Page 84 of Love Everlasting

“I did.” Shannon shifted to sit against the headboard with the box of Kleenex securely in her lap. Her mouth hitched on one side. “Right before he spewed his dinner and a bottle of scotch on the side of the road, so I cleaned him up with a bunch of leaves.”

“Ooooo, poison ivy, I hope?” Cat arched a brow.

Another sliver of a smile shaded Shannon’s lips. “Unfortunately, no.” A tiny touch of tease glimmered in her eyes instead of tears, giving Tess hope that this situation would not bring her daughter to the brink of despair like before. “But on the bright side,” she said with a tip of her head, “his new shoes, shirt, and car will smell like a sewer for a very long time.”

“Good.” Cat cocked a hip with a stern fold of arms. “That’s a good smell for rats.”

“So, what happened after you got him home?” Tess shimmied back against the headboard, too, thinking she might need a cup of tea as well.

A weary sigh drifted from Shannon’s lips. “I helped him upstairs to take a shower while I fixed him coffee and breakfast.”

Cat groaned, mouth dangling as she stared at her sister in disbelief. “Seriously? You are way too nice of a person, Shan. You sure wouldn’t catch me cooking for any wasted womanizer.” Her smile veered diabolical. “Unless I had ipecac on hand.”

Shannon chewed on her lip, the hint of a guilty smile peeking through. “Don’t think it didn’t enter my mind, but his clothes and car already smelled like a tavern outhouse on a sewage swamp, so I didn’t want his beautiful house to smell like that too.”

“Bleeding heart,” Cat mumbled.

The smile dissolved on Shannon’s lips, eyes brimming with tears once again. “And that’s exactly what happened, sis, because he made my heart bleed. When he didn’t come down to eat, I found him upstairs on his bed in the dark, and he …”

Tess’s body went stiffer than the wood against her back. But when a sob broke from Shannon’s lips, she folded her in her arms, soothing with a gentle hand to her hair. “It’s okay, baby, no wound is too deep for God, so go on, sweetheart ...”

Shannon nodded against her shoulder, fingers gripping Tess with a ferocity that revealed the depth of her hurt. “He p-pulled me into his bed, wanting to make out, and when I wouldn’t, he … he … said …”

“Said what?” Cat’s tone was deadly.

Shannon’s hand shook as she grabbed several tissues to blow her nose before slumping against Tess’s shoulder. “He said, ‘What’s the matter, Shan? You only put out if a guy’s married?’”

“I’m gonna kill him …” Cat paced back and forth several times before returning to the window with a perilous glint in her eyes.

Swallowing hard, Tess caressed a hand to Shannon’s cheek. “He … didn’t do anything else … did he, sweetheart?”

A grunt slipped from Shannon’s mouth, so out of character, Tess had to bite back a smile. “Not after I left the imprint of my palm on that pretty-boy face of his.” Her lip began to quiver as she rubbed her hand. “It still hurts, but not as much as his jaw, I hope.”

“Yes!” Cat shot a fist in the air. “So, what happened next?”

Shannon’s shoulders lifted in a pathetic shrug, the threat of more tears brewing in her eyes. “I left,” she whispered, and I’ve been crying ever since.”

Cat slammed a hard-knuckled fist into her palm. “So help me, I’m gonna murder him …”

Lips twitching over Cat’s dramatics, Tess gave her drama-queen daughter a patient smile. “Tea now, darling, homicide later.”

“Oh, right.” She hustled out, turning at the door with a salty smile. “Don’t worry—I’ll bring the tea before I go to Kroger.”

“Mom, what am I going to do?” Shannon whispered after Cat left. “I love him even still.”

Tess pulled her close, and Shannon rested her head on her shoulder. “Of course you do, darling. That’s the beauty of love gifted by God—it never fails.” She gave her daughter a squeeze. “But it’s also vulnerable to hurt, as each of us knows all too well. What Sam did, sweetheart …” She expelled a wispy sigh. “Well, it was wrong in every way—spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally.” She hesitated, grateful Cat had left the room because she’d never understand what Tess was about to say. “But … I have learned from a lifetime of doing wrong and being wronged, Shan, that the true path of love looks beyond our pain caused by others, to the hurt that caused theirs.” She softly skimmed her palms up and down Shannon’s arm. “And then,” she whispered, tears pricking over a lesson she’d learned so many years ago, “we have to look beyond their hurt to God’s. Because it’s His pain that makes it possible to forgive and love others the way He has called us to do.”

“I know you’re right, Mom. I should have told him sooner and I meant to, I swear. But a part of me was so very afraid of this—his lack of respect, his disappointment, his rejection.” Her shiver rattled them both as she held onto Tess more tightly, the gouge of her fingers a true measure of her angst. “So very afraid I would lose his love.”

“Oh, darling, I don’t think so.” Tess pressed a kiss to her tousled hair. “If anything, this will serve to strengthen it.”

Shannon issued another grunt, and this time Tess allowed a smile, her head bent to her daughter’s while Shannon expelled a heavy sigh. “I don’t see how.”

“Exactly,” Tess said with a soft chuckle. “Faith isn’t something we see, darling; it’s something we believe deep in our soul. And I promise you that when coupled with prayers of obedience, that beautiful blindness will open your eyes to all that God can do on your behalf. And Sam’s.”

Shannon lifted her head to peer at her with questioning eyes. “How?”

Tess’s low laughter rumbled in her chest. “From the lovesick look in Sam’s eyes over the last month, I imagine the truth of your relationship with Eric came as quite a blow.”