Summer went back to the office and spent a couple of hours formulating a schedule for paying bills and making reports to the mission board. If they didn’t run into any emergencies, they could keep to the budget. Her life had surely taken a different turn in the past few weeks! There was a vast difference between handling the finances of a prestigious New York bank and trying to balance books in a North Carolina mission school!
David had spent the afternoon in the adjoining room sorting through the mail that had accumulated since Bert had left the office. When Summer entered, he was tinkering with an electric typewriter, trying to get it to work.
“David, would you like to come to the cabin every evening and have dinner with the children and me? Otherwise, you’ll have very little time with them.”
His eyebrows arched provocatively. “You’re not expecting a repeat of last night’s actions, are you?”
“I didn’t mean that at all.” She turned abruptly toward her office. “Forget I mentioned it.”
David was out of the chair with one swift movement and caught her arm. “Hey! I was joking. I’d love to come. I thought of suggesting it, but hated to invite myself.”
Still annoyed at him, she said tersely, “You have as much right to that cabin as I do. I was just suggesting a way for you to have some time with the kids. Do what you want to.”
“I’ll be there. The kids need all the security we can give them. And please learn not to take offense when I joke with you. You need to loosen up a little, laugh and enjoy yourself.”
“So I’ve been told before.” She picked up her jacket and walked out of the office.
He watched her departure, irritated at himself. Why couldn’t he watch his tongue?
Summer was annoyed with herself as she walked to the cabin. Why had she been so short-tempered with David? She wasn’t that way with anyone else, but she was frightened because she was getting so fond of David. She still wanted to go back to New York and her career in a year’s time, and she had to concentrate on that. An interest in David would interfere with that decision.
When the kids came home an hour later, David was with them, and Summer wondered if he’d arranged that deliberately to avoid being alone with her and her temper. Timmy ran into the house, dropped his book bag on the floor and turned on the television. Nicole threw her jacket on the sofa and sat beside her brother on the floor. Summer assumed this was their normal procedure as soon as they got home from school, but her orderly instincts rebelled. She didn’t say anything, but she picked up the jacket and book bag and took them to the children’s bedroom. David was setting the table when she returned, and she didn’t appreciate his amused expression when he looked at her.
“What’s for supper?” he asked.
“Broccoli and cheese casserole,” she answered shortly.
“Yuk!” Timmy said, his mind diverted momentarily from the television.
Summer paused in her task of preparing a salad. “I take it you don’t agree with my choice,” she said.
“They feed us broccoli and cheese two or three days a week at school. Mommy never fixed it at home,” Nicole said.
“Summer’s casserole will taste better than what you get at school.” David came to her defense. “What do you usually eat for supper?”
“Pizza, spaghetti, french fries and stuff like that,” Timmy said.
“Now, Timmy, you know Mommy made us eat a lot of vegetables and fruit,” Nicole corrected him.
“I saw a frozen pizza in the freezer. How about having that?” David asked Summer, and grinned when he added, “I don’t like broccoli, either.”
Without answering, she took the pizza from the freezer and prepared it for the oven. “I hope none of you object to green salad.”
“As long as you don’t put any onions in mine,” Nicole said.
“At home, we didn’t question Mother’s decisions and ate what was put on the table,” Summer commented quietly.
“Parents are more lenient with their kids now,” David said.
When they were seated at the table, Nicole said the blessing, and Summer insisted that each child try a portion of the casserole. She plopped a spoonful on David’s plate, too. “It won’t hurt you to eat broccoli.”
He obediently ate the food, and Nicole and Timmy followed his example. Summer was sure his presence in the cabin would help a lot with discipline. And remembering her pleasure in David’s occasional caresses, she wondered if she’d wanted him around for more than one reason.
They were still at the table when a knock sounded at the door and a half-dozen Crossroads residents tramped in. “We came to watch television when Mr. and Mrs. Brown lived here,” Skipper Johnson said. “Is that okay with you?”
“Sure, come in,” David said. “You’ll have to compromise with the kids on the channel you watch.”
“No problem,” Anita Bailey said. “Only one channel comes in up here. We watch the game shows for an hour. Mr. Brown thought they were educational for us.”
Summer watched helplessly as the teens settled on the couch and on the kitchen chairs. The already small quarters seemed to shrink even more. She turned her back and gripped the edge of the sink.
David noticed her dismay, and he said quietly, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have given the okay without consulting you.”
“It’s all right. But the house was already crowded with the four of us, and now I learn there’ll be several more every night.” She lifted her hand to her mouth and chewed on a long, pink fingernail. “I never understood what claustrophobia was until this moment.”
He started clearing dishes off the table. “Go to your bedroom or out for a walk. I’ll be here.”
She shook her head. “I can’t spend a year walking away from my problems. I’ll have to learn to live with them.”
During the rest of the week, Summer and her new family settled into a manageable routine starting with breakfast as soon as the children got up. They left for school between eight and half past eight, after which she straightened the house, showered and dressed for the day. She was in the office by nine o’clock, where David had already been working for an hour.
On the second morning, Nicole and Timmy lingered at the breakfast table, and Summer finally prompted, “Don’t you think you should be going to school?”
“Not until after morning devotions,” Nicole said. “Mommy read to us from the Bible and the devotional book before we left the table. We forgot yesterday.”
Summer looked around wildly. If she was poorly equipped to provide food for these kids, how much less suitable was she to take over their spiritual training. God, what am I going to do? More and more she was turning to God in her extremity. Who else could help her?
“I haven’t seen a devotional book,” she said, masking her uneasiness.
“Mommy kept it in that basket on top of the ’frigerator,” Timmy said.
Summer rose like a robot and reached for the basket which held a Bible and a small booklet, titled Devotions for the Growing Family. She saw at a glance that there was a page for each day of the year, and a bookmark was placed on the day that Bert and Spring had left their home. She hurriedly turned to the devotional for the present date.
The suggested Bible reading for the day was Luke 2:40, which presented another quandary. She was ashamed to ask Nicole to find the place for her, although she figured the child knew more about the Bible than she did. She noted the tabs on the pages, and scanning them quickly, she saw the one that marked Luke. Feeling as if her temperature had reached the boiling point, she flipped the pages to the second chapter. She read the designated verse.
“‘And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.”’
From the booklet, she read the thought for the day, “Parents are expected to guide and monitor a child’s growth, insuring that the child grows up spiritually, as well as physically. A child should receive an adequate education, which includes learning the teachings of the Bible at an early age. Children are expected to love their mother and father, and parents should love their children. Love is the key to a happy home life.”
Summer closed the Bible around the booklet, determined that she’d get more acquainted with the Bible before the next morning. Timmy and Nicole joined hands and stretched their free hands to Summer. She took the hands as the children waited expectantly.
“Mommy always prayed,” Timmy said and bowed his head.
Cold sweat broke out on Summer, and she thought she was going to faint, but she cried out in her distress, “Oh, God!” She bowed her head and struggled for words. “Oh, God, help us today. Protect Timmy and Nicole at school and help them to learn their lessons. Amen.”
The children squeezed her hands and jumped down from their chairs. They hustled into the bedroom, came back with their coats and book bags and stood expectantly before her.
She forced a smile. “Now what am I to do?”
“Mommy hugged and kissed us and told us she loved us before we went to school,” Timmy said.
Tears welled up in Summer’s eyes, and she knelt by the children and pulled them both into a tight embrace. “I love both of you,” she mumbled over the lump in her throat. She released the kids and kissed them on the foreheads.
“Bye,” Nicole said. Long after the children left the house, Summer sat at the table, her head in her hands.
While Nicole and Timmy seemed to be adjusting to the situation without their parents, Summer noticed that they were moody a lot of the time. They seldom opposed her instructions, but they bickered a lot between themselves. She and David agreed that they must spend some quality time with the children, so on the third Saturday, they took Nicole and Timmy into Asheville where they had lunch together, attended a movie and bought groceries. Summer believed that the kids might be more receptive to the foods she prepared if they helped buy the ingredients. The kids were so excited over the outing that they temporarily forgot their parents’ absence. All of them wanted to make the trip to town a weekly ritual.
When they returned from Asheville, Edna hailed them from the steps of the elementary school with news about the next day’s worship plans.
Sunday was expected to be a day of rest and worship at The Crossroads. Edna conducted worship services in the auditorium at the elementary school. Bert had directed worship for The Crossroads residents in a small chapel located in a wooded area behind the dormitories. After his death, Edna had combined the two services at the elementary school.
“Since you’ve stated that you aren’t spiritually experienced to lead the worship service, the mission board has arranged for a seminary student, Curtis Nibert, to come here for a year as the resident pastor. He will go to the seminary two days each week for classes, but the rest of the time, he can be on the field. Curtis was a short-term volunteer at the elementary school a couple of years ago, and he impressed me then. I think you’ll like working with him. He’ll be here in the morning.”
“That’s a relief off my mind,” David said. “Several of the boys have mentioned the chapel services, acting as if they expected me to start them. The teenagers think they’re too old to worship with the little ones.”
The chapel was an unpretentious log building with a crude wooden cross nailed over the front door. The building had benches for fifty worshipers, and since attendance at Sunday chapel services was compulsory for the residents, the room was almost full when Summer arrived with Nicole and Timmy. Most of the staff members were present, too. David had saved a seat for their family near the front of the room. Mornings in the mountains were cold, but heat was provided by a small stove in the middle of the room, which Stonewall Blackburn was filling with small chunks of wood.
Edna was on hand to introduce Curtis, and Summer felt drawn to him immediately. A thin man in his midtwenties, he stood tall and erect. His almost white, blond hair gave Curtis the appearance of being prematurely gray. His blue eyes were eager, bright and full of laughter.
Mayo Sinclair was running through chords on a studio piano that was out of tune, and Summer thought of the grand piano at the Weaver home that was seldom used. All three Weaver daughters had taken piano lessons. Spring had become proficient on the instrument, but after she left home, the piano was seldom played. Mayo had a touch that made the piano sound as if it were talking.
David leaned across the two kids and whispered, “Mayo’s father is a bluegrass musician.”
Flashing the words on a screen from an overhead projector, Curtis led the group in singing several gospel choruses and David joined in a pleasing tenor voice. Summer didn’t know the songs, and she had difficulty following, so she stopped trying. Curtis’s message was brief, and although it was slanted mostly toward the students, Summer paid close attention to his words. Every day it seemed as if she encountered a new situation where she needed spiritual enlightenment in dealing with Timmy and Nicole.
The sun had chased the fog away by the end of the worship service, and they went outside to a warm, balmy October day and the pleasant scent of a mixture of pine and drying leaves. Deeply inhaling the fragrant air, David said to Summer, “Let’s take the kids on a hike into the national forest this afternoon. There are several good trails, and we need to take advantage of the nice weather.”
“I’m not an outdoors person,” Summer said, “but if I’m going to live here, I’ll have to be, I suppose. Why don’t we take a picnic lunch?”
“That’s a great idea. Let’s ask the kids.”
Nicole and Timmy enthusiastically agreed. Summer changed into jeans and a sweatshirt when she got home and laid out jeans and a shirt for Timmy. She searched the cabinets and refrigerator for picnic fixings.
“What do you kids want to eat? We could take cheese cubes, apples and cookies. Or we can make sandwiches out of the lunch meat we bought yesterday. There’s a two-liter bottle of cola already cold in the fridge.”
They preferred peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, which she made hurriedly and packed them, some apples and a bag of cookies into a backpack she’d found among Bert’s possessions. They were waiting on the porch for David when he arrived wearing jeans and a colorful plaid sweater. Summer hadn’t seen him dressed so casually since that day over two years ago when they’d gone to the amusement park in Ohio.
David strapped the backpack over his shoulders and handed Summer a book he carried. “I found this in the office. It’s a field guide to eastern trees. We might as well try to identify the trees in the forest while we walk.”
“I want to eat first,” Timmy said. “I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” Nicole said in disgust. “You’re going to get as fat as a pig if you don’t watch out.”
“Will not,” Timmy said belligerently, giving his sister a shove.
“Will, too.”
David lifted his eyebrows, and Summer wondered how peaceful this outing was going to be.
“Perfectly normal behavior between brother and sister,” he murmured for Summer’s ears alone. “I had two sisters and they can be trying.”
“I had two sisters also, but Mother didn’t allow us to quarrel.”
“I’ll ignore it for a while,” David said. “Hopefully, they’ll get tired of fussing in a few minutes and turn to something else.”
“There goes a deer,” Timmy shouted and ran down the trail, but he couldn’t match the speed of the leaping animal. When they came upon a terrapin, he said, “I’m going to take it home and put it in a cage in my room.”
“No,” Summer said. “I don’t want it in the house.”
“Aw, it won’t hurt nothing.”
“He’s right, you know,” David said.
“No! After having the cabin riddled by squirrels, I won’t have animals inside.”
“Mommy wouldn’t care if I have it,” Timmy shouted, stomping his feet.
The obvious answer was that his mother wasn’t in charge of the house now, but Summer couldn’t say that to him. She shook her head, and Timmy kicked a rock and ran ahead of them. Summer felt as if Nicole and David both thought she was being unreasonable because they stopped talking as they walked along the trail. When they stopped for lunch, Timmy couldn’t be found, and it took David a quarter of an hour before he found where the child had hidden. After that altercation, no one seemed to have an appetite, and they nibbled silently on their food.
David eventually started identifying some of the trees they saw, and the kids would talk to him, but they said nothing to Summer. She wasn’t in the mood to talk, either. When they returned to the cabin, she prepared spaghetti for their evening meal as a peace offering, for both children were fond of spaghetti. Still they didn’t relent in their cool attitude toward Summer, and she was so tired that she didn’t really care. As soon as David left, she sent Timmy and Nicole to bed, and she took a shower and got into bed, too.
She slept listlessly, once again depressed, wondering if she would ever be capable of dealing with two children. Mothers learned gradually how to raise their offspring. She hadn’t had any on-the-job training. Suddenly she’d been handed two children, and she was expected to know how to handle them as if she were a pro. It was an impossible task.
When she entered the kitchen the next morning, the first thing she saw was a terrapin crawling across the floor. So Timmy had brought the creature in even when she’d told him not to! Had David known about it? Summer didn’t want to touch the animal, but she wouldn’t have it in the house. Taking a pot holder, she lifted the terrapin, annoyed that the varmint hissed at her before withdrawing into its shell. She carried it out to the edge of the forest and left it there.