When Alex, Bonnie, and Cliff returned an hour later, Daniel was still asleep. They went to the waiting room, one of them periodically checking on him. It was another hour before Daniel awoke. Alex was just peeking her head in the door when he did.
“Hi there,” she said as she walked the rest of the way into the room.
“Hi,” the minister responded, giving her the beautiful smile that he did every time she came into his room. Alex loved that smile, loved the way it made his eyes light up. There was something special about that smile, more so even than before the accident. She couldn’t quite pin down what it was in that smile that filled her with a warm glow and made her heart leap about in her chest, but that’s what it did.
Daniel raised his bed up to a sitting position. “So, how long was I out this time?”
“A little over two hours.”
The minister shook his head. “I’m sleeping my life away.”
“Nonsense. You need the rest. It’s good for you,” Alex responded. “Your parents are in the waiting room. I’d better go tell them that you’re awake now.”
“Wait. Could we chat alone for a few minutes?”
“Um, sure.” Alex sat on the edge of his bed, pleased that Daniel wanted to be alone with her. There was silence for a few seconds as he just gazed at her, a small smile still on his lips. “So . . . you want to talk about how things went with your tests?” she finally asked.
The smile faded from the minister’s face. “I guess I did better than what might be expected, but it was still . . . upsetting for me to see what I can’t do now that I could before. I think of all the times I played ball with Dylan and with Arnie when I was younger, and, now, over half the time I can’t even manage to catch a ball thrown from a few feet away.”
Alex reached out and covered Daniel’s hand with her. “But the doctors told you that you’ll get better, right? With therapy, that will improve. You just have to give it time.”
The minister sighed. “I know. I’m just being silly.”
“No, you’re not,” Alex objected firmly. “It’s not silly at all. It is totally understandable that you would feel that way.” She looked intently into his eyes. “Daniel, we--your parents and I--were talking with the doctors, and, um . . . we wanted to know what your feelings are about your therapy. Do you want one of us to be with you through your sessions or would you rather not have any of us there?”
Daniel’s eyes drifted away from hers to stare off at the wall across the room. He appeared to think about it for a while. At last, his gaze returned to Alex. “If . . . if it’s something that you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable about, I’d like to have you there, Alex. I’d understand if you don’t want to. I mean, it’s--”
Alex interrupted him by placing a finger on his lips. “I want to be there, Daniel. I want to help you in any way that I can.”
Daniel took hold of her hand and kissed it. “Thank you,” he murmured. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
The minister gave her that smile again, and, all at once, Alex realized why it made her feel the way it did. His love for her was in it. With his eyes and that smile, Daniel was telling her he loved her as surely as if he was speaking it aloud.
“Daniel,” Alex whispered, trying to convey with her own eyes her love for him.
Daniel’s breath caught as he saw Alex’s eyes fill with what he could not help but recognize as love. His chest seemed to expand at the sight, making him feel as if there was nothing he could not accomplish. With a hand that trembled slightly, he cupped Alex’s cheek, caressing it with the pad of his thumb. His eyes went to her lips, wanting suddenly to kiss her.
Alex saw Daniel’s face fill with a look of desire and felt an echo in her own heart. Slowly, she leaned forward, drawn like a moth to a flame. Their eyelids sliding shut, Daniel and Alex closed the distance between their mouths. A charge like an electrical current leapt between them as their lips brushed against each other’s. They drew back slightly for a moment, shaken by the feeling that the brief contact had caused, then they closed the distance again. But just as their mouths were about to touch a second time, they both heard the sound of the door opening. Alex hastily pulled back. Blushing furiously, she turned to the door to see Molly, Callie, Ruby, Marcus, Father Mac, and Daniel’s parents walk in. The group paused upon seeing the expression on Daniel’s and Alex’s faces. A knowing smile curved the lips of several of them.
“Are we interrupting something?” Molly asked, her eyes twinkling.
“Um . . .” Alex cleared her throat, “no, not at all. We were, uh, just talking.”
Molly’s smile broadened. “Of course you were.” Her gaze then focused on Daniel, delighted at the sight of seeing him awake and sitting up in bed. She and the others from Hope came forward.
“Oh, Reverend Cooper. It is so good to see you awake and looking so much better,” Ruby gushed, tears of happiness in her eyes.
“It sure is,” Callie agreed, smiling from ear to ear. “You really shouldn’t scare us like that, you know.”
Daniel grinned. “I’ll try very hard not to do it again.” He looked around at the faces of these people he cared so much for. “It’s really good to see you all. Thanks so much for coming to visit.”
“Well, of course we’d come visit you,” Ruby said. “We’d have come sooner, but we wanted to make sure you were well enough to have lots of visitors.”
“How are you feeling, Daniel?” Marcus asked, also delighted at the sight of Daniel’s vast improvement. Not counting the night the minister had his surgery, the last time Marcus was in a hospital was the day his adoptive parents were killed in a car wreck. He was so happy that, this time, things had a happy ending.
“I’m good, getting better every day,” the minister replied. “I’ll be out of the ICU tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful news,” Father Mac said, pleased to no end to see his fellow cleric looking so well. The last time he’d seen Daniel, the young man was on the edge of death. The difference between then and now was astounding. The priest sent up a brief prayer, thanking God for the miracle.
For the next hour, everyone chatted with Daniel, asking questions about his upcoming therapy and talking about news on the island.
“So, what do you all think about the Hope Gardens project?” the minister finally asked.
There was a moment of silence. “I guess we’re still not sure about it,” Callie admitted. “There’s a lot to consider.” She studied Daniel’s face. “I know you said that you didn’t want to influence anyone either way, but what’s your opinion about it? Do you think it should be built?” She glanced about at the others. “We can keep it just between us.” Everyone else nodded in agreement.
Daniel looked from person to person, seeing more than curiosity on their faces. He realized that his opinion mattered a great deal to them. It was strange to think that, after only a year on Hope, his views and ideas had come to hold such weight. It was a big responsibility, and he didn’t know for sure if it was one he wanted.
“I can’t say that I’ve made up my mind about it either. Actually, thinking about it, Alex never did get the chance to tell me about last night’s meeting, except for what happened afterwards at the Widow’s Walk.”
“You know about what Mann and Tate were planning on doing?” Molly asked.
Daniel nodded. “And I want to thank all of you for standing up for me. That means a lot to me.”
“Standing up for you? What’s this about?” Marcus asked, puzzled.
Everyone shifted uncomfortably as they remembered that Marcus didn’t know the story about Las Vegas and Stella. Molly sent Daniel a look of apology, knowing she’d goofed by saying what she did. He smiled at her to let her know it was okay. He then looked at Marcus.
“I guess it’s time that you know something about your minister’s life before he came to Hope,” Daniel said. He took a deep breath and told the entire story, including the details about Kate’s death. With the exception of Alex, Molly, and Father Mac, none of the other islanders had known about the death of his fiancée, and of those three, only Alex had heard the whole tragic story. Daniel could see deep sorrow and sympathy on the faces around him. Then he looked at his parents. There were tears in both of their eyes. This was the first time they’d heard their son talk about that terrible night.
There were two things that Daniel didn’t tell those gathered: the whole truth about the argument he’d had with his father and what he and Kate were doing when the accident occurred. He glossed over that part of the story, simply stating that Cliff had been against the marriage because of the issue of religion and that Daniel was just driving with Kate when she was killed. He also did not say anything about what happened after his father’s men came and got him in Las Vegas, stating only that the decision was made for him to come to Hope for a fresh start.
“You didn’t tell them the whole story, Son,” Cliff stated quietly after Daniel had finished his narrative, shocking not only his son, but also Bonnie and Alex.
“I told them all I needed to, Dad,” Daniel replied.
“Nevertheless, they should hear the rest of it,” Cliff insisted. “If they don’t, they won’t know the whole truth.” He turned to the others. “What my son left out is that, not only was I against his marriage to Kate, I flat out forbade it, because she was Catholic, because she was not a believer in what I preached, because I was afraid that my son marrying a woman of a different faith would harm Cooper Ministries. The argument we had that night drove my son into believing that the only way he could be with the woman he loved was to elope. That’s why they were in that car. They were on their way to Nevada to get married.” His eyes went to Daniel’s. “And, afterwards, when Daniel was brought back home from Las Vegas, I committed the unpardonable sin of turning my back on him, refusing even to speak to him, my own son, because I was furious that he’d done something that could threaten my television ministry.”
There was dead silence in the room for several seconds. Father Mac looked long and hard at Cliff, an expression of approval on his features. It appeared that the televangelist was finally putting his son’s feelings and welfare above Cooper Ministries.
The silence was finally broken by Ruby, who came forward and took Daniel’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “You poor boy. How terrible that time must have been for you.”
“I’m glad you told us, Daniel,” Callie said quietly. “If I’d known the whole story back when Stella showed up, I’d never have considered for a second to put it in The Lookout.” As a journalist, she knew that this was the kind of story she’d waited her whole life for, a story that could gain her that Pulitzer she longed for. But as a friend, she knew that this was a story too personal and too emotionally devastating to Daniel for her to tell it to the public.
An odd look crossed the minister’s face. He stared at Callie for a moment, then turned to Marcus. “So, now you know my dirty little secret,” he said, only half-joking.
Marcus shook his head. “It’s far from dirty, Daniel. Believe me. I know what you were feeling that night Kate died. I know all too well.”
The two men gazed at each other, understanding the pain they’d each felt at the loss of people they loved.
Daniel nodded, then put on a smile, anxious to change the subject and get his mind off the tragedies of the past. “So, back to last night’s meeting,” he said.
Understanding his desire to change the subject, everyone began telling him about the meeting, going over what was said, the points that were covered, and everyone’s concerns.
“It sounds like Misters Mann and Tate had an answer for just about everything, except the issue with medical care and Alex’s concerns,” Daniel remarked. He got a thoughtful expression. “I wonder if they want this badly enough to foot the greater part of the cost of enlarging the clinic and buying more equipment. Doctor Watson may have said that there has been no real trouble with the limited facilities before now, but I know for a fact that she’s often overworked. One doctor for a population of two thousand can be quite a strain, even though many of the residents have doctors on the mainland. I bet that if Mann and Tate helped pay for the expansion, she’d eagerly hire a Physician’s Assistant or perhaps even find another doctor to be a partner in the practice.”
“I bet you’re right,” Alex said. “It wouldn’t hurt to mention it to our two Bostonians.”
“So, what do you think, Daniel?” Molly asked. “Do you think that Hope Gardens would be a good thing or a bad thing?”
Daniel paused before answering. “Like you, I haven’t made up my mind about it. There’s a lot to be considered, but. . . .”
“But what?” Alex asked, really wanting to know what the minister thought.
Daniel paused again, then finally said what was on his mind. “But I can’t help but think that, sooner or later, we’re going to have to take a chance on something. Things can’t keep going the way they are forever. I saw what it was like last Christmas when the fishermen were failing to catch anything.” He smiled. “I got a black and blue cheek to illustrate how emotionally touchy the whole situation was.” As everyone chuckled, Daniel glanced at his parents, knowing that he’d have to explain that statement later. He grew serious again. “There’s no such thing as a sure thing. There’s no such thing as a safe bet, not when it comes to this. If we turn down the plans for Hope Gardens, how long will it be before something else comes along? Will something else come along? And if it does, will it be a safer venture than this retirement community? What kind of project or business would be safer, less risky? Short of a factory or some kind of manufacturing facility being built on the island, which would employ locals, I can’t really think of anything that would hold almost no risk yet be of tremendous benefit to the island, and even that could have some risks, depending on the kind of factory. But we all know it’s unlikely that someone’s going to come along and build something like that, not with Hope being an island with limited access to the mainland.”
Everyone nodded, recognizing the truth in that statement.
“So, are you saying that we should take a chance and let Hope Gardens be built?” Marcus asked.
Daniel shook his head. “This is why I really didn’t want to say anything more than what I did at the meeting. I don’t want you to agree to Hope Gardens because of what I think. You need to make up your own minds on this.”
“But you have brought up some valid and very wise points,” Cliff said, impressed by his son’s clear thinking.
“Yes, he has,” Callie agreed. “We can’t hide our heads in the sand any longer and think that the problem with Hope’s economy will magically be solved. We need to start actively doing something about it, the sooner the better. Obviously, this retirement community isn’t going to solve the whole problem, but maybe it’s a start.”
The others nodded, except for Alex, who was busy watching Daniel’s expression. He looked troubled. She decided not to ask him about it now.
Father Mac studied Daniel’s face, seeing that he was beginning to look a little tired. It had been emotionally draining for the young minister to reveal to all of them the story about Kate. Though Daniel was well on his way to recovery, he was still suffering from the effects of his injuries.
“Well, I think that we should all let Daniel rest,” he suggested.
“I agree,” Molly said. “Besides, I want to get back to the Widow’s Walk well before the dinner rush.”
Ruby leaned over and gave Daniel a kiss on the cheek. “You get some rest, Reverend Cooper. We’ll come back and visit again soon. Next time, it’ll be Bonita’s turn while I take care of the store.”
Daniel smiled up at her. “I’ll look forward to seeing her and to seeing you again.”
“Dad and Nub are planning on coming over tomorrow,” Molly told him, “and Boris and Kevin are going to come visit too, though I don’t know if it will be at the same time.”
“It’ll be great to see them,” Daniel told her.
Everyone said goodbye and started filing out of the room.
“Callie, could I talk to you alone for a moment?” Daniel asked, catching the expression on the faces of Alex and his parents. They clearly realized what he wanted to talk to the journalist about.
“Sure,” Callie said. As the others left the room, she remained behind. “What did you want to talk about?”
“It has to do with what you said earlier, about not even considering telling the story about Stella if you’d known the whole truth.” Daniel took a deep breath. “I’m going to go public with the story, Callie.”
Callie stood stunned for several seconds. “But, Daniel, what is that going to do to you and your father?”
“Dad will be all right as long as some things are kept out of the article. As for me, I’m hoping that it won’t be too bad, not if the whole story about Kate is told.” He swallowed to relieve the dryness in his throat. “I want everyone to know the truth, about Kate’s death, what it did to me, and what I did because of it.” The minister studied Callie’s face. “And I want you to write it.”
The journalist drew in a sharp breath. “Daniel, I don’t know what to say. This story is the kind of thing that I’ve dreamed about my entire career. I can’t tell you what this means to me that you would offer it to me.” She shook her head. “But I’d rather be a nobody reporter that no one’s ever heard of than print a story that would hurt you. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Daniel felt his heart warm at Callie’s words, thinking about how blessed he was to have friends who cared so much about him. “Thank you,” he murmured. “I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and I realized that I’m tired of hiding. I’m tired of having the constant fear that, someday, the story will get out and ruin not only my life, but my father’s career as well. You know what would happen if the press found out I’d married Stella while drunk, but didn’t learn about the reasons behind it.”
Callie nodded, ashamed that she’d ever considered printing such a story.
“But if they knew why it happened, why I was in Las Vegas to begin with, I think that it won’t be so bad. I need to come forward and tell the whole thing.” He gazed into Callie’s eyes. “And I want someone to write the story who can tell it with the compassion and integrity that it needs.”
A look of guilt leapt into the journalist’s eyes. “Then maybe I’m not the person to write it,” she said in a low voice.
“What are you talking about?”
Callie sighed and sat on the chair beside the bed. “There’s something I need to tell you, Daniel. Before I came to Hope Island, I lived in New York City. I was a big city reporter working for the New York Post. But things didn’t go the way I’d always dreamed they would. As I watched all my colleagues, one by one, move up the ladder, getting their own bylines, becoming successful, I stayed stuck in a rut, unable to find that one story that would get me noticed. Well, one day, I wrote this story about a mother on welfare, the kind of touching human interest story that was so much more than just the facts. And, boy, did I get noticed.” She paused for several seconds, her eyes moving away from Daniel’s. “There was just one problem. The story was a fabrication. The woman didn’t exist. I’d made the whole thing up. When the paper found out, I was fired. After that, no one would hire me, and with good reason. I have no excuse for what I did. I let my ambition override not only my common sense, but also my conscience, my integrity, and my self-respect.” She finally met the minister’s eyes again. “You need to know the truth about the kind of person it is that you’re trusting with this story, no matter how ugly that truth is.”
Daniel looked deeply into Callie’s eyes. “I already do, Callie. What you just told me doesn’t change a thing. If you were really the kind of person that you’re trying to paint yourself as, then you would have printed that story about Stella, not caring how much it hurt me or my father. But you didn’t. That tells me what kind of person you really are, and that is the kind of person I want to write this story.”
Callie’s eyes filled with tears. “Thank you, Daniel. You’re a friend that anyone would be privileged to have. I hope that I won’t disappoint you.”
“You won’t, Callie. I believe in you.”
Callie laughed through her tears. She wiped them away. “So, when do you want the story to come out?”
“Not until after I’m well or at least out of the wheelchair.”
Callie nodded. “Good. That will give me plenty of time to get it perfect. I want to do this right. When would be a good time for the, um, interview? There are a few points that I want to get clear and get more details on.”
“Any time. I won’t be going anywhere for at least another week. I’ll have to let you know what my therapy schedule is, though. Either that or you can wait until I come home.”
“No, I want to start working on it right away. How about if you give me a call tomorrow after you find out your schedule?”
Daniel smiled. “I’ll do that.”
Callie said goodbye and exited the room, a couple of minutes later, Alex, Bonnie, and Cliff returned.
“Did you tell Callie that you’re going to go public?” Bonnie asked.
Daniel nodded. “I asked her to write the story. She’s the only journalist I’d trust with it. I know that she’ll do it well and not put anything in the article that I don’t want in it.”
“She’s certainly not your usual reporter,” Cliff admitted.
“No, she’s not. She is a friend first and foremost.”
Bonnie handed her son a stack of envelopes. “Some more letters came for you from the islanders.”
Daniel grinned, looking forward to reading and replying to them.
As he knew they would, his parents asked him about the comment he’d made regarding a bruised cheek. Able to look back on the whole incident with humor, he told them about the blessing of the boats ceremony, how he’d refused to read the passage invoking pagan gods, and how, because of that, the superstitious fisherman blamed him when they stopped catching fish. He told them about the sinking of Bob White’s fishing boat, which he also blamed on Daniel, and how the minister ended up getting punched in the face by the man.
“Bob had good reason to be angry and upset,” Daniel explained. “His son, Evan, is a special needs child, and the loss of Bob’s boat made it so that he no longer had the money for Evan to go to a special school.”
“So how did everything get resolved?” Bonnie asked.
Daniel grinned. “Well, I could tell you all about Brian selling Nub’s services as a good luck charm, but what finally solved the problem with the fishermen was a brass curtain ring.”
“Excuse me?” Cliff said, totally baffled by his son’s statement.
Daniel chuckled. “I knew that this whole thing about bad luck was nonsense, but fishermen tend to be very superstitious. I decided to play along with their superstition. I gave one of them, a man named Harry, a brass ring that I claimed would bring them luck. He took the ring with him on his boat, and everyone ended up bringing back a huge catch.”
“You’re kidding,” Cliff said, amazed.
“Nope. But, afterwards, Harry realized that the ring was nothing. It was just a piece of metal. It wasn’t that ring or any kind of luck that enabled them to catch those fish. It was their belief in themselves. They believed that they could catch those fish, so they did. They didn’t need good luck charms or blessings for their boats. All they needed was faith in their abilities.”
Bonnie smiled, feeling pride in her son’s wisdom and accomplishments. “What about Bob and his son?” she asked, remembering seeing a young boy in a wheelchair in the hospital chapel the night everyone prayed for Daniel.
“Well, there’s another part of that whole story. Arnie came to visit me during that time.”
Cliff nodded. He’d never been happy about Daniel’s friendship with the Jewish man, especially after Arnie became a rabbi. But the two had been friends since Daniel was fifteen, Arnie being the first truly close friend Daniel had ever been given the chance to have because of never being in a place long enough to build close friendships.
Daniel told his parents about Arnie quitting his work in the children’s cancer ward because he felt that he couldn’t really help anyone and could no longer bear to watch children die. He then told them about how Arnie immediately befriended the shy, silent Evan, playing ball with him and making him laugh and giggle like any normal, healthy child, and how seeing his son happy and having fun helped bring joy and peace of mind to Bob.
“Things have turned around for Bob since then,” Daniel told them. “He was able to get a new boat and is making enough to pay for Evan’s special schooling again.”
“How wonderful,” Bonnie said. “I’m so happy that things turned out well for them and the other fishermen.”
“Me too. I felt partially responsible for the troubles they were having, and I had to do what I could to help.”
Alex smiled at Daniel, thinking about how caring and compassionate he was. Any woman could count herself lucky to be loved by him.
Cliff gazed at his son with pride. Just like so many of the other stories that Daniel’s friends had told him, this tale illustrated how much better a person his son was than him. Daniel gave himself completely to the people of Hope, never turning his back on anyone who needed help, regardless of their religion. And in doing so, he brought glory to God, in a way far deeper and more meaningful than Cliff’s peaching before millions. How wrong Cliff had been when he said that his television ministry was better than what Daniel did. He’d been a fool.
“Well, I think we need to let you get some rest,” Bonnie said.
“I’m okay,” Daniel claimed, though he was feeling a bit weary. Everyone’s expression told him that they weren’t buying his claim. He sighed. “Oh, all right. I’ll rest for a little while.”
“Good,” his mother said, smiling. “We’ll come back in an hour or two.” She and the others got up to leave.
“Um, could you wait for me outside for a moment?” Alex asked, wanting to talk to Daniel in private.
“Of course,” Bonnie instantly replied. She and Cliff left the room.
“Daniel, when we were all talking about Hope Gardens and everyone asked your opinion, you looked worried afterwards. What’s wrong?”
Daniel sighed again. “I just don’t want anyone deciding what to do based on my thoughts and opinions. If they decide in favor of Hope Gardens, and it turns out to be a big mistake, I’ll feel to blame.”
“Daniel, no one is going to blame you if that happens.”
“I’ll blame me, just like I partially blamed myself when the fisherman couldn’t catch any fish. I know that I didn’t put a curse of bad luck on them when I refused to complete the blessing of the boats, but their emotions over it were a factor in their failure. If everyone makes their decision based on my opinions, then I would have to feel some responsibility if the decision turns out to be a bad one.”
“Well, we asked you for your opinion, Daniel, and what you said was something that we should all have already been thinking about. You just gave us more food for thought and made us consider an important point. But you also need to think about it the other way. What if you’d kept your mouth shut, and, not considering the things you brought up, we decided against Hope Gardens and later came to regret it? Would you have felt any less bad?”
Daniel shook his head, chuckling. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
“Is that good amazing or bad amazing?”
“Very good amazing. With just a few words, you can make me feel better.”
“I’m glad, Daniel. I want to make you feel better. I’m your friend.”
“Yeah, you are, and it makes me glad.” Daniel looked at her intently. “I’m very grateful that I met you, Alex Stone.”
They gazed at each other for a long time, each of them wanting to say more, but knowing that this wasn’t the time or the place.
“Well, I’d better go now and let you get that rest,” Alex said at last.
The minister nodded. “I’ll see you later.” He watched her leave. “I love you,” he then said softly to the closed door between them.
Smiling slightly, Daniel lowered his bed and closed his eyes, letting himself drift slowly off to sleep.