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One in a Billion
Chapter Nine
“Day Nine”
Jim woke the next
morning to a knock on his door. He went to answer it and found Donna and the
kids all dressed up waiting outside. Donna told him that they were on their way
to church and wanted to invite him to join them. She said she had called but no
one answered his room phone or his cell phone. Jim turned around and seen he
had thrown a pillow over the phone by the bed and then explained he had left
his cell phone in the van the night before.
He quickly showered
and dresses and got into Donna’s van with them and rode to church. When they
got to the church Donna had to introduce Jim to everyone she met as she knew
just about the whole congregation. Jim watched how bright Donna’s face glowed
and how her eyes danced as she introduced him to others. She was as proud of
him as a mother would be of a new baby. He smiled and enjoyed it almost as much
as she did.
Donna had spoken to
the preacher when they had arrived and after his sermon he said he wished to
make a statement. He told everyone that he had been informed that Donna and her
children were living back in her mother’s house after it had been renovated and
anyone that had been waiting to visit her could now do so. He also mentioned
that the church was very pleased to welcome a guest and newcomer, Jim Davis,
Donna’s fiancé. The last statement drew a round of applause as they welcomed
Jim. He stood and nodded appreciation to them during the applause.
After the services a
lot of the members spoke with Donna, letting her know how much they had missed
her and was glad she was back in the church. She told them she was happy to be
able to be back in church and would be attending regularly again. She was
invited to some of the women’s meetings coming the following week and told them
she would try to make them. Jim noticed how happy she was to have her life back
as it was before she lost her mother and house.
Jim had a chance to
speak with the preacher by himself while Donna was occupied with the women. He
asked the preacher if he would let him and Donna get married in the church when
they set a date. The preacher told him that unless something unknown at the
time happened he could see no reason why they couldn’t be married in the
church. Jim thanked him and asked him to please keep it a secret for now. The
preacher said he would and Jim left as Donna came to join him to go.
Donna drove to the
supermarket on their way home and after about twenty minutes her and Chrissy
came out with a cart loaded with food. She told Jim she was going to give him a
true home cooked meal today if he could wait long enough for her to fix it. Jim
assured her he could wait for a treat that special with no problems at all.
They then headed home, and once the groceries were unloaded she ran the guys
out so her and Chrissy could cook.
Jim and Josh went
into the living room and watched some TV till they were called to dinner. Jim
was surprised to see what all Donna had fixed in the hour she spent cooking. He
looked the table over and found a feast of fried chicken, stewed potatoes,
green beans, sweet corn, fried okra and cornbread. Donna watched Jim as he
smiled while looking over the food. She was hoping he would be as pleased with
the taste as he was with the view of it.
They sat down to
eat, Donna at one end of the table, Jim at the other end and Chrissy and Josh
each on one side of it. Donna had made iced tea for them to drink and asked Jim
if he would rather have coffee for she had made it too. He shook his head and
said tea was very fine with him. Donna told them all to dig in and that is what
they did. Jim ate more then he usually did at any one meal, but the food was so
good, he couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten food tasting this good.
He complimented Donna for it and made sure she knew he liked it.
After they had
eaten, Jim told Donna that since her and Chrissy had cooked it, he hoped she
would let Josh and him clean up the dishes and clear the table. After all he
said, it was only fair for her and Chrissy to also get some rest and time
together as he Josh had already done. Donna reluctantly agreed to let the guys
clean the kitchen up and she took Chrissy to the living room with her. Josh and
Jim had the kitchen cleaned and all the dishes put away in about 30 minutes.
They then joined the ladies in the living room.
Donna told them
there was a very good movie coming on and unless Jim really needed for her to
take him to the motel, she would love for him to watch it with them. He sat
down next to Donna and put his arm around her, she snuggled in really close
with her head resting on his shoulder, and she started watching the movie, but
fell asleep after only 5 minutes had passed. She was dreaming about her and Jim
being married with a big church wedding and then taking a two week honeymoon to
some romantic resort.
Josh and Chrissy
excused themselves to their rooms after about a half hour of the movie and Jim
leaned his head back and was dozing lightly in no time. He was thinking of the
wedding he wanted to have with Donna at the church and then maybe spending a
week or two at a chalet in the Great Smokey Mountains for their
honeymoon. They both were smiling while they dreamed pleasant dreams.
They both woke about
2 hours later to a loud and ground shaking clap of thunder. It was beginning to
rain and the thunder was getting louder and more frequent. Donna rose and said
she would check to make sure the house windows were closed and Jim said he
would help her. Donna took the upstairs and Jim took the ones on the ground
floor. They had both just came back into the living room when Jim noticed the
time. He told Donna that he actually hated to ask her to go out in the weather
but he did need to get back to his room. Then he thought quickly and asked her
if he could just drive her car to his motel and he would come by the next
morning to get her for work so she could drive it back later. She said that
would be a good idea and went to get a key for it. When she handed him the key
she hugged and kissed him and told him she really didn’t want him to go, but
understood that he had to. He told her if he didn’t go right then, he might not
ever go. She smiled and said that would be ok with her, then she told him
goodnight and released her arms from around him. He told her goodnight and he would pick her
up in the morning to ride to work with him. He then went to the garage and left
driving her car.
Once he returned to
his motel room, he took a quick shower and got in bed. He turned on the TV and
before he realized it he was asleep.
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