Love Comes Home by Ann H. Gabhart

could she say? The pew didn’t belong to her. Then he offered Samantha a sucker, not asking if that was okay either. Of course the child wanted a sucker, but if Tori had wanted herto have a sucker, she’d have given her one. Sticky hands and Sunday dresses didn’t go together, but Clay didn’t appear to know that.
    “Suckers used to keep my sisters quiet in church when they were little,” he whispered with a glance up at the Sunday school ladies.
    Mrs. Jamison and Mrs. Wilson let their eyes wander from Miss Sadie talking about how Mary had pondered in her heart things like the shepherds coming to see her baby. It was obvious from the looks on the two women’s faces what they were pondering about Clay and Tori.
    Samantha reached for Clay and Tori let him take her. It would serve him right to get sticky sucker juice on his suit. But he was ready for that too with his handkerchief out to wipe Samantha’s hands without her making the first complaint.
    He waited until the bell rang to signal the end of Sunday school to ask, “Would it be all right if I bring the girls by your house later today? Mama helped Lillie and Mary make Samantha a rag doll. It’s not store-bought, but Mama is pretty good with a needle.”
    “I’ve seen your mother’s dolls. They’re wonderful, but the girls should keep the doll for themselves.” Mary was only seven and Lillie nine, not too old for dolls.
    “No, they wanted to make something for Samantha. They think she’s the cutest kid ever.”
    Tori wanted to tell him he shouldn’t use his little sisters to get his way, but maybe she judged him wrong. The girls did really like playing with Samantha. And what could it hurt to let them give Samantha a present?
    Now here in the kitchen, she stirred sugar into the applesauce and wished she’d said no. Clay would show up at thehouse and everybody would think she wanted him there. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him there. She didn’t care whether he came or not. She simply didn’t care.
    Tori looked out the kitchen window over the new sink to where some hens scratched in the dirt. Maybe Graham’s pond wouldn’t be frozen over. She could go pretend to fish. But she couldn’t take Samantha. It was too cold.
    She sighed. She couldn’t escape. She didn’t truly want to disappear on a Sunday afternoon. Sundays meant family.
    She didn’t want to escape family. She just wanted to be that girl she was before the telegram came. A girl who cared.

11

    T hey gathered around the dinner table, laughing and talking. Everybody except Evie. Kate didn’t know what was wrong with her, but something was. Evie picked at her food with her preacher’s wife smile pasted on. Whatever her problem was, it could wait. Jay deserved the spotlight today. Not Evie and whatever crisis she was deciding to have.
    That could be anything from a bad week at work to Mike forgetting to pick up something at the grocery. Evie said that happened a lot. She claimed Mike’s mind was always somewhere else. Like he and God were having this deep conversation they weren’t letting Evie in on.
    If Mike was upset with Evie’s bad mood, he didn’t show it. He seemed the same to Kate. Careful to hold Evie’s chair at the table and then Mama’s too. He was quiet, but while that wasn’t like the old Mike—the Mike before the war—it was like the Mike who’d come home from Germany. Daddy said Mike needed time. Mama said he needed prayer. Evie said he needed to figure out things and do it soon. Evie had never been long on patience.
    Kate did her best to ignore Evie and just enjoy Jay at home and her family crowded around the table. Family that included Aunt Hattie and Graham and even Fern, though she’d refused to stay and eat today.
    She missed Fern there. Kate could hardly believe she’d thought that, but somehow Lorena had pulled Fern into the family. That didn’t mean the woman wanted to be at the table with them. Too many people made her nervous, but she’d passed