Chapter 7
"This is a precious little house," I said when he parked in the driveway of a small plum-colored home with a steep arbor over the front door.
"It's Donna's," he said, opening his truck door. He pointed to the cream-colored one next door, which was sweet as well. "That's mine."
"Do you want me to get down with you?" I asked.
Henry shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You can if you want, but she's ready, I'm just going to the door to grab her."
"I'll get out and wait in the driveway," I said.
I had no idea who Donna was, but I didn't want to be in the front seat when she came to get into the truck.
I stood on the driveway next to the truck, and Henry walked toward her house.
He glanced back to see if I was coming, but he said nothing when he saw that I wasn't.
I watched as he walked toward the door, and I saw it open before he ever got there.
The most precious little old lady stepped outside, wearing a purple floral dress that matched her house.
She had on white shoes, white gloves, and a white hat to match her white hair.
I could not hold in a smile when I saw her beam at Henry and then reach out to hug him.
They talked for a second on the stoop, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.
He held her hand, looking like the picture of a gentleman, while they climbed down three steps together and began walking toward me.
She looked toward the truck and noticed me, putting a hand over her mouth in a gesture of surprise.
"Oh, my goodness, I knew this day would come," she said.
They were closer to me now, so I could hear her even though her voice was quiet.
He was holding her hand, and it was the sweetest thing.
I was so charmed by watching them that I hardly registered what she was saying. "I knew you'd find a lady someday."
"Oh, no ma'am, this lady is staying at my parents' ranch. She's a guest there. She's… running errands with me this morning. That's why you'll have to ask Nick or Tammy for a ride home today. I can't stay for church."
She gasped in dismay. "Oh, sure you can. Everybody's got to stay for church. That's how you get your week started right is to go to Sunday school and church on Sunday. Then your whole week is on track."
"Oh, I know, and you know I hate to miss, but I have to get our guest back to the ranch. She's eating breakfast with my mom."
"What is our guest's name," she asked, looking at me.
"Amelia," I answered.
"Like the lady who flew airplanes?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said, having heard that reference a time or two before.
"Amelia will help me into the truck this time," she said.
Henry and I glanced at each other with surprised expressions and traded positions, me coming to Donna's side so she could take my arm.
She curled up next to me, and I glanced at Henry, who shrugged and gave me a wide-eyed expression as he walked over to his side of the truck.
I glanced at Donna, and she reached up and touched my cheek with her gloved hand.
"You sure are sweet," she said, staring at me.
"Thank you," I answered, feeling speechless. I thought we might start walking and take the remaining steps toward the truck, but she stayed still. Her hand had come off my cheek, but then she stared intensely and touched my forehead.
"I believe you have a little dirt on your…"
"What? Oh, no, that's a bruise," I said, touching my face.
"A bruise, well, for goodness sake, honey, what happened?"
"I ran into the edge of a door," I said, smiling.
"Okay, well, are you okay?"
"Yes, I am. It's better now that the bump is almost gone."
"Did you have an old goose egg?"
"Yes, and I've never had that before, so it scared me at first. I almost passed out."
She chuckled knowingly, nodding. "I know how they do, I've raised four boys."
"Have you seen a few of those?"
"I sure have," she said, thoughtfully. "I'm so sorry you won't be joining us for church. Do you think you could reconsider? It would really mean a lot to me to have you both there, sitting next to me."
She spoke slowly, and she was so sweet that I could hardly take it. She was looking at me, and I felt like I needed to respond to her.
"I would, but I think Henry said he needed to get me back to the ranch." I hated to break her heart, so I added, "And, plus, I smell like a barn."
She smiled and started walking, taking small steps toward the truck. "You smell just fine, sweetheart, and the Lord doesn't care about that, anyway."
"I would, but I think Henry wanted to get back."
"Don't worry, we'll be all finished up by eleven o'clock. Are you staying in Deer Lodge?"
"Yes. That's right. At the Sutter's place."
"It's so nice out there. I've seen it in pictures, and Henry tells me about it all the time."
I opened the door to the truck, and before she ever stepped inside, she looked at Henry and said, "Well, I believe I've convinced Amelia to come to church with us."
He tried to insist that we had to have me back for breakfast, and she said we were getting donuts. Then he said that I had signed up for some kind of experience on the ranch, and she turned and asked me sweetly to delay my day by just a couple of hours.
It was impossible to say no to this lady.
She confused and stunned me with her sweet, presumptuous personality, and the next thing I knew, I was being dragged along on Henry's Sunday morning routine. We were heading to get donuts and then to church. I was really doing this.
Henry texted his mom to let her know where I was, and I texted Ty.
I had already sent her a text when I left the ranch, and I just added that I was going to be getting back later than I thought.
She wasn't awake yet, and I knew she wouldn't respond.
I did my best to explain clearly over text, even though Donna was asking me questions from the front seat while I was composing it.
The lady at the donut store was waiting for them, and she had their order prepped before we made it to the register.
"Do you want anything?" Henry asked.
"Oh, no, it's okay," I said, shaking my head. I had no purse and no wallet. I did have a way to pay from my phone, but it was a small shop, and I wasn't sure if they could even do that.
"What about a breakfast sandwich?" he asked.
I gave him a little shake of my head and made a face like I was fine. He gave me a look like I should change my mind, but I just shook him off.
"I'll take some water," I said.
"Not even juice or coffee? I'm paying."
"Yeah, I would love a cup of coffee, actually, thank you."
He smiled at me when I said that, and I felt my stomach flip. Henry was as handsome as they came, and I was standing there in my barn clothes, penniless and wearing a purple smudge in the middle of my forehead.
I didn't care.
I was just relieved he wasn't mad at me.
Henry ordered me a coffee, and while we were in the truck, he reached back and gave me half of his sandwich, which was a bacon, egg, and cheese and pre-cut into triangular-shaped pieces.
I was tempted to deny him, but I decided that would draw even more attention to myself, so I just took it.
I felt humbled and not at all like the confident, carefree college student who used my father's credit card for anything I needed.
Everything about this whole trip had been humbling, starting with my sister not wanting to be here, and then culminating in this. Now I was eating half of someone else's sandwich for breakfast and getting charmed by a little old lady into doing things I didn't want to do.
We made our way to a small, old white wooden church building on the outskirts of Butte.
It was the old school kind of church with a steeple and long wooden pews.
Apparently, we were supposed to do something called Sunday school before the church service started—that was where the doughnuts came into play.
Henry took a box of them and went to Sunday school with a group of men, while I went with Ms. Donna and the second box of donuts to the area where the ladies were meeting.
There were about ten women present, and none of them were my age.
Most were over seventy, and there were two girls in their early teens—it was one of the lady's granddaughters and her friend.
They mostly huddled up and whispered to each other while the older ladies did a Bible study about someone named Joseph who had dreams and got betrayed by his brothers.
I knew the part about the coat of many colors.
I had heard of that before. It was quite interesting, honestly.
I didn't know there were so many facets of Christianity besides Jesus.
I didn't quite understand how it all was connected, but then they told me that these people were Jesus's ancestors and that their story pointed to and validated the fact that Jesus was who he said he was—the Son of God.
The big picture still didn't make all that much sense to me, but the story itself was interesting, and I couldn’t believe Joseph forgave them and helped them after what they did to him.
We had a ten minute break, and then we met in the main room for the church service.
There were two sections of wooden pews with a long aisle running down the center. I had never been in one of these churches—maybe when I was little for someone's wedding or a funeral, but never to church. I had seen plenty of them in movies, though.
We sat on the fifth row. Henry sat next to the center aisle, and Ms. Donna left room for me to sit next to him. She was next to me, and one of her friends, Hazel, sat next to her. There was another couple at the other end of our row. I looked around and counted twenty or thirty people total.
A man came to the front and asked us all to stand. We then proceeded to sing three or four songs together from a songbook. He would tell us to turn to a certain page, and then the piano player would play, and we would sing like we were the choir with him as our leader.