Mrs. Miracle Page 0,56

mean?"

"Have you met Mr. Fawcett yet? He's a widower who recently moved to Seattle and started attending church. He's been visiting for several months now. Tall, good-looking man."

"I'm sorry, Aunt Harriett, I can't place him."

"He sits on the right-hand side of the church, about halfway up in the middle of the pew." One would think her niece would notice such a strikingly handsome man. "Ruth's eyes have been roving in his direction, if you catch my drift." That was all she would say. Jayne would soon see for herself that Harriett had cause to be worried for her friend.

Jayne frowned. "Are you saying that Mrs. Darling is romantically interested in Mr. Fawcett?"

Harriett stiffened her spine. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm here to tell you that this woman you regard so highly is flirting with sin. I can see it plain as day. Just watch her, Jayne, and you'll know exactly what I mean."

"I'm sure you're mistaken, Aunt Harriett."

It didn't help that her own flesh and blood sided with the other woman. "I know what I see, and Ruth Darling has her eye on Lyle Fawcett. Trouble's brewing. Mark my words, Jayne. Mark my words."

"Aunt Harriett - "

"The only reason I'm sharing this deep spiritual burden God has placed on my heart," she continued, cutting Jayne off, "is so that you'll take it upon yourself to pray for the dear, weak woman."

"You want me to pray about Mrs. Darling's roving eye."

"Exactly."

"Have you shared this prayer request with anyone else?"

Harriett wasn't sure she liked her niece's tone of voice, but she gave her the benefit of the doubt. "A few carefully selected...friends."

"Aunt Harriett!"

"You will pray, won't you?" Harriett set the teacup in the saucer, glad now that she'd said her piece.

"Oh yes," Jayne murmured, "and while I'm at it, I'll say a few prayers for you!"

Chapter 21

To forgive is to set the prisoner free and then discover the prisoner was you.

- Mrs. Miracle

"Your Aunt Gerty and Uncle Bill arrive late on the twenty-third," Joan Maxwell said, stabbing a large pink shrimp atop a seafood Caesar salad. "Then they're leaving the morning of the twenty-sixth for Hawaii. I can't tell you how excited those two are. To hear your aunt talk, one would think they were newlyweds. Gerty says this is the honeymoon trip World War Two cheated them out of." Reba's mother's delight overflowed at the prospect of her aunt and uncle's arrival.

"It'll be good to see them again," Reba said. Her aunt and uncle were favorites of hers. They lived in the Midwest and now because of her uncle's poor eyesight didn't travel much. It had been three years or longer since Reba had last visited with them.

"Aunt Gerty is anxious to see you."

"I'm looking forward to seeing her, too." Her aunt had always made her feel special. It was her godmother who'd stood staunchly by Reba's decision not to marry John, at the same time recognizing her hurt and pain. Her reaction had been a blessed contrast to those of the other members of her family. Her parents had offered platitudes that it was all for the best. The best for whom? Reba had wanted to know. For her? It hadn't felt that way, not then.

She could remember her aunt saying how very sorry she was, when everyone else seemed to want to celebrate, wedding or no wedding. The food had been ordered, they pointed out, the cake baked, the hall rented, so why not get together? It had been her aunt who had wrapped her arms around her and comforted her. Her aunt who'd taken into consideration her anguish and humiliation. Aunt Gerty had helped her escape it all by finding her that cabin at the beach.

"You'll be there for dinner Christmas Eve, won't you?" her mother asked, her gaze sobering as she studied Reba.

So this was the reason for the unexpected invitation to dinner out, Reba reflected. It all boiled down to this one question. One more chance to pull the rug out from under her.

Reba waited for the words to filter through her mind and emerge as a carefully measured response. Her mother already knew the answer: she'd been told perhaps a dozen times that Christmas Eve dinner was impossible. She'd even been given a reason that couldn't be argued with.

But apparently she wasn't ready to give up yet. Reba sighed, watching her mother as she waited for an answer. "Mom, I've told you and told you - I can't be there Christmas Eve."

"But