House Divided (9 page)

I kissed her cheek and said goodbye. “I’ll
be back after church to make sure that procedure’s been scheduled.”

She slyly grinned in return.

On the drive back to Kaysville, I tried to
make sense of Aunt Lu’s request and her behavior. Why did she want me to stay
in town and, most importantly, why wasn’t she upset that Brady Jackson was
pursuing me again? Maybe she really was losing her mind. I hated to think that
way, but clearly she wasn’t thinking right.

I pulled into the church parking lot. It
was packed, as usual. It looked the same way it had nine and half years ago,
except the cars in the lot were a different style. I always thought it was such
a pretty little church, all white, with a white picket fence around it. I loved
it in the spring and summer when all the trees surrounding it were in bloom and
flowers lined the perimeter. Once upon a time, I had imagined Brady and me
getting married there in the summer. Brady said he wanted to get married right
out of high school, but we knew that would only make our parents more upset, so
we had planned for right after college. Ugh! I needed to quit thinking about
that man. It was bad enough I would be seeing him there and that I had agreed
to spend my holiday season in Kaysville.

I was nervous about walking in. I felt
like I was opening a can of worms, coming back to this place. I wished Aunt Lu
was at least with me. I kept repeating to myself,
I’m an Eaton, I’m a
successful author, I only have to endure this for a month, and oh yeah, I have
more money than the Queen of England
. Not that the last one mattered to me,
but hey, I needed every plus I could get.

Church was just about to start, so I snuck
into the back, on the right side of course, but it was like everyone knew I was
going to be there. As soon as I walked through the chapel doors, several heads
from both sides turned my way. The right side was definitely the friendliest,
so I focused on them; that was until I heard my named being called by my
favorite five-year-old. I turned to see Miss Caroline waving frantically at me
and calling, “Miss Ellie!”

I smiled and waved back. I saw her momma
kindly telling her to hush and sit down, but that’s when I saw the whole
Kaysville Jackson clan: Brady, his parents, and of course Benjamin and his
family. Brady smiled and winked. Even Benjamin and his wife smiled at me, but
Brady’s parents’ looks could have frozen water. Their icy glares were not
unexpected, but I was hoping to have avoided them. I remembered my aunt’s
empowering words, and I held my head high and smiled. I found a seat in the
back pew, sat down and took a deep breath. A few people, including an old Sunday
School teacher, smiled kindly at me.

The pastor quickly came down and
introduced himself. “Ms. Eaton, we’ve all heard about your aunt. How is she?”

I thought about her and smiled to myself.
Yes she was sick, but she was as feisty as ever. “She’s doing as well as can be
expected. She’s scheduled to have angioplasty tomorrow.” At least she better
be. “Her doctor expects her to make a full recovery.”

He patted my arm. “This is excellent news.
Please let us know if we can do anything.” He then excused himself and made his
way back to the black walnut pulpit.

Just as the pastor began, Caroline
surprised me by coming over. “My mommy says I can sit with you, if it is ok. I
didn’t want you to be by yourself,” she whispered. 

It was unheard of for a Jackson to sit on
this side. I looked over to her parents, and they both smiled. I almost started
to cry. “Of course you can, sugar.”

She sidled right up next to me. I put my
arm around her and gave her a squeeze. I noticed her grandma didn’t look happy
about it, but I didn’t care. Brady kept looking back and smiling at me. He was
a fool. I did my best to ignore him. I turned my attention to the pastor. He
mentioned my aunt and asked that we all keep her in our prayers. He publically
announced she was having surgery tomorrow. I cringed a little. I doubt she
wanted that to be public knowledge. The only benefit to it was that I probably
wouldn’t need to worry about feeding myself. If I still knew this town, I would
have fifteen casseroles delivered to the house by tomorrow.

The sermon was good, but it would have
been better if I didn’t feel like I was in a display case. I can’t imagine why
I was so interesting to people. The stares came from both sides of the church.
I mean sure, a long time ago I broke the rules in a very public way. Once Brady
and I came out, we were pretty blatant that we were a couple, and yes, I
ruffled some feathers with my prom coup, but hey I was a good kid. I never
broke the law, and I was the valedictorian for goodness’ sake, and I’ve gone on
to make something out of myself.

Caroline was a little fidgety during the
sermon, but I didn’t blame her. I was tempted to whisk her away and go play on the
playground behind the church, but that would have for sure cemented me as a
rule breaker, and it would have further sullied my reputation with the Jacksons. Not like I really cared what they thought of me anymore, I wasn’t dating their
son. But I did look down at Caroline and contemplate. Here she was, a Jackson sitting with an Eaton on the “Eaton” side. The phrase, “And a little child shall
lead them,” came to mind. It gave me some hope that maybe things wouldn’t
always be so divided in this town. Maybe the next generation would do it
better. I remember all the grand plans Brady and I had made to change
Kaysville, but that’s all they would ever be, plans.

During the closing hymn, Caroline sang
loud and proud. I think she was just happy to have something to do. I couldn’t
help but smile at her and wish I had one of my own. After the closing prayer, I
hugged her tight. “Thanks for sitting with me, sugar. You better scoot off to Sunday
School now.” I watched her as she skipped off to her parents.

Oddly, I had a line of people waiting to
talk to me. I was embarrassed to say, I didn’t remember most of their names,
but they were all kind to me and asked if there was anything they could do for
my aunt and me. I told them we were all set. After all, we had Doris,
and honestly, I didn’t require much. I was more than surprised by David
Mayfield. Him, I remembered. He was one of Brady’s friends, and he was one of
the first ones to accept me into their group when Brady and I became public. He
was even nice to me when Brady broke up with me.

“Wow, Ellie Eaton, you look terrific!”

I smiled. “Thank you. It’s just Elle now.”

He looked pretty darn good too. He was
around six foot, with dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, and olive-colored skin.

“Well, Elle, we haven’t seen you around
here in ages. I guess now that you’re a famous author you’re too good for us.”
He winked.

“Oh, Dave, you know I always thought that,”
I teased.

He laughed loudly. “So, does Brady know
you’re back in town?”

Before I could answer, someone else did.
Brady came up from behind him, staring directly at me. He slapped Dave on the
back. “Of course I knew. We’ve already been out twice.”

I glared at him and then smiled at Dave.

Dave looked between the two of us. “So
you’re back together again?”

“No!” I said quickly

“We’re working on it,” Brady said at the
same time.

“No we’re not,” I refuted.

Dave looked confused. Brady looked like he
was enjoying himself. Well, he was going to
love
this then.

“Dave, would you mind escorting me to Sunday
School?”

Dave looked surprised, but pleased. He
held out his arm to me like a fine southern gentleman. I happily took it and
smirked at Brady. He just gave me that country boy smile and followed us to Sunday
School.

“So, Elle, how long will you be in town?”
Dave asked as we walked down the hall.

Is it bad to lie in church? I didn’t
really want people to know my newly changed plans. “That’s a good question,” I
said.

That definitely caught Brady’s attention.
Both men looked at me expecting me to elaborate, but I didn’t. I just smiled
closed lipped.

“So, Dave what are you still doing around
here?”

“I work at the arsenal as an electrical
engineer.”

“That’s quite a commute every day.”

“It beats living in the city.”

I didn’t know that I would call Huntsville “the city,” but for a country boy, I guess it would seem like it.

I ended up sitting in between Brady and
Dave with all of the other Roll Tide fans. Like I needed more attention. Sunday
School wasn’t quite as split up as the chapel was. The seating arrangement
wouldn’t allow for it. We sat behind Brady’s brother and wife; it looked like
the elder Jacksons went home, thank goodness. Kendra Jackson turned around, and
now that I was up closer to her, she surprised me. She wasn’t what I would
expect from a beauty queen. Don’t get me wrong, she was cute, cute as a button
even, but definitely not a bombshell like Benjamin had been married to before. Her
strawberry-blonde hair was cut into a short pixie hairstyle, and she had pretty
green eyes, just like Caroline. She didn’t look too much older than me,
definitely much younger than Benjamin.

“Hi, I’m Kendra Jackson, Caroline’s mom.”

“It’s so nice to meet you,” I said.

Benjamin turned around now too. I had
never really met him. I was the enemy, and he had been called in to convince
Brady to break up with me. I was sure he’d been there that Christmas when it
happened. Maybe that’s why he seemed nervous when he turned around.

I was surprised when he held out his hand.
“Ellie, I’m Benjamin, I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced. It’s
very nice to meet you.”

I looked at Brady. I don’t know why, maybe
because I thought this was a joke or Brady put him up to it, but Brady just
smiled sincerely as if to say it was ok.

I looked back at Benjamin, and he, too,
seemed sincere. I felt like all eyes were on us. I took his hand cautiously.
“It’s nice to meet you too.”

He seemed relieved. How odd.

Brady leaned in close to me. “I told you
things have changed,” he whispered.

I shouldn’t have, but I leaned into him
too. “I saw the way your parents looked at me this morning. I don’t think
things have changed too much.”

Before I could sit up straight, Brady
turned and we were face to face. Whoa, did he look good. I quickly moved upright.
He tugged on my hair and smiled that smile I used to love so much. Thankfully,
the class started before I did something I would regret. Brady smelled, looked,
and acted too good for my own good.

When the class was over, I received a
dinner invitation from Kendra. I hesitated. I didn’t want to be rude, but
having dinner with the Jackson family, especially if that included any of their
extended family, probably wasn’t the best idea. She must have sensed my
hesitation and the reason why.

“It would just be you,” she said kindly.

“Um … ok.”

She smiled sweetly, and even Benjamin
smiled warmly. Brady acted offended that he wasn’t extended an invitation. Dave
feigned disappointment as well. Kendra just gave them both the “look,” and boy
was she good at the “look.” I had the feeling she was a woman to be reckoned
with. She was a tiny little thing, but I bet she packed a punch.

“We’ll see you at six,” Kendra said as she
handed me a piece of paper with their address on it.

Brady and Dave both offered to escort me
to my car. I didn’t really answer, but they both followed me out.

Dave walked close to me. A little too
close. “So, you know I wanted to ask you to prom, but bonehead over there told
me he would kill me if I did.”

Why would he say that? And, who still used
words like bonehead?

I looked at Brady after that little
revelation. “Oh really, and why was that Brady Jackson?”

Brady just winked at me.

“I voted for you for prom queen,” Dave
threw in.

Weird.

“How nice, but that was a long time ago.”

“It wasn’t that long ago,” both men said
in unison.

This was so bizarre for me. Thankfully we
made it to my car quickly.

“Sweet ride,” Dave said as he ogled the
gift I’d recently given myself.

“Thanks.”

Brady didn’t seem interested in my car at
all, which wasn’t surprising. Trucks were his thing. He ignored Dave, and my
car, and walked right up to me, tugged on my hair and kissed my cheek.

I instinctively reached up and touched my
cheek. It felt warm.

He smiled at my response. “By the way, I
voted for you for prom queen too. I’ll see you later, Ellie,” he said quietly.

I was so taken aback, I didn’t respond.

Dave looked at his retreating friend and
then back to me. “Are you sure you’re not together?”

I knew I was blushing, but I dropped my
hand from my cheek. “Yes, I’m sure. It was nice to see you again, Dave.”

“It sure was, Elle.”