Summer of Joy

by Ann H. Gabhart

  She spoke the names out loud softly. They sounded right. Good. Perfect. Amazingly perfect. Just like her wedding dress.

  She lay still and imagined walking down the red-carpeted aisle in the dress. She’d tried it on again after it came back from the cleaners. She had to get it cleaned even though she worried about the lace maybe disintegrating or something. But the lace survived intact, and the dress came back smelling fresh instead of like that musty dress shop where she and Jocie had found it after the idiot driver of that other car had pulled out right in front of her. Thank the Lord, she was able to slam on her brakes and keep from hitting him, and thank the Lord, they ended up stopped right in front of the Vintage Dress Shop. She’d never noticed it there until then—she didn’t drive to Lexington all that often to shop. Most of the time she did her shopping in Grundy so she could drop by and see her parents.

  Another thank the Lord. Her mother was beginning to come around. She still wasn’t exactly excited about the prospect of Leigh becoming Mrs. David Brooke, but at the shower Aunt Wilma had given for Leigh a few weeks back, Leigh’s mother had actually laughed and joined in with everybody teasing Leigh about having kids. Leigh was hoping her mother had finally opened her eyes and looked at David and seen he wasn’t all that old even if he did have a daughter who had a baby.

  And what a sweet baby too. Leigh didn’t mind a bit being his stepgrandmother. Jocie had even started calling Leigh Grams to Stephen Lee. Of course Stephen Lee was still too little to say much but ma-ma and da-da, but his beautiful brown eyes lit up every time he saw her. Leigh didn’t care what the baby learned to call her as long as he kept smiling when he saw her.

  Leigh loved babies. She had always loved babies. And she didn’t deny she would like to have a baby. She and David had even almost talked about it a couple of times. David said there wasn’t anything they shouldn’t be able to talk about, but babies came close. That and Edwin Hammond.

  Leigh frowned and tried to push that thought away. But she couldn’t. Edwin Hammond had a way of edging into her head like an unwanted weed in a flower garden. Leigh hadn’t figured out what his problem was other than he must have a few screws loose in his head. She’d told him plain out more than once to leave her alone, to never call her again, to get lost. Then there he would be again, standing in her path. The thorn on the rose of her happiness.

  She didn’t know why. She’d never once encouraged him. And while she had lost weight and gotten a new hairstyle and looked surprisingly good when she looked at herself in the mirror, she didn’t think she looked that good. Not to have some strange man chase after her when she not only hadn’t given him the first bit of encouragement but had done everything she could think of to discourage him.

  Jocie was right when she called him Mr. Creep. Not that Leigh would tell Jocie that. It wasn’t exactly respectful to call a teacher a creep even if it was true. So instead she kept telling Jocie school was almost over and that the man would be gone then. The school board hadn’t hired him for the next year.

  Jocie had already known that. She’d said the man had actually cornered her outside the school building and yelled at her.

  “What did he say?” Leigh had asked her. She was giving Jocie a ride out to the park to take pictures of some Little Leaguers playing ball.

  Jocie stared down at the camera in her lap and ran her finger over its edges. She didn’t seem to want to answer Leigh, but she finally said, “Nothing that made much sense.

  Something about me being the reason he wasn’t being hired back. That he knew I went and talked to Mr. Madison about him. And I did do that, but I don’t think Mr. Madison paid much attention to anything I said.”

  “So what did you tell him?”

  “I didn’t want to tell him anything, but he kept stepping in front of me when I tried to leave.” Jocie’s voice trembled a little as if even thinking about the man in front of her scared her.

  Leigh reached over and touched Jocie’s arm. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  “He didn’t hit me or anything, if that’s what you mean, but I got the feeling he might. I mean, Dad told me to pray about it all, and I have. I’ve tried every kind of prayer you can think of. Let me get sick and have to study at home. Let some miracle happen that they let school out early. Give me courage to sit in English for an hour every day. Help me survive the year. And I guess the Lord did answer those last ones. School will be over in a couple of weeks and so far I’ve survived.”

  “Maybe you should tell your father more about what’s going on.”

  “No, he’d just get too upset.” Jocie looked over at Leigh. “And you have to promise not to tell him either. Please.”

  It wasn’t a promise Leigh should have made. David had already told her they shouldn’t keep secrets from one another. But she was already not telling David some things. She hadn’t seen the need to tell him about all the notes Edwin Hammond kept sticking in the keyhole of her door. She tore them up without reading them, so what was there to tell? And maybe when she kept spotting the man hanging around her street, it was just coincidence. Hollyhill was a small place and the man lived a couple of streets over. He could just be out taking a walk or something.

  So when Jocie had begged her, Leigh had said, “All right. But you should tell him yourself. Your father can’t help you if he doesn’t know what’s going on.”

  “Nothing’s going on. Nothing that I can’t survive. With the Lord’s help. Maybe you could pray about it too sometimes,” Jocie said. “Both of us praying will surely make the days go faster so school will be out. And that way it’ll be June. You’ll be walking down the aisle in that dress the Lord helped us find. You and Dad will be married. Summer will stretch out wonderfully in front of us. And Mr. Creep will disappear back to wherever he came from.”

  Now Leigh shut her eyes and said that very prayer. Two more days until school was out. Seven more days until she became Mrs. David Brooke. “Please, Lord, let the days go fast and then let next Saturday be the best day of all,” she whispered. She moved her hand down the sheet beside her. She’d be sharing a bed next Saturday night.

  The thought made tingles run through her and a flush climb up into her cheeks. She wanted to be married in every way. Heart and mind. Body and soul. But at the same time she was nervous that she might turn out to be totally inept at certain aspects of marriage. What if she did everything all wrong?

  She stood up and went to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. It was a natural thing. Hadn’t she been able to kiss David without the first bit of trouble when she’d been worried about that back when David first started coming to the park to walk with her? But they’d kissed and it had been easy and now wasn’t it like second nature to just put her arms around David and kiss him?

  That’s how Wes had told her the other would be too. Easy. Natural. Wes, of all people, had been the one to look at her and know she needed advice even though she’d been way too embarrassed to ask for any. She’d thought about asking, but hadn’t known who to ask. Zella certainly wouldn’t have been any help. Not only had she never been married, but she’d probably come up with some wild ideas she’d gleaned from all those romance novels she read that weren’t a bit like real life.

  She’d thought about talking to Miss Sally out at the church. A person could talk to Miss Sally about anything without ever having the first worry of her laughing at you or of anybody else knowing about what was worrying you. But Miss Sally had never been married either. Leigh figured she’d just make both of them blush.

  So she hadn’t talked to anybody, but Wes had caught her off to herself last Tuesday after they’d folded the paper for delivery on Wednesday. “Looks like something might be worrying you, Miss Leigh,” he said.

  “What makes you say that?” she asked.

  “Oh, just a hunch.” He looked at her with that slow smile of his. “Maybe something about getting married.”

  “Not exactly getting married. More being married.” Leigh blushed scarlet.r />
  “I sort of thought that might be the case.” Wes put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you worry one minute about any of that. It’ll come as natural as a frog hopping off a lily pad into a pond.”

  “But I don’t have the first bit of experience.” Leigh picked up a piece of paper to fan her burning cheeks. She kept her eyes away from Wes as she said, “In hopping, I mean.”

  Wes chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. “That’s good. No experience needed for this job the Lord has given you. The good Lord designed a man and woman to want to be together, and when both parties want to be together, there ain’t an easier thing in the world to do. You know to go hopping in a pond somewhere together.”

  Leigh peeked over at Wes. “Then you don’t think I’ll be a disappointment to David? I mean everybody says Adrienne was so pretty, so, so . . .” Leigh hesitated as she tried to come up with a word she could say to Wes without totally melting down with embarrassment. “So enthralling.”

  “She was pretty, best I recall, but truth is, David never seemed all that enamored with her, at least not after I was around. Not like he is with you. He loves you. And you love him. Love makes a difference. A big difference. David won’t be a bit disappointed. Not one bit.” Wes had grinned at her. “And neither will you. Just trust your old Uncle Wes on this one.”

  Love makes a difference. It would, Leigh decided as she stared into her eyes in the mirror. Then she picked her watch up off the sink and checked the time. She should have time for a quick walk in the park before she had to get ready for the big shower at the church that afternoon. David wouldn’t be at the park to walk with her. He’d told her he’d have to work on his sermon this morning since the shower would take up most of the afternoon.

  The people at Mt. Pleasant had been looking forward to throwing them the shower for weeks. David said no telling what his deacons were going to do to try to embarrass him, but that no matter what, they’d have to keep smiling and let the church people have their fun. Thank goodness the sun was shining because they’d invited way more people than could fit in the basement of the church. Dorothy McDermott had told Leigh they’d borrowed folding chairs from one of the other country churches to be sure they would have enough seats for everybody.

  Leigh’s mother and father were even supposed to drive down to attend. Her father had been complaining about missing his golf game every time Leigh talked to him. Not only this Saturday, but the next one as well for her wedding. Two Saturdays without golf at the best time of the year to play the game before the weather got too hot. Couldn’t she have gotten married in March when it would be raining or something?

  Leigh had just laughed at him and hadn’t let him off the hook. She’d told him he had to come and bring her mother. They needed to see where she was going to live. They needed to see the church that loved David and now her. They needed to get used to how happy she was.

  When Leigh went out the door, a rolled-up note fell out of the keyhole. Leigh just picked it up and crumpled it in her hand without unrolling the first curl. She pitched it in the trashcan at the bottom of the stairs. Nothing was going to spoil this day for her. Nothing.

  35

  Early Saturday morning, Jocie rode her bike to town to help Wes clean the press and sweep out the pressroom. Her father usually helped with the cleanup chores, but he had to stay home to work on his sermon for the next day. He was still closed up in his bedroom when Jocie got home around noon, but he’d have to come out soon, whether or not the Scripture had spoken to him. The people at church might forgive a bad sermon but they’d never forgive him not showing up for the shower.

  Jocie had her present all wrapped and safely out of Stephen Lee’s reach. The baby was pulling up to everything, and he liked tearing paper above all else. Besides, her present was breakable. She’d found some great iced tea glasses decorated with strawberries on special sale at the ten-cent store. She figured she couldn’t go wrong with glasses, since they averaged at least one broken glass a week and sometimes were reduced to drinking their iced tea out of pint mason jars. Jocie couldn’t wait to see all the presents the church people were going to give her father and Leigh. It felt almost like Christmas.

  Leigh must have been feeling the same way. When she showed up after lunch to see who was riding with her to the shower, she looked ready to explode with happiness. She gave Jocie a hug before she grabbed up Stephen Lee and headed up the stairs to see Jocie’s dad. Jocie started to say her dad didn’t like to be disturbed when he was working on his sermon, but Leigh was up the steps before Jocie could get the words out. From the sound of the laughter from her dad’s bedroom, he didn’t mind a bit Leigh disturbing him.

  Things were going to be different around the Brookes’ house after next Saturday, but different in a good way. Leigh already felt like one of the family. Next week would just make that official, and Jocie couldn’t remember ever seeing her father smile so much. Even when he was complaining about all the fuss going on over the wedding, he was smiling. Happy was good. Jocie liked happy.

  She was going to be especially happy after next Tuesday when school was finally over for the summer and she no longer had to spend an hour a day in Mr. Creep’s class. He’d head back to Neptune and she’d say a thank-you prayer as she erased all memory of him from her mind. Wes said some people were just past understanding and that there wasn’t any reason straining a body’s brain trying to figure them out. That if a person wanted to strain his brain, he should read Plato or study calculus.

  Leigh had warned Jocie the night before that Leigh’s parents sort of fit in that category—the past-understanding category—but that she hoped Jocie would try to like them anyway. She’d said that Jocie didn’t have to worry about them wanting to be her grandparents or anything. That they probably wouldn’t drive to Hollyhill to visit more than once or twice a year, if that.

  “I’ll be lucky to get them here for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. I guess I shouldn’t have asked them to come to the shower, but the people out at the church kept saying they had to come.” Leigh had looked worried.

  “I’ll be good,” Jocie told her. “I promise.”

  “I wasn’t worried about you being good. I was worried about them being good,” Leigh said with a sigh. “But you know, you can’t make the whole world be happy and get along, can you?”

  “Nope,” Jocie agreed. “But we can pray about it. I’ll do a happy-mom-and-pop prayer for you.”

  “My mother and dad happy? That would surely be a miracle,” Leigh muttered. Then she laughed. “But then again, look at me. Last year this time I would have said it would take a miracle for me to be getting married to such a wonderful man. And I am. Oh truly, I am.” Leigh had grabbed hold of Jocie and spun her in a circle. Joy sparkles had practically exploded off her.

  Leigh was happy. Jocie’s father was happy. Tabitha was happy now that she had Robert writing her love notes. Stephen Lee was always happy as long as he got his bottle and a cookie now and again. Even Aunt Love was happy these days. Sometimes Jocie went in to talk to Zella just to get her frowning and fussing. It made Jocie feel better to know she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t hang on to happiness every minute of the day. But after Tuesday, maybe Jocie could do a better job of it. No school. No Mr. Teacher Creep.

  When there was a knock on the door, Jocie figured it must be Leigh’s parents showing up early to check out where Leigh would be living after next week. Jocie whispered her happy-mom-and-pop prayer and hurried to the door. It might not help with the happiness department if Zeb came around the house and started barking at them. Zeb’s barks could practically shatter a person’s eardrums.

  Jocie pulled open the door. It wasn’t Leigh’s parents. She stared at the woman standing there on the porch with a half smile on her face and knew her at once—she was much slimmer and older than in the photo that had sat on the piano up until her dad had got engaged to Leigh. Then Aunt Love had put it away in a closet somewhere.

  The woman, her mother
, DeeDee, smiled a little more and opened her mouth to say something. Jocie slammed the door shut in her face. Jocie stood there and stared at the door and remembered her father’s sermon a few weeks ago about the Bible story of how the angel led Peter out of jail, and then when he knocked on the door where all the followers were praying for him to be released, the servant girl thought he was a ghost and shut the door in his face. His sermon had been about how sometimes people didn’t expect the Lord to answer their prayers.

  But this was different. DeeDee standing on the porch wasn’t an answer to prayer. Not now. Not today with the wedding shower hours away. More a reason for prayer.

  Jocie stared at the door and waited. She wasn’t sure for what. Divine inspiration perhaps. Her father’s and Leigh’s voices drifted down from the room upstairs, mixed in with Stephen Lee’s happy squeals. Tabitha was singing as she got ready upstairs. Aunt Love was banging pans in the kitchen. Jocie was hoping DeeDee was disappearing off the porch. Going back to her car. Driving back to California.

  Funny. For years Jocie had hoped to open the door and see her mother and Tabitha standing there. She’d wanted a mother desperately. A mother who would brush Jocie’s hair and make cupcakes for her school parties and laugh at her silly songs.

  It had never happened, and slowly over the years she’d realized it would never happen. Finally after Tabitha had come home, Jocie had quit even wanting it to happen. She had Wes to laugh with her. They didn’t have class parties at high school so she didn’t need cupcakes anymore. She could brush her own hair. She had her father to love her. But now it had happened. Her mother was standing on the other side of the door.

  There was another knock. Louder this time. Determined. Aunt Love stopped rattling pans and came to the kitchen door to peer out at Jocie staring at the door. Another knock. Aunt Love frowned and said, “Well, gracious sakes, Jocelyn, can’t you hear that knocking? Somebody’s at the door. Open it up and see who it is.”