Castles in the Sand (30 page)

So profuse were her own tears, Natalie almost didn’t see the ones streaming down Rex’s face.

Susan stared at Natalie beside her on the seawall. Her sister-in-law had just relayed the conversation that took place a short while ago between their husbands. “It’s as if Rex told Drake we’re going to give him a dose of his own medicine.”

“That’s exactly what he told him.”

“Oh, my.”

“You can say that again.”

“Oh, my. I never imagined all this…this fallout about a private family matter.”

“Well, in a sense you’re not allowed private family matters. You’re sort of public people to us. But it’s been coming for a while, Suze. You didn’t start this. We lost members in January and February.”

“We did?”

“Ten families and none replaced them. We’ve had visitors, but not a single person has officially joined during that time.”

“I had no idea…”

Now Natalie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “No idea?”

“Drake doesn’t talk about those business matters…They must have been people who didn’t cross my path?”

“Probably. Since you quit running the Sunday school, your path hasn’t made much of a wide swath. But the point is, that happened as well as what Mildred and Leona told us about people noticing things amiss with Drake. And now Tess just called and said her core women and their husbands have felt the same way. They didn’t have the nerve to tell her before.”

“You’ve been crying.”

Natalie nodded.

Her sister-in-law never cried. “Oh, my.”

Natalie’s shoulders lifted as she inhaled. “I know I’ve resented Drake because he reminds me of my dad. I never really saw the goodness in him that you and Rex did. He can teach, I give him that.” She paused. “I asked God’s forgiveness and Rex’s. Maybe I’ll ask for Drake’s some day. Now I’m asking for yours because I’ve influenced you negatively toward your husband. I haven’t been the best sister-in-law or parishioner.”

Susan leaned over and wrapped her arms around Natalie. “You’ve been a good friend to me. But if you think you’ve had wrongful attitudes toward him, I forgive you.” She straightened.

“Thank you. So.” She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes for a moment and then looked up, the bloodshot whites even redder. “Rex believes—in spite of Drake’s nonresponse—that we might have hit a nerve. He’s praying that once it all sinks in, Drake will see his pride for what it is.”

“And that his heart will melt.”

Natalie blinked. “That’s exactly what Mildred said when I called her on my way down here.”

“Amen.” Susan grinned. “Come on, let’s go get the pizza. I promised Kenzie fun, and this subject is definitely not on that track. It’s time to let it go for a while and party. Party hearty, as they say!”

The next morning Susan and Kenzie stood on the patio, waiting for Natalie and Pepper to finish packing their things.

Susan embraced her daughter in a long hard hug, mindful not to squish Pugsy tucked under her daughter’s arm. “I had such a good time, honey.”

“Me too.”

They parted and smiled at each other.

“Did you really? With us old women?”

“Really. You and Aunt Nattie and Pepper are the goofiest bunch of old women I’ve ever known.”

“It’s that boat thing, you know.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “It brings out the goofiness in grandmas and aunts.”

Kenzie groaned, but Susan caught the lift at the corner of her mouth. The slumber party had been a success: lots of laughter, lots of silliness, lots of openness.

“Hey, Kenzie, did you see June Cleaver last night?”

Her daughter burst into laughter. “No. I’m beginning to think you killed her off.”

“I certainly hope so. That woman should have been, at the very least, muzzled a long time ago.” She hugged her again. “I love you, sweetheart. Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for asking me.” Kenzie’s muffled voice was barely audible against Susan’s shoulder. “I love you too.”

Susan wondered how her feet stayed put on the ground.

Pepper drove her van along the crowded freeway, unable to erase what had to be one major perky smile off her face. From the passenger seat, Kenzie chirped away, apparently voicing every happy thought that entered her mind.

When the girl slowed long enough to take a breath, Pepper said, “If you don’t mind my saying—”

“If I don’t mind? Now that’s a
salty
thing to say!”

She laughed. “Not the usual blast of opinion with both barrels, huh? I guess I’ve lost my peppery edge, so I guess that means prayer works. Anyway, if you don’t mind my saying, you seem more at peace after the slumber party than you did going into it.”

Kenzie flashed her impish grin. “I guess that’s because I am!”

“What happened?”

“I had a surprisingly good time. Everybody was so totally relaxed. So totally real, even my mom.”

“She set the tone for the whole event.”

“Yeah? Yeah. I guess she did. Aunt Nattie helped, but she kept saying how this and that was Mom’s idea.”

“It’s very mature of you to be able to give her the credit.”

“It’s easy to when she’s not hung up on looking perfect. Wow. She has come a long way since I told her I was pregnant.”

From the corner of her eye, Pepper noticed Kenzie slip a fingertip into her mouth and bite on the nail. “Kenzie, I think God is using your situation to show her she doesn’t need to be perfect, but it’s not your fault, not the tough stuff.”

“What’s going to happen to them?”

“Your parents?” Pepper steered down an exit ramp. “They will get through this. Your mom wants reconciliation. Why wouldn’t your dad want it too? They’ll find their way.”

“He’s as bullheaded as a mule.” She lowered her hand and smiled. “Kind of like me.”

“What do you think would get through to him? When you’ve been bullheaded, what’s made you change your mind?”

“Morning sickness.” She laughed. “I guarantee a good dose of barfing would give him a new outlook.”

Pepper chuckled with her. “So maybe we pray he gets stomach flu?”

Kenzie giggled again.

“Seriously, morning sickness made you view things differently?”

“Sort of. The thing was, I couldn’t control it. Yuck. Constant nausea. That made me realize I couldn’t really control anything anymore.” She shrugged, all traces of smiles gone. “But I dug my heels in deeper, like he’s doing now. Like he will do with this boycott thing.” She shook her head and touched her abdomen. “Then the fluttering started and Mom told me it was the baby moving. All of a sudden, I got tired of trying to control things. Aidan and this baby need me. They need me to be the best me I can be. If I’m behaving like a brainless mule insisting on my own way, thinking that’s control, I’m not really much good to them at all.”

Pepper blinked away tears, reached over, and patted Kenzie’s arm. “Okay. So we pray your dad experiences a fluttering of new life inside of him.”

Kenzie sighed dramatically. “I don’t know. I kind of like the upchucking visual better.”

Pepper held her breath as long as she could. Then the laugh rumbled and burst forth.

So much for being salt-like.

Still grinning, Pepper braked at the curb, a loading zone outside Aidan’s apartment building. “I’ll get your backpack.” She hopped from the van and hurried around to the other side.

“Pepper, I’ve got it.” Kenzie was already out and sliding open the back door. “I’m not an invalid.”

“Stop trying to control things.”

She smiled and backed away from the car. “Touché. You get my bag.”

“Thank you.”

“Sure. Will you carry it upstairs for me too? Maybe even unpack it while you’re there?”

“Sorry, no. I don’t want to get a parking ticket.” She wrapped her arms around the girl. “I only got out so I could give you a proper hug.”

Kenzie laughed and returned the embrace. “You are too funny, Pepper.”

“Mom!”

Pepper turned and saw Aidan jogging toward them, down the short sidewalk from the building’s front door, a gym bag bouncing at his side. He must have spotted them from a window and hurried outside. Reaching them now, he puffed. There was no welcoming smile on his face.

“Aidan? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Dad. There was an accident.”

Life drained from Pepper. Like receiving a giant shot of instantacting novocaine, her body went numb from head to toe. Aidan, Kenzie, the bright blue sky, and the apartment building faded from view.

Mick!

“He’s in the hospital.” They were holding her arms, steering her into the van, up onto the front passenger seat.

“What happened?”

“Somebody hit him. A car. A
small
car.”

She moaned.

“George called.” He named Mick’s boss. “Dad told him to call me first. So Dad was okay enough to tell him that. Which is good, right?” Aidan crouched in front of her, brushing his hands up and down her forearms. “The doctor’s doing X-rays and stuff now. George didn’t know anything else yet.”

Pepper started to cry.

“I talked to the girls. We all agree I should drive you up there right now. We’ll be with him in three hours. Do you need to go home for anything?”

She shrugged.

Kenzie said, “You’ve got your toothbrush and pj’s. Go.”

Still paralyzed with fear, Pepper sensed only one thing. “Pray. Kenzie, you’ll pray?”

“Of course.” She hugged her. “I’ll even get word to the Marthas. One thing I know for sure about them, they know how to pray up a storm.”

“Susan! Is that you?”

Sitting on the seawall facing the ocean, Susan turned to see Julian saunter across the boardwalk. She gave him a questioning glance. “Hi.”

“You look like a new woman! I almost didn’t recognize you.”

She grinned. A week ago, before the haircut, he waved to her as he drove away. They hadn’t seen each other since then.

He tilted his head this way and that, eyeing her from every angle. “New hairstyle. New clothing style. Very nice. Very nice indeed.”

“Thank you.”

“Not to say your appearance was ever disagreeable.”

A flush warmed her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Susan. Your husband would not be pleased with the forward neighbor. I apologize for causing you discomfort.”

“Oh, it’s not that! On the contrary, you have a gift for making me feel safe.” She pressed her hands against her cheeks. “I’m just turning pink because I’m delighted someone would notice.”

Smiling, he crossed his arms and slid sideways onto the wall. “Actually, I think it’s something beyond the physical changes that has captured my attention. There seems to be an inner glow emanating from you. Hmm. Might I deduce the sabbatical is working?”

She laughed and nodded. “Yes, I think you might deduce such a thing. I believe that’s exactly what’s happening.”

“Marvelous. What do you credit? The time away from your ordinary world?”

“Yes, and other things. There’s Faith’s house dripping with peace and joy. Friends and their prayers and laughter. We had a baby shower here, and last night I hosted a slumber party. You’ll never guess who came. Well, besides my sister-in-law, Natalie.”

“Who?”

“Kenzie and the boy’s mother!”

He widened his eyes behind the glasses in an exaggerated way. “No!”

“Yes!”

He laughed with her. “That’s wonderful.”

“It is.” She basked in the shared moment. “So much has happened. Have you been gone? I haven’t seen you for a while.”

“Yes. I’ve been in Florida visiting my son and his wife.” He pulled at his jaw a few times, and then a broad grin broke out. “And my very first grandchild. A boy. I was right there when he was born. Well, right there in the next room.”

“Julian! You’re a grandfather! Congratulations!”

“Thank you.” His face almost could not contain the smile. “I must say, there is nothing to compare it to. It’s quite indescribable. You will love it, Susan, in spite of the difficult circumstances your family is in at the moment.” He grew somber. “I may have told you or Natalie about my divorce many years ago. Naturally, that was the main reason I fiddled with the bullet in my pocket.”

She nodded. She knew the story of how his business consumed him and his wife left, how she remarried out east and another man raised Julian’s children. Only in recent years had his grown children begun to reconnect with him.