Buck blew again, and nodded his head up and down.
“All we have to do is find the good in all that has happened over the past week—Jenny, her uncle, the hijackings, the injuries, the deaths.”
At that last, Hugh had to swallow the lump that was rising in his throat. In these woods, in this quiet and solitude, in this special time with God, in this forest universe that was as far away from his truck driving universe as it was possible to get, all that Hugh had had to do during the past week to protect Jenny and himself came rushing at him in a river of grief and regret.
“Oh, Lord, please tell me the good in all that has happened,” Hugh prayed. “You know that I am yours. I haven’t always walked with you like I know I should have. But you know I gave myself to you that time so long ago.”
Hugh meditated on that for awhile—long enough that the fire had died down. So, he poked it again, and added a few more sticks.
Then, as often happened when one sincerely turned to God for answers, he thought he understood what God was wanting him to know.
“I think I get it, Buck,” Hugh said suddenly, waking the dozing horse. “I think that all of this, the uncle, the hijackings, everything, had been set in place so that I could meet Jenny. God wants Jenny and me to be together.”
Hugh sat bolt upright at that revelation, startling Buck, who threw up his head, and laid his ears back.
“It’s OK, Buck,” Hugh cooed soothingly to the horse. “In fact, it is really, really OK.”
It all made sense now, Hugh thought. He had never been one to believe in coincidence. So he had to believe that meeting James, riding with him, helping him fight off those five attackers—one of whom had a seven-year-old daughter—and then meeting that daughter fifteen years later under the most extraordinary, unbelievable circumstances, had to have been meant to be for something good.
Then, the enormity of what God wanted him to do began to hit him.
“Buck, I just don’t know,” he said, hoping Buck was still listening. Buck twitched his ears.
“Jenny can be an outright b …,” he stopped. “Oops. Sorry, Lord.”
He went on. “She sure can be moody. But, she’s also innocent, if you know what I mean, Buck. What do you suppose God is thinking, tying me in with her?”
Hugh didn’t understand all the details, both about how things had come to pass so far, and how things were going to be in the future. He didn’t even know for sure whether Jenny still hated him—if she could forgive him for what he had done to her dad. But he was satisfied that God knew what he was doing, and had given him the direction to go in.
With that, he snuffed out the fire, said good night to Buck, zipped up his sleeping bag, and began to drift off to sleep. His last conscious thought was to wonder what Jenny was doing right now. Then he slept more peacefully and comfortably than he had in a long, long time.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jenny
With supper prepared and eaten, and dishes done, Jenny, Martha and Mary were sitting on hand-made wooden rockers on the expansive front porch. Conversation was comfortable, and the three were just enjoying the beautiful night. By now, Jenny had come to believe that she was entirely welcome in their home.
“I wonder where Hugh is, and what he is doing right now,” she pondered out loud.
Martha stared off into the distant hills. “Well, honey, I believe that Hugh just made a decision.”
“What do you mean?” Jenny asked.
“You probably hadn’t noticed that tiny little speck of light yonder,” Martha answered, “but, it just went out, which means that Hugh had probably wanted to put a final point to a decision.”
“Yes,” Mary agreed. “When we’ve camped together, Hugh usually let the fire die out by itself. Sometimes, though, he’d get excited about something, and want to get rid of nervous energy by doing something. I’ve seen him put out the fire like that before.”
“I still don’t get it,” Jenny said.
Martha answered her, “OK. Hugh shot a rabbit for dinner. Did you hear a gunshot about mid-afternoon?”
Jenny nodded, wondering what that had to do with anything.
“So, he built the fire to cook the rabbit. After the rabbit was done cooking, he would normally have let the fire slowly die out. It’s not that cold, and he’d be turning in.”
Jenny nodded her understanding.
“Then, I saw the fire get built back up again. I figured that Hugh had decided to read some, probably from his Bible. Being in the forest alone at night makes one feel close to God, and Hugh has been looking for answers. And then, after awhile, he suddenly snuffed out the fire. Decision made,” Martha ended.
Mary nodded her agreement.
Jenny was amazed at how well mother and sister knew Hugh. She guessed that must be what it was like when family members loved each other so much.
“What do you suppose that decision was?” Jenny asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Martha and Mary looked at each other. Then, Martha spoke. “Honey, that’s just something you’ll have to find out for yourself when the time is right.”
Nobody spoke for a long time. Then, to lighten the mood, Martha asked Jenny, “Did you have a good time today?”
“Oh, yes, Martha,” Jenny answered right away. “I had a great time. I love it here.”
Earlier that day, after Jenny had recovered sufficiently from her need to sit on the bench after hearing what Martha had told her about Hugh, they had walked into the house to prepare lunch for when the men would return from their work.
Jenny, at least, was feeling
