The Earring

Book 6 Part 4

The sound of the door opening caused Faith to look up. Teresa came through the door. Faith looked at her watch. It was already 3:00.

"Hey," Teresa said. "How is he?"

"I think he's still asleep," Faith said. "I was so engrossed in the journal. I lost track of time."

"I understand. I had trouble putting down the one you let me read. Your Mom's a good writer."

"Yeah, she is." Faith put down the journal and stretched. "I got the stuff you asked for. I also bought some chocolate chip cookie dough. I meant to make them before you got here."

"We can make them together," Teresa suggested. "Maybe the smell will wake Jacob up."

"And you can tell me about your day. Was it as bad as you expected?"

Teresa turned away, but not before Faith saw the tears spring to her eyes.

"Aw, honey," she said as she put her arms around the girl.

Teresa turned and cried on Faith's shoulder for a moment. Then she squared her shoulders. "I am not going to let them ruin my day. I need to be upbeat for Jacob."

"You can't carry it all," Faith said.

"I know," Teresa said. "I went to the bathroom several times and sat on the toilet and prayed. Jesus got me through." She smiled at Faith. "I remembered the verse that says something about heaping burning coals on your enemies' heads by being kind. I'm going to kill them with kindness."

Faith reached out and gave Teresa a quick hug. "The Bible also tells us to pray for our enemies. Maybe we can say a prayer for them every morning before you leave for school."

"Do you think He told us that because it's harder to hate someone you're praying for?"

"I suppose. The Bible also tells us not to let a bitter root grow up and cause trouble. I think that harboring hatred would cause bitterness"

"And eventually trouble would be the result." Teresa agreed. She looked toward the kitchen. "You said something about cookie dough?"

They had just stuck the pan of cookies in the oven when Faith's cell rang. She stepped onto the back porch to take Wade's call.

"Rhoda and Thomas would like to meet with Jacob and Teresa tonight," he told her. "Is he up to it?"

"I don't know. He's been asleep most of the day. Once he's awake, I'll call you back."

When she went inside, Teresa was no longer in the kitchen. Faith heard voices from the bedroom. She found Jacob propped up on a couple of pillows and Teresa sitting on the edge of the bed. He was holding her hand and talking earnestly. Not wanting to eavesdrop, Faith knocked on the doorframe.

Jacob looked up and smiled. "Come on in," he said. "I was just giving Teres' the low down on our discussion this morning."

"So you two are talking about marriage."

"Yeah," Teresa said. "I keep telling Jake that I don't want him to mess up his future. I don't want to hold him back. He can't loose his scholarship because of me."

"You won't hold me back," he said. "Lots of college ball players are married. I just need to find out if we can get married now. If we have to wait, we'll wait."

"Well, here's something else to think about," Faith said. "The Jacobsons would like to come over tonight and meet you guys. Are you up for it?" She directed her question to Jacob.