Castles in the Sand (21 page)

Jesus in a short, pudgy body with an Irish temperament.

And no wonder the girl had gotten herself into such a situation. She craved love and attention. Why wouldn’t Aidan fall head over heels for such a needy, talented, attractive, funny woman? True, he had behaved foolishly, but at least he turned to his parents. He knew they were available to help him figure things out.

Oh, Lord! I am sorry for thinking myself better than others
.

The Martha Mavens from Holy Cross Fellowship were the most gracious women she’d ever met. Reverend Starr might be a snoot, but nothing short of God’s power had transformed his wife. His sister-in-law, Natalie, was earthy and undoubtedly the most positive influence in Kenzie’s short life. The others—Emmylou, Gwyn, Mildred, Leona, and Tess—all treated Kenzie like a princess.

Lord! I am sorry for drawing a denominational line in the sand, for believing only my side knows Your ways
.

Beside her, Mildred patted her knee. “Tell me about Aidan.”

Pepper smiled. The woman was the epitome of cordiality from some bygone era. She truly wanted to hear about her son.

“Well, he is handsome. He looks like me. Black hair and sapphire blue eyes.”

Mildred laughed.

While the others carried on different conversations and Kenzie unwrapped, Pepper described Aidan to Mildred. “He’s twenty-five, our oldest. He’s like Kenzie, creative, moody, talented. Have you heard their music?”

Brown eyes twinkled behind thick lenses. “Yes. It’s wonderful. Intriguing words. Kenzie told me he writes the music and lyrics.”

“Most of them. I don’t understand all the words myself, but I think they’re a record of his faith journey. You know, full of questions, often without clear answers.”

Mildred bobbed her head. “Like the psalms. Asking, wondering, yet turning to God for hope. Like Peter saying to Jesus, where else would we go? Who else has the words of life?”

Amazed that the elderly woman connected with Aidan’s struggle and offbeat music, Pepper could only nod.

“There is power in your Aidan’s work. Power not of this world. However did you raise him to be like this?”

Pepper chuckled. “If it’s good, I wasn’t responsible.”

“You prayed.” She stated it as fact.

Pepper grew somber. Mildred wanted to dig deep. “Yes, I prayed. Nonstop. My husband and I thank God for the faith He has given us. It’s never looked traditional, though. Aidan calls it wild and wooly.”

Mildred grinned.

“And I blame my parents. They were downright weird, original Jesus freaks.” She laughed. “In a good way. They raised me and my eight siblings in northern California in what might be called a commune. I think it was more like a monastery, even though we all had our own simple houses. As a group we were fairly self-contained with farm animals, crops, a school, and church. It wasn’t like we were closed off from society, though. Most of the men worked elsewhere, even some of the women. Some of the kids went off to high school or college. The common thread that tied us together was a radical dependence on Jesus.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Prayer and worship and music defined the group. The main thing I took with me from my childhood was an acceptance of the mystery. That God is real and yet unexplainable.” She smiled. “I’m sorry. I’m preaching.”

“To the choir.” Mildred giggled and slapped her hands together, a smack of cymbals for emphasis. “What happened? Why did you leave?”

“Like with most experiments, things didn’t seem to take by the second generation.”

“Mm-hmm. We all have to find our own way.”

“Yes. And I met Mick around the time my older siblings were leaving. He was working on road construction nearby. Love at first sight. I was barely seventeen and he was twenty-one, but we both just knew. We married as soon as I turned eighteen and then we moved down here. Aidan was born eleven months later.”

“You and Mick found your own way, then.”

Pepper nodded. “He loved my unconventional parents and my far-out faith. Eventually we settled into a mainline church whose pastor didn’t mind if we acted a little odd now and then.”

Mildred leaned toward her and whispered, “Because you still trafficked in the mystery, right?”

Pepper grinned. “Yeah.”

“That’s why Kenzie is in your family now.” She winked. “She’s always colored outside the lines too.”

Another sneak attack.

Despite the upheaval Kenzie and Aidan had brought to the Carlucci family, Pepper wouldn’t have wished it any other way. A girl who colored outside the lines was made to order as a daughter-in-law. Semi or not.

Natalie grew more incensed by the minute.

Faith Fontaine would be so disappointed in her. The deceased woman’s beach house exuded an indescribable, tangible sense of peace and love. It always had. On the two occasions Natalie had visited Faith with Rex, she assumed the woman’s personality responsible. But she knew better now. Renting her house as a vacation place, she believed Faith’s character actually lived on. In the air. In the walls. Wherever, however. That could produce the heebie-jeebies in some people. The exact opposite occurred every single time she visited, though. Peace permeated. Peace and love, goodness and mercy—

Until now.

As far as Natalie could tell, Kenzie and Pepper and the Martha Mavens were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Her niece had thanked her already no less than three times for organizing the shower. Susan absolutely beamed, more attractive than ever in her new clothes and haircut. Even Tess had loosened up and left her role as director of women’s ministries behind at the office.

Natalie poured water into the coffeemaker and punched the “on” button and tried not to think about what she’d rather be punching. Or rather,
whom
.

“Natalie.”

She jumped at Mildred’s voice right behind her and turned.

“Are you all right, dearie? You seem a bit nettled.”

No use pretending with the Prayer Warrior. “Try mad as a wet hen.”

“Ah. Anything I can do for you?” She smiled. “Besides pray, I mean.”

“Thank you, Mildred. I don’t know what it would be. Besides pray.” Natalie clenched her teeth. They could leave it at that, like an unspoken prayer request. Mildred wasn’t asking for details. She never needed to know them. But that seemed like a coward’s way out.

She touched the old woman’s arm. “Can we talk?”

“Certainly.”

“Let’s go back here.” Natalie led her off the kitchen, past the side door and a bathroom, into a closet-size bedroom at the rear of the house. It was a favorite hideaway of hers. She would read in it, undisturbed while Rex and the boys did other things.

The room contained a daybed against the far wall, one window, an armoire, and a hardback chair. Those few things totally filled the space.

Natalie pulled the trundle out and smoothed the coverlet. Mildred’s short legs would never get her up atop the daybed. “Have a seat.”

They sat beside each other.

“Mildred, I have to tell someone.”

“Before you pop a gut?”

Natalie burst into laughter. How did such words drip from that honey-sweet smile? “Yes, before I do that.” She paused. “I want to murder my brother-in-law.”

“That would be Pastor Drake.”

“Uh, yeah. Here we are, loving on Kenzie, trying to take care of her needs, show her support. But it’s like putting salve on an open, gaping, bleeding wound. It won’t solve anything. She’ll leave here tonight with that great big hole still there. Her dad won’t speak with her or acknowledge to his congregation that she’s alive, let alone expecting his grandchild. Totally asinine.”

“Well, dearie, you’re sticking your neck out pretty far.”

Natalie sat back and blinked. No. Not Mildred. The Prayer Warrior would not say there was no place for a father’s unconditional forgiveness in this situation.

Mildred took Natalie’s hand between her own and zeroed in on her face. “But I feel exactly the same way.”

“Huh?”

“The question is, what are we going to do?”

“Uh, you mean besides pray.”

“Yes, besides pray. We must have the right response in our anger. I don’t think we should simply pretend it’s not there.”

“Mildred, I was thinking a gun.”

“Well, now, that is a little drastic. I have something else in mind.”

“Please don’t say let’s kill him with kindness.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know if he would notice that.”

“Mmm.”

“I’m thinking a boycott.”

“Boycott?”

Mildred nodded. “Boycott. Now, let’s pray. We really need Tess on our side, and you know how devoted she is to her human boss.” She shut her eyes, squeezed Natalie’s hand, and raised her other hand toward heaven. “Father.”

As if a plug had been pulled from a tub filled with water, Natalie’s anger drained from her.

Maybe Faith Fontaine hadn’t abandoned her after all.

Kenzie cuddled Pugsy in her arms, nuzzling his neck. She wished she could take him home with her, but pets were not allowed in the apartment.

“He’d love to go with you.” Susan petted his back. “Wouldn’t you, Pugs?”

Kenzie peered with one eye over the dog’s head, hiding astonishment again at her mom’s extreme chattiness. It wasn’t that she’d never been chatty. Most of the time Kenzie thought her too much so. This was something different.

They stood behind the beach house in the dim carport light. Natalie had driven her to the parking lot where she picked up Aidan’s van and returned to the house so they could load the shower gifts into it. Her aunt was gone now, as well as Pepper and all the Marthas. Much to Kenzie’s surprise, she remained the last one to leave. Earlier she had fudged about being unable to stay late. Aidan and the band sang until two. Although she could sit in the club and wait, she wasn’t exactly behind schedule.

“I’d love to take Pugs, but pets are not allowed in the building.” She gave Pugsy one final kiss and set him on the sidewalk. “Be good. Okay. I’d better go.”

“Thanks for coming, honey.”

“It was fun. And I can’t believe all the stuff they gave me. I had no clue a baby would need so much.”

Susan put her arms around her. “Drive safely.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mom.” She walked around the vintage VW van, its size perfect for hauling band equipment and now baby things.

She climbed into the vehicle, started it, slid the floor gearshift into first, and put her hand on the parking brake release.

June Cleaver hadn’t shown up. Not once in four hours.

Nor had there been a single question or remark or even thinly disguised hint about a wedding, where the apartment was, the address of the coffee shop she worked in, when her mom could meet Aidan, or what her dad needed from her. And although Susan had given Kenzie her cell phone number, she hadn’t asked for Kenzie’s. She hadn’t even pressed for a time when she would see her again. To top all that, none of the Marthas breathed a snide remark about there not being a wedding shower first. They all seemed genuinely concerned that she get what she needed to welcome a baby into the world. Period.

Kenzie shifted into neutral, leaned across the front passenger seat, and rolled down the window. “Mom.”

She stepped to the car. “What?”

“I programmed my phone number into your cell.”

Susan smiled.

“It’s number two.”

“Like speed dial?”

“Asked the technologically challenged mother.”

She chuckled.

“That’s what it is. Just press ‘two’ and ‘send’ and it’ll call me.”

“Thanks,” she whispered.

She gazed at her mother’s face half hidden in shadows. An ache tightened her chest and spread to her throat. She wanted more…more of something she couldn’t put into words. Something between her and her mom. She wanted to express her love. She wanted to tell her she would bring Aidan, that she truly wanted Susan to meet him. What kept holding her back?

“Kenzie, it’s almost eleven. Aidan will wonder what happened to you. He probably can’t imagine you’d hang out with a bunch of old women this long.” She smiled again.

Kenzie hesitated. She didn’t want to leave. This new Susan Starr might disappear the minute she turned her back. This
real
woman who spoke freely and didn’t resemble any fake TV mom in history might vanish like a puff of smoke.

She had to ask. “So how come June didn’t come tonight?”

“June? Oh, June Cleaver.” Susan chuckled. “No, she didn’t come. I didn’t invite her. Actually, I told her she wasn’t welcome.”

Kenzie swallowed and whispered, “I didn’t miss her.”

“Me neither. I love you, honey.”

If she could have found her voice, she would have returned the sentiment.

“But, Kenz.” Aidan let go of one of her hands and stroked her face. “Can you trust her?”

Kenzie rested the side of her face against the back of the couch and yawned. She had just finished telling Aidan all about her evening, from the conversation with Zeke to the Marthas to the gifts and food, ending with her mom’s extraordinary behavior. “I know. It was only for one evening.”

“And her friends were around, and your aunt and my mom.” He kissed her forehead.