Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [99]
“It is a symbol. I feel like Megan’s professor. That without it, we’ll just become part of the world.”
“I don’t want to argue, but if it’s a symbol and someone’s heart isn’t really in it, then it makes them feel like a hypocrite. That’s how I felt. That’s not good, either. You know how Jesus hated hypocrites.”
She knew, because sometimes she felt like one, too. She’d felt like that after the ballet. “I know. I’m surprised you’re still wearing yours.”
“I figured it would break your heart if I didn’t.”
Katy saw the caring in Lil’s eyes. It brought back a memory flash.
That first summer at camp. In one of the group games, Lil had taken a different trail from Megan and Katy. They’d needed to pair off, and Lil had gone with one of the Mennonite girls who wore shorts. It was a scavenger hunt and race to a designated clearing. Katy didn’t remember who won, but what she remembered was the reunion and excitement at the clearing, and how they’d each shared their adventures.
She saw that’s how it was with them. How it always would be. They were always going to go at the goal from a different path. Her throat thickened, whether from the cough drop or her emotions, she wasn’t sure.
She whispered, “Bend down.”
“Huh?”
“Just do it.”
Lil bent, and Katy reached up and unpinned Lil’s covering. Lil straightened, her eyes round. In a sudden rush of emotion, she hugged Katy.
“You’re going to catch my cold.”
“I don’t care. I love you.”
“I know. But I expect to see that covering on at the church meetings.”
“Duh.”
“Okay, go start that soup. I need something to get me out of this bed.”
Lil started toward the door, then looked back. “Thanks for understanding.”
Once she was gone, Katy spit the cough drop into a small trash can and turned onto her stomach. Her own covering sat on her nightstand beside her cell phone. She punched her pillow and released her sobs.
That afternoon, Katy lay on the couch, reading an inspirational romance novel, but she was jolted out of the story when the heroine used the phrase sensational solo woman. The heroine was bragging that she didn’t need a man to find happiness. Since it was a romance novel, she assumed the heroine would change her mind somewhere in the plot. Still, she paused to toy with the idea. Could she remain single and be happy?
It was the Mennonite way for a woman to prepare herself for marriage and children. It was presumed that every woman sought fulfillment in wifely duties and motherhood. She’d always gravitated toward that end herself, dreaming of one day marrying Jake or after they’d broken up, some other godly man.
Much like the heroine in Katy’s story, Lil scoffed at the idea of a man fulfilling a woman. Lil liked guys, all right, but she was super-independent for a Conservative girl. During the church’s recent series on relationships, Brother Troyer had made it clear that fulfillment came from the Lord, not marriage. Perhaps that’s where this story was headed. Her interest piquing, she turned the page and started reading. But seconds later, she was interrupted again, this time by a knock at the front door.
“Come in,” she croaked, then clutched her neck. Realizing that nobody could hear her raspy voice and that Lil had locked the door, she stuffed her feet into slippers and shuffled off to see who was calling.
“Jake,” she said, staring through the cracked door with surprise.
Dressed in his work clothes, a dusty T, and sweat-stained baseball cap, he said, “Yikes, you okay?”
Katy mumbled, “Fine thing to say to a woman,” and turned to shuffle back to the living room. They’d only talked once since she’d been rude to him in the church parking lot. The phone conversation had been another attempt to patch their tempestuous relationship. She sank back on the couch, and looked up at him. “This is a house of germs, you know.”
He gave a wave. “I never get sick. Too ugly.”
She couldn’t resist the grin that belied that preposterous remark. “Real ugly,” she added.
“I’ve got the chair from Lil’s mom.”
She