8

Foxx wound his way through new streets on the southeast edge of Lincoln. How did internet maps keep up? Multiple apartment complexes were popping up like sunflowers around the city. A used goods store was holding its grand opening. He meandered amidst items displayed on pristine glass shelving. The shiny object all but shouted Pepper’s name when he spotted it on the shelf. He stopped. Perfect. A snow globe with a baby in a manger, Mary, and Joseph sparkled with glitter and iridescent snowflakes.

He prayed she’d treasure it. And forgive him. He turned off the highway south of Garland and gave her a call.

“I’m home. Come on over.”

Fifteen minutes later, he was in her kitchen offering Pepper the wrapped package in his hand.

She flinched and stepped back.

He dropped his arm. “You’re like a timid fox sometimes. I will try to remember not to make sudden moves. I’d never attack you. I’ve been kicking myself for the other day. The way I muscled myself over you in the driveway. I was kind of desperate. I didn’t know where I was going when I took off from the house—I think I rode here in a subconscious daze—but I saw you. Had to stop.”

Her shoulders lowered a smidge.

“I’m sorry I scared you and came at you that way. I know you well enough to realize you’re not used to others touching you.” He held out the sack again. “If it was a real gift, it would be wrapped in something other than tied paper sack, but let’s just say it’s a house warming present as well as an apology.”

She accepted, and graced him with a slight smile. “Just for manhandling me?”

“Forgive me for running out. Never, would I want to push you away. My initial reaction has calmed down since Kitt and I talked for hours on end. And a trooper friend of hers put us in touch with a cold case investigator. We’ve been praying together. And reading the Bible has helped.”

“Reading my Bible has also helped me.”

“Great. You’ll discover the true meaning of Christmas. Not that you don’t find pleasure in all the hoopla and gizmos in your house, but Christmas is everywhere you turn. All year round. If you know the Author.”

She wrinkled her face into a puzzled question mark, but didn’t respond. She took the sack to the table. He studied her slender hands as they pulled off the twine and opened the box the store clerk had found for him.

“Oh. It’s perfect. Foxx, I love it.”

“I’m forgiven, then? You’ll trust me not to behave rashly again without reason?” He halted at her frown. “Sorry. That didn’t come out the way I wanted.”

He waited her out. Eventually, her face smoothed like a refreshing sigh. She nodded. Then Pepper raised her head and scanned the living area. She headed to the bedroom, and gently tipped the globe upside down. Upright again in a shaft of sunny daylight, the glitter inside shimmered in a silvery translucence. She cradled the globe in both hands and studied the details. “This spot on my nightstand is perfect addition to my addiction. Thank you.”

What a relief. “I hoped you would like it. Each time you look at it, please know that I realize trusting others doesn’t come easy to you. But I am a good guy. At least, I try to be. If I see any Christmas decorations at the curb or tossed in the trash by tenants, I’ll bring them to you. If they’re in good condition.”

To his utter disbelief, she wove to his side and took his hand—an action that spoke much louder than words.

Her touch shook him. “Oh, how could I forget? Kitt would like to meet you before going back to Missouri. How about lunch tomorrow? That is, if you’re still on the afternoon shift?”

“I’d love to meet your sister.”

His world stood still. Though they’d grown up in the same house, Kitt wasn’t really his sister. He’d thought about it way too much. “Shall we say hello to Rex and Rhoda?”

~*~

Pepper savored her walk home from the donkey pen with Foxx. He’d held their hands in his pocket closest to her as they stepped in time, marching a quick pace. A north wind had chilled them while romping with the donkeys, and shortened their play. They scurried with chins down, shoulders hunched, and hands covered.

He hustled her up the drive to the side entrance. “Get inside and warm up. I’m sorry for my behavior.”

She shook her head, and then laid her forehead against his chest. “I get it. The world you knew has turned upside down. No need to explain further. I’m here to listen any time you want to talk.”

“I appreciate that more than I can say.”

Inside her kitchen door, she leaned back, wearing a smile that had been present the whole time they’d been outside. For the first time since moving here, her home and Christmas decorations didn’t mean as much as they had even a week ago.

What had sparked the heart change? Did the difference have to do with learning about Jesus? He was, as the Bible claimed, the ultimate fulfillment for humankind.

Or was it how much life had changed since meeting and trusting Foxx? She might even be on the road to loving him. How could that ever work? Too many changes for her. The recent shock for him. They were misfits.

Surveying her home and the color within never ceased to calm and satisfy her. All the hard work and scrimping had come to fruition. For years, she’d latched on to a postcard photograph of a weeping willow tree, and yearning had grown within her heart. And at sight of the expansive, curling bark of the river birch in the front yard, her heart had sighed with the urge to call this place hers. It didn’t hurt that along with the front porch, barely two feet above the ground, her fence was the last within village limits of Garland.

Pepper inhaled, remembering the day she’d first entered. The rooms had echoed their emptiness, but held a clean, dry smell rather than giving off a closed-up, damp, or breathless claustrophobic aura. The journey through the open floor plan to the back door that opened onto her yard and beyond, to a field she now knew was the donkey’s yard, comforted her. The narrow row of evergreen trees to the north gave the four-legged friends a break from the wind. At the moment, Rex and Rhoda had their rumps against the wind as they finished their hay.

Thankfulness threatened to choke her. Pepper broke into laughter. Life was grand. She twirled around, kicked off her shoes, and danced with arms wide-spread. Her heart’s desire. The refinished oak floors welcomed every twirl, while a plethora of Christmas sparkle and baubles applauded in silence.

An amazing adventure lay ahead. Where it took her, only God knew. He planned her beginning. He saw her through living in a box. That number seventy-three would soon fade way into her past.

For now, her immediate future included entering Foxx’s home and meeting his sister.

~*~

Kitt Haven was a petite blonde, blue-eyed spitfire, whose energy stole Pepper’s breath. She was also extremely protective of her big brother.

“I didn’t know what to bring, so I grabbed some brie and rye crackers. We don’t even need to eat them today.”

“Hi, Pepper. Thanks for coming on such short notice. Foxx can’t quit talking about you, and he’s totally taken with the way you relate to Rex and Rhoda. They need new friends.”

“What’s not to like?” Foxx waited for Kitt to take the food, and helped with Pepper’s coat. “If he had two legs instead of four, I think Rex would want to marry you.”

Trying to hide her blush from Kitt proved pointless.

“How about I show you the house while Kitt finishes? It’s nothing outstanding, but the most unique home in Garland. Dad built it himself from scratch. He used a lot of salvaged lumber from tear-downs and re-models in Lincoln.” He jerked his head toward Kitt. “Maybe I shouldn’t call him that anymore.”

Kitt smiled as their gazes connected. “Dad was exposed to asbestos back then,” Kitt said. “He’s still your dad.”

“He adopted you, right?” Pepper asked, hoping that spotlighting the fact would remove the uncertainty from Foxx’s face.

He ignored her statement and took on the role of tour guide. “As you can see, you entered through mud porch. This is the kitchen.”

Pepper took a gander. An array of foxes decorated the shelves and surfaces through the house, much like her Christmas theme.

“True to my name, there are foxes everywhere. A given, I guess. Anything you’d like to know about them?”

“They are usually a reddish brown and their tails are almost as long as their bodies.” She made a face at him. “Hm. Short noses, and the pups sound like dog puppies.”

“Fox babies are called kits.”

“Oh.” Pepper glanced back at Foxx’s sister where she stood next to a table set between kitchen island and living room couch. “Clever.”

“You’ll rarely see more than one fox at a time. Once you hear the shriek and finished your terrors, you’ll always know where that night scream originates.”

Pepper smoothed her hand over the back of a resin fox. “What do they eat?”

“They pounce after rodents, even under the snow. They also like garbage and eggs. A lot of them live around suburbs and small towns. Their eyes reflect green in car lights.”

He drew her past a fireplace where the mantle was dotted with fox statuary. “Last fact that few people know. They can climb and lie on tree branches.”

“No.”

“Yup. This is where we spend most of our time.” The wonderful family room area had obviously once been a porch. Three walls were made of glass, opening onto a wide-planked, inviting deck dotted with iron and wood furniture. “It’s nice to have this space again. We covered one wall with a temporary curtain for privacy while Dad’s hospital bed was in here.”

A fox face stared at her from the throw across the back of a leather couch. “Oh, he was able to look out at nature. What a great idea.”

Foxx tunneled fingers through his hair. “He couldn’t get up the stairs any longer, so…”

“Mesothelioma is a mouthful. It’s a form of cancer, isn’t it?”

“A form, yes. Dad was once a beefy guy. That lung disease took all of him and left a shell before he finally succumbed.” He extended his hand, and she accepted. Pulling her closer, he drew her to the sliding glass door. “I couldn’t get used to the way he wasted away.”

What would it have been like, close enough to a loving parent, caring for and sharing his last days? Pepper could only imagine. Someday, maybe God would bless her with a close relationship.

“Dad did adopt me. And he’s the only dad I knew. But I looked up the doctrine of adoption once. Family becomes smaller in a way, but larger too. God adopts us as His children. Believers are all family here on earth.” He slanted her a look that she caught.

Did he want a response? “I’d like to think Pink and I are close as sisters. But we sure didn’t know what love and nurturing was all about. You’re telling me that if I buy into what the Bible says, go to church and meet Christians, that I will learn what God’s love is?”

He turned and took her other hand, held them between his against his chest. His eyes invited. His heartbeat was steady.

She wanted to dive right in.

“God is our heavenly Father, available to us in Christ. He created us to feel, but once the emotion stops blinding us, we can accept all that He has to offer.”

Pepper closed her eyes. Peace and assurance to cover the past. Could that be possible?

“Faith, my girl. Learn about the meaning of Christmas and Easter, they go together. Jesus is what life is all about. He gives us comfort, strength, hope, everything we can possibly seek in a relationship.”

“With people or God?”

“Both. All.”