wills it, He’ll help you find the time.”
“I’ll ask Him what He thinks, but—”
“Mama, I need you.” Lydia Anne’s frantic voice snatched up Bonnie’s attention. The little girl had wandered several feet away from the women and their gardening. “Mama!” she screamed.
Bonnie held her breath. “What is it?”
“A snake, and it’s making a clicking noise.”
God, no! “Don’t move. I’m coming.” She snatched up the hoe and raced across the flower bed, nearly tripping over her skirt and trampling on anything in her path. Her vision blurred with only Lydia Anne in sight.
A rattler, nearly three feet long, arched its ugly head straight at Lydia Anne. Without another thought, Bonnie positioned herself between her daughter and the snake. She lifted the hoe and sank its blade across the rattler’s head, severing its venomous intent.
Grabbing Lydia Anne, she stepped back several feet and fell onto the grass. Her breathing came in short, quick gasps, while her heart nearly burst from her chest. Too frightened to speak or cry, she held Lydia Anne to her and rocked.
“Are you two all right?” Mama sounded as breathless as Bonnie felt.
Bonnie nodded. She didn’t think that much hate had ever swelled inside her.
“You’re holding me too tight.” Lydia Anne struggled to free herself. The little girl stared at the snake and covered her mouth. “Mama, you cut the snake’s head plumb off. Zack and Michael Paul will never believe this. Can we take it home?”
Take it home? Her precious little princess wanted to take home a headless rattler? “Whatever for?”
Lydia Anne tilted her blond head. “I could put it in my room so I wouldn’t forget the day my mama saved me.”
Bonnie laughed. Ben, did you hear your dainty little daughter? “I think it would look better hanging in the barn.”
Her mother plopped herself down on the grass beside them. “Would you look at the size of that? Daughter, I never thought you had it in you to . . . to . . .”
“Save my daughter from a rattler?” Bonnie released her squirming little girl. “As I said a moment ago, I’m an Andrews.”
Mama laughed. “You most certainly are. I think you’ve just written your first story.”
“And your granddaughter wants to keep this headless monster in her bedroom!”
Mama startled. “She has more of her uncle Morgan and her uncle Grant in her than I care to think about. Next she’ll take off bareback in the middle of the night to see what it feels like to be an Indian.”
Ah, maybe it’s something I should try with her.
Chapter 17
“Brother Travis?”
Travis whirled around to face Frank Kahler’s wife, Ellen. She bounced a fussy Frank Jr. on her hip. All the others who had attended Sunday morning worship had left. Frank stood outside. Must be waiting on his wife. “Is there something I can do for you?”
The moment he stared into her eyes, he knew she’d learned the truth about his past in Tennessee. His face grew warm and hers reddened.
“I believe you must have heard from your folks in Tennessee,” he finally said.
“Yes, sir. And I’m real sorry about what happened to you. Doesn’t seem right for a body to be treated that way.”
“It was my own fault. I’ll resign this very day. No point in waiting around and deceiving the folks at Piney Woods Church any longer.”
Ellen’s face blanched. “No, please. I’d never have said a word if I thought you’d consider leaving. Frank and I don’t look at the situation as your fault. We decided no one needs to learn about your misfortune. God gave you a second chance, and we want to honor all of your hard work. You’re the perfect preacher for Piney Woods.”
Relief crept over him, but with it came an air of guilt. “I’ll tell the congregation.”
“Not on account of us, Brother Travis. What went on in Tennessee is no one’s business.”
He smiled into the face of a godly woman. “I have to be truthful to those who have befriended me.”
She shook her head. “No need. No need at all. But there’s something I want to share with you, and then you’ll understand why Frank and I feel like we do. If not for the reverend and Mrs. Rainer, I’d be living at Heaven’s Gate today or, worse yet, living in another town and not owing my every breath to Jesus.” She kissed her son’s cheek. “I worked in a brothel until a few years ago when the reverend and Mrs. Rainer offered me a place to live rather than to