The Matchmaking Pact. Carolyne Aarsen

couldn’t understand this. Alyssa was the daughter of Betty’s favorite grandchild. Maybe it was because Josie was taking care of her. And not doing the job Betty thought she should. Maybe Betty thought Josie’s younger behavior was rubbing off on Alyssa.

      “We’ll be real careful and we’ll go slow.” Alyssa popped the last bite of her cupcake in her mouth and wiped her fingers on her napkin.

      “You’ve got icing on your face, missy” was Betty’s frowning reply.

      Alyssa obediently wiped it off, then glanced at Lily. “So do you.” She giggled.

      Lily wrinkled her nose, but ignored it as she took another bite.

      “Hurry up, Lily,” Alyssa said, wiping her mouth again. “We have to take my Gramma for a walk after Auntie Josie does devotions.”

      Lily gave Josie a puzzled frown as she licked her lips. “What’s devotions?”

      “We read the Bible and pray, dummy.” Alyssa bopped Lily on the shoulder.

      “Don’t call her dummy,” Betty snapped before Josie had a chance to reprimand her niece.

      Josie bit back a comment, then walked to her bedroom for her Bible. When she picked up the brown, leather-bound book from her bedside table, she paused and smiled. This Bible was one of the few things she’d salvaged from her house. She had received it from Reverend Garrison after her sister’s death. He had told her it would give her comfort.

      And it had.

      Reading the Bible had also given her the strength she needed to deal with her grandmother’s anger when she found out Josie had been named Alyssa’s guardian instead of her. The Bible was well thumbed and worn and one of the most precious things she owned.

      Josie hurried back to the table and as she slipped into her chair, Silas frowned at the book she laid on the table.

      Josie slid her fingers in the pages marked by the bookmark Alyssa had made for her. “We’ve been reading through the Psalms the past few weeks. Today we’re reading Psalm 16,” Josie explained as she opened the book.

      She chanced another look at Silas who sat back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed. Sheer defensive posture, she thought.

      Josie lowered her gaze as her mind cast back to Lily’s innocent comment about God taking their mother away from them. Did Silas really believe that?

      She hesitated, wondering if reading the Bible would bother him. But then she reminded herself of the comfort she had received from God’s word. She began reading.

      “‘Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge. I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.’’”

      She didn’t have to look up to sense Silas’s antagonism pushing at her. But she read on, seeking God in the words. “‘Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.’” As she read, she saw her grandmother fidgeting beside her, and Lily whispering to Alyssa who was looking down and grinning.

      Was she the only one at this table who understood that they were reading God’s holy word? She paused a moment, letting the words she was reading register both with her and the people sitting at her table. Then, she finished, “‘…You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.’”

      She smoothed her hand over the page, then carefully closed the Bible. “I know for me, those words give me great comfort. I know everyone here has faced some deep sorrow, but it is such a comfort to know we will see those we love again.”

      “Do you mean in Heaven?” Lily asked.

      Josie shot her a smile, thankful she had heard what Josie had read. “Yes. I mean in Heaven.”

      Lily looked pensive, and Josie wanted to scurry to her side and sweep her into her arms. Alyssa was only two when her parents died. She barely remembered them but Lily obviously had memories of her mother. And she obviously missed her.

      Then she caught Silas watching her, his mouth set in a harsh line of disapproval, a disconcerting contrast to the smile she had seen only a few moments ago.

      “I can talk about her there, then,” Lily said with a note of finality in her voice, her eyes fixed on Josie. “In Heaven.”

      Josie felt as if Silas was watching her, waiting for some slipup on her part. She assumed anything she might say to his daughter would be the wrong thing.

      All she could do was smile at the lonely, hurting girl and hope that somehow, over time, she could show Lily how God could comfort her.

      Then she lowered her head. “Let’s pray,” she mumbled.

      But as she prayed, her mouth seemed to form one set of words and her mind another.

      When the prayer was over, she looked up to catch Silas frowning at her, a peculiar expression on his face. She was about to ask him what was wrong when the ringing of the phone broke into the moment.