The pacing stopped and the night grew silent.But Lesley couldn’t sleep.About three, she tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed.She never did have that glass of milk.Maybe it would help now.
The small lamp on the end table in the living room was all the light she needed.Holding the milk glass, she sat on the sofa and brought her knees up so she could slip the warm gown over her feet.The Bible she used for devotions sat beside the lamp.Idly, Lesley flipped through the pages.Her parents had given her this purse-size edition when she turned sixteen.The pages were dog-eared, the edges worn from years of use.
Important pieces of her life were tucked away in its flap: the newspaper notice of her grandmother’s death, a small card from Terry and Robert’s wedding and Lisa’s birth announcement.
Long ago Lesley had learned that if she couldn’t sleep, reading God’s Word had a soothing effect on her.Opening the book at random, she was surprised to see that it opened at Matthew, Chapter 22.Usually her Bible opened to Psalms, since that book was directly in the middle.
The bold-phrased lettering seemed to jump off the page at her.A soft smile touched her face.“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”The greatest commandment.Lesley had read these words a hundred times, but the second part of the commandment caused a tightening sensation in her throat.“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Lesley closed the book and laid her head against the back of the couch.Love thy neighbor.Was this coincidence, or was God giving her a special message?But if He was sending her something with a profound meaning, it would be preceded by a blare from trumpets, or at least an angel’s announcement.Not His word in the still of a sleepless night.Love thy neighbor, her thoughts reiterated.Cole Daniels had not been an error.God had sent him to her.Lesley didn’t know why, nor did she question.For now she would trust.But sometimes that was the hardest thing to do.
“I just can’t believe it.”Terry looped a strand of hair around her ear and pushed the grocery cart ahead so another shopper could get by.
“I find Dale’s behavior just as unbelievable,” Lesley returned, placing several red Delicious apples in a cellophane bag.
“I didn’t think he’d do anything like that.You’re not still thinking about moving, are you?”
“No.”Lesley looked up, startled for a moment.She’d forgotten she’d even threatened as much yesterday.“Not anymore.”Although she hadn’t told her sister about Cole’s intervention with Dale and Frank, after last night she felt assured God had her exactly where she was supposed to be.
“Didn’t your neighbor hear any of the commotion?”Terry feigned engrossment in the Delicious apples.
Amused at her sister’s interest, Lesley successfully stifled a smile.Terry had an apple tree in her backyard, and the two had spent one whole weekend picking fruit and canning applesauce.
“I’m sure he did.”
“And?”Terry prompted.
“And the police arrived.”Her fingers gripping the handle of the cart, Lesley pushed it farther down the crowded aisle.
“But you don’t think you’ll move?”Terry sounded relieved.
“I did a lot of thinking about it last night and decided that maybe God hadn’t made such a horrendous mistake after all.”
“I’m sure He didn’t.”
“I’m even beginning to believe there’s a reason God moved Cole Daniels beside me.”
“I think there is.”
Lesley paused long enough to turn around, her laughing eyes studying her sister.“Has anyone ever told you that on rare occasions you sound like a parrot?”
Terry batted her eyelashes wickedly.“Polly want a cracker.”
They bath giggled like carefree friends and continued with their shopping.
After Halloween night, Cole avoided Lesley.She didn’t see him for days, and once when she made up an excuse to knock at his door, he didn’t answer.It was almost as if the duplexhadn’t been rented.However, she knew he was there.And even though they didn’t communicate, her awareness of him grew.She discovered that her early morning prayers often included Cole, and later recognized that he was dominating her thoughts more and more.
The first snowfall of the year came the second week in November.Lesley woke early and responded with delight to the fluffy white flakes that drifted to the earth like goose down descending from some glorious heaven.Her excitement dissipated with the knowledge that she had to dress and get into town.Although only a few inches covered the ground, the white powder was falling thick and heavy.She could have trouble getting out of the driveway.
After a hurried shower, Lesley dressed in dark wool pants and a thick pink ski sweater.The snow shovel was in the storage shed in the back of the apartment with the garden equipment.Tying a scarf around her neck, she next slipped on her knee-high boots and opened the sliding glass door to retrieve the shovel.
Halfway across the backyard, she noticed another pair of fresh footprints in the snow: a larger foot that made deep impressions in the fallen crystalline purity.Cole’s, Lesley mused.
The shovel was missing.Blowing on her bare hands with her warm breath and rubbing them together, Lesley came around the side of the house to find Cole busy shoveling the snow from the driveway.
“Morning,” she called, more than a little pleased to see him again.He looked well.His hair needed cutting, and the bronze tan that had caused her to wonder at his penchant for the indoors had faded.But he looked vibrant, fit and all male.
Cole stopped shoveling and straightened.“I didn’t think I’d catch you up this early.”
