Chapter 8
“D o you mind coming to my office where I can talk to you for a minute?”
Ada looked up at Ezra, who stood in the kitchen doorway, waiting for her answer.
She had been sitting at the table playing with playdough with a couple of Ezra’s children, along with her sister Lois, while Alaska gave the baby a bath and got him ready for bed.
“Sure,” she said, surprise making her eyes grow big. She glanced at Lois who nodded. She would be fine with the children and making sure that the playdough got put away.
It was really odd for Ezra to ask her to go to his office. What in the world would he have to say that he couldn’t say in front of everyone else?
And did it have something to do with the stranger who had shown up for supper?
She had been curious about him and had wanted to tell Ezra that she had seen him the night before at Kendra’s house while she had been watching the children. Kendra had called her and asked if she could come right over, since she needed her immediately.
That was just something that she did as a ministry, providing free babysitting for young mothers around town, especially single moms.
She had been intrigued by Cash, since there was just something about him that...made her think of a man of character, someone who would do right no matter what everyone else was doing, the kind of man she admired and hoped that the Lord would someday bring to her.
Of course, if she was going to have a family with that man, God needed to bring him along rather quickly.
But she enjoyed the time she got to spend with her nieces and nephews, evenings like tonight where they cleaned up the dishes and all the mess from supper and then spent time enjoying each other’s company.
Ezra and Alaska seemed to really enjoy having them live with them, and although she had offered to move out more than once, they had pretty much begged her to stay.
They had reached Ezra’s office, and she walked in, with him closing the door behind her.
“You can go ahead and sit down if you want to,” he said, nodding at the two chairs that sat across from his desk.
She chose one and sat in it comfortably. Ezra did not seem upset; in fact, he seemed...a little bemused maybe.
“Does this have something to do with the man who was at supper? Cash?” she said, remembering his name.
“Yes. Good deduction,” he said, giving her a smile.
His smile didn’t contain any angst or anxiety, but Ezra was also a very cool, levelheaded man. He would probably not have any angst or anxiety if he had brought her in here to tell her that the man had somehow figured out that she was going to die in two days. Or he was.
Regardless, she admired his ability to handle things with grace under pressure, and she hoped she could do the same.
With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, thinking that she would keep her eyes on Jesus and not allow whatever happened around her to upset her. Which was much easier said than done. But God wasn’t surprised by anything, and if anything came into her life, God allowed it.
“All right. This is going to surprise you, so don’t freak out, okay?” Ezra said, sitting behind his desk, folding his hands over top of it, and leaning forward just slightly.
“All right. I won’t freak out, if that’s what you’re saying,” she said, making her brother smile.
“All right. That’s good to hear. Because this is the kind of news that could make someone freak out, I think. Not in a bad way,” he said, raising one hand, as though to ward off any freaking out that she might be starting after hearing that.
“I’m still chill,” she said.
“Good. Cash was here because he wants to marry you.”
“What?” she asked, shocked, despite herself and all her assurances that she was going to take this in stride.
“I know. It’s sudden, and weird because he claimed you don’t know each other.”
“I saw him yesterday at Kendra’s house. He was there to talk to her, I believe, which was why I was there—to watch the kids. That’s the first time I’ve seen him or talked to him, other than church.”
“You’ve seen him at church?”
“Yes.”
Ezra didn’t say anything for a bit, and Ada tried not to fidget in her seat. Finally, she said, “I’ve watched him at church, and he seems like a really nice guy. He’s been there every Sunday since he first started coming. I heard that he’s living with his Aunt Karen and he has taken over management of her used-car dealership outside of Sweet Water.”
“Yes. That’s what happened. He came from Virginia, and I have permission to tell his story to you. I spoke with him at length and called six or seven people to talk to people who knew him in Virginia.”
“Okay,” she said, feeling like there was a lot more Ezra wanted to tell her.
“He was accused of molesting a girl at the church he pastored.”
He was a pastor?
That shocked her, because she had been thinking he was a used-car salesman, which was fine but a lot different than a pastor.
And then the rest of Ezra’s statement hit her. He had molested someone? She wasn’t going to marry anyone like that. No way.
“It was one of those he said, she said kind of things. Apparently, Cash has been very careful about making sure that he has guards up, meaning that he never counseled any female in his office without having his secretary or one of the deacons or someone from the church in the room as well. He just was never alone behind closed doors with anyone, because he didn’t want something like this to happen.”
Ezra steepled his fingers and leaned back.
“His church was about two thousand regular attendees, so it’s large. And he had spent his life building it. It was one he started. He dealt with a lot of people a lot of the time. And as was almost inevitable, a girl ran into his office, slamming the door behind her and crying, and he comforted her instead of opening the door. He said they spent about an hour in the office, and the girl did not like his advice. He had been telling her that the boy that she was seeing was not someone that she should be with, that her best friend was not a good friend for cheating with the boy behind her back, and that maybe the boy breaking up with her was for the best. Anyway, the girl got mad and knew what she could do in order to ruin his career, so she did it. That is Cash’s story. I don’t expect you to believe it, so I called the head deacon of the church, who also happens to be Cash’s best friend. But he’s also the man who fired Cash the next day.”
“He was fired?” she gasped.
Ezra nodded. “They said that they didn’t want the community to think that their church accepted or defended people who molested girls. They felt like they had no choice. It came down to money too, because they would have lost members and they had big bills to pay. Since they just put an addition on.”
“I see,” she said, and she really did. A lot of things came down to money. Which was probably why the Bible said the love of money was the root of all evil. People would rather have money than honesty or integrity or character or family or relationships. It seemed to trump pretty much everything.
“John did the firing, but he had nothing but glowing words for Cash, and he told me that he didn’t believe for one second that Cash did what the girl accused him of. But he told me that he hadn’t had a choice. The community would hate the church and blacklist it. They would lose members, and they would lose the church. He told me that he’d never met a man with more character, and he missed him every day.”
“I bet Cash has to hate him for what he did,” Ada said, hardly able to believe that Ezra was calling this man Cash’s best friend, when he’d obviously betrayed him for the sake of the church, knowing that Cash was an innocent man.
“I don’t know. I guess. I know he said he was angry. But he said he thought that eventually he would be able to forgive not just John but the entire church for allowing him to leave without defending him. After all he had done for those people, after everything that he had built there for the Lord. It seems inconceivable that the church would just turn their back on him, but that’s what happened.”
“I can totally see why he would be angry and bitter.”
“He had a fiancée too. She also broke up with him as soon as she heard, and he’s still on the hook for some of the wedding cancellation fees. He had to take a loan out for them, since obviously he wasn’t getting his salary anymore.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. He pretty much lost everything, but from my perspective, it seems like maybe God wanted to move him, maybe God had something for him to do here, maybe God had something better in mind and wanted to bless him even more.”
“I guess you can say that, but it’s hard to see.”
“The reason he’s asking if I would give my permission for you to marry him is because he got a letter similar to others that we’ve heard about, stating that he would get one billion dollars if he got married within a certain amount of time. The letter was rather old when he got it, and he has three days to make that decision. He needs to be married by Thursday.”
“Oh, wow.” Her heart fell to the floor, and her stomach splattered there along with it. He wanted to marry her, and she had to make a decision fast. “How many other women has he asked?”
She didn’t know where that question came from, but as she was asking, she thought of Kendra last night. Was that why he was at Kendra’s?
Ezra looked rather surprised. “I didn’t think to ask him that. I assumed you were the only one, but it’s a good question. I told him that you would be willing to talk to him after I spoke with you and explained everything. I thought it would sound better coming from me, just so you know why I gave him my permission.”
“You gave him your permission?” she repeated, although she had heard what he said.
“I did. With all of the men I talked to, none of them had anything bad to say about him, other than what that girl had said. If you take that out of the equation, the man is upright and has as much character as they come. What happened behind the closed door... We might never know. But I have a tendency to believe him, because a child molester does not just become a child molester overnight. There is a pattern, usually. Plus, it’s already been proven that some of the other things she’s said about him were not true. He had alibis for the different times she said that they had been together. So, she’s lied, and it’s been proven. He has not.” He tilted his head and lifted his shoulder. “I believe him. And that’s why I gave my permission.”
“I trust you,” Ada said simply, and she didn’t even need to think about it. She knew her brother would not recommend she marry someone he did not approve of and did not think would be a good match for her. “Unless you’re trying to get rid of me? Because I’ve asked several times if you and Alaska wanted me to move out of the house, and you know I’m willing to do it without getting married.” She was teasing.
He laughed, knowing that she was joking. “I actually considered not giving him my permission, because I knew that that meant you would be leaving, and I don’t want you to.”
The way he said it made her feel so loved and wanted that she almost got up and walked around the desk so she could hug her brother. She knew he loved her, knew he wanted her, knew he admired and respected her.
“I told Cash that perhaps God wanted to bless him even more than what he already had, and if you agreed to marry him, that was the best thing that could ever happen to him.”
“Well, I don’t know if I agree with that, but thanks for saying something so sweet about me.”
“Sweet, maybe, but true. That’s the important thing.” Ezra paused. “Do you have any questions for me?”
She shifted in her chair and tried to think. “So he gets one billion dollars if we get married by Thursday. And you think he’s an upright man, one who loves God, and would be a good man for me to marry, and who would be a good father to any children we might have?”
As she said “any children we might have,” she realized how serious this was. She wasn’t just agreeing to go live with someone. She was agreeing to be his wife, with all that entailed. Did she really want to do that with a total stranger?
“That’s right.”
“All right. I’ll talk to him. But I’m probably going to tell him that I’m going to need to pray about it. I don’t think this is a decision that I should make hastily. Although, the situation kind of requires it.”
“I agree. And I don’t think he expects that of you.”
She nodded, and they stood, and somehow her heart hammered in her chest as her stomach flipped and flopped. Was she crazy for even considering this?