agreed. “I remember how you bullied me into takin’ care of the plumbin’ for a bunch of those houses. Now that’s a real talent—to get a plumber to work on a Saturday durin’ football season.”
Trish closed her workbook. “I’m sorry. I know this should be the one time to really focus on our study, but I cannot concentrate until we get this out of the way.” She pointed to her baseball cap and then slowly removed it.
Cooper stared at the patches of pink skin peeking through the straggly, lusterless hair on Trish’s head. “It’s awful, isn’t it? I look like a soccer ball.” Her voice trembled and Bryant took her hand in hers.
“You’re going to be the most gorgeous bald woman in all of Richmond,” he teased.
Savannah leaned forward in her chair. “From what I can see, you’re as beautiful as ever.”
This statement, coming from a legally blind woman, made Trish grin.
“Bryant’s Beauty Boutique is open for business.” Bryant got up, fetched his electric clippers from the kitchen, and returned with one of the dining room chairs. Nathan and Jake spread out two large Hefty bags in the center of the floor and placed the chair on top of them. Quinton got a towel from the downstairs bathroom and motioned at the chair. “Your seat awaits you, milady.”
Nodding, Trish threw the blanket from her legs and relocated to the chair. Quinton covered her shoulders with the towel and then kissed her on the cheek. He closed the towel at her neck using a plastic snack bag clip and then backed up, giving Bryant space to work. Not for the first time, Cooper thought about what a caring and wonderful husband Quinton would make.
“I’m scared!” Trish cried.
Cooper longed to remove her friend’s fear. “Do you want me to read something aloud?”
“That would be nice. How about a little Samson and Delilah? That seems appropriate.” Trish’s attempted laugh came out sounding like a strangled sob.
Opening her Bible to Judges, Cooper kept her voice soft and level as she recited Samson’s victories over the Philistines. “Some time later,” she read next, “he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, ‘See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.’ ”
“Damn those shekels of silver!” Jake called over the sound of the buzzer.
Cooper glanced up and was momentarily distracted by the locks of Trish’s red hair raining to the ground. She returned to the narrative, bringing Delilah’s passionate pleas to learn the source of Samson’s strength to life with her voice.
“So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.” Cooper paused, concerned over the negative wording of the latter phrase.
Nathan stooped down in front of Trish and smiled. “Good thing your strength is elsewhere, huh?”
Trish nodded.
“Sit still, woman!” Jake commanded. “Your barber ain’t that skilled. He might buzz away one of your eyebrows.”
While Cooper read about Samson’s imprisonment, Bryant turned off the clippers and began to gently brush stray hairs from Trish’s neck and shoulders. “Ready?” he whispered in her ear and then pressed a hand mirror in her palm.
The anxiety among the Bible study members was palpable. As Trish raised the mirror and stared at her reflection, they held a collective breath. Cooper dropped her voice to a hush. “Then Samson prayed to the LORD, ‘O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more . . .’ ” She trailed off after noticing the tears racing down Trish’s cheeks.
Trish raised a shaking hand to her head and stroked the bristles on her scalp. Her lower lip trembled, but she could not hold back the force of her grief. “Oh, God!” she called out in pain and then buried her face in the hair-covered towel.
Jake jumped to his feet. “Come on now! You’ve got a fine pile of fancy wigs sittin’ on this dining room table. Look!” He raced from the room and returned, modeling a strawberry-blonde wig that fell in shiny waves past his shoulders.
Hesitating, Trish raised her head and watched as Jake