A Time to Gather Read Online Free PDF Page A

She hardly blamed him for making sure his fingers were still attached.
    “Sweetheart,” he said, “Erik is not all right.”
    “But . . .” She pointed to the television.
    “He’s acting. They pay him to act. Offscreen he’s a mess.”
    “You saw him after the DUI and said he wasn’t great, but he was okay. He was fine with me on the phone later that day. He and Felicia were going sailing with friends.”
    “Later that day, long after he missed his appointment for a tux fitting due, no doubt, to a hangover.”
    “Which reminds me, I’ve been thinking. Maybe I’m expecting too much from the kids for the wedding-blessing. Erik and Danny don’t need to wear tuxedos. Lexi is not crazy about getting a dressy black dress. She doesn’t wear dressy black dresses. If she wears a dress at all, it’s baggy and bohemian.”
    “But this is all about what you want, not them. You want fancy and formal. You want a private ceremony in a church with them and my parents and a few friends. Afterwards, you want an all-out bash of a reception, to which you’ve invited half the city.”
    “Only a fourth.” She smiled. “Yes, I do want that. I really do. It’s not so much because we didn’t have it the first time. Eloping wasn’t all that bad. I mean, we didn’t have a clue what we were getting into back then. Now that we’ve made it, it seems so important to celebrate our marriage, to recognize what we’ve accomplished. Or better, what God has accomplished in us.”
    He nodded. “I agree. And I think the tuxes and the black dresses and the whole gang smiling would not be a problem except for one thing.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Me.”
    “Max!”
    “If I weren’t involved, they’d rally ’round you in a heartbeat.”
    “That’s not true.”
    “It is.” He paused. “I didn’t tell you what Erik said
to me at the police station.” The creases on his forehead deepened. “He said I checked out for thirty years and now I want to be his father. He can’t reconcile those two things.”
    “Oh, hon.”
    “He’s right. We had some good times when he was a little kid, but I’ve let him down for most of his life. I haven’t been there for him. Haven’t been there for any of them, not in the deep sense of the term. Danny tries and Jenna comes close, but none of them are exactly embracing the new dad with open arms.”
    “It’ll take time.”
    “This is called reaping what you’ve sown.”
    Claire slid an arm across his chest and leaned against him. “Give it time, Max.”
    He held her close. “I don’t know. I somehow sense that we just don’t have the time.”
    A short while later, after the news program, Claire and Max walked outdoors through the dark cold night. She shivered and pulled a shawl more tightly around herself.
    “What did you mean,” she said, “that we don’t have the time?”
    “I don’t know if I have words to explain it. It’s more of a vague sense. Life feels like it’s teetering on the edge of a cliff. It’s all going to give way at any moment.”
    She ignored his gloom and doom and zeroed in on feels like . Who would have thought! A few short months ago that phrase did not exist in her husband’s lexicon.
    Smiling to herself, she gazed up at the sky, packed so densely with stars it looked like the Creator had spilled a giant bag of powdered sugar all over it. Thank You.
    She slipped her arm through his. “Yes, I agree, life has been teetering. But here we are, starting our new life at the Hacienda Hideaway.”
    “Yeah. That’s the only piece of solid ground I can find. The rest is giving way like a mudslide.”
    “You’re tired, Max. Let’s just go to bed.”
    “No, I want to see Mom and Dad.”
    Claire didn’t argue. She wasn’t about to quash the new side of Max that emoted and actually desired to talk with his parents. Up until last fall he could hardly stand the sight of them, let alone initiate a heartfelt discussion.
    They continued their stroll, following