Page 14 of My Vows Are Sealed

Or was there something much worse at play here?

“Brendan? Everything okay?” Heather asked as she walked up next to me.

I shook my head slightly, trying to make the uneasy feeling in the pit in my stomach go away. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”

She chuckled. “Want to try that again?”

“Pastor Jones just told me to stay away from Darla and basically threatened to hurt me if I didn’t listen,” I sighed.

“Wow,” she scoffed. “Because we’re totally living in the eighteenth century.”

“I mean, I know she’s younger than me. I’m not an idiot. But we’ve been friends for years. So why is it all of a sudden an issue?”

“Because she’s in high school now. Andpublichigh school, at that. He knows she’s going to be exposed to a lot more stuff there. Like, you know, the mandatory sex ed that we all had to take in ninth grade. And the reproduction unit in bio,” she sighed. “He’s always been a drill sergeant with her. We’ve all seen it. That’s nothing new.”

“Yeah, but him threatening her friends to try to keep them away from her is,” I pointed out. “I don’t know. I’m worried about her.”

“I get that. I think we all are. But we have to trust that she’d say something if she was in trouble,” she said. “Anyway, you coming in to help with the kids?”

“Yeah. I left Nate in there watchingVeggieTales. I have to make sure he knows it’s still okay to eat his vegetables,” I mumbled as we started to walk back toward the building.

“Oh, my God. I swear, after last week, I had ‘God Is Bigger Than the Boogieman’ stuck in my head for like three days straight,” she giggled. “I wanted to throttle whoever wrote that stupid song.”

I laughed. “Nate’s favorite right now is ‘Oh, Where Is My Hairbrush?’”

“Okay, that’s worse. You win,” she snickered. “So, how was the first football practice?”

“It was okay. I’m never going to be good enough for a scholarship or anything, but it’s fun.”

“If more guys looked at it like that, jocks might not get such a bad rap,” she sighed.

“How was cheerleading practice?” I asked.

“Not too bad. Mostly just stretching and warmups today.”

“Same, actually,” I chuckled. “Wrangling Nate is more of a workout than the team got today.”

That made her smile. “You’re an amazing big brother.”

“I try to be. He needs someone to teach him love and acceptance. God knows my parents won’t.”

“He’ll turn out okay. He has you,” she told me, stopping right outside the door to the children’s room and turning to look at me. “You’re a good guy, you know. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

I smiled. “Thanks, I guess.”

She opened the door and held it for me, and I walked in to find Nathan sitting in front of the TV watching those stupid singing vegetables, while the girl I couldn’t get out of my head was sitting at the craft table talking to Naomi.

Why was it that every time I looked at Darla lately, it seemed like time stopped? She was younger than me, and even though she was perfectly capable of making her own decisions and mature enough to understand what they meant – unlike what her father seemed to believe – I still couldn’t help but feel like it was wrong to look at her this way.

But how was I supposed to stop? How was I supposed to pretend these feelings didn’t exist?

Please, Lord Jesus, help me,I prayed.Keep me on the path of righteousness and keep my thoughts pure so I won’t sin against You. I need Your help, Lord, because I can’t do this alone. I’m not strong enough.

Chapter 4

Darla

Personal Jesus

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