My mom poked her head around the corner from the kitchen. “Hi. That took a while.”
Normally, I’d lie and just agree, but since I knew I needed to ask about working at the bakery later, I’d have to be able to explain how I was offered the job.
So, I only fibbed a little.
“I stopped at the bakery on the way home. There was a help wanted flyer on campus, so I thought I’d put an application in.”
My mother looked at me with a scowl but her only comment was, “So, I take it they’re not letting you go back to school.”
Maybe it was the way she said it, but I got the feeling she already knew the answer.
“No. Not unless I’m married, anyway.”
Her scowl remained, but she simply replied, “Hmph,” then turned around.
I followed her into the kitchen and looked around before asking, “Is Ruthie still sleeping?”
“Yes. She hasn’t made a peep.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I could only imagine what my mom would have to say if the baby had woken up hungry, and I was nowhere to be found.
It’d only been three hours since I’d put her down for a nap, but I murmured, “I’ll go check on her,” before I spun on my heel to escape my mother’s judgment hanging thick in the kitchen’s air.
“We’re having a guest for dinner, so I’m going to need your help,” my mother called after me.
Great. Probably an elder from church coming to pray for my daughter’s soul again. Since a corrupt tree (me) can’t bear good fruit, the congregation was convinced Ruthie’s soul was in danger until she was old enough to be baptized.
When the elders showed up to pray for her a day after I’d brought her home from the hospital, I’d cheekily suggested I should baptize her in the Catholic church, since they baptize infants.
I’d thought it was funny. They had not.
So, I’d quickly apologized for my lame attempt at a joke, then shut my mouth and held their hands as they prayed over her. All the while, seething internally.
My daughter’s little soul was pure, and I hated them for even suggesting otherwise. Especially since I knew damn well their hypocritical souls were far from virtuous.
I tiptoed into my room and made my way to the crib in the corner to stare down at my precious little one as she slept.
She really was perfect.
I had a lot of regrets about how my life had turned out so far, but she would never be one of them.
In that moment, I vowed to keep her safe and make sure she grew up happy and loved.
I hoped meeting Lainey today was a sign that I was on the right path to do that.
~~~~
“Who’s coming for dinner tonight, Mama?” I asked as I walked into the dining room wearing a baggy t-shirt and stretchy pants to find her dusting the chairs.
“Elder Roberts.”
Picking up a rag and the cleaner, I got started on another chair. “Melanie and Mindy’s dad?”
“Yes. They’re away at bible camp this week.”
I knew both girls originally from Teen Worship Wednesdays. They were younger than me and had been homeschooled by their mom until she’d passed away a few years ago. Which meant they enrolled in my school for the very first time in ninth grade when I was in twelfth.
I had been glad they had each other to help navigate high school, even our small religious one. I wondered if they were going to attend the same college together in the fall—or if they’d even be allowed to go.
