Chapter 11

Melody sat in the service, grateful for the young woman sitting beside her. Oh, Tallis was on her other side and her hand was in his. But Sara, who sat on her other side, her calming presence the only thing allowing Melody to focus on the church service they were in. Her almost sister-in-law, as she’d declared herself last night, had been a real Godsend since her supper out with Tallis. Since her declaration of the truth, she accepted her and Tallis’ relationship. It was Sara who had, as she’d declared when they arrived home, “kept her from making a mistake she would have regretted” after Tallis’ kisses last night. Sara had gotten her up to her room and into the bath. “Get undressed and get in the tub, Melody.”

Still not completely recovered from the sensations overwhelming her, she’d frowned at the woman. “What? Why?”

Sara sighed. “Look, I sent Tall to take a cold shower because that’s how guys cool off.”

Melody blushed, knowing exactly what Sara was referring to. “Oh, do I need to take a cold shower too?”

Sara shook her head. “No silly, us women need a nice warm bath and some soothing bubbles, and according to my cousin Hannah, some oil of lavender. Its scent is supposed to be calming and soothing, so while you and my brother were ... you know.”

Sara made kissing sounds. “I came up here and ran you a nice soothing bubble bath with lavender oil in it. So get in and soak for half an hour, then you should be able to sleep. At least, I think you’ll be able to sleep.”

As the water cooled, Melody had gotten out and dried off. She’d slipped into her nightgown, not one of the new ones Sara had her purchase. Though she wanted to try one of those soon, her regular old cotton gown. She wanted to feel comfortable and normal, not something new and maybe exciting.

Then before she knew it, she was asleep. Her dreams again filled with dark hair, green eyes, and shoulders and arms that held her tight.

Now she sat in worship trying her best to concentrate on the preacher and not on how Tallis’ arms and lips and well everything had felt last night. Then something the pastor said caught her attention. Something that suddenly seemed like maybe it was important to her and maybe to them.

Tallis kept saying they’d find a way to make Reverend Johnson break the contract. Could it be that simple? She looked at Matthew 19:3-6; it seemed like their answer was clear. “And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’”

She knew there was more. The pastor was preaching about faithfulness in marriage and divorce. Something so scandalous in her day. Most people never even uttered the words. Yet what struck her was the last part of verse six.

Several times already Tallis had said that he wanted to marry her. That she would be his wife. She even remembered somewhere in the fog of her brain after his kisses, him telling his sister to get his mom to plan a wedding quickly. Because he was going to marry her before the Reverend returned.

Her heart soared in her chest. Who was a higher authority than God? If a man of God married them, in the house of God and joined together as one. Then if they became one by consummating that union as God commands. How then could the Reverend’s contract separate them?

She looked up into Tallis’ eyes and he winked at her. He realized the importance of this passage to them as well. Before they even knew to ask for the way to be free, God himself had provided it.

Tears began to silently run down her face and she let them fall. When Sara looked at her with concern, Melody smiled through her tears, letting her friend know she was happy, not sad. She would keep the contract. Melody wouldn’t say a thing. She wouldn’t confirm a thing until they were married by word and action, not even to Tallis.

Then and only then would she confirm what he already knew. There would be no fault in her that Reverend Johnson or anyone above him would find to make her an oath breaker.

As her tears fell, she lifted her head toward the heavens, allowing them to be an offering to the ONE who knew what she needed before she was even born.

*****

Tallis watched as Melody figured out what he’d figured out as soon as they had announced the passage. There was a covenant that they could and would enter that would supersede any contract Reverend Johnson and his superiors might have. A supernatural covenant that stood outside of time crafted by the Creator himself. Confirmed by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords while he traveled here on Earth. Maybe just for this very moment, this very situation. Thousands of years before either he or Melody were conceived.

She looked up at him, tears of joy shining in her eyes, and he couldn’t help himself. He winked at her to let her know he’d figured it out as well. Now he just needed to get all the evidence in order before the end of the year. Marry the love of his life in the church before the pastor. Then become one in truth with her in the marriage bed.

But he wanted more than that. He wanted to prove that Melody had never once broken the contract she’d agreed to with Johnson. For that, he’d use his family and their connections and unique Callings and gifts.

First, he’d talk to Sara and confirm what he already knew in his heart with her gift. Melody was the woman created just for him. His missing rib, so to speak. He’d explain to his sister what a miracle her Calling was, so that she would understand how important it was to this miraculous event they were all going to be part of.

Then after that, he’d talk to Melody herself and caution her to say nothing to anyone before they were married in every way that could be construed as breaking the rules of her contract. No mention of where or when she was from. To keep helping him get the ranch up and running and ready to operate in the way her father had.

And anything else that Johnson might have thrown in there. But he bet doing the job and not telling she was a time traveler were the only two.

After that, he’d talk to his brother and have him change the direction of his searches. Well, maybe not change, just expand. He needed to make sure that the identity Johnson gave Melody in the present was one that was legally airtight.

Then he wanted to know everything he could about her actual identity, well everything they could find out in historical records. Finally, he wanted every sign of Johnson they could find throughout history. Starting with Penny and Grace’s journals, and anything else they could find.

When he returned, and Tallis knew he would return; his Calling screamed that it was important that they have all proof they could. Including any other time traveler, they could find proof of.

When he had all that together. Then he’d propose to Melody and then they’d marry. Thus bringing order and balance back to his part of the grand design.

As the final benediction was given, Tallis leaned past Melody and spoke to his sister. “Sara, I need you to hear me right now. This is a Calling thing, and you need to hear what I’m going to say before you speak, okay?”