Cooper bowed her head. The image that repeated itself most while she soaked in a warm tub, ate breakfast with her family, and drove beneath a sky filled with narrow clouds outlined with pearly sunshine that morning was of Vera. To Cooper, it was the photograph capturing the old woman’s contented smile, the purple rhinestone glasses, and the childlike innocence that radiated from her eyes that haunted her thoughts.
Separating herself from the others, she walked over to the food table and mechanically poured a cup of coffee. She could feel her friends watching her, their stares filled with compassion and concern.
“There is grief in this life,” Savannah spoke in a hushed tone. “Wrongs are done to good people every day. Sometimes it’s hard to understand the world we live in—the motives that drive folks to commit acts of such malevolent violence. But if we set aside our reasons to mourn for a moment, what do we have left? What have we gained by being placed in the center of these trying events?”
Bryant cleared his throat. “I vow to respect and appreciate my mother. It’s just hit me how I don’t know her as well as I should. What was she like as a little girl? Is there something she’d like to do or a place she’d like to see before . . .” He stopped himself. “I want to let her go like Joseph let his father go. I want her to be at peace, and now I realize that I need to find out what that means to her, not me.”
“I learned that we’re part of a bigger picture,” Quinton said. “We hear that in church all the time, but until this happened, it was just a phrase. Because of Trish, I’ve met neighbors that needed my help. And in helping them, I was the one who received a gift.”
Jake touched Trish on the hand. “We’d better get a bunch of folks on board if we wanna rescue the sinkin’ ship called Door-2-Door. I’m gonna talk to my boss about a sponsorship, but can your company swing a few more weeks sponsoring a route? Those folks aren’t gonna make it unless we act and we act now!”
“Of course I’m going to help.” Trish pointed at Quinton. “I’m sure your firm can afford a month or two as well. I hope you can talk some of your clients into donating, too. I’ve never approached my own clients about a cause, but it wouldn’t hurt to have some flyers and a collection box at our office.”
Savannah listened in approval. “I spoke to some of the elders last week. Hope Street is going to organize a group of volunteers immediately. They’re also discussing creating a mission trip that’ll stay right here in Richmond and assist Door-2-Door clients with home repairs and such.”
“I think I’ll offer to spiff up their website. It could use an update.” Nathan seemed to be thinking out loud. “And from now on, I’m going to try to pay better attention when God is doing His best to give me advice. I could have avoided this Tobey mess altogether.”
Cooper smiled at him. “As for me, I’ve been feeling like I have something left to do for Frank Crosby and I think it involves his son. I’m going to visit him tomorrow afternoon, so please pray that I’ll find the right words to use when I tell him about Warren and about the secret his daddy had been trying to keep for so long.” She cupped her coffee mug in her hands. “I’m kind of intimidated by The Colonel. We’re from such different worlds, but I understand what you said about the bigger picture, Quinton. I think we need to venture away from our safe places and take some risks in order to truly be changed.”
“Well said, all of you.” Savannah closed her workbook. “I realize we didn’t review the homework questions, but I believe you have all grown incredibly during this study. I also want to say that I have never felt so united with a group of people in my life. When I think of the word family, your faces float before my mind’s eye. I smile when I think of you or whenever I speak your names.” She reached out and automatically, her hands were grasped, and then everyone took hold of their neighbor’s hand. “It is scary to love, but I love you, my friends. Now, let’s pray to the One who loves us most.”
Cooper had invited her friends to join her after church in order to experience Sunday supper Lee-style.
Maggie had gone all out—roasting a turkey, making green bean casserole, homemade oyster stuffing, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, caramelized yams, corn in butter sauce, sunflower rolls, and a smorgasbord of desserts. Though the food was formal, like a special holiday dinner, the actual meal was not. The Lee table could only seat six, so the rest of the diners ate standing up, sitting in the living room, or, in Nathan and Cooper’s case, seated cross-legged on the floor.
“We ain’t seen this much company since Ashley’s weddin’!” Grammy yelled with a mouthful of yams. “How you feelin’ these days, little darlin’?”
“Just fine, thank you.” Ashley leaned over Grammy’s chair and kissed her wrinkled cheek. “I’ll give you those grandbabies you want yet.” She then stood and winked at Cooper. “And if my body doesn’t want to grow a baby, Cooper will just have carry one for me. Right, sis?”
Cooper nearly choked on a bite of roll.
“Are you tryin’ to scare the pants off that Nathan boy?” Grammy snarled at Ashley. “Let him think about marriage before his mind skips ahead to the diaper-changin’ part. Now go get yourself another plate. Babies like to grow in a belly filled regularly with food.”
Maggie was all too pleased to ladle several servings of starch onto her youngest child’s dish.
Once the supper plates had been cleared, desserts sampled, and coffee poured, Savannah whispered something into Jake’s ear and he exited the house expediently. Upon his return, he handed a rectangular packaged wrapped in butcher paper to Cooper’s grandmother.
“What’s this?” Grammy demanded, eying Jake with suspicion.
“It’s one of my paintings,” Savannah answered. “A while back, Cooper told us how much the pin you gave her means to her. During that moment, I sensed such love and gratitude in her story that I have thought about that little butterfly many times since then.” She smiled. “This is my way of thanking you for enriching our lives with your story of hope and courage.”
Grammy squirmed in the face of such an overt compliment. “Well, I’ve never done a single thing to merit that kind of praise, but I won’t say no to a present. I haven’t got enough years left in me to reject kindness, so I thank you.”
Ripping off the paper with glee, Grammy seemed transformed. Suddenly, she was a little girl tearing the gift wrap from a joyfully anticipated birthday or Christmas present. Cooper watched as her grandmother’s expression became illuminated with pleasure as she gazed at Savannah’s work.
“Come on, Grammy,” Ashley complained. “Turn it around and let us all see.”
“Keep your socks on, granddaughter. I’m havin’ a fine time just soakin’ in the colors and feelings of this picture.” She handed the painting back to Jake and shuffled over to Savannah. “It’s right lovely. Thank you.” As the two women embraced, Maggie burst into tears.
“Isn’t the Lord amazing? Look how He’s brought all of us together!” she cried, dabbing at her brimming eyes with the corner of her apron. She then took a step closer to Cooper so she could examine Grammy’s painting. Cooper slipped an arm around her mother’s waist and simultaneously, they bent down in order to properly examine the artwork.
The scene was a familiar one in that it depicted Noah and his family stepping onto dry land for the first time in forty days and nights. The family members held hands as they raised their faces toward the sun-filled sky, seemingly oblivious to the stampede of freed animals bursting past them. Birds and insects filled the air and Cooper was amazed at the energy Savannah had managed to infuse into the movements of every creature, from a pair of ants to the magnificent grace of an antelope couple. Lions roared in rejoicing, elephants trumpeted in celebration of their survival, and a group of primates launched themselves into the trees with rapturous animation.
The most personal detail of the painting, however, had to do with the rainbow stretching across the horizon as a reminder of God’s covenant. Unlike most rainbows, which seemed like hesitant, ephe
meral blurs of pale color, Savannah’s rainbow was alive—literally. Brilliant shades of violet, indigo, emerald, saffron, pumpkin, and crimson were represented by dozens and dozens of butterflies. The beautiful insects had been designed so that their delicate wings touched one another, but not so completely that pinpricks of light couldn’t find their way through the openings.
“Amazing,” Maggie breathed. “You gave Mama more butterflies than she’s ever dreamed of havin’. And what these stand for . . . oh, it’s too lovely!” She began crying all over again.
Maggie wasn’t the only one shedding tears. To everyone’s surprise, Trish was weeping as well.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to subtract from this moment, but I’ve been trying to keep my worries inside for days now and I just can’t. I’ve never felt so scared before!” She buried her face in her hands.
Maggie rubbed Trish’s back. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I had a biopsy on Friday,” Trish whimpered. “And I won’t get the results back until Wednesday. The waiting is tearing me apart. Breast cancer runs in my family and I’ve been pretending like it can’t touch me. Not me, the successful businesswoman, wife, and churchgoing mother of two. But it can and I’m really, really frightened!” Trish hid herself in Maggie’s comforting bosom.
Cooper watched as Maggie stroked her friend’s copper hair and murmured into her ear.
“No matter what the results are,” Bryant spoke firmly to Trish, “we’ll be here for you. We’ll lend you strength and pray for your health and even come with you to the doctor on Wednesday.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah, you tell us what you need and we’ll be on the job.”
“When you face a time of trial, know that you’re not alone,” Savannah whispered. “Let love and faith outweigh your fear.”
Trish pulled away from Maggie and looked at her friends, her expression anguished. Grammy rubbed at her chin and then locked eyes with Cooper. Immediately comprehending what Grammy’s hazel eyes were telling her, Cooper unpinned the silver butterfly from her cardigan and gently fastened it onto Trish’s umber-hued suit jacket.
“We’re with you,” Cooper promised and took her friend’s hand in hers. “Wherever you go. We’re right there.”
Later, after Cooper’s friends had gone home, Cooper and Grammy took Columbus out for his final flight of the day. With the hawk on her left arm and her grandmother clutching her right, Cooper felt amazingly balanced considering the experiences of the past few weeks.
“I hope this doesn’t sound weird,” Cooper began once the hawk had jumped from her arm and circled skyward. “But this tragedy with the Door-2-Door folks has got me thinking. You’ve been such an important part of my life, Grammy, and—”
“Now don’t go pushin’ me in the grave yet, girlie!” Grammy interrupted with a cackle. “I walked all the way out to this here fence in case you weren’t payin’ attention. No need to talk about me like I’m on the way out.”
Cooper smiled at her grandmother, soaking up the laugh lines fanning out from the corners of her eyes, the soft white curls of her hair, the delicateness of her hands. For once, she didn’t notice age spots or wrinkles, the shiny track suit or mismatched argyle socks, but only a strong, determined, and loyal woman who placed her family above all other things.
“I just wanted to know if you felt like you’d missed out on something. Is there anything I could do to, I don’t know, to fulfill a wish?” Cooper finished, feeling a bit lame in her inability to express what she wanted to say.
Grammy snorted. “Like takin’ me to climb a pyramid or toss a quarter into that famous fountain in Rome? That sort of thing?”
Cooper shrugged. “Yeah. Kind of.”
“Girlie, I got everythin’ I want right here. I got a heart that beats, a mind that thinks, and two arms to put around the folks I love, and, for some mysterious reason, love me right back.” She squeezed Cooper’s arm. “My only wish is for you to be happy. Do that, and I’ve got everythin’ I ever wanted.”
As Columbus called out a cry of delight, his tawny feathers tinted gold by the waning light, Cooper hugged her grandmother. She held onto the small and bony frame until the first star winked into life above the ridge of trees.
The following Tuesday, when Cooper checked in at the lobby of the Henrico County’s Jail West and requested a visit with Edward Crosby, she discovered that she wasn’t nervous at all.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Farmer had spontaneously declared that he was taking all of his employees to a well-deserved lunch at Ipanema Grill, where they could spend an hour gorging on Brazilian cuisine. Though Cooper would have enjoyed such a sumptuous free lunch, she knew that keeping her promise to The Colonel was more important.
“Ipanema? That’s the place where they keep bringing ya giant slabs of meat!” Emilio had exclaimed when he heard the news. “They carve it right there at your table. Beef, lamb, pork, chicken. And they don’t stop until you tell ’em to. Man, I’ve got the best job and the best girl in Richmond. Awesome, huh?” He clapped Mr. Farmer on the back.
“I don’t know about the best girl part,” Mr. Farmer had replied, shooting a coy grin in Angela’s direction, “but I’m glad you’re happy at Make It Work!”
“What about you, Cooper?” Ben had elbowed her in the side while Angela blew kisses at their boss. “Aren’t you just dying to watch Emilio polish off a barnyard’s worth of cow, pig, and fowl?”
“I’ll leave that pleasure to you,” she said, shoving him aside with her shoulder. “Though I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you for an hour.”
Ben grinned. “You mean, now that I’m not acting like a total grump?”
“I mean, now that you’re more like your old self.”
“I’ll never be that again,” Ben confessed without ire. “But the guy I turned into after going through this with Melissa might make it worth the grief. I’m learning a lot about myself by supporting her.”
Cooper stopped organizing the morning’s work orders and looked at Ben in astonishment. “You know—that’s the first time I’ve heard you say her name! Ben and Melissa. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
Nodding, Ben smiled. “It does. It really does.”
Waving good-bye to her coworkers, Cooper unwrapped the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she had brought from home and enjoyed a quiet lunch alone in the office kitchen. After a fifteen-minute break, she got busy with her afternoon repairs, which included removing a jammed paperclip from the inside of a scanner, fixing a malfunctioning stamp machine at the post office, and reprogramming a copier so that it chose eight-by-eleven sheets of paper instead of the legal-size documents it had insisted on producing no matter what paper tray had been selected.
Once every Make It Work! client had been completely satisfied, Cooper took her official lunch break at two-thirty. That left her less than an hour to drive to the government complex and see The Colonel before visiting hours were over.
When he appeared in the portioned room, Frank’s son seemed stunned by the realization that Cooper had actually returned.
“So the cops nailed the bastard who killed my dad?” he asked, his eyes fierce.
“Yes.” Cooper wondered how much detail to go into.
“I read about it in today’s paper, but a little birdie told me they picked him up at your place. You meant what you said, didn’t you? That you were gonna make things right and figure out the truth about Frank’s death.” He gazed at her with respect. “You’re the first person I’ve met that means what they say. You. A total fu—ah, freakin’ stranger. Why do you give a rat’s ass? Why are you even here?”
Momentarily taken aback, Cooper wasn’t sure how to respond. Even though The Colonel had asked the question with no hostility, she felt offended. “I wanted you to know why your daddy hid that diary and why he was so obsessed about honor.” She then described the incidents surrounding Aaron Crosby’s history. “I thought if you knew, you might be able to forgive your daddy.”
The Colonel
rubbed his stubble in bewilderment. “Who cares about Aaron Crosby? It all happened a hundred years ago. Why’d Frank have to let some relative destroy this generation of Crosbys? You gotta admit—he was completely whacked.”
Cooper disagreed. “He may have taken things too much to heart, and his fears no doubt hurt you and your mama, but there’s no reason why you can’t make the Crosby name shine again. It’s not too late.”
The Colonel smirked, unconvinced. “You gonna pour holy water over my head and whisper some Bible mumbo-jumbo and expect that my life will be all nice and pretty? Just like that?” He snapped his fingers. “Damn, woman! I’m gonna get out in six months and go right back to the street. It’s what I know.”
“And end up back in here!” Cooper replied angrily. “Where’s the honor in that plan? All you need is for one person to believe in you—in your ability to change, to take a chance at a life that includes a regular job, an apartment, a few friends. Maybe even a girlfriend.”
Smiling for the first time since he sat down, The Colonel leaned forward. “You applying for the job?”
“Sorry, Colonel. I’m spoken for.” Cooper relished how wonderful it felt to utter that phrase. “But you can put me down on your list as a friend. As someone who truly believes in your potential.”
The Colonel seemed to withdraw and Cooper hoped that she hadn’t been too pushy. When he remained silently staring at her even after the guard warned him that his visit would be over in sixty seconds, she began to despair that she had mishandled the situation completely.
With only seconds remaining, The Colonel abruptly whispered into the phone, “If we’re gonna hang out sometime, then you’d better call me Edward.” He raised his hand to prevent her from speaking. “As for livin’ the straight life, it’ll take a sign from God to make that happen.”
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