Her expression still serious, Katie said, "You did the right thing, Christy. G.o.d will have someone else for you. I know I didn"t want to hear that right after Michael, but I believe it now. For both of us. G.o.d has a couple of peculiar treasures, like that Bible verse says, for us. What do you think?"
A giggle bubbled up inside of Christy. "I think if you"re looking for peculiar, look no farther! Fred definitely qualifies."
Katie laughed and said in a game-show-host voice. "The qualifications are *peculiar" and treasure." Contestants who only fall into one category and not both are automatically disqualified."
Christy laughed. "And maybe Fred does qualify."
She was still smiling ten minutes later when she left Katie"s to hurry home and begin her own beautification ritual. She had to admit, it was kind of exciting and mysterious to think of who her peculiar treasure might be if it wasn"t Todd.
Humming to herself, Christy showered and washed, dried, and curled her hair. When she combed it out, she started playing with it, trying to come up with a new hairstyle. Something fun and different. She needed a fresh start. She ended up taking two small portions of her hair from right behind each ear and braiding them. Then taking the two braids and crisscrossing them over the top of her head and securing the ends with hidden bobby pins, she created a hair headband. It looked kind of cute, she decided.
Choosing a dress was easy. Aunt Marti had bought one for her before Christmas, a.s.suming she would have lots of Christmas parties and dances to go to. In the end, Christy had only worn it on Christmas Eve, when her family went to the candlelight service at church. It was black velvet, and she liked the way it fit.
Doug arrived right at six-thirty, wearing a striking black suit. He handed her a corsage and said. "If you don"t want to wear it, that"s okay. You can just hold it if you want. It smells nice."
Christy lifted the white gardenia from the plastic box and sniffed its rich, sweet fragrance.
"I do want to wear it," Christy said. "Right here so I can smell it all night."
Doug pinned on the corsage, and with his little-boy grin lighting up his face, he said, "You look absolutely gorgeous. Did you know that?"
Christy felt herself blush, mostly because her parents were standing close enough to hear Doug"s compliment.
She felt a little awkward when her mom wanted to take pictures, and Christy wasn"t sure what to do with her hands. She ended up clutching her beaded purse in front of her with her hands crossed at the wrists. Doug stood next to her but didn"t touch her. It all felt a little strange, a little like going out on a first date.
But it was a nice awkwardness. Much nicer than staying at home alone on prom night.
Doug helped Christy up into the cab of his yellow Toyota truck and apologized for not renting a limo. Christy laughed and said she felt more at home in his truck anyway.
All the way to the restaurant in San Diego, Doug and Christy reminisced about the things they had done together over the past three years. Doug was with Todd the day Christy met him on the beach at Newport. A wild wave had seized her gangly fourteen-year-old frame and had tumbled her ash.o.r.e, draped with seaweed, right at Doug and Todd"s feet. It was Doug"s body board she had then used to master the waves that had dumped her onto the beach.
"I"ll never forget the night we had a campfire on the beach," Doug said. "We were all going around the circle praying, and you were sitting next to me. In your prayer you thanked G.o.d for coming into your life. That was the first any of us knew you had become a Christian."
"That was the first time I ever had the wind nearly knocked out of me by one of your hugs!" Christy said. "Oh, and remember the time you came over to my aunt and uncle"s, and when I answered the door with that basketful of laundry, I tripped and you and I both ended up in a tumble with all my dirty clothes?"
Doug laughed. "Do you remember when you and Katie came down to San Diego, and we were doing the dishes at Stephanie"s apartment? We were throwing something up on the ceiling."
"It was that little Mr. Gizmo you got out of the cereal box." Christy said.
"All I remember is that it dropped off the ceiling into your hair."
"That was a fun time." Christy agreed. "And remember the houseboat trip when you went Jet Skiing with that girl, Natalie? And then a couple of weeks later Katie and Michael tried to set you up at the pet store. Michael said he had come to defend his sister"s honor, and his sister was supposedly Natalie?"
Doug nodded as he drove into the Mission Bay area of San Diego. "But that wasn"t such a great memory. I accidentally knocked you nearly unconscious."
"It wasn"t your fault." Christy said. "It"s funny now."
She realized they had been talking and laughing the whole way. She felt unexpectedly lighthearted.
"What about that time," Doug continued, "when we all went ice skating, and you skated with me to make Todd jealous, and Todd ended up skating with those two junior high girls?"
"Wait a minute. You knew I was trying to make Todd jealous?"
"Christy," Doug said, shooting her a knowing glance, "yeah. And did you know I was trying to make Todd jealous that time I buried my nose in your hair to smell your green apple perm, right when Todd drove by?"
Christy was shocked. "You did that on purpose?"
"Not at first. I really was only going to sniff your hair. Then when I heard ol" Gus chugging down the street, I decided to linger a little longer."
"You beast!" Christy said, playfully swatting Doug with her purse.
"Oh, that"s nothing." Doug said. "My favorite was being your valet when Rick took you to the Villa Nova. I loved the look on his face when I gave you a hug."
"I forgot about that night," Christy said. "Did you know that Rick actually stole the bracelet Todd gave me and hocked it at a jeweler"s? Did he ever tell you that when you were roommates last year? I paid every week to get it back. Well, that is until some mystery guy went into the jeweler"s and paid more than a hundred bucks for me to get it back."
"Yeah, I knew that," Doug said, his voice quieting down.
Christy"s heart stopped. For some reason Doug"s response made her blurt out, "It was you."
Doug looked straight ahead and kept driving.
"All the jeweler would tell me was it was some guy. And it was you. wasn"t it, Doug?"
"Yep. It was me. You weren"t ever supposed to find out."
"Why?" Christy asked, still overwhelmed at Doug"s kindness, not only with the bracelet but also in all the other situations they had been reminiscing about. And he had been so sweet and understanding with Katie at Disneyland. Not to mention being so nice to her tonight.
Doug pulled off the freeway and stopped at a red light. "Christy, do you remember when we went to the Rose Parade, and you asked if I was just being nice to you because Todd asked me to keep an eye on you?"
She sort of remembered. Doug seemed to be studying her expression before giving her his explanation.
"I guess," she said.
Doug looked away and let out a deep breath. "Well." he said, his cheerful disposition blowing away the momentary dark clouds, "let"s just say I knew how much that bracelet meant to you."
"Thanks, Doug" was all Christy could find to say as he pulled into the parking lot of a gorgeous restaurant that looked like an old clipper ship. "I appreciate you being here for me, especially tonight. You"re a very special friend."
"A very special friend," Doug muttered. "Just friends."
"What?" Christy asked, not sure she had heard what he said.
Doug turned off the engine. "Nothing," he said. "Enough of the serious stuff. Let"s have some fun."
Doug came around and opened the door. Taking Christy"s hand, he helped her down from the truck. "Think of tonight as your very own private prom night with your special friend. And enjoy every minute of it, okay?"
"I will, Doug. I will."
As Doug and Christy walked arm in arm into the restaurant, a smile tiptoed onto Christy"s lips. She felt a peculiar happiness, but she wasn"t sure why. All she knew was that deep inside, the forever part of her heart was still very much alive.
BOOK TWELVE.
A Promise is Forever.
To Ross, Young Ross, and Rachel, my wonderful family. I hold the three of you in my heart-forever.
"Do you think we"re going to make it?" Christy Miller breathlessly asked her best friend. Katie, as the airport tram rumbled toward the terminal.
"We have to make it!" Katie said, looping her backpack over her shoulder. "The very second this tram comes to a stop, we"re out of here. Grab your bag so we can be the first ones off."
Christy pulled her black shoulder bag off the luggage rack and moved closer to the tram door, right behind her determined redheaded friend. "Do you remember which gate we"re supposed to go to?"
"Fifty-four," Katie called over her shoulder just as they came to a b.u.mpy stop. The dozen or so other pa.s.sengers rose to their feet. "Come on!" Katie flew out the door with long-legged Christy right behind her. They trotted across the runway asphalt at San Francisco International Airport and took the terminal"s steps two at a time.
"This is Gate 87." Christy scanned the signs above them as they entered the building.
"Which way to gate 54?" Katie loudly called out so anyone nearby could hear.
"At the end of this concourse turn left," a uniformed desk clerk responded. "Go past concourse E and keep going until you reach the international central terminal."
Christy was about to ask for clearer directions, but Katie was already hustling her way through the crowds. "Wait!" Christy yelled, and she hurried to catch up.
It was bad enough that their flight from the Orange County airport had been delayed more than an hour. She didn"t need to be separated from Katie and miss their flight to London.
"We only have twenty minutes!" Katie said as Christy fell into step with her. "Doug was right. We should have taken that earlier flight with Tracy. This is crazy!"
"I hope Doug made his flight up from San Diego okay," Christy puffed. Her hair was tangled in the shoulder strap of her black bag. She yanked it off her right shoulder, and a few long, nutmeg strands came with it. "Ouch!"
"Left here." Katie directed at the end of the concourse. She broke into a jog, her green backpack bobbing up and down as she athletically maneuvered her way through the crowds as if she were running an obstacle course. Christy fell in line behind her, keeping her eyes on the bobbing green backpack.
This is impossible. We"re never going to make it. I can"t believe I let Katie talk me into another one of her crazy adventures!
Katie stopped in front of an opening to another concourse. "Is this the international terminal?" she asked a man in a business suit.
He shrugged and kept walking. Katie approached another man stepping off the escalator.
"Keep going that way. All the way to the end."
"Thanks." Katie burst into a full run. All Christy could do was follow. She felt the perspiration bead up on her forehead and wished she hadn"t worn so many layers.
They had been instructed by the missionary organization in England to dress warmly for this January outreach trip, but right now Christy wished she had packed her coat instead of worn it. Her shoulder bag felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, and she wished she had taken Katie"s advice and brought a backpack instead. What else had she miscalculated? Was this whole trip a mistake?
"Come on!" Katie yelled over her shoulder when she noticed that Christy had fallen behind.
With one last burst of adrenaline, Christy pushed herself to catch up with Katie, fully aware that in this whole throng of travelers, they were the only ones running.
"Doug!" Christy heard Katie yell. "Over here!"
Doug stood by the entrance of the international concourse, head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. His usually boyish grin was replaced by a frown, which Christy had rarely seen in the few months they had been dating. She wanted to fall into his arms and feel one of his rea.s.suring hugs, but there was no time.
"Quick!" Doug said. "Get in line for the metal detector. Over there. Hurry! Our plane leaves in five minutes!"
Katie and Christy immediately followed his instructions and pa.s.sed through the archway, fortunately without setting off any alarms.
"Tickets, please." the woman behind the check-in counter said. She looked unruffled. The girls scrambled for their tickets and pa.s.sports. The attendant tore off a portion of their tickets and said, "Gate 54. To the right. They"ve already boarded."
"Come on, you guys, let"s go!" Doug"s coachlike holler was a stark contrast to the ticket agent"s relaxed att.i.tude.
Christy realized that Tracy must be sitting alone on the plane, waiting for them. They had to make this flight. The three of them ran to the gate just as the door began to close.
"Wait!" Doug sprinted ahead. "We"re on this flight."
The man held the door open with his foot as another attendant reached for their tickets and quickly scanned them. "You just made it."
Only a few more pounding paces, and they were on the plane.
"I can"t believe this," Christy said under her breath. She handed the flight attendant her ticket stub.
"Your seat is in row 34. That"s all the way in the back."
"Naturally," Katie muttered. Clutching her backpack in front of her. she led the way down the narrow airplane aisle.
Christy was the first to spot pet.i.te Tracy, planted in the middle of row 34. Her heart-shaped face had taken on a stern, defender-of-the-seats look.
"That was not funny, you guys." Tracy scrunched up her delicate nose, trying not to look mean or terrified or both. "I almost got off the plane! I decided that if you guys didn"t show up in two more minutes, I was going to get off the plane. No way was I going to fly to London by myself!"
"We made it. A bit on the close side, I"d say." Doug popped open the overhead compartment and stuffed Katie and Christy"s bags in next to his and Tracy"s.
"You"ll need to take a seat, please, sir," the flight attendant said with a definite British accent.
Doug lowered himself into the aisle seat next to Christy. Katie, on the other side of her, began to fill Tracy and Doug in on their morning"s delay. Christy closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She felt like crying. Or laughing. Or something. Then she felt Doug"s strong hand covering hers.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
Christy opened her eyes and looked into Doug"s gentle, understanding face. "That was too close." She was still thinking, This is too much. This is crag. Why am I here?
"We made it. We"re on our way to England," Doug said, wiping the perspiration from his forehead with the back of his shirt sleeve. The boyish grin returned. "Can you believe this?"
"No," Christy whispered, feeling Doug"s hand squeeze hers. "I can"t. It all happened so fast."
"Yeah, but we made it," Doug said as the flight attendants began their presentation on the aircraft"s safety features. "I wish more people from the G.o.d Lovers group could have come. I"m glad the four of us made it."
"Doug, four and a half weeks was not exactly a long time for everyone to raise support and get pa.s.sports and everything," Christy said. "If we would have waited until the summer to do this outreach, I"m sure a lot more people could have come."