Shayla’s voice intruded on his memories. “It’s a lovely old church, isn’t it?’
“Yeah. My granddad helped build it after the original wooden building burned down. Hauled the bricks up from Boise in a freight wagon back during the Depression.”
“Your roots go down deep in this valley, don’t they?”
He nodded. “Real deep.”
The organist began to play, intruding on their conversation.
Leaning closer, Shayla whispered, “I’d like to hear more sometime. About how your family came here, I mean.” She shrugged. “It’s the writer in me. I’m curious about everything.”
He couldn’t help wondering if he’d want her to be curious about him for some other reason besides her writing.
Rainbow Community Church had a splendid preacher in Roger Barnett, and Shayla enjoyed the worship service that morning. She particularly liked standing next to Nat and listening to his fine singing voice. There was a richness and depth in it that touched her heart.
It wasn’t until the service concluded and people came over to meet her that she became aware she’d been the subject of much speculation during the previous hour. Then she realized they thought she was with Nat.
The notion was so preposterous, she nearly laughed aloud.
Men who looked like Nat didn’t date women who looked like her. They chose those tall, lithe, gorgeous blondes or brunettes, the ones who resembled models on magazine covers. She hadn’t reached the ripe old age of thirty without learning that lesson and learning it well.
And it wasn’t as though it mattered to her, she thought a short while later as she drove toward home. She was comfortable enough with her appearance. She didn’t mind as much as she used to that she was short and plump and rather ordinary looking.
Besides, she wasn’t in the market for a man. God had called her to Rainbow Valley to write for Him, not to find a husband. There was no shame in remaining unmarried, despite how her mother felt about it. The shame would be in knowing what God wanted her to do but not doing it.
However, Nat could become a good friend. She’d like that, especially since she planned to live in these parts a long, long time. They were neighbors, after all. She was going to clean his kitchen and he was going to fix her roof.
At the cabin, she parked her fifteen-year-old car between two tamaracks, then went inside. She put her Bible on the coffee table and switched on the radio to a country-western station before going into the bedroom to change out of her dress and into a T-shirt and pair of shorts. Afterward, she poured herself a glass of iced tea from the pitcher in the refrigerator and went to sit on the deck.
She should work on her book this afternoon. Tomorrow she’d probably be too tired to write after she returned from Paradise Ranch. What a mess she was about to tackle! She hadn’t let on to Nat, but it had been awhile since she’d seen so much clutter and disorganization in one house.
If there was anything she’d learned as the oldest of seven children, it was how to keep things neat and tidy. Otherwise you lost the things that were yours.
Sipping her tea, she allowed her thoughts to drift to her family. Her parents, Doug and Reba Vincent, hadn’t ever had much money, but they’d had plenty of love, especially for kids. Shayla arrived the year after they married. Eight years separated her and her brother, Dwight, but the rest of the Vincent children followed in rapid succession. Anne, at twenty-one, was one year younger to the day than Dwight. Ken was twenty. Olivia had just turned seventeen this month. George would be fifteen in two weeks. Crystal, the “baby” sister, was thirteen.
Shayla couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been helping her mom change diapers or feed one baby or another. In fact, she’d postponed moving out on her own after graduating from high school because she was needed at home. There hadn’t been enough money for full-time college, so she’d settled for taking the occasional night class while working as a secretary during the day.
And all the while, she’d harbored the dream of one day writing great novels. Sometimes, while still living with the family, she’d locked herself in the bathroom with a good book, just for a moment of peace and quiet to herself. She would read and think, I could do this. I want to do this.
She felt the sting of disappointment once again, wondering why no one had tried to understand her dreams and aspirations. Even when she moved into a place of her own, she hadn’t found time to write. At least one of her brothers or sisters, several of them teenagers by that time, had been in the midst of a crisis at any given moment. Whenever that happened, they’d ended up at her apartment, bunking on her couch, turning to their big sister for advice.
Despite all of that, Shayla smiled as the memories drifted through her head. Her large family could be demanding, but she loved each one of them dearly. She would even admit to missing them…a little. But only a little. There was something to be said for the five hundred or so miles that separated her from them. For one, it guaranteed her solitude on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon.
Solitude in which to sit on the porch of Aunt Lauretta’s old cabin. Solitude in which to thank God for granting her this opportunity.
“You do open doors for Your children, don’t You, Lord?” she whispered as she lifted her eyes heavenward. “Thanks for letting me walk through this open door. Keep me focused on serving You with the talent You gave me.”
Nat was napping on the couch, taking advantage of his one day of rest, when the phone rang. It was his sister, Leigh.
“Sleeping, weren’t you?” she asked in response to his mumbled greeting.
“Yeah.” He yawned. “What’s up, sis? How are things in Florida?”
“Everyone here is great. Mom’s having a bit of trouble with her hip again, but she says she can get along fine with a little discomfort.”
“Has she decided when she’s coming to Paradise for a visit?”
“I don’t think so. You’d have to ask her. My guess is, it won’t be until fall. She’s got a pretty full summer planned with all her retiree friends.”
He nodded. Their mother had never been one to sit idle for long, with or without a bad hip.
“Listen, Nat. The reason I called is…I need a favor. A big one.”
“I’ll do what I can. You know that.”
“Yes, I know.”
When she didn’t continue right away, he wondered how big—how serious—this favor was going to be. He felt a niggle of worry. Maybe something was wrong that she hadn’t told him. Maybe their mom’s hip problems were more serious than Leigh let on. Maybe…
“Jim’s firm is sending him to Italy,” she offered at last. “He’ll be there from six months to a year.”
“Wow!”
“It’s a big promotion for him. A wonderful opportunity.”
“But?”
“He wants me to go with him. Only, we aren’t allowed to take the girls.” She paused a moment before saying, “I’d like to have Cathy and Angie stay with you at the ranch.”
“With me?”
“You know how great it was for us, growing up there,” she hurried to add. “And you are their only uncle. Mom couldn’t do it. For a week or two maybe, but not for up to a year. What do you say, Nat? Will you let them come live with you? Jim and I would pay for whatever child care you would need to arrange when you aren’t around.”