Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania (19 page)

But not even Jasper could forever hold off the inevitable.

There had been two weeks of bliss between Jasper and Sadie. For two weeks she had been able to push the threat of Dmitri’s new restaurant to the corners of her mind, strike up tentative conversations with Mac, and bask in the glow of Jasper’s hand holding hers. Even Kylie reacted positively to the change, and as the school year ended and summer break began, there were fewer incidences involving one-legged dolls and man-eating volcanoes. Of course, that’s not to say the bathroom gods slept—just that fewer mishaps occurred during that time. Life was lulling Sadie into complacency, she was certain of it.

And then Jasper suggested a visit to Aunt Matilda.

They left Sunday morning in Jasper’s car, Sadie and Jasper in the front and Kylie settled in the back with a supply of Barbies and story-books at her availability. It was only an hour-long drive to York County, but Kylie wasn’t known for her patience with drives of any sort.

Aunt Matilda didn’t remember Sadie. Even worse, she immediately took her to be a kleptomaniac.

“Where did you put them, you hussy?”

Sadie blinked at this greeting. “Hello to you too, Aunt Matilda.”

“Where are they?”

Kylie’s eyes were round with surprise. She looked at Jasper and then at Sadie and then back at Matilda. She had never encountered anyone who was both accusatory and insulting right from the outset.

“Aunt Matilda, this is Sadie, remember?” Jasper prodded, seemingly not in the least embarrassed.

For her own part, Sadie was too surprised to be embarrassed. She’d never been called a hussy before.

“I don’t care who she is!” Aunt Matilda cried. “She stole my dentures, and I want them back!”

Sadie bit her lip. Matilda’s dentures were clearly already affixed in her mouth.

“Um…” She looked to Jasper for help.

Jasper patted Matilda’s hand. “You have them in already, Aunt Matilda.”

Matilda leaned forward. “What did you say?”

Jasper spoke loudly and with precise enunciation. “Your dentures are already in your mouth!”

Matilda touched a wrinkled old hand to her gums. “Oh.” She calmed somewhat, and her pink face paled to a more manageable color. “So they are.”

She rounded a worn blue eye on Sadie. “But mind you they stay there, young lady. I know your sort. Don’t be getting any ideas!”

Jasper straightened and winked at Sadie. “I always knew you were a troublemaker.”

She rolled her eyes at him.

By the end of the day, Sadie would look back and realize this not-so-auspicious beginning should have warned her as to how the rest of the visit would go. Unfortunately, she hadn’t taken any warning from Matilda’s first outburst.

It happened again in the church. They had loaded Matilda into the car for an uneventful ride to the Good Shepherd Chapel. Jasper greeted a few of the congregants as they settled Matilda in what Jasper claimed was her typical seat—center aisle, eighth pew back from the front. Jasper assured Sadie that if Matilda did
not
sit in this seat, an apocalyptic judgment such as defined in the book of Revelation was likely to rain havoc upon the world.

Sadie made sure Kylie was well supplied with coloring books and Bible stories to last her throughout the service. Jasper had suggested the children’s Sunday school class, but Kylie would have none of it. She’d made it clear there was no way she was leaving Sadie alone with someone of such suspicious character as Matilda Reeves.

And so the service began.

Everything went smoothly through the welcoming prayer and hymns. There was a brief period set aside for time at the altar, as well as an update on a missionary family in Liberia. Jasper reached over and grabbed Sadie’s hand halfway through the altar time, and Sadie warmed at his touch.

With Matilda seated on the end, and Jasper to her right with Sadie and Kylie beside him, everything seemed normal. A family at church on a glorious Sunday morning. And Sadie suddenly felt the need to smother a smile at this terrific fortune.

That’s when Matilda stood up.

The preacher was only ten minutes into his sermon and about to highlight the second point in his message when Matilda cried out.

“This woman!” Her bony, gnarled finger pointed past Jasper and directly at Sadie. “This woman has taken my dentures, and I demand that something be done about it!”

Jasper nervously tugged on Matilda’s arm and pleaded in a loud whisper that she sit down. She only glared at him with one filmy eye and shouted, “Eh? What’s that, boy? Speak up!”

Jasper placed his face in his hand while Matilda glared at Sadie. Kylie hissed beside her, “Mommy, Kylie thought we couldn’t talk in church!”

The congregation in front of them had twisted in their seats and were staring at the display. The preacher had frozen at the pulpit, one finger pointed heavenward in a freeze-framed moment.

“Well?” Matilda demanded of Sadie. “Where are they, you hussy?”

“That’s twice in one morning,” Sadie stated incredulously. She looked at Jasper. “I just got insulted by Aunt Matilda
twice
in one morning.”

Clearly, the name-calling affected Sadie more than the public humiliation.

When Sadie made no move to restore Aunt Matilda’s property, the old woman attempted to shuffle out into the aisle. Without Jasper’s arm and the assistance of her cane, however, this took quite a bit of maneuvering, which included her grasping the hair of the woman in the row in front of them.

By the time Matilda at last made it out of the pew, the victimized lady before them was clutching her hairdo and preparing to make a run for the rear exit. Matilda hobbled toward the front.

Sadie thought perhaps now was the time for Jasper to make a move, but he seemed rooted to the spot in absolute denial that such a thing was really taking place.

“A tooth for a tooth!” Matilda declared. “If the Good Book says so, then I demand that my teeth be restored!”

Sadie gaped. “I suppose I should be grateful that she doesn’t think I took her glasses.”

Jasper still didn’t have the strength to comment. Nor, apparently, did the rest of the congregation. They sat in slack-jawed stupefaction, watching the drama unfold before them. Several of the younger congregation members were giggling sharply, but the majority simply stared in shock.

Jasper found his voice and leaned toward Sadie. “How do you always manage to bring out the best in people?”

She shrugged. “It’s a gift.”

He looked at her with a mixture of embarrassment and humor in his eyes. “Does it come with a return policy?”

She suddenly found herself wanting to laugh and cry at the same time.

Kylie, seeing that neither Jasper nor Sadie was making a move to end this madness, apparently decided to take matters into her own hands. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled under several seats until she found her way out into the clearing.

Sadie noticed her daughter’s appearance in the aisle and felt her heart skip a beat.

“Kylie!” she whispered as quietly as she could.

Kylie either didn’t hear her mother or chose not to answer as she approached Aunt Matilda near the front. Tugging firmly on the old woman’s sleeve, Kylie at last gained Matilda’s attention. The older woman turned her sharp eyes on the little girl.

“Maybe the volcano took your teeth,” Kylie suggested.

Matilda frowned. “The
what
?”

“The volcano!” Kylie shouted.

Matilda waved her hand at this nonsense. “What volcano?” she demanded.

Kylie sighed and announced in the loudest voice her five-year-old lungs could muster, “THE TOILET!”

A collective gasp rose from the congregation, effectively drowning out whatever Matilda might have said next.

“Okay,
that
was my cue,” Jasper decided. And with that, he darted out into the aisle to gather the two girls he was forced to claim as his own. Sadie made quick work of scooping up Kylie’s coloring books and Bible stories as well as grabbing Aunt Matilda’s six-pound purse

before jumping out of the pew.

Jasper managed to herd the two offending parties down the aisle and toward the door, offering sincere apologies as he went.

“So sorry… Won’t happen again… Sincere apologies…”

Sadie stood waiting when Jasper at last got Kylie and Matilda out to the car. She felt the heat of embarrassment upon her face but couldn’t help smiling broadly.

He sighed as Kylie helped Aunt Matilda into the car. “What do you look so amused about?” he asked her, his smile belying any real irritation.

Sadie held out Matilda’s heavily weighted purse. “Take a look.”

Jasper peered inside and groaned.

There were several sets of dentures grinning morbidly up at him.

Following their getaway from the Good Shepherd congregation, Jasper decided to risk a lunch at a local restaurant. His reasoning was that if they placed their order early enough and ate quickly, they could be out of there before any of the churchgoers arrived at the place.

Sadie thought it was a good plan.

Following the denture adventure, Aunt Matilda settled down a bit. She was fascinated with Kylie’s volcano stories and demanded that the little girl give more details on what had happened to Malibu Ken’s leg.

Kylie told the story flawlessly time after time, neatly leaving out the part where she purposefully flushed Ken’s leg down the toilet. Sadie didn’t notice anything amiss in the story.

Kylie’s good,
thought Jasper.
Too good for her own good.

Heaven help the boys when she reached dating age. Jasper thrilled a little at the thought. Much as he hoped the day would take a long time in coming, he still felt a satisfaction at the anticipation of running any would-be suitors through the gauntlet as Kylie’s dad.

Kylie’s dad.

Jasper had to bite his tongue to keep from grinning. He found Sadie’s hand beneath the table and squeezed it gently. She looked at him, her eyes a bottomless swirl. It tempted him to kiss her right then and there, in front of Aunt Matilda and everyone.

The reminder of Aunt Matilda was what held him back.

“I think you should plow this volcano to the ground!” Aunt Matilda insisted to Kylie.

“Oh, please, don’t give her ideas!” Sadie begged with honest fear.

Jasper and Sadie exchanged glances. He could just imagine her coming home to shards of porcelain littering the bathroom floor and Kylie triumphantly holding Ken’s leg in homage to island justice.

Matilda looked at Sadie with sharp, all-knowing eyes. “It’s not wise to have that type of thing in your home, dear. Who knows what it will begin eating next? One night while this child is in her bed— why…think of it!”

Clearly, Kylie
was
thinking of it. Her eyes were round with fear.

“Mommy?” she asked in trepidation.

Jasper shook his head at her. “It’s not that kind of volcano, Kylie. Don’t worry.”

“But then there are those cannibals to consider,” Matilda pointed out. “Rings in their noses!
Shah!
Who knows what godless heathens like that will do? Why do you let them stay in your bathroom, dear?” she asked Sadie with a critical air.

Sadie took a sip from her iced tea. “I dunno. They just moved in one day, and it seemed too much of a hassle to have them evicted. At least they don’t eat much,” she lightly suggested.

Matilda narrowed her eyes. “No, the volcano seems to be doing that.”

Jasper snorted and shook a sugar packet. “She’s got you there, Sadie.”

“So, Aunt Matilda…how do you like your corn chowder?” Sadie must have decided it was time for a subject change.

Matilda took a spoonful of her soup and dribbled it onto the floor in reply. Kylie slapped a hand to her mouth, unsuccessfully covering a delighted giggle.

“It tastes like they scooped it off the floor,” she declared.

Jasper rather agreed with the old woman but still thought the action a bit unnecessary.

“And how’s your salad, dear?” Matilda asked.

Sadie blinked at the gentle kindness that suffused the older lady’s tone.

“It’s all right,” Sadie warily answered.

Matilda huffed. Leaning forward, she reached her finger into the bed of lettuce greens and fished around. Grabbing hold of an olive, she pinched it between her wrinkled fingers, plucked it from the plate, and threw that on the ground as well.