Joe Kennsington pulled into the driveway just after 2:00, vaguely aware that he and Mary Beth hadn’t said a word since they got back in the car. They had chosen Sherry’s casket and headstone and arranged for her burial at Oak Hills Cemetery. But after their first stop, everything else had been a blur …
“The search team found her in a shallow grave in the woods,” Jordan had said. “Bruises on her neck are consistent with strangulation.”
Joe took Mary Beth’s hand and followed Jordan into a room where they stood looking down at a stainless steel table covered with a white sheet. A man in a lab coat pulled back the sheet. Joe nodded and began to weep, his hand clutching Mary Beth’s, the image of his daughter’s lifeless face frozen in his memory …
“Mr. Kennsington?”
Joe looked up. FBI agents opened the car door and escorted him and Mary Beth to the front door. He was aware of cameras flashing and people calling out, but he felt removed from it.
Once inside, Joe’s gaze met Erica’s and Jason’s, the look in their eyes heavy and questioning. He opened his arms and they rushed to him, yielding to his comfort. Mary Beth walked past them and up the stairs. A few minutes later, the kids retreated to their rooms.
Joe got on the phone and called his parents and his in-laws. Then he hung up the phone and sat with his head in his hands. The sound of Jed Wilson’s voice startled him.
“Joe? Why don’t you go upstairs and crash,” Jed said. “I’ll make the rest of the phone calls.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“Not at all. I know everyone on your list. I can tell them what they need to know.”
Late Friday afternoon, Joe and Mary Beth sat with Pastor Thomas, making arrangements for Sherry’s funeral service.
“I’m expecting a huge show of support,” Pastor Thomas said after they had settled on a date and time. “We don’t have to decide today, but we’ll have to consider whether or not to let the media cover the service.”
“As overwhelming as their presence is, there’s an upside,” Joe said. “I wonder how many people have been praying for us—people we don’t even know?”
“Hard to say,” the pastor said. “Probably thousands. Maybe tens of thousands.”
“I’m grateful for every single prayer.” Joe’s face quivered. “I couldn’t do this without the Lord.” He glanced at Mary Beth and wished he hadn’t.
“Only God can give peace that passes understanding,” the pastor said. “There’s nothing else like it, but you already know that. Let’s ask the Lord to lift us above the sorrow and let us rest in the knowledge that Sherry’s in His presence right now, even as we’re grieving …” He choked back the emotion. “I’m going to miss her, too.”
Pastor Thomas prayed with them and then stood up. “Take some time to be alone with your thoughts. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
As they walked to the front door, Joe could tell by Mary Beth’s steely silence that the pastor’s words hadn’t made a dent in her armor of anger.
Joe hung up the phone. He sat quietly for a few moments, and then headed up the stairs. He opened the bedroom door and closed it behind him.
“Honey, that was Taylor on the phone.” He paused to let the words sink in. “She’s still in the hospital, and her parents have gone home for the evening. She has something to tell us and asked if we would go over there.”
“There’s no way I can do that.”
“Why not?”
“Seeing Taylor would … well, I just can’t, that’s all.”
“She sounded eager to tell us something, Mary Beth.”
“Jordan already told us everything, and seeing Taylor right now might throw me over the edge.”
He looked into her eyes and saw only a wall. “I think it might help.”
“Joe, I’m not going. Besides, there’s no way I can hide my disdain for G. R., and Taylor’s already paid enough for his mistakes.”
“So what do you want me to tell her?”
“That I just can’t see her yet. She’ll understand.”
Joe sighed. He kissed his wife on the forehead, then went downstairs and told his children about the phone call.
“I’ll be back in a little while. Are you two sure you’ll be all right?”
“We’ll be okay,” Erica said. “I wish Mom would go with you, though. I’m worried about her. Why do you think Taylor wants to talk to you?”
“I don’t know, but I have a good feeling about it.”
“Dad,” Jason said, “will you tell her I’m glad she made it?”
“Me, too,” Erica said, her arms wrapped around her father’s neck.
“Of course.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I shouldn’t be late. You’re sure you’ll be all right if I leave?”
“Dad, go,” Erica said. “We’ll be fine.”
Joe arrived at the hospital at 8:45. After being cleared by FBI agents, he knocked gently on Taylor’s door.
“Come in,” she said.
Joe slowly opened the door and saw Taylor sitting up in bed. His eyes filled with tears as he struggled for the right words.
Taylor burst into tears. “Mr. Kennsington, I’m so sorry about Sherry!”
Joe went over to her bedside and pulled up a chair. He took her hand in his. “Me, too, Taylor … but I’m glad you’re alive.” Joe held her hand to his cheek, letting tears fill a long moment of silence. “Mary Beth said you’d understand if she couldn’t see you yet. After they found Sherry’s body this morning …” He swallowed the emotion. “It’s been pretty tough.”
“I kept something for you.” She slid a ring off her pinkie finger.
Joe recognized Sherry’s cross ring. He took it from Taylor as if it were a priceless jewel and held it in his palm, his face quivering and his heart racing. He blinked away the moisture. “She’s worn this since she was five years old. How did you …?”
“I knew Sherry would want you to have it,” Taylor said, sounding surprisingly calm, her eyes filled with empathy beyond her years.
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“Mr. Kennsington, some things happened when Sherry and I were kidnapped that I can’t explain. I thought maybe you could help me understand.”
“What kinds of things?”
“Well, they may have been supernatural …” Taylor seemed tentative, as if she were sizing up his reaction.
“Tell me about them,” he said.
“Do you know about the cage, and how Wayne left Jack in the basement so we couldn’t talk?”
He nodded.
“Well, that was horrible enough. But when Wayne brought us the newspaper, and we read that I was going to be ‘a lamb led to slaughter,’ I just gave up. I curled up inside my sleeping bag and cried. I couldn’t stop crying, but Sherry couldn’t stop praying.”
“Born determined.” Joe almost smiled.
“I could tell Sherry was praying, but neither of us moved for hours. Then all of a sudden, I heard this lovely voice singing ‘Blessed Assurance.’ But the words had feeling—so much feeling—like the most beautiful words I ever heard. The weird thing is Jack didn’t hear them! He didn’t get vicious or react at all.
“I turned on the flashlight and saw Sherry kneeling on top of her sleeping bag, singing the words with all her heart. Something inside me felt so wonderful that I started singing, too. And guess what, Mr. Kennsington? The basement wasn’t dark anymore, even though there wasn’t a light on or anything. I can’t really explain it.
“I looked at Sherry, and I could see her face! She smiled at me, and we kept singing for the longest time, and it was the most wonderful experience. It was like—well, almost like God was right there in the room with us.”
Joe studied Taylor’s face, his heart overflowing.
“But that’s not all,” she said. “It happened again. Only the second time I didn’t know the song. Let me sing it for you, Mr. Kennsington. I want you to hear the melody.” Taylor’s voice was sweet and clear. “ ‘On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night. Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings.’ ”
She sang it again, and Joe memorized the words and the melody.
“The words were so comforting,” Taylor said. “It was like God had given them to Sherry, knowing they were exactly what I needed to hear. I felt like God had His arms around me. They gave me hope!”
Joe dabbed the tears from the corners of his eyes.
“The room stayed light for a while and we got to talk without Jack scaring us. Sherry asked me if I had ever been to the foot of the cross. She said something about God not saving the whole youth group as a package deal, that I had to choose Him as my Savior. We got so involved in conversation we didn’t notice the light fading. Pretty soon Jack started attacking the fence. We never got to talk again after that.”
There was a long pause. Joe squeezed her hand, and his eyes filled with tears, his heart overflowing.
“What an amazing and wonderful experience,” he said. “God was with you. I knew He would be. But this is more than I ever prayed for.”
“Mr. Kennsington, I’ve had time to think about this, and I want to give my heart to Jesus. If being saved is what made Sherry the way she was, I want to be like that. You know why Wayne strangled her? It was because Sherry …” The words caught in her throat. “I’m sorry … I thought I could talk about it.”
He put his arms around her. “It’s okay. Maybe someday you’ll be able to talk about it. Maybe not. But you’ve blessed me more than you know. You started this conversation wondering if I could explain these experiences to you, but I think you already know why the Lord allowed them to happen. Not only did they sustain both of you girls through that horrible time, but they also brought you to the place where you want Jesus in your life. That’s the most important decision any person could ever make. Plus, I now have these wonderful images in my mind of Sherry’s faithfulness until the minute God took her home …” He choked back the tears. “Thank you. I’ll treasure this forever.”
There was a period of comfortable silence.
“Taylor, are you ready to accept Jesus tonight?”
“Yes. I’ve been thinking about it all day.”
“Tell me what you understand about Him.”
“Well, I know He’s the Son of God, and He died for me because I’m a sinner and do things that are wrong. I need Him in my heart so He can change me and make me more like Him. That’s what I saw in Sherry. She told me it was a whole new way of life that begins and ends with Jesus, that you kind of learn as you go.”
“That’s right. Inviting Jesus into your heart begins a lifetime of transformation. You might say that if God is your Father, there should be a family resemblance.”
“I sort of know about that because I saw it in Sherry, but I’ve never heard it put that way before. I believe all that, Mr. Kennsington. And I’m ready to invite Jesus into my heart.”
“Taylor, let’s give the angels in heaven something else to rejoice about. You know they do that, don’t you—rejoice every time a sinner repents and accepts the saving power of Jesus?”
“Really?”
Joe nodded and reached for her hand. Then, filled with the strangest mixture of grief and joy, he knelt beside Taylor’s hospital bed, where his daughter’s best friend gave her heart to Jesus. Taylor thanked God for Sherry’s example, and Joe thanked Him for His immeasurable grace.
Then Joe took Sherry’s cross ring out of his pocket and slipped it on Taylor’s finger.