Every Storm (15 page)

"Well, Max might have sworn off boys, Mother, but they haven't sworn off her."

Ruth looked up from that morning's sermon notes and glanced around the church pews. She spotted her youngest daughter sitting I with Arlene Andrews. Not far from the two young women were three boys. They were talking among themselves, but their eyes strayed continually to the two girls, who seemed oblivious to them. Ruth smiled and even laughed a little. "And it certainly doesn't help that she got a little more color yesterday," Lorri went on. "She's more beautiful than ever." "She is beautiful, isn't she?" "Have you just realized that?"

"No, but I don't dwell on it. It's her sweetness and sense of |jhumor that you really notice."

The women looked over just then to see Max expressing herself with a funny face. They both laughed, and this was the way Cora
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Andrews found them. She had a hug for Lorri and then for Ruth. "How are you?" she asked them both sincerely. "We went to the beach yesterday" Ruth told her, realizing they |liiadn't spoken that morning. "I can see the burned noses."

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Lori Wick

"We were just commenting that Max looks better than ever with pink on her cheeks and nose."

"As if Max needed any help," Cora said with a comical roll of her eyes.

Pastor Higgins was moving toward the pulpit just then, and all over the church, folks got settled in their seats. Max came over in a hurry and sat close to her sister.

"It's great to have so many of you joining us tonight for communion" Pastor Higgins began. "I want to open things up for testimonies, but before I do that, I have some thoughts I want to share, some reminders from our last communion.

"Communion is not a period at the end of the sentence. It might seem that way since Jesus is nearing the end of His ministry on earth, but in truth, this was a starting point for the disciples. We can't come to the table lightly. Our hearts have to be right before God, and in that, many think that this latest time period in their life has come to a close, but that's not the case.

"Communion is the start of a new time. Until we meet again around the bread and cup, we need to remember our actions this night. We need to keep this event in our minds when temptations crowd in. Tonight is the beginning, not the end. Reflect, certainly. Make sure your heart is clean and confessed before God, but don't stop there. Determine to partake tonight and to stay holy until we partake again."

Lorri needed these words so much. It had been a long time since she'd partaken in the Lord's Supper, and never had she looked at it in light of a new time.

Help me, Father,
she prayed.
I want to go from here to be mindful of You and more obedient than I ever have been before.

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Lorri looked up to see that her sister and mother were praying too. She bowed her head again and asked God for the same thing for them.

Lorri's and Josie's trunks arrived from Australia on Wednesday. Lorri was not prepared for this. She had missed some of her things but was in no way wanting. A truck pulled up, and a delivery man came to the door. Ruth signed for the trunks and stood back while they were placed in the living room.

Emotions surged through her as she remembered packing those trunks with the girls so many years before. A letter from Ian Colins, addressed to Lorri, accompanied the keys, and she sat |. down to read it. She read out loud.

"Dear Lorraine, I don't know where to start. Our sorrow for you and for ourselves is difficult to describe. The children miss [. you both so dreadfully. I hope you can write to them when you feel up to it.

"We comfort ourselves with the fact that if you are reading

this, you are home with your family as you need to be. I hope time

jl 1 will heal all wounds and that you will find great happiness in the

near future. If ever you should wish to return to us, you would

be most welcome.

"Out hearts are with you, both today and in the future. I'Sincerely, Ian Colins.

"P.S. Clarence Fuller's family requested your address. I hope it was all right to give it to them."

' Lorri looked up into her mother's eyes and found that Max:had joined them.

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"Clarence Fuller was the pilot?" Max confirmed.

"Yes. I've been thinking about how I would get a letter to them, so I hope they write."

The three women looked at the boxes. No one looked overly eager to dig in.

"What shall we do?" Ruth finally asked.

"I'm in no hurry to open Josie's, but I don't have to be around if you want to."

"I don't," Ruth said. "What about you, Max?"

"No, I'll wait."

"Let's try to get it up to her room then. What about yours, Lorri?"

"Can we just put it in the corner in here for now?"

"Of course. Here," Ruth said, getting right to work, "we'll put it here behind the chair."

With a good deal of pulling and panting, the trunks were moved. Lorri's fit well behind the chair-not invisible, but certainly out of the way. It was no easy task to get Josie's up the stairs, but once there, the three of them breathed a little sigh of relief. They shut the door. For the moment, Josie's trunk did not have to be dealt with.

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"^

Thursday evening found the three Archer women dining with ||he Andrews family. Ruth and Cora had been dose for years, and fpiax and Arlene's friendship went back Jo first grade.

Cora and her husband, Leonard, also had three sons, all grown phd gone from home. Like Max, Arlene was the baby and a senior high school. Her father was the principal at school. He was Unfailingly kind and fair, and the student body loved him. He had t way with young people, and Lorri, without even realizing it, was lore open with him than she'd been with her own family. It didn't happen until after dinner when they were settled on : back porch with tall glasses of iced tea. Leonard began to ask |Uestions pf Lorri, and she found herself sharing, barely aware
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the other four people who sat and listened in silence. "What's the hardest part about being back?" Leonard asked

St.

"Being here without Josie. I don't think I realized just how iluch we'd done together. I can probably count on two hands the les we slept away from home and weren't together."

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"Did you ever think about the changes that would come with her marriage?"

"Yes, but thinking about something and living it are two different things, don't you think?"

"Yes, they are different. I was just curious if the two of you ever discussed it."

"Not really. I often told her I envied her, and she usually told me it was just a matter of time and I'd be caught as well."

Leonard smiled.

"Is that what she called it, being caught?"

Lorri smiled back.

"Ken always said that he chased Josie until she caught him." Lorri sighed, "They were so perfect for each other."

"Howisthat?"

"Both so kind and caring."

"Who's perfect for you?"

Lorri's smile slanted a little.

"I don't know, I guess that's the other hard part. I think Josie should be the one to still be here."

"Because she had a fianceT'

"Yes. Even more hearts are involved where Josie is concerned. Ken and his whole family will grieve for her."

"And they wouldn't have grieved for you?"

Lorri looked surprised by this. 1 "You didn't think of that, did you?"

Lorri could only shake her head, her face full of amazement.

"If Josie were here, she'd be in the same pain that you are right now," Leonard explained gently. "As would Ken. As would his whole family."

Lorri was speechless. Such a thing had never occurred to her.

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"You still count, Lorraine. You still matter. You're here because God has a plan. It won't erase all the pain you feel over losing your sister, but you mustn't forget that you're vital to Max and your mother right now. They wouldn't trade you for anything."

"But I wish they could," Lorri admitted, her voice catching a little. "I wouldn't want them to have to choose, but I wish God had. I wish the plan had included Josie and not me."

"All the wishing in the world won't change the way things are. I think God understands how you feel; in fact, I'm sure of it, but don't spend too much time telling God He made a mistake. It's a waste of time and energy, especially energy. Trying to do God's job is exhausting. We're just not equipped for it."

Lorri looked him in the eye.

"Every student at Harmony Hills High, School, past and present, loves you. Do you know that?"

"I love them," he said simply and then smiled widely, his eyes holding hers. "Some I love more than others."

Lorri smiled, feeling tears pricking at the back of her eyes but ; determined not to give in to them. She glanced around and realized how she'd monopolized the conversation.

"This wasn't very polite of me," she began but stopped when She read the faces around the patio. They needed this too. Her mother looked ready to cry, but then she'd been warned about that.

"Dp you feel bad, Mother," Lorri had to know, "that I haven't 'shared more of this with you?"

"No, dear. I really am ready to wait for you."

"Well, I want to know everything, for heaven's sake!" Max suddenly burst out, sounding so aggrieved and angry at herself that the company had to laugh.

"What's so funny about that?" Max asked, still frowning. "I should be scolded or something, and you're all laughing."

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"It's your honesty, Max," Leonard told her. "It's so refreshing."

When the laughter died down, the sisters looked at each other, Max very contrite.

"I'm sorry, Raine."

"Don't be, Max. I'll get there. I'll tell you. I just might need a little more time."

"Don't listen to my complaining anymore, Raine." Max was frowning again. "I need to be spanked."

Lorri could only smile at her, and Max couldn't help but smile back. Cora felt as though she could move for the first time.

"More iced tea, anyone?" she asked.

They all wanted refills, and the timing was just right. While Cora did the honors, Arlene hummed a song that got Lorri singing. One song led to another and Lorri sang-usually alone-for nearly 30 minutes.

Max and Ruth were utterly silent. It was the first time they'd heard her in more than four years. If asked, they would have said they could have gone on listening all night.

Buddy was oblivious. Asleep on the kitchen floor, dead to the world, he had no idea that his tail had been spotted as the enemy. Muffin was approaching, turned to the side, back arched and hair on end, ready to pounce. She didn't expect to be caught.

"Muffin!" Lorri scolded her, bringing the kitten to a halt but no more relaxed. Her eyes a little wild and still on the hunt, Muffin went swiftly back to the tail.

Just coming on the scene, Max laughed so hard that she woke Buddy, who moved his tail and foiled the whole episode.

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The women kept on laughing when Muffin attempted to look innocent. Buddy sniffed her, and she actually began to purr.

"What a fake," Max complained. "She was about to get you, Buddy."

The dog, loving any attention from Max, went to her, tail wagging. Not to be left out, Muffin curled around one of Buddy's legs, her motor still running.

"Have you been crying?" Max asked, suddenly spotting what her sister was doing at the kitchen table. Around her lay discarded tissues, and in front of her was a small staek of envelopes.

"I'm writing to the children. It's harder than I thought."

"A separate letter to each one?"

"Yes. I want them to know how proud I am of them." Tears filled her eyes, but she kept on. "I want to remind them of all their progress and how much Josie and I loved being their teachers.'*

"Mr. Colins said you could go back." Max had taken a seat across from her sister, Muffin on her lap. "Will you go?"

"No," Lorri said with a definitive shake of her head. "I don't think I could do it without Josie, and I really don't want to try."

"I'm glad, Raine. I don't want you to be gone again."

Lorri smiled across at her.

"You're going to be the first to go. School starts in a little over a week."

"You have to remind me." Max's sigh was dramatic, her head going back. Lorri could only laugh at her. "It's not funny, Raine. Mother hasn't started on my clothes, and I know the year is going to last forever."

"Do you know what I just realized?" Lorri said, sitting up very straight. "Josie has some clothes that would look perfect on you."