Page 81 of In This Moment
“If it’s okay, we need to get going.” Wendell thanked the police officer. He and Alicia both gave the man their contact information and then they were free to leave.
All the way to the car, neither Wendell nor Alicia said anything.
Not until they were inside with the doors shut and locked did Alicia fall into his arms and cry. But her tears didn’t last long. After a few minutes she looked at Wendell. “I knew he would kill me.” She searched his eyes. “He would’ve killed you, too.”
Wendell had a feeling Alicia was right. If Jack had made it all the way to the courtroom he would’ve killed them both. Why else bring a gun here? He had to know he’d be caught or shot immediately. He must’ve been intent on going down in a big blaze of gunfire.
“I felt it, the panic attack. It was taking over, and then I whispered the name ‘Jesus.’?” She wiped her tears. “And instantly I wasn’t afraid. That’s why I could talk to that officer.” She managed the slightest smile. “Thank you, Wendell.” Her eyes locked on to his. “For protecting me.”
“Thank you... for being here.” He had never wanted to kiss her more than right now. But Wendell knew better. The time would come, he was almost certain. But not now. There was too much to process.
Over the next few days Wendell and Alicia would learn that Jack’s marriage had fallen apart only weeks after it had started. And that in the past month or so his obsession with Alicia had gotten so great, he no longer went to work.
The man was certifiably insane.
Wendell prayed with Alicia about the matter, and they both felt peace. And while it would take some time for Alicia to stop looking over her shoulder, Jack would never threaten her again. Those days were behind them. It was time to move on, time to stop thinking about the past.
And start dreaming about the future.
•••
LUKE COULDN’T BELIEVEthe drama that had played out in front of the courthouse moments after he left the building. If the timing had been different, anything might’ve happened.
It didn’t take long for the media to report with near certainty that Jack Renton had been headed for the courtroom. Based on notes they’d found on his computer, he intended to kill both Alicia Harris and her male friend. Luke’s client. Wendell Quinn.
Crazy world,Luke told himself more than once. If not for God’s protection, anything could’ve happened.
Especially if the man had gotten that far with his loaded gun. Luke had been in the courtroom, too, after all. He and his father. Reagan had struggled to fall asleep the first few nights after learning what had happened. Any threat by Jack Renton was obviously behind them.
Still, it made Luke grateful that he’d been spending more time at home. If the gunman had made it into the courtroom, he could’ve died. But he would’ve died knowing he’d made the right decision.
Putting Reagan and the kids first. The way he would do forevermore.
Of course, Luke’s resolve didn’t stop the mountain of cases that wound up on his desk Monday following the verdict. Luke was inundated with offers to defend every sort of religious freedom violation he could imagine.
A football player who had always pointed to the sky after a touchdown, now being asked by his athletic director to no longer make the motion. A school where a teacher was being sued for having a Christmas tree in the corner of her room, and a school with a pending lawsuit over the existence of a memorial rock. The rock had been placed on one side of the football field in memory of a teacher who had been killed in a car accident.
But the rock had a cross on it.
Now an atheist group in Ohio wanted it gone, or else.
So many cases, more than Luke could ever fight alone. And the good news was, he never would. God would go before him.
The way he had with Wendell Quinn.
•••
REAGAN COULD BARELYbreathe as she and Luke and the kids walked up the steps to Landon and Ashley’s house the Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving. Tommy knew what was happening, but the other kids had no idea.
Tommy shared a smile with Reagan as Luke rang the doorbell.
Shadows moved beyond the glass on either side of the front door, but Luke missed it. The door opened and they were hit by the loudest, most joyous chorus of voices ever.
“Surprise!” Lights flew on and standing there just inside the house were all the people who loved Luke.
Not just the entire Baxter family, all his siblings and their kids, and John and Elaine, of course. But their friends the Flanigans, along with former basketball and baseball coaches who still knew Luke. Friends from high school and the church youth group.
More than seventy people filled the house.
