A few days into summer break, her grandfather called her and asked her to join him for a celebratory dinner. He treated her to the Viscolli restaurant on top of the famous hotel. They sat near the windows, and every hour the entire restaurant rotated 360 degrees, giving a perfect view of the Atlanta skyline.
During the entrée, he said, “So, your grandmother and I agreed that if you keep your grades up, we want to pay for the rest of your school.”
Overwhelmed, Daisy exclaimed, “Papa! That’s amazing! Gracias! Muchas gracias. How can I ever repay you?”
Her grandparents chuckled, and her grandfather said, “Funny you should ask.” He folded his hands and met her eyes with a solemn look. “After you pass the bar, promise me you will do something for us.”
“What? Anything. I’ll do whatever you like.”
He nodded. “We would like you to serve as the legal representative and executive director for Gálatas Seis. We hope you can commit to five years. Now, understand Cariño, the position is not charity work on your part. It isn’t a lot, but there’s a salary.”
Her grandparents had built Gálatas Seis from the ground up, using the verses in Galatians 6:1-10 about bearing one another’s burdens, doing good, and sowing the Spirit as their mission statement. Daisy had no idea her grandparents ever even had such plans for her. The five-year commitment didn’t really concern her. She felt that amount of time was a small price to pay in exchange for a college education and starting out debt-free. She had visited Gálatas Seis a few times in recent years but could not even imagine how she would fit in there. “I don’t know anything about running a non-profit.”
“That’s the idea, Cariño. We teach you everything.”
“Why five years?”
“The truth is, life is short. Your grandmother and I, we really want to travel. We want to visit family more. Things like that. For the first few years, you learn everything you can. After that, we hope you can take over a lot of the work there so we can start to move into retirement. Then, for the last few years, train your replacement. The whole time, just relax and rest a little. You will have job security. You’ll be doing good work for a community that needs you. Take that time to build your resume and plan for your future.”
Daisy sat quietly for a few minutes, pondering the idea. To think that her grandparents had planned this for who knew how long? The idea astonished her. “Have you talked to Dad about this?”
“No. Of course not. I’m talking to you. I trust your judgment, Cariño. If we have a deal, we can talk to your parents together.” When she didn’t answer again for a few seconds, he prompted, “Do we have a deal?”
Suddenly, Daisy knew the answer, and no amount of additional mulling would change it. “Deal. And thank you again.”
She worked hard in school and made the short trip home nearly every weekend. By the first semester of her Junior year at Emory, she even went on a few dates, though her feet still remained firmly on the ground. No mountaintop experiences. Once more, Daisy assumed that her childhood crush had been nothing more than that—merely a youthful infatuation—and that real love felt much more mundane than her childish flights of fancy.
All of these memories, the watershed moments of a lifetime, flashed through her mind. How different might her life have been, Daisy wondered, if only this or that moment had gone differently? Daisy pondered that question and even dared to wonder what the future might hold as she held the pregnancy test and watched the tiny little pink minus sign mercilessly and relentlessly turn into a plus symbol.
Definitely not a mountaintop moment.
Thespacious lobby bustled with activity. A receptionist sat at a circular desk and answered the phone in a constant, cheerful voice, “Hamilton, Hamilton, Bosie, and Taylor. How may I direct your call? Please hold.” In the ten minutes she’d sat there, Daisy hadn’t noticed a pause in the incoming calls.
Beside the receptionist, a uniformed guard gazed at half a dozen monitors and kept an eye on anyone who walked through the lobby. When she’d arrived, Daisy had asked to see Jason Taylor. She’d handed him her driver’s license, which he scanned with a hand scanner then directed her to the waiting area.
She contemplated going to the bathroom, but she worried Jason would come down when she was gone, so she waited. Nerves tingled up her arms and across the back of her neck. What did she have to worry about, though? He loved her.
Didn’t he?
The elevator doors opened, and Jason came out. She stood as he walked toward her, a frown covering his face, pulling his dark eyebrows together. He wore a gray suit with a red and yellow striped tie. “Daisy?” He looked around as he approached, scanning the crowd in the lobby. “What are you doing here?”
Her mouth felt like someone had stuffed it with cotton then dried it with a hot air gun. She tried to swallow but thought she’d gag from the effort. “Jason,” she said in a breathless whisper. “Thank goodness you’re here. I tried to call.”
“You know I’m not available on Tuesdays.” He put a hand on her elbow and steered her toward the exit. “I’ll call you when I’m free.”
When she realized he didn’t intend to talk to her, she dug her heels in, abruptly stopping them. “No. This is important.”
He looked around again, his brown eyes darting around like a cornered cat. “What?”
Confused, she jerked her arm free. “Can we talk in your office or something?”
“Of course not!”
She flinched back as if he’d struck her. “What’s wrong with you, Jason?”
As if he suddenly realized how out of character he had just acted, he relaxed. His face smoothed out, his demeanor changed, his mouth moved in a small smile. “Nothing, Daisy. I’m just incredibly busy. I have court in an hour.” He straightened his tie, and she gasped out loud when she saw his hand—the one with the wedding band; the wedding band she’d never seen before. He didn’t notice. “Is it so important it can’t wait until our date on Thursday?”
She narrowed her eyes as she frowned, and she took a full step back away from him. Pieces of a previously unseen puzzle started to fall into place. Answers to questions she didn’t even realize she’d asked popped up. “Why Thursday? Does your wife leave town or something?”
