It had been six years since Josie had a man over for supper.

Six years since her responsibilities completely changed the course of her life. Six years since she carried Alyssa away from the hospital, a confused little girl of two, an orphan, with only her aunt Josie to take care of her.

An aunt who up until then had lived life on her own terms. Josie’s life had taken a 180-degree turn, and there were many times since then that she thanked God for a second chance to redeem herself. Both in His eyes and in the eyes of the community.

She was determined to be a good mother to Alyssa, to focus solely on the little girl and her needs.

And now a man’s voice reverberated from the living room. A man was joining them for dinner. And not just any man: Silas Marstow.

After the Storm:

A Kansas community unites to rebuild

Healing the Boss’s Heart—Valerie Hansen

July 2009

Marrying Minister Right—Annie Jones

August 2009

Rekindled Hearts—Brenda Minton

September 2009

The Matchmaking Pact—Carolyne Aarsen

October 2009

A Family for Thanksgiving—Patricia Davids

November 2009

Jingle Bell Babies—Kathryn Springer

December 2009

CAROLYNE AARSEN

and her husband, Richard, live on a small ranch in Northern Alberta, where they have raised four children and numerous foster children, and are still raising cattle. Carolyne crafts her stories in her office with a large west-facing window, through which she can watch the changing seasons while struggling to make her words obey.

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The Matchmaking Pact
Carolyne Aarsen

Special thanks and acknowledgment to

Carolyne Aarsen for her contribution to the

After the Storm miniseries.

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

—Matthew 11:28

To those whose lives have been torn apart by storms—without and within

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Questions for Discussion

Prologue

July 10, 5:00 p.m.

“Alyssa. Lily.” Josie threw the young girls’ names out into the eerie quiet blanketing the town of High Plains.

The quiet that was the aftermath of the tornado.

She took a quick step down the church steps and called out again.

An hour ago her ears had ached from the roaring rush of wind, the screech of wood being pulled free from the nails, the distinctive sound of a roaring train that came with the tornado ripping through the late afternoon.

An hour ago she had held her niece, Alyssa, and Alyssa’s best friend, Lily, close to her side while the storm raged overhead. Half an hour ago, as frantic parents came to check on the children in Josie’s care, Lily and Alyssa were still around. But since that time, as calm began to return, the two girls had disappeared.

“Lily. Alyssa.” She yelled louder this time, as her panicked gaze flicked over the devastation the tornado had wrought, disbelief and sorrow flooding over her.

Tree branches the size of her arm lay on the street, chunks of plywood, splintered timbers and unrecognizable debris littered a landscape she no longer recognized.

The Old Town Hall, one of the first buildings put up in High Plains all those years ago, was nothing more than a jumble of broken wood and windows, as if someone had picked it up and dropped it, with no regard for its history or its place in the town.

So close, she thought, fear clutching her midsection at the sight. The tornado that had ripped the Old Town Hall to rubble had—like the Egyptian Angel of Death—passed over the church doing nothing more than pulling down a sign.

She breathed another prayer, a mixture of gratitude for her safety and supplication for those who might be hurt as she struggled to absorb the wreckage of her town.

A few people stood in front of the businesses lining the street, their faces as dazed as—Josie was sure—hers was at what had just happened.

Where in all of this had her niece gone with her new best friend, Lily Marstow? And why had they left when Josie had specifically told them to stay close?

When they had asked if they could go to the washroom, Josie had watched them go, then a little girl crying for her mother had caught her attention.

Ten minutes had passed before she realized the girls weren’t with her friend Nicki or anywhere in the church. Nor had anyone seen them.

Dear Lord, please let them be okay, she prayed as she stepped out into the wet street littered with branches, wood and hunks of soggy pink insulation.

What had she been thinking letting them even step out of her sight?

She hadn’t. She’d been too busy listening to the stories that came with each new person coming to claim their child from the preschool at the church.

And she’d been too busy trying to call her own grandmother who lived a few blocks away, hoping, praying the elderly woman was safe. But neither the phones nor her cell phone worked. She had no idea what had happened to her grandmother and, up until now, hadn’t dared venture out to find out.

“Alyssa. Lily. If you can hear me, you better be coming back to the church this second.” Josie tried to keep her voice firm and steady but it wobbled on the last few words.

She was going to tan their silly, irresponsible hides when she found them.

“Did you find them?” her friend Nicki called from the top of the church steps, the worry in her voice adding to Josie’s.

“No. I have no idea where to start looking.” Josie hugged herself, the wreckage of the town slowly impressing itself upon her weary brain. She was sure she would remember the roar, the fury and the howling rush of wind until she died.

“And I’m worried about my grandmother. I can’t get hold of her. I don’t know what to do first.”

Nicki joined her friend and gave her a one-armed hug. “Reverend Garrison’s niece Avery is still here. I can ask her to see what she can find out.”

“That would be great.”

“Reverend Garrison told me emergency crews are coming, too.”

Josie nodded, her eyes scanning the devastation hoping for a glimpse of either girl.

Across the street Tom Driessen stood in front of his pizza place, still wearing his white apron tied around his generous girth. Glass from the window of his business covered the street.

“Are you okay, Mr. Driessen?” Josie asked as she ran down the stairs.

“Yeah. But look at my place. What am I going to do? What are we all going to do?”

She wanted to help, but she had a more pressing mission. “Did you see two, little, eight-year-old girls? They both have red hair, green eyes. One was wearing a pink T-shirt and green shorts, the other a lemon-yellow sundress.” Josie had sewn the sundress herself and had just finished putting the buttons on it this morning, just before school.

“The twins?”

“Yeah.” Josie didn’t take time to correct him. The girls looked so much alike, this had been a common mistake from the day Lily was enrolled in school in High Plains.

“I was just cleaning up inside when I saw them go by.” Tom ran his hand over his face. He looked so tired.

“Which way did they go?” Josie tried to keep the panic out of her voice. She had to stay calm and rational.

“That way.” As soon as Tom pointed down Fourth Street, Josie knew exactly where Alyssa and Lily had gone.

“Thanks. Take care,” she said, her words an inadequate response. There was so much to do, she thought, the wreckage of the town overwhelming her. How would they get through this? Where would they start?

Focus, Josie. First you need to find Alyssa.

And Silas Marstow’s daughter.

The thought of facing that impassive face with the news that his daughter was missing was almost as frightening as the tornado itself.

Since losing his wife two years ago, Silas Marstow had virtually become a recluse on his farm. He extremely protective of his only child. He had reluctantly put Lily in Josie’s after-school-care program two weeks ago and only because he had some extra work to do on his ranch, according to Alyssa.

If he were to find out his daughter had disappeared from Josie’s after-school program right after a horrific storm had ripped through the town…

Josie hugged herself, still chilly from her reaction to the storm. She couldn’t remember ever being so afraid.

And the last time she had prayed this much was after hearing the news of her sister’s and brother-in-law’s deaths.

A deep voice called her name and Josie’s already overworked heart tripped into overdrive.

She turned to see Silas running down the street, his long legs eating up the distance between them.

He stopped in front of her, his eyebrows two slashes over deep-set eyes flashing his disapproval, his square jaw clenched in anger. “I just stopped at the church and they told me Lily wasn’t there.” His voice was an angry wave washing over her, but guilt and fear kept her tongue-tied.

Silas caught Josie by the shoulders. “Where’s Lily? Where’s my daughter?”

“She and Alyssa slipped out,” she managed to squeak out.

“What?” Silas’s grip on her shoulders increased, his pale brown eyes drilling into her. “You’re supposed to be taking care of her. I heard the reports, I saw the cloud, the storm. I came as soon as I could.”

“They only left a few minutes ago. Lily and my niece. I’m pretty sure I know where they are.”

“Pretty sure? That’s not good enough.” His eyes narrowed and he gave her a shake, as if trying to force the information out of her. “This town, this place…” His gruff voice drifted away as his gaze shot around, as if trying to take in the havoc around them.

A burst of wind, a remnant of the raging storm, tossed her long blond hair about her face. And as she pushed it back, her arm hit his. “If you’ll let go of me, I’ll go with you to find the girls.”

“Let’s go, then,” he growled, dropping his hands.

Josie turned blindly, her own fear and concern mixing with the shame she felt at letting the girls slip out of her sight at such a time.

Irresponsible. Reckless. The words her grandmother often tossed her way now slithered through her mind, resurrecting a wild past that still accused her.

She shouldn’t be in charge of these children. She couldn’t take care of them.

Please, Lord, let them be okay. She prayed through her fear and through the voices from her past that told her she was no good. Worthless and nothing but trouble.

But in spite of her prayers, fear clenched her stomach as she navigated her way over a downed tree. Beyond that an empty car lay on its side, glass strewn over a street still wet from the rain. It had been half an hour since the tornado touched down. While she and Nicki had cowered with the children in the basement of the church, sirens had wailed and horns honked, followed by the roar of the storm filling their ears and minds.

Another tree lay across their path, and as she tried to go over it, as well, her foot got caught in the branches. She would have fallen but for Silas’s strong hands catching her from behind.

“I’m okay. Let go of me,” she snapped. Fear, anger with Alyssa and concern about her grandmother fought with each other as she struggled to free herself from the branches and the grip of his rough hands.

“Just a minute.” Silas snapped a few branches away, vaulted over the tree, then reached up to help her down, but she scrambled down on her own.

“Where are we going?” he asked as she caught her balance.

“If my guess is right, the girls went to my house. Go down Fourth to Logan Street. I live two houses down from the corner.”

Without another word Silas strode away from her. “Watch out for the downed power lines,” he called over his shoulder as his long legs covered ground. As Josie jogged to keep up, her gaze flew around the town taking stock. The Willekers house okay, but the stately maples destroyed. Roof off Klaas Steenbergen’s house. Windows smashed in the next house. The following house, no damage.

Then they turned onto Logan Street, and Josie’s steps faltered.

The capricious tornado had blasted out the windows of the homes on either side of her and snatched branches off the maples that had once lined the street.

And tossed them right into the front of her house.

Her roof was a bundle of sticks and shingles burying the front porch and lawn. One side of the house was ripped right out, exposing her living room and part of the kitchen, which now held only a kitchen chair and her new television tipped on its side.

The sound of sirens approaching broke into the silence that had held the town in thrall up to now. Emergency vehicles on their way.

Panic clawed up Josie’s throat as the demolition of her home dawned on her. Did the girls go inside that mess?

She ran toward the house, ignoring Silas’s warning shout. Please, Lord, was all she could pray.

“Josie. Stop. Now. There’s a line down.”

He snaked his arm around her waist to stop her forward momentum.

A power line sparked only inches away from her feet.

Fear made Josie sag against Silas. For a brief moment she welcomed the strength of his arm holding her up, the solid wall of his body behind her.

Then, above the sound of emergency sirens approaching, Josie heard Alyssa calling her name.

“Wait here,” Silas said, releasing her.

Josie hugged herself, praying frantically as Silas carefully made his way over the downed power line then through the debris on the lawn to the back of the house. He called the girls’ names as Josie prayed. Please, Lord, let those girls be safe.

After what seemed like an eternity, Silas came from behind the house, his daughter on his hip, his other hand holding Alyssa’s.

Alyssa was carrying a plastic bag, but Josie was too relieved to pay it much attention.

She ran toward her niece and swept her into her arms.

“You silly girl. I was so worried.” She dropped to her knees, her hands slipping over her niece’s dear face. “Are you okay? What were you thinking leaving like that?”

Alyssa glanced at Lily, then back at Josie. “I wanted to get something. From the house. For Lily.”

Fear and anger fought for dominance, but relief took the upper hand.

“Why didn’t you ask me? Why did you go without telling me? Do you know what just happened?”

Alyssa looked around and sighed. “The storm left a big mess.”

Her simple, matter-of-fact statement released some of Josie’s tension.

“It was very dangerous to go to the house without telling me.” Josie’s voice trembled.

“I’m sorry. But now I have my present for Lily. I had it ready in the kitchen but forgot it.” Alyssa glanced up at Silas. “Are we going to the church? I want to wrap it there. I have some pretty paper.”

Silas shifted his daughter on his hip, his tanned forearms holding her close as he shot a frown toward Josie. “No. I’m taking Lily home. Now.”

Lily pushed back on her father, her tiny hands dwarfed by her father’s broad shoulders. “I want my present.”

Silas’s angry gaze flicked around the wreckage strewn about the street, as if wondering how his daughter could be so caught up in something so trivial as a present when people’s lives had been upended so dramatically.

“Can you give it to her now?” Silas asked Alyssa.

Alyssa glanced at the plastic bag holding something square. Then as the emergency vehicles converged on their street, red and blue light strobing over the street, she handed the parcel to Lily.

“Happy birthday, Lily,” she said with a wide smile.

Josie saw Silas’s face go blank, then he closed his eyes and pulled his lower lip between his teeth.

The single father had forgotten his only daughter’s birthday.

“Thanks, Alyssa,” Lily said with a huge grin, seemingly unaware of her father’s mistake. Then she turned to Silas. “Can Alyssa and Miss Cane come over for a party?”

Silas shot a glance over his shoulder at the remains of Josie’s house, something she’d been avoiding ever since they turned down this street.

“I think Ms. Cane has other things on her mind right now.” Silas put Lily down, but clung to her hand. He looked around the street as one of the emergency crews ran to the house beside Josie’s and another to hers.

“There’s no one inside,” Josie called out. “We’re both here.”

One of the firemen saluted her, but followed the other man in anyhow.

Guess they had to check for themselves, she reasoned.

She turned away, unable to look at the wreckage any longer. Later she could absorb it, reason what had to happen. For now, she had to find out what had happened to her grandmother.

“We gotta get going,” Silas said, shoving his hand through his hair, as if unsure himself what to do. “Glad that you and the girls are okay.” He gave her a tight smile, then walked down the littered street, leading his daughter by the hand.

Josie watched him go as a hard shivering seized her body.

Shock, she reasoned, hugging herself. She tried to keep her thoughts at bay, tried to corral them into a corner.

But they buzzed past her defenses. Was her grandmother okay? Who else could have been hurt?

“I have to go find Gramma,” Josie said suddenly.

“Do you think she’s okay?”

“We’ll find out.” She was about to leave when a fireman called her back.

“Ma’am, we have to ask you to head back to the church.” He walked over to her full of purpose and determination. “We’re sending everyone there for now.”

“But my grandmother…”

“We’ll be giving out news as we find things out. It’s too dangerous to go wandering the streets on your own. Gas leaks, lines down. Sorry.”

Josie hugged herself again, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of her grandmother’s home.

This storm had changed everything. It had blasted into town, torn up homes, and even though it had happened only an hour ago, Josie knew it had completely rearranged her life and her plans.

Guess she wouldn’t be moving away from High Plains this fall after all.

Two days later

“So what are we going to do, Lily?” Alyssa pressed her mouth close to her aunt’s cell phone, hoping Aunt Josie hadn’t noticed that Alyssa was missing from the classroom in the church. If Aunt Josie knew she was using her cell phone, and why, she would be mad. “If you’re not allowed to come to the after-school program anymore, how is my aunt and your dad going to fall in love like we planned?”

“We need to make a pact.”

“Is that a sin?”

“No, silly.” Lily laughed. “It’s a promise that you and I are going to make to make sure that my dad and your aunt fall in love.”

“Like a pact. A matchmaking pact.”

“Yeah. A pact.”

“But we have to hurry because my aunt still says we’re going to move away. And if we move, they’re never going to fall in love.” Alyssa looked back over her shoulder, but no one was in the hallway. “So we’re going to make a pact and make a plan.”

“Right. And this is what we’ll do.”

Alyssa listened carefully and as Lily told her the plan, she started to smile. This might work. And if it did, she would have a dad again.

And Lily would get another mom.

Chapter One

October 5th

“Lily. Time for school,” Silas called up the stairs, waiting for a response from his daughter.

He heard a thump, then the sound of feet hurrying down the hallway. What in the world was that kid doing? Curious, he took a step up the stairs just as his cell phone rang.

He pulled it off his hip and flipped it open. A modern-day gunslinger, he thought with a touch of irony as he said hello.

“Silas. Orville Cummins here. Not the best news. I’ve got to delay shipping that lumber to you.”

“What do you mean? I ordered it back in June for delivery this month.”

“Yeah. That was before that tornado took your town apart couple months back. I tried to get what I could, but Garrison has been buying up what he can for his lumberyard the last while. You could try to get some from him.”

Silas rubbed his forehead. “He’s only selling it for reconstruction or building new homes.”

“If you can wait two weeks, I’ll get you what you need from Manhattan.”

“I guess that’ll have to do.”

As he was talking, Lily came downstairs, dragging her backpack behind her, a brightly colored gift bag swinging from her other hand.

While he talked he wiped a spot of toothpaste from the corner of Lily’s mouth, then patted her on the head.

“Thanks again, Orville. I gotta run.” He snapped the phone shut and slipped it into his belt holster. “Did you really brush your teeth this morning or only rinse with toothpaste again?”

“I brushed.”

Silas frowned at her ponytail, hanging askew from the back of her head.

Kelly would have put their daughter’s copper-colored hair into tight, fat braids, finished off with ribbons.

But Kelly wasn’t here and his clumsy fingers couldn’t recreate the intricate twists that had come so easily to his wife’s slender fingers. So Lily did her own hair. Today it looked as if she hadn’t even brushed it.

“We gotta get going.” He glanced at the festive bag she was carrying. “What you got there?”

Lily gave him a secretive smile. “You’ll find out.”

“Okay. Secrets. Very intriguing.”

The drive into town was quiet. Silas was lost in his thoughts, the only sound in the truck the ticking of gravel on the undercarriage and the nasally twang of the announcer from the early-morning stock market report on the radio. He had a lot to do in the next few weeks and the time was slipping through his fingers.

“Dad, can we have a puppy?” Lily’s voice broke into the quiet.

“A puppy?” Where in the world had that come from? “I’ve got enough trouble keeping you groomed and fed.” He tossed Lily a grin, just to show he was kidding.

“But a puppy would keep me company. When you’re busy.”

“I’m not that busy, honey.”

“You’re outside all the time and when you’re not, you’re on the computer. And I hate watching television.”

That sent a shot of guilt through him. Kelly had hated television, too, and had limited how much Lily watched. But television kept Lily occupied and out of his hair while he worked.

“Why can’t I go to the after-school program instead? With my friend Alyssa?” Lily clutched the shiny bag that Silas suspected held a present for that same friend.

“Because, honey” was all he would say.

He couldn’t explain to her the sheer terror he had felt when he’d seen the funnel cloud touch down in High Plains, knowing she was there instead of on the farm where she’d have been safe.

A thousand images of Lily hurt, or worse, had sliced through his head on that panicked trip into town. He’d even been tempted to pray.

Which was foolishness, of course. God hadn’t heard the countless prayers he and Lily had sent up for Kelly during her battle with cancer. When he and his sobbing daughter had stood by her graveside, Silas had promised himself he wouldn’t waste God’s time anymore.

“I miss seeing Ms. Josie,” Lily put in, still campaigning.

“Miss Cane let you and Alyssa take off after the tornado. She’s not responsible.”

That Lily had been found safe was no thanks to Miss Cane, who had let her and her friend slip out in the first place.

Lily sighed again. “I hate sitting by myself at home, Daddy.”

More guilt piled onto his shoulders.

“It was Alyssa’s idea to sneak out when we had that tornado, you know.”

“Which is another reason you shouldn’t be hanging around with Alyssa.” This conversation was well-tilled ground. But his daughter was persistent and each time approached it from another angle as if hoping to unearth some new argument to convince him.

“But she’s my twin friend. And she has a really pretty aunt.”

Silas wasn’t about to dispute the pretty-aunt part of her statement. Josie Cane was the kind of woman who would make any man look twice and then again. Tall with blond hair rivalling ripe Kansas grain and a smile inviting a response.

And a reputation that preceded her.

It was a good thing he wasn’t looking and he wasn’t interested. The long, slow loss of his wife, Kelly, had squeezed his heart to nothing. When the first clumps of dirt were dropped on her coffin, his heart had closed like a fist on his memories and his pain. He hadn’t talked about Kelly nor encouraged Lily to do the same. He was tired of hurt and pain.

“Doesn’t matter how pretty she is.” Silas made his voice gruff to show Lily he was serious. “I want you home.”

Where I can make sure you’re safe, he added to himself.

“But Alyssa told me that Ms. Josie is doing baking at the church. For the workers who are building the town again. Ms. Josie said we all have to do our part and I want to help, too. I want to learn how to bake, then I can make cupcakes and muffins, like Mommy used to.”

In spite of the sadness the memories brought, Silas had to smile. Kelly was wonder and joy and love, but she was no baker. Each attempt created a potential health hazard.

“And I won’t be so lonely after school when you’re doing all your work,” she continued, her voice growing earnest. “And you won’t have to keep checking on me. Ms. Josie said she’d gladly take me back again.”

Silas was wavering. He had a ton of work to do today and he had already been juggling his timelines, trying to figure out how he was supposed to stop what he was doing in time to pick Lily up from school every day. Since the tornado, he’d been driving her back and forth instead of letting her take the school bus.

“Oh, look, someone is working on the roof of the Old Town Hall.” Lily pointed out her window as they turned onto Main Street. “Ms. Josie said people want it ready for Christmas. For Founders’ Day. Ms. Josie said it will be a healing celebration.”

“Ms. Josie obviously says a lot of things,” Silas muttered, glancing in the direction Lily pointed. The sight of the half-finished building sent the same pang through him that he had felt when he first saw the destruction of the Old Town Hall. He and Kelly had been married there.

He pushed the memory back. Rebuilding the Old Town Hall seemed a waste of time. The old could never be replaced. It wouldn’t be the same. All those memories were best left gone with the building when it was destroyed.

“What is Founders’ Day?” Lily asked, suddenly animated. “Is that when people who lost things find them again? Like the place they set up for people who lost stuff after the tornado?”

Silas chuckled at her description. “No, honey. I heard it has something to do with the friendship of the two men who started this town, a Mr. Logan and a Mr. Garrison.”

“Like Reverend Garrison? Who works at the church?”

“He’s a relative.”

“Reverend Garrison is a nice man.” Lily sighed. “Alyssa always goes to church on Sunday to hear him preach. I wish we could go again.”

Silas made no comment to that as he turned the truck in to the school parking lot. Since Kelly died, he had stayed away from church and God. Just keeping the boundaries marked off. God: up there and silent. Him: down here and busy. Never the two shall meet.

Silas parked the truck, pulled off his seat belt and turned off the truck.

“Don’t get out of the truck yet, Daddy,” Lily said, grabbing his arm.

Silas, his hand already on the handle, stopped, shooting his daughter a frown. “Why not?”

“I have something for you.” She scooted across the seat and threw her arms around her father’s neck. “Happy birthday, Daddy,” she said, adding a noisy kiss. Then she gave him the bag she’d carried into the truck.

As he took the bag he felt a jolt of all-too-familiar guilt. She had remembered his birthday. Had planned for it.

He remembered how he had completely forgotten hers.

“Why, honey—” He swallowed down a surprising knot of pain. “Thank you. What is it?”

“You’re supposed to open it and find out.” Lily sat back with a self-satisfied grin.

Puzzled, Silas pulled out the package wrapped in a plastic grocery bag. When he unwrapped the framed picture, he did a double take.

Why had his daughter given him a picture of Josie Cane?

He masked his confusion and gave Lily a careful smile. “Thanks, honey. This is an interesting present.”

“I got the picture from Alyssa for my birthday. And I think you need to have a picture of someone in your bedroom again. Like you used to have of Mommy.”

The woman smiling back at Silas from the picture looked as if she was laughing at a secret joke, her long blond hair blowing away from her face. Her eyes held a hint of mischief, which made Silas think the stories about Josie’s wild past held some truth.

“That’s very nice. Thank you, Lily.” He put the picture back in the bag, but didn’t tell his daughter there was no way he was filling the spot that once held a picture of his beloved wife with a picture of this woman.

Lily sat back in her seat, her arms hugging her backpack, obviously not ready to leave yet. “Do you think she’s pretty?”

“As pretty as she needs to be.”

“I like Ms. Josie.”

He gathered that. “I’m sure she’s very nice.”

“And she’s a good teacher.”

She gave him a sweet smile, which immediately made him suspicious. “I want to go to the after-school program again, Daddy. Can I? Please?”

Bingo. Silas heaved a sigh, marveling at her persistence. “We’re not talking about that now, Lily.”

Lily glanced over her shoulder again. “Can you please walk me to the school?”

Where did that come from? She was usually out the door and down the sidewalk before the truck rolled completely to a stop. Now she wanted him to walk her to the door?

“Of course.” He got out, still puzzled.

The banging of hammers from various parts of town competed with the whine of saws as he walked around the truck to where Lily waited. Work was going on all over town, still repairing the damage from the tornado.

Thankfully the school had been spared the worst of the damage and classes hadn’t been interrupted.

“Lily. Hi.” A little girl’s voice called out over the noise in the town just as Silas caught up with his daughter.

He turned and came face-to-face with a young girl holding the hand of the woman whose framed photo lay faceup on the seat of his truck. He shot a quick glance at his truck, wondering if Josie would have seen it as she walked past.

“Good morning, Mr. Marstow,” Josie said.

“Ms. Cane.”

Her smile wasn’t nearly as friendly and open as the one in his picture and he was surprised at the touch of disappointment this created. But he tipped his hat all polite and gentlemanly, then smiled at Alyssa.

As he always was when he saw her, he was surprised how much Alyssa and Lily were alike. Same red hair. Same tip-tilted nose. Same slight build. Even Alyssa’s sparkling green eyes held the same hint of mischief that Lily’s could, which was probably why they were so close.

But the resemblance ended with their clothing. Where his daughter wore a faded Hannah Montana T-shirt, Alyssa wore a white button-up shirt so bright it hurt his eyes. Lily’s pants had grass stains on the knees while Alyssa wore a cute, ruffled pink skirt and striped white, pink and green knee socks.

And Alyssa’s shining red hair was done up in neat, fat braids tied with green-and-pink ribbons.

The girls looked like “before” and “after” pictures for laundry detergent.

“Did you start baking yet?” Lily asked, catching Ms. Josie by the hand. “’Cause I asked my dad if I could come to learn how to bake, and he said maybe.”

“We would love to have you come back to the class,” Josie said, shooting a puzzled glance his way.

He knew exactly what the question in her eyes was about. Once the phones were up and running in High Plains, he had called her and told her Lily wouldn’t be attending the class anymore.

He had been diplomatic enough not to accuse her of carelessness, but she seemed to have drawn that conclusion. She had offered more apologies, but he was firm. He had said he wasn’t going to compromise the safety of his daughter. Which made her mad. Which, in turn, made him mad.

They hadn’t talked or seen each other since then.

“What are you making today?” Lily asked, swinging Ms. Josie’s hand, her wide, happy smile creating a surprising spurt of jealousy in Silas. She never smiled like that at him.

“We’re making cupcakes,” Alyssa, holding Ms. Josie’s other hand, put in.

“I want to learn how to make birthday cupcakes. For my dad. It’s his birthday today, Ms. Josie.”

“Is it, now?” Josie glanced back again at Silas. “Happy birthday, Mr. Marstow.”

“Thank you, Ms. Cane,” he said, stepping aside to let a group of laughing children slip past him.

“He’s not very old yet, you know?” Lily said. “Do you think he’s old?”

“I think he’s exactly as old as he needs to be,” Josie said, tilting her head to one side as she looked at him as if making sure.

“You sound like my dad,” Lily said with a grin. “He said that you’re as pretty as you need to be.”

“Really?” Thankfully Josie didn’t look at him.

“Do you want to come over to my house for a birthday party?” Lily asked. “Daddy, can we have a birthday party for you at our house? Can Ms. Josie and Alyssa come?”

A gust of wind picked up Josie’s hair and tossed it away from her face and, as she smiled, she looked even prettier than her picture.

And for a moment he couldn’t look away.

Silas yanked his attention back to his daughter, frustrated with the vague reaction Josie had created in him. He had no intention of going down that road again.

“We’re not having a birthday party,” Silas quickly added.

“I don’t mind if she comes to the class,” Josie put in. “There’s enough room for her.”

Silas thought of the work he had waiting at home and the convenience of working straight through until late afternoon before coming to get Lily.

He scratched his temple with his index finger, trying to decide. Lily would be over the moon and out of his hair, and he wouldn’t have to feel guilty about her watching television all the time.

“When he does that scratching his head thing? That means he’s thinking,” Lily said to Alyssa.

Josie pressed her lips together, stifling a smile.

“I’ve got a lot to do,” Silas said, feeling as if he needed to put up a bit more resistance. “I’m not sure it will work.”

“If you’re busy it would be a good thing that Lily comes,” Alyssa said. “Then you can work all day.”

Silas glanced from one girl to the other, feeling as if he was being played like a cheap guitar.

“I promise I’ll take care of her.” Josie’s husky voice held a touching vulnerability. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am that she and Alyssa got away from me that day of the tornado, and I realize you were frantic with worry, because so was I.” Josie looked down at the girls. “And if these two promise to never do anything like that again, I’m sure we can believe them.”

As she raised her brown eyes to his, bits and pieces of other conversations intruded. “Raising Cane,” one of the guys at the feed store had called her, alluding to her wild past. A young man, apparently a onetime fellow classmate, followed this up with stories of some heavy-duty partying on Josie’s part.

Silas didn’t know any of the stories personally. He had moved here ten years ago from Colorado. Then he met Kelly, fell in love and got engaged. They were full of hopes, dreams and plans. Silas had dreamed Kansas was where it was going to happen for him and it had. He and Kelly started their life and those first few years he and Kelly had been too involved in their own plans to get caught up in the comings and goings in High Plains.

So all he knew about Josie Cane was that she had lived it up and partied hard until her sister died, leaving her with an orphaned niece.

Could he really trust this woman with his daughter?

“Please, Daddy. Please. I’ll be so good.” Lily ran up to him and grabbed his hand. “And I won’t complain about watching television while you work or eating grilled-cheese sandwiches for supper every night.”

Didn’t that make her life sound completely pathetic compared to baking cupcakes with the lovely Ms. Josie? What else could he do but give in?

“If you could have her for today, that would help me out for now,” he said.

“I promise to take good care of her,” Josie said.

The ringing of the school bell broke into the morning. Josie bent over to give Alyssa a hug. “Have a good day, sweetie.” Josie tweaked the ribbon on the little girl’s braid, then stroked her cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you, Auntie Josie.”

“Bye, Daddy.” Lily tossed off a wave, grabbed Alyssa’s hand and the two of them ran off, Alyssa’s perfect braids bouncing on her shoulders and Lily’s crooked ponytail bobbing behind her.

The school doors fell shut behind the girls and Josie turned to him, pushing her hair back from her face. “Thanks for letting her come to the program,” Josie said with a careful smile. “Alyssa has been after me for the past couple months to get Lily to come, but I knew how you felt about it.”

“But they see each other every day at school.”

Josie lifted her hand, then let it drop in a what-can-I-do gesture. “I don’t understand the obsession with seeing each other every day, either, but I’m learning as I go.”

Silas gave a short laugh. “I feel like every day there’s something else I don’t know.”

“And just when you’ve got it, they throw something new at you.”

Like a picture of their teacher.

“So I just let her come to the class? I don’t have to do anything else?”

Josie shook her head, then glanced down.

Silas followed the direction of her gaze and saw her twist her wrist as she checked her watch.

Time to push off.

“Then I’ll see you later today,” he said, taking a step backward. “Gotta run.”

“I promised my grandmother I’d be back right away,” Josie added as if she felt the need to explain. “And I hope you have a happy birthday.”

Silas thought once again about the birthday present lying on the seat of his truck.

And what was he supposed to do about that?

Chapter Two

“So what are you staring at?” Nicki’s voice pulled Josie’s attention away from Silas, who was getting into his truck.

“Nothing,” Josie said with an airy tone, tucking her hair behind her ear in a casual gesture. She gave the toddler perched on Nicki’s hip a gentle smile, hoping to distract her friend. “Hey, Kasey, how are you?”

Kasey blinked, then turned her face into Nicki’s slender shoulder, her fingers tangling in Nicki’s long blond hair.

“She’s out of sorts today,” Nicki said with a wistful smile. “She had a bad night.”

Josie gently touched the toddler’s wispy hair. “Nightmares, you think?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. I know I would have nightmares if I was found wandering alone on the riverbank, after a tornado had just swept through town.” Nicki shuddered. “It still gives me the creeps to think how close she came to drowning.”

“And still no word from her parents?”

Nicki shook her head, holding Kasey even closer. “Not since those people falsely claimed they knew her, hoping to cash in on the fund set up for her.”

Josie shook her head. “I still can’t believe people would do that.”

The sound of a truck caught Josie’s attention and as she glanced sidelong, she caught sight of Silas driving past. He was watching her. She flushed again and turned in time to see her friend give her a thoughtful nod.

“He’s good-looking enough. In a broody sort of way,” Nicki said with a teasing smile.

“Not my type,” Josie said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Besides, he was a widower with a young daughter. Her life was complicated and messy enough.

She glanced at her watch. “I gotta run. My grandmother doesn’t appreciate being left alone too long.”

“How’s she doing?” Nicki asked.

Josie waggled her hand. “Not great. She’s still in a lot of pain.”

“I’m sad for her, but at the same time, happy for me. Because the longer you stay here, the longer I have to convince you to change your mind about moving away.”

Josie tried not to respond to the wistful tone in her friend’s voice, but it was the plaintive look in her blue eyes that almost did her in. “I can’t, Nicki. You know that no matter what I do, my grandmother won’t let me forget who I was and what I used to do.” She had struggled and prayed over her difficult decision to move. Since she had taken in Alyssa, her life had changed but it seemed her grandmother hadn’t accepted that or forgotten Josie’s part. And now, even worse, her grandmother was turning her disapproving eye on Alyssa, as well. “And it seems many of the people in this town are determined to remember, as well.”

“How can you say that? Everyone in town thinks you’re great. You help everywhere help is needed. Since the tornado, you’ve been working your fingers to the bone.” She shifted Kasey to her other side, absently stroking the toddler’s head with her cheek. “And that stuff you used to do—surely your grandmother can’t still hold that against you?”

Josie sighed. “It seems she does. And if anything, having her live with me has proved to me more and more the necessity of leaving.”

“But Alyssa and Lily…” Nicki let the sentence trail off.

Josie fought her own guilt over Alyssa. She knew how close she and Lily were and how devastated her niece would be to leave her best friend behind, but it couldn’t be helped.

Another quick glance at her watch showed her she had to move on.

“Sorry, Nicki. I really gotta run.”

“Will you still cover my preschool class after lunch? I’ve got to take Kasey to the doctor.”

“Absolutely. Drive safe.”

“And I’m going to be praying something will happen to you to make you change your mind.”

Josie just laughed. “It would take quite something for that to happen. See you.”

Josie hurried down the street, glancing at her watch again, feeling a moment of guilt as she remembered doing the same in front of Silas. She couldn’t help it. In the past month, time had become her nemesis.

After the tornado had left her and Alyssa’s home uninhabitable, they had moved temporarily into one of the cottages belonging to the Waters family along the river.

And when her grandmother was discharged from the hospital, unable to take care of herself, unable to walk and also unable to move into her home, she had moved in with Josie and Alyssa.

Every day was spent caring for her grandmother and Alyssa, dealing with an insurance company who required endless reams of paperwork, making lists and appointments for her grandmother and trying not to grieve the loss of the things she had owned.

Josie hurried up the walk to the house. This morning the physiotherapist was coming for her grandmother, then she had promised Nicki that she would cover her preschool class after lunch.

Then she had to get what she needed for her own baking class later that afternoon.

As Josie ran up the temporary wheelchair ramp to the cottage, she heard her grandmother’s shrill voice calling her name.

And she paused, her fingertips resting on the door.

Please, Lord, give me patience. Help me to care for my grandmother as I should. She waited a moment, as if waiting for a quick answer to that prayer to come raining down from Heaven, then she turned the knob and stepped into the cottage.

“I’ve been waiting for hours,” Mrs. Carter called out as Josie walked down the narrow hall to her grandmother’s room. “Where were you?”

Her grandmother lay on the bed, clutching the blankets, her frown indicating her displeasure with her granddaughter. The early-morning sun slanting in highlighted the frown lines puckering her grandmother’s forehead and the lines of disapproval bracketing her pinched lips.

Betty Carter’s long hair, her grandmother’s pride, was already neatly brushed, waiting for Josie to put it up in the chignon Betty had worn from the day she was a bride.

“Alyssa wanted me to bring her to school today,” Josie said, walking to the bed.

“Girl is up to something. You better keep an eye on her.” Betty caught the bar that had been installed specially for her and eased herself to a sitting position. “I think she’s headed for trouble. Just like you.”

The stream of negativity made Josie wonder again why she hadn’t listened to the doctor’s suggestion to put her grandmother in a short-term care facility instead of trying to take care of Betty herself.

No one would have faulted her. Josie was trying to rebuild her life one piece at a time. She had the responsibility of her niece and she had her job and she had her plans. More than enough for one person.

But when Josie had found out her grandmother was being discharged early, she knew exactly why she had to take Betty into her own home instead.

Guilt. The eternal motivator.

Guilt over the fact that her grandmother had lain, in pain from a broken femur and shattered collarbone, for four hours after the tornado struck her home before rescue workers got to her. Guilt over not spending enough time with her grandmother when she was in the hospital. Guilt over a sketchy past Josie had tried to leave behind but one her grandmother would dredge up time and time again.

And threaded through this all was the slim hope that one day her grandmother would grant her scarce approval, turning to Josie with a smile instead of her habitual scowl.

“Alyssa is a good girl,” Josie said quietly, defending her niece. “Just like her mother.”

“You better hope she takes after Trisha—otherwise you’ll have your hands full. Like I did. Visits from the cops. Phone calls from other parents. You were nothing like Trisha and even less like your mother. Debbie was a good daughter and a good mother. Good thing she didn’t live to see what happened to her girls. One dead and the other nothing but trouble….”

Josie closed her ears to her grandmother’s litany of shame as she helped Betty Carter to the edge of the bed, moving her just as the physiotherapist had shown her the last time she had come for a home visit.

“Just put your arm over my shoulder and we’ll go up on the count of three. Ready?”

A few quick maneuvers had her grandmother in the wheelchair.

“My goodness, girl, could you be any rougher?” Betty frowned as she tried to get herself settled, pulling her pink, fleecy housecoat around her with one arm. “That collarbone will never heal if you aren’t more careful and you made my leg hurt. Again.”

“What would you like for breakfast, Gramma?” Josie ignored Betty’s complaints as she shifted the wheelchair through the doorway. The temporary living arrangements had never been meant to be wheelchair accessible, but thankfully a volunteer who had come to High Plains to help with the rebuilding had built a rough ramp up to the front door.

“I’m not hungry.” Betty closed her eyes and sighed. “You can do my hair right away.”

“I’ll need to get some elastics from my room first.”

“Why didn’t you think of that in the first place? I always have my hair done in the morning. You know that.”

Josie walked to the room she shared with Alyssa, closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

“Please, Lord, give me patience,” she whispered, clenching her hands into fists. “Please help me to love her as You love her.”

She waited a moment, then pushed herself away from the door and walked to her dresser.

She shook her head when she saw the framed photograph sitting front and center on the dresser.

Her niece had come home from school one day with this picture of her best friend, insisting on putting it on the dresser.

In the picture, Lily held the reins of the horse and grinned at the camera, her hair brushed and braided. She wore a cowboy hat and blue jeans. Silas was on the horse, his mouth tilted in an unfamiliar smile. He wore a cowboy hat pushed back on his head and he leaned toward the camera, his arms resting on the pommel of the saddle, as if about to divulge some secret.

When Alyssa had brought the picture home she said it was so she could remember her friend when they weren’t together in school.

Josie picked up the picture. Lily looked a couple of years younger than now, which made Josie suspect Lily’s mother had snapped the picture. Hence Lily’s neat hair. And Silas’s warm smile that transformed a face that Josie had seen only scowling or frowning.

He wasn’t a happy man, and she wondered what it would take to see that smile again.

She set the picture back on the dresser, snatched the elastics she needed out of a basket holding Alyssa’s hair stuff and hurried back to her waiting and impatient grandmother.

“You took a long time,” Betty said, scowling at her granddaughter.

As Josie brushed her grandmother’s hair, she wondered what it would take to get a smile from Betty Carter, as well.

“Did you give your dad the picture?” Alyssa slipped her backpack on and tugged her braids loose from the straps. They always got caught. Sometimes she wanted to get her hair cut, but then she wouldn’t look like her friend Lily anymore. Lily’s dad would never let her cut her hair, so Alyssa kept her hair long, too.

Tommy Jacobs bumped her as he ran past them, heading out the door to catch the school bus. Alyssa was a bit angry with him, but then she remembered that he was a foster kid and he had lost his dog. When she thought about that, she felt sorry for him and wasn’t mad anymore.

“Yeah. He looked kind of funny when I did, though.” Lily dropped her books in her backpack, but didn’t zip it up before she put it on.

“Like funny laughing or funny weird?”

Lily tugged on her hair and tightened her ponytail. “Funny weird.”

Alyssa thought about this a moment. “Do you think that means he likes her?”

Lily shrugged as she grabbed her coat. “I asked him if he thought she was pretty and he said, “She’s as pretty as she needs to be.’ I don’t know what that means.” She sighed. “Now what are we supposed to do?”

Alyssa bit her thumbnail while she thought. “Maybe just wait a day or two? Then we can try something else?”

“Maybe. But this matchmaking is taking a long time. I know my dad is lonely, because I see him looking sad when he’s sitting on the porch drinking his coffee and I’m supposed to be sleeping. And I want a mom again. Like Josie.”

“And I want a dad. But I don’t know how to make getting them together go faster,” Alyssa said, taking Lily’s hand.

Auntie Josie was already at the church, so she and Lily walked down the street from the school. The town didn’t look as messy as it had the day of the tornado, but the trees still looked sad. At least that’s what Auntie Josie always said.

“I’m tired of waiting,” Lily said as they turned onto Main Street. “And I’m tired of eating grilled-cheese sandwiches and hot dogs.”

“My aunt makes good suppers. We had something called pesto with our pasta last night. I liked it, but Gramma said it had too much garlic. Gramma doesn’t like much of the food Auntie Josie makes.”

A truck drove past them with a bunch of wood in the back, and Alyssa’s heart skipped. That looked like Lily’s dad. Was he in town already to pick up Lily? Was their plan going to get wrecked already?

But the truck kept going down the street.

“Did you phone your dad and tell him the program is going an hour later today?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah.” Lily swung her jacket back and forth, the cuffs of her sleeves dragging over the ground. “Will we get into trouble for fibbing? Your aunt told him it was over at six.”

Alyssa didn’t want to think about that. “I don’t think so. Because if your dad comes late, and he comes to my aunt’s house to pick you up, maybe you both will eat supper with us. And that’s good for our cause.”

Lily brightened. “That would be cool. How will he know I’m at your aunt’s place?”

“Aunt Josie will put a note on the door. Guaranteed.”

“But would your auntie Josie invite him for supper?”

“You just have to say how hungry you are. And make sure you let my aunt know how good the food smells. Say something again about how you usually eat hot dogs for supper. She’ll feel sorry for you for sure.”

“Right. I forgot.”

“And maybe you shouldn’t drag your coat and make it so dirty. You don’t want your dad to get mad about that.”

Lily shrugged. “My dad doesn’t care. I never get in trouble ’cause my clothes are dirty.”

“Really? My aunt doesn’t like it when I get dirty.”

Lily giggled. “One time Daddy forgot to put soap in the washing machine and my shirt didn’t get clean. I didn’t tell him, ’cause I didn’t want him to feel bad.”

“Maybe Auntie Josie can give him some hints,” Alyssa said.

“If our plan works, then maybe he won’t have to do the laundry anymore.”

“That would be so cool,” Alyssa said with a grin.

Chapter Three

“He’s not coming.” Lily stood by the door, clutching the plate of cupcakes she had made for her father’s birthday.

“He’ll come, honey. Don’t worry.” Josie stroked Lily’s hair, shooting an anxious glance down the street.

It was 6:36 p.m. The rest of the parents had come and gone, but no sign of Silas. A phone call to his home netted her a terse request to leave a message from the answering machine. So she did, but here she was, half an hour after class and still waiting.

Anxiety clawed at her. Her grandmother had been complaining all last week about how long she had to wait for supper. As it was, Josie couldn’t leave her grandmother alone too long.

“Is Mr. Marstow coming?” Alyssa asked, her voice surprisingly perky in the circumstances. Josie was glad the children hadn’t picked up on her worry.

What if something happened to him? As far as she knew he was all alone on his ranch.

Another quick glance at her watch: 6:37 p.m. She had to get going. Now. “Are you sure you don’t know your dad’s cell phone number?”

Lily furrowed her brow, her nose curling up at the same time. “I’m sorry. I forgot. I used to know it.”

Josie thought for sure Silas would have drilled that information into his daughter’s head.

“I’ll write a note for your father and leave it on the door. I also left a message on his home phone. Stay right here and don’t move one inch,” she said, adding a stern note to her voice so the girls knew she was serious. “I’m getting some paper.”

The girls were exactly where she had left them when she returned with the note. She pinned it to the door, hoping it would stay. “Okay. Let’s go.”

She slipped her purse over her shoulder and held her hand out to Alyssa.

“Lily wants to hold your hand, too,” Alyssa said. “She doesn’t have an aunt’s hand to hold. Or a mother.”

Josie glanced down at the mismatched clothes Lily was wearing and felt a touch of regret for the young girl. Though Josie had taken the liberty of brushing Lily’s hair and fixing up her ponytail, it was obvious to Josie the little girl had chosen her own clothes.

“I can carry my cupcakes in my other hand,” Lily said, shifting them and holding out her free hand.

Josie took it and smiled down at the young girl. “Then let’s get going.”

The walk along the river to their temporary home was quick. Thankfully the girls were willing to step up the pace and they got there in a few minutes.

“Is that you, Josie? What took you so long?” was the first thing Josie heard when she opened the back door to the cottage.

“Sorry, Gramma,” she called out, dropping her briefcase on the floor and helping Lily set her cupcakes on the counter. “One of the parents hasn’t come yet.”

She hurried to the living room. Betty Carter was sitting in her wheelchair, looking out over the river, her hands clenched over each other in her lap. Josie paused when she caught a fleeting glimpse of sorrow in her grandmother’s face.

What went on behind those sharp blue eyes? Did she have regrets? Did she miss all the people she had lost in her life?

Josie would probably never know. Her grandmother never opened up to her. Never showed anything that might be construed as weakness. And never told Josie that she loved her.

“I would have liked to know if you were coming,” Betty said, the condemning tone in her voice sweeping away the moment. “A simple phone call would have been considerate.”

Josie pressed back a reply. Her grandmother didn’t like answering the phone, as she had often told her granddaughter. “I see Sally got you set up nicely,” she said, her eyes skimming over the table beside her grandmother. A teapot, cup and plate of cookies sat within easy reach as did a book and a couple of magazines.

While Josie was at work, a few women from the church took turns stopping by to check on her grandmother. Sometimes they had to help her out of bed.

“That Fenton woman doesn’t know the first thing about helping invalids. She jostled me so bad, my pain came back.”

“Did you take the pills the doctor gave you?”

“They don’t do anything.” Betty flapped her hand in a gesture of dismissal. Then she straightened as Lily and Alyssa slipped past the doorway. “It’s not polite to ignore your Gramma, you know,” she called out with a sharp tone. “And who is that with you?”

Alyssa stopped, and Josie saw her give Lily an apologetic look. Then she turned and trudged into the living room, holding Lily’s hand.

“Gramma, this is my friend Lily Marstow. Lily, this is my Great-Gramma.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Lily said.

“Is your dad Silas Marstow?” Betty turned her chair around to face the girl.

Lily nodded.

“Your mother died two years ago?”

“It makes me sad to talk about her,” Lily said. “But someday I’ll get a new mother.”

Her assertion made Josie wonder if Silas had a girlfriend, which then made her wonder why she cared.

“If you’ll excuse me, Gramma, I have to go make supper.” Josie felt bad leaving Alyssa and Lily with her grandmother, but she had to start.

“We’re going, too,” Alyssa said, grabbing Lily by the hand.

“Don’t you want to stay and talk to me?” Betty asked, sounding peeved.

“I want to show Lily my room before her dad comes.” Alyssa beat a hasty retreat, giggling with Lily as they scurried down the hallway and into the room she shared with Josie.

Josie paused in the doorway, feeling a moment’s sympathy for her grandmother. Betty had never been a pleasant person, and Josie was sure her injuries gave her a lot of pain. However, she didn’t blame the girls for not wanting to spend more time with her. Betty was unfailingly critical. While her grandmother might have just cause to criticize Josie, given her wild past, Betty had no right to reproach Alyssa.

“Alyssa is turning out to be more and more like you all the time,” Betty snapped.

“Alyssa is a good girl, Gramma.”

“You better hope so” was Betty’s only reply.

Josie sighed and returned to the kitchen, her brief moment of sympathy melting in the heat of her grandmother’s glare and reinforcing, for Josie, the need to stick to her plan of leaving. That Betty disapproved of Josie was one thing, but to turn that disapproval to Alyssa, Josie couldn’t allow. And she knew her grandmother wasn’t going to change.

She got the rice cooking, made some more tea for her grandmother and was stir-frying the vegetables when a truck rumbled to a stop in front of the house.

Josie glanced sidelong out the window in time to see Silas Marstow come striding up the walk. Beneath the brim of his cowboy hat, she saw his face set in the same grim lines she had seen that day of the tornado.

Why did she feel a rush of guilt? It wasn’t her fault he was late.

“Lily, your father is here,” she called out, rinsing her hands and drying them off on her apron as she walked to the door. When she pulled it open, Silas stood on the step, one hand raised to knock on the door, the other on his hip, his eyes narrowed.

She had a feeling of déjà vu as his disapproval swirled around her.

“I thought this thing went until seven” were the first words out of his mouth.

Josie slowly shook her head. “No. I was sure I told you six.”

Silas pushed his hat back on his head, scratching his chin with his forefinger. He hadn’t shaved and his finger made a rasping noise against the stubble shadowing his jaw. “Lily told me seven. I wouldn’t be so irresponsible as to leave my daughter waiting for an hour.”

Josie bit back her next response, trying not to get baited by his anger. “You’re here now. Come in, and I’ll get Lily.”

The cabin was an adequate size for Josie, her grandmother and niece, but as soon as Silas entered the kitchen, it seemed to shrink.

“Have a seat, I’ll be right back,” Josie said, pulling out one of the chairs she and Alyssa had managed to salvage from their home.

Lily and Alyssa were perched on Alyssa’s bed when Josie entered the room.

“Your dad is here,” Josie said again.

“Okay.” Lily glanced at Alyssa who lifted her hands in a pushing motion, then Lily turned to Josie. “I like supper, you know.”

Alyssa poked Lily and frowned.

Lily slapped her hand on her mouth. “Umm—I mean, I’m really hungry.”

“Of course you are. It’s supper time.” Josie glanced from Lily to Alyssa trying to read the unspoken messages flashing between the two. Because, sure as kittens grow up, they were planning something.

“Let’s go see your dad,” Alyssa said, jumping off the bed and dragging Lily along behind her.

“Auntie Josie, can Lily and Mr. Marstow stay for supper?” Alyssa was asking as Josie entered the kitchen.

Josie was momentarily taken aback. Talk about putting her on the spot.

“I don’t think we can,” Silas said.

“But I’m so hungry,” Lily said, glancing over her shoulder at Josie. “I don’t think I can wait until I’m at the farm.”

Josie hesitated, convinced Lily and Alyssa were up to something and not sure she wanted to be a part of it.

“Oh, don’t be so rude, let the man and his little girl stay,” Josie’s grandmother put in.

Somehow Betty had worked her way to the kitchen and had decided to add her voice to the fray.

Josie felt torn between appearing to be rude and feeling as if she was being manipulated.

“You’re welcome to stay, Mr. Marstow,” she said, giving him a polite smile that let him know she didn’t expect him to.

“Thank you, but I should get going.” He read her perfectly.

“But I’m so hungry, Daddy. I can’t wait.” Lily tugged on Silas’s hand, rubbing her stomach with her other hand.

Silas glanced from Josie to his daughter and she was convinced he was feeling as manipulated as she was.

“And it’s your birthday,” Lily added. “And I don’t want to eat hot dogs again. Not for your birthday.”

Now Josie felt like a real cad. Making the guy go home and make hot dogs for his birthday meal. “Please. Stay. I insist. We’ll have more than enough.”

“Auntie Josie always makes enough so we can have leftovers,” Alyssa put in. “And we had leftovers yesterday even though Gramma doesn’t like it.”

Josie shot her a warning glance. Mr. Marstow didn’t need to know the minutiae of their everyday life.

“Please, Daddy,” Lily pleaded, sensing her father’s weakening.

“Alyssa, why don’t you and Lily set the table. Make sure you have five place settings put out,” Josie said, putting an end to the awkward discussion. She gave Silas a cautious smile. “Now, you have to join us.”

“And we have birthday cupcakes for dessert,” Lily added.

“You come talk to me in the living room,” Betty put in from the doorway. “I remember your wife.”

And so, step by step, Silas and his daughter were pulled into the Cane family dinner.

As Josie directed the chattering girls, she put the finishing touches on supper. While she worked, her own emotions veered from annoyance with Alyssa and Lily for putting her on the spot and a curious sense of muted anticipation.

It had been six years since she had a man over for supper.

Six years since her responsibilities completely altered the course of her life.

Six years since she carried Alyssa away from the hospital, a little, confused girl of two, an orphan, with only her aunt to take care of her.

An aunt who, up until then, had lived life on her own terms and in her own way. Josie’s life had taken a 180-degree turn and there were many times, since then, that she thanked God for a second chance to redeem herself. Both in His eyes and in the eyes of the community.

But she was determined to be a good mother to Alyssa, to focus solely on the little girl and her needs. As a result she seldom dated and, in the past three years, had only gone out a handful of times.

Now a man’s voice reverberated from the living room, answering questions posed by Betty. A man was joining them for dinner.

“Tell Gramma and Mr. Marstow dinner is ready,” Josie said, setting the pot of rice on the table. She glanced over the settings, a feeling of self-pity loomed. The extensive china collection, inherited from her sister, had been reduced to a few chipped plates, a couple of cups and four bowls she and Alyssa salvaged from her broken house under the watchful eyes of a crew who was sent to remove debris.

The plastic chairs hunched around the rickety table had been donated, scrounged from various households whose possessions were still intact and who had extra to spare.

Her dining room had once boasted an antique dining room set, also inherited from her sister, a hutch that her parents used to own and a living room set that Josie had saved up for dollar by precious dollar.

All gone, she thought with a pang of remorse as she straightened the faded tablecloth she had bought at a rummage sale put on by the town for the tornado victims. Sure she had the insurance money, but dollars could never replace what she had lost.

She pushed her emotions aside, struggling to count her blessings. She had Alyssa. She had her health. She had the enduring presence of God in her life.

And Gramma? a tiny voice questioned.

Well that was another ongoing story.

“We’re here,” Alyssa said, leading the mini procession into the kitchen with a grin of pride.

“Smells good,” Silas said, pushing Betty’s wheelchair into the kitchen. “Where do you want us to sit?”

Alyssa directed traffic and a few moments later, they were all settled around the table.

“Shall we pray?” As Josie glanced around the full table, a curious sense of well-being sprung up inside.

It felt good to see new faces around the table. And as Josie’s eyes met Silas’s, she felt the faintest hint of possibilities.

Which she immediately quashed as she bowed her head. She had her plans. They had only been put on hold until her grandmother was settled.

“Thank You, Lord, for food. For a roof over our heads. For the blessing of Your love,” Josie prayed, “and thank You for the company that could join us this evening. May we be a blessing to each other. Amen.”

Josie waited a moment, then looked up.

Directly across from her, Silas was looking past her, his mouth set in grim lines. As if he was disapproving of something.

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