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There Comes A Season
Carol Steward
A SEASON FOR LOVE?When he discovered his infant son, Bryan Beaumont was consumed with self-doubt. What did a high-flying executive know about parenting?But compassionate day-care working Laura Bates simply wouldn't allow a disillusioned Bryan to lose faith in himself–or his baby.While Laura knew the good Lord wanted her to help unite father and son, she felt far too vulnerable to open her heart to this dynamic and demanding man. Still, Bryan's tender smile stirred emotions she thought were gone forever. Would the coming season restore her hope for a joyous future?Welcome to Love Inspired™–stories that will lift your spirits and gladden your heart. Meet men and women facing the challenges of today's world and learning important lessons about life, faith and love.
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u64686886-1292-5f20-9715-3cb97f93f83d)
Excerpt (#ucd61ef60-220d-5e85-bfef-bdad71755419)
About the Author (#ud7c74b58-3026-5d23-865d-c7e5c0ae757e)
Title Page (#uca9effc0-5145-5dcf-834c-e962d748f5cd)
Epigraph (#uf8e308ff-971f-582a-b9d7-52655e9644d2)
Dedication (#ufa2e4117-7ed3-5f67-bdcb-8db87060c830)
Prologue (#u40a1b057-21b7-5540-aa7f-ca54f3ee37ab)
Chapter One (#u0d065141-8852-5477-998e-5b0c471a74e1)
Chapter Two (#uefc3ae35-6cc3-52ae-bd3b-b17ee456fc37)
Chapter Three (#u2c59b364-0ea4-59c5-a371-16587ee9aee3)
Chapter Four (#u6877dc14-5a23-51d0-9d6f-d9502d37282d)
Chapter Five (#ub026147d-9374-5bf0-86e7-cb5092b9c6fb)
Chapter Six (#ue6405059-1dba-55f7-9b49-8faa63f5db62)
Chapter Seven (#uc057e5af-fb59-51d0-8766-a45a04ee9cfb)
Chapter Eight (#u7ed634bb-79ab-5d9c-8a6b-115f4bf6b76d)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
“You’re giving your son away?”
“It’s the best for him,” Bryan said, ignoring Jacob’s happy squeals.
Laura looked through the photo album. “I realize that your family was broken up just when it was starting, but you and Jacob need each other more than ever.”
Laura felt her words of comfort were hollow. How could she possibly help someone else deal with his grief when she had such difficulty herself?
“The three of us were never a family.” Bryan grabbed the album and snapped it shut. Jacob wailed, frantically reaching for Laura. She swept him into her arms and bounced him until he’d calmed down.
“I’m just not cut out for fatherhood. You make parenting look so easy.”
“Abandoned. Confused. Angry. Afraid.” Laura’s tone hardened. “Easy? I know what you’re feeling because I was there.”
Why was it that this man could infuriate her at the same time her heart swelled with feelings she couldn’t understand?
CAROL STEWARD
lives-with her hero/husband of twenty years and three teenage children in Greeley, Colorado. When she isn’t busy caring for preschoolers in her home, she keeps busy with the activities of her daughter and two sons, and with volunteer work for various organizations. A retired cake decorator, Carol enjoys camping, restoring antiques, tole-painting, needlework, gardening, traveling, sewing and collecting Noah’s Ark items.
She loves to hear from her readers. You may write to her at Carol Steward P.O. Box 5021 Greeley, CO 80631-0021.
There Comes a Season
Carol Steward
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:…A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
—Ecclesiastes 3:1,4
To Dave, who’s always my hero; to Sarah, Matthew and Scott for your encouragement and understanding; to my mom and dad for a strong base to believe in myself; to my family and special friends, for inspiring me; to my critique group, for your patience and perseverance; to all of you, thanks for believing in me!
In loving memory of my brother-in-law, Dan.
Prologue (#ulink_e01fec21-175f-5adb-b041-a8b354e392b4)
“He’s coming back! I know he is. He promised me, Mommy. Daddy said he’d take me fishing today.”
“No honey, he’s not.” The tears fell from Laura Bates’s eyes as she held her six-year-old son. Chad had seen the paramedics work on his father in the middle of the night and screamed when they took him away. “Chad, Daddy died. He can’t ever come home.”
“Why didn’t you stop him! You should have stopped him!”
She couldn’t control his anger, or the sting as his words pierced her heart. Though Laura understood that Chad didn’t know what he was saying and how badly it hurt her, it didn’t stop the guilt from digging deeper into her soul. “I tried. Believe me, I tried.”
“I want Daddy!”
“I know. I do, too.” She gave Chad a kiss and looked at her older son, T.J., who stood silently looking out the window toward the tree house he and his father had built the previous month. “Come here T.J.,” Laura said gently. T.J. obeyed, dragging his feet. There were no tears in her son’s eyes, just a stoic expression on his face.
T.J. took a jagged breath, and finally a terrified grimace appeared. Laura gently drew his stocky body into her embrace. “It’s okay to cry, T.J., don’t stop the tears.”
“Uncle Ian said boys shouldn’t cry.”
“Uncle Ian is wrong. It’s going to hurt for a long time, and if you want to cry, it’s okay.” Laura touched her forehead to his and they rubbed noses. T.J. grinned.
Her daughter, Carrie began crying as she joined her mom and younger brothers. She had always been her daddy’s girl. Laura brushed the tears from Carrie’s face. “I love you, Carrie, and so did your dad. He loved you kids very much.”
“Oh, Mom.” She sobbed. “I’m going to miss him so much.”
“I know, punkin. It’s not going to be easy.” They sat in Todd’s stuffed chair comforting each other for a long while before the beams of sunlight came through the maple trees and lit the breakfast nook.
Laura rubbed the back of her neck and shoulders and moved her fingers up to her temples and pushed hard, trying to force away the recurring memory of waking with a chill in her spine.
Her best friend touched her shoulder. “Laura, why don’t you go lie down for a while. You need some rest Family will be here soon.”
“Thanks for coming, Barb. Sorry I woke you.”
“It’s okay. Go to bed, honey.”
As Laura walked into her bedroom, she realized she was exhausted. She stared at the walls of the room she and Todd had shared, looked out the window, tossed and turned, but rest eluded her. How could you do this to us, Todd? You said you’d see us in the morning, you held me last night. How can I ever go on without you? Laura cried, and yelled, and pounded her fists into the pillow, as if she were still trying to save Todd.
Weary, she lay down, listening to the silence. Hers was not a quiet house. Her children were never quiet, Todd wasn’t quiet and the toddlers and preschoolers she watched certainly weren’t quiet. The silence surrounding her now was proof that nothing would ever be the same. She wanted to hear the laughter again, to see Todd chasing the kids through the house. She wanted to yell at all of them to settle down. “Oh, God,” she silently prayed, “please let me yell at Todd to grow up again. The big kid never got the chance,” she whispered.
Laura heard the faint drumming of raindrops on the roof, fast, then slow, then the splash of water as cars drove by. “How appropriate that you should make this a dreary, wet, good for nothing but curling up in bed day, God. At least you didn’t make it a beautiful, sunny, perfect fishing day. You explain to the kids why their father won’t be here to take them fishing anymore! You tell them who will answer their tough questions! You tell them who is going help them grow up, because I have no idea how to do all of this without him!” She pounded the tearstained pillow and shoved it under her head.
A few days later, Chad asked his mother, “Who will my new daddy be?”
Laura froze. “What makes you ask that?”
She could see Chad was surprised by her response and possibly a little embarrassed at his own question. “We talked about it in Sunday school.”
“They talked to you about finding a new daddy?” She felt a sudden chill.
“No, but ‘Lizabeth’s daddy is getting married, and I was just wondering if you would.”
“Sometimes parents do meet another person, fall in love and get married.”
“If you get married, will you still love us?”
“I won’t ever stop loving you. Getting married doesn’t mean parents will love their children less. God helps us make more love.”
Once they were home, Laura took Chad into her arms. “Chad, right now, I’m not ready to find you a new daddy. I have you three, and that’s all I need. I loved your dad a lot, and I’m not sure I can ever love anyone that much again.”
“If we ask God to help you, you can. I’ll help.”
How in the world could she deny a little boy’s prayers? God’s words of reassurance came to mind, “I can do all things through Him that strengthens me.” She sighed. “Thank you, love. I know that God could help, but give us some time, okay?” Laura hugged him gently—for his innocence, his honesty and his naive faith. Time would only prove Chad wrong. She loved her son dearly, and wished this was one lesson she didn’t have to let him learn on his own.
Later that night, she couldn’t help but wonder if there would ever be a man brave enough to accept her and her three children? Someone man enough to dim these memories of her past? A man strong enough to dare her to love again?
Chapter One (#ulink_c7b56708-925a-5575-86c1-459aac89781f)
Laura Bates opened her front door. A tall man holding an adorable baby stood on her doorstep.
“Mrs. Bates? As in the child care provider, Mrs. Bates?”
She extended her hand to shake his, admiring the darkest brown eyes she’d ever seen. “Yes,” she said, uncomfortable being introduced as a married woman, but uneasy sharing her circumstances with strangers. “All the parents call me Laura. This must be Jacob.” She smiled, hoping to set the father at ease over his obvious surprise at her age. “Come in.”
Laura realized she was staring at him, and that their hands were still clenched. Todd’s only been dead four months. What am I doing admiring this stranger? She loosened her grip, shoving her hand into her pocket as she moved out of the doorway.
Bryan stepped into the living room. “I must admit, I didn’t expect someone so…young, Laura. My secretary led me to believe…” Bryan’s deep voice, which was shadowed with a Southern accent, trailed off.
“Vicky didn’t inform either of us very well,” Laura quipped. “I thought both you and your wife would be coming.”
