Autumn's Awakening. Irene Brand

cause of it, Autumn muttered, “I’m going to leave.”

      “No,” Trina whispered as she slid into a chair on the back row.

      “Did you know Nathan attended this church?” Autumn demanded accusingly.

      “No. No. I had no idea,” Trina protested. She clutched Autumn’s arm and pulled her into a chair. “If you leave, that would only make it worse. Tough it out.”

      Autumn did as Trina commanded, but she couldn’t remember when she’d spent a more miserable hour. Her body was rigid, and she stared at her hands where veins bulged from a racing pulse. And Nathan was so uncomfortable her heart ached for him. She sensed that ordinarily he would be an effective teacher, but he hardly looked up as he read the text almost word by word from the lesson book, often faltering on the words.

      Several people seated in front of her glanced at one another in amazement, affirming her belief that Nathan’s current behavior wasn’t natural. The lesson subject itself was enough to distress Nathan, as the Scriptural text was taken from the Model Prayer from the book of Luke. When he read the words, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us,” Nathan’s face paled even more. His voice was barely audible when he stumbled over the next words, “and lead us not into temptation.”

      Perspiration drenched his face when he finally sat down on a chair behind the podium, and the president of the class stood up. Autumn recognized the woman as Sandy Simpson, the mother of the two children who owned Flossie, the pet goat.

      “We need to make final plans for our picnic next Saturday afternoon,” Sandy stated. “Nathan has graciously invited us to picnic in the hickory nut grove on his farm. Burgers and buns will be provided from our class treasury, but it’s up to us to bring the rest of the food. Plan to arrive early and stay until evening. We’ll eat around half-past four.”

      Sandy asked for a show of hands of those who planned to attend the picnic, suggested they should sign a sheet on the bulletin board indicating the food they’d contribute, then closed the session with a prayer. She made a beeline for Trina and Autumn as soon as she said, “Amen.”

      “You must come to the picnic Saturday,” Sandy said. “That will give us an opportunity to get better acquainted.” Looking at Autumn, she said, “Families are invited, too, so you can bring your daughter.”

      “Daughter?” Autumn looked from Sandy to Trina, wondering what the woman meant.

      “Dolly is your daughter, isn’t she?”

      “Of course not,” Autumn answered, more sharply than she should have.

      “Forgive me. I was misinformed.”

      “Dolly’s name is Rossini. She’s my niece,” Trina said.

      “Oh, I see,” Sandy said, with a skeptical look at Autumn. “You’ll come to the picnic?”

      Autumn didn’t answer, and Trina said, “We’ll try, if our work schedule isn’t too heavy. We’re finding out that we’ve taken up a time-consuming profession.”

      Dolly joined them in the foyer and they went into the sanctuary together. Autumn looked keenly at the child, wondering who’d started the rumor that Dolly was her daughter. The gray-eyed girl with brown hair didn’t resemble the Weavers at all, but with a start, Autumn realized that Dolly’s features were similar to Nathan’s.

      Just what I need, she thought morosely, to have such a story circulating. What had Nathan said that morning at the farm? “It took me months to convince people that you and I hadn’t been living together.”

      Would Dolly’s resemblance to Nathan cause him any embarrassment?

      During the informal service, Autumn momentarily forgot the miserable hour she’d spent in Nathan’s class. Elwood Donahue wasn’t a dynamic speaker, but his message on commitment was simple and easy to understand. Lacking a deep understanding of the Bible, Elwood’s straightforward explanation of the Scripture passage filled Autumn’s need to have the Gospel presented simply, and soothed her spirit temporarily.

      Nathan chose a pew behind Autumn, and he was vividly conscious of her presence. Why wouldn’t he be, with her red head catching the lights from the windows? Had Autumn deliberately come to church to embarrass him? Was she still pursuing him as she’d done when she was a girl?

      God, he thought during the pastoral prayer, why do You keep bringing us together? Has she changed from the willful, spoiled girl who almost ruined my life? Can I trust her again?

      He’d resolved to avoid Autumn, but how could he when they attended the same church? Was it unchristian of him to keep thinking of the past? Was he the one who’d been wrong to leave without giving her the opportunity to explain? But after Autumn had run out of the horse barn eight years ago, her father said, “Autumn is going to marry Dr. Lowe. Can’t you have the decency to leave her alone? When I told you to leave, I meant leave this area. You’ll be nothing but a thorn in the flesh of our whole family if you stay here. There’s already a lot of gossip about you and Autumn seeing each other while I’ve been gone.”

      Even though Autumn had protested that she’d never intended to marry Dr. Lowe, he’d wondered if she was telling the truth. But with Landon’s ultimatum, he had no choice except to leave. The Weavers had enough influence to ruin him in the community if they wanted to. When he’d left Greensboro, he supposed his brief association with Autumn was over. Now their paths had crossed again, Autumn looked as if she was unhappy. Had she really cared for him? Did she still care for him? How could he find out?