Castles in the Sand (24 page)

Polite laughter rippled through the crowd.

“My wife recently gave me an illustration of how she would administer medicine to our little girl on a spoon, but she often refused to swallow it. She’d hold it in her mouth and, when we weren’t looking, deposit it elsewhere. Of course a mother always finds out these things.” He smiled. “The point is, we can’t force our children to follow the example we’ve set before them.”

Natalie’s breath caught.
The example we’ve set?
Which one would that be? Getting his girlfriend pregnant or pretending as though it never happened?

Rex reached for her hand and held it tightly between his.

At the podium, Susan blanched.

Drake said, “Sometimes they choose to leave the fold, and we have to let them go.” He paused. “Our prodigal daughter is expecting a baby and she is not married. We cannot honor her choices.”

A group inhalation sounded like helium spurting into some giant balloon.

“We wanted to let you, our true family, know before this becomes an ugly rumor with unsubstantiated tales attached to it. We ask that you would pray for Susan and me. As you can imagine, this is a difficult time for us. Thank you for being patient. We may seem a little preoccupied.” His smile was the annoyingly self-deprecating one. “Probably because we are.”

The air fluttered out of the balloon. The worst was over. People exchanged glances of sympathy and relief.

Natalie argued in her mind with her brother-in-law.
Prodigal? Prodigal! The prodigal son left home because he wanted to and he came back! Kenzie came back and was forced to leave and told not to come back!

Susan said something to Drake. Her soft voice was inaudible to the audience. His lapel microphone was too far from her mouth to pick it up.

He looked at her.

She spoke again.

Natalie read her lips. Something, something…
pray for Kenzie
. Or was that only her imagination?

Drake gave his head a half shake and lowered his arm from her shoulders. “Well, I apologize for bringing in personal business on this glorious Sunday morning. Let’s get back to our regularly scheduled program now.” He turned to Susan. “Thank you, honey. Ushers, will you come forward, please?”

Natalie watched Susan move, a stiff-jointed wooden puppet, back to her place in the choir. The luminescence had vanished from her face.

“Lord, not the straitjacket. Not again.”

Rex squeezed Natalie’s hand and she turned. His eyes were wide and staring at her.

Whoops. She must have spoken aloud.

Susan rose now with the choir to sing the offeratory. She looked at Natalie. Across the church their eyes met. Natalie gazed, willing courage into her. Willing her to flap her wings.

And then Susan did exactly that. She closed up her big black music book and stepped in front of the woman beside her, and the next, and the next. Her route took her off the side of the platform, along the far windowless wall, and through a door leading to a hallway near the nursery.

As the choir sang and the ushers began the passing of offering plates back and forth through the pews, Natalie caught sight of two white-haired women rise from the third row, left side. Mildred and Leona, the twins. Slowly they moved down the pew, excusing themselves to those they passed.

Many women headed for the restroom before Drake started his sermon, but…?

Natalie turned sideways and glimpsed the back of Gwyn as she strode through a rear exit. Near the center aisle in the last row Emmylou’s husband was helping her stand.

Movement in a middle row, side aisle, drew Natalie’s attention. Tess.

Tess?

She marched toward the rear, her habitually composed features distorted in an obvious scowl, visible even at that distance.

Natalie bent close to Rex’s ear. “I’m outta here.”

He nodded.

Natalie squeezed his knee as she stepped around him and into the center aisle…and onto those palm branches, symbolic of so much hope.

“I totally adore your family.” Kenzie turned to Aidan seated next to her at one of two long picnic tables in the Carlucci backyard.

He laughed. “And they totally adore you.”

“They adore everyone.”

The midafternoon spring sun warmed the grassy area. Palm Sunday dinner was in full swing; rowdy family and friends squeezed together on the benches. Blocking views of neighbors on both sides and behind was a tall peeling gray wood fence in such desperate need of paint even Kenzie noticed. The plants at its base were either overgrown or dying of thirst. Susan would never allow people to see such a yard. Not that hers would ever deteriorate into that condition. Pepper only laughed and said she and Mick had better things to do. Like feed lasagna to thirty people.

Kenzie said, “I can’t imagine growing up in this environment.”

“Aw, Kenz.” Ignoring the hubbub around them, Aidan stopped eating and wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m sorry.” She sniffled against his shoulder.

“For what?”

“I don’t know. I just feel so sad. Maybe this is what your mom calls mommy hormones.”

“What are you sad about?”

“Everything.”

He straightened and put a finger under her chin. “Come on. You’ve got me. You’ve got my adoring family as your very own.”

Well, technically, legally, she did not.

“That’s not sad, is it?”

“No.”

He kissed her cheek. “If you wanted to, Pepper and Mick would even think it great if you called them Mom and Dad. They’d adopt you in a heartbeat.”

She blinked rapidly, but not quick enough to stop tears from spilling.

He said, “But that’d make us brother and sister.”

She giggled.

“We don’t want that.”

“No.”

He gazed at her, his deep-set blue eyes penetrating, and waited.

“It…all this…even church this morning…it all makes me homesick.”

He nodded.

“I’m sorry, Aidan.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

She disagreed. She was sorry to drag him into her misery, for his sake and hers. It added more reasons why he would grow tired of her. She was sorry she’d caused her parents so much trouble. At least her mom seemed to be accepting her, but she left a voice mail the previous day. Now she was back home with her dad, who would never give up until he got his way. Did her mom feel stuck in the middle? Could Kenzie help at all?

“Kenz, I’m sorry I don’t know how to fix your homesickness. Maybe I can’t.”

She shook her head. “Your parents are doing everything in their power, but I guess…I guess I want my own mommy and daddy to love me. Unconditionally.”

“Hmm.”

“I know, I know. My mom has come a long way. And on her voice mail about going home yesterday she said Dad was willing to talk more. Aidan, I have to take my own step. I’m responsible for hurting them.”

“But you can’t change that. You’ve apologized. Kenz, I just don’t want to see you rejected.”

“I have to try, though. One more time. With Mom there with her new attitude and the connection we had Friday night, it’s got to be different for him. And, Aidan,” her eyes filled again, “they’ve got to meet you. I just can’t stand that they don’t know this really cool guy who likes me.”

“Who totally adores you.” He brushed his thumbs gently under her eyes. “Who is absolutely wild about you. And loves you too. Not to mention is having a baby with you.”

“Will you go with me?”

A small hand grabbed her shoulder. She turned to see Mickey J behind them, his other hand on Aidan’s shoulder.

“Hey, you two,” he said in a stern tone. “No smooching at the dinner table!”

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. Aidan snatched Mickey before he could dash away, and they tickled him without mercy.

Kenzie so totally adored the Carluccis. They almost filled the hole in her heart.

Palm Sunday night Pepper and Mick settled into bed earlier than usual. The full day ended wearily with them packing his bags. He had to leave at the crack of dawn to drive to a new road construction site. For the next few months his commute would be three hours each way. When not working on Saturdays, he’d spend weekends at home.

It was not an unusual situation for them. Pepper was accustomed to it…and she was not.

Mick turned the page. They were on 182.

She sighed. Although she’d checked out a copy from the library, the sad fact was they would each read the ending on their own.

But that wasn’t the most difficult situation lounging about with them.

“Mick, I can’t shake it.”

“Then maybe it is the Holy Spirit nudging you.”

“I just hope it’s not that scene at the table this afternoon influencing my emotions.”

“The one between Aidan and Kenzie.” As often happened, he intuited what she thought. “She is one sad little puppy.”

“She’s so wounded. I think she and Susan really enjoyed each other at the shower, but it’s like finding a corner piece in a jigsaw puzzle that has three thousand pieces. A start, yes, but they have such a ways to go. And then there’s the dad. Nincompoop.”

“Tsk, tsk. Did you know Kenzie thinks we adore everyone? Make that
totally
adore. Aidan said that she said she never hears a disparaging remark from us about anyone.”

“Well, obviously she’s missed my conversations about her dad. And your mom.”

“Hmm.” He turned the page. “So, if it is the Spirit nudging you, what do you think you should do?”

She grimaced. The Spirit nudged all right. “You mean besides pray for Drake?”

“Ah. There’s my true Pepper.”

“First off, I’ll fast for twenty-four hours. And of course I’ll pray for all of them. Maybe I should call Mildred. I’d like to get together with Susan. I am drawn to her, and not just because of our Grandmas out of Wedlock Boat. Maybe it’s because I’m so astounded at her transformation. She’s living, touchable proof of God working in the here and now.”

“That’s saying quite a lot.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Which one was Mildred again?”

“One of the seventysomething twins. They refer to her as the Prayer Warrior. I’m sure she’s praying too, asking God to heal this family.”

Mick kissed the top of her head. “The walls will come tumbling down. Drake Starr won’t know what hit him.”

“I hope he does. I hope he feels the full impact of what he’s losing.”

Mick shut the book and set it on the nightstand. “More importantly, I hope our little semi-daughter-in-law feels the full impact of God’s love pouring into her wounds, healing them as only He can.”

“Amen.” She snuggled under his arm.

“Amen.” He turned off the lamp. “Who put Mickey Junior up to his stunt?”

“You didn’t?”

He chuckled. “No. If I’d thought of it, I would have.”

“Me too. It pulled Kenzie out of her funk, but no one confessed to it.”

“Must have been the Spirit then.” He held her close. “I love you, Pepper Sprout.”

She smiled, and all the world’s woes drifted away.

Late on the evening of Palm Sunday, long after her usual bedtime, Susan’s world teetered precariously on the edge of collapse.

It wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Okay.” She folded her hands in her lap and swallowed the quivery tone. With resolute finality she said, “I quit.”

Seated in the other winged-back chair in the family room, Drake rubbed his forehead.

The day had worn on him as well. At least it was not the one Sunday of the month when evening church services were held. Tonight people met in homes instead, in small groups. They fellowshipped. Susan and Drake did not participate.

They hadn’t eaten. Somehow she managed to remove the roast from the oven before it burned, but neither of them were interested. Somehow they changed from dress clothes into casual. Somehow Drake built a fire to warm the always chilly family room. Somehow they survived the hours laden with tension.

Somehow Susan had not shriveled once again into a bent posture or slipped her arms into a straitjacket, eager to placate her husband at any cost.

Perhaps the morning hugs in the church lobby from the Martha Mavens kept her going. Perhaps the knowledge that they exited the service in support of her filled her with courage.

“You quit what?” he said.

“I quit talking. I’m exhausted.”

Drake lowered his hand. “We both are, but nothing is settled yet. I see two impasses. One, you think we should coddle Kenzie. I absolutely refuse to do that.”

“Coddle is your word, not mine.”

“Two, you think I should repeat my request to the entire church, asking them to pray for Kenzie.”

“It wouldn’t be a repeat since it wasn’t stated in the first place.”

His mouth worked so strenuously she expected a pink bubble to emerge from it at any moment.

“Drake.” She leaned forward, arms on her knees, surer of herself than she’d been all day.

The Marthas must have been praying up a storm.

She gave him a gentle smile. “We disagree on this. It’s all right for married couples to disagree, isn’t it?”

“Certainly.”

“I imagine other people do it all the time.”

“We’re not other people. We have to settle this subject before quitting. I can’t lead if you’re not on my side.”

“It can’t be a question of sides, Drake. I can’t choose between you and Kenzie.”

“We must agree on a workable plan regarding our daughter.”

“How about we agree to disagree?”

“Susan.” Exasperation pushed his voice up a notch.

They were breaking new territory here. Since midafternoon he hadn’t resorted to his just-above-a-whisper volume, the usual indication of agitation. Not that he yelled, but he spoke in a manner different than she’d ever witnessed. His breath came in irregular bursts. It was as if he’d…lost control.

Strange how that comforted her in a way.

His eyes flashed. “What in the world has gotten into you? I’ve never seen you so non-submissive!”

Ah. Now he’d named the true impasse.

Her muscles froze, holding her in that leaning pose, the one that offered to meet him halfway. “Submission means I have to agree with you?”