When Grace Sings (25 page)

Steven frowned. “So you don’t have any need of me around here today at all?”

“Not one bit.” Mom had no idea how much her glib reply pierced him. “So go on and have fun. Enjoy your day.”

Steven drove to town under a cloud-filled sky that threatened rain. The gray color of the heavy clouds too closely matched his mood, and he sent up a quick prayer for God to brighten his spirits. He didn’t want to greet Anna—Grace with a somber face.

Anna—Grace

The doorbell rang, an intrusion against the cheerful melody of raindrops on the roof.

Sunny let out a squeal and dropped her crayon onto the coloring book. “I’ll get it!” She jumped up, bumping the table in her rapid movement.

The tea in Anna—Grace’s mug sloshed over the edge and spattered the papers she’d been grading. “Sunny, please be careful!” She reached for a napkin from the little basket in the center of the table. Sunny didn’t pause in her dash for the door. Shaking her head, Anna—Grace mopped up the mess. Miss Kroeker always said weather changes made the students fidgety. Sunny proved the teacher’s words true—she’d bounced from activity to activity this morning, and it wasn’t yet nine o’clock.

Anna—Grace carried the stained napkin to the little laundry room behind the kitchen and tossed it in with the load of towels already agitating in the washing machine.

“Sissy, Sissy, come see who is here!”

“Yes, Sunny, I’m coming.” She chuckled to herself at her sister’s shrill, excited voice—her parents had chosen well when they named this child, who found reasons for delight in nearly everything—and headed for the living room. She rounded the corner, then came to a startled halt when she saw who
waited just inside the door. Her frozen pose of surprise lasted only three seconds. Then her excitement rose, her feet took wing, and she dashed across the floor with her arms outstretched. “Steven!”

He captured her in a hug. His clothes and hair were damp, and he smelled of fresh rain and wet wool and spice from his aftershave. She buried her face in the curve of his neck, savoring the sweet essence of the man she loved. She would have stayed there much longer if her little sister’s giggles hadn’t reminded her they had a small witness to their embrace.

She stepped away, her face flaming, and locked her hands behind her back. “I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.”

“Dad has your cousin Theo doing my chores, so he said I could take the day off.”

Having him near again sent her pulse tripping at twice its normal rate, but she kept herself in check to set a good example in front of her impressionable jabberbox of a sister. She hoped his solemn countenance was pasted on for Sunny’s sake. She smiled twice as brightly to compensate for his grim expression. “So you’re free the whole day?”

He nodded.

Sunny pulled at Anna—Grace’s skirt. “Sissy, can Steven color with me?”

Finally Anna—Grace remembered her parents weren’t home. She slapped her hand to her cheek and groaned.

Sunny’s face fell. “Does that mean no?”

She tugged Sunny to her side and turned an apologetic look on Steven. “Dad’s at the stained-glass studio—he needed to finish a project for a customer in Wichita and said he’d probably be out until late this afternoon. Mom isn’t here right now, either. She went to do her weekly shopping. I don’t know when she’ll be back.”

Steven nodded. “I understand.”

She wanted to cry. “I’m so sorry.” An entire day with Steven after two weeks apart would be a wonderful treat. But unless they had a chaperone in the
house, he couldn’t stay. The fellowship would never approve, and she understood the wisdom of them not being alone. Only Sunny’s presence kept her from slipping her arms around his torso and holding tight.

“You don’t need to apologize.” Finally a hint of a smile showed on his face, but the timing was all wrong. He shouldn’t smile about leaving. “I should have called first instead of just coming over.”

“No, the surprise was perfect. I loved having you just pop in without notice.” She glanced at Sunny and chose her words carefully. “It was a romantic thing to do.”

He stuck his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a flat rectangular box. “I brought this, too.”

Sunny squealed and lunged. “Candy!” She hugged the box to her chest. Then she turned a sheepish look on Steven. “Oh. This is for Sissy, isn’t it?”

Steven’s lips curved into an impish grin. He went down on one knee and Sunny immediately crowded close to him. He slipped his arm loosely around her waist and whispered into her ear. “Shh, don’t tell Anna—Grace, but the chocolates are really for you. I think you’ll have to let me give the box to your sister, though, since she’s my sweetheart. Otherwise she might get jealous.”

Sunny nodded wisely, then stuck her mouth close to Steven’s ear. “Okay, but you’ll tell her to share with me, right?”

“Right.”

The rasping whispers carried plainly to Anna—Grace, and she bit the insides of her cheeks to stifle her giggles. Sunny plopped the box into Steven’s hand and stepped back, her round face wearing an expression of nonchalance. She swung her arms, swishing her hands against her skirt, and began to hum. Anna—Grace looked quickly away from her sister before the laughter building in her throat escaped, and she caught the tender way Steven watched Sunny. Her pulse skipped. He was so good with children—natural, never stiff or overly jovial the way some men tended to be. He’d be a wonderful father someday.

He shifted his face and his gaze connected with hers. He replaced the
smile with a mock-serious expression. “Here you are, Anna—Grace. I hope you’ll be unselfish and share with Sunny.”

She gave a little bow as she accepted the box and matched his formal tone. “Thank you very kindly. Of course I’ll share with Sunny.” She examined the box, pretending to think deeply. “Hmm, there are twelve candies in this box, so I’ll let Sunny have …”

Sunny stopped humming. She stared at Anna—Grace, her dark eyes shining.

“One.”

Sunny’s jaw dropped open.

“Okay, one and a half.”

“Sissy-y-y-y-y-y …”

Anna—Grace burst out laughing. She captured Sunny in a hug and planted a kiss on her warm hair. “You can have half of them.”

“Yay!”

Steven put his hand on Sunny’s head. “If you get half of the candies, and there are twelve all together, how many candies will be yours?”

Sunny screwed her face into a look of concentration. “There’s, um …” Her face lit. “Six! I get six! As many as I am old!”

“Exactly right. Good job.”

Sunny beamed.

Anna—Grace gave her sister the box. “But you can’t have them all at once, and you have to wait until after lunch to eat one. All right?”

The little girl sighed, but she agreed. She bounced into the kitchen with the box cradled in her arms, humming again.

Anna—Grace turned her attention to Steven. “You know, we—Sunny and I—could bundle up, and we could all wait on the porch for Mom to come home. No one would have cause to disapprove if we were out in the open without a chaperone.”

Steven’s brows pulled into a sharp V. “Sit out there in the rain?”

She laughed at his sour face. “The porch roof would keep us dry. And I happen to like rain. Especially the kind we’re getting today, falling straight down like a curtain. It’s a cleansing rain.”

“It’s gray and gloomy and
wet
.”

“Why, Steven, I didn’t know you disliked rain showers.” Unlike many people, she never found rainy days melancholy. She touched his arm. “God brings both the rain and sun, and each has its purpose.”

“I guess.” He didn’t look convinced.

She caught the ends of the ribbons trailing beside her cheeks and gave them a toss over her shoulders. “Let me check on Sunny, make sure she isn’t in there devouring the box of chocolates you brought. Then I’ll get our heavy jackets. We’ll sit on the porch and watch the rain, and I’ll see if I can put a smile back on your face.”

He lifted his hand and grazed her cheek with his knuckles. “If anyone can do it, you can.”

His words warmed her. She backed up to keep herself from leaning into his sturdy frame. “I’ll be right back.” When she returned with Sunny, their jackets draped over her arm, she found Steven beside the kitchen table examining the test papers Miss Kroeker had given her to grade.

He tapped the stack with his finger. “What are these?”

Anna—Grace helped Sunny into her jacket. “Just something I’m doing for Miss Kroeker. Every now and then she asks me to grade things that don’t require me to know the material. Those are all multiple-choice questions. Easily done.” She felt guiltier about giving up her volunteer work at the school than she did leaving her paid position at the café. Deborah Muller had already hired someone to fill the waitress position, and she hoped someone would step up to assist Miss Kroeker. The teacher had her hands full, covering all eight grades by herself.

He shifted the stack slightly and began sliding his finger down the line of questions. “I remember studying about the explorers. Magellan, the first captain credited with circumnavigating the world even though his crew finished
the journey without him, and Cortés, who cheated the Aztecs out of their gold.” He shook his head. “This student must not have been paying attention. Five wrong just on the first page.”

Steven flipped the test to the second page and scanned the questions. “Six wrong here. Wow. Thirteen out of twenty-four correct is only—” He rolled his eyes ceilingward for a few seconds, then looked at the test again. “Fifty-four percent.” He blew out a breath. “That’s not very good.”

Anna—Grace gazed at him in amazement. “How can you remember all that?” If she were to take the grade-six test today, she’d probably fail it. “And how did you figure the percentage in your head?” She coughed out a disbelieving laugh and held up the grading scale Miss Kroeker had loaned her. “I have to use this thing. You’re amazing.”

Oddly, he didn’t smile in response to her praise. Even more confusing, he slid into a chair, picked up the red pen she’d been using, and began grading, his forehead crinkled into a series of serious furrows. Sunny sent a questioning look at Anna—Grace, but she only shrugged, completely baffled by Steven’s behavior.

He graded three tests, even adding comments on the back page of each, before he suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing. He dropped the pen and jumped up, taking a huge step away from the table. Then he looked at Anna—Grace. He must have recognized her bewilderment because he said, “Sorry. Kind of lost myself there for a minute.”

She laughed lightly. “Obviously. You must have really enjoyed studying about the explorers to get so caught up in the questions.”

“History intrigues me. To really understand where we are now as a nation, we have to look back at where we’ve been. Here in our community, we sometimes forget there’s a world outside of Sommerfeld that has an effect on us and how we live. History—the events of years ago and the things happening today that will be the next century’s past—is important.”

He spoke with such intensity, the fine hairs on Anna—Grace’s arms tingled. She stared at him, trying to understand. Steven tended to be quiet and
introspective. She liked that about him—he wasn’t thoughtless or flippant like some of the other young men in the community. Although still young he possessed a maturity that made her feel secure in his presence. But this sober, almost grim man seemed a stranger.

His stiff shoulders wilted. “And why am I lecturing you?” He huffed an amused-sounding snort and shook his head. When he looked at her again, he seemed more like his old self. “We were going to sit on the porch and watch your rain curtain. We better go before your mom comes home and catches us in here alone.”

Sunny piped up, “You’re not alone. I’m here, too!”

Steven laughed. Whatever odd mood had struck, it appeared to slip away with the light sound of merriment. He chucked Sunny under the chin. “Yes, you are, and you’re all bundled up for the outdoors. So let’s go.” He held out his hand, and Sunny caught hold. They headed for the door. Halfway there he stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Aren’t you coming, Anna—Grace?”

She hadn’t realized her feet remained glued in place. She offered a nervous chortle. “Yes. Yes, I’m coming.” She hurried after them and tried to toss aside the uncomfortable feeling that had gripped her while Steven studiously graded those papers and then spoke of the importance of history. But even though the rain fell softly in a fresh-scented shower that pleased her senses and Sunny entertained them by playing a noisy game of hopscotch back and forth across the porch, a niggle of unease remained in the back of her mind.

After years of acquaintanceship, months of courting, a pledge to marry, and plans to spend a future together, she should know her intended husband well enough not to be taken aback by his behavior. His actions were troubling, but the deeper concern came from her feeling of uncertainty.

Mom’s car pulled in a little before eleven. The rain had slowed to a drizzle by then, but Steven grabbed up his umbrella and trotted across the soggy yard to escort her to the porch. Then he made several trips from the car to the house, carrying in the sacks of groceries she’d purchased. He unbagged everything while Mom and Anna—Grace put things away and Sunny scampered around,
getting in the way. Then Mom shooed them to the table while she fixed a simple lunch of tomato soup and grilled-cheese sandwiches, which Steven stayed to share.