“It’s all right. You can introduce me. I don’t mind.”
Lyza tensed slightly. “No, no, I want to keep you all to myself for a while. No introductions tonight.”
“Keep me to yourself? Lyza, I’m not here to make any impressions. I’m here just to be with you, but I understand. I’m way beyond my social status here. It’s all right, Lyza, I really do understand.”
“I know that, but—oh, no, it’s Father. He’s coming over here, and I don’t want to talk with him.”
Lyza started leading the dance, and they crossed to the other side of the room toward an exit door. She pushed open the door, and they stood in a lavish wide hallway. “We can hide here. I can count on Father getting distracted in a few minutes.”
David Gabriel laughed. “You’re hiding me from your father? Listen, Lyza, I understand the wide gap in our social standings, but do you think it’s wise? I’m not afraid to meet your father. We can leave, or I can go. Whichever.”
She smiled a different smile this time; it had just a tinge of mischief in it. “I’m not willing to share you with my father right now. Sometime in the future I will, but not tonight.”
David looked over her shoulder to see a waiter walk by the end of the hall. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but I trust you. By that I mean, I trust that what you are doing is all right, and that no one is going to get hurt over this.”
“No one is going to get hurt. This isn’t all about social status. I hope you don’t think I’m that small.” Then she thought, Though truthfully, I might be somewhat.
Chapter Two
Tim was hot on the trail of Lyza and her mysterious date. “Where did they go?”
Leesa stopped dancing. “Are you still trying to hunt Lyza down? I think it’s time to go back to our table.”
Begrudgingly, he followed her to their table. “They were right next to us, then disappeared into nowhere.” He shrugged and looked back at the flock of people on the dance floor. Other couples decided to take a break during the orchestra’s intermission and seated themselves around the table.
Tim started quizzing people. “Have you seen Lyza and her date?”
One of the young ladies answered, “No, not for a while. Who is that guy she’s with?”
Leesa raised both eyebrows. “That seems to be the question of the evening. ‘Who is Lyza dancing with tonight?’” She whispered, “His name is Bond, James Bond. If I tell you any more, he’ll have to kill you.”
The women at the table laughed. Some of the men snickered.
One of the men pointed at Lawrence and Lana, who were whispering together at their own table. “Speculation abounds.”
Tim looked at Leesa. “Since when does she bring someone we don’t know? There’s something going on, that’s for sure.”
The orchestra began playing “Mac the Knife.”
***
Out in the hall, David took Lyza’s hand. “Look, if you feel uncomfortable or threatened in any way, we can leave. Let me take you away from all of this. We can go to a quiet place and sit and talk.”
“David, I would love to leave. A couple years ago, Leesa and I left early and weren’t even missed.” Lyza laughed. “We went bowling. It was a scream. Nobody ever mentioned us leaving early, so we know they had no clue that we left. This year is different. My date isn’t a friend of the family who is expected to escort me to events such as these. You’re the center of attention tonight, because no one knows who you are or where you come from.”
David shook his head. “Wait a minute. Leesa knows me.”
“Leesa has met you and knows a little bit about you, but she’s sworn to secrecy.”
“Sworn to secrecy? Now that sounds ominous. Am I that much of a threat?”
Lyza looked into his deep blue eyes. “Oh, yes, you certainly are a threat.” Grinning provocatively, she gave him a little peck on the nose.
“Well, what does the ‘center of attention’ and the ‘obvious threat’ do for the rest of the evening if we stay?”
Lyza took his hand and pulled him toward the back entrance. “Let’s go outside. We can walk the gardens. I’ll give you a tour of the grounds where I grew up.”
They stepped through glass doors into the beautiful evening.
“Look, David, we’ve got a clear night. Just look at those stars.”
David looked into the sky. “They’re magnificent. I can’t look at the sky without thinking of Him.”
Lyza moved closer. “Of Him? Oh, you mean God.”
David looked down at Lyza. “Yes, I mean God, the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe and everything in it. It’s amazing to see His handiwork all around us. Just think: He made all we see and so much more beyond what we can see. Have you ever studied astronomy?”
“Oh, I’m sure I did sometime. I just never paid much attention. I’ve forgotten. Let’s see… I can tell you the planets, but I couldn’t tell you if that’s what we’re standing under. There’s the Big Dipper.” Lyza pointed almost directly above them. “I’ve taken a lot for granted in the past. I never thought about God creating stars or the universe—or anything, for that matter. After the plane crash, I knew He existed, but before then everything just was, and I never ever thought about how it got here.”
David followed her gaze to the Big Dipper. “It’s amazing, when you study the things God created all around us. But the stars, those magnificent stars, teach us so much about Him and about us. For instance, did you know that there is only one star in our solar system?”
“It’s the sun. It sounds weird to call the sun a star, but I do remember that the sun is a star, it’s very hot, and it’s ninety-three million miles away.”
“You do know about the sun. Do you know how big it is?”
Lyza led him to a stone bench in the center of the rose garden. “No, how big is it?” They sat down, still watching the sky.
David turned to Lyza. “It’s about one million times the size of the earth.”
Her eyes widened. “No kidding?”
“To be more exact, it’s nine hundred sixty thousand times larger than the earth. I once went to a concert, and the speaker was Louie Giglio. I’ll never forget when he said, ‘If the earth was a golf ball, the sun would be fifteen feet in diameter. That is so big you could put nine hundred sixty thousand Earths inside the sun.’ That blew me away because the sun is one of the smaller stars in the universe.”
“That’s unreal. Nine hundred sixty thousand Earths would fit into the sun? Are you sure?
“Louie Giglio wouldn’t lie.”
“That blows me away, too. Sometimes it’s hard to get my head around the fact that God cares so much for me. With creations like the sun, how does He even see me? Yet I know He sees me, because He came to me when my Swiss Air flight fell out of the sky. I have so much to learn, and no one to talk to about it, certainly not my family. They’d never understand that when I cried out to God, Jesus showed up. Jews don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah. My parents aren’t religious, but they’re loyal to their Jewish heritage.”
They faced each other, and light shone from their eyes. Joy and happiness radiated from David as he felt the presence of the Lord there in the garden outside the Lane Mansion with Lyza.
Leesa called from the lanai, “Lyza! Lyza! Lyza, are you out there? Yes, you are. I see you, so don’t try to hide.”
Lyza