Love Finds You Under the Mistletoe

by Irene Brand

  Julia swallowed with effort, and tears threatened to overflow her tired eyes. All of her life she’d struggled with the feeling that she was unappreciated and taken for granted. At this backwoods home, she had never felt more welcome in her life.

  Bobby stirred when Granny took him from David’s arms, and Julia was sure he would start bawling. Instead, he yawned and settled contentedly in Granny’s long arms as she led the way into the cabin.

  “I hungry,” he said.

  “Well, bless your little heart,” Granny replied, fondly patting his bottom. “I’ll soon take care of that. David, bring Julia in the house.”

  Julia’s first impression of the cabin’s interior was that it was cozy, huge, and cluttered. The room they entered spanned the entire width of the cabin. A massive stone-faced fireplace took up most of the space along one wall. Several steaming pots stood on an iron cookstove. An oil lamp on the mantel, and a larger one on a corner table, bathed the cabin in soft light. Benches instead of chairs surrounded a long wooden table.

  “The light in here probably seems a little dim to you,” David said. “We don’t have electricity in the hollow yet. Now that the war’s over, I figure we’ll soon have power. I got used to electric lights and appliances while I was in the army, and it’s been rough to go back to the old-fashioned ways.”

  An oak bed with a high backboard and multicolored quilt stood in one corner of the room. Various chests and chairs were scattered haphazardly around the walls. A mantel clock struck six, its quiet, melodious tones adding to Julia’s feeling of stepping back into a former time.

  Granny kissed Bobby’s soft cheek and handed him to Julia.

  “David, you go feed the livestock while Julia and Bobby freshen up. Supper will be on the table soon.”

  After David left, Granny opened a door into another part of the cabin and set Julia’s suitcase on the floor of the small room. “You and the boy can tidy up in here,” she said. “There’s a wash pan and other necessities in this room.” She struck a match to light a lamp on the dresser. “When you’re ready, come into the kitchen.”

  The door closed behind Granny, and Julia looked around helplessly. She had used primitive bathing facilities when she’d camped with her parents. As a child it had been fun, and she had considered it quite an adventure, but she hadn’t had a two-year-old with her then.

  Believing she could stand anything for one night, Julia gritted her teeth and poured a small amount of cold water from a bucket into the pan. She bathed Bobby and removed his muddy shoes before she dressed him in clean clothes. She placed him in the middle of the bed, and with a startled cry, he sank out of sight. Julia had heard of feather mattresses, but this was the first time she’d seen one.

  “Auntie!” Bobby screamed, reaching for her.

  She sat on the side of the bed. “It’s all right. This is softer than your bed at home, but you’ll like to sleep in it.” She bounced up and down on the bed. “See.”

  Bobby crawled to Julia’s side. Still on his knees, he bounced like a ball on the soft bed. “Whee!” he cried, and his blue eyes sparkled.

  “Be careful.” She eyed the almost two feet between the bed and the floor. “Stay in the middle of the bed.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want you to fall on the floor.” She swatted him playfully on the rear. “Behave now, while Auntie gets ready.”

  After disposing of Bobby’s bathwater in a bucket, Julia poured fresh water into the wash pan and tried to improve her own appearance by washing her face and hands, combing her hair, and straightening her clothes. That was the best she could do until she got the other luggage.

  She heard David’s voice in the other room, and a soft knock sounded on the door. “Miss,” Granny said, “we can eat whenever you’re ready. But take your time.”

  Julia opened the door. “We’re ready.” She lifted Bobby to the floor and led him to the next room. He made a beeline for Granny and held up his hands.

  “If you’re not a sweetheart,” Granny said. “I need another grandbaby to love.” She lifted Bobby into her arms and hugged him tight. He put his arms around her neck and kissed her wrinkled cheek.

  Julia cast a helpless glance in David’s direction. “That’s the advantage of being a mother, I guess. I’ve been home for a month, and he’s never once kissed me. I must not have any maternal instincts.”

  Granny settled Bobby into a well-worn wooden high chair. “Don’t you fret about that. I have four livin’ kids of my own, and I’ve mothered lots of other young’uns. David is one of eleven grandkids so I’ve had plenty of practice. Hit takes experience to deal with little tykes.”

  “Granny isn’t happy if she doesn’t have a baby to fuss over.” David pointed to one of the benches. “Go ahead and be seated.”

  After Granny strapped Bobby in the high chair, she took three dishes out of the oven and placed them on the table. She removed the lids as she said, “We’re having pork sausage, mashed ’taters, green beans, and cabbage slaw.” She opened the oven door, lifted out a heavy iron skillet, and upended a large corn pone on a stoneware plate.

  David reached for a cup beside Julia’s plate. “Do you like coffee?”

  “Yes, but I’ve been drinking more coffee than usual the past week. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d rather have water.”

  “No trouble at all.” David stood and walked to an aluminum bucket on a cabinet. With a dipper, he filled a large glass for Julia. He took a pitcher from a cupboard and poured a glass of milk for Bobby.

  Granny sat at the head of the long table with David opposite her. She pulled Bobby’s chair close to her. “You eat hearty now,” she told Julia. “I’ll take care of this little angel. David, ask the blessin’.”

  “Our Father,” David began, in the voice of a man who’s in close fellowship with his Maker, “creator of heaven and earth and all of us living on the earth, cleanse our hearts so that our works will be acceptable to You. Thank You for protecting Julia and Bobby on their long journey and for bringing them to us. I’m grateful for Granny and the food she’s set before us. May our lives always glorify You. Amen.”

  Julia had noted the strange vernacular of the older people she’d met, but although David spoke slowly, almost in a drawl, his grammar was better than the others’.

  Until David passed a large platter to her and she smelled the tempting aroma of sage-flavored pork, Julia hadn’t realized how hungry she was. The rest of the food was equally appealing to her taste buds, and as she ate, her body and spirit felt revitalized.

  When David insisted that she have second helpings, Julia shook her head. “I didn’t know that I was so hungry. Train fare isn’t very good, and when we stopped overnight, I was so nervous about the outcome of this trip that I couldn’t eat much. This is the best food I’ve had since I left home.” She looked at Granny. “Did David tell you why I’m here?”

  Nodding her head, Granny said, “Yes. I’m sorry that you had such a long trip for nothin’. Oscar and Mamie Walden have been tetched in the head since they got word that Robert was dead.”

  “My sister received a telegram that he was missing in action, but never an official notice of his death.”

  “That’s what his folks heard first, but then they got another letter sayin’ he’d been killed in action,” Granny explained.

  “Dad tried, unsuccessfully, to call them a few times to tell them about Bobby. Tom told me there aren’t any phones here in the hollow, but we didn’t know that.”

  They finished supper with a slab of apple pie topped with fresh sweet cream. Granny wiped Bobby’s mouth and hands with her apron and lifted him from the high chair. “I’ll tidy up the kitchen after you’ve gone to bed,” she said to Julia. “Let’s sit on the porch and relax in the cool of the evening.”

  David held the door open, and Julia followed Granny and Bobby to the porch. “Take a chair,” Granny said as she lowered her body into a wooden rocker. David sat on the steps and leaned against a porc
h post. Julia relaxed in the chair next to Granny so she could take Bobby when he got restless, as he usually did when night came.

  Granny laid Bobby on her chest and leaned his head on her left shoulder. “David,” she said, “if you played your guitar, it wouldn’t be long until this little one would go to sleep.”

  “The guitar is over at my place, but I’ll get my banjo.” David stood and walked into the cabin.

  “My mother says that Bobby hasn’t slept well since he was born. He seems afraid of the darkness. She keeps a light in his room, but he always wakes up a time or two every night.”

  Granny smiled as she slowly and quietly rocked back and forth. David came from the cabin with a banjo, sat back down on the steps, and strummed the strings softly as he glided from one tune to another. Julia recognized a few folk medleys, and her heart was touched when David played “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

  She sang and hummed along with him, for although it had been a long time since she’d heard the hymn, she remembered some of the lyrics. “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

  After a few months in Europe with the Women’s Army Corps, Julia had decided that God wasn’t doing what He was supposed to do. If He was, why did He allow the malicious destruction of millions of Jews and the atrocities visited upon them and other innocent people by the Nazis? Why didn’t He intervene before thousands of Europeans and Americans paid the supreme sacrifice? Julia had lots of questions, but it had been two years since she’d believed that God had all the answers.

  When she couldn’t believe that God would or could deal with the world situation, she’d stopped her daily communion with Him. Listening to David’s quiet music, the squeak of the rocking chair as Granny moved back and forth, and Bobby’s soft breathing as he slept, Julia wondered if she had been wrong. Was God in control after all?

  Whatever the answer, a white mist seeped into the hollow, and nighttime settled quietly but relentlessly over Mistletoe, and Julia sensed a peace she hadn’t known for a long time.

  Chapter Four

  David knew he should go home, but he didn’t want to leave Granny with the responsibility of guests he’d invited to her home. It wasn’t that Granny wasn’t equal to any occasion, but she’d already passed her seventieth birthday, which was old for a woman in these mountains.

  As he gently strummed the strings, Julia’s head drooped lower and lower, and he knew she was asleep. Quietly he stepped inside the cabin and hung the banjo on the wall. When he returned to the porch, Granny glanced his way. David spread his arms wide in a gesture as if to say, “What do we do now?”

  In the semi-darkness, he saw her slow smile. She reached out her left hand and touched Julia on the shoulder. Julia jumped, and a soft gasp escaped her lips.

  “Oh. I—I didn’t intend to go to sleep.” She shook her head. “So much to do. How often does Tom Morriston go into Booneville? I must make arrangements to go with him.”

  “Honey, don’t start borrowin’ trouble,” Granny said. “We’ll figure out what you can do in the mornin’. Hit’s a mite early to go to bed, but you’ve had a long day. You’re wearied to the bone. After a good night’s sleep, it’ll be easier to decide what to do. Bobby can sleep with me tonight.”

  Julia stood quickly. “Oh, no. He’s my responsibility. He’s always restless at night, and I don’t want you to lose sleep.”

  “You need rest more than I do.” Granny’s tone didn’t allow any argument. David had heard that tone often enough in his youth, and he grinned, knowing that Julia would do what Granny said. “Bobby is sound asleep now, and I’ll be surprised if he wakes up all night. If he does, I’ll know what to do for him.”

  Knowing that Granny could meet Julia’s needs more than he could, David said, “I’m going home now. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”

  “Do you live far away?”

  He shook his head. “Just a short distance up the hollow.”

  Julia laid her hand on his forearm, and his flesh tingled at her touch. “Thanks for what you’ve done for me today. I felt completely lost. You’ll never know how much I appreciate your help.”

  Covering her hand with his own, David was surprised at the proprietary feeling he had for Julia. “Try to get a good night’s sleep. Your troubles won’t seem so bad tomorrow.”

  Watching David’s purposeful stride as he walked away, Julia hoped his prediction was true. Right now she didn’t believe she could possibly feel any worse.

  “I shouldn’t have made this journey,” she murmured, more to herself than to Granny, “but I thought I was doing the right thing.”

  Still holding the sleeping child, Granny stood and motioned for Julia to precede her into the cabin. “God has a way of intervening in our lives. If He put the idea in your head to come here, it was the right thing to do.”

  Julia shook her head. “I don’t think the idea was orchestrated by God. I wasn’t at home when my sister died and left a message for me to bring her son to Mistletoe. Bobby was two years old when I first saw him. I’ve never been around children, and I resented it because she didn’t ask Mother and Dad to bring Bobby to see his other grandparents.” She sighed. “I’ve tried, but the Waldens chased us away, threatening to kill me. I’ve done all I can do.”

  “Maybe.” Granny laid Bobby in the middle of the large bed and spread a quilt over him. The child fretted momentarily then turned on his side without waking. Granny put her comforting arm around Julia’s shoulders. “In the first place, I don’t think Oscar Walden would have shot you. Normally the Waldens are kind, good people, but Robert was their only child. His death took away their common sense.”

  Julia was too tired to defend her opinion of the Waldens. She said good night to Granny and walked into the small bedroom, leaving the door ajar so she could hear Bobby when he cried. She took off her shoes and lay across the bed without undressing, wishing she could go to sleep right away and forget the nightmare that surrounded her. She’d heard that when troubles surrounded one on every side, the only way to look was up. She’d reached that point.

  Julia lay awake long after Granny called good night and extinguished the lights in the main cabin. Darkness was complete, and she couldn’t hear a sound. In the quietness of the night, a still, small voice filtered into her conscience. “My child, you’ll never wander so far away that I can’t protect you.”

  Breathless, Julia bolted upright. Had she imagined it? Was it a dream? She remembered the incident that afternoon when Tom had asked her to pray and she’d called on God for the first time in months. David had shown up immediately, but she’d considered that a coincidence rather than an answer to prayer. Suddenly she recalled a Bible story describing the disciple Peter about to drown. He called out for help and Jesus answered immediately. Was it possible that after all the months she’d turned a deaf ear to God’s voice, He had been patiently waiting for her to return to Him?

  The smell of frying bacon wakened Julia, and for a moment she didn’t know where she was. Why was she in bed with her clothes on? Suddenly the difficulties of the past week flooded her mind, and she groaned. She pulled the quilt over her head, wondering if she had the stamina to face the day. It shouldn’t take long for Tom to change the tire on his truck, and when he did, she would return to Booneville and take the first bus northward.

  For a moment she luxuriated in the comfort of the feather mattress that had wrapped around her like a blanket. Julia dreaded the return trip—first the drive to Booneville over that treacherous road, then the bus changes on the way to Lexington, where she could finally board a train for Maryland. However, she hadn’t spent three years in Uncle Sam’s service without learning that she had to take the bitter with the sweet. The fact that this situation in Mistletoe was about the bitterest pill she’d ever swallowed wasn’t going to stop her. Margaret had wanted Bobby’s grandparents to see him. She’d shown the child to his grandfather, and perhaps his grandmother
had been peering from the shadows. Their rejection of the boy wasn’t her fault. She could leave Mistletoe with a clear conscience. That decision made, she got out of bed and washed her hands and face before she went into the main room of the cabin.

  Granny was working at the kitchen stove, and she turned. “Mornin’, Julia.”

  “Good morning.” Julia looked around for Bobby.

  He was sitting in the high chair, chewing on a biscuit. With a wide smile, he said, “Hi.”

  “Hi, yourself.” She bent to kiss his cheek. “Did he give you any trouble last night? I’m ashamed that when I finally went to sleep, I didn’t hear anything.”

  “He only roused once and went right back to sleep,” Granny assured her. “Breakfast is ready. Go ahead and sit down.”

  The outside door swung open, and David entering carrying her suitcases.

  “Oh, thank you,” Julia said.

  “It wasn’t any trouble. When I left here last night, I went to get your cases from Tom. They’ve been at my place all night.”

  “What time does Tom go to Booneville? I’d like to go with him.”

  “He’s already gone.”

  “Oh.” Julia was overcome by a wave of disappointment. She glanced at the mantel clock. “It’s only seven o’clock.”

  “He borrowed his son’s car and left early since he’s got to pick up a new tire. It’s not easy to find auto parts in Booneville, and he may have to go on to Beattyville, which is twenty miles farther. Either way, it’s a long drive.”

  “I know,” Julia said wryly. She couldn’t keep disappointment out of her voice. “Is there anyone else who can take us to Booneville?”

  “I have a car,” David said, “and I’ll take you. There’s bus service six days a week, but I don’t know anything about bus connections to Lexington.”

  Granny set a plate of grits and eggs in front of Julia. “Hit’s not my place to give you advice, but why don’t you stay with us a few days? You’re wore to a frazzle now, and it’ll be good for you to rest up before you start another long trip.”