Fallen Angels (34 page)
“We'll have plenty of food for dinner. You may as well join the children here tonight.”
When her eyes—the eyes that once fed him admiration—failed to welcome mm along with her invitation, he said, “No need to fix a thing for me. I'll grab supper at the diner. Charlie and me need to catch up on things and—I wouldn't trouble you anyway.”
“Always have more food than we need here.” She stared out the window, her arms folded against her chest. “Bring Charlie if you want.”
“I've been enough of a bother.”
Fern sighed inwardly She walked away from the front window. Her stance, elbows forward, chest caved in, made her look as though all of the stuffing were let out of her.
“I'm glad I found you home, at least” He could, not look at her for a moment more without sensing the loathing he knew he saw when she looked at him. She was done with him. Jeb backed out of the door and closed it behind him. He walked down the path in streaming light and it felt warm upon his back, nothing like winter. He heard the screen door slam behind him. Afraid he might turn and find anyone but Fern watching him leave, he drew his sights on Charlie. The engine sparked. Charlie made a victory fist when he got the old truck humming again.
That is when Jeb heard the deep voice, womanly and assured, the one he'd imagined before falling asleep on the hard jailhouse bed. The voice that sounded like the gulf winds blowing winter from the field.
“I'll see you then, maybe later,” said Fem. She-waited on the path just beyond the porch, her shoulders wrapped in a white afghan.
Jeb could not run toward her as much as his mind whipped him to do so. He could only open his mouth as though he tried to fill it with more words. He lacked too many of them in her presence, the good ones anyway.
She brought heir hand to her mouth. With one finger she trapped tear before it fell.
Philemon Gracie had set up more chairs around the front porch, a newly painted collection of ladder back chairs rescued from the ehurch storage shed. He was on his knees transplanting cedars from the woods to the front of the parsonage lawn. “So you want to be a minister, Mr. Nubey? What makes you dunk you can manage the study load and care for three children?”
Jeb took the shovel and tossed dirt into the hole around the cedar roots. “How do you manage, Reverend?”
“Not well, and I'm not earning a ministerial degree.
“You've not experienced the kind of pastorate that has you up all night studying only to rise before sunup to help a widow mend a fence. Or if the eaves of the church give way and no one else can help you fix it because the corn's come in—and even with your help, there's no money to do it. Or how tired you get when over several days you sit up with a distraught husband while his wife of thirty years takes her last breath. These things you should know. But if you're of a mind to do it, I can contact my old professors and have the work sent to you. If I speak up as your mentor, the accountable partner for your education, you might complete the courses by night But that creates work for me.” A thin smile hinted that Jeb's calling might be an interesting venture. “A challenge for us both.” He poured dirt into the hole around the root “I'd have to know my work was for something/”
“I'll not quit on you, if that's your worry,” said Jeb. He helped tamp down dirt.
“Jeb, as I've said, you've a tough road ahead. There is no pay in being an apprentice. Little pay after.”
“It's a different kind of rich. I'm aware, Reverend Gracie,” said Jeb.
“It's been interesting to see your climb from the pit, Mr. Nubey. You'd be wise not to ascend this journey by yourself.”
“I'd never make it without you.”
“Not me. I speak of Fern Coulter. The ministry can be a lonely life. I am thankful for the fruit of a family. My Ellen got me through many a worrisome night.”
“Fern has not consented to join me. Her forgiveness could come at any time or not at all. But my decision's not based on Fern's belief in me.”
“I agree. God's approval is all you need for now. I do believe that is her automobile pulling around the church, though, Jeb,” said Gracie.
Fern parked beyond the new stand of cedars. When she climbed out of the vehicle, her arms were loaded with books. “I’ ve had these up in my attic, Reverend Gracie. I heard you were tutoring and thought you might use the extra books.”
Even though he had been standing there all along, she suddenly seemed to notice Jeb, as though he'd come out of nowhere. “Hello, Jeb.”
“Word spreads fast in Nazareth,” said Gracie.
“If you don't want them now, I'll hold on to them,” she said.
“Jeb, you're the one that'll be needing these, I believe.” Gracie stepped away from Fern and dumped another shovelful of dirt around the root ball.
“Never had a library before. I'm grateful, Fern.” He took the load of books from her. “We're planting trees. Reverend Gracie bas an eye for landscape.”
“Changes thé whole look of the place,” said Fern.
“Miss Coulter, your taste in authors is impeccable.” Gracie stopped to take a look at the stack in Jeb's arms. “And I'm glad our apprentice here is such an eager student.”
Fern answered him, “I know Jeb will learn many things under your tutelage, Reverend.”
“He's introducing me to some of your local culture. We are going to visit an establishment called Fidel's for one of those chocolate malteds,” said Gracie. “Do join us unless you're busy.”
“We'd enjoy your company.” Jeb stuck the shovel into the soil.
“Local culture. Fidel's is a good place to start in Nazareth. If you want to find a good meeting place for the locals, do try Beulah's café.” Fern picked up a book jeb had dropped. She carried it to the porch and left it where she and Jeb bad once sat and read together.
“Reverend, you have to tell Fidel to give the ice cream an extra shot. He's a real chintz when it comes to the syrup.” She still had not said either way whether she would join them.
Gracie excused himself to Clean up.
“Your books mean a lot Fern,” said Jeb.
“I'm not a hard person. Not usually. Nothing wrong with a man trying to better himself.”
“There's a singing over in Hope next week. Thought maybe I'd take a drive up. If you'd tike to go, let me know. Invite Oz if you want.”
“I don't know.”
“Or just come with Gracie and me to Fidel's.”
“If I do, I can't stay long. Papers to grade and such.”
“Walk me over to the pump? I'm a mess,” said Jeb. He carried the stack of books back to the porch and set them next to the one she laid down and then walked to the pump beside the parsonage, not knowing whether or not she would follow. She did. He cleaned his hands and asked her a question about Pascal and was relieved when she answered.
Finally, Gracie came put dressed in a clean shirt and wearing a hat tike Jeb's. “I bought one when I saw yours, Jeb. Hope you don't mind. I like your tastes,” he said. He had brought his cane—the one he'd used to quiet the enraged church folk—and used it to get himself out to his automobile.
Jeb walked Fern out to Gracie's sedan.
After Grade had gotten inside, she waited for his door to close and then said, “Sometimes, I feel like I'm watching myself trying to get Fern to stop the attack and sound the retreat I don't know if I ever told you that, I get it from my father.”
Jeb decided not to agree or disagree. “Jeb, you've got along ways to climb. I know you know that, but you can do this if you learn to trust Nothing ever works well the fast way,” she said.
By the time that Gracie had started tile motor, Jeb had opened the door for her. Her hair brushed his cheek and it seemed she had deliberately drawn close to him, but then moved away like a boat that needed steadying. She climbed into the rear seat and offered the passenger seat up front to Jeb. He took it, respecting the distance she had set between them. He'd have some say-so about that in time. But this go around, Fern would get to know him as just Jeb.It unsettled him a mite.
He said, “The climb up is not so hard if I can see a smile every now and then coming down from the clouds.”
Fern smiled.
“Ah, just like that.”
The day was cloudless.
1. Are those like Jeb Nubey the norm in the ministry of are most ministers legitimate ministers who have studied and pursued a selfless life of service to others? How do you distinguish a charlatan from a legitimate minister? Do we tend to form our opinions from the study of religious leaders’ lives or to draw our conclusions from popular opinion?
2. Discuss Jeb's internal conflicts as he begins to understand the legitimacy that truly exists behind the pulpit. From where does he seem to draw this new wisdom?
3. American families facing starvation during the Great Depression were sometimes forced to send children away to live with a relative. However, in cases where no relative was available, children/youths were put out on the streets to fend for themselves. Do you think such a circumstance could ever exist again in America? Do you believe there are needy people in your community? How do you know?
4. By the time the long-awaited Reverend Gracie and his three children supposedly appeared in the form of Jeb and the outcast Welbys, the members of the Church in the Dell had been a long time without a man in the pulpit. Do you trunk their desperation for a minister to attend to their spiritual needs caused them to overlook his lack of skill and education? Have you ever known a church or other organization mat made a mistake in choosing leadership due to haste/desperate need? Do humans ever choose to be blind to the truth in order to satisfy immediate need?
5. Jeb has a deep-seated need for feeling like he is part of a family. He finds that Nazareth's feeling of community and their acceptance of him fill this need. Do you think that some people who have an unfulfilled need might masquerade as someone else just to find acceptance? Once you realize this about someone, do you withdraw from them or do you encourage them to let down their guard and be true to self? Could you forgive someone like Jeb?
6. Discuss Jeb's guilt over the attempted murder rap from which he is running. How did his reaction to the crime change over time?
7. Jeb's infatuation with Fern Coulter, while causing him to want to be a better Jeb, also becomes part of the impetus for his gnawing need to confess. When we humans recognize a need for change, we often fight that change because of a fear of exposure. Have you come to believe that confession is good for the soul, or do you struggle with hiding your flaws/mistakes from others? Is this good, bad, or does it matter?
8. Jeb stops Clovis from making a bad choice that would hive sent him to jail. Did Jeb help bird only to further his own masquerade as a preacher, or did Jeb care about this man? Why?
9. While the devastating national conditions and lack of records allowed the Welby children to pose as the Gracie children, that situation would be less likely to happen in our modern information age. Do modern advances keep people honest? Does a civilized and prosperous community guarantee a populace of good people?
10. Patricia Hickman seems to be saying that even a charlatan can find God. Do you believe that God is continually working to draw every person to him, even the ones we consider most wicked? Are you good enough to come to God? If for a moment we all agreed that no one is good enough to come to God, how are we made acceptable enough to come to God? In what state did Jeb finally come to God?
Patricia Hickman has written eleven novels, most recently
Sandpebbles, The Touch,
and
Katrina's Wings.
Her books have earned critical acclaim from both the secular and inspirational publishing world, including high reviews from
Affair de Coeur, Romantic Times
(Top Pick Gold Medal Rating),
Moody Magazine, Shine,
and the
West Coast Review of Books.
She is one of four authors selected to pioneer a line of high-quality women's fiction for the nationally popular Women of Faith women's conferences that are presented across the country. She has won two Silver Angel Awards.
Please visit
www.patriciahickman.com
for the latest updates or to email the author.
Look for
Nazareth's Song,
Book Two in the Millwood Hollow Series!
Don't miss…
NAZARETH'S SONG
Book Two in the Millwood Hollow Series
For Reverend Jeb Nubey, returning to Nazareth has meant the smell of freshly baked bread in the mornings and the reverie of church picnics by the lake. But that peaceful landscape is threatened when an ambitious banker starts buying up large plots of land and buildings in order to control the commerce and politics of the quaint town. Adding fuel to the fire is Winona, the banker's attractive daughter, who's been making pointedly generous donations to the Reverends humble Church in the Dell. Throw in a botched poultry deal and a stolen church bell, and all at once Reverend Jeb is up to his eyeballs in trouble.
Hailed by her peers as a new and lyrical voice of the South, award-winning author Patricia Hickman writes wise, tender stories that hold a special place in readers’ hearts. Now, in the first volume of The Millwood Hollow Series, she serenades us with a gritty, unforgettable saga of joy, faith, and hope set in Arkansas during the Great Depression, when starving souls and bodies made desperate folks…
FALLEN ANGELS
Jeb Nubey is on the run from the law, and three abandoned, hungry children are going to be his saving grace. When Jeb leads the Welby siblings into the town of Nazareth, they're all mistaken for the long-awaited Reverend Gracie and his children. Food! Shelter! As Jeb and the kids jump at the chance for a decent meal ticket, Angel, the eldest Welby must work fast to help shape this drifter—who can't read—into a Bible-spouting preacher, and keep the congregation believing in them. The fallen angels of Nazareth rise to the occasion with luck, pluck, and their own makeshift sense of justice—as a tale of love, hardship, and redemption unfolds … and a remarkable series about one of America's darkest periods is born.