Page 48 of Through the Dark Night
Around six, Shannon figured that it was about time for her to get up and do something. Maybe she could make it to the door and head out to see Lance. Or even better, maybe he would come to see her.
But she hardly thought so. She was the one who had hurled all the insults and stormed out.
She didn’t mean any of them. She didn’t even know why she said them, other than sometimes when a person was upset, they said things they didn’t mean. She thought she was over that.
“Knock knock?” a voice called from the kitchen doorway before the door pushed open, and Skyler appeared, holding a kettle. “Homer told me Lance looked like someone died, and you look about the same. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
She appreciated having a familiar, friendly face. “Want to come on in? That smells delicious.”
“Chicken noodle soup. Easy to make, and good for more than thecommon cold,” Skyler said with a smile. She took a breath and looked at Shannon with some trepidation. “I hope you don’t mind, but Vera called an emergency Bible study, and the location is here.”
That made Shannon smile. Her friends were coming. They knew she had a rough go of it, and they were coming to support her.
“Of course it’s okay. And thankfully, the place is clean and ready for visitors. And friends. Especially friends.”
Skyler set the soup on the table and walked around to give Shannon a hug. “I think we’ve all gone through hard times, but it seems like you’ve had it worse than others.”
“I don’t think I have it any worse, and a lot of it is because of my own doing. I can trace every problem I have back to my own poor decisions.” Except for Yolanda’s death. That really wasn’t her fault, was it? She was still working on that one.
As each woman arrived, they set their food down and gave Shannon a gentle but firm hug and some comforting words.
Soon they were all seated at the table, enjoying the food.
“I’ve just made some terrible mistakes,” Shannon found herself saying during a lull in the conversation. No one had directly questioned her or accused her of anything. But somehow she found out that there had been a few witnesses to the words that she and Lance had exchanged in the hardware store. One of the benefits—or one of the drawbacks—of small towns was that there was probably going to be a witness for pretty much anything.
“Honey, I’ve watched you these past months. You are not the same person who ran away at eighteen, going to college, choosing to spread your wings and fly when maybe you weren’t quite ready, and then who left again after the accident. You’re stronger now. Your faith in God is bigger and deeper, and your ability to look at others and see what you can do for them is immeasurable. Look at this inn.” Vera moved a hand around, indicating the beautifully restored kitchen they were sitting in. “Unfortunately, I think at times you’re still letting fear drive the car.”
It was a gentle reminder that what she had said to Lance wasn’t true. It came from a place of guilt, but more than that, fear.
“I think you’re right. I think the idea that a man could be faithful, that I could trust him, that he would be there for me… My ex just wasn’t. He was all about himself. I think back on our marriage, and every time we had a disagreement, it was me going to him. It was always me trying to make our house a home, trying to create a family atmosphere. He would have been content to walk away from me twenty-nine years ago. But I was the one that held it all together. And I guess the idea that a man can see me for me, and all my mistakes and all my failures, and all the times that I let him down, and still love me… It scares me. It’s like it’s too good to be true.”
“The thing about our fear is that when we bring it to light, when we face the thing that we’re so afraid of, oftentimes we realize that it really wasn’t as big and bad as what we thought it was. And I’m not talking about your fear, I’m talking about my own.” Mertie spoke from the head of the table. “I just know that’s how it worked for me. Once I brought things out into the open, it really didn’t seem so bad at all.”
They spoke a little more, but Shannon felt relief that her friends not only were supporting her but had gone through similar things. She knew that; she just needed the extra nudge that they were giving her.
Eventually, they finished eating and moved to the sitting area in front of the fireplace, where they all gathered in cozy chairs and soon had a crackling fire with tea and coffee and hot chocolate on a little stand in their midst.
There weren’t too many things that hot chocolate couldn’t help, Shannon thought to herself as conversation floated around them. Eventually, the ladies started talking about the detective who had been there.
“He pretty much stopped everyone and spoke to us all. And the entire town’s response was unified resistance. Fran refused to serve him at the store,” Grace said with a laugh.
Mertie smiled. “My husband just hasn’t been able to find time to meet with him,” she said with a wink. Everyone knew that Pastor Garnett would drop anything to be with any of the townspeople, so the fact that he hadn’t been able to find time made everyone giggle.
“I know Dominic’s crew has been making his life exceptionally uncomfortable. Anytime he stops in to try to talk to them, accidents seem to happen all around him.” Vera winked at the ladies. “I heard someone accidentally dropped a hammer on his toe.”
The ladies laughed again, and Shannon felt surrounded by warmth and love and accepted for exactly who she was.
As the evening drew to a close, Vera closed the meeting with prayer, and every woman took their turn, praying for courage for Shannon and healing between her and Lance. Every woman showed faith that it would happen, that Shannon would do the right thing, and that Lance would forgive her. That their relationship would be blessed and move in the direction that the Lord wanted it to.
Shannon hoped in her heart that the Lord had reconciliation in mind and a long, beautiful future between Lance and her.
After all, He’d given her the inn, but what good was that without someone to share it with?
Twenty-One
It took a couple of days for Shannon to be able to get away. There was so much going on at the inn with her first guests expected to arrive soon and other guests already booking.
So, it was Saturday morning before Shannon was able to walk to town with the intent of seeing Lance.
