Page 113 of Wish You Faith

To make room for Dottie meant that Mom expected Rosie to move out by her wedding day—whenever that was.

Fortunately for Rosie, she hadn’t moved much of her stuff to SSLR. In fact, most of her belongings were in storage as she renovated her family home. At first, she had planned to rent it out because the whole idea was to use that rental income to pay for Mom’s rental condo at Founders Row.

Things changed once Rosie and Evan were engaged. Evan decided that Mom could live at the condo rent free. However, Dottie would have to pay a roommate’s rent, whatever Mom thought was fair.

Rosie missed her family home, and Evan agreed they could stay there for the time being until things settled down at Cavanaugh Shipping.

As Rosie had expected, Evan’s mom changed her mind in favor of him—although it wasn’t until February that she’d made her decision. Mei agreed to expand Cavanaugh Shipping to Savannah if they worked together as partners to find a company in Savannah that they could buy.

As a result of the agreement, mother and son flew to Savannah multiple times from February through March. Mei bought a beach house five minutes away from SSLR on Tybee Island so that she didn’t have to stay in a hotel and so that she could attend the Mahjong Club meetings at SSLR. Mei wasn’t a member of SSLR, but she was a major donor. Therefore, all activities were open to her.

In spite of Evan’s effort, they didn’t find any local shipping business who would sell to them or partner with them in such a way that Evan would be in charge. Mei didn’t want to have it any other way because Cavanaugh Shipping must be on top of the pecking order.

Evan himself didn’t care if he was middle management in another company, but then his job wouldn’t be as secure as if he was owner of the company. Things seemed bleak. Rosie prayed with Evan both by phone and in person so many times that she had lost count.

And then the dark clouds parted in April, when Evan came to Savannah in person for yet another round of merger talks. It was the weekend now, and Rosie didn’t work on Saturday. The SSLR greenhouse didn’t need her either, so she had the day off.

While Mei and Mom were at the Mahjong Club spring season tournament, Rosie and Evan went for a walk on the beach in the afternoon. They began at SSLR and walked toward Mei’s beach house.

The sun beat down on them, mixing up their sunblock and sweat on their skin. The temperature had peaked at seventy degrees, as the weather forecasters had predicted for this late Friday in April. Even the Atlantic winds couldn’t reduce the mugginess of the afternoon—except for the fact that it would only get hotter from here on out until the end of summer.

Their goal today was to walk to Mei’s beach house where they’d cook dinner together. It would’ve been an easy walk if not for the sun.

“Buying an existing company is like maintaining a mature forest.” Rosie understood the assignment even though her professional experiences were all related to plants. "Instead of planting new trees from seeds or seedlings, you’re further along in the game if you can save existing trees.”

“Makes sense. Not only do you save time, but also money.” Evan walked along the shoreline, holding Rosie’s hand.

He seemed to enjoy holding her hand. He did it often when he was in town.

“The question now is which forest to buy. Does it have to be a particular forest? Do you need more pine trees? Or perhaps you might consider looking into other types of trees? Oaks need saving too.”

Evan stopped in his tracks, as he sometimes did when Rosie said something. That seemed to be his standard reaction. So he stopped walking.

And stared at Rosie. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that you might consider looking outside the shipping box.” Rosie pushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.

The wind picked up a little bit, and sand was blowing around her feet.

“Outside the box.” Evan nodded.

“Even though the parent company might be called Cavanaugh Shipping, it doesn’t mean that shipping is all that happens at ports.” Rosie expanded on her concept. “As you know, my dad worked at the Port of Savannah. He moved containers all day long. However, at the office where he worked, there were people doing all kinds of things. Some did accounting and finance, and some worked on security. The containers have to be protected. The company sometimes hired out security to private firms to protect their warehouses.”

“Maritime security.” Evan seemed to be deep in thought. “Everyone needs it, from shipbrokers to charterers to shipbuilders.”

“Worldwide.”

“Not just at sea, but also on land. Cavanaugh Shipping covers both land and sea, but one thing we always outsource: security.”

“Maybe you can find a fledgling maritime security company that’s deep in debt, take it over, and move the headquarters to Savannah under Cavanaugh Shipping,” Rosie suggested, realizing she knew nothing about Evan’s family business beyond what she recalled from Dad’s past experience as a dockworker.

“That’s it! The answer to our prayers.” Evan high-fived Rosie. He hugged and kissed her. “I can’t believe none of us thought of that. We have to get our solution from a plant doctor.”

“I’ll send you an invoice for my consulting fee,” Rosie joked.

They prayed right there on the beach, with the ocean waves and birds as their backdrop. They thanked God for the solution.

“Make sure to tell your mom that God answered our prayers,” Rosie said after they finished praying.

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