"Yes. I almost envy her."
"Oh, you don"t want to sleep today," Jessie said. "You might miss something."
"That"s true."
"You might even fall in love."
Sabrina didn"t even try to keep her mouth closed. Jessie drank her water as though she"d not said a thing, but Sabrina could see the amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes.
"What did that mean?" the younger woman demanded, only to have Nellie move around a bit. "What did that mean?" Sabrina repeated herself, much more softly this time.
"Only that you"d have to be blind not to see what a fine man Rylan Jarvik is. Good-looking too, and taller than you. Bret Toben is also good-looking, but he doesn"t go to church, and I can tell that"s important to you."
123 "How many people know you"re a matchmaker?" Sabrina asked, but Jessie only laughed. Nellie moved again, and the women fell silent. Sabrina was glad for that. She had things to think about, and they had nothing to do with men. Rylan had talked about the things he was known for in Token Creek and the fact that people knew they could come to him when they were hungry enough.
Crystal had told Paula about her, and now Jessie knew that going to church was important to her. Sabrina felt hope in Rylan"s words for the first time. She didn"t have to go searching. She could keep studying her Bible, being part of the church family, and caring for others when she had the opportunity. Maybe someday even Jessie would come to her, when her reputation was as well known and fine as Rylan Jarvik"s.
124.
"WE START PAINTING THE church building a week from tomorrow," Rylan mentioned to Pete Stillwell at the end of the day. "I"d like that Wednesday off too if you can spare me."
"When am I going to persuade you that you need to buy the place, Rylan?" the older man asked, not for the first time. "I tell you it"s time. I"m almost 50, my nephew isn"t interested, and none of the girls want to manage it."
"It"s out of my budget, Pete, and you know I don"t want to smith full-time."
"You"re the best employee I"ve ever had," Pete said, moisture coming to his eyes.
Rylan stayed quiet. Pete cried only when he"d had a little too much to drink. The Fourth of July celebration did that to many people "Does Wednesday work?" Rylan asked again.
"Sure, sure. I"ll be there."
Rylan was glad Mrs. Stillwell chose that moment to join them. Pete ended up telling his wife the days he needed to work, and Rylan did not have to worry the shop would go unmanned. If he did forget, his wife would see he got there.
125 By the time Rylan was ready to head home to the parsonage behind the church building, Sabrina had cleared out. He told himself that worry was not an option, but he certainly hoped she planned to head to her apartment, lock the door, and stay there.
The Tuesday that was planned for painting was busy, too busy for Jessie to give Sabrina time off, but when Jeanette remembered that Sabrina knew how to paint, she encouraged the younger woman to go home and change into work clothes so she could join the paint party on Wednesday.
Six people had made it out. Rylan was at the front of the building with Chas, Jeb, and Patience, and for some reason, Sabrina went to the north side, ending up next to Trace Holden.
"How are you, Bri?" he asked.
"Doing well, thank you. How is Ca.s.sidy feeling?" Sabrina asked, working on the corner where Trace had directed her.
"Mornings can still be a little rough, but overall she"s doing very well."
"Do you hope for a boy?"
Trace smiled. "I would have said yes before meeting Savanna, but not anymore."
"She"s pretty fun," Sabrina said, thinking that she was rather partial to little girls but that it was probably because of Hannah and Clancy.
"You know," Trace said, turning to her, "it"s like you"ve always been here."
"In Token Creek?"
"Right. We were at Jeanette"s on Sunday, and she couldn"t stop talking about you, even though she said you"re not always careful enough and was ready to send Timothy to move you back to her house."
Sabrina had to laugh, but it was more than just amus.e.m.e.nt. There 126 was relief there too. She did feel like she belonged, even in this short time, and she was glad to hear others felt the same way.
"I think there"s a little too much fun going on over here," Rylan said, coming around the corner and looking stern. "Now, Trace, Sabrina is here to work. Stop distracting her."
"Yes, sir," Trace said, turning to wink at Sabrina.
"I didn"t know you were going to be a taskmaster," Sabrina teased Rylan.
"Well, now you do, so hop to it."
Sabrina spotted a piece of wood that was hanging just far enough out of reach that she couldn"t get a grip on it. Rylan noticed and came to her rescue with his brush.
"Thank you," she said.
"You"re welcome. A little person like yourself can"t be expected to get that high."
"No one has ever called me little."
Rylan stared down at her before saying, "I guess it"s all relative."
"How tall are you?" Sabrina asked.
"Without my shoes, six foot, four inches."
"How about you, Sabrina?" This came from Trace.
"With my shoes, five foot, ten inches."
"Are your parents tall?"
"My father was. They"re both dead."
"Tall siblings?"
"Just a sister, and she is taller than I am. Are you the tallest, Pastor Rylan?"
"By a good three inches. They"re not sure what happened to me. The men in my family are big, but not quite this tall."
"You missed a spot," Sabrina said, and Rylan turned to her in surprise.
Trace shouted with laughter at the stunned look on his pastor"s face before asking, "Now who"s the taskmaster?"
"Well, you did," Sabrina said, trying not to laugh at the look 127 Rylan was giving her. She felt free to smile when he looked painfully disgruntled and went back to painting, starting with the spot he missed.
Jeb came with the ladder a short time later, and the first thing he noticed was Sabrina"s dress.
"You should have worn something old, Bri," he told her, not unkindly.
Sabrina was not able to tell him that most of her clothing was new because her old clothes had been indecent. Instead she said, "This is the dress I wear to paint in my apartment. So I thought it would do."
"Are you painting your apartment, Bri?" Patience, who had come to their side, asked.
"Well, I started. I haven"t gotten very far."
"What color?"
"Blue. It was Jessie"s last gallon, and she gave me a good price." Sabrina did not add that she hadn"t been entirely certain she could trust her landlord to honor his agreement to pay for the paint, and that was why she"d looked for a good deal.
The men began to work up high, and Sabrina and Patience covered the area below, chatting about this and that and working in companionable silence. Long before they were done, Sabrina"s arm was screaming at her, but before anyone finished for the day, they had covered almost two sides.
"Well, now." Bret caught Sabrina when she cut down the alley on the way home. "I see Mrs. Fulbright is having you paint her shop."
"No, I was working on the church building," Sabrina answered, looking down at the paint she"d gotten on her sleeve.
"You look a little warm," Bret said, keeping his distance but not bothering to monitor his gaze. Even in a paint-stained dress, Sabrina was worth a second glance. "Why don"t you come in."
128 Sabrina could read his thoughts as though he"d said them and decided to speak plainly.
"To what end?"
Bret did not see this coming and would have spoken plainly as well, but there was a dangerous glitter in Sabrina"s eyes. Instead he opted to change the subject.
"I heard how you got your face scratched."
"Did you?" Sabrina sounded as disinterested as she was. "You should be a little more careful."
"I"ll remember that," Sabrina said, and moved on her way. Bret repeated the offer to come inside, but Sabrina didn"t answer. She was too busy telling herself no matter how tired she was, she needed to stay out of that alley on her walk home.
"It might seem that we"re spending too much time on this one aspect," Rylan said to the men who had gathered at his house on Thursday night, "but I want us to go back to verse eight of t.i.tus 1. I think we moved too fast over the command for bishops-elders as we see in verse five-to be sober.
"We immediately run over this since none of us drink, but there"s far more to this command. An elder is a sober-thinking man. This is a man who knows how to say no to himself. It"s not just about drink, but also food and thoughts that are not in control.
"We need to take a long, hard look at our hearts when we see this word. We need to humbly ask G.o.d if we"re sober men. You"re all married. You can ask your wife if she believes you are sober." Rylan smiled a little. "She"ll probably mention the fact that you don"t drink, and that will give you an opportunity to talk about it."
The men were quiet for a moment, Rylan letting them have their thoughts. Brad was the one to speak.
"You always encourage us to ask our wives. Whom do you ask, Ry?"
129 "Well, I expect to hear from any and all of you if you see something amiss in my life, but I usually check with Chas. He"s good about asking questions that make me think."
"When did you first realize this was not talking only about drinking?" Jeb Dorn asked.
"It"s probably been a few years. I was studying this and caught the fact that verse seven covers wine. I got to looking long and hard at these verses and the ones in First Timothy, and realized the bigger issue here.
"And if I might add, it"s tougher than avoiding alcohol. It takes constant thinking, but that"s what we men of Christ have to be, well- thinking men who are serious about the work on the cross and what it means in our lives and in the lives of our families."
The men talked for another 30 minutes, and because it was late, spent only a short time in prayer. Rylan, however, was at the advantage this night. He was already home and had no wife or children to see to. He took the next hour to pray for each man who studied with him, asking G.o.d to give them greater humility and a yearning for holiness. Only after he"d pled his heart did Rylan seek his bed.
Sabrina found herself alone in the dress shop on Friday morning. She had handwork to do, and at the moment, it was quiet. Heather had been ill in the night and was not able to see to Theta. Becky was there to help, but Jeanette had not wanted to leave her on her own. Sabrina didn"t mind. She had talked with Crystal the night before and had a lot to think about.
"Did you talk to Paula?"
"Just for a few minutes."
"Are you going again?"
"No. If you see Paula, you can remind her where I live, but I"m not going back out after dark."
"I think Toben is interested in you."
130"Is he?"
"He"s rich, you know."
"He could be Midas-I"m not interested."
"You like that big guy?"
"My pastor? Of course I like him."
Crystal studied the other woman, but Sabrina didn"t help her. She sometimes wondered why she bothered.
"Eliza is moving."
"Where to?"
"I don"t know, but I think she"s afraid Zeke will hurt the baby." "He probably would."
"Why did you do it?"
"It"s just who lam."
"You don"t have a scar."
Sabrina touched her cheek. "No, it"s all gone but the memories." A moment of silence fell before Crystal said, "I gotta go." "Crystal," Sabrina stopped her with the one word. "I pray for you."
There was a long stare and no comment. Sabrina was about to turn away when Crystal thanked her.
Thinking back on it now, Sabrina still wondered if she"d done the right thing. She knew Jeanette kept a Bible in the back, and because she was almost done with her work, she went and found it. She turned to Colossians and read from the first chapter, verse ten: "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of G.o.d."
There"s so much I don"t know, Lord, please teach me. Help me to walk worthy and increase in knowledge of You.