Free Tiger Moths by Sandra Grice Page A

reasonable. We both know your client has to have this deal or he will go under.”
    “Better he go under with dignity than prosper without honor, Al. Listen, I know what you are saying, but I just cannot in good conscience let him sign your offer. It will hurt so many innocent people.”
    “Okay, fine, I’ll talk to my people and see what they say, but I think you’ve just found the deal breaker on this one.”
    “I’ll live with it. Call me when you know.”
    Dale cradled the phone and breathed deeply. Dad, I know this is what you would do. She had done the right thing, but at what price? After several years as an attorney for one of the largest corporate law firms in Nashville, she had hoped it would get easier, or at least more tolerable. It did not. The legal issues she loved, but the ethical stretches wore on her every day. This time she may have gone too far for the partners to pardon her. It could be her last stand. She knew it, and she needed a sounding board.
    The phone rang again. Wow that was fast, Al.
    “Hey, hey, Dale, what’s up, girl? Gracie and I are down in the lobby. We wanted to know if we could come up and see you. Gracie loves the view from your bastion of corporate life.”
    “Laura, hey, just who I needed to hear from. Sure, I can’t wait to see you two. I’ve got some M&Ms with Gracie’s name on them. Come on up.”
    “I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you represented the American Dental Association and got a cut from them. You give my kid way too much of that stuff.”
    “You know that’s what godmothers are for, don’t you? See you in a bit.”
    Dale hung up the phone and ran her finger around the photograph she had put on her desk when she set up the office. She was smiling happily, as was Laura, and between the two of them sat a pink-clad infant named Gracie.

     
    She remembered it all clearly, how she had been crushed by the betrayal only to find out the betrayal was not what she thought it was. Or at least it did not involve who she thought.
    Only by the supernatural hand of God did she endure the weeks and months after that heart-stopping phone call. She had reached Jason later that day and confronted him with a simple question.
    “Is is true, Jason? Are you married?”
    Jason looked stricken and did not immediately answer. When he did, it was with tears in his eyes. “Yes, but…”
    He stopped because they both knew there were no “buts” as far as Dale was concerned. She believed firmly in moral absolutes and he knew this well.
    For her part, Dale had walked to the door and opened it. Without saying anything more, she asked him to leave and stay out of her life. Her pain was etched on her face, and her heart felt like it would never love again.
    It was Laura’s pregnancy and her increasing stirrings of the Holy Spirit that sustained her. Together the women grew in spirit and in truth, and soon it became Laura who was praying for Dale more than the other way around.

     
    Even now, after all of those years, the memories of his betrayal were raw and painful. Why, Jason? It was a question that still haunted her. She thought she had moved on, at least to some degree. Yet, she had not even been able to get close to her current boyfriend, Wayne. He was an amazing man, but her heart seemed forever stunted by her first love.
    The floral bouquet on her credenza proved that she had never really gotten over her first love. It was delivered earlier that morning and came with a card that rocked her. “Things have changed. I am free. Please give me another chance. I love you. Jason.” She wanted to cry, but the pain was deeper than tears. Gracie’s voice brought her back to the present.
    “Aunt Dale!” Gracie made a beeline to Dale. The rambunctious five-year old was a handful, but Dale loved her as if she were her own.
    “Look, Aunt Dale, Momma got me this new doll. It cries and pees and everything!”
    “My goodness, just what this office needs, another baby to