A Mother's Promise. Ruth Scofield

and shiny. She thought her friend looked gorgeous.

      It was a rather formal service, unlike the lively Thursday-night gathering. Pastor Faraday gave the Scripture devotion and opening prayer, leaving the main sermon to Pastor Hostetter, Beth Anne’s husband.

      The sermon seemed to creep along. It wasn’t half over before Lisa surreptitiously glanced at her watch. Two more hours till she could see Cecily.

      I could listen better if this wasn’t the day, Lord. Help me to concentrate….

      Glancing about her, Lisa spotted a woman she’d noticed Thursday night. Tall, with hair as pale as moonshine, she was sitting with an older woman who shared the same hair color. A relative, no doubt. What was her name? Lisa wondered. Her expression was grave. Somber. What was she thinking? Was she unhappy about something?

      The service finally came to a close. Lisa shot to her feet; she wanted to shove through the crowd, to get in the truck and speed her way to Aunt Katherine’s.

      But it was too early. Her aunt wouldn’t be home yet from her own church service. She’d want time to relax and change clothes. She wouldn’t let Lisa in before the arranged time, anyway. Not before one o’clock.

      Lisa decided to linger, knowing Beth Anne would eventually come down to talk to her. She let the crowd go around her while she waited. Then two girls, both about twelve, ran up to Beth Anne and started talking.

      The girls would be there forever, Lisa mused, so she turned to join the exiting crowd, jostled between an elderly man and a couple of teens. Pastor Faraday waited at the doors, greeting and shaking hands with worshipers. She didn’t want to be acknowledged like the other worshipers, so she slipped by unnoticed; she felt a little lost among the strange faces anyway.

      Outside, she paused. The October sun lay half-hidden behind a cloud. She shivered and pulled her jacket collar closer.

      It was only a little past twelve. What could she do until the appointed time?

      “Lisa.”

      She turned to see Beth Anne, her brown hair bouncing about her shoulders, racing toward her. “Hi, Lisa. I’m glad I caught you. I’m so glad you came today.”

      “I wanted to come.” And in spite of the slow-moving sermon, Lisa realized she was glad. She’d just been restless and preoccupied. Besides, going to church was a promise she needed to keep, and it might as well be this church as any other. This was God’s house, after all. She needed to make new friends, and here, she at least knew Beth Anne.

      “Who is that?” she asked, watching the tall woman she’d noticed inside move away from Michael Faraday while her companion remained talking. The woman limped badly, and her long legs were hidden by dark slacks and sturdy shoes. She managed to make her way toward the parking lot slowly. When she turned to see where her companion was, Lisa could tell that she was in pain. “Isn’t she a member of New Beginnings?”

      “Sharp eye, Lisa. Yes, that’s Samantha.” Beth Anne spoke tentatively, showing her concern for the woman. “Thursday was the first time for her at New Beginnings, as well. She needs friends, I think.”

      “She is so beautiful,” Lisa marveled. “I’d think she’d have loads of friends already. She looks familiar, but I can’t think why. And why is she limping?”

      “A bad accident. And the reason she seems familiar is that she’s a famous model. When she was younger, she was on the covers of many a magazine, under the name Samantha Kim. And you can’t see it from this distance, but one side of her face is badly scarred.” Beth Anne lowered her voice. “She needs plastic surgery, but…well, she came home to recover.”

      “Oh… I’m very sorry.” Someone else who wanted to hide from life, Lisa guessed.

      “Well, I really have to go.” She suddenly wanted to share her excitement with Beth Anne. “I’m going to see my little girl today. Can you believe it? I can play with her—” and hug and kiss her, cuddle her, see her smile, hear her laughter “—for two whole hours!”

      Beth Anne placed her hand on Lisa’s arm, her green eyes warm with empathy. “Oh, Lisa. How purely wonderful. I’m sure you’ll be blessed by this afternoon. I’ll pray the visit goes well. Call me afterwards, won’t you? And tell me all about the visit?”

      “Oh, yes. Yes, I will.” Lisa felt a sudden gratitude toward her friend. “Thank you, Beth Anne.”

      Gratified that her friend wanted to hear about her first visit with her daughter, Lisa felt lighter. As she left the church, her elation flamed high with hope. She’d shared her feelings with a friend, something she had not done for a long time.

      She climbed into the old rusted truck and picked up the fuzzy pink bunny she’d bought that morning for Cecily. She’d stopped at a convenience store for gas, and there it was on the counter. She couldn’t resist it.

      An enormous pink polka-dot bow circled the bunny’s neck. She hoped her daughter liked the stuffed animal.

      She would only be about fifteen minutes early now, if she drove at snail speed, Lisa figured, nibbling at her lower lip as she started the truck.

      A short while later, she parked the truck in front of Aunt Katherine’s shotgun-style house. She glanced up the hard concrete steps to the wooden porch. As a teenager, she’d spent some tough times in that house. But Cecily was only three. She wasn’t yet old enough to wonder why Aunt Katherine was such a harsh disciplinarian. She wouldn’t be there long enough to suffer under the same difficult conditions as Lisa had.

      Not if Lisa could do something to prevent it.

      She wondered if her aunt and uncle were home from church. The garage was in the back of the house off the alley, and she couldn’t see if the car was there. Should she wait in the truck or risk Aunt Katherine’s wrath by knocking on the door?

      She’d wait.

      Oh, dear Lord, please help me now. Please let this visit go well. I want so much for Cecily to love me…. I want her back, God. I had no choice when I left her in Aunt Katherine’s care. I’ll be a good mother, I promise! Oh, yes…without trouble from Aunt Katherine, if You can swing that. But knowing Aunt Katherine, I doubt it. Anyway, I just want today to go okay, all right? Thanks.

      She felt calmer. She always did after praying, something she’d learned to do at Beth Anne’s urging.

      Taking out her small notebook, she checked her to-do list for the week. It didn’t consist of much. Work, work and more work. But squeezed on the line for Thursday evening were the words New Beginnings.

      Funny…she thought of the meeting she’d attended. It wasn’t something she would have gone to before her prison term. Prison term… She might as well say it and be done with it. Nothing was the way the way it had been before; nothing was left from her old life.

      Well…that was good, wasn’t it?

      She kept a watch on the house. At promptly one o’clock, she headed up the walk. She suppressed a desire to chase up there and pound on the door, but the thought made her smile slightly.

      Aunt Katherine answered the door with her usual sober expression.

      “All right. I saw you sitting out in front waiting—smiling as you came up here. Well, you might smile now, my girl, but I’m warning you. You behave yourself.”

      “Thank you, Aunt Katherine.” Lisa used a demure voice. There would be no shouting today. No ugly talk.

      Right away, she heard a child’s chattering from the kitchen. Her child. Her heart felt like a drum, picking up its beat.

      “Cecily?” Her voice was tentative as she walked toward the kitchen. She paused in the doorway.

      The little girl, distracted by Lisa’s voice, gazed up at her. Too big for a high chair, Cecily was dwarfed in the regular kitchen chair she was sitting in. She’d been eating lunch. A bit of green bean stuck to her chin.

      “We