Rescuing Vanessa (A Little Bit of Coffee, Flowers, and Romance) (16 page)

Epilogue

It was good to be home, the traffic buzzing by, the clear, blue sky, and the ever present breeziness Chicago was famous for. Vanessa stood outside of O’Hare airport waiting for Daniel to come shuttle her home. She had recently returned from a two week visit with her parents in South America. Their sabbatical had become a job opportunity that they simply couldn’t pass up. Instead of their annual three weeks there, now they would make South America their home and spend about a month in the states every year. They planned on coming back to get some things from their house in another week.

Thos
e two weeks had been idyllic. The colors of the Amazon Rain Forest begged to be drawn and painted. There was so much variety; she hadn’t had the time for it all. Her camera was completely full.

Best of all was h
er relationship with her parents. It was deeper and fuller than she had ever imagined possible. No longer did she feel like a disappointment to them. Instead, she realized they considered her as amazing and wondrous as she thought them.

As for her relationship with Daniel, both
her parents and grandparents approved. However, her mother and father questioned her closely during those two weeks. Something in her eyes must have satisfied them, because they let the subject go.

It had been almost a year since she had first met Daniel. True to his word, he had been patient and didn’t push their relationship beyond a deep friendship.

Standing and waiting for him, she remembered the conversation they had had a few weeks after Denny had been taken to jail.

“Daniel, why haven’t you kissed me?” What if he’d changed his mind about them? His answer she would treasure for as long as she lived.

“Vanessa, you are far too precious to rush into a physical relationship. I want to treat you as you deserve, pure, holy,
beloved. I wish to love your mind and your heart before I love your body, though you are extremely beautiful and it’s difficult to hold back at times.”

She had blushed at that.
“But, Daniel, I’m not ‘pure’. I mean, I wish now that I had waited for intimacy before marriage, but I didn’t.”

“
In the Lord’s eyes, your sins are washed away. As far as the east is from the west, your sins are separate from you. He has forgiven you and cast your past into ‘a sea of forgetfulness’. If He doesn’t hold it against you, why should I?”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“Vanessa, I don’t deserve you, but the Lord saw fit to bring you into my life. My desire is to love you and cherish you with everything that I am. That’s why I think it’s important to wait until we’re married to kiss. I know it seems strange in the 21
st
century, but I want our first kiss to be the commencing of our forever. Then, I won’t have to wait very long to do more.” He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.

She didn’t know it was possible for her face to get
that
red.

His car pulled up beside her and she came back to the present.

“Daniel!” She hugged him
almost before he could get out. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” H
e gently tugged her arms from around his neck. “You’re choking me.”

“Sorry!”

He chuckled as he picked up her luggage and tossed them into his trunk. Then, tenderly he faced her, took both of her hands in both of his. “Vanessa, will you…?”

“Yes?” Was this the moment she was waiting for?
The wind whipped her hair around and all five of her senses came onto full alert. He lightly brushed the hair that had overlapped her face away, touching her cheek, his fingers lingering there at the side of her face by her jaw.

“Will you…play chess with me tonight?”

“What?”
What?!

“Will you play a game of chess with me
this evening?”

“Uh, sure.”
It wasn’t what she was expecting, but that was okay. She loved this man so much. “I would love to play chess with you tonight.”

On the drive home, she fell asleep. Daniel had to remind himself to keep his eyes on the road rather than staring at her. She was exquisite. Her skin had browned in the South American sun and her hair had lightened. He shifted down a gear in the heavy afternoon rush hour traffic.

He knew he had thrown her off a little with the question about playing chess tonig
ht. The truth was, he was rather nervous. He had planned a little surprise for her and wanted everything to be perfect. He hoped she wasn’t too tired.

Traffic wasn’t too bad.
There were simply lots and lots of cars. It was steady, but he never had to completely stop. Soon, they were home and Vanessa woke up.

“Did I drool?” she said as she stretched.

“No, but you do sleep with your mouth open.”

Vanessa promptly closed her mouth. Her eyes widened. “How embarrassing.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re cute when you’re exhausted. Are you still up fo
r chess tonight? We could wait till tomorrow.” She could hear the hope in his voice.

“No, I’m good now. I just needed a little catnap. Did you want to play after dinner?” Why did he want to play chess so badly? She knew he liked the game, but this was a bit strange.

“Yes. Your grandparents are anxious to see you. Mrs. Bennett cooked Italian, one of your favorites, for dinner tonight to welcome you home.”

“I am so blessed.” She had the greatest family in the whole world. Strange, she wouldn’t have said that a year ago. Things were so different now. What an amazing God she had.

Grandma
and Grandpa were delighted to have her home. Her poor grandfather had missed her terribly in the warehouse. The high school girl from church who substituted for the two weeks had accidently burned some orders and it had been a bit frustrating at times. It was good to have his ‘Vanessa-Girl’ back.

Dinner was delicious.
Salad, spaghetti, meatballs, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and French bread had never tasted so good. Her grandmother’s presentation was good too and she itched for her water-colored pencils, but didn’t want everyone to have to wait on her. Instead, she contented herself with taking a picture on her cell.

Daniel seemed strange the whole night, though. It was as if he co
uldn’t wait for the meal to end, but all he did was push his food around his plate, often rather quickly, which would result in a meatball mess or a marinara mess, or both. Then, when they all went into the family room where the chess board was set up, he seemed in a hurry for her grandparents to retire. Did they need their sleep or something? Daniel seemed to think so. They didn’t seem offended, which was good. What on earth was going on?

Finally, they were alone. They sat facing each other, she on the loveseat, he on an ottoman with a small table in between. Daniel wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or more nervous still. How long until she picked up the queen? What if she didn’t pick it up? What if she slid it along the board?

“Your move
, Daniel.”

“What? Oh.” She had moved her first pawn, a middle one
, up two spaces. He moved a pawn too, from the side, up one.

She moved her knight, up one, over two, again toward the center of the board.

He mirrored her move.

She
moved another pawn, this one from the side.

Absently, he moved one of his
pawns too, another from the side.

“Is your mind on this game?”

Oops. He stared at the board and forced a smile. He took his bishop and moved it diagonally a few spaces in the direction of the center, leaving his king vulnerable. “It’s your turn.”

She
knit her brows together as she picked up another pawn.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
The wait was killing him. He moved an additional pawn, silently begging her to attack with her queen.

She moved her bishop to behind her pawn.

He moved his rook about halfway up the board. Absolutely no threat to her, but the only thing guarding his king was a single pawn. She had to attack soon.

She
castled her rook and king.

He was going to die. Was it possible to die of chess?

“Daniel?” What was wrong with him? He
had wanted to play so badly, yet he moved his pieces as if he could care less.

“Just thinking,” he said. He moved his bishop diagonally towards
her side of the board and stopped.

She moved her pawn forward, freeing her bishop up to put Daniel in check
the next move. Surely, he would see that.

He didn’t. He moved a pawn.

Okay, perhaps if she moved her queen and made a direct attack, he would wake up. Without picking up the piece, she scooted her queen forward. “Check,” she said.

His face
went about six shades of red and he swallowed several times.

“Daniel, are you all right? Are you sick?”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I’m not sick. I’m fine.” He moved his knight. “Your turn again.”

“Daniel, you can’t do that.
You’re still in check. See, my queen.” She pointed to it.

“Vanessa, pick up
your queen.”

“What?
Why?” He must have hit his head on something while she was gone. Had someone else got him with a frying pan?

“Please.” The poor man
was sweating profusely. He looked like he was turning purple. Was he sick?

She complied to put him out of his misery.
Then, the whole world stopped. “Oh.” Under the queen there lay the most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen. It sparkled in the light of the lamps. “Daniel.”

He just about exploded, nearly knocking the chess board over with the force of his movements.
He was beside her now, down on one knee. “Vanessa, you are already the queen of my heart. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

He picked up the ring and placed it on her finger.
She realized she was staring and hadn’t answered him. “Oh, Daniel.” She threw her arms around him. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

He
pulled her arms a little away from his neck. “You’re choking me again.”

“Sorry!” She was laughing and crying at the same time.

“I thought you’d never pick up that queen.” He let out a huge breath and sagged back down on both knees, then collapsed onto the floor in mock exhaustion.

“Poor thing!
” They were engaged! Finally.

Daniel sat up. “You’re forgiven. Now, when do you want to set the date?” He wished it could be tomorrow.

“
My parents come back in a week. Can you wait that long?”

Really?!
Yes! But, he should be a little practical, for her sake. “I thought you’d want to take several months to get everything ready. Can you be ready in a week?”

“I don’t need anything fancy. I’ll talk to Grandma and see about a dress. We’ll keep things sim
ple. I just want to be with you and begin our forever. Oh, but what about your family? Can they come with such short notice? Perhaps we should talk to our friends and family before we set the date.”

That was more practical, but less
appeasing. Oh, how he loved her. At least they were in agreement and wanted to get married as quickly as possible. “I think that sounds perfect.”

In the end, they decided to wait three weeks. Standing before the minister and all their friends, their first kiss made Vanessa nearly forget everyone else in the room. When the minister coughed, she blushed as they broke away. The tender love and wonder she saw in Daniel’s eyes steadied her. 

The minister
gestured for them to face the audience. “I am happy to introduce D
r. and Mrs. Daniel Greyson.”

They rushed down the aisle amidst clapping and loud applause. It was finally their
dawning of a wonderful forever…together.

About the Author

Christina Li, BA, MA, is a wife, homeschooling mom of five, author, journalist, and musician. She and her family live in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago where they serve on the ministerial staff of The Life Church of Des Plaines.

Besides writing, Christina enjoys coffee, fresh roasted by her husband, great books (two of her favorite authors are Sonya Noble and Sherlock Treasures), and spending time with her amazing family.

Christina’s Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/author/christinali

FaceBook
Page:
www.facebook.com/ChristinaLiBooks

Blog:
http://www.christinalibooks.wordpress.com