A Brush of Wings (36 page)

She couldn’t stop her tears, but they didn’t matter. Every word he spoke was etched in her soul, where they would stay forever.

“I promise to hold your hand . . . and your heart . . . forever in mine. Till death do us part.”

How could she possibly speak after that? Mary Catherine leaned her forehead against Marcus’s, and then, because weddings didn’t have to all be the same, she put her arms around his neck and leaned into him. The hug lasted a few seconds before she felt composed enough to step back.

One of the bridesmaids passed a tissue to Mary Catherine. “Thanks.” She sniffed and laughed at the same time. She dabbed at her eyes and cheeks and handed the tissue back to her bridesmaid. Then she turned to Marcus. “Sorry.”

Once more the guests laughed. But Mary Catherine could see that most of them were crying, too. They all knew her story. How only by the miraculous healing power of God she was here at all. Let alone marrying the man who had rescued her. The one God had created to love her.

It was her turn.

And with Marcus’s beautiful vows still ringing through her heart and soul, Mary Catherine steadied herself and began. “Marcus, I take you this day as my forever husband, my other half. My hero and rescuer sent by God.” She smiled. There could be no truer words. “You pursued me even when I told you no, and you saw past my shallow words to the deepest part of me. Past my fears to the dreams I didn’t dare voice. You are not afraid of tomorrow. You are brave, and so you have made me brave, too.”

Marcus’s eyes welled up again. He didn’t blink, didn’t look anywhere but straight into her soul.

“And so I promise to give you myself. My honesty and my concerns, my health and my sickness. My whole life long.” She hesitated, finding control again. “I cannot promise you decades. But you have taught me that no one can promise that. All we have is today.”

He nodded, his head angled slightly. She knew he was feeling for her. Believing in her.

“So here, in the power of Jesus, and with our friends and families as witnesses, I give you today . . . and tomorrow. And every day God gives us after that.” This time she ignored the tears on her cheeks. “I promise to believe in our future and the child that will join us in April.”

Mary Catherine thought about Lexy, watching from one of the front rows.

She pressed on. “I want to live a long life with you, Marcus. And so I promise to do everything in my power to guard my heart—physically and emotionally. Because my heart belongs to you.”

Joy shone brighter than his tears. He nodded, encouraging her even here.

She felt her entire face light up. “Till death do us part.”

Coach Wayne wiped at a tear on his cheek, the same way many of their guests did. Then Coach walked them through the exchanging of rings, and again they’d written their own words.

Mary Catherine’s left hand didn’t waver as Marcus slipped the ring on her finger. The feeling was something she had longed for since the day she said yes. She was Marcus’s wife now. She always would be.

It was her turn. She took his hand and slid the wedding band into place.

Coach Wayne raised his voice. “With the power vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” He smiled at the two of them. “Marcus, you may kiss your bride.”

He framed her face with his hands. “I love you, Mary Catherine Dillinger.”

“I love you.” Her eyes were dry now. The joy of the moment left no room for anything but happiness.

Marcus kissed her and in all the world there was only him and her.

Yes, the baby would come in April, and along the way there would be doctors and hospitals and maybe even a heart transplant. Marcus would travel with the Dodgers and ride the ups and downs of being a professional ballplayer. But all of that seemed a world away as Marcus held her right here, right now. And in those seconds, Mary Catherine knew that together she and Marcus would pray for God’s strength and courage and help. They would be brave and intentional. And they would truly live in the moment.

Moments like this.

Because in the end that was all anyone ever really had.

28

L
EXY CRADLED THE BABY
close to her chest. The memory of the pain and pushing and agony of delivery all faded the minute they placed him in her arms. The baby was a boy. Her son. Whether he ever knew her or not.

He was beautiful. His light brown skin and wide, beautiful eyes. Like hers. The nurse had taught her how to wrap him in a blanket so he felt safe and secure. Swaddling, she called it. Lexy pulled her knees up in the hospital bed and held the baby out in front of her. “Hello, beautiful boy. Your mommy loves you.” Tears made her voice shaky. “Always know how much your mommy loves you.”

This day would be too difficult, too painful if it weren’t for one thing: Mary Catherine and Marcus. They would be the perfect parents for her perfect little boy. Lexy had no doubt. Besides, God had worked out the details.

Every one of them.

A month ago her mother had gotten a call from her brother. The one in Texas. He told her he should’ve called sooner, but he’d been busy. Busy with things that in the scope of life didn’t really matter. At least that’s what he told Lexy’s mother.

Her mom gave the man Lexy’s cell number, and the next day her phone rang. She had relived the phone call every day since. The man, her uncle, was on the other end.

“Lexy, my family and I have discussed this. We’d like you to come live with us.” He sounded confident and kind. “You’ll get your high school diploma and then we’ll help you get accepted to Texas Christian University—which is very close to our house.” He paused. “If you’re interested, that is.”

If she was interested? Even now Lexy smiled at the possibility that she might be anything but interested. Mary Catherine and Sami had moved out of the apartment after their weddings, and Lexy had lived with the Waynes ever since. But that wasn’t a long-term solution. Especially now that the baby had been born.

She brought him to her face and kissed his cheek. If she lived with him even one more day, she couldn’t give him up. She could barely imagine letting him go now.
You’ll help me, won’t You, God? You’ll get me through this?
Her baby’s cheek was soft against hers.
You’ll give me another little boy one day, right? Please?

The thought of God brought more tears to her eyes. She’d been talking to God a lot, getting closer to Him. Rhonda and Ollie Wayne had been reading the Bible with her. Picking up where Sami and Mary Catherine had left off—in the book of Acts. God had become like the daddy she didn’t have, and she’d learned how to talk to Him about even the tough things. Like memories of her time in the gang.

For a minute she thought about Ramon, her baby’s father. His dead body lying in a pool of blood outside her grandmother’s house. How could she have thought for a minute that he maybe cared about her?

When the whole time he’d been trying to kill her?

Lexy ran her hand over her baby’s soft head. They both would’ve died. That’s the crazy thing. Somehow God had protected them both.

Her baby closed his eyes and fell asleep. He would never know what it was to be in a gang, never get caught up in drugs and stealing and killing. From the moment his parents came to pick him up in an hour, he would be loved.

And he would be good.

Lexy had already asked God about that. That He would use her son to help people. That He would be an example to others. She smiled at the infant, even as her eyes welled up again. He was so perfect. She had no idea how she would let him go, only that she would. It was her decision.

Mary Catherine had been really nice about the whole thing.

Last week she and Marcus had sat down with Lexy and talked to her. “We want you to know something.” Mary Catherine took her hand. Her voice was kind and understanding. “You can change your mind about this. Giving up your baby has to be your decision, Lexy. Yours and God’s alone.”

Lexy thought for half a minute, trying to imagine raising the baby and finishing school. She didn’t have a job or a driver’s license or any money. Still . . . the idea was tempting. For those few seconds she wondered what it would be like to keep him, to watch him learn to sit and stand and walk. To hear his laugh and his first words.

Then she thought of something else. “Are you not sure about the adoption?” Lexy had to ask. Just in case.

Marcus put his arm around Mary Catherine. “We already love your baby like our own.” His voice was gentle. Marcus was nothing like the guys Lexy had known. “We want this adoption to work. But we want you to know it’s your choice.”

Reality had settled over her then, the way it always did whenever she even thought about keeping her baby. She wasn’t ready. Her baby deserved a good life with good people. So he could be everything God wanted him to be.

Lexy had smiled at Mary Catherine and Marcus then. “I’m not going to change my mind. He’s your baby.” She had put her hand on her baby bump. “God wants you to have him.”

The memory of that time would always stay with Lexy. Whenever she thought about the warm feel of her sweet-smelling baby boy in her arms, if she ever wondered whether she’d done the right thing, Lexy would remember that it had been her decision. And that this was what God wanted her to do.

Her uncle’s phone call had been the proof.

That day he had explained to her that they would take her in as their own and help her finish college. “This is something only God could’ve set up,” her uncle told her.

Then he shared the most amazing story with her. How her mother had written him a letter when she was still in prison, asking him to take Lexy in and help her find a future. “But I put the letter in a drawer somewhere and forgot about it.” Her uncle had sounded upset with himself. “It was nothing personal, Lexy. Please know that. I was just so busy I couldn’t even imagine the idea.”

But something had happened, something her uncle still couldn’t explain. “Every week or so the letter would turn up. All of a sudden it would be sitting next to my computer, or lying on the kitchen counter. Next to my bathroom sink.” The man had sounded surprised by this. “I’d put it away and it would turn up again.”

Finally her uncle had read the letter once more. Then he sat down—just him and God. “I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do about the situation.” A smile had filled her uncle’s voice. “And God told me to talk to my family and take you in. To love you like one of my own.”

Lexy had talked to both her aunt and uncle a number of times since. They’d Skyped with the whole family and gone over some of the house rules. Already she felt close to them. Once this day was over, and her baby was home with Marcus and Mary Catherine, Lexy would live with the Waynes for a few more days and then get on a plane and head for Texas.

Her uncle had arranged more counseling for her there. To help her heal and process everything that had happened. Everything she’d lost.

She pressed her cheek lightly against her little boy’s face again. “Including you, little guy.”

The baby opened his eyes and for a long while he looked at Lexy. Like somehow he knew what was happening. As if he wanted Lexy to know it was okay, that he would be happy with his new parents. But he would never forget her, like he knew she loved him enough to let him go. He might only be a few hours old, but Lexy could read all of it.

Right here in her little boy’s eyes.

“We’re each going to find a new life, little man,” she whispered to him, and he blinked a few times. “God has a plan. That’s what Mary Catherine always says.”

Lexy had just one request for Mary Catherine and Marcus. A special name that she hoped they might give her baby boy. A way for him to know the story of his birth. How God had somehow made a letter to her uncle appear over and over again. All so Lexy would know for sure she was doing the right thing in giving him up.

Lexy studied her tiny son. She would remember the look on his face for the rest of her life. The gentle curves of his cheeks and forehead, his beautiful eyes. And maybe . . . maybe one day they would meet again. Mary Catherine and Marcus were open to the idea. But Lexy had asked that the paperwork be closed. She trusted God and her friends with this baby. Better not to have visits and a string of goodbyes to mess up his childhood.

At least that’s the way she saw it.

Maybe one day she would change her mind. By then her boy would be older. He would know how God had given Lexy a family and a future in Texas. And that Lexy had done the same for her little boy. The child would know that Lexy had absolutely made the right choice.

All because of his name.

Now all she had to do was convince Mary Catherine and Marcus.