Page 29 of A Twist of Faith
Dee remindedherself Reese gave a perfectly legit excuse for cancelling their session. If a cancer patient spikes a fever, you get him to the doctor. Especially if the patient is your brother. Her response was less understandable. Sunday lunch with the entire Mitchell family? How did Sunday lunch wind up on her list alongside therapy?
Friday’s Calvin and Hobbes’ quote had been about surprises. Something about there being so many of them, but never when you needed them. Surprises rarely boded well for her. They never fit on a list. Unfortunately, her move to Ransom started an avalanche of surprises piling in a heap of accents, cow fields, and mountain people. Meeting a handful for lunch in their home sent her nerves on end. The few family dinners she remembered passed in strained silence or ended in a screaming match between her parents.
But Reese and Rainey Mitchell already upturned most of her assumptions, so perhaps anothergoodsurprise, right after Rainey’s unexpected forgiveness, was worth having. Dee’s chiseled experience told her to keep her hopes bound tight—and her expectations low.
At least Reese didn’t press the issue of going to church. It would take more than a forgiveness chat and some bonding over laughter to see her inside the walls of a church again. She left God a long time ago when God never answered her prayers and Granny Roseland died. How could He care about her and let her childhood fall into such massive shambles? But even as she delved into an internal argument, Rainey’s words, her actions, hinted at doubt. Something seemed uncomfortably inviting about the God of whom she spoke.
A small cabin at the top of the hill came into view, snuggled between a wealth of aged pine trees and an endless sky. The porch stretched the length of the house, with potted plants dangling a welcome sway in the breeze. A simple rock path lead to the front door, lined by a few yellow mums and fire-red shrubs. The house resembled something from a family Christmas movie with every imagination of Mrs. Mitchell fitting to idyllic proportions as hostess extraordinaire.
As soon as Dee stepped from the car, Mustard bounded forward pursued by the other dog she’d seen in Reese’s truck, and then Lou followed with a small blond-headed girl trailing at her heels. The mismatched welcoming party doused a little of her nervousness with a soft touch of sweetness—unfamiliar and welcome sweetness. Dee recognized the other cherub face from Rainey’s desk pictures. Sarah, was it?
“Hey, Ms. Doc. Granny said you’d be comin’ today.” Lou placed her hands on the hips of her jean jumper dress and offered a snaggled-tooth grin. “She’s makin’ her famous chicken casserole.” Lou licked her lips. “Ain’t much better than chicken casserole, unless it’s chocolate chip brownies.”
Dee’s mouth started to water. “Sounds fantastic.”
“Did you notice I lost my top two teeth?”
Dee barely controlled a laugh as the little girl’s grin stretched to comic proportions to show off the gaping hole where her teeth belonged. “I see that.”
“That means I can stick my tongue clean through the hole. Watch.”
She proceeded to demonstrate, and Dee knelt down to get a better look. If all children proved as delightful as Lou Mitchell, maybe working with kids wouldn’t be so hard. Lou didn’t seem to mind Dee’s discomfort one bit.
“That’s impressive. Are you ready for something funny?”
Lou’s eyes brightened and Dee wanted to reach out and hug her for making the conversation so easy.
“What?”
“Try to say the special soundth.”
Lou attempted it, but with her top two teeth missing, her tongue filled the hole and produced a whistle. Lou’s eyes grew wide and then she burst out in a giggle. “It tickles my skin.”
“I bet it feels funny.”
She tried it again. “I sound like an old whistlin’ grandpa.”
“A rather cute old whistlin’ grandpa, I’d say.”
The little girl at Lou’s side almost smiled too, but with one look at Dee, she pinched her lips closed and blinked through her round glasses. Sarah’s response felt familiar. More like Dee’s expectation of children.
“We got a whole crowd comin’ over.” Lou turned to the little girl. “Ain’t that right, Sarah?”
Sarah slid further behind Lou, but kept those curious sky blue eyes fixed on Dee.
“Sarah ain’t too friendly with strangers, but she’ll be alright.” Lou patted the little girl on the head. “Remember what I told you about Ms. Doc. She can play dolls real good.”
Dee cringed a bit from Lou’s grammar but a gentle smile to the shy little girl. Sarah’s lips didn’t even twitch, but her eyes grew wide. Who was she kidding? Dee’s mother’s voice whispered in her head. She wasn’t a kid-friendly person.
“Lou, would you show me the way inside?”
Lou’s little shoulders perked up, ready for action. “Well, of course. Granny’s been hankerin’ to lay eyes on you for two weeks.”
Lou skipped her way up the stone steps, through the front door, and into the warmth of baked bread and laughter. Dee’s stomach responded with a reflexive growl and tightening apprehension. A massive rock fireplace formed the centerpiece of both the kitchen and living rooms, but most people gathered in the far living room area. Laughter and the happy hum of conversations came from all directions, warm and inviting.
They certainly didn’t act like a group of wounded humans.
“Oh, bless me, you must be Dee.”
