Love in Healing

Chapter 9

Laura Mitchell watched her son overtly. He had made the trip in spite of him telling her that he would not have made it. He had called her up all of a sudden and had said he had booked his flight and he would come for a week. She had asked him about the Christmas pageant and he had told her that he would get someone else to cover it. His sister had gone to the Caribbean with some friends of hers and Laura did not mind much because she get to spend some time with her son and to find out the reason for the sadness in his blue eyes. he smiled and they talked about the gospel but she was his mother and she could see that something was going on with him. She had been in love with his father the first time she had met him and she had never stopped loving him until the day he died and even so she she was still in love with him. Gary reminded her of him. Grant had been her rock and had been the one to introduce her to Jesus and had encouraged her to enter into ministry. When he had first said it to her she had laughed at him and then he had continued saying it until she believed it. He had never felt threatened one bit by her and had supported her every step of the way. he had given up his great wealth for her and had told her that he would have done it over again. They had been so happy together and when the children started coming it had sealed them together even more! She constantly prayed for her children to find something that she had and she never stopped.

"Sit darling," she gestured to one of the chaise lounges out on the porch. It was snowing in other places but in Florida the coolness of the air made sitting outside very nice. She had cooked them a very nice dinner of pork chops and vegetables she had planted in her own backyard garden and he had barely eaten anything. "Talk to me and tell me who is this woman who has you so twisted up in knots."

Gary looked at the tall distinguished looking woman fondly. "It has to be a woman?"

"If you were a female I would say it is a man. So I am not discriminating." she smiled as she sipped the full bodied wine. It was Christmas Day and she had taken a week from ministry just to be with him. He looked lost. She leaned forward and looked at him. "You have always been so committed to the work of the Lord. You are my son and I was so pleased and I thank God when you decided to go into ministry but I am your mother and I love you like you have no idea and I know when you are hurting. I want you to talk to me please."

he got to his feet and went to lean against the rail as he looked out. He had not slept for more than three hours since she had gone a week now and he had never suffered so much in his life! he had contemplated calling her so many times but he had told her that he would let her go and he meant to keep that promise. he had no right to her and he had known that from the beginning. It had not stopped him from falling totally and hopelessly in love with her though and now he would never find another woman who completed him the way she did!

"She was out of my league from the start," he said with a grim smile as he turned back to his mother. "I told myself that over and over again and I even prayed about it. I asked God to help me, keep me from falling in love with her. I even tried to stay away from her but it had been too late by then and I gave up trying to resist what I was feeling for her. I allowed myself to build up this life with her in it even though I knew deep down that was not who she was. She came from there but she would never be a small town girl much less a pastor's wife. I was lulled into thinking she would stay when she found out her sister had cancer and I was secretly happy for that because it meant that she had to stay and I was going to take her at any cost." he blinked his blue eyes and shoved his hands inside his pockets. "The joke is on me because that was not enough to stop her and now my heart is breaking into so many pieces that I wonder how I am still standing."

"Chandra Moore," Laura said quietly.

Gary sat on the chaise lounge and clasped his hands between his opened legs. "I bet you never thought I could be so foolish."

"Never foolish," his mother said gently. "I know you darling. I know how big your heart is and your capacity for love and how any woman you fall in love with will be the most blessed woman in all the earth. So never foolish darling. if you gave your heart to this woman, you saw something worth loving."
Gary stared at her for a moment and felt as if he was swimming into some murky stream. He had expected his mother to rebuke him for getting involved with someone like her but he had forgotten how incredibly wise and remarkable she was! "I love her so much Mother and I don't know how to go on without her!"

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Chandra laughed and felt the brittleness of it. She had been doing the rounds for several days now and somehow the fun had gone out of it. The endless parties and the pretending to be having fun was having a profound effect on her but she had signed a contract and had promised Marco to go through with it. Tonight she had been hit on by several men who thought because of their looks and their money it made them God's gift to every female there were! And all they had served to do was to remind her of Gary with his sweet smile, his strong presence and his pure love for her that never wanted anything! But she had been right to leave! She would never be a pastor's wife and leaving was the only way to make him realize that.
"hey! You seem far away?" Luigi, the tall and handsome Italian male model said as he came up to her. "Penny for your thoughts."
"They are worth more." she smiled at him.

"I am getting tired of smiling like an idiot and chatting up people I don't even like." he unconsciously mirrored her thoughts.

"I would never have guessed." this time her smile was genuine.

"How about we sneak off and find ourselves a burger joint?"
"We can't," she whispered as she looked around at the glittering crowd. Marco was in his element as he talked shop with one of their sponsors.

"We can. They are not going to notice and I have a feeling that you need to leave as much as I do."

"You are right," she put her glass on the tray as a waiter passed by. "I need a break."