Abide with Me

by Delia Parr

  “Nothing can ruin today,” Jenny insisted, and held out a platter on which Andrea piled the food. “It’s just too marvelous. Michael is so happy, and I’m so proud of him for being so talented and so persistent. He just never gave up, and now…”

  She set the plate on top of the picnic table and patted her tummy. “Now I can stay home with all three of my babies.”

  Andrea’s euphoria drained quickly. She did not want to spoil Jenny’s day with the news about Madge, any more than she wanted to see Madge later and tell her she had not told Jenny, let alone tell Madge about Jenny’s amazing news. Still, Madge and Jenny deserved to know the truth.

  As the oldest, Andrea felt a particular obligation to both of her sisters. They were related, but they were friends and confidantes, too. They certainly were not cookie-cutter copies of one another. They were three different women with distinct personalities, different talents and faults, and different lives.

  But the bond between them was strong. It was a bond that had been forged over their lifetimes where love and concern had always guided their relationship with one another. They had learned to balance the joys and troubles that life threw at them, often simultaneously. That’s what friends did for one another, but more importantly, that’s what sisters did—always.

  Andrea’s biggest problem now was putting that sense of sisterhood to the test. When she sat down at the picnic table, Jenny sat down beside her. “Do you remember what you said earlier about you and Michael loving little girls?”

  “Sure.”

  “Madge loves little girls, too,” Andrea began. “In fact, there’s a little girl in her life now. Her name is Sarah. Madge is away for a few weeks, but she asked me to come and talk to you about Sarah.”

  Jenny listened as Andrea poured out the tale. When she finished explaining the decision Madge had made to try to save her marriage and make a home for Sarah, she and Jenny embraced. They cried mostly, but laughed a little, too. “I hope I didn’t spoil your celebration too much,” Andrea offered.

  “I told you. Nothing could ruin this day for me. But Madge…I feel so bad for her, but I’m proud of her, too. She’s a much stronger woman than I would be, I think.” She dropped her gaze. “I’m not sure how this is going to work out for her. Even if she can forgive Russell, I—I think I’m going to have a hard time doing that. Part of me wants to wring his neck.”

  “I know. I’ve been wondering how to forgive him, too, but if Madge can manage to do it…”

  “Then we’ll have to forgive him, too,” Jenny whispered. “Maybe you should wait to tell her about Michael’s book and all. She’s so unhappy right now. It doesn’t seem fair that Michael and I both had our dreams come true while hers…”

  Jenny’s eyes widened with horror. “Oh, no, Andrea. What a goose I am! I’m sorry. Here I am all giggly and excited one minute and worried about Madge the next, and I forgot about you! You just look so good. I forgot for a moment that you’re sick. You have your own worries. I’m really sorry.”

  Andrea put her arm around Jenny’s shoulders. “Madge and I are your sisters. Even though her life is a mess right now and I’m fighting for my health, we can still be thrilled for you because we’re more than just sisters. We’re His children. That means we can do anything, as long as we let Him guide the way.”

  Jenny sniffled. “Tell Madge I love her and tell her to call me, too.”

  Andrea gave her sister a hug. “I’ll tell her tonight when I take Russell’s car back.” When Jenny’s eyes filled with confusion, Andrea explained what had happened to the Jeep on the way home from Sea Gate with Bill.

  “So you’re driving down, but Bill is going with you so he can bring you home in the Jeep?”

  Andrea nodded. “He was pretty embarrassed.”

  Jenny grinned. “But he got what he wanted, didn’t he?”

  “Which was…”

  “A second date!”

  Andrea huffed. “It’s not a second date. It’s…it’s just the end of the first date.”

  “Ha!”

  “Ha, yourself!” Andrea stood up. “I’m going home to get Russell’s car and pick Bill up at work so we can finish our first date.” She put her hand on Jenny’s shoulder when she tried to get up. “Sit. I can get back to the car by myself.”

  “Okay, but if Bill shows up with blueprints for a house, like Daddy did when he had his second date with Mother because he was so sure she would marry him, you’re in trouble. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

  “Trouble is having a baby sister who is an impossible matchmaker!”

  “You love me anyway.”

  “I love you any way at all,” Andrea replied, and left to fulfill a promise to an old woman who might have found a lot more joy in life if she had been blessed with a sister or two.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Heart-weary, Madge sat and watched the sun drooping low in the sky, just above the horizon. After a weekend alone with Russell and Sarah, she knew she had a difficult journey ahead. One day, they might be able to be a family together. With time and prayer, she and Russell would be able to fix their marriage, especially since he had agreed to start marriage counseling, but she was still worried about telling Drew and Brett they had a half sister.

  Russell joined her on the patio and interrupted her thoughts. He sat down on the chair next to her, put his briefcase on the ground and let out a sigh. “She’s finally asleep. She loves Good Night, Moon a little too much. I had to read it three times before she drifted off.”

  Madge felt a tug on her heartstrings and resentment flared briefly. The boys had both loved that classic story, too, but Russell had not been home very often to read it to them. Maybe Sarah was giving him a second chance at fatherhood, an idea that suggested to her that she also might be able to do things better on her second go-around at motherhood.

  “I made those calls today that I mentioned over the weekend,” he said. “Everything is set to go, but I want to run everything by you first to make sure you agree this is a good idea.”

  She was curious about his future at work and more than anxious to discuss something he had planned himself, since she had been the one to set so many conditions so far. Other than suggesting he had to make a few calls before he could make definite plans, he had told her little about what kind of changes he apparently had in mind. “I’m listening,” she murmured.

  “If we’re going to make our marriage work better and make a home for Sarah together, the first thing I need to do is to be home more. Frankly, traveling so much in my job is getting tedious. It may pay well, but we’ve paid a high price, too. So…I want to quit my job.”

  Madge almost fell out of her chair. “Quit your job? How on earth can you do that and still support us?”

  “We’d have to make some sacrifices. The beach house, for example. We’d have to sell it and absorb the loss, but I’ve got that all worked out.” He took some papers from his briefcase and pulled his chair closer to hers so they could review the papers together. “I know you don’t have much interest in finances, but that needs to change, too.”

  “I know.” She glanced at the papers, which had a number of columns of figures and struggled to keep tears at bay. Was there no end to the pain he caused?

  He pointed to the first column. “If I quit my job, this number represents the cash assets we can access. The second column represents the projected loss on the beach house and the repayment of the home-equity loan on the house in Welleswood. Are you with me so far?”

  “So far, but what’s the third column?”

  “Start-up costs, projected expenses for the first two years of business, plus living expenses. If you compare that total with the total in the first column, you’ll see we can do it, at least for two years. If the business fails or doesn’t prove profitable by then, I’ll have to get a job working for someone else again.”

  “Business? What business? You never mentioned going into business before.”

  “I guess I never thought lo
ng enough about it before,” he responded. “Or maybe I just never felt the need like I do now. I need to be here at home with you to help raise Sarah, but I want to be home to do that, more than anything.”

  She agreed with him. He did need to stop traveling, but the prospect of starting a business at his age seemed a bit of a stretch financially. They could be ruined and have nothing left if the business failed. “What kind of business?” she asked.

  “I only know one business. I know pet food and pet supplies, but I also know it very well. I’ve had to be one step ahead of the trends, and I’m convinced I’m on the right track.” For the next half hour, he explained his plan to open a gourmet store catering to pampered felines. He had the statistics showing demand and some reports indicated that cats, not dogs, were the number-one choices for pets. He had the contacts he needed to provide the gourmet food, from snacks to meals. He could ask Andrea to check on storefronts available for rent or purchase on the avenue. He had even contacted Stan Anderson, the owner of The Cat’s Meow, a grooming salon in Welleswood for cats only. The Cat’s Meow would be a perfect “feeder” store. Stan’s customers would be Russell’s customers. Stan was doing so well, he had already been considering cutting out the accessories he carried to make more room for grooming, and Russell could add the accessories to his store.

  But it was the commitment in Russell’s voice and the excitement in his eyes that reminded Madge of the young man she had married so many years ago.

  “I could make this work. I know I could,” Russell vowed. “But I won’t even consider it or bring it up again if you don’t like the idea. I can stay where I am and travel. You won’t have to give up the beach house, and things can stay pretty much as they are, at least financially.”

  She glanced down at the papers again. “The figures are right? You double-checked them?”

  “Double-and triple-checked.”

  This change would be hard and potentially a financial disaster. Not changing, not taking the chance and having Russell continue to spend so much time away from home, however, would put much more than their financial future at risk. If saving their marriage was the priority, then change they must. The beach house was way down on her list of things she wanted now. “Did you have a name in mind for this business?” she asked, finding his enthusiasm contagious.

  He shrugged.

  She did not stifle her grin. “The Purrple Palace,” she suggested, emphasizing the name by purring the first part of the word purple. “We could get a purple awning for the front window and have different kinds of cats stenciled on the awning in cream or lavender. Purple gingham curtains. Purple bags to hold the customers’ purchases—”

  He held up his hand. “Enough! Decorate the store any way you like. The name you picked is purrfect!”

  They laughed together for the first time since he had brought Sarah home, but their laughter was not the only great thing that night. When Andrea arrived just before dark with Russell’s car, and Bill walked down to the garage to get the Jeep, Andrea brought the good news about Michael selling his book and Jenny getting her dream of staying home with her babies. When the doorbell rang at eight-thirty, the time when Bill had agreed to return for Andrea, Madge walked her sister to the front door. “I wish there was something special happening for you today, too,” she admitted. “Maybe Bill—”

  “He’s just a friend,” Andrea insisted. “Don’t start match-making. Jenny is bad enough.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone,” Madge said.

  Andrea kissed her cheek. “I’m not alone. I have you and Jenny. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you and Russell know which storefronts are available.” She slipped out the door and closed it, avoiding an awkward meeting between Madge and Bill. Madge went to the window and watched her sister and the tall man walk to the Jeep and then pull away. Given the opportunity to choose between putting her marriage back together or being single again and part of the dating scene, Madge knew she had made a good decision. She did not envy Andrea, not even a little.

  After Bill picked up Andrea at Madge’s beach house, he drove them back to the beach area reserved for all-terrain vehicles and parked in the same parking lot he had used on Friday night. They walked together to the beach. Andrea carried the suitcase with Miss Huxbaugh’s letters. Bill carried a stack of wood and everything else they would need to make a fire, including a special permit.

  They chose a spot well away from the grassy dunes, although the night was calm, with nothing but a whisper of a breeze. While Bill got the fire started, Andrea sat quietly and thought about Miss Huxbaugh, the boxes of letters stored in the suitcase, the years wasted on bitterness and disappointment, and the mystery of the long-missing fiancé.

  When the fire was ready, he helped her set the suitcase closer. “We’ll have to feed the letters into the fire a few at a time, or they’ll smother the flames.”

  She nodded and opened the suitcase. The lid blocked the light from the fire. She could see the outlines of the envelopes containing the letters, but it was too dim to be able to read any of the handwriting.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to read any first or at least note the return addresses?” Bill asked. “She’s gone now. No one would be hurt.”

  Andrea shook her head. “I promised to burn them so no one could read them after she was gone. She’d never know I broke that promise, but I would.”

  He nodded.

  “I feel we should say a prayer or something,” she murmured.

  He joined his hands with hers, and they bowed their heads. “Heavenly Father, we know You have called Miss Huxbaugh Home to be with You, and we pray she has found the love and happiness that so eluded her here on earth. We are burning these letters tonight to fulfill a promise because You have always been faithful to us and we believe in Your promise of life everlasting for those who claim You as Lord God. Amen.”

  Andrea blinked back tears. “That was beautiful. Thank you.”

  One handful at a time, they fed the letters into the fire. Bill had to add more wood twice. When the last letter had been reduced to ashes, they sat, back to back, and watched the fire until there was nothing left but embers. After he buried the remnants of the fire and the ashes that had not blown away, he helped her to her feet, picked up the suitcase and held out his hand. “Ready to go home?”

  Hand in hand, they walked back to the Jeep. Bill headed out toward the freeway, but he pulled into an all-night diner before they left Sea Gate. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I know it’s late, but I don’t usually skip dinner and there’s no way I can wait to eat until breakfast.”

  She did not have to respond. Her stomach growled loudly enough for him to hear it, too. “I thought you were going to get something to eat while I was at the house.”

  “And I thought you were going to eat at your sister’s.”

  “I forgot.”

  “Me, too.”

  He smiled. “Eat in or take out?”

  “Let’s eat in.”

  “Great.” He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out an envelope that had been folded in half lengthwise. “While we’re eating, there’s something I wanted to show you.”

  She laughed. “Sure. As long as it’s not a set of blueprints.”

  “Blueprints?”

  “You know. Blueprints. Like plans for a house. Or an office building,” she added quickly.

  He narrowed his gaze. “Did you peek or are you just as good at reading people’s minds as you are at keeping promises?”

  “This isn’t our second date, right? It’s only the end of the first date, which we started on Friday, but got interrupted when the Jeep died. Right?”

  “Right. I think.”

  “Good answer. Okay, then. I’ll take a look at the blueprints. Men who bring blueprints on the second date are pretty dangerous.”

  “Really?” he asked as he escorted her into the diner.

  “Really,” she replied, although she had a feeling that this man might
be as dangerous and sure of himself as her father had been when he had courted her mother.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Brisk October air, waning daylight hours and brilliant displays of fall foliage proved the seasonal shift from summer to autumn was well underway. With vacations long over and school and work schedules becoming routine, weekends took on a festive flavor that was familiar to all who lived in Welleswood.

  On Saturdays, soccer and midget football games sponsored by the Welleswood Youth Athletic Association (WYAA) filled the fields at Welles Park, not far from the new skateboard complex and a new sign indicating the fund-raising efforts for the girls’ crew team were still less than halfway to the final goal. The cries of cheering fans and anxious parents carried to those at the open-air farmer’s market, or shopping along the avenue, or at home doing yardwork or fall housecleaning. Sunday morning, church bells would call families from their homes to worship. With the heat of summer past, many people would walk to church again and gather on the lawn after services to chat while their children played together.

  Not everyone greeted this particular weekend with joyful anticipation.

  Too nervous and agitated to get very much sleep Friday night, Andrea had been up since dawn. Her “girls” had sensed her mood and stayed within sight but beyond her reach. At eight o’clock, she showered, dressed comfortably, grabbed her purse and a striped bag and left her house. She did not want to answer the telephone, and she had deliberately left her cell phone in the charger, too. She could not handle any calls from well-wishers, namely Madge and Jenny—not right now.

  Out of habit, she went to check the clock in her car, but caught herself just in time. She had developed a real aversion to clocks lately and had even stopped wearing her wristwatch. She did not much care for calendars anymore, either. Unfortunately, her business demanded that she pay close attention to dates and times.