Читать книгу Summer's Promise - Irene Brand - Страница 10

After David left, Summer drank a cup of hot herbal tea to settle her nerves. She’d calmed down somewhat during the movie, but David’s caress had disturbed her. He’d been bestowing lots of affection on her the past two weeks, and to her dismay, she realized she liked it. Summer had many reservations about agreeing to Spring’s request, and not least among them was her hesitancy to be thrown into frequent companionship with David. He was an attractive man, and he was good company, but she had her future mapped out. There was no place in it for David Brown.

Summer changed into a nightgown and went to bed, but sleep eluded her. When she did doze, she dreamed—mostly of Timmy and Nicole and how forlorn they’d looked during their parents’ funeral. In her dreams, the children stood with outstretched arms, looking at her with beseeching eyes. After the secure home life she’d known as a child, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to suddenly lose your parents.

Awakening at an early hour, anger and defiance replaced the compassion of her dreams. Summer could empathize with her sister’s concern for her kids, but she considered it inexcusable for Spring and Bert to saddle her and David with the responsibility of a school in the hinterlands of North Carolina.

David’s bright and cheerful manner, when he breezed into the apartment at noon, irritated Summer. She’d tried to cover up the ravages of a sleepless night with makeup, but she hadn’t succeeded for David was unkind enough to say, “I told you to get some sleep.”

Lack of rest had made her grouchy, and she said, “Let’s get down to business. What can we do about this dilemma we’ve had dumped in our laps?”

He sat on the couch and stretched his neatly clad legs out in front of him. “What do you want to do about it?”

“I want to ignore it, but I know we can’t.”

“I’ve wondered why Spring kept repeating the children’s names at the hospital. I’ve decided she was trying to tell me the provisions of their wills, but she was too far gone to express herself. If we don’t accept the responsibility, the decisions are going to boomerang to our parents, none of whom are able to take over.”

Stalling for time, Summer walked around the room, adjusting items on the tables. She paused to straighten a wall collage of framed photographs featuring the Weaver sisters and her father’s prize-winning Belgian horses.

“David,” she began earnestly, “listen to my side of the situation. I wanted to come to New York when I graduated from high school, but my parents wouldn’t let me. When I was of age and ready to strike out on my own, Mother had a stroke, and I went home to take care of her. I was there six years, and now, at long last, I’m in New York with my parents’ blessing. I have a good job and a bright future in the financial market. Do you think it’s right for my sister to ask me to give up my life to take on her family, her dreams and her ambition? Surely it’s time for me to live the way I want to. It isn’t fair!”

The forlorn faces of Timmy and Nicole flitted into Summer’s mind, but she willed the images into the background.

“Life often isn’t fair,” David answered in a compassionate tone, “and I do understand your position. As a matter of fact, I’m pleased with my life the way it is now. I don’t want to change, either.”

She glanced at David quickly. If he felt that way, maybe she wasn’t as selfish as she thought she was. “Then you’re willing to refuse their requests?” she asked eagerly.

“Maybe. Since I wasn’t consulted about being the executor, nor either of us about their other requests, I don’t feel we’re obligated. But if I’d told them I’d do these things, I wouldn’t back out.”

David breathed deeply, looked at her with troubled eyes, and spoke in a resigned, yet compassionate, tone. “But I can’t make this decision on what is legally right or wrong. Love for my brother motivates me more than legalities. If the situation were reversed, and Timmy and Nicole were my kids, would I want Bert to abandon them? It’s not an easy decision, Summer.”

The time had come to be honest or live a lie the rest of her life. She leaned against the latticed divider between her kitchen and living area, and after a long pause, Summer looked him squarely in the eyes and said, “It’s not that simple for me. I promised Spring I’d take care of her children.”

David stared at her, and despite the stress of the moment, she was slightly amused to see his surprise. He was usually on top of every situation.

“In the hospital before you came, Spring asked me to look after her kids, and she was so insistent and troubled, I finally agreed.”

“Why didn’t you say so when we were at the farm discussing guardianship of the kids?”

“I intended to, but when you mentioned that they’d probably made wills, I hoped that Spring hadn’t been rational when she made the request and that they’d made different arrangements for the children. That’s the reason I left and came back to New York as soon as I decently could. Every time I looked at Timmy and Nicole, I felt like bolting. I know absolutely nothing about rearing children. I’m not sure I even like children—I haven’t been around them enough to find out. David, I can’t do it, and if I don’t, it will torment me the rest of my life.”

She sat down again, leaned her head on the arm of the sofa and burst into tears. David hadn’t had any experience with crying women, so he didn’t know what he should do. He went to the kitchen and rummaged around in the cabinets. Everything was marked and in place, as he should have known it would be. He heated hot water, poured it into a cup and dangled a bag of a spiced tea blend in it.

He placed the cup on the coffee table and went to the bathroom and dampened a washcloth. He sat beside Summer and touched her shoulder. “Stop crying,” he encouraged. “I’ll help you through this.”

“But I don’t want my family to hate me!” she wailed.

“Wipe your face and drink your tea. We’ll figure out something.”

While Summer alternately sniffed and drank the tea, he tried to formulate a plan of action. How could he advise her when he didn’t know what to do?

“You’re not the only one who’s troubled about this situation,” he said at last. “I’ve got my life ordered the way I want it, and I’ve had a few bitter thoughts about a brother who would write such a will and not even mention it to me. I’m not good at administration, but the thing that bothers me more than anything else is that I’m not spiritually competent to take on Bert’s job.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You know the kind of school they operated, don’t you?”

“Of course. It’s a school for underprivileged and troubled teenagers.”

“But it’s also a Christian school, and while I was a practicing Christian when I was a boy, I’m not now. I haven’t read the Bible for years. I can’t be an administrator at a Christian school without a solid spiritual commitment. What about your faith? Are you qualified for this kind of work?”

Summer leaned back and rested her head on the couch. “My folks didn’t take us to church, so I have very little knowledge of Christianity. Spring became a Christian when she met Bert, and Autumn and Nathan are active in church affairs. I’ve always been the oddball in the family, and it’s the same with spiritual matters. I’d have no idea how to work with teenagers in a mission school.”

“And that may be our way out of this situation,” David said. “Just because Bert and Spring wanted us to take over their school doesn’t mean we can. They were serving under a mission board, and I doubt very much that the board members would allow us to take over the school even if we wanted to.”

Summer brightened, and then her spirits drooped again. “But we’d still be stuck with the kids.” She gasped and covered her face with her hands. “What a terrible thing to say! Don’t I have any compassion at all?”

David sympathized with Summer. When he’d been around the Weaver family, he’d gathered that Summer hadn’t received as much attention as the other two daughters. When she’d been a quiet child, it was easy for her to escape notice.

“I haven’t told your parents or mine about the contents of the wills, but I’d like to go to North Carolina and look over the situation before I turn thumbs down on it. Will you go with me? What we find there may make our decision easier.”

Summer sighed. “When I’ve just gotten that good job at the bank, I hate to ask for any more time off. But I suppose you’re right. Hopefully, my employers will be patient a little longer.”

“Let’s take a plane to North Carolina, rent a car and drive up in the mountains where the school is located. I’ve already established contact with the school’s supervisor, and after we talk to her, she may make the decision for us. I’ll cancel my flight for tomorrow, and we can leave on Monday.”

“That might take care of the school problem, but that won’t solve the guardianship of the children.”

He moved closer to her and stretched his arm around her shoulders. She welcomed his touch as he said sympathetically, “I won’t tell anyone what Spring asked you to do. If you decide you can’t take on the care of Nicole and Timmy, no one will ever know about your promise.”

“I will,” she said drearily. “So I’ll make arrangements to go to North Carolina Monday morning.” She drained the last of her tepid tea and lifted the cup. “Bon voyage.”

On Monday morning when they landed at the Winston-Salem Airport, David arranged for a rental car, and they headed westward on Interstate 40.

“From what I gathered by reading Spring’s letters, this school is located in the boondocks,” Summer said.

“Yes, that’s true. I’ve seen pictures of the place. There are two schools in the compound that’s located near Mountain Glen, a little town in a remote area of Madison County. An elementary school that’s been operating fifty years or so, and The Crossroads, the school Bert and Spring started. Edna Stollard, the woman I talked to, supervises both schools. The mission board that supported Bert and Spring while they were in Bolivia wanted to establish a facility for troubled teenagers, and they asked Bert and Spring to assume the responsibility. It took them almost a year to erect buildings and get the school in operation. I don’t think they have many students yet.”

As they approached the Blue Ridge Mountains, Summer delighted in the awesome scenery and momentarily forgot the decisions facing them.

David was amused at her alternate alarm when they climbed a long steep mountain to her delight when they reached the divide, and Summer clapped her hands like a child, exclaiming over the beautiful vistas before them.

“I’ve seen lots of mountain scenery on television, but you get a whole new perspective when you’re right in the middle of the mountains. Our family’s traveling revolved around horse shows, mostly in the Midwest. I’ve never seen anything as spectacular as this,” she added, peering out the window at the mountain ranges surrounding them. “Have you?”

He smiled affectionately at her. “Traveling with the Air Force, I’ve seen lots of mountains—the Alps and the Andes, and even Fujiyama in Japan. Besides, I grew up in Nashville, and our folks took us to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park almost every summer when we were kids. I like the mountains, too.”

In David’s company, she saw things she never noticed when she was alone, like the flowers along the roadside, cloud patterns, a majestic rock formation or the color of a bird’s feathers. She felt alive when he was around. Why was she a different person when she was with David?

While they had waited in the New York airport, she took a book from her purse to read as she always did, but David struck up a conversation with the people around them, and before they boarded the plane, he’d made himself and several others happy by showing a genuine interest in them. Although Summer hadn’t said a word, she’d laid aside her book to watch David and the people he’d befriended. With David, she realized there was another world beside the one she’d built around herself. If they accepted the provisions of the will, she would be with David most of the time. Glancing at his serene profile, and remembering how she enjoyed his occasional touches, Summer both dreaded and delighted in the possibility of being David’s constant companion.

Observing Summer’s enjoyment of the scenery as they quickly covered the miles, David became more and more infatuated with the person behind the quiet facade Summer normally exhibited. What was there about this reserved, serious woman that drew him to her? Although he didn’t want to act on the request made by their siblings, he would welcome an excuse to see Summer often.

When they neared Asheville, David fished in his coat pocket and drew out a piece of paper. “Here are the directions I got over the phone from Edna Stollard. We travel northward out of Asheville until we come to Mars Hill. From there, you’ll have to guide me.”

Several miles beyond Mars Hill, they traveled westward and upward for a few torturous miles on a narrow road until they reached the small town of Mountain Glen. As the altitude increased, and the trees pressed closely on both sides of the road, Summer stopped talking and a look of panic overspread her face.

Located on the side of a mountain, the town contained several houses and a small business section. David drove carefully along the main street until he saw a sign that pointed to Mountain Glen School. Soon they came to an unpaved road that wound uphill for about two miles before they reached a secluded valley. David stopped abruptly at a dead end marker beside a rustic sign marking the border of Pisgah National Forest. The compound consisted of several buildings. To the left was Mountain Glen Elementary School, a two-story brick building at the base of the mountain with two dormitories behind it. To their right, surrounded by a rail fence, stood three frame buildings with a placard reading The Crossroads over the gate.

“The Crossroads!” Summer said quietly. “There aren’t any roads here to cross. They should have named it the jumping-off place.” Although it wasn’t yet four o’clock, the sun had already dipped behind the heavily wooded mountains, and Summer pulled at the collar of her blouse. The mountains she’d admired so much when they were traveling, dwarfed and suffocated her now.

David’s spirits weren’t as animated as usual either, and he gave Summer a weak smile. “Looks like we’ve reached our destination.”

“Why would anyone want to live here?” she said in a shaky voice. “I thought it was bad enough when Bert and Spring moved to South America. Bolivia couldn’t be worse than this.”

“You’d probably change your mind if you saw Bolivia.”

“I can’t understand why anyone would establish a school in this out-of-the-way place. The reality is worse than I expected.”

David took her hand and gripped it tightly. “I don’t think either of us can understand it. As I told you, I haven’t given any thought to my spiritual self for a long time, but I did attend the service when Bert and Spring were commissioned as missionaries. When Bert gave his acceptance speech, he made a statement I’ve never forgotten. With tears running down his face, he said, ‘I didn’t choose to be a missionary. In fact, I didn’t want to be one. It’s not the life I would have chosen for myself or my family. But one day, the Lord Jesus appeared to me, much like He did to Paul the apostle. As He said to Paul, He spoke to me, ‘I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.”’

David swallowed convulsively and his voice was hoarse. “Bert said, ‘I couldn’t argue with a call like that and responded in the words of Isaiah the prophet, here I am, Lord, send me. Wherever You lead me, I’ll go without question.”’

Hot tears stung Summer’s eyelids. “You’re right. I don’t understand it.”

“We never will unless we receive a similar call, but as I look around here, I don’t see much likelihood of that happening.” He turned off the car’s engine. “We might as well check out the place.”

David stepped out of the car and breathed deeply. “Well, I’ll say this, I haven’t inhaled such fresh air since we used to vacation in the Smokies.” When Summer still sat in the car, he walked around and opened the door for her.

“Let’s go,” he said gently, taking her hand, “it won’t be too bad. Remember, we just came to look.”

She stood on trembling legs and pressed close to him. He put his arm around her waist. “I have the strangest feeling that the mountains are closing in on me, blocking my escape, and that I’ll never get out of here. That road was terrible. Think what it would be like in winter. I’m afraid.”

David laughed at her. “What would your mother say to you if she were here?”

Summer grinned wryly. “She’d say, ‘Stop being so foolish and do your duty. Remember you’re a Weaver.”’

David reached in the car and picked up his cell phone. “I’ll telephone your mother and have her talk to you.”

Summer slapped his hand, took the phone and laid it back on the seat. “Stop picking on me.” Looking up at the mountains, she added, “I doubt very much if you could make a call out of this valley. Which way?”

David nodded toward the elementary school. “Miss Stollard’s office is in that building. We’ll soon learn what she can tell us.”

With heart pounding, knees shaking and a sinking sensation in her chest, Summer turned toward the brick building facing a decision that would chart her course for the rest of her life. She dreaded the outcome.