Page 22 of Operation: Integrity

Kelly turned around, committed to telling Sam about the watch and what she thought. He was crouching in front of Rebecca’s wheelchair, smiling up at her with a happiness she hadn’t seen from him in a long time.

“Are you alright?” Edwyn approached her from the other end of the barn. “I saw you head away from them like you were being chased.

In a way, she was. Only it was from her memories, not from anything physical. “Yeah. It’s just that watching Sambe so happy with someone else hurts. You know?” He probably didn’t but at least he’d tried to be nice this time. He’d moderated his voice to a low rumble instead of his usual direct attack.

“I imagine so. Can I tell you something?” He gestured down the path and she took a deep breath, considering her options. Her back was in no shape to take a longer walk. “You can tell me all you want as long as you do it on the way to my cabin. I have a hot date with a bubble bath. I took a fall off my horse while we were out.”

To his credit, Edwyn flinched. “I’ll even run the hot bath for you, then, of course, I’ll leave. I’m not sure why it is, but when you’re sore, running a bath takes so much more energy than it should.”

“Thanks.” Part of her didn’t want him anywhere near her bathroom, but Edwyn was so black and white when it came to rules that she wasn’t worried about anything from him. “What did you want to tell me?”

“All of us, all the men who work here at Wayside, had regrets pertaining to women. Many of us have reconciled with those women in the past few months. I can’t even believe how fast it’s happened. All of them were ‘the one who got away’, if you know what I mean.”

She nodded and a sudden surge of hope warmed her chest. Was she Sam’s regret? Was that why she was here? Did that mean there was hope where she’d been sure there couldn’t ever be any?

“I haven’t had my chance yet and I’m worried that she won’t want to come. Connor hasn’t mentioned her or where he is in the process of finding her, but when she left . . . she was mad. I deserved it. I guess what I’m saying is, sometimes when we see someone living their life and doing the things we once did with them, it hurts. If I sawNadine again, smiling at another man, I would have a tough time with that. But there is hope.”

“Is there? I assume you’re telling me this because I’m Sam’s regret. I want to believe it, but that’s a tall order. I didn’t leave him. He left me. No talk. No note. Nothing.”

Edwyn opened the door to her cabin and held it for her. “Have you ever read Romans 8: 28?”

Her chest clenched tightly. This was a trick question. If she didn’t answer correctly, he’d think she was a fraud. A bad Christian. He would judge her. “Um, if I did, I don’t recall.” There had to be thousands of verses in the Bible. How was she supposed to remember one?

“Don’t stress over it. I remember it because it’s one of my favorites. It says that God works all things to His glory for those who love him and are called to his purpose. What it doesn’t say is that bad things and misunderstandings don’t happen. It doesn’t say sunshine will follow us all the days of our life. It says that He’ll take the bad stuff, turn it around, and show His glory through it.”

She sat down on her couch and massaged the tops of her aching thighs as Edwyn headed back for her small bathroom. “So, what you’re saying is that bad things happened between Sam and I. I might never know what they were, but God can take that bad stuff and mold it into something that brings Him glory?” It sounded too good to be true.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’m not someone who walks around spouting verses. We are more of group of guys that will show you rather than tell you what we believe to be true. Cole couldn’t tell you a single verse in the Bible, but he goes to the chapel every Sunday and listens to the service. He contributes. All the others do, too.” He turned on the water and stopped talking.

Kelly was thankful he’d decided to wait until the bath was finished because yelling over the loud water would take away all of the expectation of relaxation. She wanted to get up and gather a change of clothes, but her body just wanted her to rest for a minute. If she had to, she could wrap herself up in the robe she’d found in her bathroom when she’d arrived. That’s what it was there for, right?

Edwyn came out of the bathroom, leaving the water running. “It’ll just take me a minute to make sure all these blinds are closed. I figured you’d want privacy after your bath. Want me to ask Sam to bring your tray for you?”

“You’re making me regret my actions. I’m sorry I got you taken off my team.” She wasn’t sure what else to call it.

He shrugged. “I don’t think it was a bad decision. We weren’t immediately compatible. You look better now.” He grinned. “And don’t take Sam’s reactions to Rebecca too deeply. They are friends. He had to help her a lot when she first came because the wheelchair she had then was cheap and uncomfortable. She got it stuck a few times. He was so thankful when she was finally able to get a chair that worked, but in the time that she didn’t, they became very good friends. Probably closer than Connor would like, which is probably partly the reason why he agreed to let Sam take over as your wrangler.”

“Well, then I’ll do my best to avoid becoming too close or I’ll risk losing him again.”

Sam turnedaround to see where Kelly had gone and found her completely missing. She’d been there limping toward the barn one second and gone the next. He turned,looking for her, and caught a slight glimpse of her disappearing around the cabins. With Edwyn.

He tried not to let that get to him. Why would Edwyn be helping her when Connor had specifically told him that he wasn’t good for Kelly? He’d switched Kelly’s care over to Sam. But Sam still had to help Rebecca once in a while and Rebecca still felt the most comfortable with him. He took a deep breath and tried to reason with himself. If she’d been bothered, she wouldn’t have gone with Edwyn. She’d have found somewhere to sit and wait for him or she would’ve just gone back home.

Getting bothered wouldn’t solve the problem. Talking to her would. He headed toward her cabin, his long strides eating up the distance quickly. Within a few seconds he’d reached her cabin door. Muffled words hit him, and he froze with his hand a few inches from knocking on the door.

“I’ll run your bath and be done in a minute.” Edwyn’s voice left an overwhelming shock on his shoulders. He couldn’t move.

Edwyn? Had Kelly requested to work with Sam because she’d wanted a relationship with Edwyn? Had they discovered so quickly, within one day, that they were compatible for a relationship? He’d been fooled again. He’d believed she wanted to be with him when what she’d really wanted was time with Edwyn. He pulled back his hand like the door was flaming hot, turned on his heel and headed for Connor’s office. He had to direct his energy to something that would lead to good. Going down the road of questioning what was going on behind that door to her cabin wouldn’t help Kelly.

He pounded on Connor’s door a little louder than he’d planned.

“Come in,” Connor answered.

Sam headed inside and settled into the chair across from Connor. “I just saw something that I can’t explain. Maybe you can.”

Connor waited silently for a moment, giving Sam time to gather his thoughts and where he wanted to start.

“Was Kelly wearing a watch when she arrived? One of those smart watches that tracks your heart rate, whereabouts, and everything else.”

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