“You still don’t know what you want, do you?”

  Claudia shook her head. “I pray and pray and pray, but God doesn’t seem to hear me. He gave Seth a sign, but there’s nothing for me. It’s unfair!”

  “What kind of confirmation are you looking for?” Ashley sat beside Claudia and handed her a tissue.

  Claudia sniffled and waved her hand dramatically. “I don’t know. Just something—anything! When I made my commitment to Christ, I told Him my life was no longer my own but His. If He wants me digging ditches, then I’ll dig ditches. If He wants me to give up medical school and marry Seth, then I’ll do it in a minute. Seth seems so positive that it’s the right thing, and I’m so unsure.”

  Ashley pinched her lips together for a moment, then went into her bedroom. She returned a minute later with her Bible. “Do you remember the story of Elijah?”

  “Of course. I would never forget the Old Testament prophets.”

  Ashley nodded as she flipped through the worn pages of her Bible. “Here it is. Elijah was hiding from the wicked Jezebel. God sent the angel of the Lord, who led Elijah into a cave. He told him to stay there and wait, because God was coming to speak to him. Elijah waited and waited. When a strong wind came, he rushed from the cave and cried out, but the wind wasn’t God. An earthquake followed, and again Elijah hurried outside, certain this time that the earthquake was God speaking to him. But it wasn’t the earthquake. Next came a fire, and again Elijah was positive that the fire was God speaking to him. But it wasn’t. Finally, when everything was quiet, Elijah heard a soft, gentle whisper. That was the Lord.” Ashley transferred the open Bible to Claudia’s lap. “Here, read the story yourself.”

  Thoughtfully Claudia read over the chapter before looking up. “You’re telling me I should stop looking for that bolt of lightning in the sky that spells out Marry Seth?”

  “Or the handwriting on the wall,” Ashley added with a laugh.

  “So God is answering my prayers, and all I need to do is listen?”

  “I think so.”

  “It sounds too simple,” Claudia said with a sigh.

  “I don’t know that it is. But you’ve got to quit looking for the strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire, and listen instead to your heart.”

  “I’m not even a hundred percent sure I love him. I don’t think I know him well enough yet.” The magnetic physical attraction between them was overwhelming, but there was so much more to love and a lifetime commitment.

  “You’ll know,” Ashley assured her confidently. “I don’t doubt that for a second. When the time is right, you’ll know.”

  Claudia felt as if a weight had been lifted from her, and she sighed deeply before forcefully expelling her breath. “Hey, do you know what today is?” she asked, then answered before Ashley had the opportunity. “Columbus Day. A day worthy of celebrating with something special.” Carefully she tucked Seth’s letter back inside the envelope. “Let’s bring home Chinese food and drown our doubts in pork fried rice.”

  “And egg rolls,” Ashley added. “Lots of egg rolls.”

  * * *

  —

  By the time they returned to the apartment, Claudia and Ashley had collected more than dinner. They had bumped into Steve Kali and a friend of his at the restaurant, and after quick introductions, the four of them realized they could get two extra items for free if they combined their orders. From there it was a quick step to inviting the guys over to eat at their place.

  They sat on the floor in a large circle, laughing and eating with chopsticks directly from the white carryout boxes, passing them around so everyone could try everything.

  Steve’s friend, Dave Kimball, was a law student, and he immediately showed a keen interest in Ashley. Claudia watched with an amused smile as her friend responded with some flirtatious moves of her own.

  The chopsticks were soon abandoned in favor of forks, but the laughter continued.

  “You know what we’re celebrating, don’t you?” Ashley asked between bites of ginger-spiced beef and tomato.

  “No.” Both men shook their heads, glancing from one girl to the other.

  “Columbus Day,” Claudia supplied.

  “As in ‘Columbus sailed the ocean blue’?” Steve jumped up and danced around the room singing.

  Everyone laughed.

  The phone rang, and since Steve was right near it, he picked up the cordless. “I’ll get that for you,” he volunteered, then promptly dropped the receiver. “Oops, sorry,” he apologized into the receiver.

  Claudia couldn’t help smiling as she realized she was having a good time. It felt good to laugh again. Ashley was right, this whole thing with Seth was too intense. She needed to relax. Her decision had to be based on the quiet knowledge that marriage to Seth was what God had ordained.

  “I’m sorry, would you mind repeating that?” Steve said into the phone. “Claudia? Yeah, she’s here.” He covered the receiver with the palm of his hand. “Are you here, Claudia?” he asked with a silly grin.

  “You nut. Give me that.” She stood and took the phone. “Hello.” With her luck, it would be Cooper, who would no doubt demand to know what a man was doing in her apartment and answering her phone, no less. “This is Claudia.”

  “What’s going on?”

  The color drained from her flushed cheeks. “Seth? Is that you?” she asked incredulously. Breathlessly, she repeated herself. “Seth, it is really you?”

  “It’s me,” he confirmed, his tone brittle. “Who’s the guy who answered the phone.”

  “Oh.” She swallowed, and turned her back to the others. “He’s a classmate of mine. We have a few friends over,” she explained, stretching the truth. She didn’t want Seth to get the wrong impression. “We’re celebrating Columbus Day…you know, Columbus, the man who sailed across the Atlantic looking for India and discovered America instead. Do you celebrate Columbus Day in Alaska?” she asked, embarrassingly aware that she was babbling.

  “I know what day it is. You sound like you’ve been drinking.”

  “Not unless the Chinese tea’s got something in it I don’t know about.”

  “Does the guy who answered the phone mean anything to you?”

  The last thing Claudia wanted to do was make explanations to Seth with everyone listening. On the other hand, carrying the phone into her bedroom so they could talk privately would only invite all kinds of questions she didn’t want to answer. “It would be better if we…if we talked later,” she said, stammering slightly.

  “Everyone’s there listening, right?” Seth guessed.

  “Right,” she confirmed with a soft sigh. “Do you mind?”

  “No, but before you hang up, answer me one thing. Have you been thinking about how much I love you and want you here with me?”

  “Oh, Seth,” she murmured miserably. “Yes, I’ve hardly thought of anything else.”

  “And you still don’t know what you want to do?” he asked, his voice heavy with exasperation.

  “Not yet.”

  “All right, Red. I’ll call back in an hour.”

  * * *

  —

  In the end it was almost two hours before the phone rang again. Steve and Dave had left an hour earlier, and Ashley had made a flimsy excuse about needing to do some research at the library. Claudia didn’t question her and appreciated the privacy.

  She answered the phone on the first ring. “Hello.”

  “Now tell me who that guy was who picked up the phone before,” Seth demanded without even a greeting.

  Claudia couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Seth Lessinger, you sound almost jealous.”

  “Almost?” he shot back.

  “His name’s Steve Kali, and we have several classes together, that’s all,” she explained, pleased at his concern. “I didn’t know you were the jealous sort,” she said gently.

  “I never have been before. And I don’t like the way it feels, if that makes you any happier.”

  “I’d feel the same way,” she admitted. “I wish you were here, Seth. Ashley and I walked by a skating rink tonight and stopped to watch some couples skating together. Do you realize that you and I have never skated? If I close my eyes, I can almost feel your arm around me.”

  Seth sucked in his breath. “Why do you say things like that when we’re separated by thousands of miles? Your sense of timing is really off. Besides, we don’t need skating as an excuse for me to be near you,” he murmured, his voice low. “Listen, honey, I’ll be in Seattle a week from Saturday.”

  “Saturday? Oh, Seth!” She was too happy to express her thoughts coherently. “It’ll be so good to see you!”

  “My plane arrives early that morning. I couldn’t manage the extra day, but I’ll phone you as soon as I can review the conference schedule and figure out when I’ll be able to see you.”

  “I won’t plan a thing. No,” she said, laughing, “I’ll plan everything. Can you stay over through Monday? I’ll skip classes and we can have a whole extra day alone.”

  “I can’t.” He sounded as disappointed as she felt.

  They talked for an hour, and Claudia felt guilty at the thought of his phone bill, but the conversation had been wonderful.

  * * *

  —

  Did she love him? The question kept repeating itself for the next two weeks. If she could truthfully answer that one question, then everything else would take care of itself. Just talking to him over the phone had lifted her spirits dramatically. But could she leave school and everything, everyone, she had ever known and follow him to a place where she knew no one but him and would have no way to follow her dream?

  Her last class on the day before he arrived was a disaster. Her attention span was no longer than a four-year-old’s. Time and time again she was forced to bring herself back into reality. So many conflicting emotions and milestones seemed to be coming at her. The first big tests of the quarter, Seth’s visit. She felt pounded from every side, tormented by her own indecision.

  Steve walked out of the building with her.

  “Why so glum?” he asked. “If anyone’s got complaints, it should be me.” They continued down the stairs, and Claudia cast him a sidelong glance.

  “What have you got to complain about?”

  “Plenty,” he began in an irritated tone. “You remember Dave Kimball?”

  She nodded, recalling Steve’s tall, sandy-haired friend who had flirted so outrageously with Ashley. “Sure, I remember Dave.”

  “We got picked up by the police a couple of nights ago.”

  She glanced apprehensively at him. “What happened?”

  “Nothing, really. We’d been out having a good time and decided to walk home after a few beers. About halfway to the dorm, Dave starts with the crazies. He was climbing up the streetlights, jumping on parked cars. I wasn’t doing any of that, but we were both brought into the police station for disorderly conduct.”

  Claudia’s blue eyes widened incredulously. Steve was one of the straightest, most clean-cut men she had met. This was so unlike anything she would have expected from him that she didn’t know how to react.

  “That’s not the half of it,” he continued. “Once we were at the police station, Dave kept insisting that he was a law student and knew his rights. He demanded his one phone call.”

  “Well, it’s probably a good thing he did know what to do,” she said.

  “Dave made his one call, all right.” Steve inhaled a shaky breath. “And twenty minutes later the desk sergeant came in to ask which one of us had ordered the pizza.”

  Claudia couldn’t stop herself from bursting into giggles, and it wasn’t long before Steve joined her. He placed a friendly arm around her shoulders as their laughter faded. Together they strolled toward the parking lot.

  “I do feel bad about the police thing…” she said. Before she could complete her thought, she caught sight of a broad-shouldered man walking toward her with crisp strides. She knew immediately it was Seth.

  His look of contempt was aimed directly at her, his rough features darkened by a fierce frown. Even across the narrowing distance she recognized the tight set of his mouth as he glared at her.

  Steve’s arm resting lightly across her shoulders felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds.

  Claudia’s mouth was dry as she quickened her pace and rushed forward to meet Seth. If his look hadn’t been so angry and forbidding, she would have walked directly into his arms. “When—how did you get here? I thought you couldn’t come until tomorrow?” Only now was she recovering from the shock of seeing him.

  An unwilling smile broke his stern expression as he pulled her to him and crushed her in his embrace.

  Half lifted from the sidewalk, Claudia linked her hands behind his neck and felt his warm breath in her hair. “Oh, Seth,” she mumbled, close to tears. “You idiot, why didn’t you say something?”

  So many emotions were filling her at once. She felt crushed yet protected, jubilant yet tearful, excited but afraid. Ignoring the negatives, she began spreading eager kisses over his face.

  Slowly he released her, and the two men eyed each other skeptically.

  Seth extended his hand. “I’m Seth Lessinger, Claudia’s fiancé.”

  She had to bite her lip to keep from correcting him, but she wouldn’t say anything that could destroy the happiness of seeing him again.

  Steve’s eyes were surprised, but he managed to mumble a greeting and exchange handshakes. Then he made some excuse about catching a ride and was gone.

  “Who was that?”

  “Steve,” she replied, too happy to see him to question the way he had introduced himself to her friend. “He answered the phone the other night when you called. He’s just a friend, don’t worry.”

  “Then why did he have his arm around you?” Seth demanded with growing impatience.

  Claudia ignored the question, instead standing on the tips of her toes and lightly brushing her mouth over his. His whiskers tickled her face, and she lifted both hands to his dark beard, framing his lips so she could kiss him soundly.

  His response was immediate as he pulled her into his arms. “I’ve missed you. I won’t be able to wait much longer. Who would believe such a little slip of nothing could bring this giant to his knees? Literally,” he added. “Because I’ll propose again right here on the sidewalk if you think it will make a difference.”

  Claudia’s eyes widened with feigned offense. “Little slip of nothing? Come on, you make me sound like some anorexic supermodel.”

  He laughed, the robust, deep laugh that she loved. “Compared to me, you’re pint-size.” Looping his arm around her waist, he walked beside her. She felt protected and loved beyond anything she had ever known. She smiled up at him, and his eyes drank deeply from hers as a slow grin spread over his face, crinkling tiny lines at his eyes. “You may be small, but you hold a power over me I don’t think I’ll ever understand.”

  Leaning her head against his arm, Claudia relaxed. “Why didn’t you say anything about coming today?”

  “I didn’t know that I was going to make the flight until the last minute. As it was, I hired a pilot out of Nome to make the connection in Fairbanks.”

  “You could have called when you landed.”

  “I tried, but no one answered at the apartment and your cell went straight to voicemail.”

  She pulled the phone out of her purse and checked. “Oops. I turned it off during class, and I guess I forgot to turn it on again.” She remedied that as she asked, “So how’d you know where to find me?”

  “I went to your apartment to wait for you and ran into Ashley just getting home. She drew me a map of the campus and told me where you’d be. You don’t mind?”

  “Of course not,” she assured him with a smile and a shake of her head. “I just wish I’d known. I could have ducked out of class and met you at the airport.”

  By then they had reached her car. Seth asked to drive, so she gave him her keys. It wasn’t until they were stuck in heavy afternoon traffic that she noticed Seth was heading in the opposite direction from her apartment.

  “Where are we going?” She looked down at her jeans and Irish cable-knit sweater. She wasn’t dressed for anything but a casual outing.

  “My hotel,” he answered without looking at her, focusing his attention on the freeway. “I wanted to talk to you privately, and from the look of things at your place, Ashley is going to be around for a while.”

  Claudia knew just what he was talking about. Ashley was deep into a project that she’d been working on for two nights. Magazines, newspapers, and pages of scribbled notes were scattered over the living room floor.

  “I know what you mean about the apartment.” She laughed softly in understanding.

  He slowed the car as he pulled off the freeway and onto Mercer Avenue. “She’s a nice girl. I like her. Those blue eyes of hers are almost as enchanting as yours.”

  Something twitched in Claudia’s stomach. Jealousy? Over Ashley? She was her best friend! Quickly she tossed the thought aside.

  Seth reached for her hand. Linking their fingers, he carried her hand to his mouth and gently kissed her knuckles. Shivers tingled up her arm, and she smiled contentedly.

  The hotel lobby was bristling with activity. In contrast, Seth’s room in the conference hotel was quiet and serene. Situated high above the city, it offered a sweeping view of Puget Sound and the landmarks Seattle was famous for: the Pacific Science Center, the Space Needle, and the Kingdome.

  The king-size bed was bordered on each side by oak nightstands with white ceramic lamps. Two easy chairs were set obliquely in front of a hi-def television and state-of-the-art gaming system. Claudia glanced over the room, feeling slightly uneasy.