If I help Stacy, youre going to owe me big-time. You will cooperate with my plans for Nolie and Gabes wedding. Claire was confident she knew what they wanted.
Brendan held out his hand for Claire to shake, his face serious but with a smile lurking in those changeable eyes. Only if they agree. Thats the other part of our deal.
Fine. Theyll agree.
I told Stacy youd be at the church tonight around nine. He got off her desk. And were having dinner with Nolie and Gabe at the Flanagan house at six. We can find out then what kind of wedding they really want.
She glared at him. For a minister youre something of an opportunist, you know that?
He grinned. For a businesswoman, youre something of a do-gooder, Ms. Delaney. Maybe we bring out the best in each other.
Or the worst.
He headed for the door. I guess well find out, wont we?
MARTA PERRY
has written everything from Sunday school curriculum to travel articles to magazine stories in twenty years of writing, but she feels shes found her home in the stories she writes for Love Inspired.
Marta lives in rural Pennsylvania, but she and her husband spend part of each year at their second home in South Carolina. When shes not writing, shes probably visiting her children and her beautiful grandchildren, traveling, or relaxing with a good book.
Marta loves hearing from readers and shell write back with a signed bookplate or bookmark. Write to her c/o Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001 New York, NY 10279, e-mail her at marta@martaperry.com, or visit her on the Web at www.martaperry.com.
Unlikely Hero
Marta Perry
MILLS & BOON
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend
on your own understanding. Seek His will in
all you do and He will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:56
This story is dedicated to Alice Dyne, with love
and thanks for all she does for others.
And, as always, to Brian.
Dear Reader,
Im so glad you decided to pick up this book and I hope my story touched your heart. The faith struggle Claire and Brendan went through on their way to a happy ending meant a lot to me.
I found it fun to relive the excitement and stress of planning a wedding. I dont think theres anyone who doesnt have a story to tell of all the things that went wrong!
I hope youll write and let me know how you liked this story. Address your letter to me at Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279, and Ill be happy to send you a signed bookplate or bookmark. You can also visit me on the Web at www.martaperry.com, or e-mail me at marta@martaperry.com.
Blessings,
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter One
Youre wrong, thats all. Claire Delany had a fleeting doubt about speaking that way to a minister, but dismissed it. No clerical collar would deter her from saying what she thought.
Not that Brendan Flanagan was wearing a clerical collar. She glanced at him as he held the door and then followed her from the church gym into a hallway that had classrooms on either side. Gray sweatpants and a navy sweatshirt, battered sneakers, disheveled chestnut brown hair tumbling onto his forehead. Only a hint of gravity in his lean face and hazel eyes suggested that he had anything more serious than a game of basketball on his mind.
Maybe I am wrong. Brendans voice, a baritone rumble, was mild. But when Gabe asked me to officiate, I understood him to say they wanted a small, quiet wedding with no fuss.
Gabe may have said that she tried the no-non-sense voice she was known for at work but I know what kind of wedding Nolie has dreamed of all her life. I dont want her to give up her dream wedding just because theyre so busy right now with the new project.
The grant her best friend had recently received would let Nolie and Gabe expand their service animal project to many more disabled people. She understood how important that was, but Nolie shouldnt have to sacrifice having a memorable wedding because of it.
Brendan came to a halt next to a bulletin board covered with orange and yellow construction paper leaves, printed with what she supposed were childrens names. She stopped, too, swinging to face him. He was tall, like all the Flanagan men, and even the two-inch heels she wore for work didnt give her enough height to confront him.
He was probably good at intimidating with his height, those keen eyes and that air of authority that went along with being a minister, but she wasnt going to let him force his views onto her, no matter how self-assured he was.
Nolie is my closest friend, she said firmly. If she doesnt have the time right now to handle the wedding arrangements, then Ill be happy to take care of them for her.
Brendan raised an eyebrow. Gabe is my cousin as well as my friend and parishioner. And I intend to listen to what he says they want.
He had her on the parishioner business. Gabe was a member of Brendans church. Nolie probably would be soon, as well. Her friend was being absorbed into the big, noisy Flanagan clan at a rapid rate, and Brendans church was obviously an important part of their lives.
As for herwell, her mother had taken her to church when she was a child, but after her mothers death, her father hadnt set foot inside a church with her. Other than attending a wedding or two, shed followed his pattern. Religion was a foreign country to her, one she didnt have any interest in exploring.
She tried another tack. Maybe Gabe just doesnt care. A wedding is more for the bride, anyway.
Brendans eyes werent the Irish blue of his Flanagan cousins. Instead they were a mutable hazel, and at the moment they looked as remote, green and frosty as an Alpine lake.
A wedding is a solemn event in the spiritual lives of two people, not an excuse for a party.
Now he really was putting on his minister hat. She was tempted to point out that the wedding decisions werent really up to him, but hed simply turn that argument back on her. They werent up to her, either, until Gabe and Nolie agreed with her suggestions.
Shed already seen how close all the Flanagans were. The only way to win this was to have Pastor Brendan on her side. Then she could present Nolie with a fait accompli instead of a what-if.
Im not talking about turning the wedding into a riot, Pastor. Just making it beautiful and memorable. Surely you dont have any theological objections to that.
The sudden flash of humor in his eyes startled her. Not theological, no. But we might not agree on what beautiful and memorable is.
We wont know unless we try, will we?
He studied her face for a long moment, as if wondering what lay beneath the surface. His steady gaze began to make her uneasy. She didnt have a smudge of mascara on her nose, did she?
Fair enough, he said finally. Lets take a look at the sanctuary and talk about what you have in mind.
His tone made it clear he was reserving judgment on her view of the wedding. That didnt matter. Shed swing him around to her way of thinking.
Brendan led the way back up the flight of stairs shed come down. When she hadnt found him waiting in his office for their appointment, shed followed the sound of thuds, bumps, and jeers to the gym, where hed been playing basketball with a scruffy-looking bunch of teenagers.
Strange as it seemed, shed apparently have to negotiate with the minister to get what she wanted. No, what Nolie would want. Failure wasnt part of her vocabulary. She and Nolie had a kinship that went deeper than friendship or sisterhood, and shed give Nolie the wedding of her dreams even if she had to go through Brendan Flanagan to do it.
But shed try a milder tactic first. Shed always found it useful in business to establish some sort of mutual ground. She glanced at him as they walked through another long hallway, this one lined with stained-glass windows. The brighter light picked out the fine lines fanning out from the corners of his eyes, suggesting that he took his responsibilities seriously.
Was that some kind of a youth group you were working out with in the gym?
He looked startled, as if hed forgotten about those kids. No, not exactly. He hesitated before going on. This neighborhood has changed since Grace Church was built a hundred years ago. A lot of kids in the area dont have a church to call their own, or any place to hang out except the street corners.
Ive seen them. She frowned. Frankly, most of the kids Ive noticed hanging around the street corners arent ones Id care to invite into my church, if I had one.
Reaching out to people who need help is the churchs business. His look was faintly disapproving.
Claire stiffened. Whether he was a minister or not, he didnt have the right to disapprove just because shed voiced her opinion.
Be agreeable, a little voice cautioned in her mind. You want to gain his cooperation, not put his back up.
I guess Suffolk isnt just an old-fashioned market town anymore, she said.
He nodded, as if Claire were a pupil whod gotten an answer right. Thats the problem exactly. People still think this is the kind of place where everyone has the same values, but its not. Suffolk has become a mid-size city with a few city problems no one has figured out how to deal with yet.
And youre the man to deal with them. She tried to keep the skepticism out of her voice.
Im trying. With Gods help.
That was the sort of thing a politician might say, except that in Brendans deep voice, it sounded genuine. If he insisted on bringing God into the discussion, she was definitely out of her depth. A Sunday school class when she was seven or eight hadnt prepared her for a debate on religious issues with a minister.
Well, that wasnt why shed come here, in any event. She wanted his cooperation with the wedding. Aside from that, she didnt care how many juvenile delinquents Brendan let take advantage of him.
He opened a paneled oak door at the end of the hallway. They stepped into a vast, echoing space, dimly lit by a bank of recessed lights at the front.
This is the sanctuary. By the way, I draw the line at live doves let loose in here.
The glimmer of humor he showed again reassured her. Maybe he wouldnt be too difficult to deal with. Not even one or two?
Not even. He fumbled along the wall for a light switch, and the overhead chandeliers came on with a blaze of light, making the sanctuary spring to life. As you can see, theres a center aisle. Im told wedding planners like that.
Claire looked the length of the sanctuary. The cream walls were accentuated with walnut arches and wainscoting, and a burgundy carpet crossed the front and swept up the aisles.
Its perfect. She could visualize Nolie coming down that center aisle, past pews decorated with flowers and ribbons. She could almost hear the murmurs of appreciation.
No, that wasnt a murmur. It was a stifled sob.
Brendan seemed to hear the sound at the same time she did. He spun toward a pew half-hidden by one of the columns. What shed taken for a coat thrown over it was actually a woman, huddled into herself on the cushioned seat.
No, not a woman. This was barely more than a girl, wearing threadbare jeans and a tattered T-shirt. Her long dark hair hung down to screen her face.
Claire took a step forward, and then stopped. This wasnt any of her business.
Stacy? Brendan knelt next to the kid, his hand gripping the pews carved arm. His voice was soft with concern. Whats wrong?
Obviously he knew the girl, and hed shifted into minister mode. All his attention was concentrated on her, as if hed forgotten Claire was there.
That was undoubtedly her cue to back away. Even though she didnt want to put it off, their wedding consultation would have to wait until another time.
I should leave, she said.
The girl looked up at the sound of her voice, her hair falling back from a too-thin face. Claires heart seemed to stop and then resume beating in slow, threatening thuds. The kids cheek was puffed out, and one eye had been blackened.
It wasnt just the obvious signs of abuse that turned her stomach and made her want to flee. It was the look in the girls eyesfrightened and accepting all at once, like a dumb animal that couldnt escape.
She knew the look. It was the one she used to see in her mirror.
Brendan put his hand gently on Stacys and fought down the tidal wave of black anger that threatened to overwhelm him. He couldnt give in to the anger. That would make him no better than the person whod done this. He had to concentrate on her.
What happened, Stacy? Did Ted do this to you?
Stacys boyfriend was the likely culprit. The girls mother seemed to play little role in Stacys life, as far as hed been able to find out the few times Stacy had stopped by the church with some of the neighborhood teens.
No! Her response was emphatic, and her hand flew up to shield her eye. Ted wouldnt hurt me. He loves me. She jerked away from him, as if ready to flee.