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I write sweet, clean Christian romance novels that demonstrate the power of love and grace… and won’t make your grandmother blush ;)
I write sweet, clean Christian romance novels that demonstrate the power of love and grace… and won’t make your grandmother blush ;)
Amanda and Willow picked up Ivy from school, then raced home to check the mail. Hayden had been waiting for weeks to hear back from his top choice for college, and Amanda had promised to text him as soon as the envelope came in.
Amanda stopped the car at the bottom of the driveway and Ivy, who was almost finished with third grade, unclipped her seatbelt and bolted over the mailbox. She shuffled through the assorted envelopes, then held one up over her head and ran back to the car shouting, “It’s here! It’s here!”
“Hand it over, chickadee,” Amanda said, reaching into the backseat. Ivy slapped the envelope into her hand. Yep. It had the MIT logo in the corner. This was the one they’d all been waiting for.
“Can we open it, Mama?” Ivy pleaded.
“No way, sneaky. You know Hayden’s been waiting for this for months.” It was entirely possible that he’d already logged onto the admissions portal earlier today and seen whether or not he’d been admitted for himself, but he’d told them that he wanted to wait and find out when they were all together.
“Can I call him and tell him it’s here?”
“Buckle yourself back in. I need to pull into the garage, but after we go inside, you can use my phone to let him know.”
“Eek!” Ivy clapped her hands. “I’m so excited!”
Willow, who was eighteen months old and loved parroting her big sister, clapped her hands, too. “So ‘cited! So ‘cited!”
They went inside, and Amanda handed her phone to Ivy, who placed the call with a few quick swipes and taps. “Hayden!” she squealed. “Your letter’s here!”
“It here! It here!” Willow echoed, jumping up and down on the kitchen floor. Amanda smiled. When Pierce died, she’d assumed that Ivy would never experience the joy of having siblings, but here her daughter was with two of them, plus another one on the way.
Amanda wasn’t showing yet, so she and Nate hadn’t told the kids about the new baby, but she was really, really hoping that Hayden got into MIT or Worcester Polytechnic, because then they’d be able to see him more often. If he ended up going somewhere like Cal Tech, Georgia Tech or Cal Poly, it would be way harder to get together as much as she knew they’d all like.
“Can I open it?” Ivy asked her brother, then pouted. “No, Dad’s not here yet. Can I call him? I’ll tell him to come home right away!”
“Daddy come home yet!” Willow squealed, hugging one of her stuffed toys. Like her dad and her big brother, Willow had dark hair and blue eyes. Also like them, she needed glasses, and she had a whole variety of stretchy straps to keep her glasses in place. Pink straps with cartoon cats. Purple straps with sparkly unicorns. Blue straps with baby sharks. Black straps with flying dinosaurs.
Today, she was wearing one of Ivy’s hand-me-down tutus, a purple shirt, a green glasses strap and a pull-up. She’d just graduated from diapers, and Amanda had her fingers crossed that potty training would continue to go well.
“Mom,” Ivy said, holding out the phone. “Hayden wants to talk to you.”
Amanda put the phone to her ear. “Hey, honey.”
“Is it a fat envelope or a thin one?”
Amanda bit her lip. “It’s thin, but I don’t think that matters so much anymore, does it? Don’t they send you most of the information you need online?”
He let out a shaky breath. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“If you’re nervous, why don’t you log into the portal right now and check? They were supposed to update it this morning, right?”
“They did, but I told Ivy we’d find out together.”
“She’ll understand.”
“No, it’s okay. But can you make sure she calls Dad and asks him to come home as soon as he can? I don’t wanna wait any longer than I have to.”
Amanda glanced at the clock on the microwave. “What time will you be back?”
“I’m leaving now.”
“No chess club tonight?”
“I’m skipping it.”
“Okay, we’ll be here.”
“Mom—wait. Do you think I got in?”
She closed her eyes. MIT was extremely competitive—only four percent of the kids who applied were admitted. Hayden was exceptionally smart, though. He’d won the Massachusetts High School Chess Championship this past January, and he’d be competing at the National High School Championship in Baltimore two weeks from now. “I think you’ve got as good a chance as anyone, honey. And if you didn’t get in, well, remember that when God closes a door, he opens a window. You’re going to end up at the right school for you, whatever it is. Thy will, not mine, be done.”
Hayden chuckled. “You sound just like Dad.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment, thank you very much.” For the first couple of years she and Nate were together, Amanda had worried that she wouldn’t make a very good pastor’s wife. Once she’d realized that her most important job in that role was simply supporting Nate and being an encouragement to the other people in their congregation, she’d relaxed.
Nate didn’t run a megachurch, and she wasn’t in the spotlight. In Wychmere Bay, everywhere she went, she was amongst friends.
Hayden laughed louder. “Good. See ya soon.”
Ivy peered up at her. “What’d he say?”
“He’s on his way home.”
She threw her arms over her head. “Yes!”
“Yes!” Willow parroted. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Twenty minutes later, Hayden walked in the door. He was eighteen now and, at six feet two inches, he was taller than Nate. Ivy and Willow both ran to greet him, and he hoisted them both up into his arms for a hug.
“Here’s your letter,” Ivy said, thrusting it at him once he’d set her down. “Open it!”
“Gotta wait for Dad, silly.”
Nate poked his head into the kitchen. “Did someone say my name?”
“Daddy!” Willow shrieked, wiggling out of Hayden’s arms and leaping into her dad’s.
“Hey, Willow MacPillow.” He kissed her forehead while she leaned against his chest, contentedly sucking her thumb, a daddy’s girl through and through. Keeping her cradled in one arm, he leaned down and gave Ivy a hug and a kiss, too. “And how was your day, Miss Ivy Lou?”
“Hayden’s letter came, Daddy! Tell him to open it!”
Nate feigned confusion. “A letter? What letter?”
“The letter, Dad! The college letter! The one in Boston so we can see him whenever we want!”
Nate set Willow down, turned to his son and smirked. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”
Hayden gave an exaggerated shrug. “No idea.”
“Hayden!” Ivy cried. “Open the letter!”
Hayden smiled and held up the envelope. “Oh, this letter?”
The girls both started screaming yes, which made Hayden laugh. Then, finally, he slid his index under the flap on the envelope.
Before he could tear it open, though, Nate held up a hand. “Hold up. First, let’s pray.” The girls quieted, and Hayden and Amanda dropped their heads. “Father God, thank you for giving us this opportunity to come together as a family to support Hayden. He’s a young man now, an adult, and we’re all excited to see what you have in store for him next. God, help us to remember that whatever it says in that letter, we know that you’re in charge, guiding him to where he can best serve you in this life. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.”
“Amen,” they all echoed, and maybe it was just the pregnancy hormones, but for a moment, Amanda felt choked up. Every day, she was grateful for the life she and Nate had made together. Every day, she was grateful for the love they shared, and for their beautiful family.
“Ready?” Hayden looked at Nate for the go-ahead.
Nate squeezed his shoulder. “Ready.”
Hayden ripped open the envelope and unfolded the letter inside. Amanda held her breath as she watched his eyes scan the page, then felt her heart lift as a slow smile spread across his face.
He looked up, paused dramatically, then said, “I. Got. In!”
The room erupted in cheers. Ivy threw herself at him, grabbing onto his arm as she screamed, “I knew it! I knew it! You’re the best brother in the whole wide world!”
“Aww, cutie. You’re gonna come visit me all the time, aren’t you?”
“Yes!” She beamed at him, and he beamed right back.
“I’m proud of you, champ,” Nate said, giving Hayden a few thumps on the back. “Should we call Grandma and Grandpa Tim to let them know the good news?”
Hayden nodded. “Sounds good.”
Six years ago when Nate had explained to Tim and Cheryl that he had only applied to the Harvard PhD program in the hopes that becoming a professor would allow Hayden to get a college education without incurring student debt, the two of them had shaken their heads and revealed that they’d been investing in a college savings fund for Hayden since the day he was born. There was enough money in the fund to send him to college wherever he wanted to go—and probably enough for graduate school, too, if that was the route he chose to take down the line.
On the video call, Tim cheered while Cheryl cried tears of happiness. When they hung up, Amanda served Hayden’s favorite meal for dinner: fish and chips.
She and Nate put Willow down for bed at seven, followed by Ivy at eight. When they went downstairs afterward, Hayden was in the family room, fiddling with one of Nate’s Rubik’s Cubes.
“Are you happy, honey?” Amanda asked.
Hayden set the cube down and nodded.
“You know you can go anywhere you want, right? You don’t have to stay in Massachusetts for school.”
“Are you kidding?” he said. “MIT’s the best engineering school in the country. No way do I want to go anywhere else. Plus,” he said, giving the two of them a knowing look, “this way I’ll be able to spend more time with my new little brother or sister.”
Amanda’s hand dropped to her stomach, while Nate chuckled quietly beside her. “How did you know?” She hoped she wasn’t already putting on baby weight.
Hayden smirked. “Ma. Your appetite’s gone, you’re tired all the time lately, and twice last week you ran out of the kitchen while you were making dinner with your hand over your mouth. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”
“Well,” she said sheepishly. “Surprise!”
Hayden turned to Nate. “You’re forty-five, old man. You sure you can handle another one of us?”
Nate smiled wide, wrapped his arm around Amanda’s shoulders and pulled her close, enveloping her—as always—in the warmth and security of his love. “Your mom keeps me young, Hayden. So, yeah, bring it on. The more the merrier.”
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