Chapter 52~

The family was cheering and hugging one another as Willow and Chad entered.  “Well, I’m glad you’re happy to see us but-” Chad began.

“Luke’s engaged!  Aggie said yes!  He’s coming back late tonight with video footage of the proposal,” Cheri squealed excitedly.

Libby beamed at Willow.  “I’m going to be an instant grandma all over again!  Can you stay and watch it with us tomorrow?”

“Yeah!”  Cheri’s enthusiasm was infectious.  “After the guys get back from their shopping frenzy, we can have pizza and tease Luke!”

Seeing the uncertainty in Willow’s eyes, Libby thought she understood.  “Oh, how silly of me.  Chad’s here.  He can’t take care of the animals if you’re not home.  I’ll find a way to bring it to you.”

Chad pulled Willow aside.  “Judith would go out and make sure the animals had water and food.  I know she would.  Do you want to stay overnight and see the tape?”

“I couldn’t ask-”

“Look, if you had to milk the goat, I wouldn’t have suggested it, but anyone can sprinkle feed for chickens and dump some alfalfa for goats and sheep and a cow.”

Chad’s grandmother passed by saying, “Well if Aggie knows what’s good for her, she’ll renege and run.  Misery.  She’s asking for misery.”

Willow’s patience with the constant berating and negativity was gone.  “I think that’s a horrible thing to say.” She said coolly and to Chad’s ears, terrifyingly calmly.  “Luke is a good man and will cherish her.”

A cold stillness filled the room.  Everyone waited for Grandmother Tesdall to pounce.  Misery welled in Willow’s heart.  She hadn’t meant to say what she thought aloud.  “I’m sorry Mrs. Tesdall.  I shouldn’t have said that.”

“But you think it,” the irascible woman countered.

“Yes, but thinking something doesn’t give us the right to be rude and I’m sorry.”

“You don’t like me very much, do you?” 

Willow heard a few gasps and blushed.  “Actually, I don’t know you.  I don’t like the way you talk to your husband though, and I don’t think you know Luke very well if you think Aggie would be better off without him.”

Chad felt like sinking into the floor.  His grandmother would explode.  To everyone’s surprise, however, she laughed.  “I like you girl.  You’ve got spunk.”  She turned to Chad and said, “Keep this one.  She’s worth a hundred of the princesses out there.”

Grandpa Tesdall paused beside her and kissed Willow’s cheek as he followed his wife into the living room.  She laid a hand on his arm and smiled into his eyes.  “Mr. Tesdall, try kindness.  I think it’ll gentle her.  Someone somewhere said something that made her feel weak or foolish for being proud of her husband and she’s just protecting herself.”

Chuck saw Cheri nudge Chris.  He watched as brother and sister exchanged knowing glances while watching Chad and Willow.  A camera appeared from Cheri’s pocket, snapped a picture of Chad murmuring something into Willow’s ear and Willow’s amused reply.  Chuck knew Willow wasn’t interested in him as a man.  He’d tried to ignore the obvious but she’d made it clear enough to break through his thick head.  He also knew that she wasn’t any more interested in Chad than she was in him even though it was evident that she enjoyed his company more.

He felt a nudge and met Cheri’s eyes.  “Aren’t they cute?” Cheri whispered.  “They’ve got to figure it out someday.”

“I don’t know,” he hedged.  “Willow made it very plain that there is no time in her life for romance.”

“She just met Chad first,” Cheri consoled.  “She was being nice to you.”

For the first time he could remember, Chuck spoke truth that didn’t benefit him.  “I wish that was true.  Especially if Chad has a thing for her but Willow doesn’t do that.  If she’s interested, she won’t pretend she isn’t.  She’s too honest for that.”

Curious about Chuck’s assertions, Cheri patted his arm and hurried to where Chad and Willow discussed something in hushed tones.  “Hey, is he convincing you to stay?”

“Well-”

“Oh come on, you’ve never had a slumber party!  We can so do it!  I’ll give you a facial; we’ll roll our hair, and watch the chickiest chick flicks I can find.”

“Chris, can I come home with you?”

“No way bro, you’re staying.”  To Willow she added, “We’ll torture him.  It’ll be great.”

The constant ribbing of sibling relationships was utterly foreign to her.  Their banter bordered on vicious but a deep closeness and obvious love overrode any unflattering impressions.  ”Chad’s my ride.  If he’s staying, I’m staying.”

Chad grinned.  “I’ll call Judith.”

Chuck pulled Cheri from the room and down to the basement.  “Ok, what gives?  You’ve been taking pictures of them all day and now you’re pushing her to stay.”

Cheri’s smile lit up her face hiding the slight scar along her upper lip.  Everyone assumed Cheri had a repaired cleft lip and palate but an accident as a toddler was responsible for her scaring.  “I want to see if I’m right, and I am, and pictures are for proving things to those who are a little resistant to the idea.”

“Blackmail?”

Hooking her arm in his, Cheri climbed the stairs.  “Kind of reverse blackmail.”

***

“Willow, I’m going to go dress for dinner, want to come talk to me?”

Chad heard Cheri from the other side of the room but couldn’t catch Willow’s eyes quickly enough.  Willow agreed cheerfully and followed Cheri upstairs taking her own tote bag with her.  “Oh brother,” he muttered to himself.

Willow found Cheri’s room fascinating.  The walls were plastered with travel posters and overlapping those, were prayer cards of missionaries from that area.  India had missionaries in Mumbai, Delhi, Thane, Jaipur, and Agra.  As she spun in a circle, she saw posters of Peru, Cambodia, South Africa, and New Guinea. 

“You want to travel.”

“Sort of- I want to be a traveling missionary kid tutor.”

Impressed but clueless, Willow asked the obvious question.  “What exactly do you do as a traveling missionary tutor?”

“Well, I want to serve missionary families instead of serving as a missionary.  So, I want to travel to different families and help with their kids education.  So many of these families home school- it’s not like they have a choice, but they grow weary sometimes.  I just want to come help and give mom and dad a rest while I tackle the humps their kids can’t get over.”

“That sounds wonderful!  Is there an organization that you go through or-”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t looked that far yet.  My job now is to get my education.”

Willow nodded appreciatively.  “So how did you decide to do this?”

While Cheri changed for dinner, she told about her summer of persecution in high school.  “It was awful.  The constant pressure to recant, to deny the Lord, the hard labor, the sleeplessness, and the fear-”

“You weren’t abused physically?”  Willow hardly got the words out of her mouth.

“Not really.  Just hard physical labor and sleep deprivation- some hunger but not too much.  A few of the girls were propositioned though.  Offered an easier time for favors.”

“How did you escape?”  Willow’s horror was evident.

“You know where it says in first Corinthians that you won’t be tempted without a way of escape?  Well, there was.  One by one, we all got out and back to our homes.  It changed all of us.”

The story of the camp bus hijacking terrified Willow just to hear of it.  “My mother moved from Rockland because of a horrible experience.  People think it is so terrible that she protected us- isolated even, but I am glad.  To endure something like that-”

“Is a privilege if it’s for Jesus who endured so much worse.  Trust me, if you lived through it, you would have stood firm and come out a much stronger Christian.  We all did.”

“Right here in America.  Who would have imagined!”

Their discussion moved to more pleasant topics as Cheri swiped a mascara brush over her eyelashes and put on a light coat of lip-gloss.  Willow felt damp from over warmth and pulled a fresh shirt and her tin of deodorant powder from her tote bag.  “I’ll be right back.”

When she returned, Cheri caught the slight whiff of lavender as Willow crossed the room.  “Is that your perfume?  It smells so clean.”

“Deodorant.”

“What brand?”

Willow handed her tin of deodorant powder to Cheri and began unbraiding her hair.  Cheri was amazed and immediately asked how it was made.  “It’s just a fifty-fifty solution of baking soda and cornstarch with some crushed lavender.  Mom liked dried mint better.”

“I’ll have to remember that when traveling.  I might not be able to find Arrid Extra Dry but cornstarch and baking soda are easy enough to find.”

Willow flipped her hair over her head and rubbed the scalp well.  As she reached for her brush, Cheri cried, “No!  What are you doing?”

“Brushing my mess.”

“But it looks great like that.  Why ruin it?”

The memory of Chad’s reaction at the mid-summer’s faire caught her off guard.  “He wasn’t teasing.”

“What?”

“Chad said something once when I unbraided my hair and I thought he was mocking me.”

Adding this tidbit to her growing arsenal, Cheri nodded hands on hips.  “Well he was right.  You look cool.”

“But if I don’t brush it out, it’ll stay kinky and wavy.  My hair doesn’t curl much at all but it does kink well from a braid.”

Cheri ran her fingers through her own hair demonstrating how to arrange it.  “Just run your fingers through to tame the couple of snarls and let it hang.  If you had bangs, it might be a bit bushy but this works.  It has that Sandra Bullock slash Drew Barrymore appeal- tousled but not messy.”

Willow adjusted her skirt, tried to forget about her messy hair, and stood ready for inspection.  “Will I do?”

“That skirt is to die for.  With boots, you’d be a walking advertisement for Boho.  I’ve got to go see how that skirt looks on me in my size.”

“This one didn’t come from there but I’ll make you one if you like.”

Cheri squealed and pushed Willow from the room.  “Oh I’m going to like having you in the family.”

“But I’m not-”

“Pop said we’re adopting you as one of the family.”  As Willow’s face drew tight with concern, Cheri added reassuringly, “He said no marriage license required!”

As they started down the stairs, Cheri nudged her gently.  “Look, Chuck is trying to be patient with Uncle Edwin.”  Something in Chad’s eyes caught Cheri’s attention and she added, “And if Chad’s Adam’s apple bobs, you’ll know I was right about that hair.”

Willow tried not to look.  A significant part of her didn’t want to know, but like anyone, when told not to look, it was impossible to avoid.  Chad glanced up from a photo album he shared with his grandmother and swallowed hard.  He scooted closer to his grandmother to make room and jerked his head to the spot next to him. 

“Come see how cute I was.”

Cheri grinned and pushed Willow towards the couch as she quipped, “Emphasis on the was, brother o’ my laddie.”

Willow’s attention was immediately on the children in the pictures.  She recognized Zeke and Libby and even Grandmother Tesdall but miniature versions of Cheri, Chris, and Chad held her attention. 

At a quarter after six, Marianne called everyone to the table.  Chad motioned for Willow to stay seated as he led his grandmother to her chair.  His thoughtfulness and gentleness, while expected by Wanda Tesdall, was appreciated by Willow.  He returned immediately and escorted her to the table commenting quietly that her hair looked lovely.

“Cheri told me not to brush it out.”

“Seems like I said something like that once, and you ignored me.”

“Well, to be honest, I’m not sure I agree with either one of you and I don’t think I care if I look like Sandra or Barry but I wasn’t going to be difficult about something so minor in your home as your guest.”

As he pushed in her chair, Chad murmured quietly in her ear, “I’ll remember to wait until you’re at my house next time I want you to do something.”

“Ok, everyone has their paper?”  Christopher loved this part of Thanksgiving.  For the past five years, it’d been an insight into his children when he didn’t understand them but long before that, it’d been a way to connect with the hearts in his family.  “Libby, why don’t you read yours first?”

“Ok, my words are practical wisdom.  If I thought she’d be thankful for herself, I think I’d say it was Willow’s- it fits her perfectly- but I think she’s a little too modest for that.”

“Hear, hear!” Chuck cried with loud applause.  Cheri pulled his arms down and told him to hush sending titters around the table.

“Well, I don’t know,” Libby continued.  “It has to be about someone other than the person so someone is thankful for someone else who is wise.  I-” She paused at a flicker in Chad’s eye and realized exactly who had written the word and why.  “I know.  And I’m not telling.”

“It’s you!  Someone said you’re wise.  I’ve always said it,” Marianne announced triumphantly.

Willow asked to see the note.  “Well, it’s not Chad’s handwriting or I would have said Chad.  He’s always saying how wise his father is and how much common sense he has so I would have guessed it was Chad being thankful for his father’s wisdom.”

“You’re never coming back,” Chad protested.  “You’re too good.”

“That was my guess as well.  Good one Chad.”  Seeing her brother choke up with emotion, Libby patted Edwin’s arm and encouraged him to go next.

Around the table, people guessed until Grandfather Tesdall read ‘commencement’.  “My guess is Cheri since she graduates this spring.”

“Nope!  I was crayons remember?”

Chris nudged Cheri and they exchanged knowing glances as Chad’s hand slipped from the table and squeezed Willow’s under the cloth.  Chris piped up.  “I think it’s Willow.  She began a new life this year and she’s practicing thankfulness for it.”

“Practicing!” Chad protested.

“He’s right,” she answered quietly.  “I am deliberately thankful.  It’s not spontaneous gratitude but when I think about all the good that has come from the changes in my life, as much as I wish I could go back to last spring, I don’t.  I just wish I could have the changes and Mother.”

The kitchen buzzer buzzed sending nervous laughter around the table.  Chad’s mother smiled.  “Roll’s are done, we can continue after dinner is served.  Cheri?”

Libby rose with Cheri and Marianne and disappeared into the kitchen.  One look at Willow’s face told Chad she was about to lose control.  Without a word, he stood and pulled out her chair for her.  “Excuse us.”

Taking her hand, he led her from the room, up the stairs, and into the guest room shutting the door behind them.  Tears were already splashing down her cheeks.  “I’m sorry Chad- it’s such a happy day for everyone and I’m being ungrateful.”

He held her silently as she cried until a new thought crossed his mind.  “I didn’t think, Willow.  I know how important holidays were to you and your mother.  I didn’t think about the fact that this is your first big holiday without her.”

Her sobs grew deeper and more heart wrenching.  Chad tried to comfort her but was unable to be much help.  He pushed her onto the end of the bed and handed her a pillow.  “Hold onto that.  Just a minute.”

Downstairs, he grabbed Libby’s arm and pulled her away from the sideboard whispering something in her ear.  Libby’s eyes glanced at the stairs and she nodded.  She untied her apron, tossed it over the back of her chair, and hurried up the stairs to the guest room. 

As sorry as Cheri was for Willow’s pain, she couldn’t help a certain amount of satisfaction over the wet patches and wrinkled spots from obvious grips on Chad’s shirt.  Marianne, however, was unnerved.  The last time Chad had shown half the care and concern for someone; Linnae Burrell had accused him of shredding her heart for the fun of it.