Page 22 of Through the Dark Night
The ladies were talking, discussing Grace’s divorce and the benefits that had come out of it, and listening as Birdie shared about her trials as well.
Everyone had something to say, except for Shannon, who had been quiet.
Finally, there was a soft pause, and Mertie looked at Shannon. “I know you’re new, but please don’t be afraid to speak up if you’d like to share something. Sometimes it helps to talk things through. I think most of us have already processed a lot of the pain that we’ve been through,” she huffed out a breath, “although I don’t know that you ever completely recover from it. You can definitely see the good, see where God has worked, but hard times leave scars. They just do.” She smiled again, softly and easily. “So, if you’d like to share, you’re welcome, I think we all understand, but don’t feel pressured.”
“Well, I guess like several of you, I have a divorce. I’m still reeling from it, and I suppose it’s hard. I definitely made some mistakes in my youth, and I can see almost a direct line from those mistakes to my divorce. But yeah, I’m trying to come out from the other side. I don’t know if I’m at the point where I would say that it’s the best thing that ever happened to me, but I can see good things coming out of it. I… I know my husband did his best, but I could have had a better man.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have added that last part. She didn’t want to bad-mouth her husband. No one else had said anything unkind about anyone as they talked about their pain and grief. But that was one of the good things that she could see coming out of her divorce. James wasn’t a great husband. He hadn’t supported her at all, had taken advantage of her support and the work that she had done to make their house a beautiful and welcoming home, and hadn’t felt any need to do anything other than throw money at her. Which, of course she appreciated. Who didn’t appreciate a comfortable lifestyle, without having to worry about whether or not the bills were being paid?
But as for a man who she could share a love story with, James really wasn’t that good. He would rather golf on Saturday mornings than spend his day off with her. And she could go on and on. There really wasn’t too much that he’d not rather do than spend time with her. In fact, even before he announced that he was leaving her and before hesaid he was with someone else, she couldn’t remember the last time they’d done something together, and it wasn’t because she didn’t want to. It was because of him.
The ladies had started talking again, no pressure on her to continue, and she appreciated it. The way they accepted her, the way they told her that they understood about divorce, and that it was hard and that it would take time to come to grips with things, made her feel almost overwhelmed at the amount of love and acceptance being poured out.
They took a break after about forty-five minutes so the snacks could be refilled, since there was a limited amount of room on the coffee table, and during the break, Skyler pulled Shannon aside.
“I know I told you that I had my own story, and all the ladies here have already heard how I was abandoned. My fiancé just drove away without me. In fact, it wasn’t somewhere random. It was here at Fran’s. I wandered over trying to find some shelter for the night, and I went into labor. That’s how far along I was.”
“Oh my goodness. Your boyfriend was a monster.”
“He wasn’t a good guy, that’s for sure. But if it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have met Homer. Whoisa good guy. And out of that—the pain of being abandoned when I was carrying another man’s baby and so close to giving birth, when he should have been protecting me and making sure that I was okay—something beautiful was born. I think God specializes in writing beautiful endings from broken beginnings. At least He did in my story. Or maybe He just specializes in making anything that’s broken beautiful.” Skyler was smiling and seemed to glow with happiness. There was no doubt that God had given her a happy ending to her love story.
“Did Homer adopt your baby?”
Skyler nodded. “He fell in love. He’s raising her as his, and we have two more.” She grinned. “He’s gonna be a little frazzled when I get home this evening, but he loves them—there’s just no doubt.”
Homer didn’t look like the kind of guy who got frazzled, but Skyler would know.
The group reconvened shortly after that, and Mertie gave some more teaching from the Bible. Shannon just drank it up, like this was the first water she’d had in weeks. She just couldn’tget enough and was shocked to see that it was ten o’clock when Mertie said that it was time to draw to a close. They prayed together, and Mertie prayed for all of the prayer requests that had been shared during the evening, including Shannon’s new start and the work at the inn, and her words were so sincere and so comforting and so amazing that Shannon nearly started to cry on the spot.
As she said goodbye to the ladies, Vera offered to walk her out. Shannon wanted to decline, but Vera already had a hand on the doorknob.
“I appreciate it. Everyone was so welcoming, and I just had such an amazing time. Mertie is a natural Bible teacher,” Shannon said as they walked down the walk.
“She really is. Every time she speaks, I just get so much out of it.”
“I’m looking forward to next week already.”
“I look forward to it every week. It’s a night off, a night to fellowship and grow closer, but it’s also good food and friends too.”
“I can only imagine. The food was delicious.”
They took a couple of steps without either one of them saying anything, and then Vera, in a very casual voice, said, “Lance has been asking me about you. He wanted to make sure that I had invited you, which of course, I already had, but…not prying, just wanted to let you know that he’s concerned and interested. If you have anything you want to share, I have a reputation for being able to keep my mouth shut.”
“Well, good to know. Although… I don’t know that I have anything to say about Lance right now.” She had a whole lot she was thinking about him, but nothing that she’d even admitted to herself. Not the attraction, not the memories that had been buried that made her feel like she had made the absolute wrong choice, and not the way she felt bad for breaking her promise.
“He’s a good man. He’s been waiting a long time for the right woman. I… He didn’t say this, but I kind of feel like he thinks it might be you.”
Shannon’s breath caught. Really? She wouldn’t be just saying that, would she?
She didn’t know what to say, so she put a foot in front of the other one and continued to walk.
“No pressure. I just wanted to say something. I also wanted to make sure that you knew that my offer of designing any kind of healing space you wanted, whether inside or out, was open, and Dominic will build whatever I design. Just let me know.”
“Thank you so much. There actually is a small spot in the back where I thought a patio would be nice. The view isn’t as good, but it would be a good place to go and just sit and enjoy. That might be a really great place for not a healing garden exactly but just a healing spot.”
“Sounds great. I’ll come and check it out sometime this week.”
“And there is a room downstairs, it used to be a conference room, I think, and I suppose I could still use it for that, but I was thinking that you might be able to do something in there, to make people feel welcome and encouraged.”
