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  “Hey,” he whispered.

  “Hey yourself,” she whispered back as she felt a slight blush stain her cheeks. She fixed her gaze at the pulpit waiting for the minister to arrive.

  Sure enough, the man who had been sharing stories with her over the past few weeks, stepped up to the front and once more welcomed the church and then proceeded to pray.

  Kate bowed her head with the rest of the congregation but didn’t close her eyes. Her thoughts kept straying back to when she had been the happiest. She had so loved living with her foster family.

  Church had been a huge part of their life. She remembered going to church often. It seemed like they spent quite a bit of their week there either for a service or some other type of activity. Oh, how she missed that family. She tamped the emotions back down. Now was not the time to revisit those memories.

  The sermon began before Kate had even realized it. Her gaze fell to the bulletin in her lap, and she stifled a scream but couldn’t contain a startled lurch. Fiona’s gaze flew to her and she whispered, “Are you okay?”

  Kate nodded but couldn’t tear her gaze from the bulletin. On the front, in bold black letters, was the name of the pastor, Peter Grant. Kate knew that name. Peter had been the name of one of her foster brothers. The family had been the Grant family. It couldn’t be the same person. It had to be a coincidence. Grant was a common enough name.

  Her gaze flew to the front of the church where the man was now getting warmed up on his topic of God’s plans for a person’s life. Could it be? It had been so long, and she had been so young. She had spent more time with the girls than with the boys in the family, but wouldn’t she recognize someone who had been like a brother to her?

  “One of my favorite verses of the Bible is found in Jeremiah chapter twenty-nine verse eleven. Please turn there and let’s all read it out loud together.” There was a rustling of pages as everyone in the congregation quickly flipped to the passage. Fiona had grabbed a Bible from the back of the pew in front of them and was trying to find the verse without much success.

  “There’s a table of contents in the front,” Kate murmured to her. Just before the pastor began reading, Fiona found the verse.

  Kate could barely pay attention to what he was saying. Her foster family had lived much further south, way south. They had never come to Maine, had they? Certainly not when she lived with them. Could they have moved?

  She felt Drew shift beside her. She had completely forgotten he was even there. She sneaked a quick look and he appeared to be absorbed in what the pastor was saying.

  She looked to the other side and Fiona was just as attentive. She apparently was the only one who was having a hard time focusing. She looked again at the man up front and listened to what he was saying.

  “Now, I’m not sure about all of you, but for me, nothing brings me more comfort than to know God has my life all planned out. Not only that, but he wants to give me a good life. Even on the days when it seems like nothing is going right, on the days when it just seems the devil has me in his sights and he’s doing his best to make sure I’m miserable, the Lord has it covered. He is going to turn those horrible moments into something good. ‘For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’”

  Kate thought about this for a moment. How could that be? After the life she’d had? Certainly, life was good now, but that was due to her own hard work. It wasn’t because of some benevolent God who wanted to grant her every wish.

  She had lost everyone who was supposed to care for her. It was obvious the Lord had completely forgotten her. It was understandable. He couldn’t keep an eye on everyone. From time to time, someone must get overlooked. It was just her luck she was the one who had fallen from his view.

  After all, how had her life shown any protection from harm? She had suffered plenty of harm as a child. It wasn’t until she had finally broken away from her family and went out on her own that the pain had stopped.

  Fiona was nudging her to stand. Kate looked around and saw the congregation had once more come to their feet and were singing a closing hymn.

  She glanced over and Drew was gone. She looked around and saw him once more on the stage leading the song. She remembered it. They had sung it at the end of each service when she was a child as well.

  During the final prayer, Kate couldn’t help but reflect on the words they had just sung. “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,” the song had started. All blessings? Kate couldn’t see many blessings in her life. At least she didn’t see any she hadn’t worked hard to get for herself. It just reinforced her belief that God didn’t care about her, had forgotten her, or was just too busy for her.

  “Kate, are you okay?” Fiona was looking at her friend with concern.

  Snapping her head up, she glanced around quickly. Across the sanctuary, people were chatting, smiling, and gathering coats and Bibles. “Yes, I’m fine. So, you survived the service,” Kate said with a small smile, turning the topic of conversation away from herself.

  “Yes, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. Why did you jump in the middle of the service like that? What happened?”

  “I’m not sure. Do you see the pastor anywhere? I need to ask him something.”

  “Kate,” Fiona said in a very exasperated voice, “What is it?”

  Looking at her friend, she knew she had to tell her. Fiona didn’t look in the mood to wait. “I think I may know him.”

  “Well, you’ve been coming here for a while now, of course you know him.” Fiona could be sarcastic at times.

  “That’s not what I mean. I think…I think…” Kate couldn’t seem to get her thoughts under control. How was it possible for Peter Grant, who lived in Florida, to be the pastor of a small church on the coast of Maine? Taking a deep breath, she blurted out, “I think he may be related to the foster family I used to live with.”

  Fiona’s mouth dropped open. “What! When were you in a foster family? You never told me about that!”

  “Shhhhh!” Quickly looking around to see if anyone had noticed, Kate held her hands up to her friend. “It was after my mom kind of went crazy. The state put me in a foster home with a family with the name of Grant. One of the sons was named Peter. I want to ask him. It’s just that they lived in Florida, not Maine. It doesn’t seem possible, but I want to ask him anyway. Will…will you come with me?”

  “Of course! You couldn’t keep me away!”

  They made their way over to where the pastor was greeting everyone as they left the church. Kate had a tight grip on Fiona’s arm. She squeezed it hard and stopped a few feet away. They watched as he finished saying good-bye to the parishioners.

  “Well, hello, there,” he said as he looked up and saw Kate and Fiona standing on the other side of the walk. “It was so nice to see you both this morning.”

  Kate moved a hesitant step forward and stopped. Her heart was pounding. This was crazy. Just thank him and walk away. He can’t be the same person. She couldn’t seem to move or speak. “Yes…um…hello. It was, well…” her voice trailed off. Fiona poked her in the back, clearly conveying to Kate to just spit it out.

  Gathering her courage, Kate began again, “Um…I noticed your name on the cover of the bulletin. You see, well, I don’t think I’ve actually introduced myself before. I was just wondering…does the name Kate Winters mean anything to you?”

  Chapter 17

  Peter’s mouth fell open and he stared at Kate at a loss for words. “Kate? Katie Winters? Yes! Oh my! Wow!” He continued to stammer and stutter as his eyes brightened and a wide smile covered his face. “Social Services whisked you away so fast. My parents tried to find you. They looked for years, but no one would tell them where your father had taken you. This is amazing!”

  Kate suddenly found herself engulfed in a bear hug. She held her arms stiffly at her sides. She wasn’t used to random outbursts of affection. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time anyo
ne had hugged her, including Fiona. She didn’t like to be touched and Fee respected that. This man, however, didn’t seem to care. Her arms slowly came up and she returned the embrace quickly before stepping back.

  “Isn’t God amazing? Only he could have orchestrated a reunion such as this so many miles from where we first met!” Peter continued to gush. “How are you? How’s your dad? We have some catching up to do!”

  Drew was putting away his guitar and saying goodbye to his bandmates when he heard Peter yell. He turned to watch him catch Kate up in a bear hug. What is going on there? He decided he didn’t much like the fact that his brother was hugging Kate. Not even a little bit.

  “See you guys later. Remember, we have this next week off. Ron’s team is on. I’ll get the music out to you soon for the week after.” With a wave, he grabbed his guitar case and music and headed towards the doors.

  While Kate was happy to have found Peter, she wasn’t in any mood to discuss her father or what happened after she had left the Grant’s house. She was still working on processing everything when she looked up and saw Drew heading their way.

  “Hey, Peter, what’s going on?”

  “Drew! You’ll never guess. Not in a million years!” Peter didn’t even give his brother a chance. The words kept tumbling out of him, “This is Kate!”

  Drew looked at his brother in confusion. “I know. We’ve met, remember.” Maybe his brother had finally lost it. Maybe dealing with Mrs. Johnson was just too much for him after all.

  “No, no, no.” Peter laughed again. “That’s not what I meant. And how did you know her name? Never mind. Do you remember mom and dad praying for Kate when we were growing up? This is Kate!”

  Kate turned to look at Drew, shocked. She had no memory of him living with the Grant family when she’d lived there. Had he been there and she had just forgotten? She realized now that Peter had called him brother.

  Drew’s eyes flew to hers and then back to Peter’s. “This is Kate? This is that Kate!” He wasn’t sure what this meant. Did this change how he was beginning to feel about this woman? He wasn’t sure. But the small seed of jealousy that had started to sprout at his brother’s hug vanished.

  Fiona spoke up, “It appears there may be some catching up to do. How about we do it over lunch? I’m starving!”

  Kate jumped slightly. She had completely forgotten Fee. She turned slightly and pointed at Fiona. “Sorry, this is Fiona Gilliam. She’s my friend and co-worker.”

  Fiona smiled at both men broadly as her gaze lingered a little longer on Peter. She was eager to have lunch and perhaps learn a bit more about her friend’s past with the cute pastor. It was obvious there was a lot more going on than Kate had told her. She would try to find out during lunch.

  “I’d love to! Let me just make sure everything is okay inside and I’ll be right back.” Peter smiled at Kate with his usual big grin and headed inside at a brisk walk. “Drew, want to help so I can finish faster?”

  “Sure,” Drew replied even though he would have preferred to stay out front with Kate.

  As the men left, Kate turned to Fiona and hissed under her breath, “Don’t say anything about my father. Nothing. Okay, Fee?” Kate was almost pleading.

  “Kate, relax! I’m just here to enjoy lunch. I promise I won’t share anything. I’ll just smile and nod, okay?” Fiona still had a broad smile on her face. “Well, I may flirt a little because that pastor is cute! Do you think he’s allowed to date?”

  Peter and Drew were soon heading back towards them. “We’re all set, ladies! How about the Three Cat Café? They always have delicious food,” Peter said.

  Fiona gushed, “Oh yes, I love that place. They have the best latte and scones!”

  Kate rolled her eyes and then caught herself as she saw Drew glance her way and grin at her. Fiona’s flare for the dramatic was in full force. She had grabbed Peter’s arm and the two of them had started down the street.

  “Shall we,” Drew asked as he swept an arm in the direction of his brother and Fiona.

  Kate turned and began to walk. She wasn’t sure what to say to him. “Hey, do you remember me?” seemed a bit much. They had been talking for the last few weeks and there had been no spark of recognition. There had been another spark though.

  Kate shook her head a little. Just ask him already, she thought. That was the only way she’d really know, wasn’t it?

  She knew Peter was about five years older. She had some memories of him, but like most of those from when she had lived with the Grant family, they were hard to retrieve.

  It had made surviving with her father more bearable when she had pushed them to the furthest reaches of her mind. Remembering them were simply too painful. Comparing the two lives had made the first year with her father nearly unbearable. It was a coping mechanism, which had served her well at the time.

  As they seated themselves in a corner booth, Peter began. “Kate, my parents searched for you. In fact, they never really gave up. I can’t wait to tell them I found you! They will be over the moon about this!”

  Kate smiled shyly as she replied, “I think I’d enjoy talking to your parents again.”

  “What happened? Where have you been? Once your father came to get you, we never heard another thing. We were all just devastated when you left. We had kids coming and going all the time, but you had a special place in our hearts. We were heartbroken when we couldn’t find out where your father moved to, especially my mom.”

  “It’s such a coincidence we found each other here in this little town so far from Florida. How long have you been here?” Kate didn’t want to feel Peter’s pity about her life.

  “I just arrived about two months ago. The church population here was dwindling as the congregation was getting older. When the former pastor died, I was asked to come to see if I could help bring in some younger people and facilitate it becoming a vibrant part of the community once more. It’s been a struggle at times, but I love this village. I know God has a plan for me. I just need to be patient while I figure it out.”

  The waitress arrived and wrote down their orders for lattes, French onion soup, and cranberry and blueberry scones. As she headed to the counter to place their order, Peter faced Kate again.

  “I also moved here to be closer to my brother. I think you two have met already though.” Peter grinned at both Kate and Drew “You won’t remember Drew though. He arrived after your time with us.”

  Kate felt a wave of relief go through her. Drew wasn’t a foster brother. She wasn’t sure why it mattered to her, but it did.

  “Kate, I don’t believe in coincidences. I truly believe God orchestrated our meetings at the church to talk about the windows. Today has been an answer to a longstanding prayer in our family. We’ve all been praying for you constantly over the years. We prayed for your safety and asked that one day we would be reunited with you. I can’t thank God enough for leading us to each other.” Peter finished with another face-splitting grin.

  “Do you really believe that? That God brought us together?” Kate looked intently at Peter as she waited for his answer.

  “Absolutely! We prayed every single night you were gone. Every night. God doesn’t always answer in our timing. Sometimes it’s hard to wait for Him to give us an answer, but today is an answer to prayer! Praise the Lord!”

  Chapter 18

  Kate knew she wasn’t ready to praise God yet. She was still blown away about finding her foster brother so far from where they had lived all those years ago. Who would have thought they would find each other two thousand miles away from where they had once lived?

  Peter couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. “I’m so happy we found each other. I’d love to hear about your life. Would you be willing to share with me what happened after you left us?”

  Taking a deep breath, Kate looked up and began to tell her story. She was surprised by her own courage. She hadn’t spoken of her life to anyone other than the therapist she had seen in college. Fiona only had hints o
f what had happened. She was sure Peter’s parents hadn’t shared with him the exact reasons she was in foster care.

  She glanced at Drew before she started. He had been quiet through all of this. What must he think? From what Peter had said, Drew had also been a foster child, but Peter called him brother. Had the Grants adopted him? She didn’t know, but right now, she felt Peter and Fiona deserved to know some of her story.

  “When I left your family, I went back with my dad, but you already know that. He had convinced the courts he had changed for the better. He stayed sober just long enough to do his home visits and court appearances. But, once he was granted custody of me again, he went back to his old ways.”

  Peter reached across the table and patted Kate’s hand, “I’m so sorry, Kate.”

  She returned his smile and kept going. It felt odd to be touched. Kate typically avoided anyone touching her, but today it helped to anchor her. She felt a dose of courage, which she needed to continue.

  “He moved us out of state as soon as he regained custody. We ended up in Baltimore. My father was rarely home. He would disappear for weeks at a time. It wasn’t so bad when I had school, but the weekends were awful.”

  She glanced at Drew. He had the most serious look on his face she had seen from him so far. Usually he was smiling and happy. He looked almost menacing. What was he thinking? She shook off the thoughts and continued her story.

  “When I was smaller, soon after I went to live with him, there would be days when the only meals I had were those provided by the school. There was rarely enough or any food in the apartment we had.”

  Fiona looked appalled. She didn’t want to feel their pity, but she knew Peter would want to hear the story. She felt he deserved to hear her story since he had once been a part of it. She kept going. It was better to just get it all out now. Maybe it would help the nightmares to stop.