“No, indeed, girl. No, indeed.”
Kizzie embraced the awareness, the light, the inexplicable sense of belonging, and released her fears and shame, joining her own laughter with Nella's.
Love, the realest kind, caught her.
White moonlight streaked through the only window Kizzie left unshuttered throughout the night since the unwelcome evening visit almost two weeks before. A halo circled the moon, hinting to another upcoming snow.
Beautiful.
She rested her head against the window frame, the cold of the outside seeping in around the glass, but she only smiled.
Loved.
Beyond her brokenness.
By God?
The newness of the idea radiated a strange lightness through her heart. She raised a sugar cookie to her lips. She'd done nothing to deserve His love. Hadn't expected it, especially since her own father cast her away, but her fledgling understanding grew into something deeper and more real with each additional thought about who He said she was and each passage she read in her mama's Bible.
And, this new identity brought a purpose with it. Something she'd never imagined in all her life.
Helping others.
Sure, she'd helped her family when needed, but her heart had always been so full of what she thought were bigger and better things beyond the mountain that she failed to realize how she could love others well right where she was. But the glimpse of joy in Nella's face when Kizzie had mentioned the land …
Well, now she knew.
If God had given her something, either big or small, she had the ability to share.
Give.
Just as God had given to her not only in her spirit but through the care of Nella and Joshua. With a little prayer of thanksgiving, she popped the rest of the cookie in her mouth and then turned toward the fire to add another log.
“It's long past sleeping time, Boss,” Kizzie whispered to the dog lying in front of the fire. She ruffled the fur on his head and straightened. She'd not taken two steps toward the kitchen when a low growl rumbled from the dog.
Kizzie turned in time to see something crash through the window where she'd just been standing. A large rock rolled to a stop by a chair near the fireplace, and Boss ran to the front door, erupting in a series of massive barks.
Kizzie pressed herself against the wall. Between Boss’ barks, she made out some of the words carried in through the window on the cold air.
“We don't want your kind here!”
“Leave, or we'll make you leave!”
More threats rose from outside, each voice alerting her to another man yelling in the darkness. How many were there?
Another rock flew through another pane of the same window, this time hitting the wall beside her. Her gaze shot to the ceiling in wordless entreaty. What was she supposed to do?
The doorknob rattled, and all warmth fled her body.
What would they do to her if they made it inside?
Her attention flitted to the bedroom. What would they do to Charlie?
With a sudden rush of heat shooting from her stomach to her face, she ran into the bedroom, pushed some blankets near Charlie's ears to, maybe, help curb the noise, and then grabbed the rifle from the corner of the room. She jerked open the dresser drawer and retrieved bullets as well as the pistol Joshua had given her last week.
She had to protect Charlie.
A scraping noise along the side of the house alerted her to more taunting.
