16

 

The church service wasn’t at all what Josh had expected. The few times he had attended church had been at mainstream, denominational churches. Very liturgical. Everything was calculated, measured. No surprises. But at Maplewood community church, things were less formal. And the music…Kate really got into the upbeat songs. It was hard not to, but they spoke about things that didn’t make sense, things with which he couldn’t identify. Would he ever be able to relate to them and remain intellectually honest?

Enough reflection on this morning. He needed to get focused. It was almost 6:45 PM, and he was only three minutes from Kate’s house, where the inquisition would begin.

Tonight’s dinner, celebrating her twenty-first birthday, had been rescheduled due to their pretend elopement to Canada and subsequent interrogation by the FBI. Things had changed since Saturday. So many things. Was he changing, too? Correction, was he changing enough?

He cleared his mind with a deep breath and steeled himself for the veiled threats Kate said would come from Lee and her granddad. Josh could handle the man talk. Most guys learned to do that or they fell victim to all the bullies of life. A miserable way to live. But facing Jennifer Brandt was something entirely different. She was so beautiful and intelligent that she intimidated him more than Kate.

Josh parked along the street in front of the nice, upper-middle-class looking home.

When he rang the doorbell, the door swung open and Kate stood smiling at him. Her long, blonde hair spilled in gentle waves over her tan shoulders. Her sundress was sky blue, the color of her eyes. “Aren’t you going to come in?”

How long had he been standing there gawking at her, soaking in her elegance and beauty? “Yeah…happy birthday, Kate.” He tried to smile, but his lips seemed stuck in the shape of the letter O.

Little feet pattered across the floor. One, then another, tiny dark-haired head peeked around Kate’s legs.

“Hi, Josh.” Grady smiled up at him.

“Yeah, hi.” Gracie echoed. “It’s Kaykay’s birfday. She’s all growed up.” Grace smiled.

He returned her smile, and then glanced at Kate. “Yeah. So I see, Gracie.”

The twins each took a hand and pulled him toward his destiny. Perhaps the most important evening in his mostly meaningless life. Kate was right when she said what a person believes really matters. But when a person doesn’t believe anything, nothing matters and life loses all meaning. Maybe Josh’s life was about to change.

If he was a praying man, he would’ve prayed for Kate and him, for a real relationship between them. That was the only thing Joshua West had going that might inject some meaning into his seemingly pointless life.

“Come on, Josh.” Grady pulled hard on his hand. “You gotta meet Grampa.”

“Yeah, Grampa,” Grace echoed. “He knows how to kick really hard. Maybe he’ll show you. He’s got a black belt.”

Had they also recruited the twins for the threats and intimidation?

Kate grinned at the twins, and then met Josh’s gaze. “You should see your face. Don’t worry, Josh. You’ll survive.”

The dinner was warm, friendly. This was obviously a close family, unlike his. He envied Kate in that regard. Did she have any idea how lucky she was? She probably did, if she came to live with them from the foster-care system.

After the meal, Kate and Jennifer took the twins to the family room, leaving him alone with the two men.

Lee stood. “It’s a nice evening. We should sit out on the deck and enjoy it.”

Enjoy it? He hoped he could just endure it.

Granddad was nearly a foot shorter than Josh, but his black belt and intelligent, piercing eyes more than made up for his stature.

Lee opened the slider from the dining room and they stepped out into a pleasant evening. The sun was sinking to the horizon above the Olympic Mountains to the west. Was it taking his life with it? Not without a fight.

“Have a seat, Josh.” Lee pointed to a lounge chair near the deck railing.

Josh took a seat.

Granddad and Lee did not. They stood, leaning on the rail, towering over him. A hammer and a splitting maul. He was the round chunk of straight-grained cedar soon to be split wide open and served to the fire.

Lee cleared his throat. “Let’s cut to the chase here.”

Josh’s body tensed, like before a fight broke out on the football field, a fight where he was taking on the other team’s middle linebacker and nose guard…simultaneously.

Lee cleared his throat. “This is the first time we’ve ever had this conversation with anyone about Katie. We expected it long before now. Certainly not on her twenty-first birthday.”

Granddad shot Lee a sharp glance. “To the chase, Lee. No cutting around the bushes.”

“You mean beating around—” Josh stopped. He’d just corrected Granddad.

Both men glared at him.

You are a fool, Joshua West.

Lee broke the tense silence. “If any guy ever hurts Katie, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, he will answer to me.” The tone of his voice told Josh this was a man of conviction. A man who would not hesitate to act on what he believed.

Granddad pushed off the rail and stood, looking down at Josh. “You may be a lot taller than me, but if you hurt Katie in any way, I will kick your head into orbit. And, yes, my foot can reach it even if you are standing.”

It was that time when every young man in his position must capitulate. Surrender completely and convincingly to their terms. “If I hurt her in any way, you can have a free kick, sir.”

Lee chuckled.

Granddad grinned at Lee. “Sounds familiar.”

Lee nodded. “But there is one thing that’s different than when I asked to court Jennifer.”

Josh knew where this was going. “But, sir, I’m not asking to court Katie, only work with her on our dissertations.”

Lee twirled his index finger in a series of circles. “And spend hours and hours together. We know how that goes. But the real problem is that you and Katie don’t share the same worldview. Katie’s a committed Christian. What do you believe, Josh?”

The first blow of the hammer came down on his weakest spot. “I wasn’t raised in church. After several years of confusing teaching in college, I’m still trying to sort all that out.”

Granddad looked over to Lee. “Maybe Katie can help him like she helped me.”

There was clearly a lot of history here and he was totally ignorant of it. But he could understand enough to know there was much more to Kate Brandt than what he’d suspected. “Look, I’ve never met anyone like Kate, and I’m beginning to believe I never will. If you two will just give me a chance, I’ll—”

“Take her on a honeymoon to Whistler?” Lee folded his arms across his chest.

“So you know about our cover story?”

“A little.”

“Kate used it two or three times to elude two gunmen. But that’s all it was, a cover story.”

Lee nodded. “She told us that.”

Had she told them about the pretend kisses? The ones that dropped most of the pretense? Josh would silently plead the Fifth Amendment on that subject.

“When you’re with her,” Lee’s piercing gaze carried authority and the intent to wield it as necessary. “Keep her safe, Josh.”

“In every way.” Jennifer’s voice.

How long had she been standing behind him? They had all tightened the thumbscrews of accountability on Joshua West. But he intended to comply. Kate was worth it, including the queasy stomach the threats had given him.

The meeting ended as quickly as it had begun.

“Let’s go inside and have some birthday cake,” Jennifer waved them inside.

Josh stood to follow them in, hoping he wouldn’t barf up birthday cake all over their house like Kate had puked all over his hand.