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his wife.
No, she wasn’t perfect. She wasn’t without sin. But then neither was he. For all his goodness, John Earl was as human as all clergymen were. He made mistakes. He sinned. And he, like all others, would one day be rewarded for his goodness and punished for his sins.
Erin curled into a fetal ball and wept.
Chapter Seventeen
Seth had left Sunday night services with his grandparents, and Missy had gone home with a girlfriend, the daughter of a church deacon, for a sleepover. Since Cathy had spent the day with Donnie, Missy and Seth, she didn’t have a way home tonight and had gladly accepted Donnie’s offer to escort her. Otherwise she would have been forced to either walk or allow her mother to drive her home.
The day that had begun so badly had actually ended on a positive note. A couple of hours before Sunday night services, Donnie had persuaded Cathy to go with him to talk to J.B. and Mona. She had agreed reluctantly, but much to her surprise, the visit had gone much better than she had anticipated.
“I believe you’re a miracle worker,” Cathy told Donnie.
When he smiled, shallow dimples appeared in his round cheeks. He was an attractive man in a cute, boyish way. He was one of those people who would look the same at sixty as he had at six, simply older. But what his face lacked in strength and maturity, it made up for in a gentle attractiveness.
Donnie turned to her there in the semidarkness inside his car and smiled. “You give me too much credit. All I did was intervene between the two of you. I reminded Brother Cantrell that in his zeal to protect Seth, he cannot forget that you are Seth’s mother and you love him.”
“And you reminded me that even if I disagree with J.B., which I do, that I owe him and Mona a debt of gratitude for taking good care of Seth while I was ill.”
Donnie spread his arm across the back of Cathy’s seat and leaned toward her, his gaze connecting with hers. “We made progress this afternoon when we stopped by the Cantrells. You showed Seth that you’re willing to meet his grandfather halfway, that you and J.B. don’t have to be enemies.”
“I hate the thought of making Seth choose between his grandparents and me,” Cathy said. “But I felt that J.B. was giving me no choice but to take them to court to regain custody.”
“And now?”
“Now, thanks to you, I’m willing to wait a little while longer in the hopes that J.B. will see reason and I won’t have to take drastic measures.”
“It could take weeks, even months,” Donnie told her. “You must be patient. I’ll talk to J.B. again.”
“In the meantime, I want Seth to be able to spend the night at my home whenever he wants to while we’re trying to settle this problem out of court.”
“Why don’t you let me continue talking to J.B.? I can suggest that he allow Seth to join you and Missy and me for dinner and a movie this Friday night. And if he’s in agreement, I’ll see if he’ll consider allowing Seth to spend the night with you.”
Cathy’s heart soared with hope. This morning, she had been certain that she had no other alternative than to take her in-laws to court. But tonight, she thought there was a possibility that J.B. might eventually see reason. She was willing to wait, just not forever. Seth had all but said that he had changed his mind and wanted to live with her, but he’d been adamant about not wanting to hurt his grandparents.
“I’m all Nana and Granddad have now that Dad’s gone,” Seth had said.
“You’re all I have, too,” she’d reminded him.
“I know, Mom, but you’re young, and you’ll probably get married again and have more kids.”
Surprised by his comment, she had questioned his reasoning. She knew, before he confirmed her suspicions, that he had simply repeated exactly what J.B. had said about her.
Donnie cleared his throat, which immediately drew her back into the present moment. She smiled at him. He looked at her longingly, as if he wanted to kiss her. All she had to do was respond. But did she want him to kiss her? She was sure the experience would be pleasant, but in all honesty, she wasn’t attracted to him in a sexual, man-woman way. How could she tell him without hurting his feelings, which she would never do, not for anything in