A Mother's Promise. Ruth Scofield

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СКАЧАТЬ followed close on her heels, still hissing a protest. “This isn’t wise, Lisa. If Mrs. Braddock hears about this…”

      Mention of her parole officer was a threat Lisa expected.

      “Mrs. Braddock would understand.” She hoped. “She has grandchildren…”

      Tiptoeing, Lisa crept to the side of the white daybed that had replaced the old double bed she recalled. A small form barely raised the blanket.

      Her breathing grew shallow as she gazed at her daughter. Cecily lay on her side, her tiny palm under her cheek, her mouth pink and sweetly bowed. Light-brown curls covered the little girl’s head, and Lisa tentatively brushed them with a butterfly touch. She yearned to hold her, to kiss those plump cheeks. To hear the music of her giggles and sing the duck song Cecily had loved just before they were parted.

      What was her favorite song now? Did she still hate carrots? She’d grown, Lisa realized. Her limbs were longer. How tall was she now? Could she skip? Lisa could remember her little girl trying to get both feet to cooperate.

      Had she forgotten her mother?

      “Hi, baby,” she whispered, stroking one tiny hand.

      Fierce possessiveness gripped Lisa’s heart, while silent tears gathered. She didn’t even try to stop their slide down her cheeks. Cecily was her one bright star. Lisa would do whatever she had to to get her daughter back. To protect her…

      “Mommy’s here. I came to see you as soon as I could.” She was three years old, yet Cecily’s skin still felt baby-soft.

      “Your five minutes are up,” Katherine said.

      Lisa continued to gaze at her daughter. Hers. Not Katherine’s.

      Not Rudy’s, either, in spite of the biological truth. But saddling Cecily with that knowledge wasn’t in Lisa’s plans. Getting involved with Rudy was her sin, not her daughter’s, and she’d paid dearly with humiliation and total disillusionment. At her age, too, when it was expected she’d have gained some smarts. She’d been so stupid.

      Only her acceptance of God’s forgiveness had restored anything left of hope for her.

      Lisa couldn’t lay the piece of garbage that Rudy was on Cecily and expect her to grow up whole, and with any self-confidence. Lisa had suffered that kind of childhood—she wouldn’t inflict it on her own daughter. And Rudy didn’t want them, a truth that had come down on her like an ancient burial stone at the time.

      Oddly enough, she now thanked God for Rudy’s disinterest. Growing up without a father wasn’t the worst of sins, as she knew. Plenty of kids were raised by only one parent. She was ready to accept that the blame and blessing of Cecily’s birth was hers alone.

      Only a few months ago, while in Beth Anne’s company, Lisa had vowed to God that if He’d only help her to be free of her past, she’d be the best mother to Cecily she could. She’d live her life on that narrow, sin-free path that the Bible described could be hers through Jesus, and she would teach Cecily His ways.

      Now she had to prove it. To the courts. To Aunt Katherine. To herself. And to God, if she expected Him to help her.

      “That’s enough,” Katherine hissed, hauling Lisa’s dreams out of the clouds. The older woman’s fingers pinched her upper arm, urging her from the room.

      Giving Cecily one last glance, Lisa bit her lip. Every cell in her body protested leaving Cecily, but if she hoped to win back the right to raise her child, she had to cooperate now. She’d already pushed her luck for tonight.

      “Thank you,” she murmured past the emotion that clogged her throat. She moved slowly out of the tiny bedroom and down the hall toward the living room.

      “You should be grateful,” Aunt Katherine said with a sniff. “You’re lucky we’ve agreed to care for Cecily.”

      “I am, Aunt Katherine. Really.” At least she knew where Cecily was, and that the child was safe and well looked after. Some of the women she’d met while serving her sentence had children in foster homes and no hope of getting them back.

      “Humph… With your irresponsible behavior, I’m surprised the court didn’t step in and take her away from you altogether. And if you start that wild life—”

      “That’s in the past, Aunt Katherine. I’ve changed. I’m working hard, taking all the overtime I can get at the restaurant to save money, and keeping my nose clean. Soon I’ll have enough to make a home for Cecily again. Uncle Fred can tell you.”

      “Oh, Fred.” Katherine made a brushing motion as if to rid herself of a disgusting piece of lint. “What does he know? He’s just like your mother, good for nothing but partying on a Saturday night. A weak, sorry excuse of a man.”

      “Well, that’s not—” Lisa caught herself. Arguing with Aunt Katherine would only antagonize her further. And there was a glimmer of truth in the accusations. But at least Uncle Fred had offered Lisa a place to live in his tiny ramshackle house until she could get on her feet. Until she could make a home for Cecily again. “Uncle Fred’s okay.”

      “Still rebellious, aren’t you?”

      “No, really… I have changed. I won’t make any more stupid moves.”

      “Humph! Your coming here tonight doesn’t exactly show intelligence, now does it? And you’re out running the roads past your curfew. That hasn’t changed.”

      “I couldn’t help myself this time, Aunt Katherine. I had to see Cecily. I’m leaving now. I’ll go straight home, I promise. I’ll be home in twenty minutes.”

      “Yeah, well, I’ve heard that one before. Excuses, always excuses. From your mother and from you. Your mother couldn’t hold a job because she was always sick. You—you’re so smart that you got yourself mixed up with a married man who gave you a child, and then landed you in jail. What kind of a mother is that for Cecily? One that breaks the law! I have half a mind to call Mrs. Braddock.”

      Almost out of the door, Lisa turned abruptly. She’d been home for less than a week and didn’t know her parole officer that well. “Please, Aunt Katherine…”

      Catching a glimpse of triumph in Katherine’s gaze, she felt her stomach sink. Begging didn’t always help, she’d discovered.

      Lisa straightened her back and lifted her chin. She was through with begging—from anyone. She was through taking any more guff, too. She was the first to admit she’d made some half-witted mistakes in judging the men in her life, but that was in the past. Beth Anne had assured her that the Lord’s forgiveness and grace was there for her, it was for anyone—a promise she clung to as her lifeline out of a hellish situation.

      “You won’t have to, Aunt Katherine,” she said, determined to tell the unvarnished truth whenever it was called for, and take any knocks that came her way. “Because I’ll tell her about this myself. I’m due to see her tomorrow, and I’ll explain about coming.”

      Katherine’s blue eyes glinted like granite. “You’d better get rid of that chip you carry on your shoulder, my girl, or you won’t have any friends left to listen to you whine. And you just may lose your rights to see Cecily again until the child is grown.”

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