Orchard of Hope (37 page)

“It’s been a hard summer with the dry weather. And the people will be back.” David pushed as much confidence as he could into his voice. “They’ll be here for Homecoming Day in a couple of weeks.”

Miss Sally was able to believe that, and she looked relieved. “You’re probably right. People won’t want to miss Homecoming even if Myra is here. Harvey has been working on the history of the church to read. Of course he reads it every year, but he likes to go over it and make a few changes here and there, put in some new things so it won’t be the same old thing every year. You know, he’s been doing this since our father died back in 1940. And Father did it for thirty some years before that.”

“You and Harvey are the backbone of our church.” David put his hand on her arm.

She smiled and waved off the compliment. “I don’t know about that, but we do love the church. And we’re praying that we haven’t brought it harm by selling the land to Alex.” Her smile faded. “He’s a good man, Brother David. He really is. Even if he doesn’t come to church.”

“Perhaps we can pray him into wanting fellowship with us here at the church.” He squeezed her arm a little.

“And pray for the others too. And pray that those others, those that want to make trouble, will have a change of heart.” Miss Sally reached over to give David a hug. “You’re a fine pastor, Brother David. Thank you for helping me see that I don’t have to solve all the problems, that I can turn them over to the Lord.”

“That’s something I need to remind myself from time to time as well, Miss Sally.”

“Me and Harvey pray for you every day. And for the church,” Miss Sally said. “You’re at the Sandersons’ house today, aren’t you?”

“We are.”

“Did they invite Leigh?”

“I think it’s expected now that Leigh will be along.”

“Is it now?” Miss Sally’s eyes twinkled as she smiled at David. “Well, that’s good news.”

“It is,” David agreed. “And Leigh tells me you and Mr. Harvey are coming to Jocie’s birthday party Saturday afternoon.”

“That’s right. We’re looking forward to it.” Miss Sally looked around to be sure Jocie wasn’t in earshot. “The you-know-what is still a surprise, isn’t it?”

“She thinks she’s getting inner tubes for her bike tires.”

“Well, that isn’t a falsehood,” Miss Sally said with a laugh.

And so each day they managed to push the storm into the background of their lives. It was there rumbling its warnings, but nobody wanted to listen. They had other things to worry about. Rain. Birthday parties. Getting the
Banner
out on time. Figuring out what was wrong with Zella. Trying not to melt in the heat.

David picked up one of the
Banner
s and looked at it as Noah and Jocie bundled the papers up to be delivered to the post office and the stores. Leigh had already left with Zella. David had whispered in her ear to find out what was wrong with Zella if she could. And Zella had smiled, really smiled for the first time since the window was knocked out, but that was just because David was whispering in Leigh’s ear.

Noah came up beside David to look at the picture of the rock on the top fold of the paper. “Do you think that will cause new trouble?” he asked.

“I don’t know. But Wes was right. We did have to print it.”

“Even if it causes more trouble.”

“The trouble is already here,” David said.

“That’s the truth,” Noah said.

David looked around at Noah. “Are things all right out at the farm?”

“As right as they can be. The pond’s still got water. Dad says there must be some kind of deep spring feeding it, so our trees are still living. And we’ve done all we can about getting ready for whatever might happen. It’s hard to know what to do when you don’t know what face is going to be on the trouble coming. But we’re keeping our eyes open and not taking chances. Mama’s promised she’ll stay away from town for a while.”

“That might be best.”

“She didn’t aim to make trouble. She just can’t help herself when somebody tells her she can’t do something. But she doesn’t want to have any dealings with those kind of men.” He touched the picture of the rock in the paper. “She’s been talking about packing up Cassidy and the twins and going to stay with Dad’s sister up in Chicago till winter. She says most of the time this kind of thing settles down a little once it starts snowing.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know. Too cold to run around in sheets, maybe.” Noah attempted a joke.

David didn’t smile. “I’m sorry, Noah. I never thought anything like this would happen in Hollyhill.”

“People are just people everywhere.”

“And some of them are good people.”

“Some of them are. But some of them aren’t.”

“If anybody bothers you, you call the sheriff.”

“Are you sure he won’t be under one of the hoods himself? A lot of sheriffs down here in the South are, you know.”

“Not ours. Not Sheriff Harpson. He hates what’s going on.”

“I’ll tell Dad,” Noah said. “But you and me both know that Hoopole Road is a long way from town and the sheriff’s office.” Noah turned his eyes back to the picture on the paper. “And they couldn’t even protect you here right in the middle of town.”

38

Tabitha woke up early Saturday morning. It was too hot to sleep late even if she hadn’t been too miserable to sleep. She was beginning to wonder just how big her stomach was going to get. The doctor said everything was just fine, that she wasn’t too big, but Tabitha felt huge. She waddled instead of walked. It took a major effort to get up out of a chair. Sometimes Aunt Love had to help her. She couldn’t even reach her toenails to paint them. She wasn’t sure she still had toes, it had been so long since she’d seen them.

Aunt Love promised her it wouldn’t be long now. That she looked ready, whatever that meant. But the doctor said it could be two more weeks. That was what he said every time she went. He put his cold stethoscope on her belly until he found Stephanie Grace’s heartbeat, then he smiled and said to come back next week. He hadn’t even told her to pack her suitcase for the hospital yet, but of course she had. She had an overnight case with a robe and two nighties and a bed jacket Leigh had given her and the pink terry cloth sleeper for Stephanie Grace to wear home.

It was the only pink one she had, and she’d had to buy it herself. The people at church had given her a shower in the church basement one Sunday afternoon a month ago, but they’d given her yellow and green sleepers and gowns and such. To be safe, they said, in case she had a boy instead of a girl. The mothers all had stories about expecting girls and having boys, or expecting boys and having girls. They told her there was no way to be sure until somebody invented a way to look through your belly into the womb, and there wasn’t much chance of that happening.

Tabitha had felt okay on Friday, and a good thing, with having to help Aunt Love get ready for Jocie’s big birthday party. Of course it wasn’t a surprise like Tabitha’s party had been back in July. Jocie knew they were having cake and ice cream for her that afternoon. She’d even helped with the cleaning and getting ready. Wes was coming, and Zella. Miss Sally and Mr. Harvey had promised to come too.

Miss Sally was such a sweetheart. She’d probably bring Tabitha something new for the baby even though she’d already given her the sweetest cradle. Mr. Harvey had pulled it out of their attic, and Miss Sally had painted it white and made a little mattress for it and bumper pads with rainbows on them. The cradle was up in Tabitha’s room just waiting for Stephanie Grace with all the sleepers and diapers and soft receiving blankets folded up in it.

And of course Leigh was coming. Leigh was a fixture now. Tabitha didn’t mind. She was glad her father had decided to fall in love. Even if Leigh wasn’t all that much older than Tabitha herself. She was old enough. And Tabitha’s father needed somebody who loved him that way, that man-and-wife way. For sure, DeeDee had never loved him properly, if at all.

Tabitha tried to push DeeDee out of her mind. She hadn’t expected it to bother her when DeeDee didn’t write her or call. But it had. Her father said that was natural enough. A girl needed a mother when she was getting ready to be a mother herself. Not that DeeDee would have been much help that way. She’d never wanted to be a mother. Had never really been much of a mother even though she’d seen to Tabitha’s physical needs over the years.

Tabitha caught her long hair up in a ponytail and then tucked the hair under and pinned it up. It was too hot for long hair. She thought about just taking some scissors and whacking it all off, but it was probably cooler tucked up off her neck. She dropped her hands back down and rubbed her lower back.

Her back was giving her fits. If it hadn’t been Jocie’s birthday, she’d have fixed her bed up with lots of pillows, turned the fan so it would blow right on her, and gone back to bed for a while. She’d never had a backache quite this bad. It seemed to come in spasms. But for Jocie, she’d have to try to ignore it. She didn’t want to spoil her party.

The party was at two, the hottest part of the day, but nobody had parties in the morning, and once the day had heated up, it stayed hot until midnight anyway. The forecast had been the same all week. Hot and dry. Too hot for September. Tabitha remembered crisp fall days in September from when she was a child in Hollyhill. Mornings when she had to wear a sweater. Evenings when her grandmother, Mama Mae, talked about lighting a fire in the fireplace. But nobody needed to light a fire to keep warm so far this September.

By the time Leigh showed up with the cake and Zella and Wes, Tabitha had given up trying to help Aunt Love. She was just sitting in front of the fan and holding her ice-water glass against first one cheek then the other one to cool down. Her back was hurting even worse than when she got up, but she thought she could make it two more hours. By then the party would be over. Jocie would have her new bike, and Tabitha could just go to bed and try to go to sleep and block out the pain. Something was always hurting when you got this far along carrying a baby, or that was what the other mothers at church were always telling her.

It was exciting being fourteen. Jocie had awakened sometime in the middle of the night, looked up at the stars out the window, and thought, now she was fourteen. That sounded lots better than thirteen. She was into her teens. She was on her way to being an adult. She knew worlds more than she had last year when she was just turning thirteen.

So much had happened since her last birthday. Everything had changed. Everybody had changed. When she’d told her father that at breakfast, he had smiled and said that happened every year. But Jocie thought this year had to be different, special in the changing department.

All she had to do was look around at the people at her party to prove that. Aunt Love was smiling. She’d been smiling a lot lately. She still quoted just as many Bible verses, but more of them sounded joyful now. Her father was laughing with Leigh as she put the candles on Jocie’s specially ordered chocolate cake. He’d met Leigh at the door and hugged her right in front of everybody. The two of them had even held hands like a couple of teenagers in front of the whole county at the football game. That had to be more than a normal change.

Tabitha was sitting there right in the middle of them holding her hands over her belly instead of being off in California. She was going to be a mother just any time, and that would make Jocie an aunt. That certainly didn’t happen every year. Miss Sally and Mr. Harvey were sitting on the couch, drinking lemonade and waiting for her to blow out her birthday candles. Jocie hadn’t even known them last year, and now they were like a favorite aunt and uncle, and her father was the pastor of their church. That was a change. A big change. Her father actually having a church again.

Wes had been there to help her celebrate turning thirteen last year, and Jocie was thankful he was still there to celebrate with her this year. In another month or two he might even get rid of the cast and be able to ride his motorcycle again. She would give all the little packages people had brought to be able to climb up behind him on his motorcycle again and go for a ride through the country.

Maybe that was a change. In her. She didn’t really care about what she was getting. Of course, she did want the inner tubes for her bike tires her father had promised. She had to carry the air pump with her everywhere now if she wanted to ride her bike.

Jocie looked around. Everybody was talking, but Jocie sort of kept herself outside the talk so she could watch them. She’d have to write all this down in her notebook later. How everybody had changed.

Her eyes fell on Zella sitting beside Miss Sally. Zella never changed. Jocie almost felt relieved. She could count on Zella to be the same every day, every week, every month, every year. Even her success matchmaking Leigh and Jocie’s father hadn’t seemed to cheer her up much lately. Not that she’d ever admit she was cranky, but she was. Lately more than usual. Wes said it had to be the hot weather. Maybe Jocie could make Zella her next year’s project—to see if she could change Zella into a kinder, sweeter model. Jocie shut her eyes and tried to imagine it and almost giggled. Some things surely weren’t supposed to change.