Teresa looped her arm into Noah’s. “Thank you for your apology, Prissy, but we shouldn’t hold up the line.”
“I can’t believe you accepted her apology,” Kayla whispered.
“That’s what Miss Janie would have wanted me to do,” Teresa said out of the corner of her mouth.
“Well, I’m not to that place yet,” Kayla said.
“If I could have everyone’s attention.” Pastor Vernon tapped a glass with a spoon. “We’ll have grace now that the family has arrived, and we’d like to invite them to go down the buffet line first.” He bowed his head and said a short, heartfelt prayer giving thanks for Miss Janie, for the food, and for the hands that had prepared it.
“And who is this man with y’all?” Prissy asked the minute the preacher was finished.
“He’s Miss Janie’s nephew,” Teresa answered. “Good to see you, Prissy. Sorry about your troubles.”
Prissy’s face turned red, and she whipped around and headed out the door with her posse right behind her. Evidently, they didn’t eat tuna casserole or homemade brownies. By the time the family had gotten through the line and sat down at one of the long tables, Teresa had forgotten all about Prissy Wilson. Some people simply didn’t matter anymore, she decided, and Prissy was one of them.
Kayla liked that Will made sure he was in line behind the family and then sat beside her. “Noah, this is Will Barton,” Kayla said.
“Pleased to meet you officially, Will.” Noah nodded across the table at him. “How did you know Miss Janie?”
“I graduated with Kayla, and Teresa was a year ahead of us. Miss Janie was tough but fair, and it didn’t matter to her if a kid was poor or rich—she treated us all the same,” Will answered, and then chuckled. “She could tell if we were really sick or fakin’ it, and believe me, she knew if we skipped school and tried to get by on a forged note that wasn’t written by our parents.”
“You should have lived in the same house with her.” Kayla raised both dark eyebrows. “There was no skipping classes or fakin’ sickness with me and Teresa. We toed the line worse than the teachers’ kids did.”
“I don’t doubt it, but was she really your mother?” Will asked.
“In every way but blood,” Teresa answered. “She fostered us and wanted to adopt us, but it wasn’t possible.”
“Where have y’all been all these years?” Will asked. “I asked Miss Janie about you when she came to the store, but all she’d say was that y’all were out finding your way. I had no idea what that meant.”
“That’s a story for another day,” Kayla told him.
“Sorry.” Will blushed. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“No problem,” Noah told him. “None of us took the time to visit like we should, and we all feel guilty for the choices we made.”
“Don’t we all, for one thing or another,” Will replied, then turned his attention to Kayla. “If you aren’t up for our date on Friday, we can reschedule.”
“Thank you.” Kayla smiled. “I’ll let you know how things are going later.”
“Fair enough.” Will nodded. “You’ve got my number. Did you ask Sam about his houses?”
“What about my houses?” Sam suddenly appeared and took a seat beside Noah.
Will shook his head slowly. “I think I just put my big foot in my mouth.”
“No time like the present to lay it out there,” Kayla said. “Sam, you and Miss Janie were talking on the porch a couple of times about how nice it would be to have a senior citizens place in Birthright. That kind of got me and Teresa to thinking about putting one in. We kind of like working with elderly folks and . . .”
“We can’t do that in Miss Janie’s house. Noah is already starting up his law business there,” Teresa said.
“I’ve got two houses settin’ empty, and the real estate agent hasn’t had a bite on either in a year. One would be perfect for a senior citizens place. It’s that place next to the old post office. Big old living room, but it’s only got two bedrooms. I’ll let you have it rent-free for as long as you want,” Sam offered. “I don’t know what kind of legal stuff you’ll need to do, but I reckon Noah can take care of that. The place has two bathrooms, one off each bedroom, so you’d have a ladies’ room and one for the menfolks built right in. It’s in bad need of paint, but other than that,