Bittersweet (39 page)

“No!”

“Hey! You!” Galen shouted. By the time he reached Ivy, the other man was gone.

Ivy slumped forward in relief. Shivers of reaction left her feeling weak. In his day, Pa had hooked up with more than his share of shady characters, but that man made all the others seem mild.

He had the meanest eyes she’d ever seen. Ivy knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’d keep his vow to return.

Galen grabbed her shoulders. “Is he the one? He’s the father?”

She shook her head. She needed Galen’s strength and protection. Instead, he was hurling accusations at her.

“Give me his name.”

Ivy tried to wiggle free from his grasp, but she didn’t succeed.

“Dunno. Johnson. Smith. Take yore pick.”

“This has gone on far too long. Who is your lover?” His eyes narrowed, and he let loose of her shoulders only to grab for the paper in her hands.

Ivy tried to keep it out of his reach.

“Did he sign his love note?” Galen’s tone shook with rage.

He finally managed to get his hand on the page, but she still didn’t let go. As a result, the page tore.

“Now look what you went and did.” She stared in dismay at the jagged remnant in her hand.

Galen looked at the page, disbelief making his jaw go slack.

Ivy took the larger part of the paper from him and put the pieces back together as best she could, then painstakingly folded them along the same lines. Tucking the page into her apron pocket, she wanted to howl at how he’d ruined something so precious and important.

“Stop messing with that and give me his name.”

“I already tole you,” she snapped. “His name was Johnson. Or Smith. Or whate’er other notion he took a mind to call hisself.

He brung corn, and Pa give him some of the likker.”

“I’ll find out who he is. He said he’d be back, and when he is, I’ll annul our so-called marriage and send you packing with him.”

Ivy shouted at him, “He ain’t interested in me. He wants nuthin’ but corn likker!”

“I don’t want you, either!” Galen bellowed back at her. “Nothing’s going to change that.”

His words hurt, but Ivy refused to tell him so. “You got me anyhow.” She sat so straight, her back nearly snapped. “Ain’t nuthin’ a-gonna change that, neither.”

“‘Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his co-mm-and-ments,”’ Dale said, sounding out the long words, “‘commandments and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.”’ He looked up from the Bible and smiled proudly.

“You did a fine job,” Ma praised him.

Galen had been reading ahead in the Bible, and on occasions when he knew one of his little brothers could manage the words, he’d ask them to read aloud to the family. “Aye, our Dale. I’m thinkin’ if Da were here, he’d be thrilled to know you were studying God’s Word.”

“One of these days, sis, yore a-gonna be reading that good.” Ishmael took another loud slurp of coffee. “Shore ’nuff, you are.”

“I was practicin’ my letters today.” Ivy’s hand slid down to stroke the pocket of her apron.

Ha. That’s quite an excuse,
Galen thought.
Is there no end to the lies
that woman tells? She isn’t dressed like a scarecrow anymore, and her hair isn’t
a rat’s nest, but all she has to do is open her mouth and suspicions swamp me.
Once a liar, always a liar
.

“That passage talked about the commandments. I know all ten of the commandments,” Sean declared and then proceeded to list them.

Colin clapped little Sean on the back. “That was real good, but what about the eleventh commandment?”

“There are ten, not eleven!”

Colin took the Bible from Dale. He turned the pages and pointed. “Here in John thirteen. Read these two verses.”

“‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”’

“How’dya like that? Thar really are ’leven of them commandments.” Ishmael set down his mug.

Ma reached over and tucked a pin back into the braid Ivy now wore wrapped around her head. “If you think about it, the new commandment actually covers the others. If we love the Lord and serve Him with all of our heart, His love will flow from us to everyone else.”

Ivy twisted and clasped Ma’s hands in hers. “I don’t put much store in thar bein’ a God like you do. Ma, you’re like them words Sean jist read. Like that Samaritan feller, too. The love you got in yore heart’s always comin’ out of yore hands or yore mouth.”

“That’s one of the sweetest things anyone’s ever said to me.”

Galen stared at them.
Ivy called her Ma, and Ma didn’t even bat an
eye. When did that start?

“If ’n ever’body who said he was a Christian was as big-hearted as you and Laney and Ruth and even that ’Manda gal, I reckon nobody could build churches big ’nuff to hold all the folks thunderin’ in through the doors.”

Dale tugged on Ishmael’s sleeve. “I asked Jesus in my heart when I was a little boy. It’s really easy. You could do it, too.”

The room went still. Ishmael rested his hand on Dale’s narrow shoulder. “Some thangs you decide with yore head, and some thangs you decide with yore heart. Decidin’ whether to foller God—well, I reckon that’s a dreadful important choice. Till I’m shore in my head and my heart, I ain’t gonna do nuthin’.”

Dale scooted closer and gave Ishmael a hug. “If you change your mind, you can let me know. Da showed me how to pray so I could give my heart to Jesus. I can show you.”

“That’s a fine offer. I’ll tuck it into the corner of my mind.”

Dale burst into giggles. “You can’t have a corner in your mind. Your head is round, not square!”

“Hey, did all y’all hear that? Dale here says I’m not a blockhead.”

Ma laughed. “Tomorrow’s a school day. You boys need to be in bed.” After she said a prayer, Sean and Dale went to bed. Colin sat at the table to finish reading something for school. As Galen followed Ishmael out the door, he heard Ma ask, “Ivy, would you like to recite your letters for me now?”

Hours later a lantern glowed in the corner of the stable. Galen sat with his back against the post on which it hung and stared at the thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. The fourth verse that Dale had read earlier in the evening kept nagging at him.
Ye shall
walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and
obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him
.

When a passage wore on his nerves, Galen knew there had to be a reason. He took it step by step.
I’m walking. I’m fearing. I’ve kept
the com—
He halted. The truth glared back at him. He’d been following the letter of the law, but not the spirit of love that Christ commanded. He’d fostered resentment in his heart. The admission hurt. As if that wasn’t enough conviction, the next phrase hit every bit as hard.

Obey his voice
. “Lord, I’ve been so busy telling you what I want and need, I haven’t listened. I don’t know what your will has been.”

Ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him
. Galen’s guts twisted. As a man of God, he was called to obedience. “But with Ivy? I treated her with kindness in your name, Lord, and that’s what got me into this mess. If I go easy on her, I’ll never find out who the father is, and I’ll be stuck with her forever.”

He wrestled with God through the night. As the lantern flickered a few last times, Ishmael opened the door and squinted out at him. “You okay, Boss?”

Galen slowly rose to his feet. “Call me Galen, Ishmael. We’re brothers.”

Laney had to pause for a moment before making her way down the aisle in the sanctuary. It seemed awfully dim in the building compared with the bright March sun outside.

“After you, Miss Laney.” Eddie Lufe swept his arm in a gallant motion.

Laney flickered what she hoped passed for a civil smile and subtly compressed her hoops so she’d fit between the pews. Ruth had somehow managed to orchestrate things so Laney wasn’t sitting with her, Josh, Amanda, and Hilda. Well, to be fair, maybe it wasn’t Ruth’s fault. Maybe it was Hilda’s. Toledo was sitting next to their housekeeper.
I don’t know how they did this to me, but I’ll find
out so it doesn’t happen again
.

Eddie dropped down next to her, and the whole pew shuddered from his hulking frame. Laney felt a small flare of gratitude that she’d worn her widest hoops. They forced him to sit more than a yard away.

Josh turned around. “Laney, be sure to invite Eddie to supper today. I’ve already asked Toledo.”

She gave her brother a chilly look and whispered back, “It’s not polite to talk in church.”

Hilda announced over her shoulder, “I’m serving ham.”

“And apple pie,” Ruth tacked on.

They’re all in this together
.

Eddie chuckled. “You can be sure I’ll be there. It couldn’t get any better than this.”

It couldn’t get any worse
.

Ivy leaned across the aisle. “Us O’Sullivans’re a-comin’, too.

I’m bringin’ sauerkraut!”

It got worse. I didn’t think it possible, but it did
. Since the day Hilda learned everyone in the household hated sauerkraut, the dreadful dish hadn’t been served.

Pastor Dawes stepped to the pulpit and gave a greeting, then instructed, “Please stand with me and sing, ‘Come, Ye Disconsolate.”’

Much to her relief, Eddie picked up
The Sacred Melodeon
. Laney reached to take one, as well, but to her astonishment, there wasn’t another where it belonged. Eddie pressed the hymnal into her hands. “You use this, Miss Laney. I know the words.” The pianist played a few introductory notes.

Eddie’s voice was every bit as robust as his build. He started right in. “Come, ye disconsolate, whatever the language.”

Laney stared at the page and wondered at how he’d twisted “where’er ye languish” into his version of the lyrics.

Oblivious to the literary license he took, he continued on, “Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel. Here bring your wounded hearts, here talk in English… .”

Here talk in English? It’s supposed to be “here tell your anguish.” But
two lines ago, he’d changed
languish
to
language.
Oh, I’m in terrible trouble.
Eddie Lufe’s singing is starting to make sense to me!

As soon as they got home, Hilda ordered, “Laney, go put another place setting on the table for Eddie.”

Ivy leaned toward Laney. “Thangs’re all backward here. Cain’t make no sense of ’em.”

“You’re not the only one,” Laney said in a wry tone.

Amanda tied on an apron. “What’s backward?”

“All them years I thunk the servants done what the master said. Hilda bosses ever’body round.”

“Hilda, did you hear that?” Laney raised her brows.

“Elaine Louise, go put that on the table. Supper’s going to be ready and Eddie won’t have a place to sit!”

“What about Toledo?”

“Ruth saw to that this morning.”

Eddie sat beside Laney. Watching all of the other men seat a lady, Ishmael stepped over and handled Amanda’s chair. More astonishing, though, was that Toledo seated Hilda. And if that weren’t enough, Galen seated Ivy. By the time Josh finished the prayer and they started passing around the bowls and platters, Laney felt confident no one could see how off balance she felt.

“It’s nice to see a lady who appreciates good food,” Eddie commented, smiling at her.

Laney smiled back—just to be polite.

Ruth and Hilda both started cackling like geese. Laney promised herself that as soon as their company left, she’d give them an earful for landing her in this mess. She accepted the ham platter from Colin and couldn’t figure out why he was looking at her so strangely. She took a small, ladylike slice of ham. The serving fork hovered over her plate as she stared at the food beneath it in horror. While musing about the uncomfortable situation, she’d taken not one, but two heaping spoonfuls of sauerkraut!

“Oh, mercy.” Once the words slipped out, Laney scrambled to say something so Ivy’s feelings wouldn’t be hurt. “I’m in a dither today. Look what I did. I can’t possibly eat even a quarter of this. I’m going to break just about every rule of etiquette I’ve ever learned and give this to Mr. Lufe because I know he’ll enjoy it.”