“I sure am.” Gayle planted a fist on her hip. “I'm helping you use some sense.” She waved a cloth in Kizzie's direction and returned to her place behind the counter. “We all got pasts, Kizzie. But we got futures too. Don't get so hung up on the past that you discount God's mighty good love in the future. Your heavenly daddy ain't prone to giving stingy gifts, so what I'd do if I was you, is just thank Him.”
Kizzie reread the letter, her smile unfurling all over again. The sweetest warmth pierced through her doubt. Noah loved her. And he still wanted to be with her even though she carried another child that wasn't his?
Too wonderful.
She should look for it again in her Bible. Anything with the phrase “too wonderful” sounded like it ought to be worth rereading.
Kizzie had just come back from a brief lunch break when Molly rushed through the front door. Her bright gaze landed on Kizzie sorting through some of the hardware items, and she nearly vaulted forward, her eyes growing wider the nearer she came.
“Kizzie, is it true?”
The bell over the door rang to alert her of another customer, so she tugged Molly close to keep the girl's volume from disrupting the entire store. “Is what true?”
Molly's attention dropped to Kizzie's middle.
Already? George sure made his rounds, didn't he?
Kizzie released a long sigh and braced her hand against the nearest shelf.
The bell rang again, so Kizzie tugged Molly even farther away from the front. “What exactly did you hear?”
“It's all over town.” Molly's whisper wasn't nearly as quiet as Kizzie wanted. “You and Mr. Noah are gonna have a baby.”
The resurrection of her shame infused liquid heat into her cheeks.
“That's not true at all.” Kizzie tried to keep her voice calm. She'd known the news would make quick fodder, but oh, how she'd hoped for a few more days to prepare herself for it. “This baby ain't betwixt me and Noah. I've been carrying this little one since leaving my old home and just found out yesterday about the fact I was with child at all.”
“You mean, you've been carrying a little one all this time and didn't know?” Molly's entire face scrunched. “But you and Noah Lewis are sweet on each other. Hettie heard him declare himself yesterday when she was listening from the kitchen.”
So much for privacy. “Be that as it may, Noah Lewis did nothing inappropriate. He's always been a complete gentleman to me.”
“But the baby?”
“Has the same daddy as Charlie.” Kizzie huffed at the girl's immaturity, her own frustration rising to the surface. “I got pregnant back before coming to The Hollows and before I ever came to know the Lord.” Her throat tightened as the shame deepened from her face to her chest. “But I had no idea I was expecting at all, not until yesterday, because I thought I was just tired or adjusting to my new life.”
“But if Mr. Lewis ain't your baby's daddy …” Molly tilted her head, trying to sort out the story. “Who is?”
“I am.”
The voice pulled Kizzie through the past year of her life. A voice she'd once longed to hear speak such words of love and dedication Noah had delivered yesterday.
And in one rush, all the heat in her face drained away.
Molly looked over Kizzie's shoulder, her wide eyes blinking in quick succession.
“Kizzie?”
Kizzie pinched her eyes closed and swallowed.
She hadn't expected him to keep his promise.
To find her.
But Charles Morgan had said he'd come for her.
And he had.
A tremor in Kizzie's chest moved through her body.
