7

Nia sat cross-legged on the bed in her room. “Keish, please call me.” She tossed her phone on the bed then pounded her pillow. Why was this happening? She’d lost track of how many texts and voice mails she’d sent to Keisha with no response to any of them. Keisha had hung up on Nia the last time she’d called, and now she wasn’t answering. “Breathe in. Breathe out.”

Surely Keisha would never be stupid enough to do drugs.

But doubt crept in. She had a sick feeling in her stomach that wouldn’t go away. Something had made Keisha change. Was it drugs? “Please, God, keep Keisha safe. Help her make the right choices. And give me peace in this situation.” And just like that a sense of calm descended. She stood up. “No sense worrying about things I can’t change. Let God handle it.”

She took the steps three at a time but stopped at the bottom and looked back. The first time she’d gone up those steps she couldn’t even walk. Instead, she’d used the elevator lift chair. She never wanted to forget how close she came to dying and how God had given her a miracle. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Thanks, God, for giving me back my life.”

Cooper was at the kitchen surrounded by ingredients and staring at a cookbook. He smiled. “Hey. Did you get hold of Keisha?”

“No, but I’ll keep trying.”

“I wish I’d come up with the idea of a summer internship for her sooner. If I had, maybe all this wouldn’t be happening.”

“True, but she’s responsible for her own actions.” She shrugged. “Maybe next summer. In the meantime, I’ll keep praying but…”

“It’s hard when someone you care about makes bad choices.”

“Tell me about it.” She peeked over his shoulder. “Whatcha making?”

“It’s a new recipe for lasagna.”

“I liked the old one.”

“Yeah, me too. But change is good.” He grinned. “At least that’s what my daughter keeps telling me.”

Nia got a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and then sat down at the kitchen island. “Anything interesting happening this week?” She was becoming accustomed to her role as the puzzle helper in the house. People responded to her and didn’t notice how young she was. That had to be a God thing.

Cooper looked up from the mess he was creating. The expression on his face was serious. “I’m not sure if you’d call it interesting.”

She waited.

“We’ve got a family coming in today. Including the family dog.”

“Oh.”

“Mom and Dad and three children.”

“OK.”

“The oldest girl is sick.”

“Oh.” She was pretty sure she didn’t want to hear the next part.

“Very sick. She has leukemia and isn’t expected to survive.”

His words took Nia back to when she’d been that sick. Horrible. That was the only word she could think of it to describe it. Finally, she managed to squeak out, “Oh.”

“I knew this would be tough for you, but I couldn’t say no to the fami—”

“Don’t they know there’s no healing here anymore?” Sadness filled her as she said the words. More than anything she wished she could help heal this little girl.

Pain glinted in Cooper’s eyes. “I hope that’s not entirely true. Rachel may not be here any longer to promote physical healing but—”

“Oh, Cooper. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. Of course there’s more than one kind of healing. And Rachel taught me that spiritual healing is even more important than the physical kind. And you’ve been doing a great job.”

“You mean you’ve been doing a great job this summer.” He held up a hand. “And it’s OK. I know what you meant. They’re not here for physical healing. They’re just looking for some time together as a family, and they couldn’t really afford a vacation because of all the medical bills.”

“Then we’ll make sure they have a great week, won’t we?” It might be difficult for her, but as Auntie always said, ‘just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.’

He pointed at the lasagna. “That’s what I’m trying to do with this mess. Lasagna is the daughter’s favorite.”

Nia grinned, “It looks delicious.”

An hour later, Nia sat in the music room strumming on her guitar. When Rachel had been alive it had been a meeting room, but now it was a practice room. She was working on a song as she prayed for strength for this week. It wouldn’t be easy dealing with someone who had the same thing she’d almost died from, but she wanted to be here for this family. Especially the daughter. Her fingers moved across the strings, but she closed her eyes. God, maybe this is the right time to give me the gift of healing. Just the way I was healed here, let me help heal this little girl. How awesome that would be. Something sparked. Her dread turned into excitement. This was it! This was to be the time and this was the person Nia would first use her gift of healing with. She was sure of it! And she was ready! She’d been helping people with puzzles the past six weeks. Now it was time to go out on her own. And help heal this young girl—with God’s help of course. She savored the moment.

A car pulled up.

Nia jumped up, hardly able to contain her excitement. This was it. Her life as a healer was about to begin. She ran out the door to meet her destiny.

Cooper was already at the passenger door.

A woman stepped out of the car. Her eyes told the story. Exhausted and sad.

Nia had seen the same look in Auntie’s eyes.

Soon that sadness would change to joy. Please, God, let that happen. Nia extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Nia. How was your trip?”

“We got lost so it took a little longer than expected. I don’t mean to be rude or crude, but we all need to go to the bathroom.”

Two little boys tumbled from the backseat. The youngest looked to be about four. His blond hair was curly just like his mom’s. He smiled. “I gotta go potty.”

The older boy had dark hair and eyes to match. “Me, too.”

Nia grinned and motioned with her hand. “Guess you better follow me then.”