Nazareth's Song (15 page)

Willie held Ida May by the hand. Her face was sallow and her body and limbs thinner than usual, a walking twig-girl. Fern bent to look at her. She led Ida May to her seat and gathered her into her lap. She had woven ribbons through Ida May’s braids and made big bows at the tips.

Oz Mills slipped in late too. He tipped his hat to his uncle and then sidled in past two women to sit by Fern.

Jeb felt like he was walking into a tide, fighting to move ahead with a decision that made sense in his head but came out like something dragged into Church in the Dell from a mud hole.

Jeb turned to answer a hushed comment from Florence Bernard and saw Angel and Beck. Beck kept leaning and whispering into Angel’s ear. Jeb wanted to come down the aisle and take that Hopper boy by his protruding ear. Angel returned the boy’s attention, cupping her hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. The two of them chatted with no mind to those seated around them. Beck’s momma never seemed to notice the flirtation going on two sons away. She sat staring with her brows pressed together like the doors were closing on her life.

The service was sparsely attended, with the two front pews empty except for Jeb, who sat alone. His mind wandered from Gracie’s preaching to Angel.

He was tiring of her meddling in all matters concerning the Hoppers. She made him feel as though the harder he paddled to make things right, the more zealously she worked to topple the load. To hear her tell it, he had failed the Hoppers, her, and the whole town of Nazareth. Her way of always wanting to make him out to be the heel would make a mess of things even were he already the Church in the Dell preacher. She had brought up heading for Little Rock more than once in the last week. Both times he had headed off her threats with thoughts of a summer visit.

Today it seemed that Little Rock might be a good idea sooner than summer.

Horace Mills’s Buick idled next to Jeb’s truck. He had not said a word to Jeb about delivering the investors’ offer out to the Hoppers’ place. But Jeb could see him riffling through a stack of papers and watching Telulah Hopper walk alone to her husband’s old truck.

“It’s difficult enough rearing girls without their mother. But trying to train them up and keep up ministry duties is like having the whole world watching through your windows, Jeb.” Jeb had finally divulged his fears about Angel to Gracie as the two of them shook hands with the last families from the front porch. “Take care, Jeb, that you don’t make decisions about these children based on what others might think. It’s not important. Best thing to do for girls is make them feel secure. My wife told me that before she passed away.” Gracie passed a stick of gum off to Agatha, who ran out into the churchyard to join her sister. “I wonder if I made Ellen feel secure?”

“Every time I see Angel talking with Beck Hopper, I know what everyone is thinking,” said Jeb.

“Only God knows what everyone is thinking.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing, Philemon, when it comes to that girl. Before you leave for Cincinnati, I should at least try and find Angel’s momma. Even if she’s not well, she’d do better with her own daughter than I’ve done.”

“Reverend Nubey! Join us for dinner today,” Winona called from the rear seat of her daddy’s car. “You too, Reverend Gracie.”

“I’ve got to pay a visit to the Honeysacks. Freda’s cooked up something special for the girls and Philip.” Gracie balanced his weight between the porch railing and his cane and made his way down the steps. He thanked Winona and returned to the chat about Angel. Jeb followed him out into the churchyard where his girls sat in the minister’s automobile with the doors open.

“I agreed to deliver an offer to the Hopper place. The Hopper boys pull a gun on anyone from the bank that steps on their land, so Mills asked me to do it.”

“An offer?” asked Gracie.

“Some investment friends of his want to make Hopper an offer before the bank forecloses. Mills says it’s a way to help Hopper out of his problems.”

“The man that tried to burn down his bank? Strong gesture of forgiveness, isn’t it?”

“Mills is all business, I know. But he seems to want to help out Asa’s wife. I, for one, think it’s a good idea.”

“But they want you, a minister, to deliver the offer?”

“If you don’t think I should, I won’t.”

“Mrs. Hopper sat in church this morning. If it’s so helpful to her and her family, I wonder why Mills didn’t hand her the offer this morning?”

“Maybe he thought it wouldn’t be proper in church,” said Jeb.

“All of them seem to be waiting on you, including that pretty daughter of Horace’s. Be careful with Horace and Asa Hopper. You never know what you’ll get when you run your hand down a hole in the ground.” Gracie’s eyes steeled for the first time all morning.

“You look tired, Reverend. I hope you get some rest this afternoon before church tonight.”

He waved as the Gracie family drove away, then spied Ida May’s red dress disappearing into the shadows of the woods behind the parsonage. Before he rounded up her and Willie and chased down Angel, he would question Mills again about the offer, just to be certain he was doing the right thing. They hadn’t yet driven away. “Morning, Mr. Mills. Winona,” he said.

“We’ve more food to eat than an army,” said Winona. “Can you come?”

“I’ve got to work out something this afternoon with my oldest charge, Winona.”

Winona gazed out and saw Angel and Beck talking under a poplar tree. “She’s a handful, that one. I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to take them all off to Little Rock or wherever their family is staying. They’re not your worry, you know. You ought to get an award for all you’ve done for them so far.”

Jeb blinked, surprised that Winona would say out loud what he had been pondering himself. “I wish I could join you for dinner,” he said. He tipped his hat at Horace. “Telulah Hopper was at church this morning. It’s good for her to be in church with those boys.”

“In case you’re wondering, we won’t have the offer ready until tomorrow afternoon,” said Horace. “Think you can drop by the bank then and take it out to her?”

“I hear the Hoppers are suffering from an empty pantry. I sure hope this will help them with their troubles,” said Jeb.

Horace pulled out his billfold and handed Jeb a ten-dollar bill. “Buy them whatever they need.”

“I’ll tell them this is from you.”

“Good, maybe she’ll listen.”

Jeb could hear Ida May shrieking. “I should go.”

“Reverend Nubey, you’re always so bound to those Welby children. You know the whole town would understand if you gave them up.” Winona smiled at Jeb.

“Give them up to who?” asked Jeb.

“They aren’t your problem. Let their family deal with them,” she said.

“I admit Angel’s a handful, but their daddy’s nowhere to be found. Their momma’s locked up in the sanatorium.”

“They have an aunt, I hear,” said Winona.

“Getting them back is not as easy as all that, Winona.”

“If you need help getting those kids back where they belong, you let me know and I’ll help out,” Horace said.

“You ought to take advantage of Daddy while he’s in a generous mood.” Winona never took her eyes off Jeb.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jeb backed away from the Millses’ car. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, Mr. Mills.”

He turned and saw that Angel and Beck had disappeared. He could not figure out what interest Horace had in seeing the Welbys returned to their family. But he had seemed so genuinely concerned that Jeb felt it was a brotherly bearing of a burden. Or God’s way of showing him the next leg of the journey.

Ida May ran out of the woods as though a bear chased after her. When she saw Jeb, she met him out of breath, clutching her doll around the throat. “Dub, you won’t be happy with what I seen. But you can’t tell I told you, neither.”

“Calm yourself down, Littlest.”

“That boy is kissing Angel on the mouth like Daddy kissed Momma sometime.” She corrected herself. “Or maybe more like when he kissed Aunt Lana.”

Jeb saw Telulah Hopper seated in her husband’s truck. Her head was bowed over the steering wheel. She appeared to be crying.

12

Y
ou can’t tell me what to do, Jeb Nubey! What if I love Beck Hopper? He can’t help who his daddy is. His momma’s too worried about her husband to be any good to Beck. He needs me,” Angel argued from the front seat of the truck as Jeb drove them back to the Long shack.

“You don’t know nothing about love, Angel. I admit I don’t know anything about being your daddy, neither, but I do know a boy like that will get you into lots of trouble if you let him,” said Jeb.

“What do you know about Beck, anyway, except what his daddy’s done? He’s the kindest boy I know, and he doesn’t see any bad in me, neither.” Angel’s voice rose to a harsh pitch.

“We all got some bad in us, Angel. A boy like Beck paints you perfect and makes you feel better, but it doesn’t make it true. People in love see the bad in one another and love each other anyway. Falling in love gets better every time you have to forgive one another.”

“Like Miss Coulter’s forgiven you?”

“Miss Coulter doesn’t make any claims on loving me, Angel. And that boy’s not in love with you. Is Beck making plans to find a good trade so that he can care for you? Has he saved any money so that he can take care of you?”

“No one is saving money, Jeb. Not these days. Everyone just makes do with what they have. So you can’t lay that on Beck.”

“I don’t want you seeing Beck Hopper ever again, Angel.”

“You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do, Jeb!”

He heaved a sigh. “You’re right. That’s why I can’t do for you anymore.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, batting back tears.

“I think it’s time that I take you to at least try and find your momma. I just can’t do right by you, Willie, or Ida May. I’ve tried to treat you like you was my own, but all I see ahead for all of us is more trouble.”

“You don’t mean a word of it!”

“We’ll pay a visit to your Aunt Kate first and then take you to your momma in the sanatorium or wherever she is. Who knows but what the sight of you will help her.” Jeb parked the truck next to the shack beneath a sprawling oak and turned off the ignition. He yelled through the open truck door, “Willie, help your little sister out of the truck. Storm’s blowing in, and Ida May’s still got a cold.” He glanced back at Angel. “You coming inside?”

“In a minute.”

Angel sat alone in the truck for a long time.

“Don’t you know that if I could have joined Momma in Little Rock I would have already done it?” Angel stood looking through the window, wearing an apron a size too large for her thin body. The afternoon storm had darkened the house so she cleaned the floor by lantern light to save on the light bill. “I know I’ve not told you all that Aunt Kate’s said, but she doesn’t want us to come, Jeb.” Angel set aside the broom to show Ida May how to pour the batter for corn pone. “She can’t feed her own kids plus one cousin that got dropped off with her, and that was after her husband left her high and dry.”

“Ida May, fetch that letter from your Aunt Kate. I want to know where she lives,” said Jeb.

“If Momma wasn’t so bad off, she’d have her to take care of too. But she says Momma will be in the hospital for a long time.” Angel leaned over, elbows resting against the curling facade of the countertop, and covered her face with her hands. Her hair dropped around her eyes and she whimpered, “I miss her so bad.”

“If your Aunt Kate at least saw you three, she might have a change of heart. You’re old enough to help out with her children.”

“Her four plus Willie and Ida May. Aunt Kate’s oldest two boys favor lighting matches and setting fire to things—like the ends of girls’ braids.”

“I don’t know how to take care of you, Angel.”

“We’re not so bad, are we, Jeb?”

“The last thing I want for you is to end up like me.”

“You’re not so bad, either, you know.”

“Only by the grace of God I’m not.”

“Us too, Jeb. We’re all just where we are by God’s grace.”

“I want to see Momma, Angel.” Willie had walked into the kitchen with a burlap sack of potatoes he had brought home from the church.

“She won’t be like she was, Willie,” said Angel.

“I want to know how she is, even if it’s bad.” Willie dropped the sack at her feet.

“Don’t you want to at least know for yourself about your own momma, Angel?” asked Jeb.

Angel pushed aside the potato sack with her foot and then sat down at the kitchen table. She let out several shallow breaths before she said, “Jeb can drive me to Little Rock, Willie, but not with you two. Jeb, I’ll see if Mellie Fogarty or one of the other ladies will watch these two while we’re gone.”

“She won’t stop giving me baths,” said Ida May. “I do like her cake baking, though.”

“I’m going with you, Angel,” said Willie, his irritation plainly showing in the way he drew up his mouth.

“Why can’t we all go?” Ida May mewled.

“Willie won’t keep up with his schoolwork on the road, and I will. I want to see Momma first, and then I’ll send for you two. How would that work, Jeb?” Angel asked.

“Your sister’s right, Willie. You’d get too behind in your schoolwork. If things work out with your Aunt Kate, I’ll be back to get you both.”

“I hate school,” said Willie. “But if I’ll be home soon, I’ll tolerate it.”

Angel slid the pan into the oven. “Little Rock’s not home, Willie.”

A layer of frost coated the windows in a slick blur. The moon sat enthroned in a ringed halo with the sky a gray wash of black and green. The toads had fallen silent and an autumnal cold surrounded the Long shack, seeping into the cracks and whistling past the glass into the bedroom where the Welbys slept. Angel turned several times in her sleep, restless and mumbling things that Jeb could not decipher.

When he had confessed to Angel about taking her to Little Rock, he thought a calm would settle over the house. But instead, the idea of packing Angel off to see her unstable family had left Jeb with a sick feeling. He could not imagine what had possessed him to blurt out such an idea. When Horace and Winona had urged him to return the Welbys to their kin, it seemed reasonable—the best thing for Angel, Willie, and Ida May. But now driving them to Little Rock made Jeb feel like another person in their life had casually decided to throw them away.