15

Alison Waters pulled the last of the banana bread out of the oven. Tomorrow was her group’s turn to provide snacks for the greeting area at church, so she’d been baking all morning. Now she was ready to go spend some time in her garden before her first piano student arrived.

A loud bang rumbled from the ceiling, followed by a scraping sound. Probably the neighbor’s cat stuck on the roof again. Alison opened the back door, preparing to coax the thing down if she could. Likely a can of tuna would be required before it was all over.

“Good morning.” Kenmore nodded down from a stepladder he had set up at the corner of the house.

“Kenmore, whatever are you doing?”

“Cleaning out your gutters. They say it’s going to be a rainy summer, so it’s best to be prepared.”

“You don’t have to do that, you know.” Since David’s death twenty-four years ago, Kenmore had made it a habit to randomly show up at Alison’s and do a chore or two that he considered “man work.”

“I do it ’cause I want to. Just finished cleaning out my gutters at the house, figured I might as well come get yours while I was in the right frame of mind.”

“You are too good to me.”

“Bah.” He scooped a pile of leaves and debris into his trowel and dumped it into the large trash bag he’d hung on the side of his ladder.

“How about you come in for some ice water and banana bread when you make your way around to the door?”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.” Kenmore loved baked goods, and since Alison enjoyed baking, she always found a way to offer a token of thanks for his help.

Since her house was small, it was less than half an hour before Kenmore was seated at the kitchen table with her. “How are things going with the kids?”

“Fine.” She took a sip of her water. “I’m worried about Beth, though.”

“How so?” He cut another slice of banana bread and put a thick chunk of butter on it.

“Ever since they moved back to town, she’s just sort of been floundering. Most of her friends from high school don’t live here anymore, and the ones that do all have their own lives and friends and children. You know how she is—the helpful side of her personality can be a little overwhelming at times. I think, no I know, it makes it harder for her to make friends. By the time someone would realize that Beth really is a sweetheart, they are long gone.”

He laughed. “She’s maybe a little over the top sometimes, but who wouldn’t want a friend like that? They’ve only been back in town a few weeks, give it time.”

“I know. I just worry, that’s all.”

“Shane tells me she’s been calling him three or four times a week about finding a property to buy as a home for single mothers. You know anything about that?”

Alison sighed. “Yes. There was a nice facility where she used to volunteer up near Knoxville. I think it was good for her because it gave her a channel for some of that surplus helpfulness. Now she’s got the idea in her head that since there is nothing like that around here, and since she has an abundance of time on her hands, she should start her own place.”

“What does Rand think about that?”

“You know Rand, he gives Beth a pretty wide berth with her schemes, but he does keep telling her that there is no way they could afford to do it. And we all keep reminding her that come the fall, she’s not going to have an abundance of free time anymore.”

Kenmore grinned and shook his head. “Your third grandchild. What do you think about that?”

“Finally I’ll have one close enough that I can actually see him or her on a regular basis. It’s torture having Max and his family so far away.”

“Yes, it’s going to be nice having this one nearby.” He took another bite of bread and moaned. “This is your best yet.”

“You say that every time.”

“You get a little better every time. Improving with practice.” His eyes danced as he looked at her. His humorous side was something other people rarely understood. Most people saw him as cranky and serious. Alison was one of the few who knew better. “I’d like your opinion about something.”

“Really? It’s my lucky day.” She grinned at him, waiting for the comeback, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“A girl came by the store yesterday, just sort of passing through town but thinking of staying, too. She’s looking for a job, and I’m thinking of hiring her for the summer.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’d like to know what you think of her.”

“Since when do you ask my opinion about anything even remotely having to do with that store?”

“It’s just that this girl—there’s something about her that makes me think I want to help her. Then, listening to you talk right now about Beth, well, she’s fairly close to Beth’s age. I heard enough of this girl’s story yesterday to think she could use a friend right now, and I’m considering not only offering her the job but also renting her the duplex for the summer.”

“That would put her right down the street from Beth.”

“Exactly.” He rubbed his chin. “I’m not one to be impulsive, you know that, but I think I might make an exception here, although I’m still not sure of the reason. Yesterday when we were talking, I recommended your church as a good one to visit, and I think she might just show up. If you see her there, will you make a point of trying to meet her? I’d love to hear your impressions.”

“Of course I will.” Alison took a small bite of the bread. “What made you send her to my church instead of inviting her to yours?”

“A small country church isn’t the right place for a young person who doesn’t know anyone. Besides, like I said, I think she might be a perfect friend for Beth.”

“Then you can count on me to be watching for new faces tomorrow. What does she look like?”

“Long brown hair, pretty girl in a sort of earthy way, early to mid-twenties, I’d guess.”

“Any unfamiliar faces who remotely fit that description will be thoroughly investigated during the course of tomorrow’s service.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Kenmore stood up and carried his plate and glass to the sink. “Now I’ve got to finish your gutters so I can get out to the store.”

“I thought Saturday was your day off. Shane says you need to slow down.”

“Saturday’s your day off from school, too, but how many music lessons are you teaching today?”

“A few.”

“Exactly.” He nodded as he walked out the back door.

Kelli drove through the parking lot of the beige brick church with dark brown trim. Her heart was pounding, her hopes for this day so scattered she didn’t even know what her actual hope was. There were several empty spaces near the front door, with large white signs declaring Visitor Parking in bright blue letters. To park there seemed a bit too conspicuous and almost certain to garner unwanted attention. She drove around and pulled into a spot at the back corner.

For a moment, she sat and watched, wondering if she was underdressed, or overdressed, or just too much of a heathen to be able to fit in here. An older couple walked by, he in a gray suit and tie, she in a green jacket and skirt with heels. Then a young family came behind them. The mother wore a flowing sundress and sandals, the daughter a frilly dress, the son khakis, and the husband jeans and a golf shirt. This was the first moment of relief. Her geometric-patterned green maxi dress ought to work just fine.

As she walked slowly toward the three sets of double doors at the front of the church, she was still pondering the best place to sit. If she slid into the very back, she would likely be less noticeable, but what if the person she was here to see sat up front? Too bad asking someone, “So where does Alison Waters usually sit?” would be a little too much of a giveaway.

As she entered through the back door, a balding middle-aged man in a seersucker sport coat handed her some type of paper. She mumbled her thanks, took a deep breath, and walked into the sanctuary. It was larger than she’d guessed it would be. She stood at the back of the central aisle, wondering if maybe the sides offered a safer choice. She was just getting ready to make for the left when a circle of women farther up the middle caught her attention. One of the women, standing in a profile view from Kelli’s angle, was almost surely Alison Waters.

Kelli stopped breathing. She simply held her breath and stared for the space of three heartbeats at the woman who was her mother. She was a little shorter than Kelli had expected, but her smile was every bit as bright as in her pictures—the entire group of women basked in its light. Alison turned and glanced toward Kelli, her gaze seeming to stay on her for just a second longer than normal. Kelli hurried to take a seat in an almost empty pew just to her right. She was still roughly ten rows back from the women, close enough to watch them, but far enough away she could observe unnoticed until she decided what to do. Except Alison seemed to be looking toward her again. Surely it was just the imaginings of a guilty conscience. Organ music filled the brick and wood church with an almost holy sound that Kelli found somehow less uncomfortable than she would have expected.

The group of women hugged and laughed together for another minute before breaking up to go their separate ways. Kelli pulled out the piece of paper she’d been given on arrival and pretended to be studying it while glancing up to see where Alison Waters would sit.

And then suddenly she was walking toward Kelli. Coming closer. Kelli forced her head down and had to abandon peeking for fear of giving herself away.

“Good mornin’. You’re new here, aren’t you?” The voice was sweet, and thick with southern charm.

Kelli looked up into the eyes of her mother. “Uh, yes. Just visiting, actually.”

“Well, welcome. My name’s Alison, and oh—” she glanced over Kelli’s shoulder and gestured toward a couple walking up the central aisle—“here comes my daughter, Beth, and her husband, Rand. Beth and Rand, we have a visitor today. Come meet . . .” Alison looked toward her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name.”

Her daughter Beth? The couple came to stand beside Alison, and then all three of them stood there, staring at Kelli. Were they looking at her because they were noting a family resemblance? Then Kelli realized she hadn’t answered the question yet. “Kelli. Kelli Huddleston.”

“Come meet Kelli.”

Beth’s smile was large and toothy. Her reddish-brown hair was just past shoulder length, straight like Kelli’s but much thicker. Any resemblance that Denice had thought she saw in that old wedding photo was definitely called into doubt in a big way. “Welcome,” Beth said. “Good to have you here. Where are you visiting from?” Her accent wasn’t quite as strong as her mother’s, but still obvious and charming.

“California. Just passing through, really.”

“Cal-i-forn-ia?” From Beth’s reaction, one would have thought Kelli had just told her she was from Buckingham Palace. “Oh, we’ve been talking and talking about going out there on vacation someday. Is it as beautiful as they say?”

Kelli nodded. “Yes, I guess I’d have to say that it is. Tennessee is beautiful, too. So green and lush.”

Just then, a man walked to the podium. “Good morning, everyone.”

“Good morning.” About a third of the crowd answered in reply. And Kelli supposed that was the cue for everyone to take their seats and quit talking.

“Nice to meet you, Kelli,” Beth whispered as the three of them sat down directly in front of her.

The man at the podium said, “Don’t forget about the church-wide picnic as soon as the service is over. I want everyone to stay and enjoy a little fellowship. The Ladies Hospitality Committee has prepared barbecue sandwiches and all the fixings. If you’re still hungry after that, the college group is having a bake sale to raise money for their upcoming trip to Kenya.”

Beth turned then, reached back to touch Kelli’s hands, which were clasped by her knees, and whispered, “Oh, please stay. I want to hear all about California.”

“Uh . . . well . . . I’m not sure . . .” Kelli was too stunned to think of the correct reply. This had happened in a much faster and more direct manner than she’d thought possible. She had come here simply hoping for a glimpse of Alison. Now Alison and Beth were sitting just a few feet in front of her and inviting her to stay for lunch.

As the service commenced, Kelli couldn’t do anything but look at the two women in front of her. Beth’s presence here was an unexpected stroke of luck. Now if only her brother would show up, Kelli’s goal would be almost accomplished.

This was her biological family, sitting so close in front of her she could reach out and touch them. She began to study them, even now, searching for clues, any signs about who they were and how Kelli might have once fit into the equation. Beth’s hair was the identical shade as her mother’s, not enough red in it be to called auburn but with too many red undertones to be truly brown. Kelli’s own hair was true brown, but in direct sunlight, people often commented about reddish highlights. Was there a family resemblance otherwise?

Beth and Alison both had oval faces, but Kelli had more of her father’s square jaw. Beth and Alison were both petite, while Kelli was taller, like her father. When it got right down to it, Kelli could find nothing about these women that would make for anything more than a casual similarity.

They sang a song Kelli had never heard, and then everyone sat down. Quite unexpectedly, Kelli’s mother stood and walked up the center aisle to the front of the church. She walked right up to the podium, nodded her head toward someone at the back of the church, and suddenly recorded background music filled the sanctuary. And then Alison Waters began to sing.

At first, Kelli couldn’t make out the words, she was so overcome by the beauty of this woman’s voice. It was incredible. Something far beyond that, really. At some point, she did begin to hear some of the words—something about God sending His greatest blessings in the form of trouble. If that were true, Kelli had been more than a little blessed in the past month.

Each note seemed to vibrate through her very soul. The beauty of the song, of her mother’s voice, of simply being in the same space as the mother she’d never known, it was all becoming too much for her. She remembered her own attempt at singing during tryouts for the junior high play. She still cringed when she remembered how embarrassed her father had been when he heard what she’d done. Kelli had never sung in public since, and something about hearing the beauty in her mother’s voice and knowing the discord in her own seemed to draw them that much farther apart.

When Alison finished singing, the whole room erupted in a chorus of “Amen.” Alison walked back to her seat, and Beth reached over and hugged her. She left her arm on the back of the seat as the service moved forward. It all seemed so natural and comfortable, Kelli couldn’t take her eyes off the casual way Beth’s arm encircled her mother. What must their relationship be like? Something different than Kelli and Mimi had shared, that seemed apparent.

The pastor stood up and preached for a while. Kelli heard none of it. Her brain was in complete overload with all that was happening. One thing she did do, much to her horror, was start crying.

It was slow at first, just a single tear running down her right cheek. She reached up to wipe it away, thankful no one was sitting beside her to notice. But another followed, and then another, until her shoulders were shaking. Somehow she managed to remain mostly silent, although she knew her ragged breathing was loud enough to tip off those close by, and the people behind her could undoubtedly see her shoulders shaking. Thankfully, by the time the sermon ended, she had gotten herself more or less under control.

As soon as everyone was dismissed, she stood up, thinking it might be best to make a quick escape. The emotional basket case she had become was certainly not strong enough to spend the next hour or two putting on a charade in front of the people who were once her family. She picked up her purse and turned toward the aisle, ready to hurry out.

Unfortunately, there was a middle-aged couple who had been sitting behind her. The woman reached out and grasped her by the arm. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Kelli shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Thanks.”

“If you say so, then I’ll accept that, but let me give you something real quick.” She fished in her purse, then pulled out a piece of paper and pen. She wrote something down and handed it to Kelli. Peggy Johnson 555-1789. “You call me if you need someone to talk to, okay?”

Kelli nodded. She folded the paper and slipped it into the pocket of her dress, thinking to head out before anyone else who had seen her disgrace came by and offered to help.

“So, Kelli, come sit with us at lunch.” Beth smiled and nodded toward the door.

“I don’t think I can stay.” Kelli was more than certain they had heard the sound of her crying, and even if they hadn’t, her eyes had to be puffy and bloodshot. One thing she did not want to be was an object of sympathy, or worse yet, a project for the church people.

Beth’s husband put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and said, “Please stay. Without some fresh blood and new stories, we’re going to have to spend the entire hour and a half listening to my wife and my mother-in-law discuss whether rocking horses or carousel horses are a more appropriate decoration for the nursery. I’ve heard the same arguments so many times by now, I’m not sure I can handle any more.”

Kelli looked at Beth, daring a quick glance at her stomach. “Are you . . .”

Beth’s entire face lit up. “Yes! Yes, I am.” She nudged her husband with her elbow. “And it took several years and lots of medical intervention before I arrived at this blessed state, so I don’t think a little bit of conversation about nursery decorations is going to hurt anyone.”

Her husband shrugged, smiling good-naturedly. “Come sit with us. We can talk about the West Coast for a while, maybe come up with a nursery theme of palm trees, surfboards, and sailboats.”

“I think that would be cute, especially for a boy.” Kelli smiled at Beth’s husband, whose name she could not remember. Ralph? Rick? Something that started with an R, she was pretty sure.

“Or a girl. None of that prissy froufrou stuff at my house. I’m going to raise a daddy’s girl.”

A daddy’s girl.

A second eruption of tears was working its way to the surface. Kelli took a deep breath and held it, fearing to release it lest the waterworks come out with the expelled air. Everything inside her wanted to turn and run out of this place. But there was a second voice, the one deep inside her, and it remained consistent and unwavering. You came all this way because you wanted to meet these people. Here they are practically begging you to spend time with them. Buck up and quit being a baby. This is the chance of a lifetime. You probably will never even see them again after today.

One more deep breath in and out and Kelli was a little more confident she could control herself enough to answer. “Sure. I’ll stay.”

As they walked out the door together, Beth said, “How long are you planning to be in town?”

Kelli shrugged, trying to be noncommittal. “I’m not sure, really. The end of the week for certain. After that it depends.”

“On what?”

“Beth, you’re being nosy,” her husband said.

“Am not.” Beth shoved at him and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “If Rand had his way, we would never have a meaningful conversation about anything, because as far as he is concerned, everything is private.”

Rand. This time she would remember. Kelli looked at him and smiled, thinking he might be a good person to have as an ally. Still, she didn’t want to offend Beth, so she gave the truthful answer she’d rehearsed just in case she ran into Alison. “I really just came for a visit to check out the place. It’s so pretty here. I did speak with a man about a job a couple of days ago. I don’t think anything will come of it, though.”

“Really? Where?”

“Beth, mind your own business.” Rand looked at Kelli. “Please forgive my wife’s overly inquisitive nature.”

Kelli laughed. “Not to worry, it’s fine.”

“See, Rand, it is fine, because all I’m doing is making casual conversation. She told me she applied for a job, so it’s obviously not a secret. Where’d you say that was?” She cast a quick look in Rand’s direction before turning innocent eyes on Kelli.

Kelli supposed there was no reason to hide the truth. If Beth and her family were still closely connected with Kenmore, they might hear about her anyway. If they weren’t, then it wouldn’t matter. “I talked to a man called Kenmore over at Moore’s More Store.”

Beth squealed with enough volume that everyone in the near area looked in their direction. She didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she raised her hand and signaled to her mother, who had stopped to talk to an elderly couple. “Mom, you better get over here. Kelli’s about to go to work for Kenmore.”

More eyes turned, and Alison Waters hurried toward them smiling. “I actually knew that already. I spoke to Kenmore yesterday, and he told me to keep a lookout for you today, because he thought you might be visiting the church.”

“He did?” Kelli barely choked out the words. Why would he have done that?

“Yes. He told me he had met a very nice young lady and that the two of you were talking a potential job.”

They continued walking toward the back lawn of the church, where a couple dozen round picnic tables were covered by a shade tent. Beth and Alison both put their purses at a place on one of the tables, so Kelli did the same. “Well, I don’t know for sure,” she told Alison. “He said he would call me so we could talk about it, but it’s all up in the air. He might find someone else, or I might go somewhere else. It’s all just theory at this point.”

“Of course he won’t find someone else. Mom, you need to call him right now and tell him that she wants the job and that he’s got to hire her.”

Alison Waters laughed. “I’m happy to call, but I don’t think I can tell Kenmore he’s got to do anything.”

Beth snorted. “Right. He’s always done everything you’ve asked him to do for as long as I can remember. If you tell him to hire Kelli, then Kelli is hired, and we both know it. So you’ll call him, right?”

At that moment, Kelli realized she might have trod a little too close to danger.