the small table on the screened porch. She could understand how her foster sister felt about such a windfall, but she didn’t have to hold the folder to prove that she’d never have to worry about her next meal again.
“How are you feeling this afternoon, Miss Janie? Did you and Sam have a good visit?” Kayla took a seat beside Miss Janie.
Miss Janie frowned and shook her finger at Kayla. “I told you to call me Mama. We don’t have to pretend anymore. Did Noah get the banking done like I told him?”
“Yes, I did.” Noah sat beside Teresa at the table. “Rain might cool things down a little bit.”
Miss Janie began to wring her hands, and her eyes darted back and forth from the sky to the front door. “We should go inside and pack a basket to take to the cellar.”
The first lightning streak zigzagged in a ragged pattern across the sky. A loud clap of thunder followed in a few seconds, and then the wind started blowing hard enough to knock a few tree limbs onto the roof.
“That’s our cue to get Miss Janie into the house. We might be in for a bad one,” Noah said.
Noah pushed Miss Janie into the house minutes before a fierce wind slammed the first drops of the rain against the screened wire around the back porch. Teresa brushed away a few sprinkles from her black hair as she closed the door behind them. She quickly checked her bank papers to be sure they hadn’t gotten spotted by the rain. Then she laid them on the bottom step beside Kayla’s. They were safe and dry right there. She patted them and then hurried into the living room, where Noah had taken Miss Janie.
“Someone needs to get the basket ready so we can go to the cellar,” Miss Janie said. “We’ll need to stay down there until the storm passes.”
“Why do we need a basket?” Kayla asked.
Miss Janie raised her voice above the howling wind and rain. “Because we might have to stay in the cellar for a while, and we’ll need food if we get hungry. Bread, peanut butter, jelly, cookies, and milk. We can’t go to the cellar without the basket.”
“I don’t think we can get your wheelchair down the narrow steps to the cellar,” Noah told her.
“Then pack a basket, get some blankets and pillows, and we’ll stay in the hallway. It’s in the center of the house, and there are no windows in the doors to blow out and hurt us.” Miss Janie barked orders. “Right now, go! Aunt Ruthie’s spirit is afraid.”
“I’ll get the food.” Kayla took off for the kitchen.
“Blankets and pillows coming right up.” Teresa headed upstairs. This was a new twist for her. Back when she was in high school and a storm came up, the only thing Miss Janie had said was that she hoped the wind wouldn’t knock the power out.
“We’ll be waiting right here in the hallway.” Noah turned the wheelchair around and pushed it out of the living room.
Teresa took the stairs two at a time, threw open the linen closet between her bedroom and Noah’s, and grabbed three blankets and as many pillows. Common sense told her that the storm would probably pass in half an hour, but logic didn’t play a part in Miss Janie’s world anymore. If it meant washing bedding because it had been on the floor, then that would be a small price to pay to keep her happy.
The load in Teresa’s arms was stacked up above her eyes, so she eased down the stairs, one at a time. When she reached the last couple of steps, Noah rushed over and took the pillows from the top. His arms brushed against hers, and as usual, sparks that were brighter than the lightning and twice as hot lit up the whole area.
“Aunt Ruthie made sandwiches,” Miss Janie said.
“Then that’s what we’ll have.” Kayla got a loaf of bread and peanut butter from the basket.
Teresa laid the blankets on the bottom step and sat down in one of the three ladder-back chairs that Noah had brought in from the kitchen. “Do we spread the blankets on the floor, or would Aunt Ruthie mind if we use the chairs?”
Miss Janie shot a mean look her way. “Aunt Ruthie has been dead for years, but she was smart. She always said that you stay away from windows and glass during storms, and to go to the center of the