The first verse picked up on the overhead screen, and Nathan’s deep timber joined with the voices of others each word transforming him before Rainy’s eyes.
“In Christ alone, I stand,” Nathan sang, his face glowing with a beauty Rainy had never experienced and something deep inside unlocked. Hope fluttered to life lifting from its long slumber in her soul.
The service seemed to fly buy as Rainy soaked in the words of the message, the sense of well being, and the joy of others around her. When she returned to collect Lucas, his bright smile lifted her heart high.
“Look what I made, Mommy!” he squealed running to her and waving a sticky white something before her face.
“It’s a sheep and Jesus is the shepherd. That’s like a tow-boy for sheeps.”
Rainy laughed hugging her boy tight as she handed in the card and checked Lucas out of the system. “Would you like to go on a picnic and meet Nathan’s Mimi?” she asked.
“Yes, p’ease!”
“Can I come too?” Anne stepped up behind them looking somewhat lost.
“You’re always welcome,” Nathan invited. “Gram will be happy to see you.”
Anne turned her startled blue eyes on Nathan. She didn’t even know what she was doing here, she had simply followed Rainy to the children’s class at the end of the service. Anne had arrived late and taken a seat next to a strapping man with rippling muscles under coffee-colored skin. She was still dazed by her encounter and the service she had stepped into.
Together the small group tripped out into the sunshine of a bright, late summer day. The sun was high and the sound of children’s laugher filled the air.
Nathan hurried to his grandmother’s car, lifting a huge hamper from the back seat with a smile then heading for the boardwalk that rose high above the road.
“The park is busy today?” Gram commented. “See if you can find us a nice spot, Nate.” The old woman looked down at Lucas who had reached up grasping her hand.
“Are you Nat’an’s Mimi?”
“I am,” she smiled. “Once upon a time he was a little boy just like you.”
Lucas looked at Nathan striding across the bridge and shook his head, making his hat wobble.
“Yes, he was. We all start small just like you and then grow up big.”
“When I grow up I wanna be big like Nat’an.”
“And I’m sure you will.”
A few minutes later they were all seated around a large blanket spread on the grass by a tall tree as Gram handed out plates, drinks, and set the picnic out for each to enjoy.
“Gram, when did you do all this?” Nathan asked looking down at the mountain of fried chicken, a huge bowl of potato salad, and various other treats.
“Oh, I woke up at four this morning and decided to put it all together.” The old woman waved away the gasps with a negligent hand. “Old people do these things.”
“I like chicken,” Lucas tipped his head back with a grin. “It’s my favorite.”
Nathan watched each person in the group as he ate. Anne seemed lost in thought, and Lucas was keeping his grandmother in stitches. Rainy, kept looking at him as if she had never seen him before, and a sense of something miraculous seemed to swirl in the air around them.
“Would you like to go for a walk?” Nathan asked catching Rainy’s eye as she glanced his way. “Lucas might like to see the creek.”
“That would be nice,” Rainy agreed, wiping Lucas’s face. “What do you say, little man, would you like to go for a walk?”
“Sure.”
“Anne and I’ll keep the ants away from our dessert,” Gram said looking up with a grin. “Besides an old woman like me shouldn’t be left sitting on the ground by herself.” She reached over pulling Anne’s attention back into the world.
Nathan stood offering Rainy his hand and helping her to her feet as Lucas scrambled to his feet and raced on ahead.
Rainy hurried forward, still holding Nathan’s hand and forcing him to trot to catch up to Lucas who had tripped, falling and rolling in the soft grass with a peal of laughter.
“Slow down there buckaroo,” Nathan laughed, scooping the boy up and putting him on his shoulders. “You don’t want to wear your mama out.”
Rainy looked up, eyes glowing at the sight of her son laughing on his father’s shoulders.
“What?” Nathan looked down meeting her soft eyes.
“You really have changed haven’t you?” Rainy said, looking down at their linked hands. “I was afraid to believe it,” she continued, “but today, in that service I…” she hesitated feeling stupid.
“You could see my soul,” Nathan said, his eyes shimmering. “I can’t tell you how much I have changed, Rainy. I can never say how sorry I am or how much I wish I could fix everything.”
Rainy squeezed his hand. “It’s a start, Nathan.”
Together they walked on, making their way to the stream that ran through the long field. Lush grass waved in the soft breeze and birdsong filling the air with joyous sound.
“I used to come here a lot after church,” Nathan said. “I didn’t like going to church with Gram and Pap in this new town, so I’d sneak over here. It’s peaceful.”
“You never brought me here,” Rainy said looking up as Lucas picked a leaf from a tree above him.
“It wasn’t part of who I was then,” Nathan’s confession was painful but true.
“I’m glad I’m here now.”
Nathan paused, turning to look down at Rainy. The breeze lifted her long tresses fluttering them over her shoulder as her eyes glowed. “You’re here now.”
“I am,” she agreed. “Nathan, I don’t know what comes next,” she said feeling hope bubble like a fountain
