Page 25 of Through the Dark Night
He stopped and turned. She could feel his gaze the whole way to her toes. “You’ve never been in the way.”
She nodded and smiled and said, “Well, I’ll take your word for it, but it’s hard to believe. You’ve been very patient and sweet with me, and I appreciate it.”
They went around and gathered up their things, and did not talk about anything more personal for the rest of the morning as they looked at the third floor, and she made notes as he went through and did some figuring.
Everyone else ate lunch before they were through, and they ended up sitting out on the porch together with the meatloaf and scalloped potatoes that Marina had held back for them, which was still warm.
“Such a beautiful day,” Shannon said as she lifted her face to the lake breeze. This was why she wanted to come back. This glorious view, the fresh air, the feeling of community and of being supported by people who truly liked and cared about her.
And Lance. She hadn’t come back for Lance. Not on purpose anyway. But maybe, subconsciously she had known all along that she had missed the one that she had been meant for.
“It sure is. It’s the kind of day like this that makes you happy that you’re alive, that you live by the lake, makes you feel blessed.”
“I definitely feel blessed,” she agreed, closing her eyes and savoring the delicious food and the feel of the wind on her face.
“Do you ever wonder about the road not taken?” he asked her, causing her to open her eyes in surprise.
He looked thoughtful, and his gaze was out on the lake as he put a bite of food in his mouth and chewed slowly.
“I suppose I do. I suppose I do wonder what might have happened if…things had been different.”
“Care to elaborate on that?” he asked casually, looking down at his plate as he forked another bite onto his utensil.
“I suppose we all have choices that we make that we regret,” she said, not sure she was ready to talk about their past specifically.She owed him an apology, but she hadn’t really thought too much about what she was going to say, and she didn’t want to bungle it too badly. “What about you? Do you have roads you wish you would have taken?”
“I suppose. In some ways. But I can’t help but think that God has moved everything that I’ve done so that things would work out the way He wanted them to. Just my thoughts.”
“God does have a way of moving things around and making things work out. At Bible study, they were talking about how He makes beautiful things out of broken things, and I think that’s true.”
Neither one of them said anything more for a while as they finished their meal in silence.
“I don’t know what you’re doing for supper tonight, but if you don’t have any plans, I was kind of hoping you’d come over and share a meal with me. I’d like for you to meet my sister.”
Lance broke the silence with a request she was not expecting. Still, just because she wasn’t expecting it didn’t mean that she didn’t say yes immediately.
“I’d love to.” Marina had two nights off a week, and tonight happened to be one of them. It wasn’t that it was that hard to warm up leftovers, but it would be nicer to eat with Lance and his sister. “As I recall, she was in an accident not long before I left?”
“I think it was about three years before you left. But yeah, she was in an accident and barely survived. She…is developmentally delayed, I guess is what it’s called. Basically, she’s in her mid-thirties but has the mental abilities of about a ten-year-old. The docs said she would never get any better, and they were right. As much as I wished it was different over the years. It was hard to see her never be able to get married or have a family of her own.”
“And you gave up everything in order to stay and take care of her?” Shannon said slowly.
Lance didn’t say anything, but he tilted his head a little as though acknowledging her words. It was true, from what Shannon could remember. His mother had died, and his dad had his hands full, trying to manage the hardware store and take care of his sister at the same time.
“What was her name again?” she asked.
“It’s Katie, and she’s eager to meet you.”
“She is?” Shannon asked, surprised Katie even remembered her.
“I might have been talking about you some. I think she might have been a little bit young to remember that you and I were a thing.”
“I see,” she said softly.
“Yeah. Anyway?—”
“Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, your mother died when Katie was born, and you stayed to help raise her.”
“That’s true. I thought when she turned eighteen, I would be free of my responsibility, because I promised my mom that I would help my dad before she passed away. Once Katie was off on her own, I felt like I would be free to pursue a degree in electrical engineering. That’s what I had always wanted to do. But God had other plans.”
