Summer (2 page)

Acknowledgments

This book couldn’t have come together without the help of many people. First, a special thanks to my friends at Tyndale, who have believed in the Baxter family books and worked with me to get this next piece of the story to my readers in time for summer! Thank you!

Also thanks to my amazing agent, Rick Christian, president of Alive Communications. I am amazed more every day at your great integrity, your brilliant talent, and your commitment to the Lord and to getting my Life-Changing Fiction out to readers all over the world. You are a strong man of God, Rick. You care for my career as if you were personally responsible for the souls God touches through these books. Thank you for looking out for my personal time—the hours I have with my husband and kids—most of all. I couldn’t do this without you.

As always, this book wouldn’t be possible without the help of my husband and kids, who will eat just about anything when I’m on deadline and who understand and love me anyway. I thank God that I’m still able to spend more time with you than with my pretend people, as Austin calls them. Thanks for understanding the sometimes crazy life I lead and for always being my greatest support.

Thanks to my mother and assistant, Anne Kingsbury, for her great sensitivity and love for my readers. You are a reflection of my own heart, Mom, or maybe I’m a reflection of yours. Either way we are a great team, and I appreciate you more than you know. I’m grateful also for my dad, Ted Kingsbury, who is and always has been my greatest encourager. I remember when I was a little girl, Dad, and you would say, “One day, honey, everyone will read your books and know what a wonderful writer you are.” Thank you for believing in me long before anyone else ever did.

Thanks also to my executive assistant, Tricia Kingsbury, who stepped in and took over this job with little notice. Tricia, keep dreaming big and reaching for your goals! And until God opens that door, thank you for using your talents to help me reach mine. Also thanks to my sister Susan, who helps me manage reader letters and who lends a great deal of spiritual and relational wisdom to the job. I appreciate you!

And to Olga Kalachik, whose hard work helping me prepare for events allows me to operate a significant part of my business from home. The personal touch you bring to my ministry is precious to me, priceless to me. . . . Thank you with all my heart.

And thanks to my friends and family who continue to surround me with love and prayer and support. I could list you by name, but you know who you are. Thank you for believing in me and for seeing who I really am. A true friend is loyal above all things, stands by through the changing seasons of life, and cheers you on not for your successes but for staying true to what matters most. You are the ones who know me that way, and I’m grateful for every one of you.

Of course, the greatest thanks go to God Almighty, the most wonderful Author of all—the Author of life. The gift is Yours. I pray I might have the incredible opportunity and responsibility to use it for You all the days of my life.

Forever in Fiction

A special thanks to Marla Selby-Stone, who won the Forever in Fiction item at the Kings Way Christian school auction. Marla chose to honor her daughter, Tatum Renee Selby, by having a character in this book named after her.

Tatum is eight years old and is proud to have Jesus in her heart. She cherishes her friendships, enjoys trying new foods and places, and loves a happy ending. Tatum is involved in gymnastics, and she also enjoys singing and dancing. She is a good friend to many and is known for her compassion and discernment. She is the oldest of three siblings and is part of a very close extended family. She and her mother and siblings live next door to her maternal grandparents. Tatum’s favorite vacation spot is Hawaii—maybe the only place where she couldn’t take her precious poodle, Princess. Tatum has long blonde hair and blue eyes and makes frequent visits to Bulgaria, her mother’s homeland.

In
Summer
, I chose to make Tatum a special friend of Brooke and Peter’s daughter Maddie. She is also the first girl Cole Blake gets a crush on—something that makes his mother, Ashley, feel how quickly her son is growing up.

Marla, I pray that Tatum will be honored by your decision to name her Forever in Fiction, and I hope that whenever you read this book, you’ll see your daughter as part of the story.

In addition, a special thanks to Amy McDaniel, thirty-seven, who won the Forever in Fiction item at the Northshore Christian Academy in Everett, Washington. Amy wanted to be a character in one of my books, and I chose to make her an obstetrician in
Summer
. In real life, Amy’s life revolves around her love for family. She has five kids—Kobe, Kaden, Kalvyn, Kami Rose, and Karson. She is married to Brad, the man of her dreams, and together they own a hardware store, where they enjoy chatting it up with the regulars.

Amy has been a teacher and a bungee jumper. She’s good at water sports and helping her friends decorate their houses. She loves snow skiing, scrapbooking, and Hawaii. More than anything, Amy loves Jesus, and she loves being a wife and a mother, but she still misses her younger brother and her father. Amy lost her brother when she was a senior in high school, and her grief led her to a relationship with Christ. Her father succumbed to cancer shortly after he had the privilege of walking Amy down the aisle at her wedding. These losses have made Amy compassionate and understanding, the way Dr. Amy McDaniel is in this novel.

Amy, I pray you will see a glimpse of yourself and your passion for family as you read
Summer
and that you will always be glad for the chance to be Forever in Fiction.

For those of you who are not familiar with Forever in Fiction, it is my way of placing you, the readers, into my stories while raising money for charities. To date this item has raised more than $100,000 at charity auctions across the country. If you are interested in having a Forever in Fiction package donated to your auction, contact my executive assistant, Tricia Kingsbury, at [email protected]. Please write
Forever in Fiction
in the subject line. Please note that I am able to donate only a limited number of these each year. For that reason I have set a fairly high minimum bid on this package. That way the maximum funds are raised for charities.

For Katy Hart Matthews, all her life—every successive year of her adolescence, every season of pain or joy, all the lonely days and weeks and months without love—had only been the path that led her to the here and now, her honeymoon with Dayne Matthews.

With every breath she was convinced that this brilliant moment in time would shine forever like the brightest star in the night sky of her memory, a time that would always make her certain that this—this man and this time and this shared faith—was the reason she’d been born.

Dayne had surprised her with a two-week trip to the Bahamas. They’d spent the first week in a secluded beachfront bungalow not far from the well-known Atlantis resort and this second one on a private island a thirty-minute ferry ride from Nassau.

Wilma Waters, the wedding coordinator, had handled the details so Katy and Dayne had a personal staff complete with a chef, a cleaning crew, and a recreation coordinator in charge of providing scuba gear, Jet Skis, and whatever else the couple might need.

Only Wilma and Dayne’s agent knew the phone number at the bungalow, and both had promised that, short of an emergency, they wouldn’t call.

It was the third day of the second week, and Katy woke next to Dayne, amazed as she had been every morning since the wedding that this was her life, that she and Dayne were forever going to wake up this way.

Sunshine streamed through the sheer curtains and shone across the white, downy comforter. Katy drew a long, slow breath and looked at her husband . . . her
husband
. The word still made her feel like they were pretending. The idea had felt impossible for so long; through every brief visit and every long good-bye, while they fled the paparazzi and while Dayne recovered from his car accident, they’d agreed time and again that love could never work for the two of them.
Would
never work.

But somehow here they were on a brilliant blue day, sharing a bed and a brand-new marriage and a love that simply could not be denied. Not for any reason.

Katy rolled onto her side and studied the man beside her, the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Whatever his past, it was behind him.

“Fifty years from now, I’ll look back on this time,” he’d told her during one of their walks on the secluded sandy shoreline, “and I’ll know that my life didn’t really begin until now. With you.”

Dayne didn’t spout pithy lines or tired phrases. So when he told her his life only really started on their wedding day, he meant it. Every word.

Since their first night together, each whisper and quiet conversation over a candlelit dinner had been marked by words that crossed his lips the moment he thought them, words that seemed to take even him by surprise in their depth and intensity. When he took her in his arms and kissed her, when their bodies came together in a show of love Katy hadn’t known possible, she was convinced she was meant for this, to find her way to Dayne Matthews. And so the honeymoon was more than Katy could’ve imagined because she had never known love like this. Overnight her ability to feel seemed magnified a thousand times over. That’s what loving Dayne had done to her. She could only imagine what love would become as they shared the months and years, as they journeyed through the seasons of life together.

Dayne stirred and took a deep breath. He rolled onto his side, facing her, and slowly opened his eyes. “Mmmm . . .” A slow smile filled his face even before he was fully awake. “Good.” He reached for her hand. “It’s not a dream.”

Katy was about to tell him that no, it wasn’t and that she’d had to remind herself of the same thing when she first woke up, but before she could say a word, the phone on Dayne’s bedside table rang. The sound of the ring was foreign after so many days without an interruption from the outside world.

Dayne frowned and sat halfway up. “This better be big.” He picked up the receiver, and as he pressed it to his ear, he slid closer to Katy, erasing the inches that separated them. “Hello?” He paused, his expression serious. “That’s okay. What’s up?”

Katy watched him, waiting for his reaction. Since Wilma and Dayne’s agent had been instructed to call only in case of an emergency, she felt her breath catch in her throat. It could be her parents or one of the Flanigans or the Baxters . . . almost anything.

“And he needs to know in an hour?” Dayne raked his fingers through his hair and rolled onto his back again.

Katy breathed out and felt herself relax. Whatever the news, it wasn’t tragic. Based on Dayne’s reaction, it was probably business.

After throwing on a robe, she climbed out of bed, slid the curtains over, and opened the window. She drew in a long breath of ocean air and gazed at the sandy stretch outside their room. The beach looked like something from a calendar, so beautiful that no camera could ever really do it justice. Behind her she could hear Dayne wrapping up the call.

“Right. I’ve seen the show.” Dayne didn’t sound short, but he wasn’t happy either. “I don’t know. . . . I mean, do we need that sort of publicity?” He sighed, and for a while he said nothing. “Okay . . . I get it. I’ll talk it over with her and get back to you.”

Katy turned and dropped into a chair near the bed. “Your agent?”

“Yes.” Tension was written across Dayne’s brow, a tension that hadn’t been there since their wedding day. He sounded tired and uncertain. “Word leaked out that you took the part in
But Then Again No
. I’m sorry, Katy.”

“It’s not your fault. They would’ve found out.”

“This is a little different.” He hesitated, almost as if he didn’t want to finish his thought. “
For Real
wants to feature us in a twelve-episode segment. It’d run once a week when our movie opens.”

Adrenaline shot into Katy’s veins, and her heart skipped a beat. She blinked and stared at the tile floor.
For Real
was one of the most watched reality shows on TV. “You mean like . . . follow us home and camp in our living room?” Reality shows had done that with other celebrities, usually with terrible results.

“No.” Dayne sat up and leaned against the headboard. “They’d stick to the set.” Doubt flashed in his eyes. “My agent thinks it might make the whole movie thing easier for us.”

Katy gripped the arms of the chair. She couldn’t shake a sudden surge of fear. “Having us the subject of a reality show?” The idea was enough to make her change her mind about the part.

Over the next few minutes, Dayne explained the offer. The camera crews would document Katy and Dayne working together, giving the country what it would so desperately want anyway—an inside look at Dayne Matthews and his new bride.

“Sort of like my idea.” Katy was starting to understand. “Smile for the cameras rather than run from them.”

“Right. Only on a much bigger level.” The fine lines around Dayne’s eyes were proof he didn’t like the idea, but his tone said he understood where his agent was coming from. “Make the story more available and because of that less desirable.”

Katy stood. A reality show? About the two of them? She turned and walked out onto the balcony. Behind her, she could hear Dayne climb out of bed, hear him slipping on his shorts. The touch of his arm as he came out and stood beside her sent chills down her. For a while neither of them said anything. Then Katy rested her elbows on the railing and met Dayne’s eyes. “Think it’ll work? Take the heat off?”

Dayne looked at her, and the weight of their decision colored his expression. “My agent thinks so.”

“What about you?”

“Maybe.” A warm breeze drifted up off the gentle surf. “The producers want a commitment from us in an hour. They need to put together a package and present it to the network execs.”

Katy didn’t want to make the decision. Too much rested on how it went. “If we do it, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“The press could get more interested.” He narrowed his eyes, concentrating. “But I’ve only seen that when the crews follow celebrities 24-7.”

A fine layer of salt lay on the railing, and Katy dusted off a section with her fingertips. “It isn’t a long commitment, I guess.”

Again they were quiet, and Dayne slid his bare foot next to hers. He breathed out long and hard and stared into the clear, blue sky. “We don’t really have a choice. They’ll follow us one way or another.”

“It’d be good publicity for the movie.” Katy still felt slightly sick at the thought, but Dayne was right. If they turned down the offer, they would be dodging paparazzi every hour of the day. At least with a reality show, there was a good chance the story would feel overplayed. The press might find another, more secretive, celebrity to focus on.

“Exactly.” Dayne allowed the hint of a smile, his first one since the phone call. “That’s what my studio’s saying. Obviously.”

In the end, they prayed together, and when neither of them had a sense of peace over the proposition, Dayne tried to call his friend Bob Asher, who worked as a missionary in Mexico. Bob always seemed to have the right answer for Dayne, but this time Dayne couldn’t get ahold of him.

His last attempt was a call to John Baxter, his dad. The call didn’t last long, and afterwards Dayne sat in the chair near the phone, his expression more confused than ever. “He said the idea worried him.”

“It worries me.” Katy went to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “So what should we do?”

He stood and eased his arms around her. His eyes searched hers. “We have no choice about the scrutiny. They’ll take pictures with or without our permission.”

At the end of a restless hour, Dayne and Katy agreed. Letting the paparazzi have full access to them during the filming of the movie was the lesser of two undesirable situations. They would have nearly one month to savor their privacy, to return home from their honeymoon and help Katy move into their lake house. They would have quiet mornings overlooking Lake Monroe and dinners with the Baxters, and come early May, they would fly back to Los Angeles, roll up their sleeves, and get to work.

Dayne made the call. His voice still held some of the doubt from earlier. “We’ll do it.” He gave Katy a wary look. “The cameras can only be on the set, and it will only be for twelve episodes.”

After the phone call, Dayne and Katy tried to put the news behind them, tried to find their way back to the easy laughter of the past few days. But they compared notes several times that morning. All they could think about was the reality show and whether agreeing to it had been the right decision.

An hour after breakfast, they walked out to the sandy shore and toward the supply box stationed near a pair of beach chairs. They’d arranged to snorkel today, and even with so much on their minds, Katy couldn’t wait to hit the water.

Positioned at either end of their private beach were lifeguards with radios. Their first role was one of safety and protection, but they were also available if Katy and Dayne needed anything from a box lunch to towels or additional gear.

Dayne held Katy’s hand, their legs brushing against each other as they walked. When they reached the wooden box, he stopped and turned to Katy. A breeze blew in from the ocean and swirled around them. “For the next few hours, there’s no thinking about movies or reality shows or paparazzi.” He crooked his finger and placed it gently beneath her chin. He seemed to find a deeper place in her heart. “Too soon we’ll be headed home.” He leaned close and touched his lips to hers. “We didn’t come here to talk about business.”

She felt the corners of her lips lift. “Okay.” She shifted her gaze to the white, sugary sand and the blue-green water beyond it. Honeymoons came once in a lifetime, and a honeymoon like the one she was sharing with Dayne Matthews was beyond anything she had ever dreamed. She kissed him again and grinned. “The gear’s in the box?”

“Let’s see.” Dayne released her hand and lifted the lid. The hinges creaked, and as he opened it all the way, a pair of moths fluttered free and drifted toward a bright pink hibiscus. He reached inside and pulled out a snorkel, a mask, and a pair of fins. He handed them to Katy and took out another set for himself. “All we need is a little water.”

Her laugh mingled with the sound of the surf. The ocean spread out as far as she could see. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

They slipped on their gear and moved into knee-deep water. Dayne pointed toward an area fifty feet out. “There’s a small reef that way.”

Then without saying another word, they eased into the water and started swimming. The water was clear and warm and silky against Katy’s skin. Neither of them was in a hurry. Even before they reached the reef, they spotted schools of fish, some of them as large as Frisbees with orange and black and white stripes.

Dayne took Katy’s hand, and the feel of his body moving through the water beside her did what nothing else had been able to since the phone call from Dayne’s agent. It made her forget about the reality show.

They spent most of the next two hours along the shallow reef, marveling at the coral and stopping to study brightly colored exotic fish. A ways off, they spotted a four-foot shark moving slowly along the reef. Their personal guide had told them that the sharks in this part of the ocean were small and had plenty of food. Even so, Katy felt her heart skip a beat. She reached for Dayne’s hand, and he gave hers a couple of reassuring squeezes.