Allan was driving back to the hospital a few hours after dinner. Julie had texted him, saying Ray’s surgery had gone well. He was recovering nicely and was actually asking to see Allan. She’d added she was just conveying the message, not trying to pressure him in any way.
Off and on over the last few hours, he and Michele had continued talking about this Africa trip. To his surprise, her support of the idea never wavered. She had even suggested he look at the financial picture before meeting with Ray, in case there was a gap and they needed a little help from the church to close it.
As he pulled into the hospital parking lot for the second time today, he thought again about Michele’s generosity in this situation. He already loved her with all his heart, but through this, his love found a way to grow even more. He walked into the lobby to the information desk to get Ray’s room number. A few minutes and a few hallways later, he stood at the doorway. The door was closed.
He knocked gently. “Come in.” Julie’s voice.
He found Ray propped up slightly on the bed, both legs covered by a blanket. Looked like quite a lot of activity going on underneath. An IV tube stuck out of his arm. Two racks of monitors stood on either side of the headboard. But Ray was awake. Allan could tell by the look in his eyes, he was still pretty sedated. “Wow, didn’t expect to see all this.”
“It’s because of the surgery,” Julie said. “You don’t normally get all this attention for a simple fracture. Because the bone broke the skin, it involves . . . a whole lot more. For one thing, there’s a real danger of infection. So they have him on some serious antibiotics. Fortunately, the doctor said for a compound fracture, it wasn’t near as bad as it could’ve been.”
Allan looked at Ray. “What’s the pain level?”
Ray smiled. “What pain?” He pointed to the morphine drip hooked up to his IV. “Thank God for pain meds.”
“Are you even going to remember this visit, or anything we say?”
“Why?” Ray said. “You plan to share any secrets?”
Allan laughed. “I don’t think so.”
“I can take notes if you want,” Julie said.
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Allan pointed to Ray’s legs. “Are they both broken?”
“No,” he said. “The left one is, but I’m sure you knew that. The other one’s just badly sprained.”
“Julie said you were asking for me. I’m guessing it’s about the trip to Ethiopia.”
“Yeah. By the way, thanks for bringing that report by. I can’t read anything right now, but I’m hoping that’ll clear up soon. The main reason I wanted to see you was to apologize.”
“Apologize? For what?”
“I don’t know what I was thinking, writing you that note. Especially at a time like this. Julie told me Michele was with you.” He rubbed his eyes and his forehead like someone massaging a headache. “I should have realized with Julie here, she would’ve come too. I didn’t mean to pressure you like that. I hope I didn’t cause any friction between you guys.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ray. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. I’m sure I was just reacting to the moment, not thinking clearly. Everything for this trip was coming together so well. Everything on Henok’s end, all the funding, the pledges. I’m all set to go Tuesday to get everything set up and finalized, and then this.” He pointed to his legs.
“Ray, it’s okay. I understand. You were under a lot of pressure. Julie told me about the local guys wanting to buy the orphanage building. I didn’t know about that. I thought we had the deal locked up.”
“We did, but just with Henok’s signature and a phone call from me promising I’d be there Tuesday with the money.”
“Are you guys going to lose it now?” Julie asked.
“Probably,” Ray said. “But if that happens, we weren’t meant to have it.” He turned to Allan. “Anyway, I forbid you to feel any guilt over that. I should never have asked you the way I did.”
“Yeah,” Allan said, “but you did. And like I said, it’s okay. I didn’t think it would be okay, especially with Michele reading your note right over my shoulder. I guess God did some kind of work in her heart this morning to prepare her, because she didn’t get upset. Just the opposite. As soon as we got in the car, she started asking me questions about it. Not challenging questions. She just wanted to make sure this trip was as important as it seemed, and that none of the other guys could take your place. After that, she actually started suggesting that I should go.”
“Really?” Ray said. “So, you’ll go?”
“We’re praying about it. Pretty much ready to say yes. I was just waiting to talk to you here, make sure there weren’t any other options. I can already tell, there aren’t. So yeah, I guess I’m saying . . . I’m going.”
“Allan, that’s wonderful. I totally didn’t see this coming.”
“Me neither.”
“And you guys aren’t doing this because of any pressure from me?”
Allan shook his head no. “To show you how far Michele is stretching here, we started a new baby fund just over a month ago. I moved over the money I had left in my missions fund. Between that and what we saved, it’ll just cover this trip. Michele didn’t even flinch. She said go ahead and use it.”
A strange look came over Ray’s face. Allan couldn’t interpret it, but it wasn’t the reaction he expected.
“What are you talking about, Allan? You’re thinking of using your own money for this trip?”
“Well, yeah.”
“That’s not the plan,” Ray said. “Never was. You guys keep that money in your baby fund. The church was planning to pay for my trip. I haven’t asked them yet, but I already know what they’ll say. You’re doing this for us, for the church, for the entire team. We’re going to cover all your expenses.”
Allan was stunned. This thought had never crossed his mind. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. It might cost us a little more for your ticket, since we’re buying it on short notice but, yeah, you guys aren’t paying for this. For the sake of time, we’ll need you to purchase the flight on your credit card, but the church will reimburse you 100 percent.”
A big smile came over Allan’s face. He couldn’t wait to tell Michele.