Journey's End - The Final Book of the Legacy Saga Book 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

For every ten hearts that close, God's opens another. For every ten souls who refuse to see, one allows their eyes to be opened.

Adagio St. John's Journal

Two Days Later

Atlanta, Georgia

Bishop Greg Larsen has only one major regret in his life, and he hopes and prays that he will soon be able to make amends for that mistake.

Through the years, Greg's moments of reflection have grown more frequent, his thoughts much deeper. His character has developed into one possessing caring and empathy, his greatest desire being, to be at one with his Savior and his Heavenly Father. Once upon a time, this was not the case.

Sitting behind the desk in his church office on this late Sunday evening, Greg ponders his life, and the events and choices that have brought him to this point.

Raised in a life of poverty by a wonderful woman who did the best she could to care for him, Greg had loved his mother very much. However, though he was grateful for her efforts, he harbored anger and resentment toward the father he'd never known. The man had made promises to his mother, then he'd left her pregnant and alone.

Greg's grandparents were affluent, having inherited millions in old money, and lived in a very prominent neighborhood. Choosing to keep up appearances rather than help their pregnant daughter, they kicked her out, completely disowning her. Greg grew up watching his mother work hard to provide a living for him. Some would say she worked herself to death. She finally died of a heart attack. Greg was only sixteen.

But somehow Greg fell through the proverbial cracks of society and was left on his own. Sleeping on park benches and behind abandoned buildings, he survived by washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant five nights a week. He continued to attend school and graduated. Then he went to trade school for a year, became an auto mechanic and moved in with a friend. After working at an auto repair shop for four years, he acquired a bank loan and bought the business from the ailing owner. He slowly turned the empty space above the shop into an apartment and moved in.

Greg was twenty-four when he met Althea Hines. He was sitting in a bar sipping a beer when she approached him. With her dark skin, long curvy body and braided hair, she was exotic and a temptation he didn't fight. He was lonely and she offered warm comfort for the night, and he took it.

But just one night with Althea had not been enough, so he offered something she didn't really want: permanence. She agreed to stay, but deep down he knew she wasn't really his. Nevertheless, he pretended.

Althea had always been a drinker, but her drug use was a new discovery, one that he quickly grew tired of.

The day she told him she was pregnant was the day she left, and he never went after her.

Seven months later he was called and told Althea passed away from an overdose, but not before giving birth to a tiny little girl. Giving up all claim to the child, Greg moved on and tried to forget. The child was soon adopted.

But even after thirty-two years, Greg has not forgotten. The knowledge that he has a daughter somewhere in the world, a precious child he'd given up the opportunity to know and love, hurts deeply.

And he truly does love her. No, he doesn't know her. He does not know what she looks like, how she grew up, if she has a family, or even if she still lives. But she fills his thoughts every day.

No, he doesn't know her.

But he loves her more than he'd thought possible.

Six years ago, Page Placido, a petite, dark-haired Brazilian beauty with lovely brown eyes and an amazing smile, brought her car to Greg's shop for repairs and the two were instantly taken with each other. In a matter of weeks, they fell madly in love and Greg was happier than he had ever been in his life.

They were married for three years when Page was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She died five months later and Greg was devastated by her loss. But during those wonderful years of their marriage, Greg and Paige were introduced to the Lord's gospel and baptized into His church, and Greg was slowly able to heal from the pains of the past. Apart from marrying his wife, nothing else had ever felt so right.

During his third year of marriage, Greg had been called to be the bishop of his small ward, a calling that both blew him away and intimidated him because he felt so inadequate and unworthy. Despite his feelings of inadequacy, however, he served with his counselors as faithfully has he could, including during his time of grief, and he loved the members as much or more than they loved him.

Though his calling has kept him busy, the past few years have been full of loneliness and longing for . . .

He supposes he longs for what could have been.

Drawing his thoughts back to the present, Greg kneels by his desk and once again pours out his heart in prayer. He needs direction.

And he will stay on his knees for as long as it takes.

The hours pass and it is almost midnight when he hears it.

All will be well, comes the Father's soft voice.

As a comforting warmth surrounds Greg, he covers his face and weeps.

* * *

Two Months Later

Greg heaves a deep sigh as he pulls his truck into Salt Lake City. Of all the places he imagined moving to one day, Utah had not been one of them. Oh, he'd wanted to come for a visit sometime and see all the church history that fills the city, but he had never imagined living here for any amount of time. Greg had had many plans for the future, but any plans he had changed with his release as bishop three weeks ago. It had not been unexpected, and it had been time. Maybe that is why he had been so restless, and why God chose the evening of his release to answer his prayers and direct his path. He had asked God to show him the way, to help him know how else he could help build His kingdom.

Heavenly Father's soft answer had come. He has come to recognize the voice well over the last few months.

Help my people in Salt Lake City. Only by losing your life there in my service will you truly find it. Urgency was impressed.

So Greg closed his shop, referred his regular customers to a fellow mechanic he trusted, rented an apartment in Salt Lake (he'd prayed about that as well) packed up what he needed, and left.

Now he will live by heavenly promptings, no longer planning or scheduling his days. His time will no longer be his own.

It will be God's.