“Lowell wants you to help him buy land in Tennessee?” she repeated to be sure she hadn’t misunderstood.
Gray nodded. “The owner is a friend of his father’s and will sell it to us for a fraction of what it’s worth.”
“But you don’t know anything about the Smoky Mountains!” Lettie pointed out. “How will you be able to lead people?”
He laughed. “Oh, that’s no problem. Lowell knows that park like the back of his hand and he’ll teach me the ropes.”
Trying hard not to panic, she said, “What about college?”
He shrugged. “I can sign up for some night and online courses. It will take me longer to finish, but that’s not a priority for me at the moment. I can get a college degree anytime, but we can only buy this land now.”
“What if you don’t get any customers?” Lettie asked, grasping for anything that would make him see the foolishness of his plan.
“Lowell’s already got people lined up through the end of the year. All he’s waiting on is the go-ahead from me.” He paused for a second before adding, “And my $10,000 start-up capital.”
Now she understood. If Gray chose this path instead of the one she had plotted for him, they wouldn’t be able to buy the condominium. Gray had some money left over in his mission fund, and his parents had gifted him the rest to make up the $10,000 down payment for their condo. She swallowed hard. She loved that condo, but she loved Gray more. So slowly she nodded her head.
“Okay. We won’t buy the condo. We’ll probably lose our earnest money, but we can deal with that. We’ll start looking for an apartment, or a tree house—whatever is available near your new business. I’ll find a job there and—”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” he interrupted. “You only have a few months left before you graduate.”
“There’s probably a college up there I can transfer to,” she said without much enthusiasm.
He was shaking his head. “In order to build up the business, Lowell and I will have dedicate our total attention to it for a year. We’ll have to camp with our tour groups, so I’ll be gone for long stretches of time. That’s no way to start a marriage.”
She stepped back when she saw that his eyes were green again. “It’s not that you can’t marry me. You just don’t want to,” she whispered, staring at him in shock. “You’ve chosen Lowell Brooks over me!”
“Lettie . . .” he began, but she held up a hand to stop him.
“So you’re canceling the wedding at the last minute, even though we’ve sent out three hundred invitations and spent thousands of dollars?”
“I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you.” he offered as an excuse.
“Well, you haven’t been trying very hard!” Lettie was suddenly furious. How dare he imply that if she’d been listening more closely this confrontation could have been avoided?
“I told you all about Lowell and his plans . . .”
Later she would realize that there had been plenty of warning signs, but in the heat of the moment all she could see was his selfishness and deceit. “We’ve been planning this wedding for months—since before you even got home from your mission. If you didn’t want to get married all you had to do was say so!”
“I wanted to find the right place and time to explain,” he said, and he did look miserable. If she hadn’t been so mad at him she might have felt sorry for him.
“And you decided that this was the perfect moment, with me standing here in my wedding dress?” She shook a handful of the gown for emphasis.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
For the first time in her life Lettie felt pure hatred toward another human being. “You certainly are,” she agreed. Then she lifted her silk skirts and ran from the dressing room before he could see the tears that were coursing down her cheeks.
Chapter One
Five Years Later
Eugenia Atkins had just returned from her regular morning walk around selected neighborhoods in the town of Haggerty, Georgia with her little dog, Lady, and was washing up the breakfast dishes when the doorbell rang. She dried her hands on a dishcloth and wondered aloud, “Who in the world that could be?”
Lady barked in response as they walked into the entryway. Eugenia pulled open the front door to find Reverend Watson Howard, affectionately referred to by his Methodist congregation as Brother Watty, and his wife, Barbara Jean, standing on the porch.
“Good morning!” Barbara Jean greeted. The preacher’s wife was thin and stylish, and in her presence Eugenia always felt large and dowdy.
“Barbara Jean,” Eugenia returned with less enthusiasm.
“Sorry to call so early,” Brother Watty apologized. He was shorter than Eugenia, which doomed her to a bird’s-eye view of his unfortunate comb-over. “Swan Glover is having surgery this morning, and we went to the hospital to pray with the family before she was anesthetized.”
Eugenia averted her eyes from the little beads of sweat that were forming on his pink scalp. “That was nice of you.”
“And on the way home we thought we’d take the opportunity to invite folks to our One-Day Revival,” Barbara Jean continued his explanation. “Have you heard about it?”
Eugenia was annoyed by this question. “It’s been on the sign in front of your church for a month now,” she pointed out. “And you’re running ads in the newspaper, on the radio, and on TV. I’d have to be blind and deaf not to know about it.”
Barbara Jean frowned, but before she could comment Brother Watty said, “Well, then, since you know about all the wonderful events we have planned, can we count on you to come and join with us in praising the Lord on Sunday?”
Eugenia was even more annoyed that they were putting her in a position of having to make explanations about decisions that she considered private. “You know I go to church with Kate and Mark—to help with their children.”
Barbara Jean’s eyes cut over to the Iversons’ dark, empty house. “I thought Kate and Mark were gone.”
“They’re not gone,” Eugenia corrected. “They’re just in Atlanta so that Mark can receive some special training for his important new job with the FBI.”
Barbara Jean sifted through all this information and grabbed hold of the tidbit that suited her purposes. “If they’re in Atlanta, they’re gone, and that means you can worship with us this weekend.”
Eugenia was not about to be railroaded into anything by Barbara Jean Howard, so she said, “I’m not sure what obligations I have on Sunday, but I’ll try to attend your meeting.”
Refusing to be satisfied with this non-committal response, Barbara Jean said, “I’m sure you’ll agree that we should make room for the Lord in our lives!”
Eugenia narrowed her eyes at the other woman. “I do agree with that, but I can have the Lord in my life without attending your One-Day Revival. And if you ask me one more time I’m going to say no.”
Barbara Jean’s nostrils flared, but before she could launch another verbal assault, Brother Watty stepped between the two women and flashed Eugenia a bright smile. “A guest preacher from Knoxville is speaking on Sunday, and he’s supposed to be real entertaining.”
Eugenia took pity on the man. “I’m sure he’s very good and I’ll do my best to stop by.”
Apparently deciding that this was the best he could hope for, Brother Watty took his wife by the arm and led her down the steps. The little sweat beads on his head glinted like diamonds in the early morning sunshine. “We hope to see you there,” he called over his shoulder.
