Time to Laugh Romance Collection Page 16

  Tabby smiled gratefully, but then she sobered. “Will the repairs be expensive?”

  Seth winked, and she pressed a hand to a heart that was beating much too fast.

  “Let’s see now…. The price for parts will be reimbursed with two or three dinners out, and labor … well, I’m sure we can work something out for that as well,” Seth said, never taking his gaze off her. “Something that will be agreeable to both of us.” He moved slowly toward her, with both arms extended.

  Tabby had an overwhelming desire to rush into those strong arms and declare her undying love, but she held herself in check, remembering the little scene she’d encountered when she first entered Seth’s shop. It was obvious that Seth had more than a business relationship with Cheryl.

  Seth kept moving closer, until she could feel his warm breath on her upturned face. She trembled, and her eyelids drifted shut. Tabby knew she shouldn’t let Seth kiss her—not when he was seeing someone else. Her heart said something entirely different, though, and it was with her whole heart that Tabby offered her lips willingly to Seth’s inviting kiss.

  Tabby relished in the warmth of Seth’s embrace, until the sharp ringing of the telephone pulled them apart.

  “Uh, guess I’d better get that,” Seth mumbled. He stepped away from Tabby and moved across the room toward the desk where the phone sat.

  Tabby looked down at Rosie and muttered, “I think I was just saved by the bell.”

  As Seth answered the phone, his thoughts were focused on Tabby. He’d wanted to hold her longer and tell her everything that was tumbling around in his mind. He needed to express his feelings about the way he’d treated her in the past and share the scriptures the Lord had shown him. Maybe they’d be able to pick up where they left off when he hung up the phone. Maybe …

  “Seth Beyers,” he said numbly into the receiver. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’d be happy to take a look at your dummy. I’m about to close shop for the day, but you can bring it by on Monday.”

  Relieved to be off the phone, Seth returned to Tabby. She was standing over Rosie, looking as though she’d lost her best friend. “She’ll be okay, I promise,” he said, reaching out to pull Tabby into his arms. He leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her hair felt feathery soft against his lips, and it smelled like sunshine.

  She pulled sharply away, taking him by surprise. She’d seemed willing a few minutes ago. What had happened in the space of a few minutes to make her so cold?

  “How long till she’s done?” Tabby asked.

  “I could probably get her ready to go home in about a week. How’s that sound?”

  She shrugged. “That’ll be fine, I guess.” She turned and started for the door.

  “Hey, where are you going?” he called after her.

  “Home. I left the apartment before Donna got up, and since I came home so late last night, I promised to fill her in on the accident details this morning.”

  Seth rushed to her side. “Don’t tell me I’ll be taking the day off for nothing.”

  She blinked several times. “I don’t get it. What’s your taking the day off got to do with me?”

  “I’d really like to spend the day with you. That is, if you’re not tied up.”

  “I just told you …”

  “I know. You want to tell Donna about last night.” Seth grabbed Tabby’s arm and pulled her to his side again. “Can’t that wait awhile? We have some important things to discuss, and I thought we could do it at the park.”

  “Point Defiance?”

  He nodded.

  Tabby hung her head. He knew she was weakening, because she’d told him before how much she loved going to Point Defiance Park.

  “Wouldn’t that be kind of like a date?” she murmured.

  He laughed. “Not kind of, Tabby … it is a date.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess my answer has to be no.”

  His forehead creased. “Why, for goodness’ sake? Are you still mad at me for coercing you into doing that vent routine?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’ve done what the Bible says and forgiven you. Besides, what happened at the crusade was really my own fault. I could have said no when you asked me to perform. I could have prayed more and allowed God to speak through me, instead of letting myself get all tied up in knots, and ending up making my routine and me look completely ridiculous.”

  Seth gently touched her arm. “Neither you nor your routine was ridiculous, Tabby.” He chewed on his lower lip, praying silently for the right words to express his true feelings. “Tabby, you’re not the only one God’s been working on lately.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Through the scriptures, He’s showed me that I’ve been expecting too much. I wanted the perfect woman … one who’d fit into my preconceived mold. I thought I needed someone who would radiate with confidence and who’d have the same burning desire I do to share her talents with others by telling them about the Savior.”

  Tabby nodded. “I was pretty sure you felt that way, and I really couldn’t blame you, but it did make me mad. I knew I could never be that perfect woman, so I was angry at you, myself, and even God.”

  Tears welled up in her dark eyes, and when they ran down her cheeks, Seth reached up to wipe them away with his thumb. “You don’t have to be the perfect woman, Tabby. Not for me or anyone else. All God wants is for us to give Him our best.” He kneaded the back of his neck, trying to work out the kinks. “I tried to call you last night. I wanted to tell you what God had revealed to me. I was planning to tell you that it didn’t matter if you stuttered, had no confidence, or never did ventriloquism again. I just wanted you to know that I love you, and I accept you for the person you are … one full of love and compassion.”

  “Love?” Tabby looked up at him with questioning eyes.

  He nodded. “I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I really do love you, Tabby.”

  “But what about Cheryl Stone?”

  His brows furrowed. “What about her?”

  “After seeing the two of you together, I thought—”

  “That we were in love?”

  She only nodded in response.

  Seth’s lips curved into a smile, then he let out a loud whoop.

  “What was that for?”

  “I don’t love Cheryl,” Seth said sincerely. He dropped to one knee. “This might seem kind of sudden, and if you need time to think about it, I’ll understand.” He smiled up at her. “If you wouldn’t mind being married to a dummy, I’d sure be honored to make you my wife. After we’ve had a bit more time to go on a few more dates and get better acquainted,” he quickly added.

  Tabby trembled slightly. “You—you w–want to marry me?”

  Seth reached for her hand and kissed the palm of it. “You’re stuttering again. I think maybe I’m a bad influence on you.”

  She blushed. “I’m just so surprised.”

  “That I could love you, or that I’d want to marry you?”

  “Both.” Tabby smiled through her tears. “I love you so much, Seth. I never thought I could be this happy.”

  “Is that a yes?” he asked hopefully.

  She nodded as he stood up again. “Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!”

  “How about a December wedding? Or is that too soon?”

  “December? Why that month?”

  “I can’t think of a better Christmas present to give myself than you,” he said.

  She sighed deeply and leaned against his chest. “That only gives us four months to plan a wedding. Do you think we can choose our colors, pick out invitations, order a cake, and get everything else done by then?”

  A dimple creased her cheek when he kissed it. “I’m sure we can.” There was a long pause; then he whispered, “There is one little thing, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t want our wedding cake to have peanut butter filling.”

  Tabby pulled back and gave him a curious look.

  “My p
eanut butter phobia, remember?”

  She giggled. “Oh, yes. Now how could I forget something so important?”

  Seth bent down and kissed her full on the mouth. When the kiss ended, he grinned.

  “What?”

  “I must be the most blessed man alive.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “If a man is lucky, he finds a wife who can communicate her needs to him. Me … well, I’ll always know what my wife needs, because she can talk for two.” He winked at her. “Now that we’ve had our little talk, do you still want to go to the park?”

  She smiled. “Of course I do. I can’t think of a better place for us to start making plans for our future.”

  Epilogue

  Tabby had never been more nervous, yet she’d never felt such a sense of peace before. Next to the day she opened her heart to Christ, today was the most important day in her life.

  Much to her sister’s disappointment, Tabby had beaten her to the marriage altar. Tabby took no pleasure in this fact, but it did feel pretty wonderful to be married to the man she loved. Lois would find the same joy when it was her turn to walk down the aisle. By then, maybe she’d even be a Christian.

  Tabby glanced at her younger sister, sitting beside Mike and her parents at a table near the front of the room. Thanks to Tabby’s gentle prodding, Lois had recently started going to church. Now if they could just get her fiancé to attend.

  The wedding reception was in full swing, and Tabby and Seth were about to do a joint ventriloquist routine. It was the first time she’d ever done ventriloquism in front of her family. Tabby gazed into her groom’s sea-green eyes and smiled. If someone had told her a year ago she’d be standing in front of more than a hundred people, married to a terrific guy like Seth, she’d never have believed them. It still amazed her that she no longer stuttered or was hampered by her shyness. God was so good, and she was glad for the opportunity to serve Him with her new talent.

  She felt the warmth of Seth’s hand as he placed Rosie into her arms. He probably knew she was a bit nervous about this particular performance. He bent down and pulled Rudy from the trunk. With a reassuring smile, he quickly launched into their routine.

  “How do you feel about me being a married man?” Seth asked his dummy.

  Rudy’s head swiveled toward Tabby. “I can see why you married her, but what’s she doin’ with a guy like you?”

  Before Seth could respond, Rosie piped up with, “Don’t talk about Seth that way, Rudy. I think he’s real sweet.”

  “I think so, too,” Tabby put in.

  Rudy snorted. “He’s not nearly as sweet as me.” The dummy’s head moved closer to Tabby. “How ’bout a little kiss to celebrate your wedding day?”

  Tabby wiggled her eyebrows up and down. “Well …”

  “Now, Rudy, what makes you think my wife would want to kiss a dummy?”

  Rudy’s wooden head snapped back to face Seth. “She kisses you, doesn’t she?”

  The audience roared, and Tabby felt herself begin to relax. Even Dad was laughing, and Mom was looking at her as though she was the most special person in the whole world. Maybe she wasn’t such a disappointment to them after all. Maybe her newfound confidence could even help win her parents to the Lord.

  “You know, Seth,” Rudy drawled, “I hear tell that once a man ties the knot, his life is never the same.”

  “In what way?” Seth asked.

  “Yeah, in what way?” Rosie echoed.

  Rudy’s eyes moved from side to side. “For one thing, some women talk too much. What if Tabby starts speaking for you, now that you’re married?”

  Tabby leaned over and planted a kiss on Rudy’s cheek then did the same to Seth. “Yep,” she quipped, “from now on, I’ll definitely be talking for two!”

  Clowning Around

  by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Dedication

  To Gordon, Kathy, Dell, and Bev—special friends who are great at clowning around.

  Chapter 1

  Lois Johnson slid her fingers across the polished surface of her desktop. I love this job, she told herself with a smile. She had been working as secretary for Bayview Christian Church only a few weeks, but she already felt at ease. She wasn’t making as much money now, she reminded herself, but she had a lot less pressure than when she’d worked as a legal secretary in downtown Tacoma.

  Lois hoped her job here would be a ministry, so she could do something meaningful while using her secretarial skills. She was a fairly new Christian, having accepted the Lord as her personal Savior during a recent evangelistic crusade. Now she had an opportunity to work in her home church where she felt comfortable.

  Her older sister, Tabby, had told her about the position. Tabby worked in the day care center sponsored by Bayview Church and had heard that Mildred Thompson, the secretary then, was moving to California. Tabby had notified Lois right away, knowing she wasn’t happy in her old job.

  A vision of Tabby and her husband, Seth Beyers, performing their ventriloquist routine flashed into Lois’s mind. The young couple worked well together, shared a love for Christ and the church, and were so much in love.

  Lois stared at the blank computer screen in front of her then pushed the button to turn it on. I hope I can find an area of service as Tabby and Seth have. After attending the church for a year, she had signed up to teach a first-grade Sunday school class. She enjoyed working with children and felt she was helping to mold their young lives in some small way. But she wondered if she could be doing more.

  As Lois waited for the computer to boot up, she let her mind wander. She’d come a long way in the last few months. The pain of breaking up with her ex-fiancé had diminished considerably. Since she’d become a Christian and started reading her Bible every day and spending time in prayer, her attitude toward many things had changed. No longer was she consumed with a desire for wealth and prestige. She knew money in itself wasn’t a bad thing, but her yearning for more, simply for personal gain, had been wrong. Instead of being so self-centered and harsh—especially with her sister, who had been shy and had suffered with a problem of stuttering—with God’s help, Lois was learning to be more patient and kind.

  Thank You, Lord, for helping Tabby overcome her problems and for changing my heart. Show me the best way to serve You. She hesitated. And if You have a man out there for me, please let me know he’s the right one.

  Lois frowned and twirled her finger around a long blond curl. She’d been wounded deeply when Michael Yehley postponed their wedding. Then he broke things off completely once she started inviting him to go with her to church. He’d made it clear he had no interest in religious things, didn’t need them, and could take care of himself.

  Lois knew Michael hadn’t been right for her. She also knew she could never love another man who wasn’t a Christian or whose only goal in life was climbing the ladder of success. Lord, if You have a man in mind for me, then he’ll have to fall into my lap because I’m not planning to look for anyone. The chances of that are slim to none, Lois told herself.

  Joe Richey was exhausted. He’d been on the road six weeks, doing a series of family crusades, Bible schools, and church camp meetings. He’d even managed to squeeze in a couple of kids’ birthday parties. As much as he enjoyed clowning, he needed to rest. He’d just finished a five-day Bible school in Aberdeen, Washington, which had ended this morning at eleven o’clock. On his way home, he had stopped at the cemetery to visit his parents’ graves. When Joe was eight years old, his father was killed in an accident involving the tour bus he drove around the Pacific Northwest. His mother had passed away last summer from lung cancer.

  A knot formed in Joe’s stomach when he opened the front door of his modest two-story home in Olympia. When his mother died, he hadn’t shed a single tear, and he wasn’t about to cry now. In fact, Joe hadn’t cried since his father’s death almost seventeen years ago. If today hadn’t been the anniversary of his mother’s death, he probably wouldn’t have stopped at the ce
metery. It was a painful reminder of his past.

  Carrying his red-and-green-checkered clown costume in one hand and a battered suitcase in the other, Joe trudged up the steps to the second floor. He entered his bedroom and flung open the closet door. “Maybe I should take off for a few days and head to the beach,” he said aloud, setting the suitcase on the floor and hanging up his costume. “But right now, I guess I’ll settle for a hot bath and a long nap.”

  He yanked a red rubber clown nose out of his shirt pocket and stuffed it into the drawer where all his clown makeup and props were kept. “I’ll be okay. Just need to keep a stiff upper lip and a smile plastered on my face.” Joe glanced in the mirror attached to his closet door and forced his mouth to curve upward.

  The phone rang sharply. He crossed the room and lifted the receiver from the nightstand by his bed. “Joe Richey here.”

  He listened to the woman on the other end of the line, nodding occasionally and writing the information she gave him on a notepad. “Uh-huh. Sure. My schedule’s been as tight as a jar of pickles all summer, but things are slowing down some now. I’m sure I can work it in. Okay, thanks.”

  Joe hung up the phone and sank onto the bed with a moan. “One more crusade, and then I’ll take a little vacation.” He glanced over the notes he’d jotted down. “It’s only a forty-five-minute drive from Olympia to Tacoma. It’ll be a piece of cake.”

  After discussing the church bulletin with Richard Smith, the associate pastor, Lois returned to her desk, and the phone rang. She smiled when she heard her sister’s voice. “Hi, Tabby, what’s up?”

  “I was wondering if you could meet me for lunch today.”

  “Sure—sounds good. Should I come downstairs to the day care, or do you want to come up here?”

  “Neither. I’d like to take you out for lunch. You’ve been cooped up in that office so much since you started working here, even eating lunch at your desk sometimes. Today’s Friday, so I think we should celebrate. Let’s go to Garrison’s Deli.”