Chapter 18
“So This is Love”
Song lyrics written by
Al Hoffman, Mack David,
and Jerry Livingston
and performed by Ilene Woods
and Mike Douglas
in Walt Disney’s Cinderella (1948)
“ Y ou seem to have settled your differences,” Janie Lyn Davenport said, joining Baylin after church.
“Well, the differences are still there, but the misunderstanding over them seems less daunting today,” Baylin told her. “At least I hope so. I don’t want to lose him, but I’m scared I will in the end.”
“Anything I can do to help? I might have some insight into the concerns I’m sure you have over his career.”
Baylin looked across the churchyard to where every boy from church — young and old — huddled around Max Davenport and Teddy Gwenn.
“You’d think they’d never seen a professional athlete,” Baylin joked.
“Maxwell is thrilled to have Teddy here…moves some of the spotlight onto someone else,” Janie Lyn confided.
“Is it difficult?” Baylin asked. “Being with a celebrity football player?”
“It isn’t always easy,” Janie Lyn answered. “I don’t imagine any relationship is, regardless of what careers those involved pursue.”
“It just seems like the travel and the schedule and the lifestyle add additional layers of challenges.”
“I’m sure they do for some couples. Maxwell and I face life head on. Whether handling the uniqueness of his career, my family history — which, as you know, is another issue entirely — or anything else that arises, we lean on one another, and we always put us first.”
“What about all the time he’s away?”
“Football differs from baseball in that they play fewer games, but I’d guess that between training camps, meetings, preseason, the regular season, and postseason opportunities, the time commitments are similar.”
“Is he ever home?”
Janie Lyn chuckled. “Home base is Green Hills. Home is wherever we are together. I attend as many games as I can around the projects I have going with The Christmas Collection project here. And when the strain of being apart gets heavy, I travel to be with Maxwell.”
“I’m not sure I can do that with the farm.”
“It’s not the same situation, that’s true,” Janie Lyn allowed. Sympathy filled her kind eyes. “Henry Ford said, Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. Conversely, if you look for solutions, you and Teddy will find them. If you love one another, then building a life together — however that looks with Green Hills as a home base and intentional planning around his baseball schedule to spend time together — is worth whatever it takes to follow your hearts.”
If you love one another…
Did they?
Baylin snuck another glance Teddy’s way. Their eyes met. That had happened all morning, all throughout church.
When their hands had touched during the service, their fingers entwined. Neither pulled away.
They’d only known each other a few days; they’d only confirmed their feelings toward one another hours before.
Did Cupid always work so fast?
A litany of questions ricocheted around her brain.
Am I merely a conquest Teddy wants to win?
He’d made it no secret that he didn’t like to lose. And he’d been adamant that she change the way she lived. Was the attraction between them just another game?
Despite the doubts creeping into her subconscious, Baylin’s heart yearned to try, yearned to love.
Belief that Teddy felt the same way dominated her considerations. And weren’t belief and faith one and the same?
Mr. Mitchell’s sermon that morning had focused on faith.
He began the lesson with a quote attributed to Bill Gates, With great wealth comes great responsibility.
Then he shared a photo of the 1962 Amazing Fantasy #15 edition of Stan Lee’s Spider Man comic book, which said the same thing: With great power comes great responsibility.
Next, Mr. Mitchell had asked everyone to turn to Luke 12:47–48…
The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
And to read Matthew 21:22…
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
Mr. Mitchell challenged the congregation to connect the two concepts to each individual’s personal life experiences. First, by listing three types of wealth present in one’s life. His examples included health, happiness, and success. Baylin had written the farm, family legacy, and personal relationships.
The second step was to list the responsibilities that came with each type of wealth written on the paper. Duties and chores never strayed far from Baylin’s mind; she didn’t have to think long about her answer… caring for the animals, caring for the land, caring for my loved ones.
For the third and final step, Mr. Mitchell instructed everyone to think about how the three types of wealth were obtained and how prayer and faith played a role in receiving the blessings of that wealth.
I’d have nothing without God’s help; I’ve prayed for each of these gifts time and time again, and the Lord provided. I have faith that my prayers will come true.
Baylin circled what she’d written and drew a large star beside it.
Receiving Teddy’s love would be the richest of gifts. Possessing such a treasure meant accepting the great responsibility of having faith in his love, in their devotion to one another. That, in turn, required belief they would always find a way forward, a way in which they both won. Thus, winning and trusting Teddy with her heart were the same.
I love Teddy Gwenn.
“ I ’m ready to go,” Baylin said. Well, she mouthed it more than said it, since the fan club around Teddy and Max had increased rather than decreased.
He smiled, nodded, and waved in every direction, weaving his way through the masses and to Baylin’s side.
“I’m ready to go,” she repeated. “On that car ride.”
“What about your booth?”
“After church dismissed, I spoke to one of the high schoolers helping me this weekend. I gave him the key to the cargo trailer. After the kids load what’s left at the booth, he’ll pull it to the farm and leave the key in the barn. I’m free for the rest of the day.”
Had she ever said those words in her life?
“What about the farm?”
“I hired someone to feed, water, and check lines this evening. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.”
She’d never uttered those words!
“But what about your quilt? I thought the final festival event was an assembly to announce the winners of all the competitions.”
“I’ve already won.”
“You won? That’s amazing. I knew?—”
“No, no, no.” Baylin waved her hands to get Teddy’s attention. “I didn’t win the contest—I mean, I don’t know who placed in all the different categories. It doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No, I won a greater prize,” she said, sidling up to Teddy with a grin.
“Did you now?”
Baylin didn’t need a mirror to know her cheeks turned the color of a firetruck…just as they had when he’d said that same thing in that same way the night before, when she’d admitted to seeing him half-dressed in her barn. He didn’t need to know it had happened more than once. On purpose.
“Yes, I’ll tell you all about it,” she said in her best impression of someone who knew how to flirt. “When we’re on the road…with Boxy.”
That did it. Teddy hollered a generic farewell and grabbed Baylin’s hand to drag her to the truck.
Going all caveman turned out to be unnecessary; Baylin matched him stride for stride.
“ T his is the seatbelt? This harness…thingy? Good heavens, is it even legal?”
“Baylin, it’s a vintage race car,” Teddy pointed out with his signature boy-like charm. Unnecessarily, of course. After a week of Teddy’s endless Boxy talk, Baylin could’ve described every stitch of the tan vinyl basket-weave interior, listed every element of the aluminum 4-cylinder engine, and recited every part of the two sandcasted carburetors and dual ignition.
“Yes, I’m aware,” she muttered.
“Come on, Bay; strap in…”
Teddy’s voice — normally so boisterous — held a near-serious thread of imploring hope. Baylin held his heart in the palm of her hands; she held their future in her next move.
Such power both invigorated and humbled Baylin.
As did his patience…his unrelenting faith.
Teddy gave her time. He gave her space to make her decision, their decision.
Where did the road lead from there?
Teddy ran the back of his fingers down her cheek before brushing the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip. Studied adoration intensified the crystal depths of his leafy green eyes.
Tongue-tied, Baylin searched for traces of doubt, of signs they could fail. She found none.
“It’s Valentine’s Day… Will you be mine?” he asked.
She nodded, placing her heart and her trust into his hands just as he’d gifted his to her.
Then she settled into her seat, pulled the harness straps over each shoulder, and fastened the clasp at her waist, ready to merge two individual paths into one they’d traverse together.
Baylin tightened the straps to fit her frame, metaphorically securing their hopes and dreams in the process. She wiggled in the seat to test the mechanism.
Snug as a bug in a rug.
Baylin lifted her gaze to find Teddy brimming with elation and straining to contain his joy. It filled the tiny space of the car’s cockpit.
A blanket of warmth rippled through Baylin’s nerves and expanded throughout her chest and lungs and heart. That feeling of wonder did little to calm the rapid beating of her pulse. Nervous excitement forced a giggle she couldn’t suppress.
So this is love.
Not yet held in place by his seat harness, Teddy swooped in to steal a kiss.
What might’ve been a sweet little peck escalated into a passionate declaration of love and promise and devotion.
“Ready?” Teddy whispered against Baylin’s lips.
“For?” she whispered right back.
“We’re swinging for the fences,” he pledged. “It’ll be the ride of our lives.”
“In that case, let’s go,” Baylin challenged, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck and pulling his lips to hers for one more kiss, one to seal the deal…one to declare them both victorious, both winners in the game of love.
…to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.
New York Senator William H. Marcy,
January 1832
The End.