Christian Romance: Heaven on Earth... [4 Beautiful Christian Romance Stories] Read online

  “You can still do that Mels, take your mama out to London and show her a good time. It’ll be mighty lonely for her, out here alone when I’m gone.”

  “Daddy don’t talk like that. It’s unfair. You’re not going anywhere yet. You can get better. God will heal you, we just have to pray,” said Melissa, shaking her head.

  “Rose petal, I’ve got a feeling God’s got other plans for my soul. Don’t be afraid, I’m not. I’ll be with God and take my rest, but I can’t do that without being sure you’re all going to be alright when I leave. Your Mama, she’ll be fine. She’s as strong as a mule even if she looks frail, and I’m sure she’ll pull through no matter what. You’re brother got Sally now, and Jordan, he’ll be fine too. But I worry about you. You write plenty of letters but I’ve read them and read them, and all you ever talk about is work. You never mentioned a friend in any of your letters. You always go out alone. I don’t want to go to heaven thinking about you alone in a London apartment. I want to be sure you have people around you who’ll help and support you.”

  “I’ll be fine daddy, you should worry about yourself first. You’ve lost a lot of weight, is it the medication?”

  “Maybe,” he father replied with, it seemed to Melissa, a hint of irony. “I’ve come to terms with what’s about to happen petal.”

  “What?” she cried angrily, “Dad! It feels like you already gave up on getting better! Stop talking like that and concentrate on living another twenty years, please!” she implored.

  “Calm down Mels. I’ll be…” Before her father could finish the sentence, he was caught in a wave of coughing that wouldn’t seem to stop. Alarmed, Melissa rushed out and called her Mother, who came running in with Sally in tow.

  Melissa watched helplessly as Sally placed an oxygen mask over his face, while her mother rubbed her father’s back until his coughing quieted down.

  “He probably needs to sleep now. We should let him rest,” Malcolm said, taking Melissa by the shoulders and leading her out. Tears were still streaming down her face.

  They had talked and laughed...

  Melissa was back in her old room. The small double bed that she hadn’t used in almost six years still had the familiar rose-colored sheets with the floral print. Her old books where in the night stand and the beloved bible was on her dresser, her old pictures were still on the frames and everything felt really familiar to her, comforting even. She had already unpacked her things and she decided to look over some old pictures.

  There was her prom picture, her in her pale blue dress and silver shoes. Jordan had taken her to the prom and they had danced all night. She had been a bit disappointed that Jordan was her date, he was almost a permanent fixture in their home, and she had a crush on another boy, but that boy never asked her, and as a last resort she begged her brother to find her a date. They had talked and laughed, and she enjoyed herself despite her initial disappointment.

  Then, there was her sweet sixteen; she was wearing a sweet yellow dress, standing in front of a big cake and a tarpaulin that said Melissa’s Sweet Sixteen on it. Her mother, brother and father stood next to her. To the side were some of her friends in high school, as well as some of her cousins. To the far side, she saw Jordan again, skinny and awkward. Who would have guessed that he would turn into all this now? He was handsome and confident, a real catch compared to the awkward teenager he once was. She looked over to their family again. Her mother lost a bit of weight, but she looked almost the same except for the gray hairs. Malcolm had become a man and filled in his gangly frame. She was taller, and her freckles were gone, but she felt as lost as she was when she was sixteen. Her eyes turned to her father, he had a ruddy color on his cheeks and he was still big and strong, he was her hero, he still was. A searing pain went through her chest. Her mind still couldn’t believe that this big, strong man in the picture was the same person on the bed in the parlor. Her father was pale, and he must be about half his weight. He looked frail and weak, nothing like he had been in life.

  “Mels? Lunch is ready,” said Malcolm’s voice through the door.

  “I’ll be down in a minute. Okay?”

  She heard Malcolm’s foot falls go down the stairs. She took another deep breath and stood up. She wiped her eyes and applied some concealer. She didn’t want to make the lunch seem grim with her swollen eyes. She had to pull a brave face, in undoubtedly the same way as her mother and brother were. She had to be brave for her father most of all.

  The atmosphere during lunch was understandably strained. Jordan left for work, but Sally still ate with them.

  “So Mels, how’s the food? Didn’t I tell you it was good? Sally cooks exquisitely doesn’t she?”

  “Oh yeah, she really does. This is great.” Then came another awkward pause that Melissa decided to fill. “So Mal, how’d you and Sally meet? To be honest, I was a bit surprised you were engaged; I didn’t even know you had a girlfriend a week ago.”

  Malcolm cleared his throat, fully aware of the barbed thought behind the question.

  “I’m your father’s nurse. I have been since he first started showing symptoms. I work at the hospital and I decided to work with your family full time when he was diagnosed two weeks ago,” Sally volunteered.

  “So you’ve known each other for less than a month? And you’re engaged already?”

  “No, we’ve known each other for half a year. Malcolm proposed last month.”

  Melissa saw the guilty looks from her mother and brother.

  “How can that be? You only called to tell me about dad being sick a month ago, how could you two have known each other for half a year? Have you been hiding all this from me?”

  Malcolm and her mother looked at each other, until Agatha finally cleared her throat.

  “When your father started coughing, we didn’t know what was wrong or if it was a serious disease. We didn’t want to have you worrying on the other side of the world. We went back and forth to the hospital. When we got the diagnosis last month, we decided to let you know. We just wanted what was best for you Melissa, please don’t be angry.”

  Melissa mouth was a thin line. She felt angry and betrayed by the people she loved most and it hurt really badly. She didn’t know what to do. Finally, Melissa got up to go, but her mother stood up too, and grabbed her by the hand.

  “Mels please. We didn’t want you to worry. Your father didn’t want to say anything until we were sure what it was. We wanted to give you the chance to focus on your work and your career. Please calm down.”

  Melissa just pulled away. “You didn’t think I could handle this?”

  “Of course that’s not the reason, we just didn’t want to alarm you when there was nothing you could do,” her mother said imploringly.

  “Whatever mom, I don’t really care about your intentions. I had a right to know that my father was getting sick. What I might do with that information was my choice and you took that away. Good day mother.”

  And with that, she stormed off to her room. She took her wallet and phone and ran back down. Malcolm was at the foot of the stairs holding up the keys to his car.

  “Drive safe sis, and…” he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, “I’m sorry about what we did. Dad made me swear not to tell you.” Melissa didn’t even look at him and Malcolm let her through.

  She ran up to his pickup and drove away.

  “I told you we should have called her.”

  “I just don’t know how she’d going to take the next bit of news. Oh Mal, I don’t know how to tell her!”

  “How can I help you miss?”

  Melissa drove into town with trembling hands. Her face had become a splotchy red color, as it does when she gets agitated over something. She didn’t know where to go so she stopped at a new looking restaurant that hadn’t been here six years ago when she first went to college. She went inside and sat down; aware of the curious glances everyone in the restaurant threw her way.

  “How can I help you miss?” asked a waitress.

  Melissa ordered a coffee and a bagel. She didn’t want to drink so early and she needed to sort through her feelings, and to do that she needed to be sober.

  Before the coffee and the bagel arrived, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

  “I take it lunch didn’t go very well?” It was Jordan again, looking sympathetically at her, gardening gloves clutched on his hand.

  “No, it didn’t go well at all. What are you doing here?” Melissa asked, eager to get the spotlight away from her.

  “I’m on my lunch break. We’re doing some landscaping now that the building’s done. This is a George and James production actually.” He meant the building. Their company had probably made the building and he was now occupied with the landscaping out front.

  “Really, Malcolm designed this building? I’m impressed.” It was a rustic little place, and it had an eye-catching woodwork design. “You’re on your lunch break, right? I’m just having coffee but you can have lunch with me if you like,” Melissa broached almost shyly.

  Jordan’s face broke out in a wide smile as he pulled up a chair. After Jordan ordered ‘his regular’ and Melissa’s coffee and bagel came, they both sat in comfortable silence for a while.

  “What do you do in London?”

  “Oh I’m junior VP in interior design for our hotel chain. I got the promotion just 4 months ago,” there was a tinge of hurt in her voice when she said this, realizing that her father was already sick when she got the promotion, and it was probably because of the promotion that they had refrained from telling her.

  “What’s wrong Mels?”

  “Nothing… no actually, everything’s wrong. My father is sicker than anyone said, and for longer than I was lead to believe, and my brother will be getting married to a woman
who’s a complete stranger to me. It’s like my family went on ahead without me,” said Melissa, her knuckles white from holding her hands in tight fists.

  “You live in London Mels, it’s what you’ve wanted since you were twelve and watched My Fair Lady on VHS. It was your dream. When you got that job and lived in a posh apartment in London, your parents didn’t want to come between you and your dreams. I think that’s why your dad didn’t want you to know. And you can still get to know Sally right?”

  “But don’t I have a right to know? I could have spent more time with them, with dad, rather than me coming just now. Right?”

  “Well, don’t you think your parents would have wanted you here? That they didn’t miss you every minute you were away? Of course they did, but maybe you don’t remember how excited you were when you got your working passport and that London internship. Mels, it was as if you could fly to the moon on your dreams alone. That’s what your parents didn’t want to disturb, you following your dreams.”

  Tears started falling in earnest again. The waitress, who came to bring Jordan’s food, glanced awkwardly at the weeping woman and shuffled away. Jordan let her cry, biting slowly into his burger and waiting for the waves of sadness to dissipate.

  After a good 5 minutes, after she was all cried out, Melissa wiped her eyes and looked shyly at Jordan, who was eating his burger quietly.

  “I don’t know why Jordie, but it was always so easy to talk to you. Thanks.”

  “No problem. We’ll be doing some gardening and I know it’s not fancy hotel decorating, but maybe it can get your mind off things.”

  “You mean help out with your landscaping?” she asked, unsure.

  “Yeah, I know you’ll do a great job.”

  Jordan brought Melissa to the back of the restaurant that was still closed off to the public. The lawn was being placed and there were cement paths there, but there was still an assortment of flowers and crotons in planters. Melissa and Jordan spent the rest of the day digging and arranging the various florae, laughing and teasing each other. It seemed as if the last six years didn’t exist at all, it was as if they were never apart. She was always close with Malcolm, but there was effortlessness in her interactions with Jordan that made her more open to him and she found herself telling him all about London, homesickness, and the emptiness of living for the job.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy and I love my job, but it kind of makes you ask yourself if that’s all there is. I go to church, but it’s not the same when you go alone, then go home to an empty apartment. I never told mom and dad, I didn’t want to disappoint them.”

  “Why would that disappoint them? It’s natural that you’d feel that way since you’re in an different country. And I have a feeling this was a choice. I’m sure you didn’t want for suitors.”

  “There were some guys, but when I told them about my faith and about abstinence they didn’t really stick around for long. If they can’t wait and respect my decision then they probably aren’t for me. I wonder if there are still any Godly men who would be willing to wait till marriage.”

  “I’m sure there are, you just have to look closer,” said Jordan quietly. A slight breeze chilled Melissa, and something in Jordan’s voice made her heart race.

  “I think we did pretty well… for a first time partnership,” Jordan said happily, as he looked over their work.

  “I’ll say. Thanks for letting me help. It was fun, and sort of therapeutic,” Melissa replied, looking over to Jordan, and then their eyes met for what seemed like an eternity.

  “Jordan, I got you and your guys some drinks.” And just like that, the spell was broken. The men who worked for Jordan came over and all picked up a glass of cool lemonade.

  Jordan got two glasses and handed one to Melissa, then he led her to wooden swing that was newly installed by one of the men.

  “This is the perfect place to watch a sunset. I saw it the minute I surveyed the area. I convinced the owners to have this swing installed.”

  Melissa smiled and sat down, but she gasped when she saw the scenery that lay before her. The sunset took her breath away.

  Melissa hadn’t realized that the restaurant was at the edge of town and that they actually looked over the valley and the great lake. The sun was setting and was nestled against the snow-capped mountains. The sky was colored red-orange and had flecks of pink and purple; the light reflected off the water of the lake and left the scenery with speckles of gold.

  “Oh Jordan, I never thought this place could look so beautiful.”

  “I think that a lot of people often go to other places looking for beauty, never really knowing the beauty they have at their feet.”

  “You’re a wise man Jordan James, wiser than me surely. I feel like I went around in circles but I still don’t know where I am.”

  “You’re home now.”

  And slowly, tentatively, Jordan’s hand reached out to Melissa, and before they knew it, their fingers were intertwined. Melissa could feel Jordan pulse and it comforted her. With a soft sigh, she leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling his warmth against her, comforted by the rise and fall of his chest.

  Catching a glimpse...

  It was late when Malcolm’s car finally pulled up at the front door and Melissa and Jordan got out. They had eaten dinner at Jordan’s cabin, and Jordan had offered to drive her home, as Melissa was clearly tired from the travel and emotional turmoil. She fell asleep the moment the car started to pull away and Jordan had let her sleep, only waking her when they were already home. Jordan could sleep in the guesthouse at the back like he usually did. The Georges were like his second family anyway.

  When Melissa opened the door, she found her brother sitting in the sofa watching TV, while Sally had her head on his lap, reading a book.

  She came in and cleared her throat. Sally got up abruptly; she was probably sensitive on how Melissa would react to them. But Malcolm just looked at her and Jordan questioningly, shrugged, and then pointed to the parlor door.

  Melissa went on ahead wordlessly. She opened the door and got in. catching a glimpse of Jordan sitting down in front of the TV with her brother as she closed the door.

  Inside, she found her mother sitting beside her father. They were both asleep and she decided not to disturb them. She looked around at the medicine that was on the tray and found three bottles of pain meds and anti-inflammatory drugs. A sudden movement by her mother made her jump and she dropped a bottle of pills to the floor. The noise woke her father.

  “Rose petal, we’ve been waiting for you,” he said as he gently woke his wife who sat beside him.

  “You don’t have to wake her dad. We can talk tomorrow.”

  “No we’ve put this off for too long. Honey, Mels is here,” he said again, shaking his wife gently.

  “Oh? Mels, you’re finally home, please sit down.”

  Melissa took a seat as her mother straightened in her chair. Her parents exchanged meaningful glances and, finally, her father took a deep breath.