The Gift of Light: (Revised) (The Gifts Book 1) (12 page)

     “Why, Lord Jesus, why does it have to be this way? I don’t understand. What would you have me do?” Emily cried as she prayed.

     Gemma arrived the next day with Marta and a surprise guest as well, Bradley. Meeting Emily’s aunt was a surreal experience for Bradley. He and Marta picked her up at Perry House to drive her to the airport. When he got out of the car to help load her bags, she walked up to him and put her hands on both sides of his face.

     As he looked into her eyes, he felt a connection. He knew this woman. Even though he’d never met her, he knew her. The Holy Spirit spoke to him, telling him that she was the one who had prayed for him. She was a big reason he was where he was today. He just knew that was right. He now knew what other people knew about Gemma. She was special. That light of goodness flowed out from her.

     The three of them checked into a motel and then went to meet Emily at her apartment. She answered the door with a smile on her face, but her eyes gave her away. They were red and puffy as she’d spent the entire night crying.

     Marta quickly embraced her friend and whispered in her ear “What’s wrong, sweetheart, what’s happened?”

     Emily blurted out the whole story in front of her aunt and Bradley. She had to sign to Gemma as she spoke.

     “Seth asked me to marry him, but I said no and broke it off with him.”

     “But why? I thought you loved Seth?” Marta was confused.

      “I did love him, I do love him. I’m just not ready to get married yet.”

     “Well, honey, if you’re not ready, you’re not ready.” Marta pulled Emily close and Gemma wrapped her arms around them.

     Bradley felt like he was intruding on something very private, so he excused himself and went for a walk while Gemma and Marta helped Emily pull herself together and get her ready for the graduation exercises.

     The ceremony passed in a blur for Emily, miserable as she was. She saw Seth in his cap and gown across from her, but he refused to look her way. How could she blame him? At long last, the speeches and prayers ended. She walked across the stage, got her diploma, and blocked the rest of it from her mind.

     The next day, Emily expected her guests would leave for home. She wanted to stay behind to finish her packing and planned to drive her car back to Hook Pond in a week or so.

     “Oh, no you’re not.” Marta argued with her.

     “You’re going to use some of your vast inheritance and pay for professional movers to pack your things and ship them with your car. We are not leaving you here like this. You pack what you need for now because you’re coming home with us.”

     Emily was too tired to argue. She packed a few necessities as Marta and her aunt arranged for professional movers to take care of business and booked an extra ticket for Emily on the flight home.

     It was on the flight home that Emily had her first private conversation with Bradley.

     “So, you and Marta, huh?”

     “What’s she told you?” Bradley was only concerned because their engagement was to remain a secret for the time being.

     “Calm down, Bradley. I’ve known Marta almost my whole life. I can see it in the way she looks at you. She loves you very much, you know?”

     “As I love her. Listen, Emily, this has to stay a secret for now. You know my father is running for president. There is no telling what the press would do to us if they got wind of this.”

     “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. You just remember I love her like my own flesh and blood sister. I expect you to take very good care of her.”

     “I give you my word. I will love her and cherish her forever.”

     “Good, because you are going to have to face her father with this information very soon, as well as all three of her brothers and I do not envy you there.”

     Bradley’s face turned white as all the blood drained from it.

     Emily laughed aloud. It was the first laugh she’d had in days.

Chapter Eighteen

“The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that He has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions

Deuteronomy 29:29

New Living Translation

     In a private ceremony at his aunt’s penthouse, Bradley Malcolm Steel III married his love, Marta Jessica Sims, on the Fourth of July, a week before he deployed to Afghanistan. The small gathering of Amelia, Emily and Marta’s family witnessed the blessed, secret event. Bradley’s father knew nothing of his son’s wedding, and Bradley intended to keep it that way for as long as possible. They were all sworn to secrecy.

     It took a whole lot of convincing on Marta and Bradley’s part to assure her parents that this was truly a good thing. Bradley had a lot of explaining to do to Marta’s father.

     In the end it was with a whole lot of prayer that Marta’s father was convinced that Bradley was indeed a proper Christian man who loved his daughter, and his intentions towards her were nothing but honorable.

     The bride wore a short veil and a simple tea length white strapless gown with crystals covering the bodice.

     Emily stood for her friend as maid of honor, dressed in a gown of similar design, but buttercup yellow, her best color.

     Marta’s oldest brother, Patrick, stood for Bradley as best man.

     Amelia hosted a gorgeous catered dinner at the penthouse, with a traditional wedding cake for dessert.

     The press was still hot on Bradley’s trail, so the couple couldn’t risk being seen traveling together.

     Amelia decided she needed to take a cruise to the Bahamas and leave the honeymooners the private use of her penthouse for the week.

     In a twist of tradition, Bradley and Marta threw rice at their guests as they left the penthouse in a single line. When everyone was gone, the couple snuggled together on the veranda and watched the fireworks that lit up the Manhattan skies.

     “Well, are you happy Mrs. Steel?” Bradley asked as he kissed the top of his new wife’s head.

     “Oh, incandescently so, Mr. Darcy.”

The newly married couple laughed in earnest at Marta’s sly ‘Pride and Prejudice’ joke.

     Their week went by in a blink of an eye, and soon their honeymoon was over. A tear streaked Marta said goodbye to Bradley at the penthouse. He would not allow her to accompany him to the airport. For the time being, she would stay in Manhattan with Amelia and look for work as a writer and reporter.

     “Promise me you’ll come back safe.” Marta pressed her forehead to his chest and sobbed.

     “I promise I’ll be back safe.” Bradley held his bride close. “You promise me you’ll stay safe and take care of yourself. You have access to my money and your own credit cards, so there’s really no need for you to work if you don’t want to.”

     This was an old argument between them already. “Baby, we have been through this. I have no intention of wasting my hard-earned education by sitting on my butt in the lap of luxury.”

     “Fine, I just want to know that you’re safe while I am gone. Remember how much I love you.”

     They clung to each other until the very last moment when he had to make a run for the door. Marta sat on the staircase, her head in her hands. Amelia returned home to find her sitting on the staircase, sobbing her heart out.

***

     Select members of Senator Steel’s campaign committee crunched the numbers round the clock to get a feel for the senator’s popularity with the American public.

     The numbers were only slightly in his favor at that point and he needed something to help put him over the top. Too bad he didn’t have a chance of gaining the sympathy vote as he had in his first election.

     Following release of the news of his wife’s sudden death by heart attack, the public sympathized with the grieving young father and son.

     Azelius knew things the senator did not, and had a strong feeling he was about to gain the sympathy of the entire nation. The rancid demon waited patiently for news of the senator’s son’s death from the Ba al’.

     Emily was content to spend the summer staying at Perry House. Gemma staunchly resisted moving into the main house. She was much more comfortable staying in her perfect little cottage.

     Emily felt the main house to have a lonely, empty feel to it without someone living in it. Rather than close it up and stay with her aunt in the cottage, she did what Mr. Perry would want her to do. She moved in and made the big house her own.

     Liam still had not returned and with him missing, the place just was not the same. Emily tried to get Gemma to ask Staniel where he was. Her aunt simply responded in sign language.

     “Liam will return when he returns.” In other words, mind your own business.

     Emily sat on her wide front porch and sighed. The truth was she missed everybody. Mr. Perry, Marta, Liam, but she especially missed Seth. She wondered if she had made the right decision in turning down his proposal. In her spirit, she knew she had done what the Lord wanted her to. The problem was in her heart.

     She picked up her phone to call him only to put it back down. One day, she thought, one day she would try to make amends with Seth. Instead, she called Marta, who’d been sending out resumes like crazy. She continued to use her last name of Sims for her own and Bradley’s protection.

     “Hello, Em, whatcha doin’?”

     “Just sitting here bored and missing everyone. I guess I really should think about getting a job or volunteering or anything to get my butt moving.”

     “Oh, honey, you need to come for a visit. I just had my second job interview. Out of like a hundred resumes I’ve sent out, only two interviews and no call backs.” Marta sighed. “Looks like we’re both feeling sorry for ourselves.”

     “I don’t want to leave Gemma alone right now. Why don’t you come here for a visit?”

     “No can do, sweetie, I am determined to find a job. Otherwise all my work getting my degree is for nothing.”

     Now Emily sighed. “Have you heard anything from Bradley?”

     “Just a couple of letters, he says he is fine, but can’t reveal his exact location. I miss him so much, Emily, my heart just aches.”

     “I know, dear, I know.” Emily did her best to comfort her friend and they spent the next half hour catching up before they said their goodbyes with a promise to see each other soon.

     Lieutenant Bradley Steel, and Chaplain to an infantry outpost in the badlands of Afghanistan, was writing a letter to his wife and to his Aunt Amelia. Only his commander knew he had a wife. Being the senator’s son afforded him some secrets and privacy for his own protection.

     In just two short months, he had seen firsthand the evils of war. Some of his fellow soldiers and officers thought it strange that the son of a senator, who could possibly be the next president, would serve on the front lines like this of his own choosing.

     Those who knew about Bradley swore to keep his identity a secret and even Bradley didn’t know how he’d gotten his first choice for his tour of duty, given the powerful position his father was in. It seemed like a miracle of divine intervention that he was now pursuing what he thought of as his calling.

     Living in a war zone had a profound effect on Bradley. He feared that if his father actually became president, many of these men and their families would suffer even more than they already were. His father was a cruel and deceitful man, a harsh husband and a child-abusing liar. He also knew first hand he was into some evil doings, including dabbling in witchcraft.

     Full of shame for waiting so long, Bradley regretted not being bold enough to expose his father earlier. He hated to put Marta and Amelia in the line of fire, but he wanted them to publicize the letters he wrote them. Perhaps by exposing the truth about his father, the lies, the double-dealings, and deceptions, it would keep him from winning the election.

     He knew there would be repercussions for crossing his father, but he prayed that the Lord would watch over him, and the ones he loved as he did this. It was now the beginning of September. Bradley could only hope and have faith that he could stop or seriously set back his father’s campaign before the elections in November.

     He sealed his letter and placed it in his footlocker until a courier could pick it up and send it back to the states.

     Bradley headed to a portable mess hall to pray over the upcoming meal, his Bible in his hand. The strident alarms sounded shrill warnings throughout camp as the dreaded words, Incoming! echoed over the loudspeakers.

     A series of rocket-launched grenades pounded the perimeter of the camp, followed by the sounds of automatic weapons.

     The last sight Bradley saw was the mess hall erupt in flames. He uttered the words Lord Jesus and then Marta before his world went black.

***

     It would be a week before news of his son’s death would reach the senator. Because of his position and the current campaign, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff arrived at the senator’s DC campaign headquarters to personally deliver the sad news.

     With him, he brought boxes full of Bradley’s personal belongings, including his footlocker, which they’d recovered from the decimated infantry outpost.

     The senator had the good grace to cry at the news of his son’s passing. He demanded answers and feigned anguish at his bitter loss.

    Why was his son on the front lines, and why hadn’t he been informed of where Bradley would be deployed? The chairman had no immediate answers, but promised a full investigation into the matter as he offered his condolences.

***

     Amelia and Marta sat in the penthouse kitchen, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. The doorbell rang, and Amelia went to answer it as Marta poured them both a cup of coffee. On a large flat screen TV hanging on a far wall, a breaking news announcement caught their attention.

     Amelia listened to the announcement as she opened the front door.

     A somber and desolate appearing senator Bradley Steel, presidential candidate, announced in a press conference that his son died in combat while serving in Afghanistan. He asked that the press give him some private time to grieve, but assured the American public of his intent to continue campaigning for the presidency in the memory of his heroic son, who died serving this great country.

     At the front door, Amelia fell to her knees before two formally dressed army officials. She knew why there were there.

     Marta and Amelia wailed in shock. Amelia yelled at Brad on the TV and called him many vile names. Marta screamed until she passed out.

     In the heavenly realms, Liam met with Michael. “It has been done, my Liege. We have cloaked the young man’s identity until such a time as our Lord deems it to be over. The enemy now believes him to be dead.”

     “Good job. Now, return to your post at Perry House until I have more orders for you.” Liam saluted, raised his wings and intoned,

     “For the Lamb, who alone is worthy.”

     Michael raised his mighty wings and returned his salute. “For the Lamb who alone is worthy and greatly to be praised.”

     The angels had done all they could to protect the young man. It was now in the hands of the Lord.

***

     Alone in his private quarters at the DC townhouse, the senator was drunk, a rare thing for him. He wanted a quick fix to the extreme guilt he felt, and indulged himself.

     All of Bradley’s personal belongings were now stacked in a pile on the floor in front of him. He went through each box until he came to the locked footlocker. He managed to pry the lock open with a fireplace poker.

     The first thing to catch his eye was a letter on top of neatly folded clothes and combat gear, addressed to Ms. Marta Sims. He didn’t know her, but he recognized the address. It belonged to the person he loathed above all others. Amelia.

     He tore the letter open and read the contents. His howls of rage, audible throughout the neighborhood, reverberated against the walls as he tossed the offensive and traitorous letter into the fireplace and burned it to ash.

     He knew it now; his own son fully intended to expose him. More than that, he knew his son had married in secret.