Shattered Trust, page 19
“Just a few more minutes,” Natalie said, and he looked back at her, his eyes bright with anticipation.
“Have you peeked outside?” he asked.
“No. This verse took me ages.”
“Lots of news coverage,” he said.
“And kids?”
He smiled. “More than I thought there’d be on opening day.”
The entire building smelled like grilling burgers. Chances were the kids could smell the food from a mile away. Tonight was a community open house. A chance for kids and families alike to tour the facility.
And what a facility it was.
As restitution, Julianna’s husband, Kenneth, had gifted the ring back to Natalie. Natalie would never wear it again, and she couldn’t begin to consider using the money she’d get for it on herself, so she’d auctioned it off and given a significant portion of the proceeds to the Cherry Hill Community Center. The rest she’d used to create a scholarship fund for youth members of Luke’s community center.
“It’s going to be great,” she said.
“Let me go put this ladder away,” Luke said. “Hang tight for a minute, okay? I have something for you.”
With that, he moved away from the entry and left Natalie alone in the large room.
To her right was the game room, complete with a pool table, air hockey, pinball and foosball. To her left was the entrance to the cafeteria-style dining hall, where kids would be able to show up in the morning for a free breakfast, and in the afternoon for a snack or a hot meal.
Natalie had walked every square inch of the building, awed by Luke’s creativity and foresight. One wing held classrooms for community meetings and offices for free counseling. With the money from Julianna’s ring, he’d been able to hire on two full-time counselors. He’d installed a library with plenty of tables for tutoring sessions, and a gym where Natalie would teach self-defense classes to kids, teens and women in the community. She’d picked up her own training again and was working toward her black belt.
It almost seemed too good to be true.
Luke appeared in the entryway, motioning for her to follow him. “Come on,” he said, and her heart skipped a beat. She was pretty sure she knew where they were heading.
The only place she hadn’t seen yet—and only because Luke insisted she wait until it was complete—was the chapel. Curiosity was killing her, but she’d managed to stay away from the northeast wing, where Luke had been quietly overseeing the only part of the community center that he’d refused her help with.
He grinned as she sidled up next to him, and he wrapped a hand around hers. They’d kept their relationship quiet and taken things slowly after she’d confided in him her one-year-without-a-man vow, which they’d both shared a laugh over. But in the past few months, they’d fallen into a rhythm of friendship and mutual trust and admiration she hadn’t dreamed possible. She’d helped him get the community center in shape, painting, moving in furniture, staying up most of last night before the grand opening. Organizing the pantry and meal schedules. The time she spent there energized her almost as much as the time she and Luke spent together.
They walked at a clipped pace down the sunlit corridor, and Natalie glanced up at Luke. “Is it finally my turn to see the chapel?”
Double doors lay straight ahead and he nodded, pulling a door open for her. “After you.”
Natalie stepped inside and froze. The floor was hardwood, the walls were painted a serene dove-gray and a backlit cross hung at the center of the wall beyond the stage. The donated pews would hold at least two hundred. She’d spotted Luke and Roman refinishing some of them in the courtyard earlier last week, and they gleamed now, upholstered in royal blue cushioning.
It was simple and beautiful.
And awash in candlelight.
Natalie cocked her head to the side in question. “Is someone getting married?”
For a breath, Luke didn’t answer, but then his smile tugged up on one side. “Not tonight,” he said, and walked down the aisle toward the pulpit.
Natalie followed, stepping up onto the stage with him and taking in the pews gleaming under dancing candlelight.
Then Luke reached into the pocket of his khakis.
He pulled out a slender rectangular box and handed it to Natalie.
Heart pounding, she tugged the lid off and pulled back a tiny bit of silver tissue paper hiding the gift inside.
Pearls winked up at her, and she drew in a sharp breath, her eyes flooding.
She stared down at the family necklace, at the hand-stamped pendant on its clasp, newly shined with the message generations of Harper women had passed along to the next.
Love never fails.
“You found it,” she said, her throat tight with emotion.
* * *
Luke had called nineteen pawnshops and visited eleven before he found it. He would have searched a thousand more shops to be rewarded with the look in Natalie’s eyes at that very moment.
He reached into the box and lifted out the necklace, unclasping it. Moving behind Natalie, he settled the strand around her neck, his fingers grazing soft skin at her nape as he secured the fastener. She turned toward him, eyes shimmering, the pearls skimming her collarbone in stark contrast to the plain pink cotton tank top she’d paired with paint-splattered jean shorts.
“I figured you’d be needing it again someday,” he said. “Soon,” he added, and he caught the sweet curve of her mouth in a kiss.
She pulled back a fraction of an inch, and for one alarming moment, he wondered if he’d said too much, too fast.
But she looked him straight in the eye, and the candlelight danced there, brilliant and full of life. “I guess this means I’ll have to break my promise.”
He laughed softly. “I’ll wait nine more months, if you want to finish out your year of singlehood.”
It was Natalie’s turn to laugh. “I never would have made that promise if I’d known you...if I’d known what I’d been missing.”
“Well, then, I say you’re off the hook.”
Natalie grinned. “I love you,” she whispered.
“You stole my next line,” he said, tugging her closer.
She pressed her lips together in a smile she couldn’t contain.
“Don’t let me stop you.”
“I love you, too,” he said, his mouth inches from hers.
She leaned up and met him there, her lips soft on his, her hand curving along the back of his neck.
A baby cooed.
A baby?
Luke pulled away and swiveled to the chapel entrance.
“I knew it!” Kristin stood just inside the doorway, the bean (since named Ivy) tucked securely into a floral-print sling over her chest.
Luke felt himself grinning at her sparkling smile. He and Natalie had been careful to keep their romance private in the wake of all the publicity, but it was time to move on from the past and let the chips fall wherever they would.
“People are getting antsy out there,” Kristin said. “You coming? Or should I invite them all in here for an impromptu wedding ceremony?”
“Kristin!” Natalie chastised, laughing.
Her sister shrugged good-naturedly. “I’m just calling it like I see it. A church. Candlelight. The family wedding necklace. And a kiss that just put a blush on a mother of four. So, what’s it gonna be?”
“We’re coming,” Natalie said, stepping down off the stage.
Luke walked with her and caught sight of Kristin’s baby peeking over the edge of the sling. She had a little tuft of white hair in the middle of her head and blue curious eyes. Those eyes kindled memories of his sister, his clumsy attempts at comforting her in the middle of the night, the way she’d curl into his chest and suck on anything he could offer her—from a pacifier he’d rescued from a mall playground to her chubby little thumb whenever the pacifier had gone missing.
For the first time in years, he thought he could do that again. And better this time. After all, he’d had plenty of practice. And this time, he wouldn’t be doing it alone.
He grabbed hold of Natalie’s hand as he pushed the door open to bright sunlight, a mass of smiling faces and reporters at the ready.
Kristin moved into the crowd, taking a place by her husband and their kids, flanked by William and Stacy Harper. Ella held baby Lillie in a sling next to Roman, whose dark glasses hid his expression, but Luke caught his nod of encouragement. Several Shield employees had come to support the endeavor, too, including Harrison Jenkins, who would be heading up a computer science club at the center starting next month. Luke’s sister had found a spot close to the front of the crowd, beaming a rare smile Luke had waited years to see again.
Natalie held out a giant pair of scissors someone passed her, gesturing to the red ribbon separating the crowd from the entrance. She smiled up at him, her eyes dancing in the late-September sunshine. “You ready?” she asked.
He wrapped his hand around hers on the scissors and they maneuvered the tool together toward the ribbon. “More than you know,” he said, and as the scissors sliced through ribbon, he kissed her. Cheers and whistles and camera flashes erupted around them, and Natalie smiled against his lips, pulling back just a little.
“Our secret’s out, then,” she whispered, her eyes shimmering with humor.
He glanced out at their audience, catching the smiles on faces of friends and family. No one looked the least bit surprised.
“I’m not sure we’ve ever managed to fool anyone but ourselves,” he responded as the doors behind them opened to his dream that had finally come to pass. Only it was better than he’d ever envisioned. He tugged Natalie to his side so they could let the crowd file in ahead of them. All those years he’d imagined this day, but he’d never imagined he’d have someone to share it with.
Natalie leaned her head against his shoulder as a cool autumn wind blew her hair into his face. He smoothed it down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“I sure hope you’re in this for the long haul,” he whispered into her ear.
Natalie lifted her face to meet his gaze, her hand coming up to the pearls at her neck. The necklace had shifted, the pendant shimmering under the sun.
Love never fails.
“I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else,” she said.
“Let’s get started, then,” he responded, and led her through the threshold, his heart brimming over with a sense of completeness he’d longed for all his life.
* * *
If you liked this story from Sara K. Parker, check out her previous books:
Undercurrent
Dying to Remember
Available now from Love Inspired Suspense!
Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com
Keep reading for an excerpt from Shield of Protection by Dana Mentink
Dear Reader,
Trauma leaves an imprint on the soul. We are told in the Book of John that we’ll face trouble as we pass through this life, but that knowledge doesn’t protect us from the pain. Some days, it simply hurts to take each breath. Some weeks, we lose the ability to smile and truly laugh. Some painful seasons, it’s almost impossible to believe that God is near. Natalie and Luke both faced seasons of despair in their lives, but opened their hearts to the way God was working to make all things new. While the blessings that come in the wake of trauma will never erase the grief of a heart torn to shreds, each new sunrise is a reminder that we’re not alone—every blessing a promise that the Lord still has good in store.
Love,
Sara K. Parker
P.S. I love to hear from readers—find me at www.sarakparker.com.
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Shield of Protection
by Dana Mentink
ONE
A bead of sweat trickled down April Reed’s temple in spite of the March cold that seeped along the New York sidewalk.
Where was he? The man was coming for her, tall, dark-eyed, grim, closing the gap between them, waiting to strike. Fear crawled along her spine, and she felt exposed, vulnerable. To her right was the dark maw, the entrance to the subway station where there would be safety in the crowds of commuters and security cameras. Should she stay the course? Hide? After one more moment of hesitation, she jogged down the steps.
She didn’t want to be trapped in a station, especially this one in Queens, where she knew Declan Maxwell and his K-9, Storm, had been assigned for police training. As she hustled along, she strained to spot him in his uniform, broad-shouldered, intense, with those indescribable green-gold eyes, but he wasn’t there. Relief and disappointment mingled. It was just as well. He couldn’t know what she was involved in, not now, not ever.
People milled around, newspapers tucked under their arms, peering at cell phones and clutching steaming coffee in paper cups. She hadn’t intended to allow any delay in getting to her uncle, until she noticed the man watching her on the icy sidewalk outside the steps to the station, the man Uncle Hal warned her about. He’d texted a picture of her pursuer along with a chilling message.
Watch out for Spade’s guy. He’s a killer.
Nondescript in jeans and a jacket, he sported a black knit cap pulled down over his forehead like any of a million other New York City residents, since winter was refusing to give way to spring. In one moment his casual glance turned intense, riveted on her as he pushed off from the wall where he’d been slouching and began to follow as she hurried along.
Her uncle’s frantic stream of messages replayed in her mind. I don’t know which cops to trust. I have to get you the evidence before Spade kills me. It’s the only way to keep us both alive. Meet me at Queensbridge Park.
Malcolm Spade’s people must have somehow found out that her uncle had contacted her. It was clear her pursuer had orders. Stop her from getting to her uncle. Maybe even kill her in case Uncle Hal had already passed along some of this dirt he had on Spade. Skin prickling, she tried not to show the tension roiling around in her gut.
Keep moving. Don’t let him catch you.
Quickly shoving her pale blond hair into her hood, she hoped it would make her stand out less. Why hadn’t she taken the time to grab a hat or scarf? As she hurried through the bustle of morning commuters, she felt her confidence fail. Could she actually save her uncle from Malcolm Spade? Perhaps it had also been an error to go it alone, without calling the police, without telling Declan. But she’d been right about one thing; Malcolm Spade, the man who would do anything to stop her from getting to her Uncle Hal, was a monster.
She’d begged her uncle, pleaded with him. “I told you, Uncle Hal. You never should have taken a job with Spade. He’s a drug dealer, a murderer.”
Uncle Hal had laughed away her earlier concerns. “He’s done his time, and we were like brothers, back on the docks. Don’t believe everything you hear.”
If only he’d listened. He’d be safe and sound, and maybe she’d still have Declan in her life. But how could she allow the growing connection between her and Declan when her own kin was rubbing elbows with a criminal? Not after what Declan had been through, shamed by his own cop father’s fall from grace.
She scanned the crowd again and ordered her thoughts.
“Nothing was right between you and Declan anyway,” she muttered to herself. He was best friends with her brother, Kyle, that was all, and besides, the humiliating moment she’d given in to her feelings and kissed him, he’d made it clear. After the breakup with his serious girlfriend, Paige, Declan needed her friendship, not her love.
Focus on getting Uncle Hal out of his mess. It wouldn’t be an easy task. Uncle Hal had obviously seen something he wasn’t meant to, and now there was a big fat target painted on his back. She’d never heard her lionhearted, jovial uncle scared. Not even when her parents had been killed and he’d taken her in at the precarious age of thirteen, her brother newly turned seventeen. She’d been angry and rebellious enough to scare anyone off—teachers, friends, social workers—but not Uncle Hal.
“Looks like God’s appointed me to be a father to you and Kyle, and that’s what I’m going to do whether you like it or not,” he’d said, that wide gap-toothed smile plastered across his full cheeks.
A bundled man jostled her elbow, and her breath hitched, but he was just a regular guy, jockeying for position among the others on the platform. Should she get on the train or scurry up the steps back onto the street? Scanning the crowd, her pulse skittered.
There he was, standing by the turnstile. She eased back. A uniformed officer strolled by, and the man nodded at the cop. The officer nodded back. His dog shot a wary look at the stranger but did not react. The elite Vapor Wake dogs of the NYPD were the best in the world at scenting potential bombs, Declan had proudly informed her. They could detect faint whiffs of explosive particles in the thermal heat plumes humans created as they walked. The dogs could actually decipher different levels of odor, discerning the difference between a concealed firearm and multiple pounds of explosives. If the stranger was packing a weapon, would the dog detect it? Undoubtedly, but the dogs were not trained to alert on weapons, only explosives.
