Anna Meets Her Match. Arlene James

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      The aunts exchanged worried glances as they settled for evening prayers.

      Odelia pulled her hot pink robe tighter as she snuggled into the corner of the well-used sofa. Several dozen pink foam curlers covered her head. “It’s too bad Reeves had to work this evening,” she commented sadly. “Gilli missed him.”

      Reeves had returned from his run with only enough time to hurriedly shower before sliding into his seat at the dinner table. After the meal, he’d spent the evening in his room on his laptop, while Gilli played glumly in the shared private sitting room of the aunties’ suite. Grumpy and sullen, the child had whined and fussed until Reeves had come and taken her off to bed. It had become painfully obvious that Reeves avoided the child, which was why she acted out.

      “Remind you of anyone?” Hypatia asked from her chair beside the fireplace.

      “Just Anna Miranda,” Mags said, dropping down beside Odelia.

      “Oh, but Tansy didn’t ignore Anna Miranda,” Odelia protested.

      Mags snorted. “She criticized her daylight to dark, you mean.”

      “Do you remember that time Tansy scolded little Anna Miranda for plucking roses off her front bushes?” Odelia asked with a giggle.

      Hypatia nodded, a smile tugging at her lips. “As I recall, Anna Miranda used a pair of sewing scissors to snip off every one of Tansy’s prized blossoms. The result was a bumper crop the next year.”

      All three chuckled, but then Mags sobered. “If anyone can understand Gilli, it is Anna Miranda,” she insisted.

      “Well, it’s certainly not Reeves,” Hypatia said with a sigh. “I’ve tried speaking to him about it myself a time or two, but he always seems so hurt by the slightest criticism.” They all knew who was responsible for that. Marissa had destroyed Reeves’s hard-won self-esteem. “I suppose we must simply pray that God will somehow reach him.”

      Was it possible, she wondered silently, that Anna Miranda might be God’s tool in this? Might she be the one to help Reeves stop hiding his heart and learn how to deal with his little girl? It occurred to her suddenly that their Heavenly Father might have something more in mind than they had yet considered.

      “Oh, sisters,” she said, her eyes wide, “I fear we’ve been going about this all wrong. Think about it. What Reeves and Gilli really need is a wife and mother.”

      “Someone to understand Gilli,” Magnolia murmured, comprehension beginning to glow in her eyes, “and someone to lighten Reeves’s heavy spirit.”

      “Someone like Anna Miranda!” Odelia chirped.

      Hypatia smiled, praising God in her heart, for He always had more in mind for His children than they themselves sometimes dared to dream. And if in this case He didn’t, well, it wouldn’t hurt to pray about the matter, would it?

      Chapter Three

      Sitting at her usual table in the little coffee shop across from the BCBC campus, Anna huddled over her steaming mug and yawned, trying to shake the cobwebs from her mind. She’d worked late into the night, prompted by a phone call from her grandmother, who had only just learned from some committee member that Anna was handling the BCBC fund-raiser account. As usual, Tansy had displayed no faith whatsoever in Anna’s abilities, lecturing her on the importance of the assignment and her responsibilities to her employer and the cause. Anna had hung up on her, not an uncommon occurrence, and set to work. Now she had two good reasons for wanting to do her best. To her surprise, the first appeared at her elbow.

      “Hard night?”

      She looked up at the handsome face of Reeves Leland, handsome but somewhat haggard despite being cleanly shaved. “I could ask the same of you.”

      “Or you could just ask me to sit down.”

      She looked around, saw that the other tables were full and nodded. He sprawled across the chair with a sigh, hanging an elbow on the edge of the tabletop.

      “I haven’t seen you in here before.”

      He slugged back coffee from the disposable cup in his hand, wincing at the heat. “I usually wait and get my caffeine at the office, but this morning I need a little extra fortification just to get there. Figured I might as well order a hot roll while I was at it.” He glanced at the counter. “Does it usually take this long?”

      “Mornings are busy,” she said. “So why the extra fortification?”

      He grimaced. “I worked all night, and Gilli was on a tear this morning.” He shook his head and sucked up more brew.

      “Well, that makes two of us,” she said, “working late, that is.” He lifted an eyebrow. “What? You don’t think I ever put in long hours?”

      “Did I say that?”

      “You didn’t have to.” She cut her gaze away, muttering, “And here I thought you’d come to cry peace.”

      He straightened in his chair and set his cup on the table, folding his arms behind it. “I think that’s a very good idea, actually.” She shot him a startled, wary glance, and he lifted a hand in a gesture of openness. “It wasn’t what I had in mind when I was looking around for an empty СКАЧАТЬ