Page 48 of In This Moment
As many as it took to vindicate a brave man like Wendell Quinn.
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ANDY NELSON WASgetting used to the feel of an empty house, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Andy’s twin girls, Ensley and Ellie, were staying with Andy’s sister a few miles away. He had explained that Cami was gone, and with work and the trial, he wouldn’t be able to care for the girls. They needed a more stable environment until things settled down. His sister had been happy to help.
On Twitter, Andy followed a host of news services. He sat on the sofa in the living room and pored through the feed. One after another, the story was still trending.Sensational Religious Freedom Case Set for Trial... Angry Parent to See His Day in Court... Trial Set for Parent Offended by School Bible Study.
Andy turned off his phone. Yes, the case was sensational. He had known it would be the day he called the newspaper. His attorney had told him they’d win the case. There was no doubt in the man’s mind.
Good thing,Andy thought. He was just glad the guy was working for free. He certainly had no money to pay a lawyer. Andy stood and wandered to the front window. He should feel overjoyed about all of it. The slam-dunk case, the free lawyer.
A trial meant more eyes on the case. More people who would be served notice. Bible study and prayer were not allowed in public places—especially not schools. Period. The more people who knew, the more they would stay away from such things in the future.
All of which should make Andy thrilled. Ecstatic. The faith his ex-wife had tried to shove down their throats would eventually be extinct if this sort of case continued to gain public attention. Eventually people would be too afraid to even talk about Christianity.
Andy looked over his shoulder toward the kitchen. He needed another shot. Beer was a thing of the past. Too much time drinking for the same effect. Jack Daniel’s was a whole lot quicker. He’d already had three shots since he got home from court.
His boss seemed to understand about the work Andy would need to miss. “No educator should be reading the Bible with his students,” his boss had said. “Nothing could be more against our legal system.”
The man had given Andy literally as much time off as it took to see the case through. Today Andy got home hours earlier than he would have if he’d been working at the airport. He took a nap, tried to eat a can of tuna and then found the bottle of Jack.
Weirdest thing was how Andy was feeling. He should be beyond happy. The best attorney in the nation represented him. Landsford was going to win and Andy was going to be vindicated, and together they were going to earn the respect of everyone from Andy’s boss to high-profile politicians. Every media outlet would love Andy Nelson.
But Andy didn’t feel a bit of that thrill.
He felt old and tired and sad.
The bottle stood like a beacon on the kitchen counter. Not a beacon of hope, exactly. More a symbol of darkness. The alcohol didn’t make him feel better. It just made him not feel at all. He moved from the window to the kitchen counter. Another drink. That’s what he needed. He poured the liquid and held it to his lips. A quick tilt of his head and another shot down.
Cami.
That’s what was bothering him. Andy knew it, of course. Deep down he had known it every day since she left. He walked to the back bedroom, her bedroom—at least until the day he blew up at her.
He had been crazy that day. Crazy with anger and betrayal and frustration. He wanted her to know just how upset he was over the Bible study club. Andy sat on the edge of her bed and felt the beginning of tears.
He’d accomplished that, for sure. Cami was so aware of the way Andy felt, she couldn’t get out of the house fast enough. He took a slow breath and stared at the photos on the corkboard that hung over Cami’s bed. Cami and a group of friends at the prom last year. Cami and her sisters at the park.
Cami and Audrey, her unfaithful mother. Andy hated that picture. So what if the woman was Cami’s mother. Audrey didn’t deserve to have her photo on Cami’s wall.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you, Cami girl.” His voice was soft. Like his heart was speaking all on its own. “My fist was always going for the wall. Not for you.”
He lay down, his head on her pillow, and closed his eyes.I’m sorry, Cami. I never meant to scare you. I’m so sorry.The tears came harder, forcing their way out from between his eyelids. What sort of wretched man was he? And how come Cami would believe in a God that destroyed families?
Andy blinked his eyes open and rubbed his fists over his eyelids. Was that what had happened? God had destroyed his family? Andy sniffed and sat up again.
His wife had gotten the wild idea one day that she would start taking the family to church. When Andy refused, she took Cami and Ensley and Ellie. That went on for almost a year before Andy found out about the affair.
Even now the situation sickened Andy. An affair with a man from church? Audrey said the man left the congregation after that. He walked away from church and his family and his reputation. Ran off with Andy’s wife.
Cami and her sisters had no mother because of what God had done. At least that’s the way it seemed.
If God was real, then He wouldn’t have wanted Andy’s wife to have an affair. And He wouldn’t have wanted a Christian man to leave his family and his church for another woman. Of course not. In fact, a God like that would probably be on Andy’s side. Feeling sorry for Andy because of what had happened.
He sat up and reached out, touched another photo on the corkboard. Cami when she was just two years old. Bright smile, lopsided braids. A mouthful of baby teeth. Suddenly something occurred to Andy. After what he’d done to Cami a few weeks ago, she had every right to call the police on him.
She could’ve filed charges against him. Charges of child abuse or domestic violence. That would put a twist in the case everyone wanted to talk about. Suddenly Cami would be the victim and he’d be the tyrant. Refusing to let her read the Bible. Refusing to let her pray. Threatening her with violence for wanting a life different than his.
A chill started at his neck and ran down his back and arms. Why hadn’t Cami said anything to the police? What in the world reason would there be for her to not say something? The club she loved so much was going to be shut down, and here she had information about her father that could throw the entire case into disarray.
