13

“Am I speaking with Foxx?”

“Yes, ma’am. Can I help you?”

“Do you have a sister named Kitt?”

He frowned. What was going on? “I do.”

“I owe her a huge debt of gratitude. She’s given me Christmas early if you are who I want you to be.”

What? “Who is this?”

“My name is Lois Carstensen.”

“Please explain.”

“You sister Kitt connected with me from a profile I have on social media.”

Foxx sank onto the couch. He let his chin plop onto his chest. Give me strength, Lord. Then he straightened, leaned back his head. The phone shook in his hand. He hit speaker and laid it on the rectangular coffee table he’d helped Dad construct of inlaid wood pieces.

Was this really happening?

“Are you still there? I’ve thought of you every day.” The woman let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “This may sound crazy, but I’m hoping and praying that I am your birth mother. I named you Gavin.”

“You think I’m the boy kidnapped from a playground. In Iowa.”

“The investigator here in Ames followed up after Kitt and I talked. He said it makes sense, based on your age and description. They have these computer programs that can advance time from when I lost you until your approximate age. Kitt agreed the image looks just like you.”

“Did we meet once? Were you the woman at Nebraska’s state fair a long time ago?”

She drew in a loud gasp and cleared her throat, but he detected tears in her emotional voice. “So that was you.”

Why hadn’t Kitt told him this was going on? Prepared him?

“The woman you knew as your mother was from Omaha. She had lost her baby. He died at ten months. Goldie then went all mental and snatched you from the care of a teenaged baby-sitter. I’m so sorry you went through what happened in the end. I understand the woman killed herself? I imagine the guilt ate her alive.”

Could Kitt still feel sorry for Goldie Haven? That ill woman had placed blame on him for her state of mind. Guilt came from Satan. And then she’d killed herself while he and Dad were attending church.

The woman on the phone, Lois Carstensen, was talking again. “I lived a nightmare.”

“I’m sorry. I need a little time here. This situation is turning what I knew of my life into fiction. But you’ve lived with the loss, the pain, for a long time.”

“Thank you. Without Christ in my life, I would have lost hope entirely. I’ve prayed for you since before you were born.”

“It’s my turn to say thanks. And I suppose the next step is a DNA test, maybe?”

“Definitely. Most babies are found within hours, but it was a small town in Iowa, no cameras. I was never the same. God gives us strength in our weakest moments. Now He’s given me hope again.”

He spoke his thought out loud. “I wonder what Goldie was doing in Iowa?”

“We, the investigators and my husband, figured she chanced getting caught if an attempt like that happened in Omaha. And the poor sitter. Young Amie blamed herself. Said she’d messed up by turning her back. You were gone in an instant.”

“That must have been awful. The article said your sitter was a teenager?”

“Yes. We never kept in touch after that. A piece of my heart was torn out and replaced with shreds.”

“You mentioned your husband. What’s his name?”

Lois let a few seconds pass by. “Gerald. He died from lung cancer ten years ago.”

“I’m doubly sorry for your loss.” What else could he say?

“Oh, our Lord is so good, I have hope again. We’ll know for sure once we get the test results. Though I’m positive with every beat of my heart.”

Somehow, Foxx decided he was in tune with this situation. “I guess we need to meet.”

“Oh, yes. The authorities here have been in touch with someone Kitt contacted on your end. You’ll get a call as to where to leave a sample. Our next connection, can it be video?”

Foxx gulped. “I suppose that’s the thing to do.”

“Bye for now.” And the screen went blank. His real mother. Lois Carstensen. He had to tell Pepper.

She answered. She listened. She waited. What a gift God had given in this woman.

“So I guess that’s it. We now wait for DNA results.”

“Do you have a favorite Bible verse?” What a question for her to ask.

“Joshua 1:9. Why?”

“Let me look it up. I want to pray for you.” He heard pages turn. Pepper was growing in the Lord and he loved it. “Dear Lord in heaven, You know what Foxx is going through here. I can only imagine, but can’t relate to what Lois is feeling. We are thankful she knows You. And You commanded Joshua ages ago, as recorded in Your Word―”

“Be strong and courageous,” Foxx joined in, and they recited the verse together. “‘Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’”

Silence. Neither said amen.

“Did you ever have a clue as a kid that things weren’t right?”

“I did think something was off. One time, after Dad got sick, he told me that I had nightmares around age three. I’d wake up scared. And I do remember in kindergarten that I always had a hollow feeling as though some part of my insides was missing. I chalked it up later to having no friends until I was in first grade.”

“I want to hug you, Foxx. Absorb some of your hurt and confusion.”

He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t name how he felt. Having Pepper in his life, the way he needed her now, showed exactly why he’d shied away from relationships. Life was easier if a guy didn’t have women pulling on his feelings.

It wasn’t only Pepper whose world had been shaken up like a snow globe. This woman who’d emoted over the phone had tied up his guts in turmoil.

“Do you want me to come over?”

He picked up his phone. It would be rude to hang up. What should he do? He staggered to his feet and paced.

“Foxx? Are you still there?” Should I be scared?”

“No. No. I’ll be fine. We’ll talk later. Thanks, but I need to be alone.”

~*~

Pepper stared at the phone in her hand. Foxx sounded far from fine. Would he fight her if she went to his place? Fight. Foxx fighting anything, except the battle within, was a hard picture to conjure.

“Lord? Be with him, please. Show me how I can help.”

Maybe he identified more with how she felt about her parents. What he’d discovered about his growing-up life was based on a lie. As much as any person could fight their upbringing, such situations were out of their control. As adults, each must find a way to overcome.

Overcome. A word as rich and as lavish and full of promise. Both held eternal value, according to the Bible.

Tears pooled and poured down her cheeks. She cried for how undeserving she was of God’s love. Christ died for her, an unescapable fact of how much her heavenly Father loved her. His grace flowed in rivulets of blood, wiping away the scars of her past. The lack of earthly love from her father turned into a sad shadow.

Pepper swiped at her cheeks. Tears continued to flow.

What of her mother? What would she do if, by some miracle, Pink made contact with Mom in Denver? Could Pepper forgive her? Could the sisters begin a new chapter with a weak, unsupportive, neglectful mother?

Pepper wove to her feet. Rambled in circles. “What am I doing?”

She ended up in the bedroom and picked up the snow globe from Foxx. She turned it upside down and followed the aqua tinted sparkles of fake snow as it fell on Mary’s haloed head, her blue gown. Jesus’s mother.

With the next shake of the globe glitter settled on the figure of Joseph. The mahogany glint to his dark brown hair reminded her of Foxx. An image of his sincere light brown eyes, fit and solid body, along with defined calves from bicycling emerged in her mind.

What did she know about him? He preferred the color yellow. Calm and mellow in his choice of shirts. Bright and glaring in cap and coat. He liked to wear jeans paired with athletic pullovers and tan work boots.

He drove an oversize SUV and spent long hours working—and before now, he’d always been positive and upbeat. Ever since the “mom” disclosure, he clenched his teeth and frowned. She missed his heh huh chuckle and perpetual smile.

She and Pink had grown up with parents who often neglected them, and when they were shown attention it was to insert paranoia, yet she and her sister had survived. But to have had a normal childhood and then suddenly to become a newly discovered victim of a kidnapping off a playground, who never knew his real parents? That was a tough one. Actually, she hadn’t known her parents as a kid, either. Not really. They never opened up and talked to their daughters. Maybe it wasn’t so hard to relate to what Foxx was going through.

He had taught her to look more on the bright side, the hope-filled side of life. She could even trust now. Well, some people. His home came to mind. Bicycle magazines swept the scarred coffee table. He was interested in building his own bike someday, had a valuable turntable and vinyl collection, plus wood and resin figurines of foxes.

He held a BA in business but didn’t like to be indoors. He considered life a God-given present, and appreciated small things like the blessings of animals and nature. Foxx was generous, friendly, and affectionate. Also nurturing, the way he’d put his life on hold and tended his dad.

Descriptions of the man rambled on through Pepper’s thoughts. He was patient, kind, responsible, spiritual, unselfish.

Then it slammed into her like motorcycle parts flying off a conveyor belt.

She loved Foxx Haven.