“Thank you kindly, Victoria. Charlie and I are most grateful and …” Her attention flitted to Noah. “We look forward to spending more time with both of you.”
Victoria took Noah's arm and sent Kizzie a thoughtful look. “How did you enjoy church this morning?”
Kizzie paused, shuffling through the experience. “It was certainly big. I about jumped plumb out of my skin when that organ took off, but then I was just amazed.” She shrugged. “But I ain't sure Charlie and I are the right fit for such a proper place. Mrs. Carter says she ain't set on any of the churches around here, but I feel as though I ought to find one to settle into, don't you?” Her chuckle escaped as a memory popped to mind. “When me and my siblings were younger, we'd hop from church to church on the Sundays Mama couldn't come with us, looking for the ones that had food after service, but then, we never really got to be known or to know anybody else. And, after reading my Bible a might bit more, it seems to me God wants His family to know each other.”
Charlie took that very moment to begin a fuss, and no wonder. He likely needed a diaper change. And from the way he smacked his lips, he wasn't interested in waiting much longer for food either.
“Well, we attend a smaller church at the edge of town. In fact, it's called Friendship Church,” Victoria said, moving with Noah toward the door.
“George isn't too keen on us attending a place where more farmers and mill workers take up pews than the fashionable folks.” Noah's wink came as such a surprise, her cheeks sparked from cool to scorching in no time at all.
Clearly, Noah Lewis didn't know the power of his winking skills.
She hadn't known it either.
But now she did.
And he ought to be ashamed.
Her grin twitched at the very idea, as a flush of appreciation heated her cheeks.
It was a good thing the man couldn't read her mind, because he'd label her about as bloomin’ crazy as women went.
“Sounds like you're awful keen to rile your brother, Mr. Lewis.” She grinned, holding his gaze as she walked with them to the door. It was so easy to talk freely to him. “And I look forward to spending more time with y'all.”
Charlie's fussing took an upswing into crying, and Noah started tugging his mother more quickly through the door. Kizzie stood in the doorway, watching how he took such care with his mama, gently coaxing a smile out of her and sending Kizzie exaggerated expressions as his mama warned him to be careful with her hat.
A tightening in her chest, like the gentlest squeeze, pressed through her as the carriage pulled away from the store. Other than Charles, Kizzie had little experience in romance, but this ease and friendliness with Noah came as a pleasant surprise. She didn't feel inferior or silly with him.
She sighed.
How would it feel to be loved by a man like him?
Her former notions of charming and romantic crumbled against the slow truth she was beginning to see in him. How could she have been so blind?
So desperate for love?
Glancing back as the carriage pulled away from the pavement, Noah doffed his hat, his gaze holding hers for longer than it ought. She looked away.
She wasn't ready for his heart.
And he shouldn't want hers, with all its many wounds still mending.
But … maybe someday?
She stepped into the store before Charlie went to caterwauling and slipped up the stairs to her apartment. Once she changed his diaper and then wrapped him in a warm blanket, she settled into the rocking chair near the stove and window and leaned her head back. Prayers pooled through her. Praise for God's provision and kindness. For new friendships and a job. For Charlie's sweet disposition and a warm little apartment of her own. She prayed for her family, the same swell of longing that accompanied each thought of them nearly bringing her to tears, but she prayed for their safety and for Jesus to catch her daddy. But she stopped the prayer before she voiced the tiny piece of her heart still vulnerable and afraid. The part longing for the love of a good man, for a family of her own.
Someday, she'd be ready.
She'd work to deserve it.
Yet her longing needed a place to land, so she prayed for God to give her work to do for Him.
And maybe, the other would come along in time.
A stack of ledgers with loose papers sticking from between the pages teetered on the brink of toppling.
After breakfast, Gayle Carter ushered Kizzie into a tiny office at the back of the store and urged her to start sorting through six months of untouched bookkeeping. Evidently, either Gayle had been so overcome with grief that she refused to look at her husband's desk, or she really didn't like ledgers.
