Page 7 of The Baxters
“Yes.” He turned to her. “And when the kids were asleep we came out here.”
The distant storm was growing. A strong gust moved over them as the memories came to life. Elizabeth tilted her face to the sky and closed her eyes. “The kids were so young. Still in elementary school.”
“Ashley hated it at first. She thought she’d never make a friend.” John chuckled. “That girl has always taken the hard road.”
For the longest, most precious moment Elizabeth remembered them again, her kids at that sweet youngage, the summer they moved from Ann Arbor to Bloomington. Brooke was thirteen and Kari was eleven. At ten, Ashley was already sure she was going to be an artist. Erin was just eight and Luke was six. With everything in her, Elizabeth tried to hold on to their faces the way they looked back then. Their voices and laughter and innocence.
Their innocence most of all.
But gradually the images faded and Elizabeth opened her eyes. “Back then… we would just have a family meeting and everything would be okay.”
“Ahh, the family meetings.” John’s smile held happy pieces of the past. “We’d pray and cry and talk it out.” He shook his head. “After that there was always a whole lot of laughter.” He put his arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders and eased her closer. “By the time the kids trotted off to bed, they were giggling and making plans for the morning.”
Elizabeth studied the familiar field in front of the house. The place where they’d held countless kickball games and Easter-egg hunts. She narrowed her eyes, seeing them again when they were little. “It doesn’t work like that with adult kids.”
“That’s it, then?” John ran his fingers over her shoulder and down her arm. “The kids are at it again? Something new?”
The clouds of anxiety inside her grew darker than the ones headed their way. “Yes.” She stood and walked to the porch railing. “Let’s start with Brooke and Peter’sbroken faith… or Kari’s obvious uncertainty about the man she’s marrying. I could sense that even yesterday. And then there’s Ashley’s downward spiral.” She leaned back against one of the pillars and faced John. “Even Erin and Luke. Nothing is how it should be. How I believed it would be.”
“Their stories aren’t ours to write.” His tone was patient. No accusation rang in his voice. “When they’re in trouble, we pray and make ourselves available. And when things go right, we cheer from the sidelines.”
Why was he so sensible? Elizabeth looked straight at him. “You want the truth?” Thunder rumbled in the distance. Elizabeth looked over her shoulder and then back at John. “I’m afraid something terrible is going to happen today. A blowup like we’ve never seen before. Or maybe I’m afraid Kari is making… a mistake.” There. She’d said it. On her daughter’s wedding day.
Fear stood like a tangible force beside her. “What if he’s not the right one, John?”
“Honey… Tim is the right man. Kari wants to marry him. I talked to her a couple nights ago.” He paused. “Be specific. What’s happening?” John was an optimist. He had been one from the first time Elizabeth met him at a University of Michigan dance. Most of the time his positive spin set her world right again. But here he seemed to know that wasn’t what she needed. Instead he did exactly what she wanted in this moment.
He listened.
Elizabeth started with Brooke. Sure, she had marriedPeter West, her college sweetheart, and now they were both doctors. A few months ago they had even started their own shared pediatric practice. Elizabeth felt a pang of sadness. “But every week Brooke grows farther from God.”
John patted the spot beside him. Elizabeth joined him again and this time she leaned her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes. “I took Brooke shopping last week. It was her rare day off and Peter called. Brooke didn’t think I could hear her.”
Elizabeth exhaled and the sound mixed with the wind. “I don’t know what they were talking about. But Brooke told Peter that science was a lot more reliable than a God no one could prove.” Elizabeth sat up straight and stared at John. “Ourdaughter actually said that.”
For a while neither of them spoke. The heaviness was definitely there for both of them. Once more John took hold of her hand. “I’ve sensed that, too. With Brooke and Peter.”
This time Elizabeth set the swing in motion. As if she could distance herself from the strangeness of the season. “And Kari… I’m telling you, she can frustrate me.” Elizabeth shook her head. “What’s she thinking? I mean… I will never understand why she walked away from Ryan Taylor. That boy loved her from the moment he first met her. A couple of kids right out there on that patch of grass.” She paused. “He still loves her.”
“Elizabeth… you know why.” John ran his thumb over her hand. “And be careful Kari doesn’t hear you. She’s marrying Tim today. Not Ryan.”
“Yes, because of his football injury. That other girl.” Elizabeth waved her free hand around like she was swatting invisible flies. “What if that was all a big mistake?”
They were quiet for a few minutes. John drew a slow breath. “It was good between them, wasn’t it?” He looked to the right, the direction where three houses down Ryan had grown up. “Neighbor kids who fell in love.”
“They were more than that.” Fresh tears blurred Elizabeth’s eyes. “At the hospital after he got hurt, you were there. I’ve heard what happened.” She blinked a few times. “He never got to explain himself.”
“And now—”
“Right. Now she’s head over heels for Tim Jacobs.” Elizabeth made a face. “Something about the guy bugs me. I get a bad feeling, obviously.” She let go a loud out breath. “I’m just not sure.”
A pensive silence followed. Tim was a young professor at Indiana University and for the past year, since Kari’s graduation, the two had been an item. But she seemed young to be dating a professor—even one just five years older.
“Does Ryan know she’s getting married today?” John winced a little.
“His mother’s coming to the wedding.” Elizabeth laughed, but the sound held no humor. “Of course Ryan knows. Also, Ashley ran into him at the coffee shop a week ago and told him. I think Kari’s still angry at Ashley for that.”
John stood this time. He walked to the railing and faced the front of their ten-acre yard. “That’s different now, too.” He turned and caught her eye. “Kari and Ashley. They used to be best friends. They never stayed angry with each other.”
