Page 53 of The Preacher's Bride

“Now, now,” Mia said as she rubbed the little girl’s back. “I’m sure it can’t be that bad.” Mia went into the closet, and lying on the floor was the headless body of a ragdoll and, near it, the head. She picked it up and tried to hold the head on so that it wouldn’t scare Hailey any more than necessary.

But when Hailey saw it, she screamed and a fresh wave of tears washed over her face.

“Hailey….” Mia hid the doll behind her back. “I can fix it. I promise.”

“R-real… really?” Hailey’s eyebrows raised almost into her hairline.

Mia smiled. “Yes, really.” Then, she knelt on the floor in front of her. “I’m a very good seamstress, remember?” Mia rubbed her back in soothing circles. “I can fix it. I promise.”

Hailey reached out to her, and Mia scooped her up into her arms and carried her out to the living room. She set in the rocking chair and hid the doll under a doily on the side table. Mia started rocking her back and forth, and she was almost asleep when Shane walked in and headed toward the bedroom.

“Shane?”

He stopped, looking at her sheepishly.

“Shane, come here for a minute,” she said, and he stepped closer. “Did you rip Dolly’s head off?”

He didn’t say anything at first, looking only at his feet. Hailey sat up and watched. Shane glanced over at Hailey and then at Mia. “Yes, I did.”

Mia let out a deep breath. “Shane, you owe Hailey an apology.”

He nodded as he bit his lower lip, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, Hailey.” Hailey scooted down, scampered across the room toward her brother, and gave him a hug.

“Shane, I’m proud of you for telling the truth,” Mia said. “But you know not to do it again, right?”

Shane nodded. “You really are… proud of me?”

Mia nodded, a smile lighting her lips. “Yes, for telling the truth. But promise me that you won’t rip off your sister’s doll’s head anymore. Okay?”

He nodded. “I promise.”

“Okay.” Mia pulled Hailey back into her lap on the rocking chair and started rocking. She glanced over at Shane, who was standing in the middle of the floor, watching. “Would you like to rock with us?”

A broad smile spread across his face as he climbed onto her lap. Within minutes, they were both asleep.

It felt great to be a part of a family again. Mia had been alone for so long that she almost forgot what it was like. The time that she and Ella were roommates had been the closest that she had come to having a family as an adult. Now, her family with Caleb was the real thing… if only he could come to accept her.

As she rocked the children, she was glad that at least they had accepted her. But she knew it wasn’t going to be so easy for Caleb. Would he be able to forget that she had once been a dancehall girl? Deep down, she realized that he already had, and that he understood. But could he get over losing his wife? Would there ever come a time when he would think of her as his wife instead? Would he ever come to love her?

She knew that she couldn’t live without love, and that it couldn’t be all one sided. She couldn’t live with a man who couldn’t love her. A man incapable of love. But, then again, when she saw him with his children, she knew that hewascapable, because he already knew how to love. But she could see that when he loved, he gave his whole heart, just as he had given his whole heart to his children and Jessica.

Mia laughed without humor as tears came to her eyes. Who was she kidding? Jessica was his wife, and she always would be. Mia feared that she would be living in her shadow for as long as she lived in this house, with this family, and she couldn’t live like that. But could Caleb open his heart to let her in?

Chapter 12

Caleb

As streaks of orange, pink, and red marbled the evening sky, creating a beautiful ending to a beautiful day, Caleb wondered why Mia hadn’t called him in for dinner. He had been so busy with the farm, shoveling stalls and trying his best to get caught up, that he had lost track of time. But the sky never let him forget. Even if he lost track of time, God always told him when it was quitting time.

Exhausted, he summoned his strength and split some wood for the night and made a mental note to split enough for the week the next day. With winters in Wyoming, you couldn’t let the wood box grow empty. If you did, you could freeze to death in a short period of time.

After he gathered the wood, he carried it into the house, wondering why it was dark. He looked around, and then saw Mia asleep in the rocking chair with his two children. Still holding the wood, he watched them sleep as something stirred inside of him. Being careful not to wake them, he quietly put the wood in the wood box, put some wood on the fire, and then went into the bedroom to wash up.

When he was finished, he slid into a clean white shirt and jeans, but didn’t put his boots back on, feeling more comfortable with his feet bare.

Refreshed, he lit candles throughout the house, in the living room, kitchen, and two long tapered candles in long stemmed candle holders sitting on the kitchen table. Then, he walked into the kitchen to see what he could make for dinner, knowing that Mia had fallen asleep. But he was pleasantly surprised when he found the fried chicken sitting on the counter under the dishtowel, and mashed potatoes were on the stove, kept warm by the fire of the pilot light, along with fresh bread. Caleb went down into the root cellar for a jar of canned tomatoes, and made some stewed tomatoes, with bits of Mia’s fresh bread stirred in. Then, he set the table with four place settings. Last, he put bath water on to boil.

Careful not to wake Mia, he took Shane and Hailey from her one at a time.

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