Chapter 6
Things had been weighing down on Tanner again. He was at peace with his mom's sudden death and the car accident. He had worked through things and his relationship with Julie was great. Better than great. He could not imagine his life without her and he could not imagine his future without her.
Charlie had talked to him and told him that he thought things were moving too quickly. He respected Charlie, and Julie loved her father. But, if it were up to him, they would be engaged already. He loved her, but he knew getting engaged while still in high school was not an option! Charlie had asked him what he wanted to do when he graduated and Tanner was not sure. What he wanted was to stay working on the farm. He had some money saved up, but not a lot, so college was out of the question. He would be eighteen the month after graduation, so Charlie would no longer be his guardian. He enjoyed his work on the farm and seeing Julie all the time was a bonus.
A couple days before Christmas, Charlie came home with an announcement. He called the family together for a meeting. The farm had done well financially the past few years and the mustard crop that they planted this past fall was a huge success.
"We have an opportunity that we need to discuss as a family." He said as everyone, including Tanner, gathered around the dining room table after dinner. "Tom Mitchell approached me today. Because of Heath's lawyer fees and a bad fall crop, Tom is going to have to sell some of his land. He has offered me the land to our north and west at a very good price. I was wondering what you thought?"
"That is great Charlie." Nana replied. "But, can you handle the work? That is a lot more fields."
"Well, that depends on Tanner. I would need him to stay on as foreman and help me. We might have to hire another person or two to help out. We would possibly need to build additional barracks for them if we hire more than a few. It would mean a lot of work once he graduates. But, if he wants to go to college, I will support him in his decision."
"I would like to stay here, sir." Tanner said. "I would help out any way possible."
"Good." Charlie replied.
"Julie, what do you think?"
"If you buy the property, will I still be able to become a vet?"
"Sweet Pea, I would not touch your college fund. Your mama would be so disappointed if I did! This is farm money, not your college money."
"Then I am all for it."
"Tonya?"
"I didn't realize I had a say. I mean, this is your farm."
"This farm has been in our family for generations. I may be caretaker and head of the farm now, but I never want this farm to fall out of our hands. So, as a member of this family. What do you say?"
"I am all for the farm succeeding, my only concern is someone profiting from Heath's stupidity and Tanner's mother's death."
"Well, he is going to sell it to someone, and I would rather us buy it than someone else. Tanner what do you think about what Tonya said?"
"I am OK with it. I would rather this family profit than the Mitchell's." Tanner said.
"OK. It may take a lot of work come spring and I will need everyones help." Charlie said as he closed the meeting.
Everyone had gone about the house to do various things. Julie was reading in the living room, waiting on Tanner, he had told her that he wanted to talk to her father. Tonya was upstairs on the phone with Brent, and Nana was in the kitchen working out her menu for Christmas Eve. That was the big family feast, allowing everyone to eat leftovers all day on Christmas so no one would be stuck in the kitchen on Christmas day.
"Charlie, can I talk to you a minute?" Tanner asked before Charlie could escape to his recliner in the living room.
"Sure son, what's up?"
"After chores in the morning, can I get the rest of the day off?"
"Sure, you taking Julie some place special?" Charlie asked, sure he was prying. He wanted to know anything that involved his daughter. Or at least as much as Tanner and Julie would tell him.
"No sir. I need to go somewhere I don't want her to go."
"Oh, shopping." Panic struck Charlie as he thought of the gift Tanner could give Julie. Many of his gift ideas, Charlie was not ready to deal with.
"I might do a little, but no sir."
"Can I ask where you will be going?" Charlie could not contain his curiosity, but mainly his concern for Tanner.
"To the prison." Tanner said lowering his head. "I am sure they told my father about my mom's death, but I feel I need to see him to completely forgive him. But, the real reason I am going is I want to see Heath."
"Son, why would you want to do that to yourself?"
"I need to tell him I have forgiven him and I am at peace with my mother's death. I just need to talk to him."
"Do you want me to go with you? For support?"
"No sir. Brent has offered to go, but thank you. This is something I have to do."
"Well, let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you sir. That means a lot." Tanner stood and went to the living room to spend the evening with Julie. He was at peace with his decision to visit the jail. Now, he just had to convince her.
Julie wasn't too happy, but she understood. She felt better once she knew that Brent was going with Tanner, so he would not be alone. The next morning, after chores and breakfast, Tanner headed out in his truck and swung by and picked up Brent and they were off to the jail.
After pulling in to the parking area, Tanner asked Brent to stay in the truck. "This is something I need to do alone."
"Are you sure? I don't mind going with you."
"No, just pray for me please." Tanner asked. And that is what Brent did, the entire time Tanner was gone, Brent was praying for peace, understanding, love, and acceptance. He was also praying for a hedge of protection around Tanner. He laughed at one point when his mind showed him an image of Tanner walking into the jail with four huge bodyguards dressed in white around him.
Tanner checked in and asked to see his father first. He knew this would not be comfortable. He never really liked his dad, but since everything, he knew he needed to forgive him and try to let him know that he was OK and that he changed his life.
While waiting for his father to be escorted into the visiting area, Tanner prayed. "God, give me the words to say what you want me to say, the compassion to love my father and the mind to know when to stop."
A guard escorted Bart Jones into the visiting area. By the look of things, Bart was not happy to be there. He pulled away from the guard when he saw Tanner, jerking his handcuffed hands up. "I got it. I know where I am going. Get off me!" He yelled.
Tanner sat up, it had been a while since he had seen his dad. But, not much had changed. Well, he was sober. But he was as mean as ever.
There was plexiglass separating the father and son. Tanner picked up his phone receiver to speak to his father. Bart picked up his phone also.
"Hey Dad." Tanner said. "How's it going?" Wrong thing to ask, Tanner thought a little too late.
"Oh grand. I love sitting by the pool drinking cocktails. How the hell do you think it is going."
'Lord help me' Tanner thought. "Well, I need to talk to you about something."
"I don't see why, I have never done anything right in your eyes before. I don't see how I could ever help you in here."
"I don't need your help, but I need to talk to you about Mom."
"Yeah, I heard she got herself drunk and crashed. At least she no longer has to worry about you and bills."
"You are right. She is finally at peace. I saw her a couple of weeks before the accident. She stopped drinking by the way, it was the other driver that was drunk. She was finally happy."
"Yeah, well, good riddance. She was only good for one thing, and that was questionable at times."
"She tried her best. But, unfortunately she changed too late for anyone to appreciate it. I spoke with her AA sponsor and he told me that the day she died she had made a life changing decision."
"Why are you telling me all of this? Hell, why are you even here?"
"Because you are my father. I want to tell you that I am OK. I am working on a farm and the family there is great. They treat me like I am a member of the family. And that before Mom died, she gave her heart to Christ. That I have done the same and I wanted to let you know that wherever you are, no matter what you have done, no matter your situation, Christ will meet you there. He wants to live in you, through you and help you change your life."
"Well, la te da. You've got religion. Just because you got 'saved' what makes you think that I want to? God has never done anything for me, but cursed me with a wife that is a lush and a son who is a good for nothing."
"Well, Dad. I am sorry you feel that way. But, I felt like I should at least tell you and give you an option to change your life. Whether you take it or not, it is up to you. God does not want to force you to love him, that has to be a conscious decision on your part. All I can do is plant the seed and hope it sprouts."
"Well boy, let me tell you, sometimes the seed whithers and dies."
"Yes, sir. But I will promise you that at some point in the next few days, weeks or months, you will remember our conversation. It is my prayer that you will think about it and maybe one day, you never know?"
"OK, are we done."
"Well, Merry Christmas." Tanner said through the phone.
Bart slammed the receiver down and stood waiting for a guard to escort him out of the visiting area.
'Well that went well!' Tanner thought. 'One down, one to go.'
A few minutes later, a very surprised Heath walked through the door to the visiting area. He sat down and picked up the phone receiver. "You are the last person I expected to ever see here."
"Well, I never expected to be here either, but things changed."
"Like what?"
"Like my mom," Tanner said. "Something happened that night that I found out about. And I need to talk to you about it."
"Look dude, I am sorry."
"Thank you, and that means a lot, but that is not why I am here. Hours before the accident, my Mom decided to give her heart to Christ. So, after the accident and even during the trial, I did not know. Actually, I just found out a few days ago." Tanner looked down to his hand resting on the countertop. "You see, we never had a good relationship, it was terrible growing up in my house. But, after she made the decision to follow Christ, she was coming to tell me. She felt bad about the way things were left between us, but she wanted to come and tell me. I was what she was thinking about. That had never happened before."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I don't know. I felt like I needed to come and let you know that I forgive you. I have no hard feelings. And I hope you can forgive yourself. I also hope that you know that Jesus can meet you where you are. No matter the circumstances. Let him in and allow him to work in your life."
"I have no life. I am in prison for the next twenty plus years."
"You have a life, and maybe there is a reason why you are here. Maybe there is someone that you can lead to Christ that would not listen to anyone else but you. I don't know, but you have to trust God."
Heath sat quietly for a few minutes. Tanner let him soak everything in. He knew, the person whose mother died is forgiving you, was a lot to take in.
Tanner said, "If you want me to pray with you? I will. But, I suggest you get with some people in here that are Christians, they can help you. And I am sorry you are going through this. I would never wanted anyone to go through this."
"Why are you doing this?" Heath was in shock, Tanner was apologizing to him?
"Because," Tanner said chuckling, "I can't believe I am going to say this, God wanted me to."
Heath laughed too. "And how does Julie and Tonya feel about this?"
"They have no idea I am even here."
"And so you forgive me? Just like that?"
"No. It took me a while, but yes I forgive you."
"Tanner, I still don't get, what do you want out of this?"
"I would like for you to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and change your life so that you can help others."
"That is asking a lot." Heath thought that he would never be able to repay Tanner for his mother's death.
"Well, honestly, I consider it a life for a life. Turn your life around and change it now while you can."
"I don't know if I can live up to your expectations."
"I am not asking you to. I'm asking you to live up to His." Tanner said as he pointed up towards heaven.
Tanner left the jail that afternoon. He knew he did everything he could for both men. He planted seeds in his father, which actually went better than expected. The big shocker was Heath, Tanner led him to know Jesus as his personal Savior that afternoon. Before he left, he gave Heath a Bible and told him to get with a pastor or a Christian group inside the prison for support.
Getting back to the truck, Brent who had been praying without ceasing for his friend asked, "Well, how did it go?"
"One out of two ain't bad." Tanner replied.
For the first time in months, Heath went right to sleep and did not have any nightmares. He was finally at peace.