Pastor Daniel blushed. “Wow! Last time we talked, Jason, I must’ve come across as judge and jury. I hope you’ll both forgive me.”
Dawn smiled. “We do. You were right. I’m thankful that God gave us enough time to realize that for ourselves. Not to mention a second chance.” She turned her smile on Jason.
Jason’s hand loosened. “You said something about a premarital Bible study.” He had said on the way home he thought Pastor Daniel or his mother might come up with some sort of delaying tactic.
Pastor Daniel lifted two workbooks and put them on the front of his desk. “These are for you two to take back to Cal Poly.” Leaning forward, he folded his hands on the desk. “There’s lots of Scripture to read and things to ponder together. The intent is for you to be forewarned so you’ll be able to work through problems that will come up in the course of your marriage, not just in the first year, but in the years to come.”
Pastor Daniel smiled warmly at Dawn. “I’ve watched your relationship with Jesus grow over the last three years.” His expression turned grim when he shifted his focus to Jason. “I’m not so sure about you. Still wandering in the wilderness?”
“Not anymore. I’m back in church and I plan to stay.” Jason let go of Dawn’s hand and leaned forward to take the workbooks. “Thanks, Daniel.” Smiling, he relaxed on the sofa.
“I hoped it would all work out this way.”
“Did you?” Jason sounded dubious.
“What do you say we take a bike ride tomorrow? Talk a little more.”
Jason agreed.
Leaning back in his chair, Pastor Daniel gave them a smug smile. “You’ll be the first couple to meet and marry in our church. December is a nice month for a wedding.”
Dawn laughed. “What about Kim and Tom?”
Pastor Daniel chuckled. “Ah, but they’re not getting married until June. We’ll tie your knot on December 21.”
When Dawn got home, a light blinked on her answering machine. She pressed the button, thinking it might be Kim or Pam or one of her other friends. Instead, she heard Georgia Steward’s invitation to the trailer for coffee Saturday afternoon at three. “We have a few things to settle between us, Dawn.” Her voice sounded cool and detached. “If three isn’t convenient, please call so we can set another time.”
Dawn sank onto her bed. What would Jason’s mother say to her this time? Was she afraid this marriage would ruin his chances of getting through college? that Dawn might get in the way again? that she might be pregnant?
Dawn wanted to call and make some excuse not to go. How could she face Georgia again, after all that had been said the last time?
Reason took hold. Georgia Steward would be her mother-in-law in a few weeks. She deserved respect and consideration. Georgia might not like her, but for Jason’s sake they needed to make some kind of peace. Dawn didn’t want to become a stumbling block between mother and son. She prayed about it all afternoon.
Jason called that night. When he didn’t mention his mother’s invitation, Dawn knew Georgia hadn’t told him. That did not bode well.
Jason said he had a great idea for their honeymoon. They’d have only a few days before they needed to come back for a family Christmas. “It won’t be the Ritz, but I think you’ll like it.” He wanted it to be a surprise.
“I’ll love it, wherever it is.”
Unable to sleep, Dawn sat at her desk, reading her Bible until well after midnight.
She covered her face and prayed for Georgia’s heart to soften toward her. When she finally went to bed, she dreamed she wore a scarlet wedding dress, and Georgia, dressed in black, wept in the front row.
43
Dawn’s insides quivered as she parked her Sable behind Georgia’s van. Mrs. Edwards peered through her living room curtains. Georgia opened the door, leaned out to wave to her neighbor, and then beckoned Dawn inside. Blushing, Dawn went up the steps onto the small porch. One glance over her shoulder confirmed Mrs. Edwards still waited with bated breath to witness the outcome of this meeting between Georgia and the girl who had seduced Jason.
A small potted plant sat on the table where Dawn and Jason used to spread their books out before going into his bedroom. Georgia moved tensely about the kitchen. Dawn pressed her damp palms on her dark skirt.
“Do you like coffee, Dawn, or would you prefer tea?”
“Whatever you’re having will be fine, ma’am.”
Georgia gave a sharp laugh. “
“Nothing, thank you.”
Georgia carried a wooden tray with saucers and cups of coffee and a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies into the living room and set it on the low table. “Sit down. You’re making me nervous.” She waved her hand toward the sofa. “We both know we have to have this conversation. We might as well get it over with, don’t you think?”
Dawn took her coffee. The cup rattled in the saucer. Mortified, she set them on the table before she could spill coffee all over the beige rug.
Georgia cleared her throat softly. “This is difficult for both of us, Dawn. I wanted to talk with you alone and try to clear up a few things.” Georgia closed her eyes for a moment and released a slow breath before she looked at Dawn again. “I said awful things to you the last time you were here.” She turned her face away. “Afterward, I knew I’d jeopardized my relationship with my son. You had the power to make Jason hate me.”
“I didn’t tell him anything about that day.”
“Oh, honey, I know you didn’t. He asked me after the two of you broke up if I’d ever spoken to you. I asked if you’d said I had-implying, of course, I hadn’t. He said you’d pulled out of school and wouldn’t return his calls.”
Georgia gripped her saucer and stared into the cup for a moment. “When Jason said you two should stop seeing each other for a while, he meant a few weeks. But you backed out of his life entirely. I watched him suffer. I heard him sobbing one night. A few days later, he put his fist through the wall. And I watched you suffer, too.”
“I couldn’t…” Dawn pressed her trembling lips together and tried again. “I knew if we saw each other, we’d go right back-”
Georgia held up her hand. “I’m not finished, Dawn. Please, let me finish.” She drew in a breath, her mouth working. When she regained control, she spoke quietly. “I watched you. I listened to everything people said about you. For three years. You sat in church and soaked in every word Daniel said. I heard how well you were doing in independent study-high grades, taking college courses while you finished high school. You went on mission trips. Daniel said he’d never seen God work in a person’s life the way the Lord worked in yours. You fixed your eyes on Jesus and never looked away. But while I watched your faith grow, I saw Jason struggling. When I heard you’d transferred to Cal Poly, I prayed harder than I ever had in my life.”
Dawn hung her head. She could imagine how hard Georgia Steward had prayed. She must have assumed the girl who’d caused her son so much grief had gone after him again.
Georgia’s eyes glistened. “Jason thanked me the other day. When I asked him what for, he said you told him I’d been kind to you.” She smiled bleakly. “He apologized for assuming I’d said the same things to you that I’d been saying
Dawn realized she wasn’t the only one consumed by guilt. “You weren’t wrong about me.”
“Oh, I was very wrong. I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I looked at you, I saw myself at fifteen- arrogant, selfish, defiant. I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it. I didn’t care what anyone thought.
