Kingsbury, Karen: Shades of Blue

Brad Cutler is a rising young advertising executive, engaged to Laura James, the boss’s daughter. A few weeks short of the wedding, he begins to have fl ash backs to his teen years when he made a series of bad decisions. A brief trip home to visit his parents re-enforces his feeling that he must settle the past before he can move on and get married.

After confessing to his soon-to-be bride that he had encouraged his teen-aged girlfriend, Emma, to have an abortion, he takes the Memorial Day weekend to go back and find her. He knows he must have Emma’s forgiveness as well as God’s before he can build a future with Laura.

Emma has built a life for herself as a successful and beloved first grade teacher. After her abortion, and Brad’s abandonment, and her mother’s death, she lost her faith and except for her teaching connections has become almost reclusive. With the help of a friend, Brad is easily able to locate her at the school. Their first meeting is tense and does little to clear the air. A walk along the familiar beach where they spent so much time together the last summer they were together brings back lots of painful memories for them both.

In the end, after attending church together Sunday morning and praying with the pastor, they are able to share their feelings with one another and forgive each other. By Monday evening when Brad returns to the city, they have spent time discussing how they each felt the day the abortion was performed and how it affected their lives.

Brad returns to the city to find that Laura has had a revelation. Her inclination to be angry with him for what he had done and for not sharing with her is gone. She has learned to forgive and embrace him and his past as part of the man she loves. The wedding will go on.

Emma’s life will soon be changing, too. The weekend of forgiveness and moving on has allowed her to acknowledge the friendship an acquaintance high school coach has offered her. Rebuilding her faith also allows her to deal with the death of a high school student who had been helping in her the classroom.

By Margie Gilbert (3/2013)