Lavished with Lavender - Valerie Comer Page 0,39

cast a side glance at Kenna. “Aunt Winnie is quite direct. What did she say? What did you think about it?”

Kenna shifted in her seat. “She gave me a book to read.” She tapped a paperback lying on the table beside her.

Tony could make out the title just before the motion light winked off, leaving them in the faint glow of a streetlight up the block. Wow, Aunt Winnie wasn’t pulling any punches. Had she seen signs of readiness that Tony himself had missed? She was so bold in her faith, just like Uncle Al had been. “Did you get a chance to read any of it?”

“A bit,” Kenna admitted. “He certainly lays things out systematically.”

Tony had to smile at that. “Yes, he does. I’ve read the book, though it’s been a while. I think this might be an updated version, but I’m sure the core of the content is the same. What kinds of questions is it bringing to mind?” Because she had to have questions, or she wouldn’t have waited up for him like this. As far as he could tell from the footsteps on the main floor above him, she went to bed much earlier than he did. But then, her workday didn’t mesh with his, either. Nonna had always been an early riser, so if Kenna was trying to match her schedule with her client, she would need to do the same.

“Is it true?” she asked softly. “It seems like you would know. Even the introduction makes so much sense. That guy’s personal story. It makes me almost afraid to read more.”

Tony couldn’t see her face in the shadows. He wished he could’ve at the moment. “Nathan said he talked to Maurice about his need of a Savior before he passed away.” Was that something it was okay to remind Kenna of? He didn’t even want to think about her married to an alcoholic decades her senior, but it was still a fact of her history.

He could see her turning toward him in the streetlight’s glow. “That’s the thing, Tony. I heard what Nathan said to him. At least when I was around. And all I could think at the time was, Maurice sure has a lot of things he should be sorry for. And I’m not proud to say I kind of thought that, if God forgave him, it wasn’t God’s greatest move ever.”

This was definitely more than Tony wanted to know about her marriage. “Was he abusive?” He snapped his mouth shut. None of his business. Not a question that he needed to ask, and yet it had shot out of his mouth before he could hold it back.

“Not physically so much,” she said at last. “Emotionally, more so. I don’t know why I stayed with him. Other than I’m not a quitter.”

This time Tony managed to bite his tongue in time. If she wanted to tell him more, that was up to her.

“If God could forgive Maurice, I’m sure He could forgive me. I’m not nearly as bad as him.”

“It’s not really a question of how bad we’ve been.” Tony shot a quick prayer heavenward. “God is absolutely perfect. He’s never done anything wrong. So just the fact that we’ve told a little white lie, maybe once in our life, is still enough to separate us from Him. That’s why Jesus had to die for our sins. He paid the penalty so that we don’t have to. Because of His death, if we accept it, then when God looks at us, all he sees is a reflection of His perfect son, Jesus.”

He could make out a small nod. “That makes sense. Kind of. Have you known about this all your life? It seems like you must have with Marietta for a grandmother.”

“I did know about it. But my dad wasn’t one to toe the party line, which is why he moved away from Bridgeview as a young man. So when I was a kid, I knew about God and about the church, but we weren’t regular attenders by any means. My parents made their way back to their faith, but I only found it for myself when I was in Seattle going to culinary school. That’s been about ten years now, I guess.”

“So you kind of get what’s going on in my head. It’s all so new. I don’t know if it’s real, or if it’s just some kind of time warp I’m stuck in right now living with your grandmother.”

Any dreams of