Page 64 of Echoes of Eternity

“Ouch.” Ryan touched his own chest. “Rubbing it in?”

Steven laughed and shook a hand. “Sorry. I didn’t mean . . .”

“I know. We’re good. Go home, Steven.”

As Steven exited the office, Ryan thought about Emily and their conversation earlier. He had ended it so abruptly, wanting to avoid the argument altogether. Lifting his guilty heart toward Heaven, he asked God to help him, to guide him, to provide him a way through the coming days. He didn’t know how to make his family whole again, but he knew being with her was the answer.

Glancing over at the desk and the speech he had prepared earlier that day for the town, his heart dipped into his stomach. He knew if the message wasn’t well received by the community, he’d find himself closing the grill and moving back to California. Maybe that was the Lord’s plan all along. Maybe all of this was for nothing. He wasn’t sure what the future held for himself and his family, but he trusted the One who held it all.

Lowering his head, he shook his head as tears spilled out and fear gripped his heart.

“Please, God. Help me . . .”

CHAPTER 17

Ryan’s heart trembled as the door’s bell chimed at Jim’s Hardware Store. He arrived a few minutes late on purpose, to avoid the conversations. Fighting every natural inclination to turn around, he continued into the store. He knew showing up was part of the battle. The rest was up to God to use the words he would share with the crowd gathered there tonight.

Walking down the tool aisle, he went to the backroom where he knew the meeting would be held.

When Ryan stepped in through the doorway, Bill caught sight of him from where he was standing up at the podium.

“Before we get started, Frank’s son, Ryan, wanted to share some words with you.”

Ignoring every set of eyes on him, he walked through the sea of people he had grown up with, along with new faces as well.

His steps felt heavy as he climbed the little set of metal stairs and onto the stage. Coming to the podium, he adjusted the microphone and then retrieved his neatly prepared speech from his back pocket.

When he unfolded it, then peered into the familiar faces, he realized something.

He crinkled up the papers and tossed them on the floor beside him.

“I spent a long time writing that speech, carefully crafting each sentence and articulating exactly what I wanted to say to you. But as I look out at this crowd . . .” He shook his head, then dipped his chin for a moment as he felt a wave of sorrow fill his heart in the silence that night. He prayed in that very second, God help me.

“As I look out, I don’t see a bunch of strangers. I see my friends. I see my extended family, in one sense. I grew up in this town. Became a man in this town.” Peering over at Jim, he smiled. “Remember when my bike chain got stuck outside this very building on the sidewalk, Jim? How old was I?”

“I think about nine?”

Ryan smiled. “And you know what you did? You helped me when I needed it. You sprayed some WD40 on the chain and got me back in action. I was the happiest nine-year-old in town that day.”

Pointing to Martha, who opened her shop when he was fourteen years old. “And Martha, do you remember when you opened your bakery? My dad wouldn’t let me work at the grill, and you gave me a part-time job under the table a few days a week so I could have some pocket change.”

Smiling, she nodded. “And you were a good worker, Ryan! Even if you did sneak chocolate chip cookies from time to time.”

The town laughed.

“The point I’m trying to make is simple. Cedarwood Creek isn’t just another small town in America. It’s not a place where you have to worry about others mistreating you and gossiping behind your back. . . Or at least it wasn’t like that when I grew up here. I’ll share the big news here in a minute about my father, Frank, but I wanted to just preface this whole situation with the fact that I loved you all. You were like family to me growing up, and I’ll forever cherish that in my heart. That’s regardless of your decision to ask me and my family to leave.”

Glancing at Bill, Ryan could feel his eagerness to get on with it as he motioned with a shooing of a hand and raised eyebrows.

“As everyone knows, my father passed away earlier this year. It’s been a hard year, really hard.” Pausing, his eyes welled with tears. As they spilled onto his cheeks, he wiped them away. “I decided to move my family here from California. Not only for the family business, but for a fresh start. That, again, was difficult. But in my heart, I remembered the life I had here as a child, the community of Cedarwood Creek, the love and support that poured into my life growing up here. But I digress. Let me get on to the important stuff.”

He sighed and shook his head as silence lingered for a moment.

“My father left me a letter detailing a sin from his past. He and my mother had separated for a bit a long time ago, and he had a child with another woman.”

The town gasped and then started talking among themselves.

Adjusting the microphone again, he leaned in and said, “Please listen.”

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