Charlotte shot into action. “Emily, can you get extra bowls out? Sam, can you get some more chairs?”
Emily and Sam both sighed but did as Charlotte asked.
Charlotte listened with half an ear to the muffled voices coming from the porch as she pulled on her oven mitts. Bob’s invitation, Anna’s polite refusal.
And then Bill accepting.
Charlotte bit her lip. Anna added a very reluctant acceptance, which didn’t bode well for warm and bubbly conversation.
No matter, she thought. It is what it is.
Bill was the first one in the kitchen. “Good evening, everyone,” he said in a hearty voice. “I understand we’re going to join you?”
The kids gave a murmured reply.
“Anna’s just bringing in the girls,” Bill said.
“They’re here too?” Christopher sat up, looking pleased. “Cool. I want to show Jennifer my high score. She said I couldn’t get past the Slough of Pain. But I did.”
“That’s pretty good,” Bill said with fake heartiness. Charlotte suspected he had no clue that Christopher was talking about a computer game.
“I’m glad you could join us, Bill,” Charlotte said, taking the dessert out of the oven where it had been staying warm.
“Is that Brownie Surprise?” His eyes grew wide with anticipation. “I haven’t had that for ages.”
“With ice cream,” Bob said.
“Fantastic.” Bill sat in the empty chair beside Pete and settled in.
The door opened again, and Charlotte heard the excited voices of her granddaughters.
She walked to the porch in time to see Jennifer toss her coat onto the floor and kick off her boots. Madison hung her coat up like the well-behaved little girl she was, but then she too kicked off her boots, spraying snow over the porch floor.
“Girls. Is that what we do with our boots?” Anna asked.
Madison nodded. “Grandma says it’s okay.”
Charlotte stepped away from the door, biting back a smile. She wondered if Madison was being ironic or simply matter of fact. But Anna didn’t have time to reprimand her because both Madison and Jennifer burst into the kitchen, heading straight for Emily.
“Emily, we’re back,” Jennifer called out, running into the kitchen.
“Well, yay,” Emily said, bending over and swinging her cousin up into the air.
“I’m here too,” Madison said, running up to join them.
Emily put Jennifer down, pulled back, pretending to look surprised. “Have you been eating your porridge? You’ve gotten bigger.” Emily bent over to pick her up and then pretended to buckle through her knees. “Whoa, way bigger.”
“She’s not fat—” Anna said, lingering in the doorway of the porch, as if to let everyone know that staying here wasn’t her idea.
“I didn’t say she was,” Emily replied, her voice hard.
“Where do we sit?” Jennifer asked.
“Right here,” Sam said, pushing his chair over and helping Jennifer onto the stool he had gotten. “C’mon, Chris. Move a bit. We need to put another chair in for Madison.”
“There’s no room,” Chris complained.
“She can sit on my lap,” Emily said.
Charlotte almost dropped the dessert she was bringing to the table, but she recovered and tried not to show her surprise.
Besides, Anna looked surprised enough for both of them as Madison squealed her delight and scrambled up onto Emily’s lap.
“Hey, Anna, come in. Put your feet up. Have a cigar,” Pete said, setting a chair out for Anna.
Anna simply rolled her eyes and sat down in the other chair beside her husband, straightening the red cashmere scarf she had pinned to her white sweater.
“You look festive, Anna,” Charlotte said as she started serving up the dessert.
“We just came from a dinner. Bill had to speak.” Anna sat perfectly straight in the chair, looking up and beyond the people at the table.
Bob dropped a large scoop of ice cream on the still-steaming dessert. He handed it down the table. “Pass that to Sam, will you, Jennifer?”
“This looks yummy,” Jennifer said, her eyes on the bowl as it moved past her.
“We came because Madison is missing a scarf, and I don’t have two pairs of pants that belong to Jennifer,” Anna said.
“I think I have Madison’s scarf,” Emily said. “She left—”
“And what were you doing with it?” Anna asked, her voice sharp. “It should have stayed in her room.”
“I’m sure it ended up there by accident,” Charlotte said, intervening. Emily looked mutinous and Charlotte hoped holding Madison on her lap meant Emily would restrain herself.
“If you say so.” Anna’s voice told Charlotte clearly that she wouldn’t believe anything Emily told her.
“What is wrong, Anna?”
Anna frowned. “I’m sure I don’t understand what you mean.”
“I’m sure you do.” Charlotte kept her tone firm. “You seem to be accusing Emily of something that she hasn’t done.”
“Mother, I don’t think—” Bill said.
Charlotte held back her next comment, then turned to Emily and Sam. “Why don’t you, Christopher, and the girls take your dessert to the family room. You can watch television while you eat.”
A moment of stunned silence greeted this unexpected treat, then they all quickly gathered their bowls and scurried out of the dining room, hurrying Jennifer and Madison along as if afraid Charlotte would change her mind.
“Bill, Bob, and Pete, you can have some post-dinner conversation. I need to talk to Anna in private.”
Charlotte ignored Anna’s frown and the stunned looks of the men as she got up from the table and started walking to the formal living room, a space only used on very special occasions.
This was one of them.
“Please, have a seat,” she said as she sat down herself.
The room held a chill and it wasn’t just from the cold. Anna sat ramrod straight in one of the chairs, her lips pursed with displeasure.
But even as her body language emanated her displeasure, Charlotte caught the hint of vulnerability in her pale blue eyes.
Dear Lord, I need wisdom and guidance here, she prayed, folding her hands on her knees. Give me the right words. Help me to love her as You love her.
She waited a moment, letting the prayer settle into the room, letting God’s peace soothe away the discord.
“I need to talk to you about Emily,” Charlotte began.
The lines around Anna’s mouth loosened. “I’m glad you are. Because I need to tell you—”
Charlotte held her hand up, mimicking Anna’s gesture of a few moments ago.
“Anna. Please. This isn’t easy for me. I really need you to listen.” She took a calming breath, then started again, trying not to let Anna intimidate her. “I sense that you don’t care for Emily. I know you were unhappy with the makeup but it was done in complete innocence. I also need you to know that I should have defended Emily more strongly than I did. I should not have let your anger with her determine how I was going to deal with her. She loves Madison and Jennifer a lot and they’ve had a lot of fun together.”
Anna folded her hands on her lap, then glanced down. “What are you trying to say, Mother?”
“I’m trying to say that I want you to treat Emily better. She is as much my granddaughter as Jennifer and Madison are, and I love her as much.”
“But she’s only been here—” Anna let the sentence trail off, then her cheeks turned pink.
“Doesn’t matter how long she’s been here. Emily has never had to earn my love or deserve my love. She simply receives it. As a mother, I’m sure you understand that the relationship between mother and daughter is very strong. And I’m sure you know that whatever I feel for your daughters, I feel the same for Emily. And Christopher. And Sam.”
Anna twisted her hands around each other, but she wouldn’t look at Charlotte.
“I’m
hoping you can understand that, Anna,” Charlotte said gently.
The only sound in the ensuing silence was the quiet conversation coming from the dining room and, beyond that, the laughter of the kids from the family room.
A sound that warmed Charlotte’s heart.
Anna drew in a long, slow breath, then laid her hands on her knees as if she was getting ready to stand up.
“All right. I’m trying to understand,” Anna said. “It’s just, well, things were much nicer before those kids came. And I know that Jennifer and Madison were special to you.” She stopped there, her manicured fingers tapping the knife pleat in her slacks. “I had hoped they would continue to be, well, special.”
And in those vague words Charlotte finally understood what Anna’s problem was.
She was jealous of Emily’s relationship with Charlotte. And she felt that her daughters’ relationship was in jeopardy because of it.
Charlotte wanted to chuckle at the silliness of it, but she knew that for Anna, this was very, very important.
Anna loved her children with a fierce, protective love that, at times, was smothering. However, it was a mother’s love, and Charlotte knew how strong that emotion was.
And even as she had to smile at the seemingly trivial nature of the problem, at the same time she was honored by the fact that Anna saw Madison’s and Jennifer’s relationship with Charlotte as important. Something to be protected.
Following an impulse, Charlotte got up and knelt down at Anna’s side, putting her hand over one of Anna’s. Her skin was cool to the touch. Nerves probably, Charlotte thought.
“I love Madison and Jennifer as much and even more, than I did from the day they were born,” she said, her voice quiet, hopefully reassuring. “They will always hold a special place in my heart.”
Anna pressed her lips together, her gaze still focused intently on her fingers. Then she nodded. “Thank you,” she said. “That means a lot.”
“But, at the same time, you need to know I will also defend Sam, Christopher and Emily with the same tenacity that I will defend Madison and Jennifer against anyone who would want to hurt them.”
Charlotte didn’t mean for the comment to come out so intently, but Anna needed to know what was at stake. And she needed to know that she wouldn’t tolerate negative comments from Anna directed toward Emily.
“I understand,” Anna said quietly, finally daring to look at Charlotte.
An apology would have finished the moment quite nicely. Maybe some stirring music. A sparkle of tears.
But Charlotte was realistic. Anna was who she was. And in spite of her personality, Charlotte loved her as well.
Charlotte got up and, still holding Anna’s hand, drew her gently to her feet.
“I think I’ll have some of that dessert,” Anna said quietly.
“You do realize that we’ve left the men with it for about ten minutes. I’m not guaranteeing there’d be any left.”
Anna’s smile eased some of the tension that had held them in their thrall.
They walked back into the kitchen and, to Charlotte’s surprise, two bowls of dessert sat on the table, each also holding a scoop of slowly melting ice cream.
“We saved some for you,” Bob said with a gleam in his eye.
“Why don’t we all go into the family room and join the kids,” Charlotte suggested.
“I think that’s a great idea.”
“But what about the mess—” Anna waved her hand over the dirty dishes on the table.
“That can wait until you’re gone,” Charlotte said, deliberately turning her back to the kitchen counters still piled with the detritus of making supper. “I think we should just have some fun. Together. As a family.”
The children got up from the chairs in the family room and dropped onto the floor, making room for the adults.
Lightning made an appearance, curling himself up on Christopher’s back.
Madison and Jennifer sat on each side of Emily as she showed them how to lick their bowls empty, ignoring Anna’s faint cry of protest.
As the adults settled in, Charlotte glanced around the room.
Their family. Together. Not perfect. Not without tension and struggle, but still a family.
And she sent up a heartfelt prayer of thanks for what the Lord had blessed them with.
About the Author
Carolyne Aarsen is the author of more than twenty books, including The Only Best Place and All in One Place and four books for Guideposts’ Tales from Grace Chapel Inn series. She wrote a weekly humor column for ten years and lives on a farm in Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada. She and her husband raised their four children on their farm and have taken in numerous foster children.
A Note from the Editors
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