Chapter 18
Amy sat beside Jones in the wagon leading the children as they sang, while Judd and Terry sat on the bench behind them, driving the horses.
Terry didn’t always come, but after yesterday, announcing to their family that they were going to get married, and today, when they had announced to the church that they were going to get married, she figured they wanted to spend as much time as possible together. There was just something beautiful about the engagement. And it was going to be short, so they might as well enjoy it.
Of course, hers and Jones’s was going to be even shorter, but she didn’t want to take away anything from Terry’s happiness, even though Terry had said that she didn’t care.
“How many of you ate your cookies from yesterday?” Jones asked the kids, and there was a chorus of voices as they answered, some with hands, some with stories, and all trying to talk over the others.
Jones had been so good with the kids, and this wagon idea with the horses had been an excellent one. It had given the horses a new lease on life, and it had given the kids something fun to do for the Christmas season. The wagon had been decked out like a sleigh, although she hadn’t quite been able to get her mind to say sleigh instead of wagon, since she knew exactly what it was.
Still, she and Jones had a great time, and she didn’t think there was going to be any doubt that they wanted to do it next year as long as Judd and Terry were willing and Belle and Bob were still available.
Although, maybe they could have a few special things throughout the year that would get them out and about, just to keep them in practice.
Lucas, Marissa, and Robert were all on the wagon, while her mom had taken Jasper and Landon home with her.
Isadora had not made it to church, and that hadn’t surprised anyone. She was working through some really hard things, and Amy figured that if it were her, she might want to be around some familiar, happy faces, but she also might want to wait until she felt like she was able to handle it on her own before she talked to a lot of people about it. She honestly had been surprised that Isadora had shown up at the house yesterday.
Gilbert hadn’t said much, but she thought that he appreciated not being alone. It had been after midnight before everyone had left, most of the food had been gone, and her mom had taken her aside and told her that Isadora had eaten.
Amy had been concerned about it, and Terry had been particularly worried.
Both of them were relieved to hear that.
Not just for Isadora, because Amy figured it was probably normal for someone who was going through something like she was to lose weight, but it was more because of the baby. They didn’t want to add more tragedy on tragedy.
“Are you ready for our announcement?” Jones asked, allowing his fingers to trail through her hair.
She liked the way that felt, liked the way his voice rumbled in her ear, liked the way it felt sitting beside him and being able to touch his leg and hold his hand. Although they hadn’t done that today, since she wanted to tell her family first.
“I’m actually excited about it,” she said, turning to him and being sincere .
The wagon stopped, and they helped the two kids who lived in the house in front of them out, holding their papers and candy that they’d gotten at church.
They waved, and the kids waved back, and then the wagon pulled away and Jones started them on the first verse of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
The kids joined in with gusto, because they’d trained them to sing from their hearts for the Lord. When they first started singing, no one had wanted to, and that might have partly been because no one knew the songs, but it also took some conditioning, since the kids were naturally reticent, and the idea of singing for Jesus was not one that was talked about a lot in even Christian homes, and most of these kids came from secular families.
She didn’t know how much good they were doing, but she had heard success stories of children who had been brought to church either through buses or other means, who had grown up to serve the Lord and give Him their lives, and she could only hope that some of the kids that they were working with would do the same.
She wondered how that was possible, since she knew so many families who had Christian parents, whose children didn’t turn out for the Lord. And weren’t living a Christian life. What chance was there for a kid who hadn’t grown up with parents to guide them of ever living for Jesus?
She knew that God had a lot to do with it, and she just prayed that His hand would be on the children that she loved and cared for so much.
They dropped the last kid off and said goodbye to Terry and Judd, who still had to unhook the horses and take them back to the farm before coming to her parents’ house.
Lucas, Marissa, and Robert were going home with them since Gilbert hadn’t been in church either. And despite the fact that Marissa was in a princess dress, they raced each other to Jones’s pickup, laughing and calling to each other .
Marissa had had a breakdown in Sunday school, and Robert had had a meltdown before they’d even gotten to Sunday school, but it looked like they were all doing fine now. Even Lucas was smiling.
“Did you see someone managed to get the gifts under the tree last night?”
“I did,” Amy said as they walked well behind the children. Not holding hands.
But they were walking close enough that they could talk low even though there wasn’t anyone left other than the pastor and chatty folks, who still hadn’t made it out of the building yet, and their arms brushed occasionally.
“I can’t believe that they were able to do it without me seeing. I was watching for it! But I went out to get a sandwich, then they were there!”
“I tried to keep an eye out for him, but then we started singing, and I didn’t even think about it.”
“He’s good at what he does, that’s for sure,” she said, then they shared a knowing glance as Jones went to her side of the truck and opened the door for her. The kids were already in the back.
“Thank you,” she said, giving him a smile. He touched her arm and then let his fingers trail down and grab her hand quickly for a squeeze before he said, “My pleasure,” and shut her door.
It was crazy the way he could make her tingle and she hadn’t even thought about it before. But the look in his eyes, the tone of his voice, the trail of his fingers, it definitely made her heart beat faster and her mind feel like mush.
She wanted to tell him not to do that to her, but she actually kind of liked it.
They drove to her parents’ house and got out. Amy hadn’t made anything because their house was full of leftovers and meat trays that people had dropped off because of Gilbert and because of Sally’s passing.
The kids hopped out and ran in the house, and she and Jones smiled into each other’s eyes as they walked up the sidewalk. They did not hold hands, but Amy told herself that it could be the last time they ever walked up the sidewalk not holding hands.
She knew that was probably unreasonable. There would be plenty of times where they might have kids or packages or maybe they would even be angry at each other, although... She hoped not. She hoped they could continue the friendship that they’d had, the one that was respectful and kind and where they understood each other and didn’t get angry about dumb things that didn’t matter.
He opened the door for her, and she walked in, eager to tell her family her good news.