The Scent of Lilacs (33 page)

After Ogden Martin spoke the offertory prayer, David sat down in the chair on the podium behind the pulpit to wait while the men passed the plates and Jessica played “ I Come to the Garden Alone.” At least no wasps were flying around the sanctuary to distract attention from the message. Of course, it wasn’t the people who were distracted this morning; it was the preacher.

And maybe his family. Tabitha still looked scared as she sat close to Aunt Love. She’d left the hymnbook open on her lap as if trying to cover up the evidence. He’d thought she was going to crawl under the pew and hide when he’d introduced her from the pulpit at the beginning of the service, but he had to do it. The people expected it. Adrienne used to ask him if he had to do everything the people expected. She said it was the unexpected that jolted people awake. She was good at the unexpected. Even better at the unacceptable. Thank heavens that although Tabitha looked like Adrienne she wasn’t like her. The way she loved her unborn baby proved that well enough.

Aunt Love reached over and patted Tabitha’s arm. No wonder Aunt Love had been so kind to Tabitha. She’d gone through some of the same thing. Talk about the unexpected. He had never heard the first hint of that story in his family. Surely his mother hadn’t known. But then perhaps she had just kept the secret. There were other secrets kept in the family almost as well. Secrets so secret that sometimes David wondered if they were true or if Adrienne had just whispered them into his mind as some kind of cruel joke.

David’s eyes went to Jocie, who was doing sentinel duty at the end of the pew next to the aisle. Nobody would get past her to
harm the others. Two of the deacons were coming back down the aisle with the plates of money. He should close his eyes and pray over his sermon, but instead he kept his eyes on Jocie and thanked the Lord for giving her to him.

She noticed him looking at her and made a silly face. He grinned back at her and felt a surge of love. He wished that somehow he could shield her from the hurts of the world. They’d talked about Aunt Love the morning before out on the rock fence in the back. Tears had streamed down Jocie’s face as she’d said, “But how could her father have done that to her?”

“I don’t know,” David had answered as honestly as he could. “It must have been a bad time for all of them.”

“He would have been my great-grandfather. I didn’t know him, did I?”

“No, he died many years before you were born.”

“Do you remember him? Was he mean to you?”

“He was already well on in years and not in good health by the time I can remember, but my sister and brothers remembered him fondly. Said he told them stories about the farm and when he was growing up.”

“I’ll bet he didn’t tell them stories about Aunt Love.”

“No, I suppose not,” David had said. “But nobody is all good or all bad. Just remember that.”

“But do you think he killed the baby?”

Jocie had needed him to say no, that nobody could be that cruel, but David had never lied to her. He could only say the truth. “I don’t know. You said even Aunt Love didn’t know that.” He’d pulled Jocie close and kissed the top of her head. “Whatever happened, it was all a long time ago, before even I was born. No amount of worrying is going to change any of it now.”

“I know, Daddy, but I just can’t keep from crying when I think about it.”

“It is sad, and I know Aunt Love appreciates the way you care.”

Jocie had pushed her hands across her cheeks to wipe away her tears. “Can I go with you when you fix the stone on the baby’s grave? Maybe I could hold it up for you or something.”

“Sure. We’ll do it one day next week after we get the paper out.”

She had ducked her head and directed her next words at the ground. “You know, I was never very happy about Aunt Love moving in with us after Mama Mae died. I used to wish she’d get tired of us and move out. That wasn’t very nice of me.”

He’d tipped up her face until she was looking into his eyes. “But she didn’t move out, and now you realize she needs us.”

“She told me that she prays for you every day and that I should be thankful to have such a good father,” Jocie had said. “And I am.”

The deacons had placed the offering plates back on the table in the front and made their way back to their families. Jessica finished up the song and went back to her seat. David gathered his thoughts and pushed them aside so that the Scripture could come to the forefront. Forgiveness. Perhaps it was time he forgave Adrienne. For everything. Perhaps that was why the Lord had laid this Scripture on his heart. Not for the Mt. Pleasant congregation. Not for Aunt Love. Not for Ogden Martin. But for him.

They went to the Sandersons for dinner. Jessica Sanderson always cooked twice as much as she needed whenever she had the preacher, or maybe every Sunday for all David knew. She had several grown children, and she never knew when they’d decide to show up for Sunday dinner. So she’d insisted Leigh join them. Two more than she was expecting was no problem at all.

Leigh’s cheeks stayed rosy all through dinner, but she had no problem being the perfect guest. By the time Jessica brought out
her fresh-baked apple pie, she was sending meaningful glances between David and Leigh.

After Leigh helped with the dishes, she thanked Jessica profusely for the delicious dinner and said she’d best go home. David took pity on Tabitha and let her ride home with Leigh. It might be better if she wasn’t at church after the deacons’ meeting that night.

That night after the evening services, David and the deacons went back into the men’s Sunday school room. He waited till the five deacons present settled into the metal folding chairs. Ogden Martin, Matt McDermott, Jim Sanderson, Harvey McMurtry, and Joe Bottoms. Two weren’t there. Whit Jackson was visiting his new grandbaby in Tennessee, and Dale Whitehead had called to say one of his cows was having trouble calving and he’d had to call the vet.

If there was going to be any dividing into sides, it would be Ogden and Joe on one side and Jim and Matt on the other with Harvey somewhere in the middle. That’s the way it usually went, although David thought Joe had voted for him to be interim pastor. That’s what he needed to remember now, that the Mt. Pleasant position was just an interim position anyway. If the deacons voted to boot him out, then the Lord would lead him to a new way to serve.

He hadn’t planned to beat around the bush—just get the news told and leave, but Matt, who was chairman of the deacons, told David he had something to say first. Beside Matt, Ogden shifted in his chair and looked about as happy as a man who was watching it rain on ten acres of alfalfa he’d just cut.

Matt ignored him and started talking. “You’ve been here now for about six weeks, I think, Brother David, and folks have responded well to your sermons and leadership. You’ve been faithful to visit the sick and anyone who has a special need, and we
appreciate that in a preacher. You know we usually have a seminary student down from Louisville, and there ain’t no way those boys can be around to see to anybody during the week. Members here have to plan the day they die so they can have their funeral on a weekend. I mean, we know the boys have to go to class and then it’s a long drive and gas prices are steep, but it would be good for a change to have a man who lives in our area as pastor.”

“I always figured it was part of our church’s mission giving those boys experience,” Ogden said.

Matt hardly missed a beat. “And so it has been. But there’s some of us who feel the Lord wants our church to go in a new direction, and we feel you’re the man to lead us in that direction, Brother David. We’re asking you to consider taking the church on a full-time basis.”

Jim spoke up. “Well, full-time for us. We don’t expect you to quit putting out the
Banner
, Brother David. Fact is, we feel that’s a plus for our church. You being so well known in the community and all.”

David held up his hand to stop them. Sometimes the Lord had a funny sense of humor. Here David was getting offered what he’d been wanting for years, a church full of good people to serve, and he had to present them with a dilemma instead of the simple yes he wanted to give them. At least he didn’t have to tell them that his grandfather might have been a murderer. “There’s nothing I’d like better, men, but first we need to talk about the reason I called this meeting.”

Matt didn’t let him finish. “We’re prepared to raise the salary to sixty a week.”

“Give me a chance to talk, Matt. I do appreciate everything you’ve said, but what I have to say is more of a personal nature.” He looked at the men one at a time. Ogden wouldn’t meet his eyes, stared out the window instead. It was getting dark. David thought of all the families out in the churchyard waiting on their husbands
and fathers and getting impatient. “You met my daughter Tabitha today. Most of you, if not all of you, know that she’s been with her mother since she was thirteen. There have been times over the last seven years when I thought I might never see her again. But the Lord answered my prayers and brought her back to me.”

“Praise the Lord,” Jim said.

“Yes,” David said. “As you know, she came home the Sunday you voted me in as interim pastor here. So I had plenty of reasons to rejoice that night. Still, I knew something had brought her home all the way from California. It turns out she came home because she’s expecting a baby and she didn’t have anywhere else to turn.”

All the men looked surprised except Matt. Dorothy must have noticed Tabitha’s condition that morning.

Ogden was smiling a bit again. “I take it that this is without the benefit of matrimony.”

“That’s right. She wanted to get married. The father of the baby did not,” David said.

“Do you know who the father is?” Ogden asked, looking happier by the moment.

“I know his name, if that’s what you mean. But that hardly matters now. He’s out of the picture,” David said.

“Is she giving the baby up for adoption?” Joe asked. “I know a couple who has been on the adoption waiting list for over a year.”

“She’s keeping the baby,” David said.

“But it would be better for the baby if he had a mother and a father,” Joe said.

“He’ll have me as a grandfather,” David said. “And no doubt in time, Tabitha will find the right man to marry and that man will be the child’s father.”

“It seems you’re always having some kind of family problems, aren’t you, Reverend?” Ogden said.

“I don’t look upon this baby as a problem, only a blessing, Brother Ogden.” David stared straight at the man for a moment before looking at Matt. “However, I realize that everyone might not have the same feeling about this.”

“Are you handing in your resignation?” Ogden asked.

“No, I’m not. If you want it, you’ll have to ask for it.” David stood up. “Now, I’m sure you’d feel freer discussing this without me here, so I’m going home. I’ll see you men Wednesday night for prayer meeting.”

Harvey McMurtry pushed himself up out of his chair before David got to the door. “Pastor, don’t you think we should pray together before you leave?” Harvey was in his late seventies and had been coming to Mt. Pleasant since he was three weeks old.

“Of course, Harvey.” David came back and knelt down in the middle of the men. “Dear Lord, we praise thee for this day of worship that we have had. And we thank thee for every man here and the family of God they serve so ably. Help us to always seek thy will, O Lord, and to allow thee to guide and direct our lives in service to thee. Forgive us our shortcomings, and thank thee for the many blessings thou dost shower down on us each and every day. Comfort those in our church family who are grieving, heal those who are sick, and convict those who are lost. In thy precious and holy name we pray. Amen.”

When he went outside, Aunt Love had already gone to the car. Jocie gave the McDermott baby a hug and handed him back to his mother when she saw David come out of the church. As he headed for the car, he promised the families chatting in the yard that the other men would be out soon.

Jocie waited till they climbed inside before she said, “You told them about Tabitha?”

“I did.”

“Good,” Aunt Love said.

“Did they fire you?” Jocie asked.