“Okay, thank you.” Anya turned, deliberately keeping her eyes downcast so she wouldn’t have to see those amber eyes staring back at her. Then, just so Claire didn’t think she was being strange, she gave Rafe a brusque farewell nod then fled, not stopping till she was safely back inside her classroom. Thank goodness her class of five-year olds had already gone out to the playground with her assistant. The sight of their teacher dashing, panting into the room and slamming the door shut behind her would not have gone down well at all.
Anya staggered away from the door and over to her desk where she plopped down into her chair, still shaking from the shock of seeing Rafe again. How in the world could this have happened? Rafe and her in the same work place? What were the odds of something like that happening? She shook her head. No, this was no coincidence. The first chance she got she would speak to the principal. She had to get to the bottom of this.
But Anya never got the chance. Not that day, anyway. At the clanging of the last bell she helped her group gather their belongings and escorted them out to the parking area where the school buses and parents were waiting. As soon as the last child was collected she ran back to the office, intent on seeking audience with her boss.
Too late. There, in the main office, stood Rafe. His back was to her. He was speaking with the receptionist and it looked like he was doing an excellent job of charming the socks off the woman, as mature as she was. Whatever he was saying to her must have been tremendously intriguing because she seemed totally entranced.
Anya’s brows fell. For a man like Rafe it was too easy. Had she been charmed just as easily?
Swiftly she turned, planning to disappear before he even realized she’d entered the room. But then, as if alerted by some sort of signal, he looked up and his leonine eyes locked with hers.
Immediately, he smiled. “Anya. I’m glad I caught you. I thought you’d already left.” And, just like that, he began walking toward her, acting like they were old friends. When he was standing right in front of her he cocked his head to one side. “Do you have a minute?” he asked. “Can we talk?”
As she gazed up at him alarm bells went off in Anya’s head. Tell him no, they warned. That’s the last thing you want to do. Stay away from this man. But the pounding of her heart was drowning out the bells and as she opened her mouth she knew she was going to say yes.
But then she blinked and that was what brought her back to her senses. “Um, no,” she said, her voice low so no-one else could hear. “We have nothing to talk about.”
And before he could stop her she turned on her heels and hurried out the door.
***
That afternoon when Rafe walked into the apartment he’d rented he slammed the door shut behind him. Was this how it was going to be? He’d traveled all the way to Germany, committed himself to a three-month stint working in an area he knew nothing about, just for a chance to be close to Anya again…only to have her slam that door right in his face. He was the biggest fool in the world, that was for sure. He should never have listened to Ridge and his harebrained schemes. He could just imagine his brother’s reaction when he told him how things had worked out. Ridge would laugh him from here to kingdom come. Sympathy had never been one of his strong points.
Feeling deflated, Rafe didn’t even bother to get his frozen dinner from the refrigerator. Food was the farthest thing from his mind. Right then what he needed was distraction. He flung himself down onto the sofa, reached for the remote control device and clicked on the television.
He’d been flipping channels for all of seven minutes before he groaned, ready to give up. Over a hundred channels and not a damn thing to watch. A lot of the channels were in German and he just wasn’t in the mood to follow fast-talking native German speakers just then. Other channels were in French, Spanish and Italian and the few English channels he could find were boring as heck. So much for finding his distraction on T.V.
He was just about ready to give up when he switched to a station that was clearly a religious one. The group of young people sitting on a grassy hill were singing a hymn that was known worldwide. “Amazing Grace,” they sang. “How sweet the sound.”
Although it wasn’t his usual cup of tea it sounded pretty good, kind of soothing to his restless spirit, and Rafe settled back in the seat to enjoy the song. As soon as they were done he reached for the remote, ready to move on to something with a bit more excitement, but just as he was about to press the button something on the screen caught his eye and he frowned. No, not something. Someone.
Eyes narrowed, he stared at the youngster seated in the back row, his round face beaming as he sang. Rafe frowned. He knew that face. For the life of him, he couldn’t say from where, but he just knew that he knew him.
And then the kid got up from the grassy bank and walked to the front then turned to face the group. “Thank you, everyone,” he said in a voice that was surprisingly big and bold. “That was wonderful singing, a great start to our meeting.”
It was when he heard the voice that Rafe realized who it was. The kid. Carlos. The one who had joined in the pillow fight and almost murdered him with pillow pounding. Carlos, who had come to Germany to set up a church, was now featured on one of the local religious channels. The kid hadn’t been lying, after all.
His interest in the program renewed, Rafe settled back to watch and that was how he learned about all the work that Carlos and his group were doing in the tiny town of Rothenberg. They’d set up a soup kitchen which did daily food distribution to the less fortunate in their community. They’d helped to build two homes after acquiring donations of two plots of land. Now they were trying to raise funds to acquire a third. Last on their list, they wanted to build a church.
“This is not an easy task,” Carlos told them. “I know it is easy to get discouraged, especially when the need is so great and our resources are so small. Still, we have to keep going. We cannot stop trying, not when there are people in dire need. I implore you, never give up.”
That drew some nods and a few claps but Rafe could see the looks of concern on many of the faces. Carlos, though, did not seem deterred. His message was about hope and faith and by the end of the sermon there was a visible change in the group. Their faces brighter now, the people nodded with each new point that Carlos made.
“I believe in miracles,” he declared. “Miracles come from unexpected places. We may have dreams, dreams to be an uplifting force and those dreams may be challenged. But we should never despair, not when the Lord is on our side.”