Chapter 20
“A re you ready?” Cash looked at Ada. The butterflies in her stomach were causing a ruckus, but she planted a smile of assurance on her face, and nodded at him.
“I am. I’m eager to meet your friends, and to see the church you built.”
He nodded. “It was the Lord who built it, but he used me, and I’m humbled.”
She loved that he was always saying that it was God. That he pointed her toward the Lord. It gave an authenticity to everything that he did. And she knew that was truly where his heart was, wanting to do whatever God wanted. Obviously God had made him successful. And, Ada admired that greatly.
They got out of the rented car, and Cash waited at the front, while she walked around, slipping her hand into his.
Everywhere they walked, he held her hand, and she loved and appreciated that. It made her feel like she really belonged to him. Like she was tethered, which was not a bad thing in her opinion. She could see and understand why that might bother some women, but not her.
The parking lot was not completely full, but they were fifteen minutes early, and considering that church had not even started yet, she couldn’t believe the amount of people who were already there.
“They must really need those parking attendants, considering all the cars that are going to be pouring in here if this place gets full.”
“They used to be. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, by now. We actually even had to rent the field across the road as overflow parking. We drove shuttle buses from there to the sanctuary and back, from 9:30 to 10:00 in the morning, and from the time the service ended for at least a half an hour to forty-five minutes afterward.”
“Wow. I’ve never been to a church that big,” Ada said, looking at the beautiful building that lay in front of her. “Whoever designed this knew what they were doing. It makes one really want to worship the Lord.” It was beautiful. And it looked the way she thought a church should. With classic beauty that seemed to draw a person’s eyes upward and stirred something in their soul. She felt it all the way to her heart and back, as she looked at the building.
“I helped the designer with the design. I drew it, and he designed it, and then we tweaked a few things.”
“Really? You did this?” she asked, surprised. She would never have guessed Cash was that talented. She knew he could do a lot of different things, but design a church building? That was pretty amazing.
“Yeah. I can’t take full credit for it though. It was a design that I dreamed about, and I woke up and drew it out. I’m not good at drawing, but for some reason that design came together on the paper. I can only say it came from the Lord. That was why I didn’t have a problem borrowing the money. I felt like the Lord had given me the go-ahead. But, maybe I thought wrong. It seems like the borrowed money was most of our trouble.”
She nodded. Knowing what he had said about the fact that the church owed the money and didn’t want to lose any of their big donors. That was why they had elected to let him go and believe the girl who was lying about him.
“Is she going to be here today?” she asked, not wanting to spoil his mood, but wanting to be prepared if she was going to be confronted with the girl who had lied about her husband.
“I don’t think so. I know she apologized to the church, but I think out of consideration for everyone, the board asked her to go to a different church. Not because they hated her or anything, but because it would just cause contention for her to continue to be there. Apparently there was a small fraction of people who were angry at being duped.”
“I guess I can understand that, but it’s sad that the church can’t get along and forgive. After all, you are.”
“I believe that’s what John was hoping to have happen. For me to come back, for everyone to apologize, for me to say that I forgave, and it would be an example for everyone else. I’m sorry that we weren’t able to do it sooner.”
“Maybe it would have helped that girl.” Ada paused for a moment. She did not want Cash to think for one second that she was on the side of the girl. “I appreciate the fact that they were very considerate of your feelings and asked the girl to leave. I guess I would feel uncomfortable if we came here, knowing that we could run into her. It would be hard for me to trust her, to be around her at all.”
“Yeah. Same. But, the Bible says to forgive.”
“It does indeed. I believe that means that you don’t worry about the future, and you let everything go.”
“Yeah. I also think that it’s good to be wise, though. I certainly would never be alone with her in my office, not even close.”
“Yes. Wisdom is prudent,” she said, smiling.
They’d reached the front steps, and as Cash started up, a man in a suit and tie holding the door recognized him, and a big smile broke across his face.
“Pastor Cash!” The man said, leaving the door, as some woman abruptly stopped, before it hit her in the shoulder.
The woman turned around, saw Pastor Cash, and changed her mind about going in any way.
Before Ada knew what was happening, they were surrounded by a circle of people, and she’d lost Cash’s hand as she moved to the outskirts of the group, watching as people shook his hand and slapped him on the shoulder and gave him hugs, and told them how happy they were to see him again.
It made Ada’s heart smile to see her husband have such a welcome. Especially after everything he had been through.
When he had come to ask if he could marry her, this was what he had to lead with. He had to tell people that were almost complete strangers that this church had fired him, and that he was accused of doing something wrong. It was sad that people who barely knew him had believed the truth and seen through the lies better than his actual church had. But, maybe that’s what distance did to people. It gave them a perspective that they couldn’t have when they were too close to something.
Regardless, Ada stood against the railing, watching as men guided her husband up the stairs, and then they stood in a circle on the landing, and talked to him. Maybe she heard a few words about what was going on in the church, and a few men asking questions about where Cash had been, and more asking if he was coming back to stay.
As she watched, a woman, looking very regal in platform heels and a fitted suit jacket that looked like it would be just as appropriate in a boardroom at the head of the table as it was in church, her hair perfectly coiffed and her makeup exquisite, walked toward Cash, and the group seemed to part automatically for her, without her having to say anything.
Ada watched, feeling a little dowdy in her own normal church clothes. She wasn’t wearing a power suit, and she had just brushed her hair, but she wouldn’t even know how to begin to fix herself up like that woman did. She supposed there were probably tutorials on the Internet. There were tutorials about everything else, but she’d never taken the time to sit around and look for them. She’d always been busy working, or serving her family, or doing something that brightened the days of others.
But maybe, maybe she took pride in her service, and instead of doing that, she should spend a little bit more time making sure she looked the part of the wife of a man like Cash.
Because, she was almost certain, that the woman who was now standing in front of Cash, warmly shaking his hand, was Abby, his ex-fiancé.
Ada’s mouth was suddenly dry, and she swallowed hard.
She did not hold a candle to that woman in beauty. Or an ability to dress the part. She didn’t really give a whole lot of thought to her clothes, as long as they were clean and modest. But, seeing Abby made her feel like maybe she should do more.
She watched her husband, as the woman clasped his hand, and put her other hand over top of his in an extra warm handshake. A familiar handshake. A handshake that said that she knew him very well.
Her husband didn’t yank his hand back, but he also didn’t try to hold onto her, the way he did with Ada. Everywhere they went, he held her hand. And she had just been thinking about how much she appreciated it. And now that woman’s hand was in his. Had they held hands when they had been engaged?
Of course they had. A person didn’t get engaged without holding a man’s hand. They’d probably exchanged several passionate embraces as well.
While she had a peck on the cheek, and one on the forehead.
She tried not to be upset about it. But, it bothered her a bit. Although, she knew that Cash was moving slowly out of consideration for her. Not necessarily because he didn’t want her. Unfortunately, she had to continuously remind herself of that. It was not a comfortable thing.
Finally, the woman stepped back, and Cash seemed to come to himself.
“Ada?” he said, looking around, and finally his eyes landed on hers.
He walked toward her, and the crowd parted for him.
“Ada. I’m sorry. Somehow we got separated.”
She allowed him to take her hand in his, and put out of mind the fact that he had just been shaking Abby’s hand. It was a dumb thing to think about. She put a smile on her face, the friendly, normal smile that she had for her family and strangers alike. She didn’t have airs to put on, she just had herself, so when he introduced her to the crowd as Ada, his wife, it was all she could do. Just be herself. She smiled, accepted the congratulations, and shook the hands that were offered.
She noticed that Abby stayed back, her eyes not exactly narrowed. She wasn’t glaring at Ada, but there was a calculating look in her gaze, almost as though she were assessing Ada, and finding her wanting.
Or maybe not. Maybe that was just Ada’s feeling.
Still, they were ushered inside the church, and Ada lost track of Abby. If it actually was her, which her women’s intuition definitely told her was, but she had had no formal introduction.
Unsurprisingly, Cash led her to a spot in the front row, and she sat down beside him. He stood back up when someone came over to talk, and that’s the way it was until the music started to play, and Cash finally sat back down beside her.
“It feels so good to be home,” he leaned over and said into her ear.
“It’s a beautiful sanctuary. Just made for worshiping God.” It was true too. She’d been sitting there soaking in the ambience, with the stained-glass windows up high, and the light that sparkled down. The feeling that she’d gotten could only be described as heavenly.
It definitely made her want to stand up and sing, and she was ready for the first song. They didn’t use a hymnbook. They had the words on the screen, and it was a song that was unfamiliar, but easy to pick up because there weren’t a whole lot of words to it. Just a chorus basically that was repeated over and over again.
Singing to the Lord on Sunday morning was something that Ada had done all her life, and it felt right and natural, even if the song felt unfamiliar.
The service progressed, and soon, they called her husband up to the platform.
They had given an introduction, explained what happened, and reminded the congregants that the girl had apologized, in case they had missed it or forgotten. Which, Ada found rather unbelievable.
Then, her husband was behind the microphone, looking out on the people he loved. Ada almost felt like her heart would burst, because, thinking about the sins he had forgiven, the slights against him, the way they treated him, she couldn’t be prouder to be with him.