Page 19 of Safe With You

The boy stuck his hand out, and Katie shook it. “Nice to meet you, Marshall.”

Attention then shifted to the middle girl. Long, unruly curls fell around her shoulders, and adventure sparked in her eyes. Judging by her sporty tee shirt and jeans that had a rip in one knee, she was the tomboy of the family.

“This is Charlotte.”

She thrust her hand out enthusiastically. “You can call me Charlie.”

Joel sighed, exchanging an exasperated look with Naomi, who simply smiled. “We said when she was born no nicknames. You can see how well that turned out.”

Katie laughed and shook Charlie’s hand. Definitely a tomboy.

Finally, they reached the youngest girl. A riot of freckles dotted her cheeks. Though she wore a pair of cute denim overalls, embroidered flowers adorned the material. The bright pink shirt underneath gave a more girly impression than Charlie’s outfit.

“And this is Emma.”

“Hi!” she exclaimed, sticking out her arm.

Katie grinned, taking her hand, which was a little sticky. “Hello!”

“Can we go play now?” Marshall asked.

Joel sent Katie a quick look of apology over his son’s impatience and nodded. “Yes, we’ll call you when the food is ready.”

With a hoot, the kids scrambled off to the living room. Only Charlie lingered behind long enough to take her little cousin by the hand. “Come on, Harper, let’s go play.”

While the kids played, the adults visited in the kitchen and around the table until dinner. They bumped and squeezed past each other to find seats once it was ready—the kids seated at a smaller table Ethan and Joel had set up. Katie loved every moment of it. She’d craved these big family dinners growing up. Even now, she would have happily made this a weekly event. She regularly had Sunday dinner with Drew and his parents, but it was never like this. They had always been very kind to her and welcomed her with open arms despite her coming from a significantly lower class bracket, but she couldn’t say she’d ever fit in. Not like here, where arms crisscrossed and elbows bumped as food passed around, and everyone laughed and talked and enjoyed each other’s company.

Once the delicious meal concluded, everyone pitched in with clean up before filtering into the living room. Charlie caught Katie’s eye, sitting at the old upright piano that had belonged to Ethan’s great-grandmother. She slowly pressed different keys with one finger. Smiling, Katie walked over and sat on the bench beside her.

“Can you play?”

Charlie shrugged. “A little. Nana is teaching me.”

“You know, she taught me to play when I was little.”

Charlie’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Katie nodded and sensed someone behind them. She looked up to find Ethan.

“I’d love to hear you play again. You were always really good at it.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t have a piano, so I’m out of practice.” She’d played a couple of times on a piano at the nursing home when she’d first started visiting Grandma, but the old thing was so out of tune she hadn’t continued. Though the nursing home director always promised to get it fixed, it had never happened in the four years Grandma lived there.

“What about if Ethan plays with you?”

Katie’s attention shifted to Becca, who handed him what Katie recognized as his dad’s guitar. Tom had been trying to teach him when Katie had left, but he had put little effort into it.

Her gaze shifted back up to him. “You finally learned to play that thing?”

“I did.”

Katie didn’t have a good excuse not to play now. “I suppose we can try it.”

Charlie hopped off the bench, and Katie resituated herself. Ethan pulled a stool around to sit behind her, where he could see the music, just as his dad had always done when he and Evelyn played together. It had always been Katie’s hope to play with Ethan back then.

She flipped through the book of hymns Evelyn had sitting on the piano until she found an old favorite.

“How about this one?” She pointed to The Power of the Cross.

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