Two

I

t might sound crazy for a thirty-two year old man to be meeting a fifty-seven year old woman that he was in no way related to, but that’s exactly what brought Micah Abram back to the Charlotte hospital four hours after finishing his shift there. He headed straight to the round table at the back where Leora Spencer had held court the third Friday of every month for the last three years.

He slowed his steps at the sight of her sitting there, eyes closed and holding the hand of the nurse next to her as she prayed with the woman. Miss Leora opened her eyes and smiled when she spotted him. He could see the fatigue in her features and in the droop of her shoulders. How much longer before the cancer took her?

Tension squeezed across his chest at the thought. Micah hadn’t realized how important the woman had become to him until he found out that the cancer had returned with a vengeance. The truth was she had become a sort of surrogate mother to him.

Micah wasn’t sure how it got started but along the time Miss Leora was battling cancer when it first appeared three years ago, she began showing up in the cafeteria offering to pray for anyone in need. Sometimes a group would join her there just to talk and have lunch. Other times it was one-on-one prayer time.

Something about the woman drew people in, had them telling their deepest hurts and secrets. The last few years had been the toughest of Micah’s life and Miss Leora had helped him see light in a world gone dark.

The lady with Miss Leora stood and walked away and Micah took her place. He leaned over for a hug, careful not to squeeze too tightly. “How is everything going, Miss Leora?”

“Like you always say when I ask you that question, I’m fine as frog hair split down the middle.” She smiled, smoothing away some of the wrinkles from around her mouth.

He laughed. “I do always say that, don’t I?”

“How’s that girl of yours?”

“Growing like a weed. Least it seems that way to me. Seems like she speeds up growing while I’m here working.”

It was getting harder and harder to leave Lala with a sitter while he worked at a job three days out of every week that was four hours away from home. Not the best of situations, but circumstances had pulled him into this routine. Life had finally settled to the point that he could change things if he wanted but his memories of home had kept him sitting on the fence.

“Yeah, you blink, and they’re grown and having babies of their own.”

Hopefully, that was a long ways off. He hadn’t been ready for fatherhood when Lala came along, and he certainly wasn’t ready to think about being a granddaddy.

“What about your family? Are they handling your decision any better?” Micah looked down at Miss Leora’s abdomen like he could see the cancer growing there. As hard a time as he was having with it, he couldn’t imagine how it would be if she were his momma. Mainly because his momma hadn’t been cut from the same cloth as this woman.

“The rest have settled into it. They know everything is in God’s hands. But Jolene…” She shook her head. “That girl is fighting it tooth and nail.”

He perked up every time that particular Spencer kid was mentioned. Probably because she was a nurse like him. Or maybe because Miss Leora had requested prayer more often for her than the others.

Miss Leora grabbed his hand and smiled up at him. “Listen, I wanted to run something by you before we get interrupted. What are you doing for Easter?”

He didn’t have to put a lot of thought into it. Sadly, it would be no different for him and Lala than any other Sunday when he was home. They would go to church, come home and eat a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket along with whatever boxed or canned fixings he decided to throw in with it, and then naptime followed by a cartoon marathon. “No special plans. Why do you ask?”

She squeezed his hand. “I know it would mean two long trips in one week, but I want the two of you to spend the holiday with my family. You can spend the whole weekend if you like and if your schedule allows. You may end up spending the night on the couch, but I have a feeling that wouldn’t hinder you at all.”

He tried to smile and swallow the lump in his throat at the same time. No telling what his expression looked like at the moment, but Miss Leora’s smile held steady as she patiently waited for his answer.

“Is this another ploy to get me to move to South Carolina?”

The woman knew all about what had kept him tied to Sevierville, Tennessee. Lately she had sensed his unrest with the routine he was stuck in and had talked to him about moving closer to his job. She’d found a place for him to rent in the town where she lived that was less than an hour’s drive from the hospital. Miss Leora also had a plan to take care of his childcare needs.

“Not at all. We always invite extended family and friends for the holidays. I consider you a dear friend. And I’ve been dying to meet that little girl of yours. Please say you’ll join us.”

Memories of holidays past flooded his mind. None had been the ideal experiences, but the last few had been downright depressing. Those were not the type of memories he wanted Lala to look back on. She deserved to know the difference between a holiday and an average Sunday. Why was he stalling?

He stacked his free hand on top of hers. “Miss Leora, we would be pleased as punch to join your family. Just tell me when and where.”

♥

After leaving the city, Micah let his window down a few inches to allow the cool March air in. Pale green leaves were beginning to sprout from the deciduous trees, blending in with the evergreens to make a backdrop of red, purple, and white blossoms now dotting the mountains. He could never understand all the fuss over fall leaves that brought tourists here in droves. As far as he was concerned, nothing beat the earth’s renewal that happened every spring.

Like always, traffic slowed to a crawl as he neared home. Dollywood, as well as the other local attractions, kept Sevierville hopping year-round. It would be even worse come summer.

Micah inched his way forward until he came to his turn. The landscape dipped as he entered the trailer park. Even the land seemed to know the derelict, aluminum-sided structures deserved to be below everything else. Probably a good thing though, considering some of the outdated structures looked like a good wind would take them out of existence.

He parked next to the blue and white striped singlewide in the middle of the second row that he’d called home since he was thirteen years old. God had blessed him with a good job, one that would allow him to have a much nicer place of his own, which made it hard to explain why he still lived here.

It wasn’t the worst place to lay his head. A little of his own money had gone to underpin it several years ago. That was all he’d done to the outside, but the inside was a different story. If the landlord knew the extent of it, she’d probably go up on the rent.

Music thumped loudly from the trailer next door. Micah headed that way. He reached across the tiny stoop of a porch and banged on the door. After a few moments, the door swung open and hit the metal siding with a clang. The heavy scent of air freshener hit him square in the nose followed by the hint of something that froze him in place.

He studied the slender woman now standing in the doorway. Her eyes looked clear from the one glimpse he got before she looked back over her shoulder. Still, for Lala’s sake, he had to ask. “Have you been smoking pot?”

Edie folded her arms and her shoulders bowed forward as if she were trying to protect herself. “That was way earlier when Lala was taking a nap. I only took a couple of hits, and we were outside.”

Acid coated his throat as questions bombarded his head. How long had this been going on? Who was included in the we? Who and what was Lala being exposed to?

“You know I’d never do anything like that around her.” Edie nodded her head toward the two plastic chairs beside her trailer. “I come out here even if it’s just for a cigarette.”

“You told me you were done with drugs, and I believed you.”

Edie stomped her foot. “Come on, man. It’s just pot. You know I’d never do the hard stuff after what happened to Faren.”

His sister’s name hit like a gut punch. His hand slashed out to the side. “If you want to fry your brain or worse, that’s your business, but not while Lala is here.”

Edie’s lips tightened and her eyes blazed. Whatever she had been about to say was cut off by the sound of little feet pounding the floor. In a matter of seconds, Lala’s tiny body was flying off the porch and into Micah’s arms.

“Daddy!”

“There’s my sugar boo! You ready to go home?”

After one hard look and a nod at Edie, he covered the short distance between her trailer and his. A few coherent words seasoned Lala’s jabbering but even if she had been speaking in plain English, it would’ve been lost on Micah. Only one thing registered in his mind. The woman he’d entrusted with his precious little girl had been doing drugs while on duty. Even if Lala hadn’t been present, he didn’t want her influenced by someone with such poor standards. He’d had no choice right after Lala was born, but things had settled and it was past time for a change.