“Well, Gracie?” she said with him gone. “Was my sarcasm terribly unbecoming?”
There was not a reason in the world I couldn’t speak my mind to my older sister, but moments passed and I did not answer. Her self-affirming nod said she was ashamed, but a twinkle in her eye said she was justified. Thick black waves in her hair framed the youthful face that held back a grin.
“Not really, but I think he’s past our disapproval of Francine.” I sipped the last of my coffee and gently set the cup down, part of me wanting to applaud her. The other part wanted the past to just heal itself, like a crab regenerating its lost leg. “There is a very high wall between me and Father. Rightly so. Maybe.”
“How was it?” Millicent sat down across from me, her mirth diminished. “Being there again. Be honest.”
“If you want my opinion, I don’t believe Father could ever have calculated the cost. Seems to me he was blinded . . . incapable of knowing what diminishing returns lay hidden beneath the surface.” I walked to the window, wiping away tears that brimmed from my eyes.
Being honest meant looking at the past, not running, not cowering, neither letting injustices destroy the essence of my core, nor come close to ripping apart the fiber of a family in the way Francine had Moe Lee’s.
“I’m hesitant to ask again, but has anyone heard from Moe Lee?” I turned to face Millicent.
She was wagging her head. “Not a word that I’ve heard,” she said, and my heart seemed to swell beneath the flattened hand I laid over it.
“You know my direction changed the day Henry told me Moe Lee and his family were run off the farm. There, behind the great white facade we call Hillbound, upstairs in my room, I made my decision to come here in the middle of the night. Remember?”
She hadn’t forgotten. None of the Maxwells could have, and in my remembrance I still credited the episode with my calling to go to the mission field.
“It was a terrible time, Gracie. I’m so glad you came here.” Millicent reached across the table and patted my arm. “And we’ve loved every minute you’ve spent. When you went down to that potter’s house in Madison County that year—even then you could have been here with us if we’d only been aware of what was happening.”
“I don’t know what I would have done without you and Jim giving me a place to live. My having your home to come back to during those four years of college was so generous of you. And I’m sure Emma would have been glad to have me except for lack of space and the children. She’s a wonderful sister, too.”
Talking provided some relief. I smiled. “Y’all are bound to have seen it yourself, just how Francine’s influence is trickling like a slow drip over a pile of stones, etching in Henry a visible erosion. That’s just what occurs over time. Do you know what I mean, Sister?”
I gave her a little space to answer, trying to get my concern in the open before it burned a hole in my heart.
“Whew . . . I’m thankful you intended to spend only one night there,” she said. “You’re right, though, Gracie. But who knows if, given the chance, Father would roll back events and do things differently. She’s pushed everything and everybody, starting with Father, and I suspect he will never give up his—what? Obsessions? Addictions . . . if that’s what horses and betting are.”
“I think you see it on a regular basis, in bits and pieces. But for me to come back and witness firsthand Francine’s callous regard for our brother is almost obscene. The rest of it? Yes, most anything can become an obsession.” I had to breathe deeply. “On that note, I do have to say things work out. Interesting, isn’t it? Because it was that very trip to Madison County that gave me a new beginning. Actually, it instilled in me a confidence in God’s grace and a way to climb to new heights.”
“But who doesn’t have the family celebrate a sixtieth birthday?” Millicent gave me a sly look that said we’d covered the rough spots on the subject of our stepmother. “Maybe she’s just a teensy bit too young yet. You’d think she would enjoy having some folks around the place, and close to her age—like us!”
We both burst into laughter. I had to cover my mouth. Millicent wiped tears. A good laugh helped everything.
“We do have a lot of wonderful memories, Gracie, and a lot of goodness to carry us on,” she said. “Things never stay the same, do they? Enough! Tell what you think about Mr. Hagan. Simon Hagan. Might he be a very interesting topic?”
“Get in this house, James Carver! Gracie and I have bones to pick with you. Come sit at the table and start talking. We want details. Simon Hagan. Start at the beginning.”
“Sister, please. You’re embarrassing me.” I couldn’t fool myself. I definitely wanted to know what my brother-in-law had to say. “And I do need to apologize, Jim. I rushed out today without speaking . . . and I owe you some money, too.”
“Ah, no worries. Millicent may put you to work washing dishes to cover for yourself.” Jim laughed and gave me hug, then peeled off his jacket and hung it on the hall tree. “Would seem,” he said, taking plenty of time to position his hat on the hook above the row of coats, “I’m getting caught right in the middle, aren’t I?”
“Indeed! Spill the beans! Gracie told me she left him talking to you. Or starting to, anyway,” Millicent said, dragging him by the arm into the kitchen. “Fess up.”
I caught the wink he sent in Millicent’s direction. “Stop it, Sister. There’s probably nothing to tell. Is there?”
“So happens, young Mr. Hagan’s gonna be working for me. I offered to let him take my old truck. Don’t know how he was gonna get out to his homeplace without it, but he took it and headed out there.” He took a seat, put his elbows on the kitchen table, and laced his fingers together. Millicent and I stood over him, waiting. “Come Monday morning he’ll be back in for work. Been away from these parts for quite a while—ten years, I believe he said. Frankly, I didn’t recognize him. Geoffrey’s got six boys and a couple o’ girls. Simon’s the oldest of all of ’em.” He laughed and started to fiddle with the corner of the stack of napkins in the center of the table. “Gonna give his folks quite a surprise, from what I understand. This is his first day back in Todd County. They don’t know he’s arrived. Other than that, I’m afraid I don’t know much. Oh! Well, now, I guess I did forget this one thing, Gracie. As I mentioned, I don’t know anything about Simon Hagan past the time when he used to come into the store for supplies . . . eighteen years old, probably. But—” He paused, long enough for me to squirm.
“Heaven’s sake, honey. What?” Millicent yanked apron strings around her waist. “What?”
“Simon did ask if I thought it would be alright if he called on you . . . here at the house.” Jim said. “He is most interested in meeting you. Again.”
Millicent squealed.
“You told him I would be staying here?”
“I did. That’s all I’m saying.”
Millicent and I talked into the night before we finally pried ourselves apart. “Get
