Raising Attabury: A Contemporary Christian Epic-Novel (The Grace Series Book 5) Read online

  “Hm.” She cleared her throat, willing her business self to snap over her real self. Life had always been so much easier to deal with as businesswoman Dani. “Yes. He was in graduate school at the time. I was a junior at Wake Forest.”

  “Wow. Wake Forest? No slouching there.”

  “Definitely not.” She smiled at the compliment. “I was pre-law. Lot of water under the bridge since then.”

  “I hear you there.” Greg took another sip. “It’s hard to believe it sometimes. I look at them.” He tipped his cup across the room. “My girls. All grown up and married now. Where does that much time go?”

  A soft wave of sadness brushed over her. “Jaden’s already in second grade. It’s hard to believe sometimes.”

  “Well, take it from someone who knows, cherish every minute you have with her. Before long, she’ll be out on her own, and you’ll wonder where all that time went.”

  Tipping her gaze over to her daughter who was shadowing Eric as he positioned the happy couple next to the wedding cake, Dani nodded. “I already do.”

  “I’d like to make a toast to the happy couple,” Derek said, standing. It wasn’t a strictly formal affair, just a few tables and some sandwiches. However, with everyone in their finest, it could have easily passed for a seven-course meal at a fancy restaurant.

  Eric snapped a couple pictures as the others settled down.

  Coming over to Rachel, Caleb took her hand and met her gaze with his. Snap.

  “As most of you know, Caleb and I have worked together for about four years now,” Derek said. Snap. “In that time we’ve spent a lot of hours together, fixing things, trying to figure out how to fix things, dealing with things that weren’t working like we’d hoped they would or thought they would. And one thing I’ve learned about Caleb, he never gives up. He is the first guy on the job and the last one to leave. He stays with things even when to be honest, it would be a lot easier to just quit, give up, and go home.”

  Derek’s words slowed a bit. “When I met Rachel, I knew pretty quick that she had the exact same spirit. Life did not deal her an easy hand, but she stuck with it, against pretty much every obstacle that got thrown at her. The more I have seen them together, holding onto love even when it really looked all-but impossible, the more I’ve come to see that love is not so much something you feel that’s great and fun. It is more what you are willing to sacrifice for, go for and hold on to with all your heart. It is loving the other person no matter what, good times, bad times, all the time.

  “The more I’ve watched them, the more I believe there was a plan for this couple way before any of us knew it. Like the pastor said, their relationship is about showing the world what real love looks like.” He smiled at them and nodded. “So tonight with all of you here, I just want to say, ‘Caleb and Rachel, thank you sincerely for teaching me what love really is.’” He raised his glass to them. “To Caleb and Rachel.”

  “Caleb and Rachel,” the others said, and Eric snapped more pictures.

  The music on the little speakers wafted out over the few dancing couples—Caleb and Rachel, Gregory and Emily, and Luke and Sage.

  Dani sat with Jaden off to the side as the waning night began to catch up with her little one. As Jaden tucked herself closer to her mother, Dani’s gaze picked up on Jaycee West coming her direction. Unless she was going outside, which with the style of the top of her gown and the weather outside was not likely, then she was coming to talk. Fear pummeled Dani as she glanced down at Jaden whose eyes were now closed.

  However, Jaycee just smiled and sat in a chair that wasn’t quite perpendicular to Dani’s. “Wow. What a night,” Jaycee said. “I’m sorry I haven’t been over to say hello.”

  “Oh, that’s okay. You were busy.”

  Jaycee’s smile took in Jaden. “Long day.” She puckered her lips. “She is so sweet.”

  “Thank you.” As with every, single person here, Dani had no idea where to go from there.

  “Listen,” Jaycee said, picking her gaze up. “Derek and I have been talking. This is kind of a long story, but we know you and Eric will be coming to work on the house the next couple of months, and well, there’s not a lot of housing options around out here.”

  “Oh!” Dani’s eyes went wide, but Jaycee held up her hands.

  “I just wanted to let you know that we’re actually in the process of buying a house. It was Rachel’s mom’s old place, out on a farm not too far from town. It’s less than ten minutes from there to Attabury, and if you guys want to stay there when you come, you’re welcome to.”

  Dani couldn’t even get an ‘oh’ out as her eyebrows reached for the ceiling in surprise.

  “Derek’s already talked to Caleb about it, and he has the keys for the place. I’m not vouching for what shape it will be in when you come because we’re kind of trying to remodel it when we’re here. But it’s got a good kitchen and a working bathroom. There are three bedrooms. You and Eric could have the second and Jaden could have the third. We’re still working out the furniture thing, but we should have that ironed out before you really start being here a lot.”

  Finally Dani found a question in all of the others. “You know.” She glanced around. “Not that now’s a good time or anything…”

  Jaycee laughed. “Eh, they won’t even notice I’m gone. What’s up?”

  “Well, I was just wondering what the schedule actually is. I mean, now that we’ve decided to do the television thing and all. How long does all of that take to get going? Will we be working next week or next month or in six months?”

  “You know, honestly, that really is a good question.” Jaycee’s gaze slipped back to the others and she lifted her chin. In seconds Derek was coming across to join them, and Dani wished with everything in her she hadn’t asked.

  “It’s not even midnight,” Derek said, nodding to Jaden with a grin. “She is out.”

  Jaycee held her hand out for his, and he took it though he was still just standing by her chair. “Dani’s wondering about the schedule, when they’ll get started, how long it will be.”

  Really and truly, Dani wished she could take back the last five minutes. The gowns. The wedding. Any other topic so she wouldn’t have asked that stupid question.

  “Well.” Derek grabbed another chair and sat on it backward. “I haven’t really had a chance to talk with Caleb yet, and we’re headed back to California to talk through the details with Brent on Monday.” Reaching over, he took Jaycee’s hand, but I’m thinking probably the first of February we’ll be able to put a schedule together and get going.”

  Dani sat up.

  “I know that seems like a long time,” Derek said. “But we’ve got to figure out the parameters of the show, get a camera crew and a construction crew put together. Of course, Caleb’s out for this week, so that puts us another week out at least.”

  Without permission, Dani’s gaze slipped over to Caleb and Rachel, snuggling together as they slow danced, lost in being so in love. Her heart hitched at the question of if that was how she had looked with Eric at their wedding. Probably. And that did no good thing for her heart because what had once seemed so right and so real had turned into something she didn’t want to admit was a mess but lived every day.

  “So it’s going to be the end of next before we even get going on the preliminaries.” Derek sat for a second. “Oh. Did Jaycee tell you about our house?”

  “She… she did. But I…”

  “We probably won’t be here as much as we like,” Derek continued right over her protest. “We’ve got our own show to work on. I think we’re going to Missouri next?” He looked at Jaycee.

  “Mississippi.”

  He laughed and tipped his head. “Geography. Not my strong suit.”

  Shell-shocked, Dani nodded.

  “Anyway. We’ll be here, there, and everywhere through most of this, so if you all want to stay there, you are more than welcome to.”

  “Th-thanks.”

  “Guys,” the tall g
uy named Luke said, coming over. “I think they’re getting ready to leave. Did you have the birdseed?”

  Jaycee jumped to her feet. “It’s in the kitchen. I’ll get it.”

  “Great.”

  Derek stood and smiled down at Dani. “We’ll talk soon.”

  She just nodded, always feeling one step behind everything here. “Just when you get a chance.”

  “Thanks so much for doing this,” Caleb said to Eric as he held out his hand to shake Eric’s even as his other arm stayed around his bride.

  “Happy to do it.” Eric shook Caleb’s hand. “It’s been an honor.”

  Caleb took a breath. “Oh, and I was going to tell you, we’ll be back by Thursday so…”

  However, Eric stopped him with a grin and an upheld hand. “Hold up. Just stop right there. There will be plenty of time to talk shop when you two get back. Greg and I have already decided to meet next weekend, but don’t hurry back on our account. We’re just going to be hashing some things out to figure out how we’re going to do this without the thing collapsing around us. But right now, you’ve got way more exciting things to worry about.”

  From the kitchen Luke and Jaycee appeared and started handing little bundles out to the gathered guests.

  “Well, I think that’s our cue,” Rachel said, tipping her head that direction and gazing up at her new husband. He grinned down at her and kissed her with a peck.

  Then he turned back to Eric and shook his hand once more. “Duty calls.”

  With a grin, Eric picked up the camera. “One for the road?”

  “Absolutely.” And without missing a beat, Caleb kissed Rachel just for the camera.

  Because Jaden was sleeping, Dani didn’t follow them outside for the shower of birdseed though she heard most of it. In minutes everyone sans the bride and groom made their way back into the little hall.

  “Guess it’s time to clean this place up,” Sage said, clearly taking control of the project. “Pastor Steve, do we need to set all the tables back up?”

  “No. No need for that, the boys can come over and get it done tomorrow.”

  “Great. Then everyone pitch a few things, we can sweep and mop and get on home.”

  Watching because she couldn’t help it, Dani marveled at the easy way they all jumped in to help. In a way it was surreal because they were all dressed in formal gowns and tuxes, dumping drinks and bringing out the mop.

  From the door, Eric walked back in checking the viewer on his camera. It was strange how a shimmer of hope that he would come her way glinted through her. Not that it would be any different if he did. Maybe it was the magic of the evening, the love of Caleb and Rachel, the happiness of the others. Whatever it was, one small fairy-tale-believing part of her wished to join in on it for even the briefest of moments.

  However, before Eric even finished with the camera, Gregory strode over to him and they had a brief conversation. When Eric smiled at the older man, Dani couldn’t help but remember how much she had once liked that smile, fallen in love with it even. She had forgotten how handsome he was, how easy to like he was. Looking down, she ran her hand over Jaden’s shoulder. How had life turned out so very different than her college-girl fantasies?

  “Great,” Eric said, and Dani’s gaze slipped back up to him.

  She felt so trapped, over here, unable to be a part of the excitement of his life. Then, before she had a chance to process those thoughts, he strode her direction.

  “You about ready?” he asked with no fanfare whatsoever.

  “Oh. Yeah. A-are you?”

  He took the camera strap from around him, turned to the action, and snapped one more picture. With a quick look at it and a smile, he nodded and sighed before heading for the equipment bag. “Yeah. It’s going to be a long two hours back. We’d better make tracks.”

  In no time they had said good-bye to everyone, and with two trips to the SUV to take the equipment and Jaden, they got in on their sides and clicked on the seatbelts.

  “Well, that was fun,” Eric said as he started the vehicle. He glanced over at her. “Oh, and I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to come back next Saturday. Greg wants to meet for a while.”

  “Oh.” Her surprise jumped into the syllable. “Okay.”

  “You don’t have to come if you don’t want,” he said quickly. “I’m sure we’ll just be doing some measuring and starting on the plans.”

  Why she wanted to cry so badly, Dani had no idea. She had wanted Eric to be a part of the project, had wanted him to at least be all right with it. Now that he was, why did it feel like he was leaving her behind for a party he wanted to be with more than her? However, she managed a smile as they headed out into the night. “Sounds great.”

  Chapter 2

  On Friday afternoon as soon as he could get off, Eric headed east to Ridgemount. The plan was to meet with Greg Friday night and Caleb would join them the next morning. He had packed a duffle bag earlier that morning with plans to stay at the farm overnight. It was still amazing how kind and hospitable they all were with Derek practically insisting that he stay at their farmhouse even though they were still in Hollywood.

  Eric’s thoughts bounced back and forth through all of it. The house. Attabury and all of the problems there. The television show, which still freaked him out a little. The photos he had been working on nonstop all week. He smiled at the memory of a few of them.

  Caleb and Rachel outlined by the stained glass window as they said their vows. The two of them holding the kids after the wedding. The kiss, the toast, the birdseed. Precious memories that had somehow slipped from the present to the past in a week.

  He thought back to his own wedding some ten years before. To this minute he remembered Dani coming in the back of that church. Radiant. Smiling. Amazing. Gorgeous. His heart slid through his chest even as his mind traipsed across the memory. She had been his everything, all of his hopes and dreams wrapped up in the most beautiful package he could ever have dreamed up. And the truth was, she was still beautiful.

  No one would dispute that.

  However, as the trees and road blurred out his window, other thoughts invaded the happy ones. The sad truth was, they had drifted apart. Way apart. Sometimes he felt so disconnected from her as to be on a different planet altogether. Over the years he had tried to keep the fire going, but it was embers now, and even they were slowly dying. He thought about her parents, now in the midst of a bitter, hate-filled divorce, and he couldn’t help but feel that he and Dani were headed in the same direction.

  Oh, it wasn’t imminent or anything. They could probably hang on to the illusion until Jaden made it to college, but after that, what was there really to hang on to? They hardly even knew each other anymore. She was a lawyer. He was an engineer. They had a big house, and two cars for a three-car garage. From the outside looking in, they were living the American Dream. So why did it feel like such a nightmare?

  Hating where the thoughts were taking him, he reached over and turned on the radio. He settled in for the last hour of the drive with a shake of his head. The last thing he needed was to let his thoughts go down that road. Not now. Not yet anyway.

  No. This was life, and though it wasn’t glamorous or wonderful, for Jaden’s sake, he wouldn’t entertain those thoughts. He needed to be there for his daughter. Tears jabbed into this eyes as his heart whispered he would not be absent from his daughter’s life as his father was for his. The thought came so suddenly, it jerked his breath away.

  It wasn’t his father’s fault. No. Never.

  To this day, Eric remembered that night. Waking up to the swirl of the lights across the ceiling he shared with two of his brothers. The sounds of his mother’s heart-wrenching cries as his father’s colleagues on the police department delivered the news. The day of the funeral, dressed in his best, standing in his place with his sister and brothers. He remembered the people and the long, long line of cars. He didn’t understand back then. Not fully anyway for he was only ten.

 
; Sniffing at the tears, he wiped his eyes. Those feelings of grief and loss had never really left. That hole would never, ever be filled. It couldn’t be, for the life that had been so cruelly taken away was the only one that could ever fill it. His mother had never remarried. To his knowledge, she had never even dated after they lost his father. Her hands were filled to the brim and overflowing with five kids and bills to pay.

  She had gone to work right after—two jobs. And his older sister, Yvonne, had stepped in to try to do the impossible. She was only fifteen at the time, but somehow overnight she had become both father and mother to him and his brothers. She had learned to cook, clean, do laundry, and ramrod the family—getting them where they needed to be on-time no matter how challenging that might have been.

  He still remembered the fear he’d felt as she walked across the stage to accept her high school diploma. What would they do without her? As it turned out, she had stayed another two years so by the time she left, he was the one who was fifteen. Crazy how at the time he had felt so very old and accomplished and only now he realized how young and naïve he had been.

  How they had all managed to get that high school diploma and then a college one, he had no idea. Some of it had to be his mother’s insistence that they were not to quit or give up no matter how tough life made it on them. Some of it was an intense desire not to let her down. Whatever it was, all of them had gone on to bigger and better things.

  As crazy as it sounded, he was grateful for his upbringing. The challenges had only spurred him on to become the very best version of himself he could be. He wanted to make them proud. Them. His mother and his father.

  He thought about his mom. He’d been to visit her just after Christmas, and he smiled when he remembered her admonition about reading the Bible. In fact, he’d tucked the book in his duffle bag at the last second that morning. Not that he would have time to read it, but just in case.

  His eyes caught on the “Ridgemount 12” sign, and he was surprised so much time had gone by. He needed to get his thoughts back to the task at hand. He was to meet Greg at Attabury. They wouldn’t have much time before the daylight gave out on them, so he turned his thoughts to what they needed to accomplish.