An Abundance of Blessings Page 14

  Charlotte did a double take when she saw her youngest granddaughters. Madison’s baby-fine eyelashes were made visible with mascara, her cheeks had a hint of blush and her lips were shining with colored lip-gloss. Her hair was curled and sprayed, a remnant of the sparkles they had put in her hair yesterday flashing in the light of the porch.

  Jennifer wore lipstick as well, but only a touch of mascara. A sparkly clip held her curling hair back from her face.

  “Well, now—” she stumbled, trying to find the right words. Madison looked like a teenager instead of a girl of six. This was unacceptable.

  “I like that mascara stuff,” Jennifer said, blinking.

  “Don’t we look pretty?” Madison asked. She glanced up at Emily, adoration in her gaze. “Emily did it for us.”

  Emily grinned down at her cousin and Charlotte’s heart fluttered.

  “It’s a bit much, Emily,” Charlotte couldn’t help saying. “I’m afraid we need to wash it off.”

  Emily’s smile sagged and Jennifer and Madison looked disappointed, but Charlotte couldn’t bring the little girls to church looking like that.

  Then Bob honked the horn twice in rapid succession and she knew they were out of time. They couldn’t be late two weeks in a row. They would simply have to go as they were.

  “We have to make sure to clean it off as soon as we get home from church,” Charlotte said, feeling like she had spoiled the moment. “I can’t have Anna seeing them looking like this.”

  It was a tight squeeze to get everyone in the truck. Christopher sat up front with Bob and Charlotte and the girls all huddled together in the backseat.

  “Drive carefully,” Charlotte warned Bob. “We have precious cargo.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Bob reassured her. “Unless you want to leave someone at home, or you want to drive, we don’t have a lot of choice.”

  “We’re okay,” Emily said, giggling as Madison’s hair tickled her nose.

  “Can we just go?” Christopher said, waving his hand in front of his face. “I’m suffocating from all this perfume here and I don’t have enough room to play my Game Boy.”

  “You shouldn’t take your Game Boy to church anyway,” Madison said.

  “I don’t play it in church,” Christopher replied with an injured tone. “That’s disrespectful to Jesus.”

  Charlotte smiled at the discussion, Bob turned onto Heather Creek Road leading to Route 12, and they were on their way.

  “Don’t the girls look pretty, Grandpa?” Emily asked, as if trying to counteract Charlotte’s criticism.

  Bob frowned and before he glanced in his rearview mirror, Charlotte caught his eye. She gave him the tiniest shake of her head, warning him with a look. What was done, was done, and Emily didn’t need to have two grandparents criticizing what she thought was a good thing. She’d just have to find some time to wipe off what she could once they got to church.

  His vague smile told her that, thankfully, he got it.

  “You all look very bright-eyed” was his diplomatic answer.

  “Why did you make Madison’s hair so sparkly?” Christopher asked. “Makes me blink.”

  “I like it, Christopher,” Madison said.

  Charlotte just looked ahead at the snowy road, lined with grader banks, content to listen to the chatter coming from the backseat—a noisy gift.

  Thank you, Lord, she prayed, settling herself back in the seat, squinting against the sun sparkling off the pristine snow blanketing the fields. Thank you for my grandchildren and for the time they can spend together.

  As she formulated the prayer she felt a moment of guilt. She hadn’t spent as much time this week on her devotions as she usually did. She felt as if she had pushed God aside in the busyness of helping the girls and keeping the house going.

  But as she heard the lilting chatter of the kids, she reasoned that making sure her family was happy was also service for the Lord.

  The drive was pleasant, the sun shining, and Charlotte felt as if all was right with her world. Until Bob had to park the truck farther away from the church than they usually did.

  “We should have left earlier,” Bob grumbled as they walked up to the church.

  Charlotte knew Bob hated sitting anywhere but in “their” pew, so she didn’t reply. She hoped it would still be available. Part of her attention was taken up with trying to squeeze in a few moments to clean up the girls and trying to see if Sam had made it to church.

  She knew she had to trust him. And she also knew church attendance wasn’t a measure of that trust. At the same time, seeing him here would go far in bolstering her confidence in him.

  They entered the foyer, Bob rushing them along. “Hurry up.” Charlotte paused in the doorway of the church to see if she could find Sam.

  A movement halfway up the congregation caught her attention. A head was turned toward them, a hand lifted. She zeroed in on the person.

  Miss Grienke?

  Charlotte frowned. Surely she wasn’t looking at them? But then who?

  On a hunch, she turned around.

  Behind her, wearing clean blue jeans and a blazer over a white shirt and tie, stood her youngest son. Pete. As Pete lifted his hand in greeting to Miss Grienke, Charlotte felt her heart do a flip followed by a flush of anger. Why was he being so obvious about this?

  “Morning, Ma,” he said when he caught her gaze.

  “I didn’t know you were coming to church.”

  Pete shrugged, looking self-conscious. Looking guilty, Charlotte thought.

  “Spur of the moment.”

  Charlotte couldn’t help turning back to the congregation, looking for Dana. There she was. Off to one side, her head down, reading the bulletin.

  “Are you coming for lunch?” Charlotte asked.

  “Bill and Anna will be back, right?”

  “That was the plan.”

  Pete sighed. “We’ll see.”

  Miss Grienke turned and motioned to Pete again. And Charlotte understood his hesitant reply to the lunch invitation.

  “You better get going. She’s obviously waiting for you.” Charlotte couldn’t help the acerbic tone that slipped into her voice. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Miss Grienke. Pete so seldom came to church that for him to make the effort for someone other than Dana bothered her. And if he preferred to be with Lisa Grienke than his own family, then—

  Pete sighed, as if he caught her tone, then pushed his hair back with one hand. “Mom, you see, it’s like this—”

  “Uncle Pete! Uncle Pete!” Jennifer called out. She grabbed his hand and danced beside him, her sprayed and teased hair bouncing up and down.

  “Hey, Jenny Penny,” Pete said with a cautious smile.

  “Well, well, what brings you here?” Emily asked, sounding incredulous.

  Miss Grienke, Charlotte thought with a pang of regret, wondering for about the seventy-fifth time what had happened to the budding romance between him and Dana.

  Miss Grienke waved again and with a sigh, Pete shuffled past them and ambled down the aisle, his head down as if he hoped no one would see him.

  As he slipped into the pew beside Lisa Grienke, Charlotte saw Dana’s head come up. Charlotte could tell the exact moment she saw Pete. Her body shifted just enough that Charlotte felt a surge of pity for her.

  Oh, Pete, what are you doing?

  “Now would be a good time to take our seats,” Bob urged. Then without seeing if they were following him, he started walking in.

  Charlotte glanced at the little girls. Goodness, she had gotten so distracted with watching Miss Grienke and Pete that she forgot she was going to clean up the girls.

  But Bob was already part of the way down the aisle toward their pew in the third row on the left and she had no choice but to follow.

  At least they were in front of Pete and Lisa and Dana so Charlotte wouldn’t have to be privy to that particular triangle.

  She stifled another sigh at her son’s antics. Which in turn made her think of Sam. How
could he have missed the expectation she’d had of him?

  Maybe she just couldn’t see him.

  She dismissed that hopeful thought. Sam was tall enough. If he were here, she’d see him.

  To distract herself from her troubling thoughts, she opened the church bulletin, her eyes skimming over the upcoming events. Her Bible study group was meeting this week. The ladies’ hospitality group was organizing a bake sale. She’d have to do some extra baking.

  And her heart shifted down.

  Baking. All the baking she had done this week had disappeared. She had none left for Bill and Anna when they came for lunch. Nor had she bought any extra groceries for their visit.

  She tried to push down her distracting thoughts. It shouldn’t matter. But she liked being prepared for company. She liked guests to think that she had planned the dinner especially for them.

  She did a mental inventory of what she had on hand. Some banana muffins. Possibly some containers of soup.

  It would have to be soup and cold cuts.

  “I’d like to welcome everyone here this morning. Especially our visitors. I pray that you may be encouraged and strengthened today.”

  The voice of Pastor Evans broke into Charlotte’s meanderings and she pulled herself back with a guilty start.

  When the minister announced the first song, she pulled out the songbook and glanced over at her gathered brood, making sure they were following suit.

  She turned her attention back to the song and took a long slow breath. She felt as if she had to re-center herself to allow God’s presence to come over her and draw her in.

  She followed the words to the song, simply reading, then singing. The music, the voices of the people around her, drew her on, creating a sense of holiness and awe at God’s awesome majesty and a profound thankfulness for His love.

  When they sat down, she felt as if she had come home, come back to the Lord she knew loved her.

  The Bible reading and the sermon reinforced the emotion. She knew worship was more than feelings, but at the same time whenever she had an emotional reaction to being in church, to worship, she was thankful. Sometimes she needed the emotions to lift her through the mundane and ordinary moments of the week. Through the moments when it seemed that God was silent.

  She sat back as Pastor Evans began preaching, trying to separate him from his daughter, who had hurt Emily’s feelings so badly last week. She knew too well that parents were often unaware of their children’s antics.

  Case in point being the son sitting just a few pews behind her.

  Don’t go there, she reminded herself.

  Pastor Evans referred to a passage in the Bible and Charlotte looked it up, focusing on his topic.

  Jennifer tucked her arm into Charlotte’s and leaned against her.

  Charlotte looked down on her youngest grandchild with a smile, then turned her attention back to Pastor Evans. As he spoke, Jennifer’s head grew heavy and she twitched. Charlotte gently eased Jennifer’s head onto her lap, smoothing her hand over her hair.

  It was like touching a sticky cobweb.

  She hoped they would have time to wash her hair before Anna and Bill came to pick them up.

  Twenty minutes later, the congregation stood for the singing of the final song. As the pastor pronounced a benediction over the congregation, Charlotte gently shook Jennifer.

  She shifted, made a grumbling noise, and then, with a yawn and a stretch, slowly sat up. She blinked as she looked around and then, without thinking, rubbed her eyes.

  The mascara!

  Charlotte tried to stop her, but it was too late. Jennifer lowered her hands and two raccoon eyes blinked back at Charlotte.

  As the congregation sang the final song, Charlotte found some tissues in her purse. But she couldn’t wipe the mascara off her granddaughter’s face. Nor could she wipe off the lipstick smeared over her mouth and Charlotte’s skirt.

  The last notes of the organ faded away and people started moving out of the pews, stopping to chat. Charlotte gathered up her purse and Jennifer’s jacket. She needed to get to a washroom to clean up Jennifer and her skirt before the lipstick stained it permanently. But she couldn’t leave. Emily and Ashley were standing up but not moving out of the pew.

  And Charlotte saw why. Nicole and her friend Lily were sauntering down the aisle toward them.

  “Charlotte. How fortuitous that I caught you.” Sarah Carr, who had been sitting in front of her, had caught her arm. “I was just going to go looking for you.”

  “Here I am,” Charlotte said with a quick smile. She had a good idea what Sarah wanted. Volunteers for the upcoming bake sale. Or contributions.

  “I was wondering if you would be willing to coordinate the bake sale this year.” Sarah pushed her long, blonde hair back from her face as she held Charlotte’s gaze.

  Well, this was unexpected. And a bit more work than Charlotte was anticipating. “I could, but I don’t know if—”

  “You’re capable?” Sarah chuckled, a deep laugh that seemed intended to dispel Charlotte’s protest. “You’re one of the most capable people I know. Why I remember that one time …”

  While Sarah was extolling her virtues, out of one corner of her eye, Charlotte saw Nicole stop at the end of the pew. Nicole gave Emily a sneering look and Charlotte felt anger well up inside of her. Lily wasn’t far behind. But she wasn’t sneering. She was staring at Emily’s shirt.

  “That is so cool,” Charlotte heard Lily say. “Where did you get that shirt?”

  “Oh, Lily, they’re probably someone else’s hand-me-downs,” Nicole said with an exaggerated eye-roll. “I wouldn’t get too excited.”

  “Emily made it herself,” Madison announced, her voice loud and proud. “I watched her and I picked up the threads.”

  Lily looked even more impressed. “Really? You know how to sew?”

  “Yep. My grandmother helped me, and my Aunt Rosemary showed me how to decorate it with beads.”

  “I like to sew too. I entered a dress in the county fair contest last year,” Lily said.

  Nicole grabbed Lily by the arm. “And your dress was way cuter,” she said, trying to sound authoritative, but failing miserably. “Let’s go. Now.”

  “I think she’s jealous,” Madison said with a giggle.

  Emily gave her little cousin a hug. Charlotte could see from her smug grin that she felt the same.

  But it was the hug that made Charlotte want to cheer.

  “… Single-handed. I was so impressed …”

  With a start Charlotte pulled her attention back to Sarah, who thankfully missed Charlotte’s moment of distraction.

  “Give me a chance to think about this,” Charlotte said.

  “My eyes hurt,” Jennifer said, blinking. She started to rub her eyes again, but Charlotte stopped her.

  “I better get her to the bathroom,” Charlotte gave Sarah an apologetic look.

  Sarah glanced down at Jennifer, as if suddenly noticing her presence.

  “My goodness, girl, you look a fright. Whatever happened to you?”

  “My cousin made me look pretty.” Jennifer narrowed her raccoon eyes and pursed her red-rimmed lips.

  “Jennifer,” Charlotte warned, not liking her tone.

  Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest, her expression mutinous.

  Charlotte was about to excuse herself when Sarah touched Charlotte on the arm. “Is that Pete with Miss Grienke?”

  Not what she needed to hear.

  “I saw him the other night at a play in Harding,” Sarah continued. “I thought he and Dana Simons were seeing each other.”

  Charlotte gave Sarah a flustered smile. “I’m sorry, but I should get going,” Charlotte said. “I’ll call you back about the bake sale.”

  Sarah nodded and, thankfully, left.

  The girls’ conversation filtered in through her scattered thoughts. “Did you hear that?” Ashley was conferring with Emily in excited tones. “Lily liked your shirt, and Nicole looked so jealo
us she was almost green.”

  Emily looked positively smug and Charlotte couldn’t blame her.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” Jennifer announced.

  Ashley glanced back at Jennifer, then pressed her lips together, stifling her laughter at the sight of the little girl. “You better get going.”

  Jennifer just stared straight ahead, waiting. The little girl had always hated waking up, and now it looked like being woken up from her nap had sent her mood into the red zone.

  Charlotte was about to move past the girls when she heard an all-too-familiar voice call out Jennifer and Madison’s names.

  Anna.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Charlotte’s heart jolted in her chest as she turned to the sound of her daughter-in-law’s voice. Had Anna been in church the entire time?

  “Mother!” Madison called out, letting go of Emily’s hand and running toward Anna, who was bearing down on their little group.

  Madison’s arms were out but instead of sweeping her little girl into a hug, Anna stopped and caught Madison by the shoulders.

  “What in the world happened to you?” She frowned as she fingered Madison’s curls. She looked up at Charlotte as if hoping she could enlighten her.

  But just then Hannah met up with Anna. Hannah wore a shiny blue dress, tied at the waist, that Charlotte suspected she’d pulled out of a remote corner of her clothes closet. Hannah had never been overly concerned about how she looked—a trait that Charlotte envied from time to time.

  “Anna. You’re back,” Hannah said with a jovial smile. “How was your trip? I was hoping to stop by and visit with Charlotte and the girls, but I’ve been up to my ears in farm books. Haven’t even had time to watch my favorite reruns.” Hannah laughed.

  “We had an interesting holiday.” Anna’s smile seemed forced, which made Charlotte think “interesting” was code for “not very good.” “We just got back and I was anxious to see the girls so we came straight to church instead of waiting at the house.”

  Hannah glanced down at Madison. “Well, well, aren’t you the young lady? I’m guessing your cousin did your makeup.” Hannah winked at Emily, then waggled her fingers at Charlotte. “I’ll be by tomorrow. We can catch up then.”