Chapter 42

Toni

She sat down next to him, on his end of the sofa, while he dialed the number. He held the phone slightly away from his ear so she could hear, a little anyway. There were two or three rings, and then someone answered. She could hear, but not understand, so she moved her head and simply leaned against 'Berto's shoulder as he talked.

"Hello? Yeah, this is Roberto Vargas. I've been coming there with Toni Cedillo for a couple of weeks now ... Right, that's us ... We're both fine. What I was calling about was we seem to remember there was an announcement last Sunday about a baptism tomorrow ... Oh, good. What would I have to do to get baptized tomorrow? ... Yes, I am. I became one the day before yesterday ... Toni's been teaching me some things, and I think you know we've been talking to the elders, and it all came together ... Sure, that would be great."

He turned to her, and she saw the excitement in his face. "She's going to have one of the elders talk to me about it. I think we'll be able to do it."

"'We, ' 'Berto? I thought it was just you?" She felt her cheeks moving with her smile.

"If you're not careful, Toni, I'll pull you in with me. At least I think that church baptizes by immersion. I think I saw something for that over in the corner..."

"It's low church Protestant, so I'd think so..." She stopped as he held up his hand.

"Yes, this is Roberto Vargas ... Yeah, I remember, Earl ... What I was wondering was whether it would be possible for me to get baptized tomorrow. I became a Christian Thursday, and Toni mentioned baptism, and honestly I don't know much about it, but I feel like it's the right thing ... Well, on this one I have to go by feelings, pretty much, because I'm still learning..." He was smiling as he talked. "Well, I'm actually going on feelings and what Toni's told me, and I trust her to know more than I do ... Sure, that won't be a problem. We'll get there a bit early. Would 15 minutes be enough? ... Cool, that'll be great. Thanks, Earl."

He pushed the button to hang up, and turned to Toni. "Earl wants to talk to me tomorrow morning, but if he's satisfied they'll baptize me too." He reached out and hugged her tightly, phone still in hand. "This is great, Toni!"

She pushed him back a little and looked into his face, into his eyes. "It is, 'Berto. Can I tell you something?"

"Anything, Toni."

"Not anything – you'd be very upset if I told you I was entering a convent, for instance." She smiled, and so did he. "But this I think you'll like. I've told any number of people about Jesus before. I used to do it all the time before I met Garry, and let my life get into such a mess. And while I know that God blesses His Word in His time and His way, I never saw any results. There's a verse that says, 'I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.' I planted a lot of times, and I've had to trust that others watered the seed, and God caused growth. Here I think mostly what I did was water – but I got to see the growth. It's so exciting – and it's even more special because you're the person I love more than anyone on earth. And now to see you getting excited about the Bible, about being a growing Christian, about baptism ... it's so special, 'Berto. It's like we're growing together in ways that I could never even imagine."

His arms were still around her, but now he moved, putting his hands on her shoulders. She relished the feel of them there; she knew that under his hands she'd feel small and fragile, and while she didn't consider herself fragile, the feeling of being someone to protect and cherish was delicious. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "I know that I feel closer to you than ever since Thursday. I thought I loved you with all my heart, but now I find that I love you so much more..."

She nodded. "That's exactly how I feel. It's as though being connected to each other by the blood of Christ has enabled both our hearts to open wider than ever."

"Yes, that's exactly it. I could never have said it, but I guess your experience enables you to say things that I can barely conceive of right now."

"That's probably true. It's like trying to converse with a ... well, with an instrument tech. I could tell you all about my work, using the terms I use there, and you wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about. I'd have to simplify things, and get rid of a lot of technical terms. But if you learned instruments, and how we do things, then you'd understand me perfectly."

"Toni, if I ever understand you perfectly, I'll amaze myself. Can men ever understand women?"

"At least as well, my lord, as women can understand men." She smiled at him. "But I think right now that I understand you very well. There may come times when we disagree – there may even be times when we scream at each other again, though I hope we can avoid that. But right now, it's as though your heart is inside my chest, and I can hear what it's telling you."

His grin was mischievous. "And what is it telling me?"

She sang the words to an old song she'd heard on the radio. "Treat her like a lady..."

He laughed. "That, my lady, I shall always do, for you are a lady, and a special one."

'Berto

They left early for church, and got there early too – the people who were passing out bulletins were just getting into position. Roberto asked where Earl Carrington was, and learned that he was downstairs in his office. They went down the stairs, where the first trickle of Sunday School students were finding their classrooms, and located Earl's office by the name on the door.

"Come in, come in," he said when Roberto knocked on the door jamb. "Have a seat."

He and Toni took chairs in front of the desk. "Thanks for seeing us on such short notice."

"Don't worry about it. A situation like this, it's fun to get the interruption." He leaned back in his chair. "Why don't you tell me – briefly, since we've got to get going soon – how you came to become a Christian."

"I'm just figuring that out myself. But a lot of it has to do with Toni. I've known almost as long as we've been together that she's a Christian, though it seemed to me that her Christianity was mostly just giving her grief. But I knew she believed in God, and the Bible, and though it didn't convince me, I couldn't be very antagonistic when she believed that. Can I treat my ... my fiancée as an enemy? And then that day when we all met together, I saw what happened to her. Yes, she quit beating herself up, and that alone had to have a good effect. But though I didn't really want to see it, I saw something more in her. It was as though her entire heart changed. I mean, she's had a good, sweet, loving heart since I've known her, but it was like she was ... more so.

"And then ever since our big fight – we had a really huge, monster fight about a month ago – ever since our big fight, which is when I really started to understand how important her faith is to her, she's been teaching me things about God and about the Bible. And Thursday everything just sort of came together. I didn't see any visions or hear any voices – well, I heard Toni's voice – but it was like suddenly the light went on in a dark room. All the disconnected stuff that hadn't made sense suddenly did make sense. And – here's where I have trouble describing it – I ... well, Toni told me it was looking to Jesus, and trusting Him, and saying that I did look, that I did trust, is as good a way to describe it as anything else I could say."

Carrington nodded. Roberto realized that Toni was holding his hand; he'd been so focused on his recital that he hadn't noticed when she took it. "Has your life changed, Roberto?" Carrington asked.