When It Rains (The Potter's House Book 2 Read online

  When It Rains

  The Potter’s House Series: Book 2

  By:

  T.K. Chapin

  www.tkchapin.com

  Copyright © 2018 T.K. Chapin All rights reserved.

  Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

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  Version: 04.06.2018

  ISBN-13:

  Available Books

  By T.K. Chapin

  (Inspirational Christian Fiction & Romance)

  Protected By Love Series

  Love’s Return (Book 1)

  Love’s Promise (Book 2)

  Love’s Protection (Book 3)

  Diamond Lake Series

  One Thursday Morning (Book 1)

  One Friday Afternoon (Book 2)

  One Saturday Evening (Book 3)

  One Sunday Drive (Book 4)

  One Monday Prayer (Book 5)

  One Tuesday Lunch (Book 6)

  One Wednesday Dinner (Book 7)

  Embers & Ashes Series

  Amongst the Flames (Book 1)

  Out of the Ashes (Book 2)

  Up in Smoke (Book 3)

  After the Fire (Book 4)

  Love’s Enduring Promise Series

  The Perfect Cast (Book 1)

  Finding Love (Book 2)

  Claire’s Hope (Book 3)

  Dylan’s Faith (Book 4)

  Stand Alones

  Love Interrupted

  Love Again

  A Chance at Love

  The Broken Road

  If Only

  Because Of You

  The Lies We Believe

  In His Love

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  Dedicated to my loving wife.

  For all the years she has put up with me

  And many more to come.

  Table of Contents

  Note From The Author

  Prologue-Hannah

  Chapter 1-Hannah

  Chapter 2-Hannah

  Chapter 3-Hannah

  Chapter 4-Hannah

  Chapter 5- Luke

  Chapter 6-Hannah

  Chapter 7-Luke

  Chapter 8-Hannah

  Chapter 9-Hannah

  Chapter 10-Luke

  Chapter 11-Hannah

  Chapter 12-Hannah

  Chapter 13-Luke

  Chapter 14-Hannah

  Chapter 15-Luke

  Chapter 16-Hannah

  Chapter 17-Luke

  Chapter 18-Hannah

  Chapter 19-Hannah

  Chapter 20-Luke

  Chapter 21-Hannah

  Chapter 22-Luke

  Chapter 23-Hannah

  Chapter 24-Hannah

  Chapter 25-Hannah

  Chapter 26-Hannah

  Chapter 27-Hannah

  Chapter 28-Luke

  Chapter 29-Hannah

  Chapter 30-Hannah

  Chapter 31-Hannah

  Chapter 32-Hannah

  Chapter 33-Luke

  Chapter 34-Hannah

  Chapter 35-Luke

  Chapter 36-Hannah

  Chapter 37-Luke

  Chapter 38-Hannah

  Chapter 39-Luke

  Chapter 40-Hannah

  Chapter 41-Luke

  Chapter 42-Hannah

  Book Previews

  Other Books

  Bonus

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Note From The Author

  The 21 books that form The Potter’s House series are linked by the theme of Hope, Redemption, and Second Chances. They are all stand-alone books and can be read in any order. Books will become progressively available from February 27, 2018 onward.

  Book 1: The Homecoming, by Juliette Duncan

  Book 2: When It Rains, by T.K. Chapin

  Book 3: Heart Unbroken, by Alexa Verde

  Book 4: Long Way Home, by Brenda S Anderson

  Book 5: Promises Renewed, by Mary Manners

  Book 6: A Vow Redeemed, by Kristen M. Fraser

  Book 7: Restoring Faith, by Marion Ueckermann

  Books 8 – 21 to be announced

  Prologue-Hannah

  FAITH IS EASY WHEN LIFE is going in a direction you want. However, when life throws a curve ball at your head and it’s going ninety miles an hour, faith is a different story. My story is the second of these, and it all started when I found out my husband, Jonathan, had been living a double life. Those business trips twice a month down to Florida weren’t business at all. It was to see his other wife and children. This was only the beginning of a series of events that were too much for my heart to handle on its own. I needed God. I firmly believe that faith in God can only work when we find the end of ourselves.

  It’s when one’s back is against the red sea and there doesn’t seem to be a way out, that God shows up.

  Chapter 1-Hannah

  “I’M PREGNANT.” TWO WORDS, ONE PHRASE that contains the power to change lives. Words that shape entire lives and words that can bring a grown man to his knees. They can bring immense joy or deep sorrow to the soul. When my young, sweet sixteen-year-old, Kayla, uttered those very words two years after my divorce with her father, I knew our lives were about to change again.

  Her boyfriend, Matt, whom she had been dating the last two years, was sitting beside her on my old red cross-stitched couch I had picked up at the Goodwill back when we’d first moved out of Jonathan’s house. They sat huddled together, and he had one arm around her shoulders, trying to provide her with comfort as they awaited my response.

  I was speechless. How could I let this happen? I wondered as the guilt weighed on my shoulders. She was my responsibility, and her actions were a direct reflection of my choices. It was a truth that hurt, but I couldn’t get around it no matter how badly I didn’t want to admit it.

  After a long, awkward silence loomed in the air, Matt adjusted on the couch and brought his hands together in his lap. Then, with the utmost confidence, he spoke. “Miss Bates, I want you to know we’re keeping it. I already have a job at Subway, and they said they can give me a few more hours.”

  This child’s words highlighted his immaturity and lack of understanding of reality. He knew nothing of what raising a child took. He was merely a child himself. He appeared to see this child growing inside my daughter as just a budgetary concern, but Matt was just a kid. I didn’t expect him to understand something that even most adults nowadays can’t fully comprehend when they first embark on the journey of parenthood.

  Still without speaking, I stood up from my recliner.

  Venturing into the kitchenette of the apartment, I refilled my cup of coffee as I still tried to wrap my head around the fact that my little girl was pregnant. Kayla, my perfect little innocent angel, had lost her wings. Where did my little girl who’d made mud pies outside in the dirt and came to me when she got hurt go?

  Kayla stood up from the couch and came to the counter that separated th
e kitchen from the living room, her eyes wide. “Mom? Can you please say something?”

  Turning to her, I carefully set my cup of coffee down on the counter and peered into her eyes. Worry weighed heavily in her eyes. I suspected she wanted me to kiss the situation and make it all better, but this wasn’t just a little scratch on her knee and she wasn’t five years old.

  Reality began to sink into my bones. Tears welled in my eyes as I saw not just my daughter standing on the other side of the counter, but a scared and frightened mother-to-be.

  “Matt.” My gaze caught his. “You need to leave now so I can speak to my daughter alone, please.”

  He stood up and headed for the door. Kayla rushed to his side and pulled his arm, trying to stop him from leaving. “Don’t leave, Matt! This is your baby too!”

  Pausing, he looked at me, and then at my daughter. “Maybe you should listen to your mom now. Not listening to her is how we ended up here.”

  Kayla’s shoulders drooped as she let go of his arm. Reluctantly, she walked by his side to the door and paused as she turned to me. “Can I walk him to his car?”

  “It’s raining.”

  “I can put a coat on.”

  “If you must.”

  As the door shut, I sighed heavily and pressed my hand against my brow as the pent-up tears streamed down my cheeks. How could I have let this happen? Maybe if I hadn’t taken the last two years to focus on myself and my healing from the divorce with Jonathan, things would be different. Maybe if I’d paid a little more attention to her instead of going to all of those support groups at the church for counseling, my daughter wouldn’t be pregnant.

  Taking my cup of coffee with a side of guilt, I returned to my recliner in the living room. I tried to formulate in my mind how to break my news to her. There had been an idea tossing back and forth in my mind for the last two and a half months. Up until now, I wasn’t sure if it would be good for the two of us. Tonight’s news concreted my decision. Yes, my daughter would be upset with me, especially now, but it’d be for the best.

  She came back into the apartment, a coldness in the air with her as she entered the living room and sat down on the couch once more, her wet coat soaking through the sofa.

  “We’re moving.” Two words, one phrase that contains the power to change lives.

  Chapter 2-Hannah

  HER BEDROOM DOOR SLAMMED SHUT moments later. A cringe of pain rippled through me as I empathized with the pain she must have been feeling in the moment. She didn’t understand it now, but she would with time. Picking up my cell phone, I called Luke, the man I had spoken with on the phone a few times about his father, who needed a caretaker. He had made me an offer, but I hadn’t given him my decision yet. That was two months ago. I had found the opening through an online bulletin board requesting someone to come live with his father, Mac, on a ranch in Eastern Washington. The job entailed cooking meals, buying groceries, and keeping the house clean. In exchange, we’d have a guest house to live in and a monthly salary.

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Hannah?”

  “Yes, it’s me. The caretaker position for your father. If the offer is still available, I’ll take it.”

  “That’s great! I was starting to wonder if I’d hear from you again.”

  “I guess I just needed God to confirm it for me somehow. Tonight, he did.”

  “I love it when God makes it easy like that. When can you get here?”

  “Next week.”

  “I’ll let Mac know tomorrow when I go out there, and we’ll be looking forward to your arrival.”

  Hearing my daughter’s door creak open, I said my goodbyes. “Looking forward to it. I’ll be in touch.”

  I hung up my call, and Kayla walked out into the living room. Her eyes were red and swollen. Wandering over to the couch, she dropped onto it in a dramatic fashion. Clutching the couch pillow against her stomach, she stared at the ceiling. “Mom. Can we please just stay here? It’s not like I can get more pregnant if we stay. I’m sorry. I know you’re disappointed in me, and I am too . . . but moving isn’t going to help anything. Please, Mom?”

  I shook my head. “I know you don’t understand, but the answer is no. I am the parent, and you are the child. The decision is final.”

  “That’s so unfair!” she screamed.

  Closing my eyes, I reached down deep inside to draw strength from the Spirit of God to sustain me. “Kayla. You cannot speak to me that way. We are moving and there is no changing that.”

  She shook her head. “You find out I’m pregnant and then you get back at me by moving us. You’re a horrible person! It all makes sense now. Why Dad left you for her.”

  Her words sliced through layers of healing and stung a sensitive part of my heart. I had to remind myself that she was only a child, and she was trying to hurt me because she was hurt. She didn’t mean it. I wished she didn’t know any of the details of the divorce, but she wasn’t a small child when it all happened two years ago. She was there, sitting on the stairs in the living room when Brenda, Jonathan’s other wife, called and told me about their family. She was there when Jonathan kissed her goodbye and moved to Florida. I’ve never hated a person, but Jonathan was right there on the cusp for what he did to Kayla by choosing his other family.

  “I’m going to call Matt’s parents and try to figure out how we are all going to parent this new baby coming into the world in nine months.”

  Shaking her head, she said, “You wouldn’t tell them.”

  I stood up. “His mother goes to our church. Why wouldn’t I tell them? They need to know our children are having a child, and we have to decide how we are going to raise it, especially in light of our moving.”

  “You know his dad beats him! Why are you trying to ruin everything? I hate you so much!” With that, she stormed out of the room and down the hallway. The door slammed once again. How did my sweet, easygoing little girl turn into such an angry and hurtful child? My heart felt a twinge thinking of her father, Jonathan. I didn’t miss him, but I did miss Kayla having a father figure in the home.

  Scrolling through my phone, I landed on Carla’s name. She was Matt’s mother. I pondered the easiest way to proceed that didn’t get Matthew harmed. I was upset with Matthew for impregnating my daughter, but I didn’t want him hurt.

  Chapter 3-Hannah

  I ARRANGED FOR COFFEE AT a local coffee shop downtown the next afternoon with Carla. The kids were in school, and I had a bit of time to process the idea of my daughter being pregnant. Though I wasn’t thrilled my sixteen-year-old was pregnant, I did understand it was done and over with and it was time to prepare for a baby. Things needed to be sorted out between the grownups.

  Sitting down at the table, I took a drink of my coffee.

  “Wow. You seem so nervous, Hannah.”

  “Sorry,” I said, setting my cup down. “It’s kind of a huge deal.”

  Carla shifted in her seat, appearing uncomfortable as she sat across from me. She shook her head, rubbing the corner of her cup with a thumb. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know how to be delicate with this, but basically, our children are pregnant.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked, pulling back. “No.” She adjusted in her seat, leaning slightly forward across the table as her eyes widened. “What?”

  “Kayla is pregnant.”

  “Um.”

  “I know. I was devastated too.”

  Letting out a sigh, she looked away from me. With an air of condemnation toward me, she said, “I knew that Kayla was a bad seed.”

  “Excuse me? Your son impregnated her! It takes two!”

  “I heard about Jonathan and his whole other wife and family in Florida, Hannah. I’m sure that’s been hard on you and it’s caused you to slack in your parenting. I get that, but now my son’s life is ruined because of your daughter not being able to keep her morals intact.”

  My heart splintered. “How could you bring up my divorce? You’re blaming that for your
son getting my daughter pregnant? Unbelievable.”

  Crossing my arms, anger seethed within me. Sure, Kayla was to blame, but so was Matt. This coffee with a friend was turning into a battle of whose fault it was instead of thinking of the future.

  “No, no. Honey. I’m not saying your divorce caused it to happen. Just the fact that they’ve had plenty of opportunity at your house to commit acts. I’m always home. It never happened at my house, I can assure you of that!”

  Standing up, I shook my head as my heart was broken by someone I thought was a friend. “Your son’s precious life doesn’t have to be ruined, Carla. I really wanted to try co-parenting with you, but now I see that isn’t possible. Maybe you can have him give up his rights. We’re moving next week to Washington State. Call me if you talk him into it.”

  I walked out and left my almost full coffee and my old friend behind.

  Chapter 4-Hannah

  THE NEXT WEEK WAS A smudge of ink smeared on the calendar as I counted the days, hours, and minutes until we would finally leave the city of Flagstaff, Arizona. I was done with the people, done with the drama, and ready for a fresh start in a new place.

  Loading the final box into the smallest sized U-Haul truck, we shut the door and proceeded to hook up the car trailer to pull behind us. We, along with the youth group from our church, had finished loading by seven in the morning, an impressive feat for my daughter and me, who loved sleep more than anything else in life.

  “You could’ve just let me drive the car.” Kayla’s words were under her breath as we were struggling to latch the trailer onto the back of the U-Haul as the youth drank the refreshments we had out for them.