“Why would he want it in person?”
“Probably so he can talk to the team bigwigs at the same time.”
Which meant Dan would have more chance to extend his career with them. “Do you want to work there again?”
“And finish my career a Maple Leaf? Yeah, I’ve been praying about it, and I think I do.”
“Is he certain that there’s no way this can be conducted online?”
“It shows I’m more committed to another contract if I’m there in person too.”
True. She drew in a breath. “Then in that case, go.”
“Are you sure? I didn’t want to cut our time short here.”
“Our time? No, I’ll stay here.” And avoid any more baby sightings. “I’ll go see Ange or something. Why? You don’t plan to stay in T.O. do you?”
“Not a second longer than I need to.”
“Okay, then. I’ll be waiting for you when you return.” She smiled. “But first you probably need to reply so he can set it up.”
He nodded, and moved away to make the call. Leaving her to check her own emails from Heartsong and Dr. McKinnon. Oh, she hoped it wasn’t bad news.
She opened the Heartsong one first. Yes, they’d love to have her in a tour that would start in Sydney. Sydney? Her heart leapt. Go see her family? Oh, she’dlovethat. She checked the date. Her heart sank. Except that would be in October, just when Dan’s season was starting. She chewed her lip. What would he think about her not being there for that?
Since marrying him and becoming a team WAG, she was conscious of trying to support him as much as possible, which meant saying no to some tours. Yes, she was an independent woman, but she also wanted her husband to feel like she had his back. They had fans in very different worlds, and while he avoided social media, they both knew his fans were way more passionate about him than hers were about her. Which was probably just as well, because her job meant she was supposed to be pointing people to loving Jesus rather than loving her. But balancing fame was yet another of those weird things that made their relationship knotty at times. Like his comment about wanting more followers. Her heart pinged. She knew he’d said that in the spur of the moment, that he was sorry for saying that to her, but the mouth only spoke what the heart entertained, so he obviously must’ve thought that to some degree. Hmm. It was probably wise to talk to him about this tour soon.
She peeked up. He was still on the phone, now out on the back deck, one hand on the railing.Lord, have Your way with his contract. So that meant she should be brave and open the doctor’s email. Oh, what would they do if he’d written to say the blood tests had showed they were chromosome incompatible? “Lord?” she whispered. “Help me be brave.”
She winced, and opened the email. Stared at the words. Her chest released. The reports hadn’t come in yet. It was simply a reminder of what they’d talked about last week, with advice regarding looking forward. Along with something new: That if the results came back as incompatible, then maybe they should consider alternatives like IVF.
IVF? That seemed a step too far for right now. She couldn’t even think about that. She closed the email, stared out at the lake shimmering through the trees. What was the point of thinking about IVF if her body couldn’t hold a child?
She placed her hands on her abdomen. “Lord, You are Jehovah Rapha, our healer. Please heal me.” She might’ve prayed for healing like this hundreds of times before, but she was going to be like that persistent widow in the Bible, knocking until God gave her an answer.
She dropped her hands as Dan came in, his forehead creased. No need to add to whatever concerned him. “Is everything okay with your agent?”
“Kris is a little mad that I took so long to reply, but says he’ll set up a meeting tomorrow.”
She nodded. Different agents handled their clients in different ways. But extensions like this could be delicate, especially considering Dan had missed a crucial game that knocked them out of the playoffs. Showing he was committed meant it was important to be there. “So, are you still okay if I see if John and Ange are free tonight?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to be just us?”
Just us. What a powerful combination of two small words. “Much as I’d like, I think it won’t hurt to have some more praying people committing this to God.”
“You know it’s not about the number of people who pray who twist God’s arm, right?”
“Yes. But I also know that people pray about different aspects, so it won’t hurt to have two people who love us know about some of these things.”
He sighed. “Then set it up. If they’re free.”
* * *
“Dan.”His agent shook his hand. “Long time, no see.”
“Thanks for making the time today.”
“Thank you. I realized after the call that Sarah hasn’t been well, and you were probably up in Muskoka, eh?”
