“My hero,” I murmured.
The elderly woman spotted us immediately, waving her bejeweled hand with the enthusiasm of a much younger woman. Her silver hair was arranged in its usual helmet-like formation, her pale blue dress adorned with pearls that matched the ones at her throat.
I thought about the color combinations and the blue of her dress, and decided — surely not.
“Mercy, darling!” She air-kissed both my cheeks, her perfume so strong it nearly made me gag.
Oh, God. Itmight. Actually.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to breathe the air that flew from the AC above us and not the one around her. Whoever had named itmorningsickness, had no idea what they were talking about.
“Are you feeling better now? Judah mentioned you were under the weather.” Mrs. Tureaud's eyes traveled down to my midsection with such blatant speculation that I nearly crossed my arms protectively.
“Just tired,” I replied, forcing a smile. “The heat, you know.”
“Oh, I do know,” she said, though the woman hadn't broken a sweat in forty years. Her air-conditioned existence moved seamlessly from house to car to church to gatherings like this. “You must pace yourself in your... condition.”
The emphasis made my spine stiffen. I felt Judah's hand tighten almost imperceptibly at my back.
“My condition of being perpetually overworked by this one?” I tilted my head toward Judah, keeping my voice light. “Absolutely.”
Mrs. Tureaud's laugh was a practiced trill. “You two are just delightful. The perfect match.”
Judah inclined his head slightly. “If you'll excuse us, Alma. I need to introduce Mercy to some of our newer supporters.”
He steered me away before I could say anything that might cause trouble. I had a knack for it as of late. Judah said those were the hormones but I wasn’t so sure.
I saw Billy emerge from the direction of the study with a glass in each hand and the expression that said he’d decided tonight was going to be a good night whether it wanted to be or not.
“There she is.” He handed me a glass. Sparkling water — he'd remembered, which was very Billy, the man who forgot nothing that mattered and pretended to forget everything else. “You look outstanding, doll face.”
“You look like you started two hours ago,” I said in return.
“Three.” He clinked his glass against mine.
The party moved the way the first one had — that same slow, curated current of people who knew exactly where they were in every room they entered. I recognized faces now. The men from out of town, the ones with the assessing eyes. Hargrove's people. The ones who thought of it as a system.
I kept my face pleasant — mostly — and smiled at the right moments and accepted compliments on the house with a warmth I had learned from Darlene. And tried not to think about anything else.
Speaking of—
Darlene found me near the fireplace and squeezed my arm saying how wonderful I looked. I said the same in return, which was true, and we talked about the food bank intake numbers for December — because December was an important month, and whether the diocese would approve the heating repair before November. It was so ordinary and so warm that I had to remind myself where I was standing.
Across the room, Judah was talking to Reed and Cole and two men I didn't know. He wasn't looking at me. But every twenty minutes or so — I'd started counting, which was its own kind of problem — he found me in the room without appearing to look for me. A glance. Just long enough to confirm something. Then back to whoever was talking.
Sister Ruth appeared at my elbow.
“The pastor looks well tonight,” she said, with the tone of a woman issuing a verdict.
“He does,” I agreed.
She looked at me sideways. “You both do.”
I kept my expression neutral and thanked her for coming.
I found him in the hallway outside the kitchen at half past nine.
Not by accident — he'd given me a look from across the room twenty minutes earlier that I'd translated correctly, which was either a good sign about us or a concerning sign about me. I had made my excuses with whoever I was conversing with, drifted in the right direction and there he was.
