A Bride for Pastor Dan

Anna sighed as she caught little Bethany yet again. Bethany was convinced that escaping from the church nursery was her most important goal in life. It was her favorite place to be, but she sure loved to torment the adults in there with her. She would pull up on the gate that kept the children in, and somehow get her little fingers into the latch and get it open. No one knew how she did it. She had to be watched every second.
Anna kicked off her shoes and tucked them into the corner, smiling at the teenager who’d been assigned to help her this week. If not for the youth group, Sunday mornings here at Parkside Community Church would be extremely difficult to get through.
Parkside Community Church was in a quiet neighborhood in Arlington, Texas. The members were Rangers fans during the summer and Cowboys fans in the fall. In the winter, they turned into Maverick fans. They loved to have backyard barbeques and swim parties. They had potlucks and baby showers and weddings. The core members were a giant family, and it was a family that Anna was proud to be a member of.
Every Sunday morning a different youth rotated in and out of the baby room to be her assistant. She’d agreed to temporarily take on the baby room six months ago. She said she couldn’t do it for more than a month. Of course, she’d known then that the month would stretch to at least two. Even she hadn’t expected six months. She loved the babies. She loved serving, but she would love to hear a sermon for a change.
She sat down with Bethany and held her while she drank her bottle. Her helper was one who had worked with her multiple times, so she knew the ropes, which was a huge relief. Working in the hectic baby room with someone new was always difficult. Thankfully only three of the six babies were awake right now, and one was happily sucking on his fist in the baby swing.
“Isn’t the new pastor dreamy?” Ashley asked with a far-away grin as she rocked little Matthew to sleep.
There’d been an uproar when the pastor-search committee had announced that they’d chosen a single man to be the new pastor, but their reasoning was sound. They wanted someone young and not set in their ways. They wanted someone who could be wholly focused on the church, at least for a bit, and not thinking about children or a wife. They knew it could bring trouble down the road, and they’d most likely have a wedding to contend with soon, but they’d made the decision they thought best for the church.
When the complaints continued, the search committee had calmly pointed out Jesus was single and no one would have questioned hiring him as pastor. The entire congregation had quieted. Anna had not heard a negative thing about him since he’d arrived.
Anna smiled. “That’s what I keep hearing. I haven’t had a chance to meet him yet.” She looked forward to it, though. They’d had the same pastor here for her entire life, and she was looking forward to being present for a new pastor’s sermons.
“He’s been here over a month! You never miss church. How come you haven’t met him?”
Anna smiled down into little Bethany’s eyes causing her to grin around the nipple of her bottle. “I get here early to set up for Sunday school. I try to make the kindergarten class as interactive as I can. Then for the service, I’m in here with the babies. They’re trying to find someone to replace me, but so far, no one has been willing.”
Ashley frowned. “How come the moms of the babies don’t help out in here? It’s always you and someone from the youth group.”
Anna shrugged. “I don’t mind being with the babies. They make me smile.” Which was true as far as it went.
“I still think their moms need to help out, too. What about Wednesday nights?”
“I’m too busy with the kids program to be able to get out and meet the pastor. I have to make the time, I know, but so far, there just hasn’t been enough. Maybe before he’s been here for a year, we’ll meet.”
“Well, he’s gorgeous. He’s young, too. Maybe he can wait two more years for me to turn eighteen before he gets married.” The excited look on Ashley’s face had Anna picking little Bethany up to burp her so she could hide her grin.
“Maybe he will. I’ve only heard good things about him.”
The long-time pastor of the church had stepped down after a heart attack six months before. Honestly, the man had not really kept up with the position for a few years before. The church had a long way to go to get back to where it should be, but with the love and support of the church family, Anna knew the remaining problems would be gone soon.
She put Bethany on the floor to let her crawl around and find some mischief to get into while she disinfected every toy that had been touched to get ready to go home. One by one the parents came and collected their children. Anna always hated to see them go. She wanted children with everything inside her. Of course, to have children, one must first be married. At least, a Christian woman had to be married first.
She laughed with Bethany’s mom, a young single mother of three, as she passed her off. “She tried to escape again. I don’t know how she does it!”
Mary smiled tiredly. “I don’t either. It’s like that at home, too, though. I can’t keep her out of anything.”
Anna smiled. “Do you have any interviews tomorrow? I can keep the kids.”
Mary had separated from her husband of eight years when she was seven months pregnant with little Bethany. There were, of course, a lot of rumors flying around about that, but Anna ignored them all. She knew that Mary was at church every Sunday with all three children, and her husband hadn’t been seen since the separation. Mary never said an unkind word about her ex-husband, but Anna knew there was more to the story than the church gossips were telling.
“No, I don’t. I got a job offer. Did I forget to tell you?” Mary’s eyes lit up as she spoke. She’d been a stay-at-home mom before her separation, but now was looking for work for the first time in seven years. The child support she’d be getting would not be enough to keep from radically changing her and her children’s lives.
The nursery was empty but for the two of them and Mary’s three children. “That’s wonderful. What will you be doing?”
“I’m going to be a teacher’s assistant at your school. I’ll be working with the pre-k kids.”
“That’s great! You’ll be off work when your older two are out of school. Do you need me to keep them tomorrow while you run some errands? Or take a nice long nap?”
Mary laughed. “I guess it’s pretty obvious I need one, huh? I do need to go to the grocery store, but I can take the kids.”
Anna shook her head emphatically. “Leave them with me. I enjoy them. Once school starts I won’t get to see them as much.” Anna taught kindergarten at a local elementary school.
Mary debated for a moment. “You know what? If you really don’t mind it would help me out a lot if you’d watch them for a couple of hours. If my mom were closer, I wouldn’t have to rely on you so much, but she’s in Indiana.”
Anna gave her a one armed hug around the fidgety baby in Mary’s arms. “I know. Texas is a long way from Indiana, though.”
Mary bit her lip. “I’ve thought about moving back home, but I’m thirty years old. I don’t need to be living with my mama.”
“You have family here. It’s called your church family.”
Tears sprang to Mary’s eyes. “I know. It’s just so hard to ask for help.”
“That’s why I offer. You never have to ask. You’re my sister, and I’ll help in any way I can.”
“Thanks for being such a great sister.”
A hand took Mary’s and started pulling her toward the door. “Mom, I’m hungry!”
Mary laughed. “You’re always hungry, Noah.”
Five year old Noah grinned displaying his missing front teeth. “I know. Feed me!”
Mary called back, “We’ll be there around noon. I’ll feed them first.”
Anna nodded. “Sounds good!”
She looked around the room to make sure that she hadn’t missed anything. Everything was cleaned and put up. She grabbed her bag with her Sunday school materials and her bubble machine, her secret weapon against crying babies, and headed for the front of the church.
She walked through the quiet church toward the front doors. She needed to figure out something for lunch, and then maybe she’d get a nap. Two and a half hours of excited children was sometimes more than she could take during the summer. She opened the door and was just about to step out onto the hot concrete when a male voice behind her said, “Wait! You’re going to burn your feet.”
She looked down. “Well, phooey. I forgot my shoes again, didn’t I?” She turned to smile at the man who had stopped her and thank him. She swallowed hard. Wow. Whoever he was, he was nice looking. The church was small enough that she knew most everyone, but big enough that seeing a new face didn’t surprise her at all. She stared for a moment. “Thank you. I appreciate you stopping me.” She was surprised she was able to find her voice. He was handsome enough that she had a huge lump in her throat.
The blacktop heated by the hot Texas sun had been known to cause blisters. She was glad he’d stopped her, but who was he?
He held out his hand to shake hers. “I’m Daniel Stevens. And you are?”
Oh. So this was the new pastor. No wonder Ashley had been all but drooling as she’d talked about him. Anna put her hand in his. “I’m Anna King.”