Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [94]
As she thought back to the incident, she remembered Minnie’s bloodcurdling screams. No wonder Jake and Ann had burst into the room with looks of horror on their faces. She jammed the spoon into the frozen mound and pushed it away.
Her cell phone rang. Jake again. She groaned and didn’t answer it. He’d called at least six times now. She wasn’t ready to talk to him, couldn’t forget the condemnation in his eyes. She put the carton of ice cream away and got out her journal instead.
Tomato stain—run cool water until clear, then blot with white vinegar.
Next to the tip, she wrote: Removing the stain does not remove memory of the incident. I remain in search of that particular cleansing agent that can renew thoughts.
She remembered reading something like that in the scriptures and went to her bedroom to get her Bible. When she passed the window, however, she caught movement outside. Her spirit sank to see Jake’s truck pulling into the drive.
Squaring her shoulders for battle, she started toward the door. He just doesn’t know when to give up!
When Jake stepped inside, his face was grim. He looked around the spic-and-span doddy house with snapping eyes. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“Because I saw your name on the screen.”
His face flinched. He lifted his gaze to the top of her head and dropped it again, his expression burning with accusation. He swept her covering out of his pocket and slapped it on the table. “Guess you don’t need this.”
Her cheeks heated.
“She’s a frail old woman,” he admonished.
“How dare you come blaming me without giving me a chance to explain what happened?”
“You’re the one who ran. You let her alone with scissors? What were you thinking?”
Katy placed both hands to her temples. “Okay, stop. Just sit down. Listen to my side of it.” He hesitated.
She tilted her head to the side impatiently, “Isn’t that why you came?”
He brushed past her and strode into the living room. She wasn’t expecting to win him over, but she wasn’t about to let him leave without defending herself. She followed him and sat at the opposite end of the leather sofa, keeping an awkward distance between them.
She folded her hands on the lap of her dark skirt and painstakingly conveyed the entire story. Surprisingly, he didn’t interrupt. His expression had softened when she told him about swinging with his grandma, but it hardened again as the story continued. “Then you burst into the room, and you know the rest,” she finished.
“But how did she get the scissors?”
He was one-tracked. Katy shook her head. “I’m not a fool.” He lifted a brow.
“I don’t know. Maybe she slipped into the living room. Maybe she was pretending to sleep. Honestly, it’s almost like she was testing me, playing me.”
He rolled his gaze toward the ceiling.
Katy insisted, “You know as well as I do that the covering was once important to Minnie. If she were in her right mind, she would want us to keep it on her head.”
“You can’t control the congregation’s vote, so you control someone too weak to defend herself.”
“Minnie may be small, but she’s not weak. My face has the bruises to attest to that. And you won’t find any bruises on her!”
Jake studied her face, perhaps seeing the bruises and scratches for the first time. His voice calmed. “God knows my grandmother’s heart. After years of service and faithfulness, do you think He’s going to reject her now when her physical mind has grown senile? She’s our family. It’s our responsibility to keep her safe and happy. And if she doesn’t want to wear her covering, then so be it.”
Were they going to encourage her to become an actress, too? She pushed the bitter thought aside and faced the truth. She had failed miserably, neither keeping Minnie safe nor happy. And she wasn’t part of their family. Jake and Ann had the right to decide what was best for Minnie. Feeling the depths of her failure and desperation over what she’d done that might never be set right again, Katy slumped, resting her head in her hands. A grievous mistake. So many