The Matchmaking Pact

“I’m not done,” Betty said with a peevish voice as Lily and Alyssa jumped off their chairs and Josie cleared a space for the plate.

“I made strawberry ones.” Lily set the plate with the assorted cupcakes on the table in front of her father. “But I didn’t put pink icing on them, because I know you don’t like pink.”

Silas gave her a rueful little smile. “What color did you use?”

“Purple. With yellow flowers. Ms. Josie helped me make the leaves. She makes really, really nice leaves.”

“We all have our talents,” Josie said, with a light laugh. “Can I take your plate?”

“How long have you been doing this program?” Silas asked, glancing up at her as he handed her his dinner plate. Josie felt the faintest flutter as their gazes met.

She pulled her attention back to his question. “For the past six years. I took some childhood-development courses through a community college in Manhattan.”

“And what made you decide to move back to High Plains?”

“Ms. Josie is a really good teacher,” Lily said, not giving Josie a chance to answer, “I learned a lot today.”

“That’s good,” Silas murmured.

Lily leaned forward, her hands folded in front of her on the table. “Can I please go again tomorrow? And tomorrow and all the time?”

Josie wanted to interrupt. Lily was really putting her father on the spot and she was sure he didn’t appreciate it. But before she could say anything Alyssa cut in.

“My aunt Josie is very careful. All the time, she’s very, very careful. And she would never let Lily run away like I made her do that day of the tornado.” Alyssa’s expression was so earnest it made Josie smile.

She glanced at the recipient of all this eagerness and caught a flicker of humor feathering across Silas’s lips, as well.

And then his smile transformed his face. Laugh lines fanned around his eyes and a certain tension around his mouth faded away.

And Josie felt a tingle of awareness slip up her spine.

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“I would be really good,” Lily put in. “And you wouldn’t have to stop your work to pick me up.”

Still smiling, Silas glanced at Josie. “It seems I’m getting ambushed.”

“I would love to have her. It would be no trouble to add her to the roster.”

“Okay. She can go.”

“I’m done,” Betty said, wiping her mouth with her paper napkin. “I can’t swallow this dry rice.”

“Would you like some more water?” Josie asked, reaching for the pitcher.

“No. I want to get out. I’ve been cooped up in here all day while you’ve been gallivanting around.”

“We’re having dessert right now,” Josie said, struggling to keep a patient tone in her voice as she cleared away her grandmother’s plate.

“I don’t want any. When you’re done with supper, you can take me out.”

“Can Lily and I take you for a walk, Gramma?” Alyssa put in, her face smeared with icing from her cupcake.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Josie said as she sat down.

She tried as much as possible to be the buffer between Alyssa and her grandmother’s caustic comments. For the most part Josie was the direct target of Betty’s ire, but lately Betty had been turning on Alyssa, as well.

Josie couldn’t understand this. Alyssa was the daughter of Betty’s favorite grandchild. Maybe it was because Josie was taking care of her. And not doing the job Betty thought she should. Maybe Betty thought Josie’s younger behavior was rubbing off on Alyssa.

“We’ll be real careful and we’ll go slow.” Alyssa popped the last bite of her cupcake in her mouth and wiped her fingers on her napkin.

“You’ve got icing on your face, missy” was Betty’s frowning reply.

Alyssa obediently wiped it off, then glanced at Lily. “So do you.” She giggled.

Lily wrinkled her nose, but ignored it as she took another bite.

“Hurry up, Lily,” Alyssa said, wiping her mouth again. “We have to take my Gramma for a walk after Auntie Josie does devotions.”

Lily gave Josie a puzzled frown as she licked her lips. “What’s devotions?”

“We read the Bible and pray, dummy.” Alyssa bopped Lily on the shoulder.

“Don’t call her dummy,” Betty snapped before Josie had a chance to reprimand her niece.

Josie bit back a comment, then walked to her bedroom for her Bible. When she picked up the brown, leather-bound book from her bedside table, she paused and smiled. This Bible was one of the few things she’d salvaged from her house. She had received it from Reverend Garrison after her sister’s death. He had told her it would give her comfort.

And it had.

Reading the Bible had also given her the strength she needed to deal with her grandmother’s anger when she found out Josie had been named Alyssa’s guardian instead of her. The Bible was well thumbed and worn and one of the most precious things she owned.

Josie hurried back to the table and as she slipped into her chair, Silas frowned at the book she laid on the table.

Josie slid her fingers in the pages marked by the bookmark Alyssa had made for her. “We’ve been reading through the Psalms the past few weeks. Today we’re reading Psalm 16,” Josie explained as she opened the book.

She chanced another look at Silas who sat back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed. Sheer defensive posture, she thought.

Josie lowered her gaze as her mind cast back to Lily’s innocent comment about God taking their mother away from them. Did Silas really believe that?

She hesitated, wondering if reading the Bible would bother him. But then she reminded herself of the comfort she had received from God’s word. She began reading.

“‘Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge. I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.’’”

She didn’t have to look up to sense Silas’s antagonism pushing at her. But she read on, seeking God in the words. “‘Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.’” As she read, she saw her grandmother fidgeting beside her, and Lily whispering to Alyssa who was looking down and grinning.

Was she the only one at this table who understood that they were reading God’s holy word? She paused a moment, letting the words she was reading register both with her and the people sitting at her table. Then, she finished, “‘…You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.’”

She smoothed her hand over the page, then carefully closed the Bible. “I know for me, those words give me great comfort. I know everyone here has faced some deep sorrow, but it is such a comfort to know we will see those we love again.”