Tides of Truth [03] Greater Love (44 page)

I gently shook Ellie’s shoulder then whispered in her ear, “It’s snowing.”

She groggily opened her eyes and looked past my head.

“Snow!” she cried out.

“Ugh,” Emma grunted from her place on the bottom bunk.

I knelt down beside Emma’s head. “There are already a couple of inches of snow on the ground.”

Emma propped up on one elbow as Ellie hurtled from the top bunk to the floor with a thump and raced over to the window. In a few seconds Emma joined her.

“I want to tell Zach,” Ellie said, looking over her shoulder at me.

“Not in your pajamas. Get dressed first.”

In a flash, Ellie was off to the bathroom. Emma and I stayed behind. She continued to stare out the window.

“Are you going to play in the snow?” I asked.

“Yes,” she answered, “but not like we used to. The last time it snowed Ellie and I spent more time going on a long walk than we did making a snowman.”

Ellie returned.

“Is that dress on backward?” I asked.

Ellie quickly inspected herself.

“No.”

“I didn’t think so,” I answered.

“That’s mean. While you’re up here being lazy, Zach and I are going to be out in the snow.”

Ellie left, and I heard her footsteps going down the stairs. The sewing room was across from my parents’ bedroom.

“I’m going to wake up Kyle and Bobby,” Emma said.

I took my time getting ready. Snow created a general excuse from most work around the house; however, the chickens didn’t stop laying eggs because of a change in the weather. When I went downstairs to the kitchen, Mama was fixing the morning pot of coffee.

“Add a little extra for me,” I said.

“You’ve started drinking coffee?” she asked in surprise.

“With almost as much cream as coffee, but it’s something Zach and I like to do. There’s a coffee shop in Savannah that’s a great place to talk. I know drinking coffee together has been something you and Daddy have enjoyed.”

“Your daddy is under the covers. It will take an extra-rich cup of coffee to get him out of bed.”

I put on an old coat, wrapped a scarf around my neck, and slipped on some work gloves. I didn’t look very glamorous, but it was perfect for visiting a chicken coop on a snowy morning. I grabbed the pail we used to gather the eggs. When I stepped outside, I could hear Zach and Ellie yelling at each other around the corner of the house. I yawned. The flight from the West Coast the previous day had left me feeling a little disoriented. It was my first experience with jet lag.

I walked across the thin blanket of snow, regretting that I had to mar its perfect beauty with my footsteps. I reached the henhouse. Chester, the rooster, didn’t come out of the house for his normal showy bluster of bravado. I found him inside the coop, scratching around the floor in the far corner of the little building. He ignored me. The hens loudly protested my invasion of their privacy, but once the eggs were gone they quickly settled down.

On my way back to the kitchen, I took a detour around the corner of the house. Zach and Ellie were attempting to have a snowball fight. The new snow was dry and fell apart when they tried to pack it into balls. The clumps they managed to press together disintegrated into powder a few feet after being thrown. Zach looked at me with a big smile.

“Good morning!” he called out. “Doesn’t this remind you of Southern California?”

“Only the inside of your snow globe.”

Zach had shown me a snow globe he’d received as a Christmas present when he was a little boy. His mother brought it out every year during the holidays so he could shake it, creating a pretend blizzard.

Ellie used my arrival to launch a surprise attack. Grabbing a handful of snow, she ran up behind Zach and dumped it down the back of his jacket. Zach turned, chased her across the yard, and took his revenge. I returned to the kitchen to clean the eggs.

Mama was placing strips of bacon in a large skillet. I stood at the sink and washed the eggs in vinegar.

“Let’s have scrambled eggs,” Mama said. “Your daddy thinks you make them better than anyone.”

I took more eggs from the refrigerator and broke them into a metal bowl.

“How is Mrs. Fairmont spending the holidays?” Mama asked.

“Making it as special for Jessie as she can.”

“How is she doing in school?”

“She had a good first semester at school, especially in English. She’s doing great at the house, too. I even think Mrs. Bartlett likes her.”

“And Jessie’s stepmother?”

“Can’t be found. She moved soon after Jessie ran away, and there aren’t any close relatives interested in seeking custody. As part of Jessie’s twelve months’ probation, the juvenile court judge ordered her to stay with Mrs. Fairmont. I can’t imagine anyone happier with her punishment. By the time it ends next year, Jessie will be starting her senior year in high school.”

“What about Vince?”

“He’s with his family in Charleston. Zach and I talked to him before the trip to California. I know he’s disappointed, but I believe the three of us can be friends.”

“Let Zach take the lead in that.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And pray that Vince will meet the person who’s right for him.”

Daddy came into the kitchen and raised his eyebrows when he saw me with a cup of coffee in my hand.

“It’s Zach’s fault,” I said. “He’s driven me to drink.”

“That’s one thing he left out when we talked last night.”

“You spent time together after I went to bed?”

“Yes,” Daddy replied. “We stayed in the front room for a while. He wasn’t sleepy.”

The eggs reached the point of fluffy perfection. Mama sent Bobby outside to retrieve Zach and Ellie. When they entered, Ellie’s cheeks were rosy bright.

“I think it’s getting colder,” Zach said, slapping the snow from his gloves into the utility sink near the rear door.

“That’s what the weather folks predicted,” Mama said as she placed the last strip of cooked bacon on a platter.

T
HE SNOW ON THE GROUND DIDN’T CHILL OUR APPETITES.
A
FTER
Daddy prayed a blessing, there wasn’t much talking for a few minutes. Instead of biscuits, Mama had toasted slices of homemade bread and placed jars of jelly made the previous summer in the center of the table. Zach and I sat across from each other. He focused on the food; I was acutely aware of his every movement.

“What happened with the case that got you on TV?” Kyle asked. “I found the news report on the Internet and showed it to some of the guys in my dorm.”

“It’s scheduled for trial early next year unless the defendants plead guilty.”

“Will you be a witness?” Emma asked Zach.

“Maybe.”

Ellie turned to me. “You could explain how you solved the secret code. After you showed us how it worked, Emma and I practiced using it. No one else in our Sunday school class has figured it out.”

“Please pass me the butter and stop passing notes in Sunday school,” Mama said.

After breakfast the entire family went outside. The snow continued to fall, but it resisted all efforts to form balls. Our attempt at a snowman resembled a mound, not a man. Later, we went inside, and Mama fixed hot chocolate. While I beat the whipped cream, Zach sat beside me on one of the kitchen stools.

After we finished drinking our chocolate, Zach asked me, “Would you like to go for a walk?”

“May we go?” the twins asked in unison.

“Not this one,” Mama said. “Zach and Tammy Lynn need times together when you’re not along to chaperone.”

“I’ll take both of you on a walk later today,” Zach promised.

I bundled up in a warm coat and wrapped a scarf around my neck.

“Where should we go?” Zach asked when we stepped outside. “I don’t want to get lost in the snow.”

“Putnam’s Pond.”

“The place where I was attacked by the crazed catfish?”

“Only because you didn’t know how to pick one up.”

The well-worn path that linked our house to the pond was hidden by snow. Zach took my hand in his as we walked beneath the trees.

“I liked one part of our walks on the beach much better,” I said, slightly squeezing Zach’s hand. “We weren’t wearing thick gloves.”

We came out of the trees. The falling snowflakes didn’t disturb the water on the pond, which was mirror-still. We stood in silence to admire the beauty.

“Do you want to walk around the pond?” I asked.

“Sure.”

We passed the spot where Zach was stung by the catfish and the place where the twins liked to catch butterflies. On the far side of the water, I showed Zach an old, twisted tree that looked like it was kneeling.

“This is one of the places where I’d sit and daydream when I was a little girl,” I said, brushing the snow from the rough bark.

“What would you daydream about?”

“Lots of things.”

Zach suddenly swept me off my feet and set me down on the wide limb.

“Whew,” I said. “That’s easier than scrambling up here.”

“Are you cold?”

“Not really.”

“Would you take off your gloves so we can hold hands for a minute?”

“Just like a good lawyer, you set me up with a question.” I laughed. “But only for a minute. It’s cold.”

We took off our gloves. Zach took my hands in his and looked directly in my eyes.

“Satisfied?” I asked.

“Not yet.”

Zach released my hands. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a tiny box. I gasped. Opening the box, he took out a diamond ring that would have received Mrs. Fairmont’s approval.

“I love you,” he said, looking up into my face. “Will you marry me?”

“Daddy—”

“Gave his approval and blessing last night,” Zach said. “Your mother, too. We didn’t stay up late last night talking about the weather.”

I smiled, hoping my face revealed the joy in my heart.

“Yes, I’ll marry you,” I said, extending my hand so he could slip the ring on my finger. “And I promise to love you always.”

The cool metal met my finger and instantly warmed. I brought it closer so I could admire the design.

“It’s simple, but complicated,” I said, admiring the intricate work in the gold.

“Like its owner.”

Sliding down from the limb, I threw my arms about Zach’s neck and buried my face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight as the falling snow enveloped us with heaven’s embrace.

It was a hug that never had to end.

Epilogue

C
HESTER LIVED IN SYNC WITH
G
OD’S CLOCK.
T
HE SUN MIGHT BE
an idea beneath the horizon; the earth shrouded in the last gray of night; but the rooster knew what was coming. A new day was at hand, one worthy of a herald. He opened his yellow beak and crowed.

Ellie, Emma, and I had talked late into the night as we enjoyed our final opportunity to savor the unique relationship reserved for unmarried sisters. We shared giggles, sweet words, and invisible tears after the lights were turned out. After the twins finally went to sleep, I slipped out of bed and lightly touched each girl’s dark hair and silently blessed them. I prayed that Emma and Ellie would meet the man God was preparing for each of them.

The rooster’s scratchy reveille penetrated the bedroom a second time. Knowing what the day held for me it was impossible to go back to sleep. I flipped onto my back, and with a happy sigh, enjoyed one of the many pleasant thoughts at my disposal.

By evening, my name would change more dramatically and permanently than when I transformed myself from Tammy Lynn to Tami. My family and the State of Georgia would soon know me as Tammy Taylor Mays. Of course, I could still shorten the Tammy to Tami.

I slipped out of bed and threw on one of the plain dresses I wore around the farm. I tiptoed barefooted down the stairs. The door to Daddy and Mama’s bedroom was closed. The sewing room where Zach stayed when he came for his first visit was also empty. He and his family were staying with Oscar Callahan. I wondered if Zach was still asleep. The thought that for the rest of my life I would know whether Zach was awake or asleep by turning over in bed to check sent a shiver down my back.

I slipped on a pair of old sandals and grabbed the blue bucket we used to gather eggs. Late April in the mountains can be brisk, but I liked the feel of the cool, wet grass on my bare toes. Our two dogs heard the back door slam shut and ambled around the corner of the house. They followed at my heels as I walked toward the chicken pen. Chester scratched vigorously in the dirt for a few seconds then stopped to crow. When I opened the wire door to the pen, he squawked in warning but didn’t charge me.

The hens clucked in protest when I stooped to enter the coop. Lady Macbeth made the loudest racket but had the least to fear. Her egg production had been steadily dropping, so Daddy was allowing her to sit on four eggs and hatch her replacement. Two days earlier, the chicks had broken free from their shells. The twins and I watched the last one poke its beak through a tiny hole and work its way to freedom. In the not too distant future I hoped to have a baby of my own.

I collected eggs from the other hens. Returning to the house, I could see Mama standing at the sink fixing the morning pot of coffee. Drinking coffee together had been part of my parent’s morning routine as long as I could remember. I was glad Zach and I had gotten a head start in the same direction.

“Good morning,” I said when I entered the kitchen. “Lady Macbeth is taking good care of her chicks.”

“Are you going to miss the chickens?” Mama asked.

“Yes.” I joined her at the kitchen sink and gave her a quick hug. “But if I start listing all the people, animals, places, and things I’m going to miss, it will take me all day and make me depressed.”

Mama smiled. “I don’t think it’s going to be too hard enjoying the present and looking forward to the future. Soon, you and Zach will have a collection of new happiness.”

“No regrets about him?”

Mama kissed me on the cheek. “None. We wouldn’t pretend to support something we didn’t believe in.”

The coffee pot beeped.

“How much coffee do you want with your cream and sugar?” Mama asked.