Summer of Joy (4 page)

Almost.

There wasn’t any doubt about whether Jocie was smiling. She looked about to explode with happiness. She’d knelt down on the cold ground next to the river to snap a picture of Wes coming up out of the water. It would probably turn out to be a prizewinner. Jocie had a knack for snapping the shutter at just the right instant. David wished he had a camera to take her picture, but since he didn’t, he just captured the image of her joy in his mind. Her hair was blowing in her face. Her nose was red from the cold, and she had muddy knee prints on her good dress that would get her into trouble with Aunt Love. But she wasn’t worrying about any of that. She was too busy rejoicing with Wes.

The day she’d been born into his life had surely been one of his sweetest blessings. And now she was surrounded by other blessings standing on the riverbank watching him, but he couldn’t stop to count them right then. He wasn’t even sure he still had feet down on the cold river bottom, and his nearly frozen fingers were aching. Wes looked even colder as water dripped off his gray hair and eyebrows. Icicles would be forming on the poor man’s nose and ears if they didn’t get somewhere warm fast. The next person who wanted a river baptism would just have to wait till spring.

Matt McDermott and Whit Jackson were waiting with blankets to wrap around David and Wes when they stepped back up on the riverbank. It kept the wind off but didn’t stop their shivering as the icy cold was clinging to them in their wet clothes under the blankets. David hadn’t been this cold since he’d been down in the submarine in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and they’d lost all but their emergency power.

“You holding up, David?” Wes asked through chattering teeth.

“I don’t know. I’ll tell you when I thaw out,” David said. “How about you?”

“I’m sure I’ve been colder, but my brain’s too froze right now to remember when,” Wes said. “But it was the right thing. I’m beholden to you for wading out there in the river with me.”

When Jocie came running to hug Wes, he put out a hand to push her back. “No sense you getting wet and turning into an ice cube like us, Jo. We’ll have a Jupiter hugging party later.”

Everybody was smiling but nobody was stopping to talk as they scrambled back up the hill to the road and their cars and heaters. Not only was the wind frigid, they’d come to the Redbone River for the baptizing right after morning services, so their Sunday dinners were calling to them at home.

Matt McDermott followed David up toward his car. “You remember you’re coming to our house for dinner, right?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I get changed into dry clothes back at the church,” David said.

Matt looked over at Wes. “Dorothy fixed plenty, Wesley, so come on over to the house with Brother David.”

“I’m not one to turn down good cooking,” Wes said. “Especially today if it’s hot.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll be hot and I’ll throw another log on the fire while Dorothy sets an extra plate.” Matt turned his eyes back to David. “And of course we’re expecting Leigh too.”

“She told me she’s looking forward to it. Dorothy asked her last week.” David looked past Matt to where Leigh was helping Zella back up the hill. She must have felt his eyes on her because she looked up, wrapped her arms tight around herself, and shook in an exaggerated shiver before she smiled at him. David forgot about his frozen toes squishing water out of his wet socks with every step and felt warmer even before he climbed into the car and turned the heater on full blast.

His mother’s diamond ring in the folded up envelope was still tucked in his wallet back at the church. He’d have to take it up to the Jewelry Center next week for sure if he wanted to have the diamond reset by Christmas. He’d take in his watch to be cleaned and get Rollin Caruthers to vow secrecy before he pulled out the ring. After that, all he’d have to do was figure out a time and place special enough to pop the question to Leigh.

Jocie climbed in the backseat behind David and Wes. Normally she’d have ridden on to the McDermotts with Leigh to play with little Matt, Molly, and baby Murray, but today she was sticking close to Wes. She scooted up on the edge of the backseat and put her hands over his ears. “I think maybe Zella was right and we should have gone to her church.”

“Why’s that?” Wes asked.

“Your ears are purple.”

“That’s what happens when a Jupiterian puts his head under ice water. Makes his true colors show through,” Wes said. “Just be careful you don’t break them off.”

“I thought you said you’d been earthed,” Jocie said.

“That don’t change what color a body’s ears turn when they get cold. Or how long it takes said ears to thaw out, but you can be sure my heart’s nice and warm and earthed,” Wes said. “You just send up a no-pneumonia prayer for me and your daddy, and we’ll be right as rain come Monday. I figure it’ll take us that long to warm up.”

“I’ve already been praying that,” Jocie said. “And that your fingers and toes don’t fall off from frostbite. Can you believe Zella came?”

“Zell’s been hard to figure lately,” Wes said as he looked over at David. “You got any idea what’s wrong with her, boss?”

“Maybe she needs to start reading a new brand of romance novels,” David said.

“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Wes gave his head a little shake. “Her matchmaking plans have been going good. Better than good. You and Leigh don’t hardly need her to do any conspiring to get you two together these days.”

“Well then, maybe that’s what’s wrong. She’s ready to move on to a new challenge. Maybe she’s decided you need a woman in your life, Wes.” David smiled over at Wes.

“Maybe she’s decided she’s that woman,” Jocie added.

Wes put his hand over his heart. “You two are trying to do what that cold water didn’t do. Give me a heart attack. Could be you should forget about that no-pneumonia prayer for me, Jo, so I’ll have a reason to hide out in my apartment for a spell.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” David said with a laugh. “Zella may read about romance. She may plan romances for other people, but she’s not about to invite romance to her own breakfast table.”

“I hope you’re right, because neither am I,” Wes said with an extra shiver. “I like chugging down my coffee with nothing but a bowl of cornflakes and a good book to keep me company.”

David couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten breakfast alone. Not that he especially wanted to. He liked eating Aunt Love’s biscuits and listening to what Jocie had going on at the high school that day. Even Tabitha who couldn’t bear the sight of food that early in the morning was sometimes in the kitchen now, fixing Stephen Lee’s morning bottle. If David wanted peace and quiet in the morning, he took a prayer walk in Herman Crutcher’s cow pasture back behind the house as the sun was coming up.

There certainly wasn’t any peace and quiet at the McDermotts’ dinner table when they finally gathered to eat. Dorothy McDermott seemed unfazed by the noise as she set up a card table in one end of her big kitchen for her kids and Jocie while everybody else gathered around the oak table at the other end. Dorothy made sure Leigh was sitting next to David.

The Mt. Pleasant women had embraced the idea of Leigh and their pastor being a couple once they’d examined and discussed in detail how much older David was than Leigh. David had overheard some of the discussions and had been informed by those who thought he should know about some of the others. And he and Leigh had laughed about the many ways the ladies had come up with to try to find out her age without asking straight out. Through it all, Leigh had been graceful and kind and caring. Something Adrienne had never been in the years she’d been his wife. She’d searched for ways to insult his church members simply because it entertained her and upset him.

David rarely ever thought about Adrienne anymore. For years he’d carried around the guilt of their failed marriage. He should have done this or he should have said that. He still thought he should have been able to find some way to reach Adrienne’s heart before she ran away from him and her life in Hollyhill, but he’d finally forgiven himself for his failure as a husband and turned loose of his resentment of her failure as his wife.

Tabitha coming home had made him face that wounded place inside him. David looked across the table at Tabitha who was hooking a strand of her long hair back behind her ear and laughing at something Matt McDermott was saying. She was so pretty, just like Adrienne, and yet in another way she didn’t look a bit like her mother. While the nose and mouth and eyes might be the same shape and color, they weren’t the same. Smiles sat easily on Tabitha’s face, especially now when she looked at her baby.

But Tabitha didn’t save all her smiles and love for Stephen Lee. She wanted people to like her. She cared whether the people around her were happy. Something she definitely hadn’t learned from the Adrienne David remembered.

David’s eyes touched on the tiny rose on Tabitha’s cheek. She’d been part of the love movement out in California before she’d ridden the bus across country back to Hollyhill. But what real difference did a tiny tattoo and long hair make? It was what was inside that was important, and his beautiful daughter who had disappeared in the middle of the night with her mother when she was thirteen hadn’t forgotten how to laugh and love. David couldn’t remember ever seeing happiness sit so easily on Adrienne’s face. Maybe after she’d left Hollyhill she found reasons to laugh and smile. He hoped so.

He had plenty of reasons for smiling himself. He leaned a little in his chair until his shoulder brushed against Leigh’s, and he could smell the fresh scent of her blonde hair curled down around her shoulders. Across the table Aunt Love was holding his healthy grandson. Wes, his best friend in the world, had entered into the family of God so he could be his best friend in eternity too. At the kids’ table, Jocie was feeding Murray mashed potatoes while little Matt and Mollie clamored for her attention. David was beginning to know he had toes again, and Dorothy was passing him a plate of hot rolls fresh from the oven. Life was good.

He didn’t even have to worry about the Christmas play at church. Miss Sally had told him that morning she had everything under control.

5

T
abitha sat on the back pew and fed Stephen Lee while that bratty little Martin kid chased a couple of little girls up the aisle. Miss Sally ought to make him be the donkey in the play since he was so good at acting like one. But no, Miss Sally just grabbed and hugged him before she told him he’d have to sit on the front pew beside her while they decided who was going to do what.

Tabitha hadn’t wanted to come to the play practice. She’d wanted to stay at the McDermott house and fold and refold the baby clothes Mrs. McDermott had given her. Stuff Murray had outgrown. There had been tiny denim overalls and corduroy pants and red and blue shirts with snaps on the shoulders. She must have given her a dozen pairs of socks and a pair of white tennis shoes with a red stripe.

As if Stephen Lee needed shoes yet. But they were so cute. Tabitha had taken Stephen Lee’s footed sleeper off on the spot and put the pants and a shirt on him so he could wear the shoes. Mrs. McDermott got her camera out and took some pictures. She promised to give Tabitha copies as soon as she sent them off to be developed.

Jocie had taken pictures of Stephen Lee with the
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camera, but she always had black-and-white film. Tabitha wanted the pictures in color. She was wishing for her own camera for Christmas so she could have it at hand to capture Stephen Lee smiling or yawning or doing whatever cute thing he was doing. But cameras cost money, and film and flashbulbs cost money, and having the pictures developed cost money, and money was something she didn’t have.

Her father would give her whatever she wanted if she asked him, but she didn’t feel right asking him for anything more. He’d already given her so much without the first hint of reluctance or regret. He’d welcomed her home and kept loving her even after he found out the baby was on the way. Best of all, he loved Stephen Lee without reservation and didn’t pay the first bit of attention to the Hollyhill holier-than-thous.

He hadn’t told her about the rash of canceled subscriptions to the
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after Stephen Lee was born. Zella had. Not with malice. Zella’s eyes had opened a little wider than usual on her first sight of Stephen Lee as she’d sniffed and dabbed her nose with one of her ever-present tissues before stammering out something about how healthy he looked. But honestly, Tabitha thought Zella had had a harder time getting used to the rose tattooed on Tabitha’s cheek than Stephen Lee’s skin color.

So Tabitha didn’t think Zella had told her about the problems at the
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out of meanness of spirit, but just so Tabitha would be aware of the sacrifices her father was being forced to make because of her. As if Tabitha could shut her eyes and go back in time a year and make better choices. Not that she would even want to do that.

Her arms tightened around Stephen Lee. While she had been absolutely certain she was going to have a girl and had been calling her unborn baby Stephanie Grace for weeks before she went into labor and gave birth, she couldn’t imagine not having Stephen Lee now. There was no way she would ever wish away the moment in time that had led to his birth no matter how right or wrong her actions had been or what problems she or anybody else might face now because of them.

Stephen Lee was too precious, too perfect to wish changed in any way. She let the baby wrap his hand around her finger and played a gentle game of tug with him as, up in the front of the church, Miss Sally began picking angels for the play.

Besides, her father hadn’t spoken the first word of complaint about any of the problems Stephen Lee’s birth had caused for him. Thank goodness the people at Mt. Pleasant hadn’t taken one look at Stephen Lee and shown her father the door. Of course it had helped that Myra Hearndon had already forced the church members to break their color barrier, and it had helped even more that most of the church people loved her father so much that they didn’t hold the sins of his daughter against him. Or against Stephen Lee. There were always eager arms reaching out to hold Stephen Lee every Sunday.