Always There: Christian Inspirational Romance Read online

  “Mamie Sue, I brought you one of your favorites today. Pork and beans from the barbecue joint on Rosemont,” he said smiling as he offered her the brown paper bag. She hadn’t known why Dave had picked up the food until now.

  “Oh my! I will eat like a queen tonight, won’t I?” she said with a toothless grin as she took the bag and hugged Dave tightly. Elise carefully backed up so as to avoid an awkward situation if the woman tried to hug her too. But she didn’t try. She just smiled at Elise, almost as if she felt sorry for Elise and not the other way around. It unnerved her a little bit.

  “Well, we best be off now. I will see you around, Mamie Sue,” Dave said loudly as it seemed she was a bit hard of hearing.

  “See you around, Davey!” she called as she waved her hand in the air. “And nice to meet you, Miss Elise. May God be with you.”

  Elise stopped in her tracks. Why would the old woman say that to her? She couldn’t turn around and ask, so she simply waved and hurried back to the safety of the car.

  When Dave joined her inside, he sat there for a moment smiling off into the distance. “Have you ever met a more joyful soul?”

  “She really seems happy, even given her current situation,” Elise said.

  “Elise, we never get to choose the obstacles that life throws our way. But we always get to choose how we react to them.”

  With that, they continued their tour of the area in companionable silence.

  Chapter 9

  Elise was starting to fall into a routine in her new surroundings. Mornings were spent taking Jilly to VBS while she spent her lunch time shopping at local thrift stores and garage sales. In fact, her little bit of storage space in the RV was quickly getting filled up with all of her new treasures. Some things were starting to sell, and she opened up an online savings account to start stashing the money away.

  Her afternoons were spent volunteering at the church, trying to drum up more donations from local businesses and letting the locals know about the Saturday meal. She was having an easier time getting donations - mainly from grocery stores and local restaurants - than she was contacting the less fortunate. That part just made her uncomfortable. She didn’t know who these people were or what they might do to her, so she had resorted to making flyers and hanging them around town. She still hadn’t gone back to the bowling alley, though.

  On the last day of VBS, Elise pulled into the campground with Jilly happily chattering away in the backseat.

  “And Billy told me I had pretty eyes. Can you believe it, mama? A boy told me I have pretty eyes. But he’s yucky and has cooties for sure. I told him so…” she said as Elise giggled to herself. What would Jilly be like when she was sixteen and wanting to date a boy? Or would they always have cooties in her opinion?

  But Ted wouldn’t get to see it. And Jilly wouldn’t have a father to protect her from boys and teach her about how boys work. And who would walk her down the aisle? It was all too much when she sat down and thought about it.

  Of course, she hadn’t had a Daddy either. And she had survived. Or had she?

  Elise put the car in park as Jilly bounded out in her normal exuberant nature. And that’s when she saw the most welcoming sight ever. There was her best friend, Sandy, standing beside her trailer. She was in shock!

  “Sandy?” Elise said as she grinned and jumped out of the car with her own brand of exuberance.

  “Hey, lady!” Sandy said laughing and running toward her, arms open wide. They embraced for what seemed liked forever before Elise pulled back and looked at her friend.

  “What on Earth are you doing here?”

  “Well, I missed you and my Jilly bug so much that I just hopped in the car and voila! Here I am!” Sandy said as Jilly hugged her leg tightly. “Hey there, miss priss!” she said as she knelt to hug Jilly.

  “Sandy Glassman, I know you better than this. You aren’t the least bit spontaneous, so what gives?” Elise asked, hand on her hip and everything. Sandy stood up and smiled at her.

  “I missed you.”

  “And?”

  “Can’t that be enough?”

  “No. You can’t fool me…”

  “Oh, hello. We haven’t met. I’m Sandy, Elise’s friend from Atlanta,” she said, changing the subject as Dave approached from behind Elise.

  “Well, hi there. Any friend of Elise’s is a friend of mine,” Dave said as he reached out and shook her hand. Sandy cut her eyes at Elise as she quickly moved around her.

  “This is lovely campground. You folks been here long?” Sandy asked Dave, using some version of country twang in the process. Since when did she have a country accent?

  “Oh, well, we’ve been here quite some time now. My wife and I love being near the beach.”

  “I can see why! I had a wonderful drive in,” she said. “And I sure have missed my best friend.” She turned around and put her arm across Elise’s shoulders.

  “She’s a keeper, that one,” Dave said. “And little miss Jilly. Well, she’s a ball of energy and happiness. Been very well received at our church.”

  “Good to hear you guys have found a place to worship. It’s so quaint. I think I could stay here forever,” Sandy said, and she really did sound genuine. It was hard to imagine “city Sandy” living in a place like Seaview with all its cozy stores and quiet nightlife. In fact, the nightlife in Seaview consisted of the occasional loud sea gull. It wasn’t exactly a hotbed of activity, and Elise was beginning to appreciate that.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you Dave. I hope to see you again soon, but right now I want to catch up with my best friend and get out of this blazing heat!”

  “Yes, it does get a bit hot out here this time of day. Say, Elise, would you mind if I snagged Jilly for a bit? They’re showing some Disney movie down at the clubhouse, and I think I’d look foolish going alone,” Dave said with a chuckle. “Barb’s already waiting for us down there.”

  “Oh, sure,” Elise said with a smile as Jilly jumped up and down in excitement. She gave her a quick hug before the two set off toward the clubhouse. Unlocking the door to her humble abode, Elise waved her hand for Sandy to go inside.

  The two women sat down on the sofa, and Elise smiled at her friend. She knew her well, and this trip was not about a simple visit. Something else was going on, and she knew it.

  “Alright, lady, spill it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sandy said, trying not to make eye contact.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Is that any way to greet your long lost friend? I’m so offended!” Sandy said, holding her hand to her chest in mock offense. “I thought this place was all about Southern hospitality.”

  “You’re exhausting sometimes,” Elise said shaking her head.

  “Fine. I’ll tell you why I came. You’re such a hard case sometimes…”

  “Tell me…”

  “Okay. I came to deliver something.”

  “Why didn’t you just mail it?”

  “Because it just didn’t seem right to mail this particular thing.”

  “You’re scaring me a little, Sandy,” Elise said, already feeling her hands starting to shake. That was the tell tale sign of her anxiety - shaking hands. She’d had that problem since she was young. Every oral report in school had been done with her hands firmly clasped on the podium for that very reason.

  “Don’t be scared,” Sandy soothed as she slid over and held Elise’s hand. “I’m glad Dave took Jilly off for a little while because this is something that may surprise you.”

  Sandy turned and pulled a large manila envelope out of her purse which was behind her on the sofa. Elise could see a postmark on the envelope, but not much else.

  “Here,” Sandy said as she put it into one of Elise’s shaking hands. “You and your nervous hands! Open it,” she said.

  Elise took the envelope and opened it up slowly, carefully removing the piece of white paper inside. When she saw the handwriting, her heart seemed to pop up into her throat. Ted.


  She looked up at Sandy, her eyes wide and starting to fill with tears. Confusion must have been apparent all over her face.

  “It came after you left. I guess before the forwarding became effective. I don’t know. Our mail lady knew you were gone and that we were friends… Sort of did me a favor and let me deliver it.”

  Elise said nothing and instead looked down at the paper in her hands. It was a handwritten note from her late husband, but it was dated several months before his death. She took a deep breath and started reading.

  My dear Elise,

  If you’re reading this letter, I’ve made a decision I had hoped I would never have to make. And you probably hate me for leaving you like I have, in financial ruin and with our daughter to raise.

  I never thought I would take the coward’s way out, but when I saw the writing on the wall it seemed I had no other way out of this mess. My financial decisions could have landed me in prison, Elise, and I just couldn’t… wouldn’t… take that risk. I would rather die than have my daughter visit me in prison. Not my princess.

  I am writing this letter and giving it to my private attorney to send to you a few months after I’m gone. I know by then that you will be picking up the pieces of your life and trying to move on. I hope your anger at me will have dissipated some by then. Probably not. I can’t imagine what you are feeling right now, and I hope this doesn’t dredge it all up again, but I wanted to give you something.

  Enclosed in this envelope, you will find a small amount of money I was able to save for this very purpose. It wasn’t even close to being enough to stop the financial avalanche that is crashing down around me, but it might be enough for you and Jilly to start over. At least I hope so.

  You were my world, and I loved you with everything I had. I just wasn’t strong enough to face the consequences of my actions. The less you know about all of this, the better. You were innocent, and I took risks I shouldn’t have taken. Please tell Jilly how much her Daddy loves her. And please move on, Elise. Without guilt. Find a man who will love you both and who won’t chicken out when the going gets tough. I am not that kind of man, a fact that truly pains me to write on paper.

  I will always love you. Please don’t hate me.

  Ted

  Elise looked down at the paper and realized her tears were staining the blue ink. She quickly wiped her eyes and handed the letter to Sandy so she could read it. Moments later, Sandy was wiping her eyes and reaching across to hug her friend.

  “I’m so sorry, Elise. I know this brings it all up again…”

  “It’s okay,” Elise said. “It really is. The worst has already happened. I just miss the man I thought he was.”

  “Are you going to look inside the envelope?”

  Elise nodded and opened the envelope to find a stack of cash. She pulled it out, carefully counting each bill on the sofa cushion.

  “There’s three-thousand four hundred dollars here!”

  “Wow!”

  “I’m so angry at him!” Elise said standing up and throwing her hands in the air.

  “Angry? I’m confused. Aren’t you glad to have the money?”

  “Of course I am, but I could have saved the house… At least for a month or perhaps even two. Maybe I could have made a deal with the mortgage company…”

  “Elise, slow down. Think of what you’re saying, honey. The house was way more behind than that. You know it would have only prolonged the inevitable. Ted knew that too.”

  “Wait. You’re siding with him? Are you kidding me?”

  “I’m not siding with Ted! I think what he did was awful and cowardly, but he’s right. Three thousand dollars wasn’t going to pull you out of the financial mess he created. And look where you are now. Aren’t you happy here?”

  “Happy? In a motorhome? No, I’m not happy here. I’m content for the moment.” Elise knew she was overreacting and being defensive, but wasn’t she entitled to that right now? And why was it so hard to admit that she was happy here? How could someone be happy without much money, living in a small RV and having no real job? It was insane. And it was true.

  In a moment of sudden clarity, she thought of Mamie Sue, happy as a lark living in a makeshift tent behind a bowling alley. Was she insane? Was Elise suffering from the same kind of insanity?

  “Hello? Elise? Where did you go?” Sandy said, waving her hand in front of her friend’s face.

  “I need your help. There’s something I have to do,” Elise said, taking the money and hiding it in the kitchen cabinet before grabbing her purse and car keys. “Come with me.”

  Sandy didn’t ask any questions as her friend ushered her into the car and started driving. When they pulled into a bowling alley in a questionable part of town, Sandy started asking questions.

  “Um, are you about to murder me here or something?” she asked, clutching her purse and looking around with her eyes wide.

  “No, of course not, silly. I would murder you under the pier and dump your body there,” Elise said with an evil laugh. Sandy started laughing too, and before long they were in tears with hysterics.

  “Seriously, what are we doing here?” Sandy asked as she wiped at her now smudged mascara.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you the whole story, but please don’t judge me, okay?” Elise said. For the next few minutes, she relayed the whole story about Ben to Sandy. She told her how they met, how he was there for her when her father died, how they fought about stupid things and always made up. And then she explained how he just disappeared from her life. When Elise showed her the newspaper clipping in her purse, Sandy’s mouth hung open.

  “Wow. Are you sure this is the same guy? He looks nothing like what you described.”

  “Well, I don’t think homelessness really allows for a man to keep up appearances, Sandy,” Elise said, rolling her eyes and laughing.

  “He looks so…” Sandy said as she ran her finger across his picture.

  “So what?”

  “I don’t know exactly. Sad in a way, but that’s not it. It’s like he’s either given up or has lost his way…”

  “That’s what worries me.”

  Sandy turned and looked at her friend. “Surely you aren’t thinking of finding him?” Elise gnawed on her fingernail and wouldn’t make eye contact. “Elise?”

  “I don’t know what to do…”

  “Are you kidding me? You don’t really even know this guy anymore. He could be a drug addicted sex offender! You can’t subject Jilly to that.”

  “Don’t you think I’ve said the same things to myself a hundred times since seeing that newspaper article?”

  “Then why are you even considering it?”

  “Because it’s Ben, and I know his heart.” Elise wanted to cry. Ben was a part of her heart and always had been. She felt sure that even if he’d lost his way, the true Ben was still in there. Under that beard and dirty face, her old friend had to still be there. She couldn’t see herself moving on and building a new life with the knowledge that Ben was homeless.

  “Elise, I know you’re struggling to rebuild your life right now, and I know you’re lonely…”

  “Seriously?” Elise said snapping her head toward her friend. “You think this is about being lonely?”

  “Well, isn’t it?”

  “No! Of course not! It’s about not leaving one of my best friends in the world living on the street. How could I live with myself?”

  “But he left you a long time ago,” she said, and the words cut through Elise like a knife. Sandy was telling the truth, although Elise had never understood why Ben just disappeared all those years ago. Sandy put her hand on Elise’s arm. “Sweetie, he abandoned you a long time ago. He doesn’t know if you’re living on the street. Sometimes, we have to choose our battles, and it sure doesn’t seem like this one is worth fighting.”

  The two women sat in the car outside of the bowling alley for several minutes before Elise finally reached for a napkin and dried her tears.

  “Are you my friend?�
� she said softly without looking at Sandy.

  “You know I am.”

  “Then please just let me do what my heart is leading me to do. Please just support me.”

  “Okay then,” Sandy said as she reached over and squeezed Elise’s shoulder. “I’ve got your back.”

  “Good Lord,” Elise laughed through more tears. “Never say that phrase again! We’re not teenagers!”