By His Hand: Truly Yours Digital Edition (5 page)

Sondra scooped an egg from the nest. “See, not as bad as you thought.” Sondra showed the egg to Victoria and then placed it in her basket. “You get the next one. Nothing’s going to get you.”

Determined not to act like a spoiled rich girl, Victoria swallowed and opened a second square. Pulling the egg from the nest, she held it up. “I did it.” She placed the egg in her basket and commenced to collect more eggs.

“You’ll be just fine.” Sondra grabbed a bag of feed from beside her. Victoria watched as she filled a large can that had an opening on the other side of the fence. In a matter of moments, the chickens’ feed spilled out in front of them. “So what did you notice about Peewee?”

Victoria turned toward Sondra. “His blanket.”

Sondra exhaled. “It’s made from Kenny’s shirts.”

“I thought so.”

“It’s a little piece of Kenny that Matt can hold on to. When he grows older, I plan to put it away and give it to him when he’s grown.”

Victoria’s chin quivered as her emotions threatened to get the best of her once more. “I’m so grateful for you.”

Sondra furrowed her eyebrows. “What?”

“Kenny was blessed to have you, even though your time was short. I know you made his last months wonderful.”

“I hope so. I want Peewee to know who his father was and that Kenny loved him.” She looked at Victoria. “Dylan and I both want that.”

“I’m glad.”

Sondra hooked her arm with Victoria’s. “Before we continue our tour, why don’t we head to the house and get breakfast started?”

Victoria’s stomach grumbled. “Sounds good to me.”

Feeling as inept in the kitchen as she had in the chicken coop, Victoria did little more than watch as Sondra rolled biscuits, fried bacon, scrambled eggs, and mixed gravy. Being given the seemingly simple task of cracking eggs, Victoria had even botched that by dropping as much shell as egg into the skillet.

“You’ll learn.” Sondra had tried to encourage her. “Just takes time.”

Victoria didn’t feel encouraged. She felt like a poor excuse for a person. The things she was good at, like shopping, cosmetology, and hairstyles, were not practical for everyday, real-world living. She could hold her own at movie and television trivia, as well, but that didn’t help here on the farm either.

Matt woke up, scampered into the kitchen, and wrapped his arms around Sondra’s leg. “I tirsy, Mommy.”

Victoria smiled at the patch of curls that fell into his eyes. He shook his head and swiped them away.

“I bet Aunt Victoria will get you a drink of juice.” Sondra unwrapped his arms from her leg and pushed him toward Victoria.

“Come on, little buddy.” She extended his arms, and he scampered into them. Lifting him to her chest, Victoria nestled her nose against his soft cheek.
How could I have spent so long away from you?

“Juice, Aunt Vic, juice!” Matt grabbed a handful of hair and pulled.

“No, Matt.” Sondra turned and scolded him. “Do not pull hair. Say please.”

Matt frowned and stuck out his little bottom lip. Victoria thought she would melt. The child could have her hair, the whole head full. She didn’t want to be the cause of his tears first thing in the morning. Victoria tickled his chin, and he smiled. “Pwease.”

“A gal can’t resist that.” She grabbed the sippy cup Sondra had set on the counter, opened the refrigerator, and with one arm still holding Matt, managed to pour the juice and attach the lid.

“Pretty good for a first timer.” Dylan walked into the room, and Matt squealed and practically launched himself toward the man he called Daddy.

“Come here, Peewee.” Dylan grabbed him out of Victoria’s arms and then tossed him in the air like a play toy. “You gonna help Daddy feed the horses?”

Matt giggled and nodded his head. A needle still pricked Victoria’s heart that Kenny wasn’t the one taking Matt to feed the horses. Logically, she was happy Matt would have a father to take care of him, but emotionally, Victoria longed to see Kenny with his son.
God, Kenny would have been such a good dad
.

“Dylan’s a great dad.” Sondra’s words interrupted Victoria’s thoughts.

“I can see that.”

Sondra scooped the scrambled eggs into a serving bowl. “Did you know Dylan was with me when Peewee was born?”

“No.” Victoria transferred the fresh-from-the-oven biscuits from the baking sheet to a plate.

“He was. Dylan took care of me when Kenny couldn’t. It’s probably hard for you to see Dylan and Matt together, but he’s proof of God’s mercy and blessings to me and Matt. Even to Kenny.”

Victoria gazed at Sondra. She couldn’t imagine how it could possibly be a blessing to Kenny.

“Kenny wouldn’t have wanted me to struggle alone.”

Victoria sighed. She gazed out the kitchen window and saw Matt scampering as quickly as he could behind Dylan. He struggled to carry a sack, a smaller version of the one Dylan held. No doubt it was the feed for the horses. Even from a distance, Victoria could see Matt’s happiness at getting to help his daddy.

In that instant, Victoria felt a peace, a
real
peace. Sondra was right. God had been merciful. He had blessed Sondra, Matt, and even Kenny. Matt was under the tutelage of a man who helped bring him into the world. Kenny would be happy.

“I need to tell you something, Victoria.”

Victoria looked at Sondra who was wringing water viciously out of a dishrag and into the sink. “What?”

Sondra pointed to a chair. “You may want to have a seat.”

“I’m okay.” Bile rose in Victoria’s throat. Something was about to happen. Something monumental. Again. Victoria didn’t know if she could take many more surprises in her life.

“A friend of mine is in the insurance business.” Sondra sighed. “I called her last night and asked her if there was any way she could find out who your dad had his insurance with.”

Victoria slinked down into a chair and plastered a fake smile to her lips. “Yes?”

“My friend had already heard about your dad’s, uh, situation. He’s fairly well-known. Many people vied for his services.” Sondra wiped splattered milk and egg drippings from the counter. She turned and eyed Victoria. “I might as well just say it. Your dad’s insurance policies weren’t paid up when he left the country.”

“What are you saying?”

Sondra placed her hand on Victoria’s shoulder. “What I’m saying is you don’t have any insurance.”

Chris unscrewed the top to his truck’s gas tank. After selecting the cheaper unleaded gas, he shoved the nozzle into the tank and started to fill up the truck.

“How’s your car?”

Chris turned and saw Mandy Reynolds filling up at the pump beside him. “Needin’ some work.”

“I heard.” Mandy smacked her free hand to her hip. Her two young sons in the back seat began to squabble over a toy. “Roland came home from the vet’s office last night. Said he saw the whole thing and that the girl wasn’t paying a bit of attention.”

Chris cringed. He tried to keep a low profile in this “May-berry” town. He hated being the topic of conversation, especially after the rumors that had gone around when his ma had up and decided to leave. He and Abby still dealt with the hurt that resulted from the townsfolk’s talk.

“Virginia called me last night, too. Said the gal was just a hoity-toity, young thing. Came running through the town like she owned the place. Virginia said that girl wasn’t the least bit sorry for ruining that wonderful car you spent all that time fixing up.” Mandy turned toward her sons whose squabble had escalated to an all-out, fist-flinging war. “Give me that toy. Neither one of you gets it.”

Chris released the handle to the pump and pulled it away from the tank. Glad he’d used his debit card, all he had to do was screw on the cap and he could go.

“I don’t know who these young gals think they are these days,” Mandy continued, “thinking they can go around slamming into people’s cars …”

“It was an accident, Mandy.” Chris interrupted her. “She was sorry. It could happen to anyone.” With a nod of his head, he jumped in the truck and added, “Have a good day.” He started the engine and drove toward the ranch. He hoped Victoria didn’t plan on staying too long. If he was having a conversation like that this early in the morning, then Victoria would have a hard way to go around here.

He glanced at the paper that sat on the passenger’s seat beside him. He’d figured a very fair, actually quite low, price. Her insurance company shouldn’t have a problem with it, especially once they saw the pictures he had taken last night. The fact that he would do the labor for free should also help keep her rates down a bit.

Pulling into the ranch, he couldn’t seem to get a handle on the sinking feeling that seemed to plague his gut.
Probably just the burned biscuits and undercooked eggs from breakfast this morning
. Abby had awakened still miffed over her one-month grounding, but Chris had stuck to his guns. He had spoken nicely to her but hadn’t budged on the punishment.

Chris shut off the engine, grabbed the paper, and opened the truck door just as Victoria opened the screen with a coffee cup in her hand.

“Chris?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “We just finished the breakfast dishes, but I’m sure Sondra won’t mind if I find you something to eat …”

“I’m fine. Already eaten.” Chris smiled. Either country hospitality had already begun to rub off on her, or she genuinely had a sweet turn. Taking in the truth and sincerity radiating from her light eyes and remembering her silent prayer in his car the day before, Chris decided to believe the latter assumption. “I just came to pick up the eggs for the food bank. Brought some milk, too.”

Victoria frowned. “Food bank? Milk?”

“Yeah, we swap. I bring Sondra milk, and she donates her extra eggs to families in the county who need them.”

“That doesn’t surprise me at all. You take them for her?”

“A few years back when my pa was still living, he came up with a ministry to take the eggs to the bank as well as distributing them to those who couldn’t get out.”

Victoria wrapped both hands around the coffee cup and peered into the sky. “Sounds like your dad was as giving a person as Sondra.”

“Yep, true about both of them.”

She glanced back at him. “But why does your truck say ‘By His Hand’ on the side?”

“My sister was so excited about Pa’s ministry that she wanted to give it a name. Once we decided on one, she and I painted the letters on Pa’s older work truck.”

The memory of his sister and him working all day one Saturday to paint the letters drifted into his mind. They’d gotten into a paint fight, and by the time they’d finished, they were covered in blue and red splotches from the tops of their heads to their toes. Abby’d had blue paint splatters in her hair for weeks afterward.

Victoria sighed, forcing Chris from his memories. “I don’t know what I’d do without Sondra right now.”

Unsure of where this conversation was headed and confused by the winsome tone in her voice, Chris cleared his throat and scuffed his shoes along the dirt. “Yes, well …”

“Anyway.” Victoria placed the cup on the porch railing and wiped her hand on her shorts. Her neck and cheeks blazed red. “Can I help you load them or anything?”

“No, she always has them boxed and ready by the coop.” He pointed toward the building.

“Oh.” Victoria furrowed her brow. “I helped her with that this morning and didn’t even realize what we were doing.”

Her sincerity struck Chris as funny and he laughed. “It’s all new to you, huh.”

Victoria shrugged and smiled, exposing straight teeth, whiter than he’d ever seen. “Yep, but I’m enjoying it.” Her light eyes danced as she scanned the land around him. “I think I could get used to all this. I’ve never seen so much green and blue in all my life.”

Chris followed her gaze and wondered if he took nature’s beauty for granted. Looking back at Victoria and the childlike awe in her expression, he knew he did.

“Do you think God likes blue and green the best?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Have you ever noticed how so much of nature is colored in some shade of the two? I’d never realized it before.”

“Can’t say that I’ve paid much attention either.” Chris smiled and stepped closer to the porch, feeling drawn to her innocence. For a moment, he wanted to see things from her eyes. He wanted to get to know her more, to find out what she was thinking and what made her think that way. He wanted to ask how her heart felt about the God he served. Could she be as sold out as he wanted to be?

She blushed again and backed up toward the door. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I say the silliest things. I better go and see if Sondra needs any help.”

Knocked back into reality, Chris shook his head and looked down at the figures he held. “I also wanted to give you the estimate for fixing my car.”

Her expression fell, and her eyes clouded. “O–kay.”

The weight lodged in his gut again, seeming to hold his breath beneath it. Something strong and fierce told him that she would not be able to pay to fix Mary Ann, and he would spend the next two or three years raising the money to do it himself.

Sondra walked out onto the porch. “Chris, how nice to see you. Come on inside.”

Chris shook his head. “I just came to bring you some milk and pick up the eggs for the food bank. Give Victoria my figures, as well.” He handed the paper to Victoria. “They’re low. I only put the cost of parts on there since I’ll do the labor myself. Your insurance company shouldn’t have a problem.”