Threat of Darkness(81)

 Again, she stared, as if he were some sort of creature she’d never seen before. Uneasy, he sent up a silent prayer.

 The Dallas traffic required all of his attention until they at last reached their destination. With only minutes to spare, they dashed into the impressive symphony center and found their seats. In the dark of the hall, they sat in silence as the concert began. The music enraptured them. So much so that Davis didn’t realize that he had been holding Becca’s hand until they stood up to applaud. He found he liked the sensation, and decided to casually drape his arm about her slender shoulders as they exited the theatre. They visited the gift shop and purchased a CD, then strolled arm in arm back to the car.

 “I always have to praise God when I hear such incredible music,” Becca sighed.

 “Now you know how I feel when I hear you sing,” Davis told her, pleased to see her eyes widen in response to his words.

 He popped the CD into the player on the drive home, letting the music negate any need for conversation. By the time the CD ended, they were only a half hour or so from Eden. He looked over and smiled when he found that Becca had drifted off into a peaceful slumber. It was late when he pulled up beside her grandmother’s little house, but he sat for several minutes letting the engine idle as he watched her sleep, her head tucked into the corner between the headrest and the side window.

Please, Father, he silently prayed, I have only ever sought Your will, but I ask You to please make this sweet, gentle woman mine. Make me a joy and a blessing to her. Always.

* * *

 Becca woke to whispered words and the warm, oddly familiar touch of a man’s hands cupping her face.

 “We’re here, my darling. Our lovely evening is almost at an end.”

 Memory flooded her. The glorious music, Davis holding her hand, his arm about her shoulders, telling her that the age difference meant nothing, that he valued best the very thing she had most decried about herself. She opened her eyes and then closed them again as his dark head bent toward hers and his lips tenderly sought her own. A moment later he pulled her into his arms, bending her head back with the pressure of his kiss and thrilling her to the very depth of her being.

 That kiss carried her through their walk to her door, his sisters’ whispered report on their evening, their eventual parting and into the sweetest of dreams. It carried her even through her grandmother’s sullen complaints the next morning, all the way up to the moment when Davis arrived, unannounced, just after breakfast, to insist that they were all going on an outing.

 “I won’t take no for an answer,” he said calmly, when Grandma objected. Pushing her chair to the door, he told a flustered Becca that they would of course have to take her van.

 Grandma griped the whole way, from the door, down the ramp, onto the lift, into the locks in the floorboard of the van. Davis just winked at Becca, smiling broadly. To her own surprise, she asked only, “Where are we going?”

 “Uh-uh. It’s a surprise, which means that I will need to drive.”

 She handed over her keys and got into the passenger seat. Five minutes later the van turned into the drive of the Galter house. Even Grandma shut up, settling for a disapproving glower as Davis pushed her chair up the ramp at the back of the place and into the now empty house. The twins rushed to greet them.

 “Oh, Davis, it’s perfect!” one of them exclaimed.

 “And,” Davis said, rolling Grandma’s chair forward through the roomy kitchen and into the dining room, “every door is wide enough.” He proved this by taking them all on a whirlwind tour of every big, elegant room. They wound up in the conservatory, a room with one entire wall of windows.

 “Imagine the plants you can put in here,” one of the twins said. “You could literally bring the outdoors inside.” She bent to Grandma Dorothy and asked, “Wouldn’t you like that?”

 Grandma’s chin began to tremble, and Becca feared an outburst, but before she could speak, Davis walked around Grandma’s chair and addressed her.

 “Well, what do you think?” He glanced at Becca, adding, “She deserves better, of course, but it will make a grand home, won’t it?”

 To Becca’s horror and confusion, Grandma began to cry. “I am not just to visit, am I?”

 “Oh, no, no,” he said solemnly. “I’m counting on you to empty your house and help furnish the place.” He straightened, saying, “Although Becca, of course, will have the final word on all of it.”

 The twins clapped, bouncing on their toes and beaming. “Isn’t it wonderful?” one of them exclaimed. “You and your grandmother will be so much more comfortable here.”