“They wanted you to break up with him because he was a Christian.”
“Because he was a Christian going into the ministry.” Mrs. Younger frowned. “Not my father’s idea of a good job. He thought pastors were just leeches who begged people for money and made them feel guilty for the bad things they did.”
“So what happened?”
“I told my parents everything. That I loved God and wanted to serve him, and that I loved Brian and felt God was calling me to help him in his ministry.”
Natalia took a deep breath. “Were they very angry?”
“Yes.” Mrs. Younger’s eyes filled with pain at the memory. “My father refused to speak to me. He told me I was wasting my life. He even cut me out of his will.”
“That is terrible.” Natalia shook her head.
Would my father do the same thing?
“What about your mother?”
“She would slip me money occasionally, and she’d call me when Dad was at work. I was able to talk to her about what God was teaching me, and she accepted Christ as her Savior a month before our wedding.”
“And your father?”
“It took many years, but he became a Christian too.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“It is, but it took half a lifetime to get there.” Mrs. Younger looked at Natalia. “I don’t know what God has for you, Natalia, but I know it is something wonderful. You just keep trusting him. He’s the best father in the universe. And he has a great plan for your life.”
Natalia took a ragged breath. “I don’t know what I am supposed to do or where I am supposed to go next. I don’t want to disappoint my parents, but nothing in me wants to
go to an Ivy League school. My parents work all the time. I do not want that.”
“What do you want?”
The image that sprang to Natalia’s mind was that of Brian giving the devotion at the ESL class and her interpreting. She loved Thursday nights, loved working with the people who came to learn English. She loved talking to them about God and the Bible, hearing their stories. “I’d love to be in ministry somehow. I would give anything to go to a Bible college. But my parents would never allow me to do that.”
“You need to trust God to work on your parents. Honor them, respect them, love them. But if their desire for you is opposed to God’s will for you, then you have to obey God.”
“But they will hate me.”
“Never.” Mrs. Younger placed her hands on either side of Natalia’s face. “They might be angry for a time. But they would never hate you. No one who knows you could ever hate you, Natalia.”
Natalia prayed that was true. She didn’t want to disappoint her parents. But she knew, like Mrs. Younger, that her parents’ dream for her was not her dream. Would she ever have the courage to tell them that?
H
ave another churro.” Carmen waved the pastry under Natalia’s nose. The pair was sitting on their favorite bench in Retiro Park.
Natalia took a bite as she watched people row little boats in the pond.
Rollerbladers sped past, children laughed in the grass.
Natalia sighed. She was back in Madrid. Life was perfect. No questions about the future, no Brian Younger tempting her to forget her vow to remain single, no American clichés or US History research papers. Just life as she had always known it. And Spanish, Spanish everywhere.
Except for an annoying group of Americans singing. Where was that coming from? They were so loud. And so close. Natalia stood to find the Americans, ask them to please stop singing. But she tripped and fell, headed straight for the water.
And landed on the floor in her town house in Tampa. Surrounded by Addy, Lexi, and Brian singing “Happy
Birthday” at the top of their lungs. Balloons hung suspended in the space over Natalia’s head, and the threesome didn’t miss a beat when they helped her to her feet and ended with an off-key, “Happy birthday to you!”
Natalia smoothed back her hair and looked down at her T-shirt and pajama bottoms. Brian’s smile was huge, and she could only imagine how terrible she looked.
What is he doing here?
“Get up and get dressed, birthday girl.” Lexi helped Natalia stand and walked her to the closet. “Would you like me to help you pick out something to wear?”
Natalia’s laugh was weak. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and looked at Addy.
“All right, let’s give her a few minutes to wake up and get ready.” Addy obviously got the unspoken message Natalia had been sending her. “We’ll go down and get breakfast ready.”
“Breakfast?”
“Of course.” Brian’s eyes lit up and Natalia’s heart flipped at the sight. “Every great birthday begins with a great breakfast.”
He led the way out, and Natalia sat on her bed. She tried to remember if she had even told anyone that today was her birthday. Mrs. Younger. She must have told Brian.
Which means he very well may have been the one to orchestrate the whole thing.
Natalia was embarrassed. How childish was it to want attention on her birthday? Silly. And Brian, Addy, and Lexi were just doing all this because they were kind people. Natalia determined to let them leave after breakfast.
No fuss for me. Well, no more fuss.
Natalia was putting a dab of lip gloss on when a heavenly
smell greeted her nose. Bacon? And something else, something sweet. Her stomach growled, and she remembered she didn’t eat dinner last night. She spent the entire evening trying to compose her two thousand–word essay for English. When she had finished, it was midnight, and she was too tired to do anything but crawl into bed.
“Wow.” Natalia walked into the kitchen to find her three friends crammed into the tiny room. Brian was hunched over a small appliance, Addy was cooking eggs on one side of the stove, and Lexi was flipping bacon on the other. “It smells delicious.”
“I’m making waffles.” Brian lifted the waffle iron and eased the monstrous creation onto a plate. “Secret family recipe.”
“The same secret recipe your sister used to make her peanut butter pie?” Natalia laughed.
“No.” Brian wore a mock look of horror. “This recipe has
five
ingredients, thank you very much.”
“Move over, the biscuits are ready.” Lexi pushed Addy to the side and opened the stove. “Keep stirring the gravy, Addy. Don’t let it burn.”
“I can’t stir it with the oven open.” Addy laughed.
Lexi shut the stove with her hip and placed the pan of biscuits on the counter next to the sink. “All right, stir.”
“Hang on, I need to get these eggs out.”
Lexi grabbed a spoon and stirred the gravy in the pot behind Addy’s pan as Addy grabbed a bowl and scooped the eggs into it. Natalia sat on a stool and watched the commotion, overwhelmed that her friends would go to so much trouble, just for her.
The small dining room table had been decorated with a festive blue tablecloth and matching streamers hung from the chandelier. Paper plates in blue and red polka dots were on the counter, and clear plastic cups were beside a pitcher of what appeared to be freshly squeezed orange juice.
“Here is your seat of honor.” Brian pulled out a chair that had balloons tied to the sides. He handed Natalia a napkin and strapped a huge, pointy hat to her head. Addy snapped a picture, and Lexi laid a plate in front of Natalia.
“Please don’t make me eat all by myself.” Natalia looked at all the food on the plate and wondered how she’d ever be able to eat it all.
“All right, if you insist.” Brian stuffed a long piece of bacon in his mouth and began heaping food on one of the paper plates.
“Hey, save some for the rest of us,” Lexi said.
The foursome was finishing breakfast when the front door opened. “Natalia?” Maureen walked into the cramped kitchen.
“Ta da,”
Brian sang, his arms gesturing toward the stove. “I told you we wouldn’t burn anything. Ye of little faith.”
Maureen’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I never should have doubted. This is very sweet. I’m so glad Natalia has such good friends.”
“And this is just the beginning.” Lexi put her hands on Natalia’s shoulders.
“No, please,” Natalia said. “You’ve done enough. This was very nice. Just go on and enjoy your day.”
“Oh, we plan to enjoy our day.” Brian sat next to her, his blue eyes dancing.
Addy sat on the other side of Natalia. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be fun.”
“But I have homework . . .”
“There’s no homework on your birthday.” Brian leaned forward, elbows on the table, his nose just inches from Natalia’s.
She sat back and took a deep breath.
Lord, what are you doing to me?
“Seriously, Natalia.” Lexi pulled Natalia up. “It would be really selfish of you not to let us spoil you on your birthday.”
Natalia laughed. “I certainly don’t want to be selfish.”
“Certainly not,” Brian echoed.
“I think I have everything on your list.” Maureen came back in the kitchen carrying a small suitcase. Natalia never noticed that she had left.
“What’s that for?” Natalia took the suitcase from Maureen.
“Patience, my friend.” Brian took the suitcase from her, and Natalia’s heart skipped a beat when his hand brushed hers. “All will be revealed in time.”
Natalia gazed at Addy and Lexi, but they just smiled and motioned for Natalia to follow Brian out the door.
“Relax,” Addy whispered as Natalia walked toward Lexi’s SUV. “Let us pamper you. We’ve been looking forward to this all week.”
N
atalia stuck her head out of the dressing room. “I can’t.”
“Natalia Lopez.” Lexi planted both hands on her hips. “Show us the dress.”
“It’s too much.”
“My parents own the store.” Lexi waved her hands, dismissing Natalia’s concern. “They mark these things up like crazy. That dress really only costs about five dollars.”
Natalia knew that wasn’t true. The cotton sundress was beautiful, coral and yellow, with wooden beads sewn across the neckline. It felt like heaven against her skin, and even though she argued, she’d hate to have to give up the dress now that she had it on. During her lonely moments at home, Natalia had surfed through her favorite clothing websites, dreaming of buying some new clothes. Oh, how she missed shopping.
“Don’t make me pull you out of there,” Lexi threatened.
“Fine.” Natalia slowly opened the curtain. Her three friends let out a communal gasp. “Is something wrong?”
Brian’s eyes were wide. “No. Nothing’s wrong. Nothing.”
Lexi walked Natalia to the three-way mirror. “What Brian is trying to say is, you look fabulous.”
Natalia gazed at herself in the mirror. The dress’s empire waistline emphasized her tiny torso. The skirt floated down almost to the ground, revealing her hourglass figure without clinging too tightly to it. The bright colors highlighted Natalia’s olive skin and made her green eyes stand out even more. “It’s lovely.”
“You’re lovely.” Addy wrapped an arm around Natalia. “Now for shoes and accessories, right?”
“Of course.” Lexi smiled. “I believe you know where those are?”
“No, this is more than enough.” Natalia backed away from the mirror. “I don’t need anything else.”
“I may not know much about fashion”—Lexi peered into the changing room—“but I’m pretty sure those tennis shoes you wore here would not go well with this dress. Am I right?”
Natalia laughed. “Yes.”
“So get some shoes. And some jewelry. And a new purse. And hurry it up because we have lunch plans.”
“Lunch plans?”
“Less talking, more shopping,
chica
,” Lexi ordered.
An hour later Natalia was led onto the veranda of a seafood restaurant in south Tampa. The hostess seated them at a table against a window that framed the Gulf of Mexico.
“This is beautiful.” Natalia loved looking out over the greenish-blue water, seeing boats in the distance and children playing on the sand down below.
“We know it’s not as pretty as the Mediterranean, but we hoped you’d like it.” Addy unrolled her napkin and placed it on her lap.
“I hardly ever went to the beach.” Natalia thought back to her busy life in Spain. “Madrid is right in the middle of the country, so a trip to the beach took several hours.”
“We brought our suits.” Lexi reached for one of the buttery rolls the waitress had placed in the middle of the table. “Yours is in the suitcase Maureen packed for you.”
“This is your day, Natalia.” Addy smiled. “We’ll do whatever you want.”
Natalia caught Brian staring at her. His face turned red and he pretended to be interested in the menu. “What do you think, Brian?”
“I like the beach.” He was still looking at the menu.
Why is he being so quiet? This is not like Brian at all.
“Are you folks ready to order?” The waitress stood over the table and the conversation was halted.
Natalia couldn’t decide between the grilled salmon and the shrimp scampi. Lexi liked both, so the girls decided to order one of each and share.
“Seriously, Addy,” Lexi said as the waitress walked away. “Fried chicken and fries? You could get that at McDonald’s.”