A Love So Strong. Arlene James
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Название: A Love So Strong
Автор: Arlene James
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
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“That was great!” she gushed, rocking up onto her tiptoes as she held his hand. “Inspiring. Honestly!”
“Glad you enjoyed it. I’m delighted to see you and Beau here this morning.”
“We’ll be back,” she announced, beaming.
“Wonderful. If you have a few minutes now, though, I’d like a word with you when I’m done here.” A shadow passed across her eyes, dimming them momentarily. “Won’t take long, I promise,” he added quickly, then glanced pointedly over his shoulder at Beau.
“Oh, um, okay. Sure.”
He directed her to a bench against one wall of the vestibule and made quick work of the few remaining farewells before joining her.
“As I said, I’m really glad to see you and Beau here this morning, Nicole,” he told her. “I’m even happier that you plan to return, and I’d like to help Beau fit in, if I can.”
“I’m sure once he gets to know people…” she began.
“Oh, absolutely,” Marcus agreed. “If I could make one suggestion, though?”
Her slender brows drew together, and her voice carried a wary note despite her polite reply. “Of course.”
“Let him lose the tie, or at least wear it loose and drooping.” He touched his own neat Windsor knot and chuckled. “That’s how our minister of youth wears his. Very cool, I’m told.”
She made a face and relaxed. “I guess we were both thinking about the last time we attended church.” Dropping her head she admitted, “It’s been a long time, you know. Beau was just ten, and what was considered appropriate for a boy that age back then and what’s considered okay now…” She waved a hand.
Marcus chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Some of the older folks complain when they see these kids with baggy pants and the shirttails out and hanging down to their knees, but I figure that this is their church, too, and they should be comfortable. That they’re here is much more important to me than how they’re dressed.”
“I see what you mean.”
“We do have standards,” he went on. “We draw the line at T-shirts with slogans other than Christian ones and head coverings indoors for the boys. We don’t even allow the girls to wear those backward caps that are so popular. Those so-called ‘belly shirts’ are absolutely forbidden, too, and we quietly monitor the length of skirts and, in the summertime, shorts. Otherwise, we pretty much try to go with the flow.”
“Okay. I’ll remember that,” Nicole said. “I mean, it’s bad enough that everything he owns is practically worn out. No reason he should stick out like a sore thumb, too.”
Marcus bowed his head, fingering his chin, and said uncertainly, “Nicole, I could…that is, I’d be glad to—how should I put this?—front you some money on Beau’s behalf.”
She was on her feet and shaking her head before he got the words out. “Uh-uh. No way. Treating him to dinner is one thing, but buying clothes is something else.”
“Think of it as a loan,” he urged, but she was even more adamant in her refusal of that.
“Absolutely not. I couldn’t pay it back, not for a long, long time, anyway.” She folded her arms. “We’ve held out this long. We can hold out until I’ve paid next semester’s tuition. After that we can start taking care of some of this other stuff.”
He wanted to argue. It tore at Marcus’s heart to see Beau going around so bedraggled because Marcus so vividly remembered being that boy. But he remembered, too, the pride that had gotten him through the worst of it, and well-deserved pride was better than new clothes. He wasn’t thinking of the sort of pride that Scripture warned caused downfall but rather the pride that came from doing the difficult thing for the right reasons. Funny that Nicole should be the one to remind him of that.
“You’re right,” he said, rising to his feet. “Forget I mentioned it.”
“That’s okay.” She smiled. “It just shows you care.”
“Yes,” he agreed unthinkingly. “Exactly. I do care.”
“Thank you for that,” she said, and then to his shock, she flung her arms around him in a hug.
For a moment Marcus froze, his arms trapped between them. Heat flashed through him, exploding into red blossoms on his cheeks. To his horror he realized that several of the kids were standing in the open doorway looking in at them, Beau in their midst, with none other than David Calloway in the background.
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