While Kevin was a pretty serious Christian as things went among Colorado River boatmen, around a place like Hickory Run he was a real amateur and he knew it. The next evening he was sitting on the floor in the corner of Sarah’s room – a chair wasn’t necessary for a boatman like him, either – while his fiancée and Nanci were busy discussing some obscure, and to him, boring, point of Calvinist doctrine. He was reading the Bible, as he often did, but he couldn’t pay the attention to it that he would have liked with the discussion by the two women going on in the background.

After the two deputies had dragged Bowman from the room the night before, the five of them went down to talk to Mrs. Ellison. It proved that she had a room available, although hardly the best one in the house, so since no one knew what would happen with Bowman it seemed like the logical choice was for Kevin to stay around the place, although propriety dictated that he couldn’t stay with Sarah.

When he came down to breakfast the next morning, he found Mrs. Ellison was nowhere near ready to serve her tenants; she was feeling poorly, and just wasn’t up to speed. Without a comment, Kevin took over the grill and soon had the food flowing out the door, unobstructed by the fact that this wasn’t at a campsite in the Grand Canyon, where he’d cooked many meals like that before. Needless to say, Mrs. Ellison was happy to have the help, he waved off her thanks – he just needed something to do to kill the time, he told her.

From his viewpoint, Nanci and Sarah had more or less settled whatever it was they’d been talking about, but within minutes they were heading off into another nearly incomprehensible discussion when they heard a knock on the door. Kevin got to his feet as Sarah called out, “Who is it?”

“Warren and Norm,” came the voice from behind the door.

Since Kevin was already up, he went to the door to open it, leaving behind the tire iron he’d taken from his car just in case Bowman showed up again. “Hi, guys,” he said as he opened the door. “What’s up?”

“Can we come in?”

“Sure,” Sarah replied. “We’re going over John Calvin again.”

“You know,” Norm shook his head, “I sure am going to be glad to be done with that paper.”

“You and me both,” Sarah agreed. “So what can we do for you tonight?”

“I’m afraid we have news that’s less than good,” Warren said. “Bowman pulled that ‘I’m a minister, you’ve got to believe me,’ jazz on the judge, and the judge let him go.”

“Oh, nuts,” she sighed. “I was at least hoping they’d hold him until the end of the term, so Nanci and I could get out of here.”

“I didn’t say the judge was anything other than a pinhead,” Warren replied. “You have to expect that kind of thing sometimes. After all, it was another pinhead judge who sentenced Jesus to the cross. This isn’t quite the same thing.”

“If they turned him loose, I’d almost expect that he would be back over here bothering Sarah again,” Nanci shook her head.

“I have to say that if he’d actually hit Sarah there would have been a better chance that they would have kept him, but I guess they have a tight budget for running their jail,” Norm commented. “But be that as it may, he’s on the loose again.”

“Yeah,” Sarah replied dejectedly. “So now what do I do?”

“I’ll tell you what I’d like to do,” Kevin said, “and that’s to pile you and your stuff into my car and head for Flagstaff.”

“Don’t think I’m not ready to do it,” Sarah shook her head. “In fact, I’m all but ready to take you up on it. But we’re so close to the end of the semester, I think I ought to at least finish it up, but I don’t know if I dare to do it now with that idiot on the loose again.”

“Right,” Kevin said. “The nice thing about going to Flagstaff is that you would still have that personal protective order against him, so if he follows you there again, he’ll be right back in the county slammer.”

“I hate it that he’s running my life like that, even negatively,” Sarah shook her head. “But you’re right, I’d be better off in Flagstaff than I would be here. It would be nice to finish out the semester, but you’ve got a good idea, Kevin.”

“Sarah, you don’t have to run off,” Warren said. “If it’s only going to be for a couple of weeks, then I think Norm and I can manage to keep an eye on you. If Bowman comes for you again, I think he’ll regret it even more than he did this time.”

“Three strikes and he’s out,” Norm added.

“But guys, I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve got classes, too.”

“It’s all the same classes,” Warren said, unbuttoning a sleeve of the white shirt he wore. “So we’ll be there. We can protect you if he comes after you outside the building. If Kevin is with you and you keep your door locked, you ought to be all right inside, and there are a couple of other things we can do, too.”

“But he’s obviously crazy,” Sarah protested. “I can’t ask you to get involved.”

“No big deal,” Warren smiled, sliding up his shirtsleeve. Sarah noticed there was a tattoo on his forearm, a small dark-colored seal. She glanced over at Norm, who had his sleeve pushed up too; on his forearm was a similar-sized triangle. “If he wants to start something, we can handle it.”

“I guess you can,” Kevin nodded as the two men slid their sleeves back down their arms. “Sarah, you might as well finish out the semester. We’ll have to talk about next semester, but let’s get this one out of the way first. By then we may know more, and maybe if we’re a little lucky Bowman will come after you in Coconino County again.”

“I’d rather he didn’t come after me at all, but I guess that’s not my choice,” Sarah sighed. “All right, I guess I might as well finish out the semester rather than throw it away because of that idiot. Maybe by the time we have to come back here something will have happened so I’ll have a better idea of what to do.”

“Good enough,” Warren said, handing her a small black box about the size and shape of her cell phone. “If he shows up and we’re not around, just press this button,” he said, pointing at it. “It’ll send an alert to our cell phones. We’ll be here in the building when we’re not in class, just like you, so we won’t be far away. Like I said, keep your door locked and don’t let anyone in you don’t know.”

“I can do that.”

“Oh, and Kevin,” Warren smiled. “You might as well put that tire iron back in your car. I’ll leave something with you that’s a little less obtrusive, but don’t use it if you don’t have to.” He handed Kevin a paper bag that was obviously heavy. “Now, what do you say we get together tomorrow after breakfast and wrap that paper up so we can get it out of our hair?”

“That sounds good to me,” Sarah agreed. “I’ll tell you what, I’m about as tired of John Calvin as I am of Abraham Bowman.”

“Me, too,” Norm agreed. “He certainly was a fanatic, wasn’t he?”

“Both of them,” Sarah nodded.

“All right,” Warren said. “That’s about that. We’ll see you ladies at breakfast, and you too, Kevin. Have a good evening, all.”

“Thanks, guys,” Kevin said. “I feel a lot better knowing that you two will be keeping an eye on Sarah.”

Warren and Norm were soon gone, but the atmosphere in the room had changed a lot. Sarah and Kevin sat down on the bed, while Nanci took Sarah’s study chair. “Well, that simplifies a few things, I guess,” Kevin said.

“I think it does, but what was that business with the tattoos, Kevin? Your attitude sure changed when you saw them. I have no idea what that was about.”

“We had a couple of guys on a river trip a few years ago who had the same thing,” Kevin said respectfully. “They explained it to me. Warren is a former Navy SEAL. They have the reputation for being the toughest of the tough.”

“And the triangle?”

“It’s a delta symbol, not just a triangle,” he smiled. “That means Army Delta Force. They’re supposed to be just as tough as the SEALs, but they don’t like to blow their horn as much. Actually, right at the moment I hope Bowman decides to tangle with them. Someone would have to have to use a shovel and a mop to clean up the pieces they’d leave behind.”

“I would never have believed it,” Nanci shook her head. “I figured them to have been supply sergeants or something.”

“They sure look like it, don’t they?” Kevin grinned. “Of course, that’s what they want people to think. Well, that buys us some time to figure out what to do next, doesn’t it?”

“A couple of weeks, at least,” Sarah sighed. “But the big thing I can see is that I’ve got to make up my mind about whether to come back here next semester, and I don’t really want to do it, not with the possibility of Bowman coming out of the woodwork at any time.”

“It’d be a shame to miss the rest of the course,” Nanci pointed out.

“Yeah, but so what?” Sarah shook her head. “Nanci, the course here was leading you someplace. You came here so you could be ordained, because that’s what you want. The only reason I came here in the first place, besides wanting to know some of this stuff, was that it was a safe place for my parents to park me so maybe I could get a little more exposure to the world. I’m not planning on being a minister like you are, and I’m not sure how I would like it. Staying at this place is close to pointless for me now. I might as well finish out the semester since we’re so close to done, but if I want to finish up the course, I could do it later, or do it somewhere else, or something. Right now I have no desire to do it.”

“I have to grant you all of that,” Kevin said. “And I’m not arguing with you, either. Sarah, I want you back in Flag where I can keep an eye on you in case that Bowman jerk shows up again. If I have to be back home and you’re here, I’ll be worried all the time unless I knew he was in jail or something.”

“I don’t see that there’s anything much to decide,” Sarah smiled. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s settled. As soon as the semester is over with, we’re off to Flagstaff.”

“I can’t blame you in the slightest,” Nanci told her. “In fact, that’s what I would advise you to do. Sure, there will be a few problems to work out, but they can be worked out. I mean, like a place to stay. I’m sure Al and Mom will be willing to put you up for a few weeks, but that’s not a permanent solution.”

“No, while they’ve been very good to me, there’s a limit to how much I want to put them out, too.”

“Well, there’s always the Girls’ House,” Nanci suggested. “From what Kevin said last night, it sounds like Scooter and Jim don’t plan on being there much before spring rigging, say toward the end of March as a guess. I don’t know what Barbie Tompkins is planning on doing, but if it came down to you and her it ought to work out. I don’t know Barbie very well but Crystal used to run with her a lot and she says Barbie is cool.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Kevin said. “Stay with me.”

“Kevin, I love you and I want to be with you, but I’m just old-fashioned and Methodist enough that I don’t think it’s right to live with my boyfriend before we get married. I mean, just being engaged is not enough.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“So I feel the same way, and I’m sure my folks do, too, so we might as well get married. After all, you’ve already got my engagement ring.”

“Are you saying now? Or at least real soon?”

“I’m saying before the Associate Pastor of the Hillside Methodist Church heads back here after Christmas break.”

“You’re kidding! That soon?”

“Who says it has to be a long engagement? Besides, if Bowman decides to take another run at you, it’ll be my wife he’s taking a run after. I don’t know if it would deter him but it might just give him a little reason to think.”

Sarah stepped back and looked at her future husband for a moment, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, Kevin!” she cried. “Of course I will.”

The semester at Hickory Run Methodist Seminary soon wound down to an end. Since many people would be departing after classes on the last Friday, on Thursday evening there was a dinner held in the dining room at Mrs. Keller’s Place for the about-to-be-wed couple. The fellow residents that Nanci and Sarah had gotten to know were there, and so were several of the professors from the seminary. The latter, of course, were a little sorry to hear that Sarah wouldn’t be coming back the next term, but they also knew the reason why, so nothing much was said about it.

Classes wound down the next day. Sarah and Nanci were concentrating on them, of course, while Kevin worked at packing up Sarah’s things and hauling them down to his car. There was so much there that it soon became full, so he put the remainder in Nanci’s Camry. They stayed the night at Mrs. Keller’s Place since it was getting late, but the first thing after breakfast in the morning and telling Mrs. Ellison goodbye, the three of them were westbound toward Flagstaff in the two cars. They planned on taking three full days to make the crossing, stopping in motels along the way. There was no huge hurry, after all; if Bowman spotted them leaving, there was no hint of it.

It was as long and dull a drive as it ever was – over twenty-four hours of pure driving time, exclusive of pit stops, meal breaks, and the like. While Sarah wanted to ride with Kevin as much as she could, she also realized it must be a little lonely for Nanci in the Camry, so she switched off between the two and did some of the driving herself.

Early on the afternoon of their second day out it was Nanci’s turn to have Sarah for a passenger. They were going across Oklahoma at the time through relatively featureless countryside, on a road thick with coast-to-coast semis. “You know,” Sarah said after looking out the window for a while, not that there was much to see, “I sometimes have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.”

“I know the feeling,” Nanci admitted. “Six and a half years ago I drove up this road thinking pretty much the same thing. I didn’t know what was ahead of me, and while I knew it could be death, it was out of Chicago, so whatever happened it would be fine with me. I sure would never have dreamed everything that happened since then.”

“It is pretty incredible when you stop and think about it, isn’t it? Think of what it’s like for me. A year and four months ago when I met you I was afraid of the world, with no prospects, and no idea what I was going to do with my life. And really, I didn’t care. Then you walked into my life, and just by being you, my life was turned upside down and inside out.”

“Are you sorry about it?”

“Not in the slightest. I mean, I think about what I’ve done since then, what you’ve had me do, and what you’ve made me do, and I can’t believe I’m the same person. I certainly never thought I’d be riding out to Flagstaff, Arizona, to marry the nicest guy I’ve ever met who wasn’t already married. That would never have happened if you weren’t involved with it every step of the way.”

“Well, I hope it works out for you,” Nanci replied. “But I also hope you realize that I’m not going to be as much help to you from here on out. I won’t be in the next room or the next sleeping bag. You’re going to have to do the next steps on your own, but with Kevin involved, not me.”

“I realize that,” she replied. “And well, I don’t want to say I’m scared, but it is a huge step in faith for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Kevin, and I love him a lot, but I have to admit that I wonder just how good a wife I’m going to be.”

“I think you’ll do all right,” Nanci smiled. “Sure, you’re going into waters you haven’t charted, but it’s not like you’re going into them alone. The two of you have a lot going for each other, and that includes the fact that Kevin is a pretty understanding guy. What’s more, both of you are going into it heads up and with a good relationship with the Lord. In my book, that counts for a lot.”

“I think you’re right on that part of it, but it’s not exactly what I’m talking about. Nanci, I’m talking about well, uh, you know.”

“Sex?”

“How did you guess?”

“Because I’m a woman too, maybe? Look, you know I’ve been there and I’ve done that, and it didn’t come out very good for me. You also know why, because it was shallow and meaningless. I will admit to having what I thought were good times at the time, but they didn’t work out that way in the long run. You have got one big thing going for you that I never had, Sarah, and that is that you love the guy. I never had that.”

“I thought that was pretty much what you’d say, and it’s not quite what I’m talking about. I mean, the, uh, the doing it. I can’t imagine what it will be like.”

“I don’t know for sure, and I’ve never asked him, but I think Kevin will be right with you in it being a new experience for him. About all the advice I can give you is what I’ve heard from others, which is to work together to try to enjoy it. Sex is not just something you endure. I can tell you it can be a lot of fun if you approach it with an open mind. Just remember it’s not just about you, but about him, too. You have to work to help each other enjoy it or a lot of the spark goes out. When it’s one-sided between two people it can get pretty old in a hurry.”

“I hope I can remember that when I’m in that bed with him. I mean, I know what’s supposed to happen, but, well . . . I’m scared I won’t be good enough for him.”

“Don’t you think he may be scared he may not be good enough for you?”

“Yeah, well, I suppose. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Sarah, there’s one more thing I can tell you. Sex is not just about making babies, it can be a special way of sharing intimacy between a couple, something that’s theirs alone. You remember Jennifer, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Jennifer had all those men over all those years. I can’t tell you how many and I doubt if she can, either. Now, you have to figure that with those odds, she must have come across someone who was really good at it, don’t you? I mean, really good?”

“Well, yeah, I suppose.”

“Then why is she with Will?”

“I’m not seeing what you’re driving at. Because he loves her, and she loves him?”

“That would be my guess on the surface, but my honest opinion, and it’s just my opinion, is that she was never able to feel very intimate with all of those guys she’s had over the years. I mean, they were just someone to have sex with, and I’d use an earthier term but I don’t think you’d appreciate it. Somehow, Will managed to get beyond just the sheer mechanical act and get to her with an intimacy that she can’t share with anyone else, and all I can say is, lucky her.”

Sarah was silent for a while before she replied thoughtfully, “You know, I think you’re right.”

“I’m pretty sure I am. Sarah, while I had a lot of men back in my bad old days, I never came across anyone who really wound my clock, and I think it was because I never felt like I could share intimacy with them. I mean, not past the physical fun, which certainly was there, but I couldn’t get down to the deeper meaning. Maybe someday I’ll find it, but it looks like you’re heading off into a place I’ve never been able to explore. So what I guess I’m trying to tell you is to expect it to be awkward and embarrassing the first time, maybe the first several times. Unlike me, neither of you is carrying any experience into this. But work at it, experiment a little, try different things, and you should be able to work out what works best for you.”

“You know, I think that’s pretty good advice.”

“I want to add one other thing. I mean, it’s something you’d expect me to say since I’m a minister and all, but it probably would be a good idea to get down on your knees and pray for help in making the experience the best for the both of you. That’s especially true when you do it for the first few times. After that, maybe a little spontaneity can be fun, too.”

“I think I can see that.”

“Right. You don’t want to let it get too automatic or it gets boring. And Sarah?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t ever think that I won’t be envying you every step of the way.”

A few days later, on New Year’s Eve, when people around the world were getting set to party and have fun, there was a simple ceremony in the chapel of the Hillside United Methodist Church in Flagstaff. The ceremony was held there since, though there were a surprisingly good number of people in attendance, the chapel was intimate enough to make the crowd seem larger.

And it was a pretty good crowd, including some of the members of the church. There were a lot of Kevin’s relatives, of course, since his family in town was not small. Sarah had no actual relatives in attendance as her family in Rwanda had no idea this was happening, and there was no way to contact them. But she had friends there who made up for it, plenty of friends, most of whom she’d made in the past year, including the members of the White Team. Many of the rest were friends and relatives of Nanci and Crystal, a new family which, while on the patchwork and pickup side, seemed to mean a lot more to her than any relatives she really had.

Sarah and Kevin stood at the altar, where Nanci, wearing a skirted business suit and a clerical collar, pronounced them man and wife.

“What God has put together, let no man tear asunder.”

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