a religious practice. It is a way of life."
Again she found herself under scrutiny. "Well, you're the first I could stomach. My aunt feels like you do, and I can't stand the way she preaches. She doesn't live it, only talks it, and I hate that."
Sophie had no idea how to answer, so she stood mute until Mrs. Kent led the way into the bedroom. They were taking winter clothes from the closet when Mr. Kent joined them. He had run to the hardware store and now came to lend a hand. Mrs. Kent tended to boss a bit, but Mr. Kent took it in stride. He winked at Sophie when his wife became very domineering and simply kept on with what he was doing. The time got away from Sophie and, when she suddenly looked at her watch, she saw she was late. Alec would be wondering where she was. Indeed, when she bid her neighbors good-bye and left the house, she met Alec as he was starting across the grass to find her.