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“Thank you, but I should get going.” He read her perfectly.
“But I’m so hungry, Daddy. I can’t wait.” Lily tugged on Silas’s hand, rubbing her stomach with her other hand.
Silas glanced from Josie to his daughter and she was convinced he was feeling as manipulated as she was.
“And it’s your birthday,” Lily added. “And I don’t want to eat hot dogs again. Not for your birthday.”
Now Josie felt like a real cad. Making the guy go home and make hot dogs for his birthday meal. “Please. Stay. I insist. We’ll have more than enough.”
“Auntie Josie always makes enough so we can have leftovers,” Alyssa put in. “And we had leftovers yesterday even though Gramma doesn’t like it.”
Josie shot her a warning glance. Mr. Marstow didn’t need to know the minutiae of their everyday life.
“Please, Daddy,” Lily pleaded, sensing her father’s weakening.
“Alyssa, why don’t you and Lily set the table. Make sure you have five place settings put out,” Josie said, putting an end to the awkward discussion. She gave Silas a cautious smile. “Now, you have to join us.”
“And we have birthday cupcakes for dessert,” Lily added.
“You come talk to me in the living room,” Betty put in from the doorway. “I remember your wife.”
And so, step by step, Silas and his daughter were pulled into the Cane family dinner.
As Josie directed the chattering girls, she put the finishing touches on supper. While she worked, her own emotions veered from annoyance with Alyssa and Lily for putting her on the spot and a curious sense of muted anticipation.
It had been six years since she had a man over for supper.
Six years since her responsibilities completely altered the course of her life.
Six years since she carried Alyssa away from the hospital, a little, confused girl of two, an orphan, with only her aunt to take care of her.
An aunt who, up until then, had lived life on her own terms and in her own way. Josie’s life had taken a 180-degree turn and there were many times, since then, that she thanked God for a second chance to redeem herself. Both in His eyes and in the eyes of the community.
But she was determined to be a good mother to Alyssa, to focus solely on the little girl and her needs. As a result she seldom dated and, in the past three years, had only gone out a handful of times.
Now a man’s voice reverberated from the living room, answering questions posed by Betty. A man was joining them for dinner.
“Tell Gramma and Mr. Marstow dinner is ready,” Josie said, setting the pot of rice on the table. She glanced over the settings, a feeling of self-pity loomed. The extensive china collection, inherited from her sister, had been reduced to a few chipped plates, a couple of cups and four bowls she and Alyssa salvaged from her broken house under the watchful eyes of a crew who was sent to remove debris.
The plastic chairs hunched around the rickety table had been donated, scrounged from various households whose possessions were still intact and who had extra to spare.
Her dining room had once boasted an antique dining room set, also inherited from her sister, a hutch that her parents used to own and a living room set that Josie had saved up for dollar by precious dollar.
All gone, she thought with a pang of remorse as she straightened the faded tablecloth she had bought at a rummage sale put on by the town for the tornado victims. Sure she had the insurance money, but dollars could never replace what she had lost.
She pushed her emotions aside, struggling to count her blessings. She had Alyssa. She had her health. She had the enduring presence of God in her life.
And Gramma? a tiny voice questioned.
Well that was another ongoing story.
“We’re here,” Alyssa said, leading the mini procession into the kitchen with a grin of pride.
“Smells good,” Silas said, pushing Betty’s wheelchair into the kitchen. “Where do you want us to sit?”
Alyssa directed traffic and a few moments later, they were all settled around the table.
“Shall we pray?” As Josie glanced around the full table, a curious sense of well-being sprung up inside.
It felt good to see new faces around the table. And as Josie’s eyes met Silas’s, she felt the faintest hint of possibilities.
Which she immediately quashed as she bowed her head. She had her plans. They had only been put on hold until her grandmother was settled.
“Thank You, Lord, for food. For a roof over our heads. For the blessing of Your love,” Josie prayed, “and thank You for the company that could join us this evening. May we be a blessing to each other. Amen.”
Josie waited a moment, then looked up.
Directly across from her, Silas was looking past her, his mouth set in grim lines. As if he was disapproving of something.
Chapter Four
“What made you move here if you didn’t know anyone?” Betty was asking, sounding unusually animated as she ate.
Maybe she should have supper company more often, Josie thought. Then she caught Alyssa pulling a face at Lily and she shot her niece a warning frown. Alyssa was getting positively giddy.
“I liked the size of the town. I liked the people I met,” Silas said, seemingly unaware of his daughter’s silly antics.
“And then you met Kelly, of course,” Betty said with a coy smile. “Your wife was in the same Bible study I went to. She was a lovely, lovely person.”
Silas gave Betty a tight smile but didn’t answer.
“I remember the first time she came,” Betty continued. “She wore a white dress. And the way she could quote Scripture. I’m sure her parents and grandparents were very, very proud of her, as were you,” Betty said with a faint sniff.
The admiration in her grandmother’s voice and the sidelong glance Betty shot her resurrected an unwelcome surge of self-pity. The underlying tone seemed to be that there were other children, grandchildren even, who could not create this pride. Who were unworthy.
Like Josie, for instance.
“Your wife was a treasure, Mr. Marstow,” Betty continued. “A blessing from God.”
“She was a treasure,” Silas said.
Josie glanced at him as she caught the pain in his voice. But his attention was on the few pieces of rice he had left on his plate.
“Daddy said that God took our mommy away from us, so we don’t talk about my mom or God,” Lily put in. “But I miss her.”
“I’m sure you do,” Betty said, but her eyes were on Silas. She opened her mouth as if to say more when Josie interjected.
“Lily, why don’t you get the cupcakes.” Josie raised her voice just in case her grandmother decided to voice the words hovering on the edge of her usually sharp tongue. “I think most of us are ready for dessert.”
“I’m not done,” Betty said with a peevish voice as Lily and Alyssa jumped off their chairs and Josie cleared a space for the plate.
“I made strawberry ones.” Lily set the plate with the assorted cupcakes on the table in front of her father. “But I didn’t put pink icing on them, because I know you don’t like pink.”
Silas gave her a rueful little smile. “What color did you use?”
“Purple. With yellow flowers. Ms. Josie helped me make the leaves. She makes really, really nice leaves.”
“We all have our talents,” Josie said, with a light laugh. “Can I take your plate?”
“How long have you been doing this program?” Silas asked, glancing up at her as he handed her his dinner plate. Josie felt the faintest flutter as their gazes met.
She pulled her attention back to his question. “For the past six years. I took some childhood-development courses through a community college in Manhattan.”
“And what made you decide to move back to High Plains?”
“Ms. Josie is a really good teacher,” Lily said, not giving Josie a chance to answer, “I learned a lot today.”
“That’s good,” Silas murmured.
Lily leaned forward, her hands folded in front of her on the table. “Can I please go again tomorrow? And tomorrow and all the time?”
Josie wanted to interrupt. Lily was really putting her father on the spot and she was sure he didn’t appreciate it. But before she could say anything Alyssa cut in.
“My aunt Josie is very careful. All the time, she’s very, very careful. And she would never let Lily run away like I made her do that day of the tornado.” Alyssa’s expression was so earnest it made Josie smile.
She glanced at the recipient of all this eagerness and caught a flicker of humor feathering across Silas’s lips, as well.
And then his smile transformed his face. Laugh lines fanned around his eyes and a certain tension around his mouth faded away.
And Josie felt a tingle of awareness slip up her spine.
“I’ll have to think about it.”
“I would be really good,” Lily put in. “And you wouldn’t have to stop your work to pick me up.”
Still smiling, Silas glanced at Josie. “It seems I’m getting ambushed.”
“I would love to have her. It would be no trouble to add her to the roster.”
“Okay. She can go.”
“I’m done,” Betty said, wiping her mouth with her paper napkin. “I can’t swallow this dry rice.”
“Would you like some more water?” Josie asked, reaching for the pitcher.
“No. I want to get out. I’ve been cooped up in here all day while you’ve been gallivanting around.”
“We’re having dessert right now,” Josie said, struggling to keep a patient tone in her voice as she cleared away her grandmother’s plate.
“I don’t want any. When you’re done with supper, you can take me out.”
“Can Lily and I take you for a walk, Gramma?” Alyssa put in, her face smeared with icing from her cupcake.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Josie said as she sat down.
She tried as much as possible to be the buffer between Alyssa and her grandmother’s caustic comments. For the most part Josie was the direct target of Betty’s ire, but lately Betty had been turning on Alyssa, as well.
Josie couldn’t understand this. Alyssa was the daughter of Betty’s favorite grandchild. Maybe it was because Josie was taking care of her. And not doing the job Betty thought she should. Maybe Betty thought Josie’s younger behavior was rubbing off on Alyssa.
“We’ll be real careful and we’ll go slow.” Alyssa popped the last bite of her cupcake in her mouth and wiped her fingers on her napkin.
“You’ve got icing on your face, missy” was Betty’s frowning reply.
Alyssa obediently wiped it off, then glanced at Lily. “So do you.” She giggled.
Lily wrinkled her nose, but ignored it as she took another bite.
“Hurry up, Lily,” Alyssa said, wiping her mouth again. “We have to take my Gramma for a walk after Auntie Josie does devotions.”
Lily gave Josie a puzzled frown as she licked her lips. “What’s devotions?”
“We read the Bible and pray, dummy.” Alyssa bopped Lily on the shoulder.
“Don’t call her dummy,” Betty snapped before Josie had a chance to reprimand her niece.
Josie bit back a comment, then walked to her bedroom for her Bible. When she picked up the brown, leather-bound book from her bedside table, she paused and smiled. This Bible was one of the few things she’d salvaged from her house. She had received it from Reverend Garrison after her sister’s death. He had told her it would give her comfort.
And it had.
Reading the Bible had also given her the strength she needed to deal with her grandmother’s anger when she found out Josie had been named Alyssa’s guardian instead of her. The Bible was well thumbed and worn and one of the most precious things she owned.
Josie hurried back to the table and as she slipped into her chair, Silas frowned at the book she laid on the table.
Josie slid her fingers in the pages marked by the bookmark Alyssa had made for her. “We’ve been reading through the Psalms the past few weeks. Today we’re reading Psalm 16,” Josie explained as she opened the book.
She chanced another look at Silas who sat back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed. Sheer defensive posture, she thought.
Josie lowered her gaze as her mind cast back to Lily’s innocent comment about God taking their mother away from them. Did Silas really believe that?
She hesitated, wondering if reading the Bible would bother him. But then she reminded herself of the comfort she had received from God’s word. She began reading.
“‘Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge. I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.’’”
She didn’t have to look up to sense Silas’s antagonism pushing at her. But she read on, seeking God in the words. “‘Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.’” As she read, she saw her grandmother fidgeting beside her, and Lily whispering to Alyssa who was looking down and grinning.
Was she the only one at this table who understood that they were reading God’s holy word? She paused a moment, letting the words she was reading register both with her and the people sitting at her table. Then, she finished, “‘…You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.’”
She smoothed her hand over the page, then carefully closed the Bible. “I know for me, those words give me great comfort. I know everyone here has faced some deep sorrow, but it is such a comfort to know we will see those we love again.”
