Gabe wandered through his mansion one more time and made his way upstairs, where he kicked the bedroom door shut.
With the kids gone and Rachelle nowhere to be found, the house felt more like a museum than a home. He strolled over to the sitting area and stretched out on the chaise, knowing it wasn’t a wise move. When he was idle, his mind traveled in too many directions.
Right now, he wanted to know what Rachelle was doing. Was she spending all of her time with her aunt and uncle? Had they taken her to church? Was she visiting her former professors on campus and fielding questions about her first and second marriages?
Gabe was confident that anything she said about him would wow people. Who wasn’t impressed with a heart surgeon?
But where was Troy these days, and did Rachelle still have feelings for him? Gabe was more than curious, especially with the way she had been acting lately.
True to her word, however, she had packed his bags for Uganda before she left. He wanted to call and thank her, but then again, he wanted her to reach out to him. She was punishing him, and it wasn’t right.
The phone rang and Gabe leapt to check caller ID. Instead of it being Rachelle, it was his surgical partner, Lyle Stevens. He tried to mask his disappointment.
“Hey man, what’s up?” Stevens asked.
He was the coolest white guy Gabe knew. Gray had overtaken his blonde hair, but Lyle Stevens exercised faithfully and was in top shape, and he still carried himself with the confidence of a man who knew his rugged good looks and piercing blue eyes caused women to swoon.
Most of them didn’t care so much about his intelligence, but Gabe appreciated that Stevens was also the smartest guy he knew. They had practiced together for six years and, at one point, had joked about understanding each other better than either of them understood their spouses.
That fact had once been a bragging point at parties, and until recently, Gabe hadn’t realized that it might have bothered Rachelle. She never let on.
Stevens did an about-face four years ago. He and his wife, Chrissa, left their stoic, traditional congregation for a nondenominational church that emphasized daily Bible study as central to forming a deeper relationship with Christ. To Gabe, it had sounded strange, and even cultish, but the longer Stevens attended, the healthier and happier he seemed.
He and Chrissa eventually had determined, through prayer and discussions with church leaders, that their life’s purpose included using their practical skills and sharing their faith with people in Africa and other Third World countries. For the past three years, they had traveled to Uganda to provide medical care and lead Bible studies in the small towns surrounding Kampala, the nation’s capital. They lavished most of their attention on an orphanage run by a Ugandan minister and his wife, where children who called the place home thrived.
This year, Stevens had recruited both Gabe and Veronica Hayes, one of the nurses who assisted them during surgeries, to make the trip. They would join Stevens and his wife and five others from the church, and each of them had assigned tasks. While Gabe, Stevens, and another doctor on the team would treat patients in local hospitals and villages, Chrissa and the others would distribute special mosquito nets that helped prevent malaria. They also would lead Bible studies for children and adults.
Gabe had never been too keen about the ministry aspect of the mission trip, but he was determined to get Stevens off his back. If he didn’t go this year, he’d never hear the end of it.
Plus, he had realized in recent weeks what a great marketing tool the trip had become. Along with a feature article in Houston’s daily newspaper, a local TV station had asked the mission team to take along a camcorder and record spots that could be shared with their viewers when they returned.
Gabe could take or leave the prayers and Scripture readings, but he knew that was exactly what Stevens was calling about tonight.
“Nothing much is going on here,” he told Stevens. “Rachelle is still visiting relatives in Jubilant so I’m just hanging out. Whatcha need?”
“I know you said Rachelle had you all packed; did she remember to tuck a Bible in there somewhere?”
Gabe hadn’t seen one, so he was pretty sure she hadn’t. “Was that on the list you gave me? Sorry, man. I doubt it.”
“You know I’ve got you covered,” Stevens said.
Gabe rolled his eyes. “Look man, I’m not trying to go over there and become a lay priest. I do what I do, and I do it well. Heart stuff. Internal medicine. That’s where I’m going to help. Bible talk—I’m leaving that to you and Chrissa and the other folks.”
Stevens chuckled. “You just be ready in the morning, four a.m. sharp. We’ll swoop by to pick you up. When you talk to Rachelle, tell her I said hello and reassure her that I’ll bring you back safely.”
Gabe had hung up and dialed Rachelle’s cell again.
She didn’t answer, and after the fifth ring, the voice mail picked up. Hearing her recorded voice was reassuring, but he didn’t leave a message.
Was he losing her? The thought rattled him. He was Gabe Covington. Couldn’t happen . . . could it?
The home phone rang once again, and he dashed to it, only to be disappointed a second time by Lyle Stevens.
“Yeah, man? Why you ringing my phone off the hook?”
Stevens laughed. “What you gonna do about it? I forgot to ask you to let me pray with you, this last night at home before our trip, especially since Rachelle isn’t there.”
If she had been home, she still wouldn’t have thought to pray with him. Stevens knew that, but he was ever the gentleman. Gabe sighed.
Stevens grew serious. “I know you aren’t into this Christianity thing, Gabe, but it’s a huge part of why we do what we do in the mission field. Let me pray with you, and for you, tonight. It can seriously impact how well our mission trip goes and whether we’re able to help a significant number of people.”
Gabe sucked his teeth and reclined on the chaise. He kept his eyes open and stared at the ceiling. “Go ahead.”
Stevens asked God to protect them during their travels, to allow the medical supplies they had shipped a few weeks earlier to arrive on time, and for the hearts, minds, and souls of everyone they encountered to be open to the transforming power of Jesus. Then, he specifically prayed for his friend.
“Father, bless brother Gabe for agreeing to go on this trip to a foreign land to meet others’ medical needs. Thank you in advance for guiding him when he renders a diagnosis and performs surgeries. Give him wisdom as he leads and loves his family with the same love that you show him.”
Gabe winced. Is that the problem? I’m a great doctor but I don’t know how to love my family?
The notion left him uneasy. But when he surveyed the expensive furnishings and accent pieces in his bedroom, and recalled all that he provided for his family, he didn’t believe it could be true. Everything that caught his eye disproved that flash of doubt.
When Stevens said “Amen,” Gabe quickly said goodbye. He jumped up and headed to the bathroom.
Nothing else to do—so I might as well turn in early, he decided.
After a shower and a slice of cold pizza, Gabe turned on the TV and straddled the bed. He surfed until he landed on a sports channel and settled back on his pillow. Usually he enjoyed having the room and the remote to himself. Tonight, however, he felt awkward lying in this expansive space alone, with nothing but the shadows created by the moonlight to keep him company.
He was dozing off when his cell phone rang.
It was nurse Veronica.
“Hi, Gabe, babe. All packed for tomorrow?” she asked in a sultry drawl. “Ready for our trip?”
What did she want? “I’m ready. Stevens has made sure of that.”
“So you got prayed over too,” she said and laughed. “He and his wife are so cute. Surviving this God stuff is going to be the most interesting part of the trip.”
Gabe agreed. That and making sure he had a family to come back to. He sat up in bed and pointed the remote at the flat screen TV to turn it off. He reached for the cordless phone on the nightstand.
“Veronica, I’ll see you in the morning. I need to call Rachelle.”