Page 75 of Love Story
And for the next hour that’s just what she did.
On the way home, Ashley’s spirit felt lighter than it had in a month. She had given Cole what he had asked for. The details of his parents’ love story. When they were still a few minutes from home it occurred to Ashley again the importance of that single meeting, decades ago, between her father and Wilson Gage.
The man had written to Cole and the two had shared a conversation. The details made it into Cole’s project and Cole earned his extra credit. But more than that, the man told Cole that whatever good he’d done for John Baxter had now come around to do good for him. He didn’t elaborate, but he did tell Cole this: I needed a good dose of my own advice. Run to Jesus. I’ll never stray from Him again.
That very quote was in Cole’s project.
Cole was singing along to a Colton Dixon song from his phone’s playlist. Ashley smiled to herself, her eyes on the road. Wilson Gage had taught Ashley something very important. She could never underestimate the power of a single conversation with a stranger. The importance of sharing God’s love with someone who needed it, the way Wilson Gage had shared with Ashley’s father that night.
The man could never have known—without Cole’s project—the impact of his words. How her father would go on to find faith in Christ. How when given the choice between four cities where he could finish his internship as a doctor, her father had chosen Bloomington.
Because it was there on that single night that his life had changed forever.
Her dad had tried to look up Wilson Gage through the years, but eventually he figured the man and his Scarlett must’ve moved on. It took Facebook and the determination of Cole to find him.
Ashley let the wonder of it all stir her heart and stay with her.
The most incredible detail of the whole story was the prayer Wilson Gage had prayed before her father left the man’s house that night. Everything he had asked God for had happened. Especially the last part. Because the Baxters were absolutely that family everyone looked to and everyone wanted for their own.
And now Ashley knew the reason why.
•••
THERE WAS ONLYone place John wanted to be, one place where he could finish the rest of the story. The love story he shared with Elizabeth. He pulled into the cemetery and took his time walking to the plot where her body lay.
John had been here more times than he could count. On special occasions, in the early morning hours before a birthday or anniversary. The anniversary of her home-going. But this Memorial Day morning was different. He was still in the story, still caught up in the details, still listening for her voice. He could feel her in his arms, even now.
The bench where John always sat was there, waiting for him. But somehow he expected her to be there, too. His Elizabeth. Looking for him, smiling in his direction.Where have you been?she would ask.I’ve been waiting for you.
John breathed deep the sweet summer air and took his seat. He looked at the stone, engraved with her name. “Elizabeth, my darling, I’m here.”
There was no response, of course. No word from God or whisper in the wind. Elizabeth was gone. She was not here beside him. This side of heaven, she never would be again. John leaned back on the bench and lifted his eyes to the blue sky. She wasn’t here, but she was there.
He smiled, in case she could see him.
Then he let the rest of the story come. Not in great detail like before, because there were too many moments, too many beautiful years and decades to relive. He would have to spend the rest of his life trying. And that wouldn’t be fair to anyone—not his family and certainly not Elaine.
He thought back to those long ago days once again. He married Elizabeth in a civil ceremony with only the Wesley family in attendance. She wore a simple white dress and he, a plain dark suit. It didn’t matter. Even now John could see the hope in Elizabeth’s eyes that day.
John sighed and leaned forward, his eyes on her tombstone. After the wedding, the two of them begged God for a solution to their housing situation.
The next day one of John’s professors offered them a garage apartment.
It was a beginning, and John completing his medical degree was another. Years later after Erin was born, John was offered positions at two different hospitals. One of them was in Bloomington. The city where John’s car broke down, where he met Wilson Gage.
The place where his life was changed forever.
The decision was easy. Their family moved to Indiana and found a beautiful house in the country, along with a church where they could watch their family grow.
A week later Elizabeth received a letter from her mother seeking reconciliation. It was an answer to years of prayers, and finally... finally they had healing over the heartache of the past.
All except the loss of their firstborn son.
At the time of his birth, the social worker had told Elizabeth not to think about her baby boy. Don’t talk about the adoption or tell anyone about it. She was to act like she’d never given birth. Like none of the terrible, painful ordeal had ever happened.
“Try to forget,” the woman had told Elizabeth.
Here, still, John’s eyes stung at the pain of that time. Forgetting about that little boy was as impossible as forgetting how to breathe. For both him and Elizabeth. But the years played out anyway, in the most beautiful way. Brooke was born, then Kari, and a few years later, Ashley and Erin. The Baxters’ own little women.
