Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Roland handed Lilly her coat in exchange for her angel uniform.
The little girl smiled at him, and he said, "Great practice, Lilly. You're gonna be awesome tomorrow."
The little girl beamed, as her dad shook his hand.
"I appreciate you doing this along with Miss Nelly. And I really appreciate you finding a role for Lilly where she didn't have to speak, but still felt like she was contributing. It has made her smile more than anything else since she lost her mom."
Jack shook Roland's hand, as Roland nodded.
"It's been fun. I can't deny that it's a lot of work, but to see the kids, and how they've bloomed, has been so rewarding."
He found that he meant every word. It had been rewarding.
Of course, he really started looking forward to practice once he and Nelly had started getting along better.
And now, he looked forward to every single one.
Even if Mrs. Tucker was still giving him suspicious side eyes, and Pastor looked disapprovingly at him every time he walked in the church.
There was nothing he could do about that. No way to prove his innocence. A person was supposed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. All there were were shadows and doubts, along with unfounded accusations from Mrs. Tucker.
It irritated him, but again, he couldn't let it affect him. Otherwise, he would be angry and bitter and constantly trying to prove his innocence, which would probably only make him look more guilty.
"One more practice in the books," Nelly said as she came over, folding the last angel uniform and setting it down beside where he had set Lilly's on the front pew.
"Now all we have to do is get through the actual performance tomorrow." He smiled down at Nelly. How had he never noticed how beautiful she was?
Maybe she wasn't conventionally beautiful, but her smile was full of life and happiness, and it was liberally given to everyone. She hadn't gotten upset with a single child, and he was the only person that he could ever remember her being angry with.
Last night, he'd almost told her how he felt.
Almost. Actually, more than that, he almost showed her how he felt.
By kissing her. But that would've been taking unfair advantage of her.
After all, she hadn't chosen to be grabbed by the waist and shoved up against the house wall, and even though he was doing it to try to protect both of their identities, he couldn't take advantage of his superior strength, and the situation that had worked exactly to his advantage. He would have felt bad about it.
Probably.
Although, the feeling that he most felt now was regret. Regret that he hadn't taken the opportunity to at least let her know that he thought he was falling for her. To see what she would say. If she could possibly return his feelings.
He didn't believe that feelings were necessary for a good marriage, but it seemed to be the prevailing notion of the day, and he definitely had them for her.
But he also knew that she was honest and upright, and would keep her word once it was given.
She would stay true to her husband and do her very best to raise her family and her children.
Look at how she had taken care of her gram.
Look at how she treated the kids in her classroom and even here in the Christmas program.
And, she'd never wavered in her support of his innocence, no matter how unkind Mrs. Tucker had been.
"I'm ready," she said, and maybe it was just his imagination, but she seemed out of breath.
He took a step toward her, and started to raise his hand, but was interrupted.
"There's more money missing.” The Pastor's voice caused Nelly to startle and take a step back as her head swung around and her eyes widened. The pastor did not look happy.
"Roland, I'm going to have to ask you to show me the money that's in your wallet."
Mrs. Tucker, who was huffing behind Pastor, looked a little surprised at that request.
Roland didn't understand the request either, but he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
"I suppose I don't know why you're doing this, but you must have a reason."
"Someone's been messing with the camera. When I try to pull it up on my phone, all I get is static and I can't see anything." The pastor narrowed his eyes. "But I know there's money missing."
"I know there's money missing too, and I know that you have the know-how to figure out how to disable the camera," Mrs. Tucker stopped behind the Pastor, her bosom heaving, her arms crossed over her chest.
Roland had pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and handed it over to Pastor.
But before Pastor could do anything, Nelly said, "Mrs. Tucker, would you be so kind as to let me see your purse?"
"What do you want my purse for?" Mrs. Tucker asked, although at the same time she pulled the strap off her shoulder and handed it to Nelly. Nelly just inspired that kind of confidence in people.
"I'm curious," Nelly said, with a smile.
Then, to Roland's surprise, she gave him a glance, and a look that seemed to say that everything was going to be okay.
Then, Pastor glanced at Nelly, and kind of nodded.
The exchange was odd, but even odder was the fact that Nelly sat down on the pew, and started rooting through Mrs. Tucker's purse.
Pastor sat down beside her, and began to look through Roland's wallet.
Roland had to admit he was baffled, and Mrs. Tucker seemed just as stumped as they stood, almost side-by-side, and watched the odd behavior of Pastor and Nelly.
"Here it is." Nelly's voice did not hold triumph, but instead, it sounded a little subdued, and sad.
In her hand was a twenty dollar bill, and at first Tucker and Roland couldn't see anything odd about it. But then she flipped it over, and he could see a big red smiley face had been drawn on the back.
"I'll be," Pastor said, the few ones and fives that had been in Roland's wallet still held in his fist.
He shook his head. "Mrs. Tucker?" Pastor's voice held so much disbelief and disappointment that Roland almost felt bad for the old lady.
"What? What are you looking at me for? It's not like I'm drawing on money," the old lady huffed.
"No. Nelly came to me with a theory. She convinced me to put a twenty out of my wallet in the collection plate, after I had made a mark on it that would make that bill absolutely unique."
All of a sudden, Roland knew exactly what had happened. And he wanted to kiss Nelly right then even more than he did last night.
"So that you guys would know exactly who the thief was if you caught them with the money in their purse or wallet."
"Purse," Nelly said, looking at him with her eyes shining.
And then, he was sure that she had cooked this up, because she wanted to prove that he was innocent. Although, whether or not she truly thought that Mrs. Tucker had been taking the money, he couldn't be sure. He certainly had never suspected such a thing.
"Mrs. Tucker, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to go to the police station with this."
Mrs. Tucker's eyes filled with tears, and the starch that held her up proudly seemed to drain completely out of her as her body crumpled into a humble heap.
"Please don't. I'm so sorry. You don't understand.
After my husband died, the insurance that we got was barely enough to pay for his hospital stay.
I couldn't pay for his funeral. I didn't realize that it was going to be so expensive and.
.. I've been struggling ever since! And. .."
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize things were so hard for you," Pastor said as he stood and put a hand on her arm.
"I didn't know either," Nelly said, standing up and putting an arm around Mrs. Tucker.
Roland didn't say anything. He hadn't known either, but he wasn't quite sure that Mrs. Tucker liked him. And honestly, he wasn't sure he liked her, since she knew who the thief was all along, and she tried to make it seem like it was him, trying to make him take the blame for her thievery.
But, the old lady was now crying.
"Please don't take me to the police station. I'll pay all the money back. My son is coming to live with me and he's going to pay me rent. With that extra money coming in I should be able to catch up on my bills within a year."
"Or perhaps something else will happen in the meantime," Nelly said, and then she gave Roland a covert glance.
His lips flattened, but he gave a short nod.
He knew exactly what she was thinking. As Secret Saints, they had access to a lot of different things, and more than one business had offered to pay off the debts of someone who was struggling.
It would be a simple matter of getting that figured out and would take less than a day.
Still, he was irritated because Mrs. Tucker had been so willing to throw him under the bus to protect herself, to use him as a shield for her own sin.
"I owe you a sincere apology. I... I hated the idea that I was soiling your name, but I knew that no one would ever be able to conceivably tie you to the crime.
I thought that I would get away with it, and you would be exonerated and everything would work out.
I'm sorry. I... I ran your name through the mud and there's no excuse for it. "
He'd never seen Mrs. Tucker look so humble. But there was something he didn't understand.
"How did you get in the church without the camera catching you?"
"I have a key to the back door. No one ever thought of that, since I'm the only one aside from Pastor who has one."
"I forgot you even had one."
"I figured."
They all stood there, Mrs. Tucker sniffing, and wiping at her face while Nelly continued to put her arm around her.
Roland supposed it was his turn to talk.
"I accept your apology and forgive you."