by Annie Jones
But Josie knew she had the advantage. Surrounded by people Josie loved and who loved both her and her son, and with Nathan’s father close at hand, her son would be all right. That’s all that mattered. And besides, by allowing her to be a part of how Adam had changed and grown these past few days, the Lord had prepared Josie for this exact thing.
Does it matter why she’s come? Jed’s question rang again in her ears.
Josie thought of the prodigal’s return that had so been on her mind of late. She remembered the stories of lost lambs and Josie had her answer.
She raised her head to see the Burdetts still talking among themselves, hugging, laughing, unaware of the small drama building on the fringes of the onlookers.
Josie knew how to respond when the lost lamb returned to the fold.
She did run. With Nathan in her arms she ran straight toward Ophelia.
“Phellie!” She used the special nickname she alone used for her sister. “Over here!”
“Pheenie?” Ophelia sputtered. Her expression was a clash of emotions, surprise, apprehension, defensiveness, disbelief.
Josie stopped with barely a foot between them. Her fears reared up and made her question if she had done the right thing.
Nathan squirmed in her arms.
Josie gave him a kiss. He was safe. He was hers. And her hurting and once-lost sister had come back. If she were truly the woman of faith she wanted to be, now was the time to set her childhood fears aside and trust the Lord.
She reached out her trembling hand to Ophelia at last. “Welcome home.”
Ophelia glanced down, hesitated, then took it.
The second their fingers touched Josie felt a rush of warmth and love she had not known since they were little girls together.
Ophelia must have felt it, too, as tears filled her usually cold and calculating eyes.
And just that fast they were hugging one another, Nathan between them, wriggling and giggling.
A murmur went up around them, something between a gasp of surprise and an approving cheer.
“Okay, okay. Let’s get this over with—what are you doing here? How did you find us out here? And would you like to hold the baby?” Josie laughed and pulled away, facing her sister and the future at last. She sniffled and wiped away a tear from her sister’s cheek, then stood back, giving her a once over. “And why are you wearing my clothes?”
Ophelia tugged at the sailor-style shirt then at the waistband of the white jeans that Josie had slipped out of, preferring the pink-and-green outfit she had on now. “I tore mine breaking into that Home Cookin’ place of yours. Found these on the counter and just…”
“You broke into my business?” She tried to remember if she had put the money away properly when she had closed up last. She recalled leaving the drawer out when Adam had been there, but nothing else. “Why?”
“Because it was locked,” Ophelia said as if Josie had just asked the stupidest question possible.
Josie did feel stupid. And naive. And…
“As for your other questions,” Ophelia went on. “I am in town because I have a lot of unfinished business here. There are flyers about this party all over the place, and yes.” She stepped forward and put her hands under Nathan’s arms to lift him away from Josie. “I would very much like to hold the baby.”
“Want I should call law about that break-in, Sweetie Pie?” Warren asked.
“Sweetie Pie?” Ophelia gave Warren a suspicious look. She tugged Nathan free and curled him close to her, then asked Josie, “This is your…sweetie?”
“No, that is my sweetie.” Warren’s wife stepped forward, her experience handling rude teens at the bowling alley coming in mighty handy as she met Ophelia eye to eye. “Everyone calls Josie ‘Sweetie Pie’ because she means so much to us and we wouldn’t want to see her hurt.”
Josie wanted to tell them all that her sister would never do anything to hurt her. But she couldn’t do it. She swallowed to wash back the acid sickness at the back of her throat as she studied the woman holding her—Josie’s…and Ophelia’s…son.
For the first time in maybe five years Ophelia did not look like an older sister to Josie. Her face was scrubbed clean and her complexion rivaled Josie’s for color in her cheeks and freckles on her nose. She did not have on her usual layers of makeup, nor did she reek of cigarette smoke. She wore her hair natural again, just as Josie did. The curls falling around her shoulders, clean and free of streaks of blue, pink or wine-red. She wore no jewelry, no studs in her eyebrows or biker symbols around her neck. No black nail polish. She was not sneering.
Josie closed her eyes, waited one second, then opened again, half expecting to see something of the old Ophelia there that she had not noticed before. But no.
Not since they were kids and they had played “trick the teacher” by swapping places in the classroom had these identical twins looked so…identical.
It seemed to fascinate Nathan, who wound his chubby fingers in Ophelia’s hair and singsonged his contented “Ya-ya-ya.”
“Ya-ya-ya,” Josie murmured, her eyes fixed on her child and hoping this would not be the time he finally formed the word Mama. She didn’t know if she could take that. She drew a deep breath, aware of the collective breathing of the people around her. She heard some commotion, but blocked it out in order to ask what she had to ask. “What unfinished business do you have here?”
“Maybe we should go someplace a little more private?” Ophelia rubbed her hand over Nathan’s plump leg.
Private. Josie tried to think what to do. Tried to ask the Lord for guidance, but her heart was beating so hard and her head ached. All she could think about was taking Nathan back and…
“Josie, do you want me to go get—” Warren began.
His wife interrupted with a statement aimed Ophelia’s way. “Maybe everyone should stay right here while I go get the sheriff.”
“No one needs to call the sheriff.” Adam pushed through the ring of people, his face grim but filled with a peace that had not been there before he reconciled and accepted the forgiveness of his father and family.
For a split second relief washed over Josie. Then it dawned on her. With Ophelia’s new look and with her wearing Josie’s clothes, Adam might not be able to tell them apart. Even when they were separated by time and space and all sorts of experiences, Josie had worried that Adam’s feelings for her were tangled up and colored by his feelings for Ophelia. Or at least by his sense of responsibility and natural concern for the woman who had carried and given life to his baby boy.
If Ophelia demanded Nathan back, it only stood to reason Adam’s attention, perhaps even his affection would follow, right?
The anguish was almost too much to bear. Ophelia’s return might cost her both Nathan and Adam. She would lose everything she held dear and Ophelia would be the one to have a family at last and Josie would have nothing.
But God had brought her to this point. He had prepared her. She knew that. She could not stand there silent and put Adam to some kind of childish test; she had to speak and face what was to come with faith and hope.
Josie opened her mouth to say something.
Ophelia did the same.
“I don’t want to hear it.” Adam put his hand up as he spoke to Ophelia. “I have a few things to say myself. But first let me get one thing straight.”
He spoke to Ophelia. He approached Ophelia.
Josie’s heart ached. It actually ached. He did not know the difference between Josie and…
“Ophelia, give me my son.” He took Nathan gently from her. “He belongs with his real mother.”
He turned and met Josie’s eyes. In one step and without taking his gaze from hers, he brought the baby to Josie.
“You knew,” she whispered as she cuddled her son close.
“Ya-ya-ya.”
“Of course I knew.” He ran his hand over Nathan’s head, then rested it lightly on Josie’s arm. “I told you that. I know you, Josie. The good and the bad, the
sweet and the secret. I know you by the way you look at our son and by the way I feel when I look at you.”
How do you feel when you look at me? She pressed her lips together to keep from blurting out the question.
Adam smiled at her, gave her arm a squeeze, then turned slightly to make eye contact with Josie’s twin. “Sadly and to my own detriment, I only know Ophelia by her pain.”
“Pain.” Ophelia repeated the word quite softly. Not defiant and ugly as Josie expected. She nodded, her shoulders slouched slightly, as if she had slipped the word on like a yoke and was trying to decide what to do next. Finally she took off the yoke, humbled herself and said, “I didn’t come to try to take Nathan away from you, Josie.”
“You didn’t?” Josie’s own burden lifted. “I mean, I didn’t think you had. I hoped you hadn’t, but…”
“But I hadn’t given you a lot of reasons to trust me up until now.” Ophelia reached out and tugged on the lace of Nathan’s shoe.
“I always wanted to…trust you, Phellie. I always wanted to.”
“And now I want to be worthy of your trust, Pheenie. I came here now to make sure everything was all right.”
“By breaking into my place of business?”
“I didn’t know how to find your house. I’m not from here, remember?”
Josie thought of telling her that she could have just asked anyone, but then remembered that everyone, including Bingo and his little red scooter was out here.
“So I figured Josie’s Home Cookin’ Kitchen was the best place to wait for you.”
“So you broke in?”
She shrugged. “Old habits die hard. And I did it for a good reason. I needed to see you.”
“Yeah?” Josie tried keep her hope on a leash. Her sister had a way of making big deals out of nothing and acting as if the most important things were of no consequence whatsoever.
“See, that private eye you hired spoke to Mom, who tracked me down, set things in motion. Made me think. I’d done this one good thing, but hadn’t really done it right.” She pushed her hair back. She cocked one hip, then swept the back of her hand along Nathan’s cheek. “I finally found where Adam had got to and tried to contact him to tell him about the baby. When I learned he’d gone back to Mt. Knott, I felt I had to come. I was afraid he’d try to take Nathan away from you.”
“It did cross my mind,” he admitted. “At first. Then I saw Nathan with Josie and…”
“Da-da!” Nathan yelled.
“And I knew that’s where he belonged,” Adam finished, never looking away from Josie.
Did she dare believe what she saw in his eyes? Or was the emotion of the moment coloring her perception? Josie struggled to keep her voice strong as she tore her gaze away from Adam’s and spoke to her sister. “I thought when my letter to you came back returned…”
“I don’t know about a letter, but I moved out of my old place. Too many temptations. I’m in a program now at a church.”
“You’ve accepted Christ?” Josie took a joyous step toward her sister.
“I, uh, I’m opening up to it,” was all Ophelia would say. “It’s just a lot to do alone, you know? Stay sober. Overcome a lifetime of selfishness? How do you do that?”
“You started when you decided to have Nathan,” Josie said.
“Something I feel I can never thank you enough for,” Adam added, his head bowed slightly in a show of gratitude and humility. “Thank you, Ophelia, for not compounding our selfishness. For having Nathan and giving him to a person who would love him no matter where he came from, who would make a home for him, no matter what personal sacrifices she had to make.”
Adam touched Josie’s arm, pride and happiness shining from deep within his eyes. “Josie, I…You…Thank you. Not just for what you did for my son but what you’ve done for me. The things you’ve made me realize, the way you’ve helped me look at my world…I…”
Josie held her breath.
“My brain tells me it’s too soon to say this, but it’s really how I feel.” Adam moved close to her and took one of her hands in both of his. “I love you, Josie.”
“Wooo-hooo!” Jed led the cheer that went up through the crowd, when they all began to laugh afterward, even Ophelia joined in.
“Now, you say it back to him, Sweetie Pie,” Warren prodded in a teasingly loud whisper.
Josie wanted to say it, but her voice failed her, so she mouthed it instead. I love you, too.
Another whoop.
Adam broke into laughter and pulled her into his arms, kissing her temple, her cheek, then lightly, her lips.
The crowd showed their approval with applause this time.
Adam kissed her again, this time on the forehead; then he kissed Nathan on the head, as well, before he took a deep breath and looked at Ophelia. His expression changed to guarded kindness. “I have something more to ask you, Ophelia.”
Ophelia dropped her gaze downward. She spoke softly, guessing, “Why didn’t I tell you about Nathan sooner?”
“No.” He shook his head and stepped away from Josie to face Ophelia fully, sincerely, humbly. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“What?”
He reached out and took her by the hand. “I’m asking for your forgiveness.”
Josie’s heart swelled.
“But…but why?” Ophelia looked past the man and found Josie and Nathan.
“Because it’s what families do,” Josie explained, choking back a sob. “It’s what happens when the lost lamb returns to the fold. We try to make things so they don’t stray again. God loves us and forgives us and so we—we do the same for others.”
Ophelia’s face went blank, no doubt as she tried to process it all.
Josie marveled that she, herself, did not burst into tears. A family. An unconventional one, to be sure, but if Ophelia forgave Adam and was open to talking to the two of them, a family they would be.
Adam cleared his throat, which by his standards was probably close to a total emotional breakdown, she suspected.
“Oh, forgive him already! I couldn’t stand it if you didn’t.” Jed scrunched up his whole face, trying to look annoyed, but was unable to hide his emotional investment in it all.
Warren pulled out the red hankie and blew his nose, good and noisy.
Josie laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Adam loved her! He’d made amends with his family. Nathan was going to be hers legally. Ophelia had returned and was open to trying a new way of life.
Sure, the Crumble might still close. Her business might fall as a result. She and Adam might not work out or have a long-term relationship beyond their connection to Nathan, but Josie had the thing she had longed for all her life….
“What do you have to be so happy about?” Ophelia asked.
Josie threw her arms around her sister and gave her a hug, with Nathan still in her arms. “Because I have family. And for the first time I can recall I feel like nothing is going to take that away from me.”
Chapter Sixteen
By the first week of November all the leaves had changed to brilliant orange, yellow and red. Some had begun to fall, making a trip down a winding mountain road feel like a trip through a confetti-strewn parade route.
Why not? Josie felt she had so much to celebrate.
She strolled to the front door of the Home Cookin’ Kitchen, then turned to look at the prayer list on the wall.
Among the requests for health and job security now read the words Josie never thought she’d see:
“Pray for the Burdett family as they make their big decision.” Warren had been the first to sign that one. Jed next. Then Josie. The list grew and grew and even included Elvie Maloney and Micah Applebee, only two of the most high-profile of the Burdetts’ detractors.
Adam had come last night with his camera phone and taken a photo of the wall scrawled floor to ceiling with names.
“I want to carry this into the meeting,” he had told Josie with a kiss to her cheek.
Josie had ret
urned it with a kiss to his lips. She thought that was a completely acceptable way to send her sweetie off to the meeting that would determine the fate of the family business. Global had done something called a “due diligence.” Conner complained they’d come in and pulled records and files and snooped around everything except their medicine cabinets. Today they would present their offer to the board. Adam was just sitting in as a guest and advisor, but with so much at stake they were all anxious.
The sky had gotten overcast throughout the morning. It threatened to drizzle any minute now. The wind kicked up, and Josie watched a few leaves tumble down from the nearest tree.
Bingo beeped, and she went out to meet him, shivering as she did.
“Sorry, Sweetie Pie, bills mostly but there is one here from your sister.”
“Thanks, Bingo.”
“Hope it’s good news.”
“Me, too.” Josie would save that letter for later. Ophelia had had a setback, but after spending a lot of time with Carol and Cody Burdett, had gone into a residential Christian rehab program.
She thumbed through the rest of the envelopes.
Bingo peered over her shoulder, probably hoping she would read her sister’s letter and share all the news.
“Nothing new on the adoption,” he told her. “Not that I read your mail, you know, but I got to—”
“I know, read the outsides to know what to deliver.” Josie laughed, thanked him and hurried back inside to get out of the autumn chill.
The lack of information did not worry her. The adoption process was well underway and Adam…
Josie looked at the phone and held her breath. This had been one of the longest mornings of her life. The coffee commuters had already come and gone, and she’d even had time to clear away their mess and count up the proceeds. For once the amount not only covered her costs, it gave her enough left over to buy herself a cup of coffee—and not one of her own, the fancy kind in a city coffee shop.