was sitting behind a desk, glaring at a legal pad and frowning.
“Look who’s home,” Tina said brightly, exchanging a pointed look with her husband.
“Hello, my darling.” Her father beamed. “Home for a visit?”
“Maybe to stay awhile,” she said. And then she burst into tears again.
“Uh-oh.” Mr. Dean sighed and glanced at his wife. “Trouble in paradise, I guess?”
Tina nodded. “I thought it might help if you told her about that young minister and the unmarried couple. You know the one?”
He smiled, reminiscing. “Oh, I do indeed. Make some coffee, will you, dear?”
“I’ll do that little thing.” She went out and closed the door.
Mr. Dean came around the desk to hug his daughter and deposit her in an easy chair. He perched himself on the edge of his desk and studied her wan, tear-stained face. And then he smiled warmly.
“Elissa, I want to tell you about a young man I knew, oh, about twenty-five years ago,” he began. “He was a cocky young brute, just twenty-three at the time. He was good with his fists and not very concerned with the world or even his own future. He came back from Vietnam half out of his mind on alcohol, and he robbed a grocery store and had the bad fortune to get caught.”
He studied his neatly shined black shoes. “Well, to make a long story short, he went to jail. And while he was there, sure that God and mankind had given up on him, a young visiting minister took an interest in him. Now this young hoodlum,” he added brightly, “had an eye for beauty, and he liked the ladies. And there was a lovely young girl with whom he was deeply in love. They’d gone, as the saying goes, a bit too far of an evening, and she’d gotten into a family way. So there she was, all alone, her lover in jail and a baby on the way.”
He sighed. “The young minister found a capable lawyer to defend the young man. He got him off, since it was a first offense, then proceeded, in turn, to find the young man a job, get him married as quickly as was feasible to the young lady and move them into a small apartment.”
Elissa smiled, her tears drying, sure that the young minister had been her father. “What a nice fellow,” she murmured.
“Yes, I thought so, too.” He sighed, returning the smile. “To finish, the young man was so grateful for what the minister had done that he entered a seminary and undertook to repay the man by carrying on his good work.”
“And the minister, I daresay, was delighted with his handiwork.”
Her father had a sad, faraway look in his eyes. “Well, not exactly. You see, the minister was in a reserve unit, and it was called up for duty in Vietnam. The young hoodlum I mentioned came out of combat without a scratch, but the minister stepped on a land mine the very first day he was in Da Nang.” He sighed, a sound resonant with regret. “He was killed before that young man he’d rescued could get in touch and tell him that he’d decided to take the cloth.”
Elissa felt a chill down her spine. “It was you,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Me and your mother. I was twenty-three, she was twenty.” He leaned over and took her hand, holding it tightly. “And now you know why we’ve sheltered you, don’t you, my girl? How well we understand the passions of youth. All too well, I’m afraid.” He smiled at her gently. “Now tell me all about it, and maybe I can help.”
She burst into tears. In all her life, she’d never been so proud to be his daughter. “I didn’t know,” she whispered.
“Sometimes,” he replied, “we have to fall into a hole to touch the sky. The important thing is to realize that we’re never out of God’s heart, no matter what we do. And very often it isn’t until we hit bottom that we reach out for a helping hand.”
She hugged him warmly and sighed, feeling at peace for the first time in days. “I could use a helping hand.”
“Here’s mine. Lean all you like.”
After she told him what had happened, he took her into the kitchen, where they joined her mother for a cozy supper of cold cuts and iced tea. Not one word of censure was spoken.
Her mother seemed to know it all without a word from her husband. She smiled at Elissa with loving warmth.