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all, he could practice law in Tennessee, including all that boring contract stuff he specialized in.
    But then Wyatt blew it. He became a Christian. A bona fide, born-again, baptized-in-water, saved-by-the-blood, Spirit-filled, miracle-loving, Bible-reading Christian. After all that time going to church with the Burke family to please Roxy’s dad, he was sucked in.
    Funny — Roxy opened her eyes and stared at the couple across from her — it was after Wyatt confessed his faith in Christ that he proposed marriage. Up until then he’d liked the relationship they had. But after that, he wanted marriage, a home, a family. He wanted to make an honest woman of her.
    The newlyweds kissed, slow and languid.
    Watching them made Roxy wonder what had happened to Wyatt since she left Boise. No doubt he was married to some nice Christian girl with a pristine past and a boring future, a father of two or three kids and the proud owner of a home in suburbia.
    And what would Wyatt think of you today?
    She swallowed a lump in her throat and wrapped the remainder of her sandwich in the cellophane it came in, her appetite gone.
    =

    Wyatt reached for the telephone receiver on the third ring. “Wyatt Baldini.”
    “Hey. It’s Lance. Have you got a minute?”
    “Sure.” He closed the file folder on his desk. “What’s up?”
    “I thought you should hear what happened to one of the young men as a result of your testimony last night.”
    “Something good, I hope.”
    “What brought him to see me wasn’t pleasant, but good came of it.”
    Wyatt twisted his chair toward his office window. “I’m listening.” “The boy is seventeen, almost eighteen, a senior in high school.
    He doesn’t go to church anywhere, but a friend convinced him to come to youth group a few months ago, and he’s come pretty regular ever since. Turns out his girlfriend found out she’s pregnant, and he was after her to get an abortion. He’s been trying to get the money together to pay for it.”
    “Oh, no.”
    “He cut school today to come see me.” Lance chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Cutting school isn’t a good thing. But, Wyatt, he said he wanted to understand what you were talking about last night, about how God could turn his mistakes into something good. The bot- tom line is, he prayed to accept Christ while he was in my office.”
    “Praise God.”
    “ And when he left, he said he was going to tell his girlfriend he doesn’t want her to abort the baby. That either they need to get married and raise it or they need to put it up for adoption.”
    “Did he ask for advice on which of those options would be best?”
    “No, and I didn’t offer any. But I invited him to come back to talk to me when he’s ready.”
    “Tough decisions.” It was a miracle Wyatt hadn’t found himself facing the same sort of decisions back when he was this kid’s age.
    “Yeah, they sure are. Keep him and his girlfriend in your prayers, will you?”
    “You bet.”
    “Well, I won’t keep you any longer. I just wanted you to know one way God used your testimony. I’ll see you at the elders meeting.”
    “Okay. See you then.” He placed the receiver in its cradle, his thoughts pulled back in time to another phone call.
    “Wyatt?”
    He could still hear Roxy Burke’s voice, fear-filled and heart- stopping, as clear now as it was over that telephone wire twelve years ago.
    “My period’s late. I think I’m pregnant.”
    As the old memory replayed in his mind, he remembered the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Roxy pregnant? A baby? His baby?
    In a flash, he’d seen all of his hard work to go to college and get his law degree and pass the bar disappearing before his eyes. He imagined himself married and working in retail or construction, fighting to keep his head above water, fighting to provide food and home and medical care for wife and child. He saw himself miser- able and bitter. He didn’t want to be married or a dad. Not yet anyway. Oh, he was