Page 44 of In This Moment
“Alicia.” Wendell’s mind raced and he closed his eyes. “It’s good to hear your voice.” Clearly she was not too afraid to reach out to him. Even with the national negative attention he was receiving.
“How are you?” She cared. Her question was deeper than Lake Michigan.
“I’m okay. I really am.” Wendell leaned back and opened his eyes. He stared out the window at the sky. “God is working. Even today.”
“I’m sure.” This was definitely a new Alicia. She drew a full breath. “You’re in trouble, but you’re going to get through this, Wendell. I’ve been praying.” She paused. “So what happened today?”
Wendell hadn’t thought the day could get better, but it just did. “Well... I now have the very best lawyer! Luke Baxter is going to work with me.”
“Hmm.” She paused for a second. “Luke Baxter. I haven’t heard of him.”
“He’s the best religious freedom lawyer in the nation.” Wendell couldn’t stop smiling. “He’s taking my case, Alicia.”
“That’s great!” She sounded truly happy for him. “God is already ahead of you. Working for you.” Alicia hesitated for a longer beat. “I just... I wanted you to know I’m here for you. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” He had been willing to lose her if it took that to help the students. To help her. But right now... Wendell only wished he could drive his car straight to her house and see her.
She was the friend he needed.
“After this craziness... could I take you to dinner? Even as a friend?”
Her answer came soft and certain. “I’d love that.”
Wendell could hardly believe her response. He put his hand on the wheel. “Until then... keep praying. And I’ll keep praying for you.”
“I will. Thanks.” Her sureness was there again. “And hey, I’ve stopped my medication. My doctor is thrilled. No panic attacks. God is... He’s healing me, Wendell. A little more every day.”
“That’s amazing.” It was the best news of all. He remembered that she didn’t have long to talk. They would catch up in detail later, over dinner. “So... thanks for calling. I’ll keep you posted. About the lawsuit.”
“Please.” The love he’d felt from her before was there again. Not in words, and maybe only as a friend. But it was there. “Oh, and...” her smile was audible, “it’s good to hear your voice, too.”
He wanted so badly to see her, hold her hands. Take her in his arms. “Talk to you soon, Alicia. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Wendell spent much of the ride home thinking about her. She was right. He was going to get through this. He wasn’t doomed, the way the media made it sound. And with Luke Baxter, his very talented attorney, Wendell could win this case. He believed it. Because in the most difficult moments ahead, people would pray. Even Alicia. And it wouldn’t be only Luke acting as his advocate in that courtroom.
But God Himself.
14
Luke had a pit in the center of his stomach.
The hearing was in less than an hour at the Indianapolis Civil Court. Like he’d told Wendell last Monday, typically he didn’t take a case unless he had a good feeling he could win it. The way he felt about his other current cases. Like the one that involved a teacher at Clear Creek High School who had blown the whistle on a group of students, including his niece Jessie.
Jessie was a sixteen-year-old sophomore at the school, and part of the cheerleading squad. Every week before the football game, she and the other cheerleaders created a paper banner to encourage the football team. The banner always included a Bible verse.
Now the teacher had contacted the school district, and the school district had ordered Jessie and the cheerleaders to stop making mention of the Bible verse on the signs. Never do it again, they were told.
Well, that was a violation of their religious freedoms, and Luke didn’t mind saying so. He had written a letter to the school district, and he fully expected the situation to settle out of court. The school district would not want a public battle, which they would certainly lose because it didn’t line up with the three-part test.
But that was not the case with Wendell Quinn.
The good news—which he’d repeatedly assured Wendell about—was this: There would be no jail time for Wendell. “At least at this point, people don’t get sent to jail for reading the Bible or praying in a public place,” he had told Wendell when they met last week at Hamilton High. “But you could lose your job at any point.”
Wendell understood that. He told Luke how James Black had promised to fire him if Wendell continued the club. But so far the district had kept him on.
Wendell had smiled. “The apostle Paul said to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds.”
